Paul Krugman: Starving Public Education (NY Times Blog)
While most of us are focused on presidential politics - with good reason, to be sure - much of the work of government, for good and for ill, is done at the state and local level. In most cases, these days, that means Republican politicians are calling the shots; but there are some big states where Democrats still hold sway, and it's really important for progressive values that these Democrats set a positive example about what good government can do.
Marc Dion: Who Cares What I Think About Donald Trump? (Creators Syndicate)
We're reporters. We can duck under the crime scene tape. We can get the senator on the phone. We stand in the front, but we come and go through the back door, avoiding the crowd. We joke with the incumbents, little private jokes. We know who is going to get the nomination. We know who is going to win. This time we were wrong, and we were wrong because we failed to ask ourselves, "Who cares what I think about Trump? What do other people think?"
Froma Harrop: Dress Codes and Female Dignity (Creators Syndicate)
How many among us recognize the name of Yolande Betbeze Fox, the Alabama beauty who died recently at the age of 87? Fox blazed quite a trail through American culture when, as Miss America of 1951, she refused to reign in a bathing suit. The swimsuit-maker sponsoring the pageant was not pleased.
How tragedy brings out comedians' best (BBC)
A spate of terrible news stories from the Paris attacks to mass shootings in the US has challenged TV comics like never before, writes Jennifer Keishin Armstrong.
Paul Bunyan is a giant lumberjack in American folklore. His exploits revolve around the tall tales of his superhuman labors, and he is customarily accompanied by Babe the Blue Ox. The character originated in the oral tradition of North American loggers, and was later popularized by freelance writer William B. Laughead (1882-1958) in a 1916 promotional pamphlet for the Red River Lumber Company. He has been the subject of various literary compositions, musical pieces, commercial works, and theatrical productions. His likeness is displayed in several statues across North America.
Source
mj wrote:
I hope he had a shovel as big as his axe
Babe's bud was Paul Bunyan.
Sandra said:
paul bunyan
Lois Of The Lumberjacks responded:
I vaguely remember being told tales of Paul Bunyan when I was a mere wisp of a child way back at the turn of the 1960's. He was a giant monster who decimated huge swaths of forested land with a single blow of his atomic axe, and eschewed human company in favor of the companionship of a giant blue ox, of whom he had carnal knowledge! But the story that scared me most, was that of Sport the dog, who had the misfortune of being on the receiving end of Paul's mighty axe, was CUT IN TWO, and SEWED BACK TOGETHER by Paul, albeit ass end up. But he survived and thrived, being able to travel by one pair of legs for a spell, and when they were spent, could flip himself over and use the other pair of legs. How horrible is THAT for a four year old to ponder? No wonder I drink.
Alan J answered:
Paul Bunyan.
Stephen F wrote:
Paul Bunyan
Jim from CA, retired to ID, replied:
Paul Bunyan
Robert responded:
please try harder, Paul
Marian said:
Paul Bunyan
Deborah answered:
Paul Bunyan. Gosh, that brings back memories, studying American Lit. in grade school.
Michelle replied:
Paul Bunyan
Dirty Dale of Diamond Springs, Norcali answered:
Paul Bunyan…the animated images are mucho betterer than the statues and jerk-offs attempting to portray Bunyans and Blue Balls…no pontoons at 2ooo feet, Deborah…Babe was frozen blue…the stonies…clear em out…with a Rusty Trombone…
MAM wrote:
Paul Bunyan
Joe S said:
Those of us in the Great North, in the Land of the White Pine, In the Land of the Great Lakes, know Paul Bunyan and Babe his Blue Ox.
Not to be mistaken for Ace Bunyan and Babe his Blue Ax. (A distant relative, I'm sure.)
So 2016 has piled on the deaths of musical icons. Yeah, their lifestyles weren't the healthiest, and they had "stuff" going on we fans couldn't know - it wasn't on Twitter or Facebook or Instagram, etc. - and yet I feel that artists who had a big impact on my life as a high school aspiring artist and beyond, are passing in such volume this year…well, my inner grammar geek cringes at this sentence, and the rest of me cringes because there will never be an ELP reunion, or a Professor Snape casting, and I'm kind of sad about that.
I know Nancy Reagan passed and I'm pissed at the half-mast flags and the slamming of President Obama not attending. That's the First Lady's job. But the Reagan Admin's refusal to acknowledge AIDS, and the commitment to "trickle down" economics, and everyone covering for Ronnie when he was full-bore Alzhieimers - that is a bitter pill that we are still dealing with as a nation today. F all the Rupukelincans. Bart is turning over in his grave. I feel him. This is nuts.
Patriot Act NSA Spying Unconstitutional Section 215 National Security Letters Must End
My name is Marc Perkel and I have decided to announce that I will not comply with the so called "Patriot Act" laws requiring me to disclose information about my customers. If I receive a national security letter I will immediately photograph it, post it online everywhere I can, and then make a video of me burning it. I will then await my arrest. If you want to put me in jail then come get me mother fucker.
CBS starts the night with '60 Minutes', followed by a RERUN'The Odd Couple', then a RERUN'Scorpion', followed by a FRESH'CSI: One Too Many'.
NBC opens the night with a RERUN'Little Big Shots', followed by a FRESH'Little Big Shots', then a FRESH'The Carmichael Show', followed by another FRESH'The Carmichael Show', then a FRESH'Hollywood Game Night'.
ABC begins the night with a FRESH'America's So-Called Funniest Home Videos', followed by a FRESH'Once Upon A Time', then a FRESH'The Family', followed by a FRESH'Quantico'.
The CW offers an old 'Person Of Interest', followed by an old 'Elementary', then 2½ hours of what passes for local news and other fluffery.
Faux has a FRESH'Bordertown', followed by a FRESH'Bob's Burgers', then a FRESH'The Simpsons', followed by a (F) 'Cooper Barrett's Guide To Surviving', then a FRESH'Family Guy', followed by a FRESH'The Last Man On Earth'.
MY has an old 'Anger Management', followed by another old 'Anger Management', then an old 'Big Bang Theory', followed by another old 'Big Bang Theory', then still another old 'Big Bang Theory', followed by yet another old 'Big Bang Theory'.
A&E has 'Intervention', followed by a FRESH'Hoarders', then a FRESH'Intervention: Codependent', followed by a FRESH'Intervention'.
AMC offers 'The Walking Dead', another 'The Walking Dead', followed by a FRESH'The Walking Dead', then a FRESH'Talking Dead'.
BBC -
[6:00AM] PLANET EARTH: HUMAN PLANET - SEASON 1 - EPISODE 6-Grasslands - Roots of Power
[7:00AM] PLANET EARTH: HUMAN PLANET - SEASON 1 - EPISODE 7-Rivers - Friend and Foe
[8:00AM] PLANET EARTH: HUMAN PLANET - SEASON 1 - EPISODE 8-Cities - Surviving the Urban Jungle
[9:00AM] PLANET EARTH: HUMAN PLANET - SEASON 1 - EPISODE 1-Oceans - Into the Blue
[10:00AM] PLANET EARTH: HUMAN PLANET - SEASON 1 - EPISODE 2-Deserts - Life in the Furnace
[11:00AM] PLANET EARTH: HUMAN PLANET - SEASON 1 - EPISODE 3-Arctic - Life in the Deep Freeze
[12:00PM] ROBIN HOOD: MEN IN TIGHTS
[2:30PM] HOOK
[5:30PM] ROBIN HOOD: MEN IN TIGHTS
[8:00PM] HOOK
[11:00PM] MAN VS. WILD - SEASON 4 - EPISODE 1-Alabama
[12:00AM] MAN VS. WILD - SEASON 4 - EPISODE 2-Arctic Circle
[1:00AM] MAN VS. WILD - SEASON 4 - EPISODE 3-Vietnam
[2:00AM] MAN VS. WILD - SEASON 4 - EPISODE 4-Texas
[3:00AM] MAN VS. WILD - SEASON 4 - EPISODE 5-Alaska
[4:00AM] MAN VS. WILD - SEASON 4 - EPISODE 7-Pacific Island
[5:00AM] MAN VS. WILD - SEASON 4 - EPISODE 8-Big Sky Country (ALL TIMES EDT)
Bravo has a FRESH'Atlanta Social', followed by a FRESH'Real Housewives Of Atlanta', then a FRESH'Real Housewives Of Potomac', and 'Real Housewives Of Atlanta'.
Comedy Central has the movie 'Dumb & Dumber', followed by the movie 'Dumb & Dumber', again.
FX has the movie 'Identity Thief', followed by the movie 'The Internship', then the movie 'The Internship', again.
IFC -
[6:00AM] THAT '70S SHOW-Black Dog
[6:30AM] JAWS 2
[9:15AM] SAW V
[11:15AM] SAW VI
[1:15PM] THE DARKEST HOUR
[3:15PM] THE CHRONICLES OF RIDDICK
[5:45PM] PITCH BLACK
[8:00PM] BABYLON A.D.
[10:00PM] THE CHRONICLES OF RIDDICK
[12:30AM] PITCH BLACK
[4:30AM] COMEDY BANG! BANG!-Eddie George
[5:00AM] PORTLANDIA-Doug Becomes a Feminist
[5:30AM] PORTLANDIA-House for Sale (ALL TIMES EDT)
Sundance -
[6:16AM] Hap and Leonard-Episode 2
[7:17AM] Troy
[10:45AM] Tremors
[12:45PM] Tremors 2: Aftershocks
[3:00PM] Tremors 3: Back to Perfection
[5:30PM] Groundhog Day
[8:00PM] Sixteen Candles
[10:00PM] The Breakfast Club
[12:15AM] Sixteen Candles
[2:15AM] Groundhog Day
[4:44AM] Hap and Leonard-Episode 2
[5:45AM] Love Lust-Heels (ALL TIMES EDT)
SyFy has the movie 'Planet Of The Apes', followed by the movie 'Skyfall'.
In this March 11, 2016 picture the lead guitarist of the rock band Queen , Brian May, left, and singer Kerry Ellis perform during their concert in Budapest Convention Centre in Budapest, Hungary, late Friday, March 11, 2016.
Photo by Zoltan Mathe
Fans of beat generation writer Jack Kerouac can celebrate the "On the Road" author's birthday at a series of events in his Massachusetts hometown.
Saturday would have been Kerouac's 94th birthday.
The celebration starts at 10 a.m. with a walking tour of Lowell sites connected to Kerouac. It begins at the Kerouac Commemorative at Kerouac Park and ends at the Pollard Memorial Library.
The library played a pivotal role in shaping Kerouac's literary consciousness. It now houses a "Kerouac Corner."
Burt Reynolds, left, and director Jesse Moss are seen at the world premiere of "The Bandit" at the Paramount Theatre during the South by Southwest Film Festival on Saturday, March 12, 2016, in Austin, Texas.
Photo by Jack Plunkett
The monarch butterflies that winter in the mountains west of Mexico City survived the severe cold snap that hit the area this week, authorities said Friday.
Mexico's environmental protection agency released photos of patches of frost, snow and ice in parts of the butterfly reserve. Activists had expressed concern about the unusual cold snap because driving rain and bitter cold in 2001 killed millions of monarchs at the reserve.
But the agency also released photos showing clumps of butterflies still hanging from trees. They tend to drop off trees when they're frozen.
The agency said its employees observed "branches and trunks covered with butterflies in good condition."
Authorities said in February that the monarchs have made a big comeback after suffering serious declines. The area covered by the orange-and-black insects this season was more than three and a half times greater than the previous winter. The butterflies clump so densely in the pine and fir forests they are counted by the area they cover rather than by individual insects.
The Dalai Lama took part in a panel of Nobel Peace Prize laureates in Geneva on Friday, addressing a full auditorium about Chinese repression in his native Tibet despite Beijing having urged people to shun the event.
China wrote this week to diplomats and U.N. officials calling on them not to attend the panel at Geneva's Graduate Institute, saying it opposed the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader's appearance at all venues due to his "separatist activities".
"One part of the human brain usually develops common sense. Some of these (Chinese) hardliners, that part of brain is missing," the crimson-robed Dalai Lama, 80, told the audience of students and diplomats.
Earlier he told reporters: "Wherever my name is there they usually criticise and protest. That's quite now routine, normal, nothing special."
The two-hour panel was moderated by U.N. Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights Kate Gilmore, along with laureates from Yemen and Iran.
Syrian pianist Nour Alkhzam, left, performs as Chinese dissident artist Ai WeiWei, right, holds a plastic sheet to protect her from rain at the northern Greek border station of Idomeni, Saturday, March 12, 2016. Chinese artist Ai Wei Wei filmed a Syrian refugee playing a piano in the middle of a migrant camp on Saturday. At Idomeni camp on the Greek-Macedonian border, the dissident artist set up a piano in the middle of a muddy field and invited Syrian pianist Nour Alkhzam to play it. The young woman is currently trying to get to Germany where her husband has been living for 18 months.
Photo by Visar Kryeziu
English heavy metal band Iron Maiden said Saturday that the group's airplane was damaged in an accident in South America.
A statement on the group's website says the accident occurred when the plane called Ed Force One was tethered to a tow truck in Santiago, Chile early Saturday to be taken for refueling before continuing over the Andes to Cordoba, Argentina. A steering pin evidently fell out during the movement and left the aircraft without steering.
Iron Maiden's statement said the plane suffered a collision when it made a turn, injuring two workers on the ground. They were taken to a hospital for treatment. The band said initial reports show that the plane's engines suffered major damage and will need repairs or even replacement.
The band said it's making other arrangements to get its members and equipment to Cordoba, where the next concert is scheduled. It called its show in Chile was a success.
The U.S. Supreme Court's Citizens United ruling, which allowed unlimited corporate and union election spending, is now being used six years later to fight state limits on how much money individuals and groups can contribute directly to candidates.
Lawsuits against contribution caps have been filed in Alaska, Montana and New Mexico. Those challenges are being buoyed by a federal appeals court ruling last year that cites Citizens United in making it more difficult for states to justify donation limits.
"Contribution limits throughout the country are very vulnerable now," said James Bopp, an Indiana attorney who is leading two of the lawsuits. "It's going to be tough for any state to justify their limits under that standard."
Thirty-eight states have limits on how much a candidate can receive from an individual, political party or political action committee. In general, the rules are meant to promote equality, prevent corruption and keep the rich from overly influencing the political process.
Driving the effort to dismantle candidate campaign caps is a ruling last year by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which covers California and eight other Western states. It said states now must prove their caps are preventing what the court called quid pro quo corruption, such as bribery.
Performers take part in a street parade as part of the opening ceremony of the Ibero-American Theater Festival in Bogota, Colombia, March 12, 2016.
Photo by John Vizcaino
A man on a snowmobile purposely drove into two dog teams competing in the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race early Saturday morning, killing one dog and injuring at least three others, officials said.
Mushers Aliy Zirkle and Jeff King were attacked outside the village of Nulato, a community of 236 on the Yukon River a little more than halfway into the 1,000-mile (1,600-kilometer) race to Nome.
A suspect has been identified by a village police officer.
Race marshal Mark Nordman said Saturday that Zirkle, 46, who finished second three times from 2012-2014, was mushing from Kokukuk to Nulato, a run of less than 20 miles (32.19 kilometers) on the Yukon River, when she was hit.
King, a four-time Iditarod champion, was behind Zirkle and fared worse.
Artists from Thailand perform at a massive three-day cultural festival organized by the Art of Living Foundation on the banks of the river Yamuna in New Delhi, India, Saturday, March 12, 2016. The festival opened on the banks of the Yamuna River in the Indian capital Friday despite concerns the sprawling construction of roads, ramps and pontoon bridges would irreparably damage the river's floodplains.
Photo by Altaf Qadri
A former aide to Russian President Vladimir Putin found dead in a Washington hotel suffered blunt force injuries to the head, not a heart attack as initially claimed, the US capital's chief medical examiner said.
Mikhail Lesin, 57, a former press minister accused of curtailing media freedoms in Putin's Russia, also suffered injuries to his neck, torso and upper and lower extremities, the chief medical examiner said.
Putin's spokesman said in response Friday that the Kremlin expected the United States to provide "detailed official information" about Lesin's murky death on November 5.
The official findings -- made public more than four months after his death -- contradict previous Russian state media reports, citing his family, that said Lesin died of a heart attack.
They also would appear to indicate that he was killed.
A full grown male leopard that fell into a well bites a rope thrown to it by rescuers in Gauhati, north eastern Assam state, India, Saturday, March 12, 2016. The leopard is believed to have fallen into the well in the early hours of the day while searching for prey in this part of a hill that has recently been encroached by humans. The animal was rescued by Saturday noon and taken to the zoo.
Photo by Anupam Nath
Two Indian statues that are more than 1,000 years old were seized Friday from Christie's auction house after investigators discovered they had been smuggled out of the country, eventually landing in New York.
The antiquities were to be part of an auction next week called "The Lahiri Collection: Indian and Himalayan Art, Ancient and Modern."
Both are made from sandstone. One statue called "Stele of Rishabhanata" depicts a cross-legged teacher flanked by standing attendants. It is valued at about $150,000 and dates from the 10th century. The second is a rare representation of an equestrian deity, Revanta, worth $300,000 from the 8th century.
According to a yearslong, ongoing investigation by federal agents and the Manhattan district attorney's office, the Rishabhanata statue was sold in 2006 or 2007. The Revanta panel contained a piece that had been perfectly broken off to be sold by smugglers after the sale of the main sculpture.
A model presents a creation by designer David Ferreira, as part of his Fall/Winter 2016/17 collection, during Lisbon Fashion Week, Portugal, March 11, 2016.
Photo by Rafael Marchante
Australia's flagship icebreaker has arrived home for repairs after running aground in Antarctica, as the government thanked international teams from China, Japan and the United States for helping to evacuate the expeditioners on board.
The Aurora Australis broke its mooring in a raging blizzard and ran aground at Horseshoe Harbour close to Australia's Mawson station on February 24, stranding 68 people on board.
The icebreaker was eventually refloated and left Antarctica on March 2, arriving at the West Australian port of Fremantle on Saturday, Environment Minister Greg Hunt said, where it is expected to undergo repairs for hull damage.
Hunt thanked the Chinese, Japanese and US Antarctica programmes for diverting from their own missions by supplying planes and moving expeditioners to help those who had been stranded.
The ageing Aurora Australis, which is owned by P&O Maritime Services, is scheduled to be replaced in 2019 by a new custom-built ship that will be faster, bigger and offer increased endurance.
An employee weights a one-month-old African grey parrot before its feeding at the Royev Ruchey zoo in a surburb of Krasnoyarsk, Siberia, Russia, March 11, 2016.
Photo by Ilya Naymushin
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wrote:
said:
has returned to semi-retired status.
