Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Hadley Freeman: From New York's fake heiress to Donald Trump, we're living in the age of the scam (The Guardian)
Everywhere you look, there are people who have figured out ways to game our shoddy system.
Marc Dion: Got Any Naked Pictures of Your Wife? Wanna Buy Some? (Creators Syndicate)
I've already seen naked pictures of Pres. Donald Trump's wife, so why won't he let me see his taxes? Pardon me. I was educated by nuns. In the 1960s. Their laser focus on sin never left me, not even when I was sinning. For me, a child of a repressed, orderly age, the idea that you might value the sight of your tax return more than you value the sight of your wife's naked body remains oddly disgraceful, but not surprising. This is why, even though all the songs on the radio are about love, all anybody ever talks about is money.
Ted Rall: Death to the Stump Speech (Creators Syndicate)
The Associated Press described the drill in 2016: "Day after day, the candidates for president wake up, brush their teeth and pump themselves up to say the same thing they did yesterday. ... Most of what they say won't make the evening news, or get tweeted or repeated. But that spiel they repeat, with variations, to audience after audience in state after state, is a campaign essential." What they're missing is why it won't make the news. By definition, repetition is not news. Trump repeatedly made the news by repeatedly saying something new.
Mark Shields: "A Story 'Too Good to Check'" (Creators Syndicate)
The Packer-led group was assumed to have succumbed to the arctic winter. But in the spring, Packer appeared and said that the others had deserted him after he had fallen ill. His story was contradicted by an investigation that concluded Packer had almost certainly slain and eaten his party of five. Charged with five murders, Packer eventually signed a confession and - here's the "too good to check" part - was sentenced by Judge M.B. Gerry with these words: "Stand up, you voracious, man-eating son of a bitch. When you came to Hinsdale County, there were seven Democrats, but you ate five of them."
Froma Harrop: Trump's Economy Is Strong. Obama's Was Better (Creators Syndicate)
"We're doing trade deals that are going to get you so much business you're not even going to believe it," President Trump told an American Farm Bureau Federation meeting in January. The attendees cheered. Meanwhile, farmer income for the first three months of this year fell almost $12 billion. Farmers account for only 2 percent of all employed Americans, but the drop-off in their income was such that it suppressed the entire nation's personal income growth number for March.
Froma Harrop: Everyone Agrees. Robocalls Are a Scourge (Creators Syndicate)
Bipartisan legislation in Washington could finally put a nick in the robocall plague. It would boost penalties on robocallers engaging in fraud and require telecommunications companies to strengthen spam-call filters. Thank you, Sen. Ed Markey, Democrat of Massachusetts. Thank you, Sen. John Thune, Republican of South Dakota. Tech experts say the con artists will find new ways to get around any roadblocks. OK, but let's at least slow them down before we destroy our phones.
Susan Estrich: Nancy Pelosi Is Right, of Course (Creators Syndicate)
The way for Democrats to win in 2020 is to follow the advice of the shrewdest Democrat in politics today:
-Don't be goaded by President Trump into a lengthy impeachment battle that will divide the country and ultimately be defeated by the Republican Senate.
-Don't go too far left and risk the moderate voters Democrats need to win.
It seems so clear. She has the guts to say it, which is why she is a great Leader.
Lenore Skenazy: Happy Worry Day, Mom! (Creators Syndicate)
Happy Mother's Day! Which, if you are a mother, you know is a contradiction in terms. While mothers do indeed experience moments of great joy, the idea of an entire day free of heart-stopping fear about some aspect of the kids' health, happiness, choice of friends, music, video games, grades, attitude and/or desire to drive is pretty unthinkable. Moms are amazingly creative in their ability to imagine terror where none exists - sort of like local news teams.
Anonymous: A letter to… the child for whom I was once an au pair (The Guardian)
'I only wanted to see you out of curiosity, not because I missed you': the letter you always wanted to write.
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Presenting
Michael Egan
wrote:
has returned to semi-retired status.
In memory.
Reader Suggestion
Michelle in AZ
from Bruce
Anecdotes
• In early December of 2011, Mitch Gilbert vacationed in Las Vegas, Nevada. In the Las Vegas airport on his way back home to Greenwood Village, Colorado, he found two unmarked Caesar's Palace envelopes. Opening them when he returned home, he found money. Mr. Gilbert said, "There was $5,000 in each envelope. I just about fell over, I couldn't believe it." But he did believe this: "If it happened to me, I sure would want that back." He called the Las Vegas airport and discovered that a man named Ignacio Marquez in El Paso, Texas, had reported losing money that had been placed in two Caesar's Palace envelopes. Mr. Marquez had won the money gambling but had lost it while running to catch a flight home. Two days before Christmas, Mr. Gilbert deposited the money in Mr. Marquez' bank account. Mr. Gilbert said, "I think he was pretty much in shock. I don't know if he believed it." Mr. Marquez said, "Relief is an understatement. Cash money is very difficult to get back. I'm very appreciative to Mitch and his family. You do not find people like this. I will always thank Mitch for doing this." Mr. Gilbert said, "I wanted to show my kids the right thing to do. It would have been a lot easier keeping it to be honest with you. But I felt like I had to get it back to the right person." He added, "I would have loved to have $10,000. You think about all the bills you can pay. But it didn't belong to me. It felt so good to be able to get it back to the guy. I felt like I was floating on air. I felt like a million bucks."
• In October 2011, Mary Combs of Columbia County, Georgia, got back something that she had never expected to see again: a $300 class ring that her mother had given her in 1985 and which had been lost for 16 years. The ring was Ms. Combs'Waynesboro High School ring, and Troy Pinson's father had found it while vacuuming a used truck that he had bought. Mr. Pinson decided to track down the ring's owner. The Columbia County News-Times published an article about the ring, and one of Ms. Combs' former classmates contacted her and she got in touch with Mr. Pinson. She said, "I was so shocked, and I was just so overwhelmed. I have been looking for it for years. I thought I'd never get it back." The ring has an orange topaz birthstone; the name "Mary" is on one side and the image of a cross is on the other. Long ago, Ms. Combs and her mother had gone to The Augusta (Georgia) Mall and designed the ring. Ms. Combs said, "I haven't told her yet, but when I do, I know she's going to have tears in her eyes. She's just going to be so grateful."
• In November 2011, Brian McGuinn of Margate, Florida, threw away a disposable razor. In doing so, he accidentally threw away his wife's $10,000, one-and-a-half-carat diamond engagement ring. Brian called this "the worst move of my life, horrible." His wife, Anna, said, "I just started crying, and I would stop crying and remind myself that jewelry is replaceable." Their trash had already been picked up, but Anna called Wheelabrator - their waste-management company - and Brian got ready to search more than eight tons of trash for the ring. The waste management company spread out the 10-foot-high pile of trash from their neighborhood to make it easier for him to search for the ring. Eventually, he did. Brian said, "Once I found it, I actually let out a manly scream!" Anna said, "It was covered in muck. He just slipped it right on my finger and promised to never touch it again." Brian said, "She's the love of my life. That ring was meant for her and no one else. She's everything to me."
• In January 2006 in Flint, Michigan, Fred Murray bought an inexpensive video camera at a Goodwill store. Inside the camera he found something of irreplaceable value: a 40-minute tape that contains footage of a just-born baby girl being weighed and measured, and then being held by her grandfather. It also contained footage of a family reunion. Knowing the videotape's sentimental value, Mr. Murray used clues in the videotape to track down its true owners: 1) In a pillow appeared the name of the hospital where the baby girl was born. 2) Nurses mentioned the date (Friday the 13th) and the baby's hospital ID number and weight. Mr. Murray returned the videotape to Sherry Ewing of Grand Blanc, Michigan. Ms. Ewing told him, "The only people who would have seen that tape would be family. So I guess you're family now." The baby girl in the videotape, who was 14 when the videotape was returned to her family, can now see the way she looked when she was just born.
• In December 2011 while riding a coach of the Massachusetts Bay Commuter Rail, Katelyn Peckham, age 25, lost a diamond engagement ring. She said, "I didn't realize it until I got to work. I sat here crying hysterically for a while. Then I went back and started running through trains asking people to help me look." Her co-workers at Conover Tuttle Pace used Twitter and Facebook to ask for help finding the lost ring. An employee of the MBCR saw the notice on social media and used an intercom to broadcast news about the lost ring. Quickly, conductor Thomas Booth found it. Mr. Peckham said, "I just can't even believe this happened. I'm so thankful. It's awesome people were willing to help and the conductors were so helpful." She added, "It was almost the worst day of my life."Hugh Kiley, General Manager of the Massachusetts Bay Commuter Rail, said, "It's the Miracle of North Station … it's just another example of a good deed done by an MBCR employee."
• "If the people cannot trust their government to do the job for which it exists - to protect them and to promote their common welfare - all else is lost." - President Barack Obama
***
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Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
JD is on vacation.
Visit JD's site - Kitty Litter Music
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Got side-tracked by the return of Grand Sumo.
Sells for $234,000 at Auction
'Butcher Cover' LP
A John Lennon-owned copy of the Beatles' infamous "butcher cover" version of Yesterday and Today, autographed by three members of the Fab Four, sold for $234,000 at a Beatles-themed auction this week.
The vinyl copy - autographed by Lennon, Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr and featuring a back cover sketch drawn by Lennon - was the centerpiece of Julien's Auctions' The Beatles in Liverpool auction, which featured over 300 items of Fab Four memorabilia.
"This was a world record for a Beatles Butcher cover and the third highest price paid for a vinyl," Darren Julien, CEO/President of Julien's Auctions, said in a statement. "The market is still developing so we anticipate in the next five years this same record could bring $500,000 plus."
According to Julien's Auctions, Lennon's copy of Yesterday and Today "was displayed on the wall of John's Dakota apartment in New York City before being signed and given to Beatles fan Dave Morrell, in a trade to obtain the reel-to-reel recording of Yellow Matter Custard that Morrell owned."
Other highlights from the auction included a baseball signed by all four Beatles at their final U.S. live performance at San Francisco's Candlestick Park ($75,000), a poster from Liverpool Airport announcing the "Visit of The Beatles" on July 10, 1964 signed by all four Beatles ($41,700) and an acoustic guitar with custom decoration signed by the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, the Who, Buddy Holly ($54,200).
'Butcher Cover' LP
'Jeopardy!' Champ
James Holzhauer
"Jeopardy!" champ James Holzhauer has won close to $1.7 million so far during his history-making run on the popular game show. And though his time in the spotlight isn't over yet - he will return May 20, after the show's teacher tournament - he's already given some of his winnings back to the community in Las Vegas, his hometown.
The Las Vegas-Clark County Library, the Las Vegas Natural History Museum and the Ronald McDonald House in Las Vegas told CNBC Make It that Holzhauer and his wife have donated significant funds to each institution.
He also gave the library a list of his favorite children's books, which he has said in past interviews are key to his success at trivia.
The Las Vegas Natural History Museum noted that half of the Holzhauers' $10,000 is designated for the Live Animal department, and the other half will go to the museum's Open Door program, which provides free admission to students from low-income areas.
The Las Vegas Ronald McDonald House said the Holzhauer's donation "is being put to good use supporting the parents and siblings of critically ill and injured children who are being treated in local hospitals," and that the amount is "similar" to what was given to the other two organizations.
James Holzhauer
Streaming Free All Weekend
Big Little Lies
Weekends are made for spending time with family, taking in the great outdoors and, if you're like me, spending time on the couch binging good television series. HBO has made that last option even better, making the entire first season of Big Little Lies available to watch for free on YouTube this weekend.
Big Little Lies, a miniseries based on a book of the same name, follows a group of close-knit friends in Monterey Bay, California as secrets unravel and deadly incidents occur. When a murder takes place, everyone in town becomes suspect. As more information comes to light, it's clear the circumstances surrounding the suspicious death are more dire than first thought.
The show garnered attention when it first debuted in 2017, mostly for its stellar A-list cast: Reese Witherspoon, Nicole Kidman, Shailene Woodley, Laura Dern, Zoë Kravitz, Adam Scott, and Alexander Skarsgård. It was an immediate success for the network, taking home multiple Golden Globes and Emmy awards, including for Best Miniseries.
The season is available to stream on HBO Now, as well, but for those who don't want to subscribe to the network's streaming service, this is the best way to catch up. HBO already does this with episodes of Last Week Tonight with John Oliver.
Big Little Lies
Daytime Talk Show Coming to an End
Steve Harvey
ET has learned that NBCU will no longer distribute the daytime talk show Steve after this season. The syndicated program will end its run in June, according to Variety.
Steve employees tearfully celebrated the final taping on Friday, sharing posts from their last day on social media, with Harvey retweeting a couple of them.
In January, Harvey implied that his talk show would be coming to an end. Speaking at the Variety Entertainment Summit, he said he didn't know if he was going to stay at the network with the arrival of Kelly Clarkson's new show.
"I thought I was, until they made an announcement a couple weeks ago that they wanted to give Kelly Clarkson the owned-and-operated NBC networks -- that's my slot," Harvey said. "I don't know if it sold, it's not selling like they thought, but I thought it would have been nice of them to come to me -- as the only dude who's survived [in daytime TV] for seven years -- about it."
Steve Harvey
SFPD Raids Journalist's Home
Bryan Carmody
The San Francisco Police Department reportedly raided the home of a journalist Friday after a police report on the death of Public Defender Jeff Adachi ended up in the hands of various news outlets.
A freelance videographer said he provided a few different news agencies a copy of the report which he obtained from a source.
Officers seized Bryan Carmody's computers, cell phones and other electronic devices from his home.
A GoFundMe page in support of Carmody was posted shortly after reports of the raid.
It states in part that, "Bryan was handcuffed the entire time - nearly 7 hours - while police executed their search warrant ... By confiscating the equipment and documents, SFPD has hampered Bryan's ability to exercise his constitutionally protected right to report the news, and threatened his ability to earn a living."
Bryan Carmody
World's Oceans
Radioactive Remnants
Radioactive carbon released into the atmosphere from nuclear bomb tests has reached the deepest parts of the ocean, a study has revealed.
Researchers found the first evidence of radioactive carbon from nuclear bomb testing in muscle tissues of crustaceans that inhabit Earth's ocean trenches, including the Mariana Trench, home to the deepest spot in the ocean.
Organisms at the ocean surface have incorporated "bomb carbon" into the molecules that make up their bodies since the late 1950s, the discovered.
The new study, published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters, found crustaceans in deep ocean trenches are feeding on organic matter from the organisms when it falls to the ocean floor.
The findings show human pollution can quickly enter the food web and make its way to the deep ocean, according to the study's authors.
Radioactive Remnants
Public Health Crisis?
Porn
More than a dozen states have moved to declare pornography a public health crisis, raising concerns among some experts who say the label goes too far and carries its own risks.
The Arizona Senate approved a resolution this week calling for a systemic effort to prevent exposure to porn that's increasingly accessible to younger kids online. At least one legislative chamber has adopted a similar resolution in 15 other states.
"It is an epidemic in our society, and this makes a statement that we have a problem," said Arizona Sen. Sylvia Allen, a Republican who blamed pornography for contributing to violence against women, sexual activity among teens and unintended pregnancies.
The Arizona resolution that passed Monday doesn't ban pornography or create any other legal changes, but it could signal future action. Similar declarations have been passed in GOP-controlled states ranging from Tennessee to Montana and been adopted in the Republican Party's national platform.
Several Arizona Democrats said the state has more important health threats to confront, such as measles, opioids, homelessness and suicide.
Porn
Global Shortage
Helium
Helium is an essential chemical element used in MRI scanners, rocket fuel tanks, and floating party balloons. It's also a finite natural resource, and a global shortage has made it harder to sell balloons at Party City, which is now closing 45 stores.
On Thursday, the party supply retail chain announced plans to shut down about five percent of its stores across the country this year, attributing some of its first quarter financial losses to "helium challenges." In a statement, CEO James Harrison said the company usually closes 10 to 15 stores a year. And for a company whose success is strongly tied to the emblem of a traditional party-the humble balloon-being unable to provide ones that can float presents a serious problem.
In a post on its website, Party City offers some of creative hacks for decorating with helium-free balloons. "You can create a balloon arch or balloon wall with latex and foil balloons as seen below," the company writes, "no need for helium; just some tape and creativity."
For those who don't get the same jubilant satisfaction taping a balloon to the wall as they do seeing one hover (and eventually collect dust in a corner), the current helium shortage and the subsequent closure of a bunch of Party City locations is probably a bummer. But it's also pretty devastating for a number of non-party related fields that depend on the inert gas, like the scientific and medical communities.
"Industry and scientists are going to be really creative," Phil Kornbluth, a helium industry consultant, told National Geographic last year. "If we get to the point where we just can't keep up with demand, either prices will go up to create new incentives to find more, or we're going to develop substitute technologies that don't rely on helium."
Helium
First Moon Landing
NASA
Mission control might never have witnessed Neil Armstrong take his first steps on the moon if it weren't for the vision of men like Eugene Shoemaker. Geologists Ivo Luccitta and Jerry Schaber say Shoemaker, who was their boss and a top gun at the U.S. Geological Survey, made a lot of stuff happen on that historic mission.
Originally, NASA didn't want to televise the iconic moment, they said.
"We worked very hard here to use television in our field exercises and show them how valuable it was," Luccitta said.
"They didn't want to take a rock hammer. They didn't want to take anything that … could hurt their suit and poke a hole in their suit. They didn't want us to even photograph the rocks," Schaber said.
According to Eugene Shoemaker's widow, Carolyn, Shoemaker would tell people at NASA there was no point in going to the moon unless you were going to do some science while there. And Carolyn knows a thing or two about heavenly bodies. She helped discover a comet that broke apart in 1994 and crash-landed on Jupiter.
NASA
In Memory
Peggy Lipton
Peggy Lipton, the Golden Globe-winning actress best known for her roles in The Mod Squad and Twin Peaks, has died at the age of 72.
Lipton's daughters, Kidada and Rashida Jones, announced her death in a statement to the Los Angeles Times: "She made her journey peacefully with her daughters and nieces by her side. We feel so lucky for every moment we spent with her."
After modeling throughout her teenage years, Lipton began acting at the age of 19. Within two years, she landed a starring role on the counterculture police series The Mod Squad. As the flower child Julie Barnes, Lipton quickly became a favorite among fans and critics alike. She received four Emmy nominations and won the Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Drama, and the show's success afforded Lipton with the opportunity to record music. Her covers of "Stoney End" and "Lu" by Laura Nyro and "Wear Your Love Like Heaven" by Donovan all charted on Billboard.
In 1974, Lipton married record producer Quincy Jones. Together, the couple had two children, Kidada and Rashida, both of whom would follow in their mother's footsteps and become actresses. Rashida, in particular, is best known for her roles in The Office and Parks and Recreation.
As she raised her daughters, Lipton largely retired from acting - with the exception being a Mod Squad TV movie in 1979. However, following her divorce from Jones, Lipton was cast in David Lynch's Twin Peaks.
Lipton played Norma Jennings, the owner of Double R Diner, in the show's initial two-season run on television, in the 1992 feature film Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me, and in the 2017 Showtime revival, Twin Peaks: The Return.
Peggy Lipton
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