Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Oops - here's yesterday's 'from Bruce' - Saturday
Paul Waldman: The wall of concealment Trump built around his finances is beginning to crumble (Washington Post)
In both the federal cases, Trump's attorneys attempted to argue that Congress has no right to demand these kinds of records or even investigate the president at all, claims the judges found almost laughable. "The court concludes that the plaintiffs have not raised any serious questions," the judge in one case wrote. "It is simply not fathomable," the judge in the other case said, "that a Constitution that grants Congress the power to remove a President for reasons including criminal behavior would deny Congress the power to investigate him for unlawful conduct - past or present."
Paul Krugman: Trump Tantrums Dems Out of a Trap (NY Times Blog)
Build he won't, and that's a good thing.
Mary Beard: The end of Mrs May and the end of Nero (TLS)
The point that Suetonius was trying to make was that the end of power is simple: it's when your people just aren't there any more. I thought the same [recently] when I saw that the Tory grandees just didn't turn up to PMQs. It's not nights of the long knives that kill a leader, it's the absence of your supporters. Mrs May will not be forced to the sword, but the mechanism of political dethronement are still much the same. They desert you.
Mary Beard: Gifford Lectures round two (TLS)
I started the series with wondering how an average Roman bloke, who loved his wife and kids and was kind to his pets could have sat all day in the Colosseum watching animals and people destroyed in front of him.
Michael Dirda: Who art thou, Shakespeare? (Washington Post)
In "How the Classics Made Shakespeare," Jonathan Bate - provost of Worcester College, Oxford, as well as a scholar of remarkable industry - probes what one might call the Ovidian, Virgilian, Horatian, Ciceronian, Plutarchan and Senecan undergirdings to the many Shakespearean works with strong classical associations.
Andrew Tobias: "I Don't Do Coverups"
Trump has tweeted "The Democrats are getting ZERO work done in Congress. All they are focused on is … the witch hunt." Yet since regaining the gavels this past January … House Democrats passed the Equality Act. House Democrats passed a package of bills to protect people's access to health care and help make prescription drugs more affordable. House Democrats passed a disaster relief bill. House Democrats passed a bill to restore net neutrality. House Democrats passed the Climate Action Now Act to take action to protect our climate and create economic opportunities. House Democrats reauthorized and expanded the Violence Against Women Act. House Democrats passed legislation to require background checks for all gun sales. House Democrats passed legislation to help close the gender pay gap. House Democrats passed historic anti-corruption reform and provisions to strengthen our election systems. All that's blocking their adoption are the Republican-controlled Senate and Trump.
And here's today's - Sunday
Marc Dion: The Egg and I (Creators Syndicate)
I've been Trumped, obstructed, Korea-ed, Iran-ed, Alabama-ed and Mueller-ed nearly to death in the last few months, just like any newspaper columnist whose weekly column isn't titled "Gardening Tips From Rose" or "Church Doings." I've spent 36 years in the Trade of Despair, as I call what some people call journalism, and I've sounded the alarm so much that my bugle is broken. Still …
Ted Rall: Why Joe Biden Is the Least Electable Democrat (Creators Syndicate)
As one of the few pundits who correctly called the 2016 election for Donald Trump, it would be wise to rest on my laurels rather than risk another prediction, one that might turn out wrong. But how would that be fun? Let the 2020 political prognostications begin!
Mark Shields: "Remember: American Politics Is Very Imitative" (Creators Syndicate)
Baseless charges and unfounded accusations of treason were Joe McCarthy's M.O. Nobody was ever arrested for treason. The guilt of no alleged spy was ever confirmed, but dozens of would-be Joe McCarthys ran as his disciples and imitators across the country, and too many won ruining the lives of American citizens with vicious unsubstantiated charges. McCarthy made cowards of all but a handful of U.S. senators. Sound a little familiar to America 2019?
Lenore Skenazy: The One Place Kids Still Play Outside (Creators Syndicate)
Most of us remember playing outside till the streetlights came on, but our kids can't because of (fill in the blank) crime, creeps, traffic, tennis lessons, homework, no one else outside, all of the above. Except at RV parks (and probably at regular campgrounds, too, but I haven't been to those). Park your camper, open the door and spill out the kids. They run around like it's the Sputnik era. But if they were "safe" back home, chances are they'd be inside - or, at best, supervised at soccer.
Susan Estrich: You, Too? CEOs Under the 'Me Too' Microscope (Creators Syndicate)
It's hard enough dealing with sexual misconduct by senior officials. But when the CEO is an alleged pig, much less one who is surrounded by like-minded figures, who do you complain to? There is a very simple reason why (pick your favorite) got away with the worst kind of misconduct for decades and decades. The reason is not - is never - that no one knew.
Froma Harrop: A Cap on Interest Rates Charged Consumers? Yes (Creators Syndicate)
Of course, pauperizing a large portion of our low-skilled workforce can't be helping the economy, never mind the human cost. Face it, payday lending, and the politicians who protect it, are a blight on America's moral standing. Honestly, I don't know how some people sleep at night.
Connie Schultz: Welcome to the Dystopia of Alabama (Creators Syndicate)
[…] the Alabama state legislature passed the harshest anti-abortion bill in the U.S., with no exceptions for rape or incest. Say that out loud, and then try to come up with a scenario where that sounds OK. In Alabama, we already know how that scenario plays out. A bunch of Republican legislators had the chance to imagine what it would be like to be a 14-year-old girl raped by her father and then forced to deliver a child that will remind her of that trauma every day of her life. They were just fine with that.
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Presenting
Michael Egan
answered:
has returned to semi-retired status.
In memory.
Reader Suggestion
Michelle in AZ
Reader Comment
Coastal Towns
I found this both interesting and sad.
Fighting Rising Tides, Coastal Towns Turn To Humble Oysters To Save Their Land And Their Culture
My dog earned his Rally Novice obedience title today, with a 3rd place finish. Tomorrow we return for (I hope) a leg towards his Intermediate Rally title. The judge told us that, as rank amateurs and beginners, our dogs scored an average of 20 points more than the experienced handlers/dogs, and was chuffed by our enthusiasm. High praise, indeed. You bet we'll keep going. It's fun - in a different way than riding our bikes - and more importantly, our dogs like it. My motto extends to them: If it isn't fun, it won't be done. It was a really satisfying aside from our usual "OMG, what's happening with the Orange Imposter?" concerns.
Deborah
Thanks, Deborah!
from Bruce
Anecdotes
• Hans Pfitzner, composer of the opera Palestrina, went to a German town for an event and stayed in a small hotel. He got up early and started composing, but at 7:30 a.m. workers began to break up with a drill the street outside his hotel room. Mr. Pfitzner opened his window and shouted, "Quiet! Pfitzner lives here!" Mr. Pfitzner once asked the young Hans Hotter to sing, with himself as the accompanist, some of Mr. Pfitzner's songs and some ballads by Carl Loewe. Mr. Pfitzner asked Mr. Hotter to choose the songs by Mr. Loewe that he would sing, and Mr. Hotter chose some ballads that Mr. Pfitzner had orchestrated, thinking that his choices would please him. However, Mr. Pfitzner said to him after seeing a particular Loewe ballad he had selected ("Odin's Meeres-Ritt"), "Are you crazy? I am not [noted German pianist Wilhelm] Backhaus! I cannot play this!" Of course, Mr. Hotter immediately said that he need not sing that particular song, but Mr. Pfitzner said, "No. It's in the program. I asked you to choose [the ballads] and you have made this mess for me, and now I have to cope with it. See you tomorrow at 9 o'clock." Mr. Pfitzner worked both hard and quickly and the next day played the difficult passage in "Odin's Meeres-Ritt." Mr. Hotter said, "Fabulous!" Mr. Pfitzner replied, "Isn't it!" Mr. Hotter said much later, "He was so happy. He was in a better mood then than I ever saw him." Mr. Hotter was also impressed that such an accomplished composer had gone through so much trouble for a young singer. By the way, Mr. Hotter once complained to Matthäus Roemer, his singing teacher, "What annoys me is that people say, 'Of course, it's so easy for you!'" Mr. Roemer replied, "You should take that as the highest praise. It is nobody's d*mn business to know how much effort it took you to sound so natural."
• When Count Basie put together his 15-piece Count Basie Orchestra, it took time for the band to jell. They were playing at the Grand Terrace in Chicago, and they were supposed to play a score that the ballroom provided. Unfortunately, many of the musicians in the band could not read music, and they were forced to fake it. Trumpet player Buck Clayton said, "We had to do the best we could, which was nothing. We abused that show every night we were there." Fortunately, bandleader, composer, and arranger Fletcher Henderson saw the show, realized the musicians were struggling, and helped them. He lent Count Basie his own arrangements for the show, and he helped coach the musicians on how to play his arrangements. Count Basie said, "He was the only bandleader in the business who ever went out of his way to help me. Without his help, we would have been lost." Of course, the band soon jelled and became famous, and Count Basie helped other musicians, including a young Quincy Jones, whom he had met when young Quincy snuck backstage at a show by carrying under his arm a music instrument case - which was empty. Years later, Count Basie tried some of an older Quincy's arrangements and liked them very much - and got popular records out of them. Of course, Count Basie learned a lot making music in St. Louis, Missouri, where musicians played hours and hours, including hours and hours after the show ended. One song could last a very long time. Pianist Sammy Price remembered those long jam sessions: He played, and then he left for three hours. When he returned, he said, "They were playing the same song."
• Serge Chaloff played baritone saxophone for Woody Herman's jazz band. He could be very wild and crazy. For example, he once practiced shooting at a target with a pistol in his hotel room and did some serious damage to a door, which he was forced to pay for. Having paid for the door, he insisted that it was his, and he took it off its hinges and got help carrying it to the band bus. He was also addicted to illegal drugs and was a bad influence on other members of the band. Mr. Herman decided to fire him, but Mr. Chaloff did not want to be fired because he needed a salary to support his drug habit. So shortly after he was fired, he invited Mr. Herman to look through a window and tell him what he saw. He saw a river. Mr. Chaloff asked him to look more closely, and Mr. Herman said that he saw some litter floating in the river. Mr. Chaloff then said, "That litter is the band's baritone book. Now you can't fire me because I'm the only person in the world who knows the book by heart." It took Mr. Herman another six months to fire Mr. Chaloff. When he did fire him, it was in a very crowded bar, and Mr. Herman remembered something that Joe Venuti had done to a person he did not like, and so Mr. Herman peed down Mr. Chaloff's leg. Later, Mr. Herman told Mr. Venuti what he had done, and Mr. Venuti became upset: "Woody, you can't do things like that! I can do things like that, but you can't! You're a gentleman! It's all right for me, but not you!"
• Some people greatly respect music. Franz Liszt once was disturbed by two women who talked while he was playing during a concert. He stopped playing, walked over to the women, and said to them, "Pray do not let me disturb your conversation by my playing." The two women stopped talking, Mr. Liszt returned to the piano, and he began playing again. By the way, when opera singer Clara Doria was in Italy during the second half of the 19thcentury, tickets to the opera were inexpensive, and many working-class Italians attended many productions and knew opera well. Rosamond, Clara's sister who also sang opera, was practicing at home while an Italian workman repaired a lock. The Italian workman listened as he worked, and occasionally would nod and say, "Bene, benissimo!" This surprised Ms. Doria, but such scenes of evidence of working-class Italians' love and knowledge of opera repeated themselves and soon she grew accustomed to them.
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So many quotable lines in Mommie Dearest--
Bring me the ax!
--Don't f**k with me, fellas!
LOVE that movie (and Joan)!
Linda >^..^<
We are all only temporarily able bodied.
Thanks, Linda!
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Former Manager Arrested
Stan Lee
A former business manager of Stan Lee was arrested Saturday on elder abuse charges involving the late comic book legend.
Keya Morgan was taken into custody in Arizona on an outstanding arrest warrant after being charged by Los Angeles County prosecutors earlier this month.
Morgan faces felony charges including theft, embezzlement, forgery or fraud against an elder adult, and false imprisonment of an elder adult. A misdemeanor count also alleges elder abuse.
Police say Morgan pocketed more than $262,000 from autograph signing sessions Lee did in May 2018. Authorities say Morgan at one point also took Lee from his Hollywood Hills home to a Beverly Hills condominium "where Morgan had more control over Lee."
Lee's daughter said in a request for a restraining order last year that Morgan was manipulating the mentally declining Lee, preventing him from seeing family and friends, and trying to take control of his money and business affairs.
Stan Lee
Leaves 'The Voice'
Adam Levine
On May 10, NBC officially announced that all four of The Voice 's most recent coaches - Blake Shelton, Kelly Clarkson, John Legend, and Adam Levine - would return for Season 17 in the fall. However, on Friday morning it was abruptly announced that Levine, who has coached on every season without a break since the series premiered in 2011, will not be returning this year after all. Shelton revealed on Twitter that he only learned about Levine's departure a day earlier.
It's not totally clear right now whether Levine is off the show for good, or if - like his fellow original coach Christina Aguilera, who took time off after Season 3 but then appeared on three more non-consecutive seasons - he may be back one day. But in a 2017 Yahoo Entertainment interview, when asked if he'd ever take a temporary hiatus from The Voice, Levine bluntly answered, "I will tell you this much: I will never take a season off. If I take a season off, it will be for every season thereafter, in perpetuity, for the rest of my life."
And Levine's Friday announcement on Instagram, while positive, thankful, and eloquently worded, definitely has a sense of finality to it. Along with bidding farewell to every single person he's worked with - singling out "BLAKE F***IN' SHELTON," whom he calls his "brother for life" - he says it is "time to move on" and signs off with, "I am truly honored to have been a part of something I'll always cherish for the rest of my life."
It had become abundantly clear from his attitude that Levine, whose last victory on The Voice was with Jordan Smith in Season 9, no longer seemed happy to be on the show. His once-adorable banter with Shelton had become testy and sometimes downright nasty, and after he threw his Season 15 contestant DeAndre Nico under the bus on the most bizarre Voice episode ever, diehard viewers were rallying for him to be fired. The backlash and Levine's waning popularity as a coach became especially evident during this just-wrapped season (which culminated in the series' lowest-rated finale ever): After the public vote, most of his team was wiped out during the Cross-Battles and was entirely eliminated in the top 13 week, leaving him with no contestants at all during last two weeks of the competition.
Adam Levine
Posters Removed
Morrissey
Morrissey posters promoting his latest album have been taken down at railway stations to avoid offending passengers.
The outspoken 60-year-old singer has previously expressed support for the far-right For Britain party and appeared on television wearing a badge bearing its logo.
Liverpool rail network Merseyrail have taken down posters for Morrissey's California Son album after a commuter on a Southport service to Moorfields contacted the company to ask if it agreed with Morrissey's far-right views, the BBC reported.
In a statement, Merseyrail said: "Any content used within advertising on the Merseyrail network does not reflect the organisation's values and we apologise for any offence the publication of these posters may have caused."
Earlier this week Spillers Records in Cardiff - the world's oldest record shop -announced it would no longer sell the The More You Ignore Me... singer's records.
Morrissey
Abraham Lincoln
Jon Voight
Jon Voight has taken to Twitter to heap praise on Don-Old Trump (R-Corrupt), calling the current President Of The United States the greatest leader of the country since Abraham Lincoln.
The Academy Award winning star of 1978's Coming Home took to Twitter for just the 16th and 17th time on Friday to "tell you the truth," before then declaring, "President Trump is the greatest president since Abraham Lincoln."
Voight insisted that Trump's "job is not easy" as he has to do battle with "the left and their absurd words of destruction." Ultimately, in Voight's opinion, the former reality TV star has made America "strong, safer and with more jobs" before asserting that he "has made his every move correct."
After warning viewers not to be "fooled by the political left," Voight then declared, "We are the people of this nation that is witnessing triumph. So let us stand with our president, let us stand up for this truth: President Trump is the greatest president since Abraham Lincoln. God bless America. And may God continue to guide this nation. Much love."
Jon Voight
Police Chief Calls For Probe
San Francisco
In an extraordinary move that capped two weeks of growing outrage sparked by the court-sanctioned San Francisco police raid of a reporter's home, the city's police chief, William Scott, on Friday night acknowledged for the first time that the raid may have violated California state law and called for an outside, independent investigation into his own department.
"Over the last 48 hours, I conducted a top-to-bottom review of San Francisco Police Department's criminal investigation into the unauthorized release of the Jeff Adachi police report," Scott wrote in a statement released Friday evening. "At the request of San Francisco Mayor London Breed, we are seeking an independent, impartial investigation by a separate investigatory body."
"I am specifically concerned by a lack of due diligence by department investigators in seeking search warrants and appropriately addressing Mr. Carmody's status as a member of the news media," Scott said in the statement.
California's shield law protects journalists from being forced to reveal their sources or be compelled to turn over unpublished reporting -- including notes, recordings and pictures. The law explicitly bars police from obtaining a reporter's sometimes highly-sensitive newsgathering through searches.
Despite this, a judge signed off on the warrant prior to the raid, though it remains unclear if the judge was aware at the time that the target of the raid was a journalist.
San Francisco
Uses Stolen NSA Tool
Ransomware Attacks
The ransomware attacks in Baltimore and other US cities appear to have a common thread: they're using NSA tools on the agency's home soil. In-the-know security experts talking to the New York Times said the malware in the cyberattacks is using the NSA's stolen EternalBlue as a "key component," much like WannaCry and NotPetya. While the full list of affected cities isn't available, San Antonio and the Pennsylvania city of Allentown have reportedly been victims of EternalBlue-based campaigns.
Microsoft has issued fixes for affected Windows version after the NSA disclosed the long-secret vulnerabilities. However, these attacks frequently succeed due to fragmented local governments that tend to be cautious about upgrades. In addition to using a mishmash of software and configurations that complicates updates, cities may be hesitant to patch or upgrade their software due to compatibility concerns and tight budgets.
And unfortunately, the NSA isn't likely to help. While it helped Microsoft patch the security hole after EternalBlue became public in 2017, it has so far turned down discussion of the flaw and hasn't even acknowledged that the code loss took place. The NSA and FBI have declined to comment on the new revelations.
Whatever its involvement, incidents like Baltimore's highlight a problem with the NSA and other intelligence agencies hoarding exploits. The practice only works so long as officials have total control over vulnerabilities and the matching hacking tools. If data for either gets out, they effectively give criminals and foreign spies an advantage over an unprepared public. And when these exploits seldom discriminate between countries, they can cause plenty of damage at home.
Ransomware Attacks
Priciest Medicine Ever
Zolgensma
U.S. regulators have approved the most expensive medicine ever, for a rare disorder that destroys a baby's muscle control and kills nearly all of those with the most common type of the disease within a couple of years.
The treatment is priced at $2.125 million. Out-of-pocket costs for patients will vary based on insurance coverage.
The medicine, sold by the Swiss drugmaker Novartis, is a gene therapy that treats an inherited condition called spinal muscular atrophy. The treatment targets a defective gene that weakens a child's muscles so dramatically that they become unable to move, and eventually unable to swallow or breathe. It strikes about 400 babies born in the U.S. each year.
The Food and Drug Administration on Friday approved the treatment, called Zolgensma, for all children under age 2 who are confirmed by a genetic test to have any of the four types of the disease. The therapy is a one-time infusion that takes about an hour.
Novartis said it will let insurers make payments over five years, at $425,000 per year, and will give partial rebates if the treatment doesn't work.
Zolgensma
Snowiest May Ever
Mammoth Mountain
After receiving a record amount of snow for May, Mammoth Mountain on Friday announced it would be extending its ski and snowboard season into August.
Only two previous seasons have lasted into August - in 2017 and 1995 - according to Mammoth Snowman, a site that tracks resort news.
With one week left in the month, Mammoth has already received 29 inches of snow, the most ever recorded in the month of May. The total beats the previous record of 28 inches, set in May 2015.
More fresh powder is expected in the coming days, as the resort anticipates snow each day of the long holiday weekend, including 6 to 12 inches on Sunday, according to Mammoth's website.
For the season, Mammoth has received 489 inches of snow at Main Lodge and a whopping 715 inches at the summit.
Mammoth Mountain
Has Been Mapped
Geometry of an Electron
If you've ever opened a science textbook, you've probably seen a picture of an atom, with a cluster of protons and neutrons making up its nucleus, around which whirls a swarm of electrons. But you also probably know that all these particles aren't shaped like neat little spheres, as usually depicted.
As far as we know, electrons don't actually have a 'shape' per se - rather, they are either point particles or they are behaving like a wave, which changes shape depending on its energy. Now, for the first time, physicists have revealed the mapping of a single electron in an artificial atom.
The technique involves the use of quantum dots, tiny semiconducting crystals on nanometre scales. You may have heard of quantum dot display technology, such as QLED televisions, but they're useful for a lot more than watching Avengers in high definition.
They are also referred to as artificial atoms because they can basically trap electrons and confine their movement in three dimensions, holding them in place with electric fields. These trapped electrons behave like electrons bound to an atom, and remain in specific locations.
Using a spectroscope, the researchers were able to determine the energy levels in a quantum dot, observing how they behave in magnetic fields of varying strength and orientation.
Geometry of an Electron
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