Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Josh Marshall: We've Got a Problem. A Big Problem. (TPM)
Over the course of 16+ months, President Trump has acted consistently and with some success to destabilize and break up the western alliance (both its formal manifestation in NATO) but also its less formal dimensions in trade and other partnerships. He has also worked consistently on really every front to advance the interests of Russia.
Marc Dion: God Bless Wherever (Creators Syndicate)
I really believe President Donald Trump, big-brained, many-worded upholder of the Bible and the flag, could forget the words to "99 Bottles of Beer On The Wall." After all, he forgets he's married from time to time. Hello, Stormy? President Elvis is waiting in the jungle room.
Lenore Skenazy: The Sex Traffic Panic (Creators Syndicate)
When yet another post from another mom took off in Denver, local news outlets had to run stories reassuring parents that there had been no legitimate sex trafficking reports in the area. The Littleton Independent also informed people that an earlier story about a man kidnapping a child in front of the local library turned out to be about a guy moving a stroller out of the way so he could get to his car.
Froma Harrop: "Roseanne, Bee, the Eagles: What About Whataboutism?" (Creators Syndicate)
It happens that whataboutism was a specialty of Soviet propaganda. Talk about the Russians' murder of dissidents and Russians would change the subject to the history of black lynching in America. With Russians and Trump seemingly on the same team, one could envision Russian trolls providing new what-about arguments in the president's service. For all we know, they may already be at it.
Froma Harrop: Immigration Policy Both Nasty and Ineffectual (Creators Syndicate)
Every semi-informed American knows that the vast majority of undocumented immigrants come for jobs. And there's a proven system in place that greatly weakens the job magnet. It's called E-Verify, basically a database that lets employers easily check whether a prospective new hire may legally work in this country.
Ted Rall: Why Blended Primaries are an Assault on Democracy (Creators Syndicate)
California's "jungle primary" system, in which the two candidates who win the most votes advance to the general election in November regardless of their party affiliation, might have resulted in several bizarre outcomes. Look out: given the state's role as a political trendsetter, this weirdness could go national someday.
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Presenting
Michael Egan
answered:
has returned to semi-retired status.
In memory.
Reader Suggestion
Michelle in AZ
Reader Comment
Current Events
The late (if only) Predator
Cynthia shared the link below with great coverage of Predator's late arrival to the gender equality breakfast this morning. My comment--He's just a walking affront (when he's not having to sit his tired ass down--as in the picture of the G-7 where Merkel is staring him down)and an insult to everything that breathes!
Bonus Links
Jeannie the Teed-Off Temp
from Marc Perkel
Marc's Guide to Curing Cancer
So far so good on beating cancer for now. I'm doing fine. At the end of the month I'll be 16 months into an 8 month mean lifespan. And yesterday I went on a 7 mile hike and managed to keep up with the hiking group I was with. So, doing something right.
Still waiting for future test results and should see things headed in the right direction. I can say that it's not likely that anything dire happens in the short term so that means that I should have time to make several more attempts at this. So even if it doesn't work the first time there are a lot of variations to try. So if there's bad news it will help me pick the next radiation target.
I have written a "how to" guide for oncologists to perform the treatment that I got. I'm convinced that I'm definitely onto something and whether it works for me or not isn't the definitive test. I know if other people tried this that it would work for some of them, and if they improve it that it will work for a lot of them.
The guide is quite detailed and any doctor reading this can understand the procedure at every level. I also go into detail as to how it works, how I figured it out, and variations and improvements that could be tried to enhance it. I also introduce new ways to look at the problem. There is a lot of room for improvement and I think that doctors reading it will see what I'm talking about and want to build on it. And it's written so that if you're not a doctor you can still follow it. It also has a personal story revealing that I'm the class clown of cancer support group. I give great interviews and I look pretty hot in a lab coat.
So, feel free to read this and see what I'm talking about. But if any of you want to help then pass this around to both doctors and cancer patients. I need some media coverage. I'm looking for as many eyeballs as possible to read these ideas. Even if this isn't the solution, it's definitely on the right track. After all, I did hike 7 miles yesterday. And this hiking group wasn't moving slow. So if this isn't working then, why am I still here?
I also see curing cancer as more of an engineering problem that a medical problem. So if you are good at solving problems and most of what you know about medicine was watching the Dr. House MD TV show, then you're at the level I was at when I started. So anyone can jump in and be part of the solution.
Here is a link to my guide: Oncologists Guide to Curing Cancer using Abscopal Effect
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
"FOR TRUMP AND PUTIN THAT IS VICTORY."
BRAINWASHING.
A FAMILY CONDITION.
SCHOOL ZONE.
Visit JD's site - Kitty Litter Music
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Hot, windy and dry.
Queen Honours
Emma Thompson
Actress Emma Thompson and football legend Kenny Dalglish were on Friday named in Queen Elizabeth II's honours list, but survivors and emergency responders to the Grenfell Tower disaster were notably absent as the first anniversary of the fire approaches.
Oscar-winner Thompson, famed for her roles in "Harry Potter" and "The Remains of the Day", has been granted the title of Dame in the annual roll call of the great and the good of British society.
The 59-year-old -- described in the official citation of the honours committee as one of the UK's most versatile and celebrated actresses -- is joined by actors Tom Hardy and Keira Knightley, who received the Order of the British Empire "for services to drama".
War correspondent Kate Adie, Sister Imelda Poole, president of European anti-trafficking network Renate, and former World War II nurse Rosemary Powell, who at 103 is the oldest on the list, are among the women to be honoured.
Twenty-year-old alpine skier Menna Fitzpatrick, Britain's most successful winter Paralympian, is the youngest on this year's list.
Emma Thompson
Leaving Disney
John Lasseter
John Lasseter, head of animation for Disney and Pixar, said Friday that he will be stepping down from the entertainment conglomerate following allegations of sexual misconduct.
The animation titan went on a leave of absence in November 2017 after several people accused Lasseter of frequently "grabbing," "kissing" and "making comments about physical attributes" during company events.
"The last six months have provided an opportunity to reflect on my life, career and personal priorities," Lasseter said in a statement released by Disney, according to USA Today. "While I remain dedicated to the art of animation and inspired by the creative talent at Pixar and Disney, I have decided the end of this year is the right time to begin focusing on new creative challenges."
News of Lasseter's exit comes less than a month after Disney was reportedly weighing whether and how to reintegrate him following the allegations.
Lasseter made his directorial debut with 1995's "Toy Story" and has produced nearly every Pixar feature since "Monsters, Inc." in 2001. He is also responsible for creating Luxo Jr., Pixar's iconic desk lamp mascot.
John Lasseter
Grateful For Bourdain
North Dakota
A North Dakota newspaper columnist who received online vitriol in 2012 for her glowing review of an Olive Garden in Grand Forks said Saturday she was grateful that Anthony Bourdain came to her defense as others ridiculed her prose about the town's hottest new Italian restaurant.
Marilyn Hagerty catapulted to internet fame after her Olive Garden review, in which she marveled about the chain restaurant's chicken Alfredo, crisp greens and "two long, warm breadsticks." Then, she learned what it's like to go viral.
Bourdain, who died Friday in France in an apparent suicide at age 61, was among those who stood up for her on Twitter. The celebrity chef and TV host asked to meet her for coffee while she was on a media tour in New York, and he ended up publishing a book of her columns, "Grand Forks: A History of American Dining in 128 Reviews."
In the foreword, Bourdain wrote: "Anyone who comes away from this work anything less than charmed by Ms. Hagerty - and the places and characters she describes - has a heart of stone. This book kills snark dead."
Hagerty, who's 92, said she enjoyed meeting Bourdain, whom she described as "handsome." She said they talked for a couple of hours about her life, North Dakota and a birthday party he held for his daughter, who was 5 at the time.
North Dakota
Scene They Had To Cut
Sex and the City
The producers of Sex and the City could only recall two times HBO censored their content over the course of six seasons, but one of them was a "horrifying" moment involving a golden retriever, according to producer-writer Amy B. Harris.
Season 1 episode "The Monogamists" was a fairly tame storyline, considering everything else the writers went on to tackle. Charlotte (Kristin Davis) was seeing a man named Michael (Jack Koenig), who always had a golden retriever named Butterscotch hanging around him. Their relationship turned sour when Michael kept pushing Charlotte's head down to give him a blowjob.
"In the final scene, she basically let him have it about being offended by his insistence on just wanting a blow job," Sex and the City creator Darren Star told Vanity Fair of this moment. "She accused him of only liking her for that and kind of stormed out."
That's how it ends in the episode that first aired in 1998, but there was apparently more to the scene. "And then she walked back in and saw that his golden retriever was going down on him," Star revealed.
"It's sort of horrifying that we shot that," Harris remarked. "We shot him putting peanut butter on his penis, and Charlotte walks back in like, 'Oh, I'm being unreasonable,' and then she sees that. … I can't believe we even thought about doing it."
Sex and the City
Repeats False Claim Lies AgainT-rump
In a lengthy, unprompted question-and-answer session with reporters on Friday morning, President Trump again pointed his finger at Democrats for a series of recent cases in which migrant children were taken from their parents following illegal border crossings.
"I don't like the children being separated from the parents. I don't like it. I hate it, but that's a Democrat bill that we're enforcing. We can change it in one day. All they have to do is come and see us," Trump said.
In fact, the spate of child separations are the result of recent Trump administration policy. There is no law that orders parents and children to be separated after illegal border crossings, and Democrats have never pushed for such a policy.
Friday's remarks were not the first time Trump has tried to blame the opposing party for children being taken from their parents at the border.
The White House did not respond to a request of clarification on what Trump was referring to when he blamed the familial separations on Democrats. In his comments, Trump seemed to connect the issue with the failure to reach a larger deal with Democrats on immigration reform.
T-rump
Can Keep New Zealand Ranch
Matt Lauer
Former "Today" show host Matt Lauer can keep a lakeside ranch in New Zealand after authorities there concluded Friday there wasn't enough evidence he'd breached a "good character" condition.
Lauer has been accused of sexual misconduct by at least three women and was fired from NBC last November.
His termination triggered an investigation by New Zealand authorities, who require foreign buyers of important assets to be of good character. The provision is broad and includes criminal convictions as well as anything else that authorities decide reflects poorly on an owner's integrity.
Lauer last year purchased a lease for the Hunter Valley Station, a 10,750 hectare (26,500 acre) farm near the ski resort of Queenstown which advertising material described as a "truly majestic setting," which adjoins a UNESCO World Heritage site.
The property includes a five-bedroom lakefront homestead as well as several huts, about 13,000 cattle and merino sheep, and runs alongside a river that's filled with trout and salmon.
Matt Lauer
Ancient Black Death Victims
Russia
Two skeletons buried in a 3,800-year-old shared grave show signs of the bubonic plague that spread throughout Europe in the 14th century, killing up to 200 million people.
Despite its significance in shaping human history, the origin of the plague remains shrouded in mystery - but the new discovery has pushed its age back by at least 1,000 years.
Examination of remains discovered in the Samara region of Russiarevealed that both were infected by the same kind of bacteria that ravaged medieval Europe.
The microbe in question, Yersinia pestis, had all the hallmarks of a disease that was able to spread rapidly and reach pandemic proportions.
Although Bronze Age samples have previously been discovered with evidence of infection by similar microbes, those did not have the pandemic potential of microbes found in the Russian specimens.
Russia
Archaeologists Find
Peru
A group of archaeologists has discovered the remains of more than 50 children who were ritually sacrificed by the pre-Columbian Chimu culture on the northern coast of what is now Peru.
The site is located a close to another where evidence of the biggest-ever sacrifice of children was found, with more than 140 youngsters were slain. But the most recent discovery may be even bigger.
The new sacrifice site was discovered in the Pamapa La Cruz area in Huanchaco, a coastal district of Trujillo, Peru's third-largest city.
Prieto said that the remains of the children, who were aged between six and 14, were found in early May wrapped in cotton shrouds facing the sea, a kilometer (less than a mile) north of Huanchaquito.
"The interesting thing is that they were sacrificed with a cut in the sternum and display opened ribs like in Huanchaquito," which reinforces the idea that "Huanchaco was a place where massive sacrifices of children were made during the Chimu culture," he said.
Peru
Recognise Their Friends
Dolphins
Male dolphins use "names" to identify their friends and rivals, researchers have found.
A study of 17 adult male bottlenose dolphins in Shark Bay, Western Australia, found they are the only animals apart from humans that give a name to members in their social circle.
Lead researcher Stephanie King, of the Centre of Evolutionary Biology at the University of Western Australia, said using individual names allowed male dolphins to track co-operative partners and competitors and form strong bonds with one another.
Scientists recorded the dolphins' chatter to identify individual males then checked to see if they all used a unique "word" call when communicating with other males about a dolphin with which they shared a relationship.
The finding is unusual as groups of animals usually make just their calls similar in their social group, as seen in some birds, elephants and primates, Dr King said.
Dolphins
In Memory
Eunice Gayson
Eunice Gayson - the first Bond girl - has died at the age of 90.
The actress appeared in the 1962 film Dr No playing Sylvia Trench opposite Sean Connery's 007.
Gayson famously appeared in the classic scene which saw the British spy deliver the line "Bond, James Bond" for the first time, having introduced herself as "Trench, Sylvia Trench". in a 2012 interview, Gayson revealed she assisted Connery who struggled with delivering the line correctly.
"He had to say 'Bond, James Bond,' but he came out with other permutations like 'Sean Bond, James Connery'," she said, adding director Terence Young instructed her to take the Scottish actor for a drink to calm his nerves.
Bond producers Michael G Wilson and Barbara Broccoli released a statement in the wake of her passing, saying: "We are so sad to learn that Eunice Gayson, our very first 'Bond girl', who played Sylvia Trench in Dr No and From Russia With Love, has passed away. Our sincere thoughts are with her family."
Gayson - who died on 8 June - was set to be a recurring Bond character until Goldfinger director Guy Hamilton scrapped the idea. Despite appearing in the first two Bond films, Gayson's lines were rerecorded by voiceover artist Nikki van der Zyt.
The actress's post-Bond career saw her score roles in TV shows The Saint and The Avengers.
Eunice Gayson
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