Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Marc Dion: But What About Our Troops? (Creators Syndicate)
"If beans is what we got, beans is what we eat." That's something my mother used to say. The saying and the attitude come from the Great Depression, a 1930s patriotic event during which her family almost starved to death. My wife made chili this week - with beans. The chili we eat isn't really Mexican. It's Mexican like you're Mexican if your father snuck over the river from Mexico, but became a citizen during an amnesty, and married a born-in-America Mexican girl, and you can't speak Spanish very well, and you married a very pale girl from Wisconsin named Sigerson, and your son's name is Gareth. Gareth can't speak Spanish at all, and he wants to join the Navy, like his Uncle Sven.
Ted Rall: Meet The For-Profit Private Prison Industry (Creators Syndicate)
The Washington Post recently published a revealing and heartbreaking story about forced separation of children from their illegal immigrant parents - not the Trump-ordered fiasco we've watched over recent weeks at the U.S.-Mexico border, but in the Midwest as the result of brutal ICE raids that have ripped families apart under Presidents Obama and Bush before him. It's beautifully written, worthy of a literature award if not a Pulitzer for journalism. One line leapt out at me: "Who benefits from this?"
Froma Harrop: Trump Tricks Naive Democrats on Immigration (Creators Syndicate)
Here's the problem with the Democratic leadership. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer did shoot down calls to "abolish ICE." House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi has gone all wishy-washy on this critical issue. When you hack through her complex explanations, you find a proposal to reform the agency, not simply disband it. If that's the case, use the word "reform" and not "abolish." The latter is an emotional outburst from a far-left fringe that does more to sabotage Democrats than get them elected.
Froma Harrop: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Is Off to a Mostly Fabulous Start (Creators Syndicate)
Some commentators have unfairly portrayed Joe Crowley, the man she beat, as just a tired old white guy. Fact is, he honorably served his diverse district as an exemplary liberal. When the results came in, Crowley immediately conceded and offered to help Ocasio-Cortez in the general election. And she graciously thanked him for decades of service. Way to go, everyone.
Froma Harrop: Funny, We Don't Worry About Mad Romaine Disease (Creators Syndicate)
… not a single person has reportedly died eating from an American cow infected with the disease, bovine spongiform encephalopathy. Nonetheless, news of a handful of cases abroad gripped the American public with fear. The same could not be said about romaine lettuce. At least five people died this year from romaine tainted with E. coli bacteria. With the suspect lettuce - grown in Yuma, Arizona - now out of the food supply, the crisis is being forgotten. By the way, how many recall the spinach E. coli outbreak of 2006, tied to at least three deaths?
Susan Estrich: Can a Massachusetts Liberal Be Nominated for President? (Creators Syndicate)
Crazy system? Maybe. But the only thing crazier than the Democrats' embrace of this system, which gives control of the selection of a nominee to the ideological activists, is that the Republicans have pretty much followed suit. The president calls her Pocahontas. He is counting on the system to produce a "fringe" candidate who, in his mind, can't win. Of course, that's precisely how we got him. And he did win.
Mark Shields: Taking the Disraeli Test (Creators Syndicate)
Benjamin Disraeli, a 19th-century British prime minister and writer, shrewdly advised that to be a successful political leader, a man (even though it was the Victorian era, it was still a man's game) must first know himself and then know and understand the times in which he lives.
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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
Linda >^..^<
We are all only temporarily able bodied.
Thanks, Linda!
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
SICK FUCKS!
PRUNE WHIP WAVES GOODBYE.
'THIS ISN'T WINNING'
MAXINE IS COMING AFTER TRUMP.
'UNCLE TRUMP' IS RIPPING US OFF!
"A BURR UNDER THE SADDLE."
"FASCIST PLOT TO SEIZE THE WHITE HOUSE."
Visit JD's site - Kitty Litter Music
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Not quite as hot, but still triple digits. Ack.
"Rocket Man"
Awkward Gift
President-for-now Donald Trump (R-Corrupt) used to taunt North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un as "Little Rocket Man" for his frequent missile tests.
Now, as relations between the two thaw, Trump is sending Kim a gift: An Elton John CD with the song "Rocket Man" on it, signed by the president himself.
South Korea's Chosun Ilbo newspaper reports that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who is in Pyongyang for a meeting with Kim, is bringing a letter from Trump and the CD.
Citing a diplomatic source in Washington, the newspaper said Kim mentioned the derogative nickname to Trump during their meeting in Singapore last month. Trump asked if he knew the song, and Kim replied that he didn't.
Now, he'll be able to hear the tune, and maybe return the favor with a mix tape.
Awkward Gift
Rhino Fathers Baby
Stormy
The zookeepers just didn't think Stormy the male rhinoceros had it in him. Now, they owe him an apology.
Stormy had often tried to breed with the four female rhinos at the North Carolina Zoo, but the zookeepers had never seen him succeed. So color them surprised when Linda turned up pregnant, then gave birth July 2 to a rare southern white rhinoceros.
"Stormy was waiting until we were gone until he actually turned on the charm," said Guy Lichty, the outgoing curator of mammals at the zoo in Asheboro. "The keepers are apologizing to him for doubting him."
The calf weighed about 80 to 90 pounds (36 to 41 kilograms) and will be on public view as soon as possible. Zookeepers expect her to gain 100 pounds (45 kilograms) a month in the first year. She could weigh anywhere from 3,500 to 5,500 pounds (1,600 to 2,500 kilograms) when fully grown
The North Carolina Zoo got Stormy in 2014 from a facility where he had only lived with his brother and with no other females so the keepers knew from the start that his breeding skills might be a tad awkward - and they were.
Stormy
Protests
London
President-for-now Donald Trump (R-Crooked) would like a quick trade deal with Britain once Brexit is finished, the U.S. ambassador to Britain said on Friday ahead of a presidential visit to London next week that will keep Trump largely away from planned mass protests.
Trump arrives in Britain on Thursday after a NATO summit in Belgium that could turn contentious over the U.S. leader's insistence that allies pay more for their defense and amid trade disputes between Washington and Europe.
U.S. Ambassador to Britain Woody Johnson painted trade as a potential bright spot in the strong "special relationship" between Britain and the United States, which he said Trump intended to strengthen.
Less of a bright spot for Trump, whose mother hailed from Scotland, will be the protesters awaiting him in London. More than 50,000 people have signed up to demonstrate against Trump's perceived racism, sexism, and his treatment of migrants. A counter-gathering to welcome him is also planned.
Protesters are planning to fly a blimp over parliament portraying Trump as an orange, snarling baby during his visit after Khan approved a request for its use.
London
Legal Weed Experiment
The Netherlands
The Dutch government gave the green light Friday to a wide-ranging experiment to allow six to 10 municipalities around the country to legally grow cannabis.
"The cabinet has decided... to start the cannabis cultivation experiment in such a way that it's possible to measure its effect on criminality, safety, public disturbance and health," it said in a statement.
Under the plan, the municipalities will over the next four years oversee the growth and supply to so-called cannabis cafes, dubbed coffee shops, which can then sell it to the public.
The Dutch decriminalised the sale of small amounts of cannabis -- less than five grams -- in 1976 and the law allows each person to legally grow five plants for personal use.
But the wholesale growing and sale of marijuana remains banned, forcing some 600 authorised owners of so-called "coffee shops" to buy from criminals to meet demand.
The Netherlands
Mocks Rape Survivors
Montana Rally
Donald Trump (R-Grifter), president of the United States and accused sexual predator, mocked the #MeToo movement at a Montana rally on Thursday evening. It's the first time that Trump, who's been accused of sexual misconduct by 19 women and bragged about sexual assault on the infamous Access Hollywoodtape, has directly addressed the international movement against sexual harassment and violence.
The remarks came as Trump was rambling about Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a potential contender in the 2020 presidential election. He said he would donate $1 million to a charity selected by the Massachusetts Democrat if she could prove she has Native American ancestry. (An Obama birther as recently as last year, Trump in the past offered between $5 and $50 million if anyone could show proof refuting his racist belief that President Barack Obama was not born in the U.S.)
"I'm going to get one of those little kits and in the middle of the debate, when she proclaims she's of Indian heritage - because her mother said she has high cheekbones, that's her only evidence," Trump said. "We will take that little kit, but we have to do it gently, because we're in the 'Me Too' generation, so we have to be very gentle."
The crowd loved that the president made a racist joke where the punchline was about sexual assault. They also cheered even though presumably Trump, a man who prides himself in having a high I.Q., apparently doesn't understand the difference between how a DNA kit and a rape kit works.
As if we needed more irony, Trump's "joke" came on the same day a 2007 video showing his daughter Ivanka Trump being groped by comedian Andy Dick made the news and the same day the White House announced former Fox News executive Bill Shine would be the new deputy communications director. Shine was ousted from the network last year after it was revealed he had covered up sexual harassment.
Montana Rally
Doomsday Cult
Japan
Japan executed on Friday the former leader of a doomsday cult and six other members of the group that carried out a sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway in 1995, killing 13 people and shattering the country's myth of public safety.
The Aum Shinrikyo, or Aum Supreme Truth cult, which mixed Buddhist and Hindu meditation with apocalyptic teachings, staged a series of crimes including simultaneous sarin gas attacks on subway trains during rush hour in March 1995. Sarin, a nerve gas, was originally developed by the Nazis.
The images of bodies, many in business suits, sprawled across platforms stunned Japan, and triggered public safety steps such as the removal of non-transparent rubbish bins that remain in force to this day.
As well as killing the 13, the attack injured at least 5,800 people, some permanently.
Executions are rare in Japan but surveys show most people support the death sentence.
Japan
Mother Teresa Charity
India
An Indian charity founded by Mother Teresa expressed outrage and regret Friday after a nun and an employee were arrested for allegedly selling infants for adoption for potentially thousands of dollars.
Police arrested the two suspects at one of the charity's homes in Ranchi, the capital of eastern Jharkhand state, on Thursday following allegations that at least five infants were sold.
"We are completely shocked by what has happened in our home in Ranchi. It should have never happened," said the Missionaries of Charity organisation, set up by the Catholic missionary nun in 1950.
The scandal blew up earlier this week after the local child welfare authorities informed police about a newborn missing from the home, which is meant to care for unwed pregnant women and mothers in distress.
After the arrests, 13 girls living in the home were shifted to another shelter, the Press Trust of India reported, adding that 22 children from a nearby shelter that was run by the same charity were also moved to a new accommodation on Friday.
India
21 People Treated For Rabies Exposure
Baby Raccoon
Twenty-one people are being treated for rabies exposure in what's been described as the largest such case seen in a Colorado county
A woman who lives in the southern part of Weld County, Colorado found a baby racoon on her property and took the animal into her home after she believed the animal had been abandoned by its mother, a Weld County Department of Health and Environment press release stated.
"This was a baby wild animal, so I think there was some heightened interest to seeing a baby animal in the home," Rachel Freeman, the health department's supervisor, told the newspaper.
Ms Freeman told the Greeley Tribune the case was brought to the Weld County health department after the woman who found the raccoon on her property contacted a local animal shelter hoping they would take the animal in. The shelter, unable to take the raccoon, contacted the health department. The department then reached out to the woman to enquire about testing the raccoon for rabies.
The baby raccoon tested positive for rabies, and the 21 people exposed to the raccoon have begun post-exposure treatment.
Baby Raccoon
Traces Found In Ocean
'Sonic Boom' Meteorites
The first mission designed to hunt a meteorite that crashed into the ocean has now discovered what may be tiny fragments of the meteorite's crust, researchers say.
On March 7, three National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) weather stations detected the fall of a meteorite about 15.5 miles (25 kilometers) off the coast of Washington state. "The fall was widely seen around local areas and widely heard around local areas - it came with some loud sonic booms," Marc Fries, the cosmic dust curator for NASA, told Live Science.
Fries estimated this fall might yield about 4,400 lbs. (2,000 kilograms) of meteorites. He also calculated the largest meteorite might weigh about 9.7 lbs. (4.4 kg) and have a diameter of about 5 inches (12 centimeters).
The details the scientists had regarding the fall suggested the meteorite was unusually strong, Fries said. This knowledge, in combination with the fact the meteorite landed on a soft seafloor as opposed to dry land, suggested this ocean fall might yield large, relatively intact meteorites for scientists to study.
Until now, scientists had never intentionally recovered a meteorite from the ocean, Fries said. In the past, researchers had accidentally discovered a couple of meteorites from drilling samples taken from the seafloor, he noted. However, this latest endeavor is the "first intentional search for meteorites from the ocean," Fries said.
'Sonic Boom' Meteorites
In Memory
Steve Ditko
Steve Ditko, comic book artist and co-creator with Stan Lee of such legendary comic book characters as Spider-Man and Doctor Strange, has died. He was 90 years old.
The New York Police Department confirmed to Variety he was found dead in his apartment in Manhattan in late June. His death only came to light on Friday.
Born in 1927 in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, Ditko became exposed to newspaper comics at an early age, and found his love for comic book superheroes during the inaugural issues of the iconic Batman character as well as Will Eisner's "The Spirit." After graduating high school in 1945, Ditko enlisted in the Army, where he got his first job in the comic book industry drawing comic strips for Army-syndicated newspapers.
After his discharge, Ditko studied under Batman artist Jerry Robinson in 1950 in New York City. Through Robinson's tutelage, Ditko met then-editor-in-chief and future Marvel Comics CEO Stan Lee. He would join the early team of artists, including comic book art maestro Jack Kirby, in Marvel's earliest ventures.
Ditko was instrumental in creating Spider-Man, conceiving the character's signature attributes such as his costume, the web shooters and the red and blue color scheme after Lee was unsatisfied with Kirby's original designs. The character debuted in Amazing Fantasy #15 in 1962, and proved to be so popular that, in 1963, Marvel launched "Amazing Spider-Man," the character's first standalone series with Ditko and Lee at the helm. To date, Spider-Man is one of the most popular superheroes ever conceived, generating over 360 million book sales total since his debut.
Doctor Strange debuted in 1963, but Ditko split with Marvel in the mid-60s after tangling with Lee. Among the other comics he created are Squirrel Girl, Mr. A, Captain Atom and Question.
After a short stint with Charlton Comics, Ditko moved to Marvel competitor DC Comics in 1968, where he created the Creeper, a minor Batman villain who has made several appearances in the DC continuity as recently as 2017.
Ditko bounced around different publishers for the rest of his career as an artist, sometimes doing freelance work and once returning to Marvel to work on a few issues before moving on to other ventures.
Ditko kept a private personal life, declining to conduct interviews or make public appearances. Instead, he kept to himself and his work. He is survived by his nephew.
Steve Ditko
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