Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Josh Marshall: Sorry. Trump's Attacks Aren't Remotely Like Clinton and Starr (TPM)
The comparison is quite simply lazy, baseless and stupid.
Marc Dion: Trump Is Powerless (Creators Syndicate)
It's just a matter of time until some drooling theologian of the right suggests that Trump needs MORE power, that he can't reverse America's decline without "extraordinary powers" and perhaps a "temporary" suspension of the Constitution.
Hadley Freeman: My sister-the-doctor has graduated - just as the world has turned on medical experts (The Guardian)
The Charlie Gard case has been hijacked by those who prioritise feelings over facts.
Andrew Ferguson: The Savvy Rube (Weekly Standard)
Does Ring Lardner's shtick stand the test of time?
Rosanna Greenstreet: "Victoria Pendleton: 'I spend most of my time snogging horses'" (The Guardian)
The former cyclist turned jockey on being kept awake by cows, who she would invite to her dream dinner party and her most embarrassing moment.
Sam Jackson: "I Drew Superman: Here's What Comic-Con Was Like In My Day" (Cracked)
… Comic-Con wasn't always a pop culture bacchanal of elaborate costumes, star-studded panels, and drug-fueled parties. We talked to early fan (and current media critic) Brian Lowry and legendary comics artist and early keynote guest Neal Adams. (He drew Superman, Batman, the X-Men, and, at various points, roughly 40 percent of your childhood.) Here's what they told us about the early-ass days of a geek culture touchstone.
Real-Life Events That Knocked Shows Permanently Off Course (Cracked)
If your favorite show has ever thrown you a curve ball, like unexpectedly killing a character or coming up with a sudden and bizarre plot line, there's a good chance something unusual happened behind the scenes.
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Presenting
Michael Egan
said:
has returned to semi-retired status.
In memory.
Reader Suggestion
Michelle in AZ
Reader Comment
'Pimp Ties'
Marty
Back around 1950. when I was in grade 8, at a parochial (Catholic)
school in San Bernardino, a visiting student from San Francisco arrived.
Some of us were also enrolled in an evening ballroom dancing class, to
the dispair of the Texas-based nuns who otherwise ruled our lives.
So when some of us showed up at the dancing class, downtown, wearing red
neckties (the kind Trump seems to favor - how appropriate!), the San
Francisco kid wised us up, telling us hicks that those were... "pimp
ties"...
He explained that, when the fleet was in port, up in SF, men wearing red
ties would stand on street corners, and the sailors would seek them out.
As the gatherings of gobs reached 4 or 5, the necktie man would lead
them to the bordello which had employed him.
That was a lot of information to absorb at that age, particularly for
those of us enrolled in a religious school... Pimps?!?!? Aren't those
what Clearasil is for?
Somehow, I managed to forget all that - until the Trump Era
arrived..seeing that red tie, time and again
Bonus Links
Jeannie the Teed-Off Temp
from Marc Perkel
Patriot Act
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
LEARNING FROM NAPOLEON.
THE TUNDRA EXPLODES!
CECIL'S SON IS MURDERED!
DEUS VULT!
"SOME PIGS ARE MORE EQUAL THAN OTHERS."
"…A HOMELAND FOR ALL WHITE PEOPLE."
A ROBBERY IN PROGRESS!
THE TURTLE ON A POST!
IT'S ALL DOWNHILL FROM HERE.
DR. RYAN AND MR. HYDE!
Visit JD's site - Kitty Litter Music
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Seems there were a lot of leftover fireworks in the area that were put to use tonight.
Support Groups Put On More Public Face
Pro-Choice
Patricia Canon drives poor rural Kentucky women to distant abortion clinics each week, part of a national army of volunteers who are growing bolder even as abortion foes ratchet up opposition to the activists they have branded as "accomplices to murder."
The Kentucky Health Justice Network, where she volunteers, is one of dozens of non-profit U.S. abortion funds providing money for procedures or covering travel costs to help women obtain abortions, particularly in states where Republican-backed laws have narrowed options.
For years, such organizations kept a low profile to avoid being targeted by abortion opponents. But now, as abortion foes have succeeded in shrinking access, advocates are working harder to grow grassroots support and taking a more public stance.
The anti-abortion movement won a victory with the election of Donald Trump (R-Corrupt), who has promised to appoint U.S. Supreme Court justices who would overturn the Roe v. Wade decision protecting a woman's right to abortion. Critics of the decision say states should decide.
That worries pro-choice advocates, including support groups in states where Republicans control legislatures.
Pro-Choice
Moon Bag Sells For $1.8 Million
Neil Armstrong
A bag used by U.S. astronaut Neil Armstrong to bring the first samples of moon dust back to Earth was sold to an anonymous bidder for $1.8 million at an auction in New York on Thursday marking the 48th anniversary of the first moon landing.
The bag, which for years sat unidentified in a box at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, was bought by a person who bid by telephone and did not wish to be named publicly, auctioneer Sotheby's said.
Auctioneers had expected the bag to fetch between $2 million and $4 million.
It was the highest-value item at an auction of moon memorabilia that included the Apollo 13 flight plan annotated by its crew, which sold for $275,000; a spacesuit worn by U.S. astronaut Gus Grissom, which sold for $43,750, and a famous image of Buzz Aldrin of Apollo 11 on the moon taken by Neil Armstrong, which went for $35,000.
Neil Armstrong
Moustache Remains Intact
Salvador Dali
Salvador Dalí's famous moustache remains in a perfect state, witnesses to the surrealist artist's exhumation for DNA testing have revealed.
Narcís Bardalet, Dalí's embalmer, said that upon opening his crypt, the body was found to be exactly as it was when it was interred 28 years ago.
The handlebars of his moustache were still "marking (the time of) 10 past 10" as he wished, he said.
"His moustache remains intact, marking 10 past 10, as he desired," Mr Bardalet told local television. "It's a miracle. Dalí will be with us for a long time".
Salvador Dali
KPFA Cancels Appearance
Richard Dawkins
A US radio station invited Richard Dawkins to speak about his latest book, and then cancelled the ticketed event over his tweets about Islam.
The evolutionary biologist was due to discuss Science in the Soul: Collected Writings of a Passionate Rationalist at a benefit event for KPFA, a listener-funded station in Berkeley, California.
Tickets were snapped up ahead of the anti-theist's planned talk on 9 August - but KPFA cancelled the event on Thursday, claiming it had recently discovered that his comments about Islam had upset people.
"We had booked this event based entirely on his excellent new book on science when we didn't know he had offended and hurt - in his tweets and other comments on Islam - so many people," KPFA told ticket buyers in an email.
Mr Dawkins, an avowed atheist who has criticised religion publicly for decades, has previously appeared at KPFA benefit events as recently as October 2015.
Richard Dawkins
Least Popular President Ever
T-rump
Things aren't looking up for Donald Trump (R-Crooked).
There's the growing investigation into his administration's connections to Russia, the country the intelligence community assesses hacked the election to get the Republican billionaire elected. There's the flailing attempt from the GOP, led by Trump, to gut Obamacare and replace it with a new health care system that the Congressional Budget Office has determined would leave tens of millions more Americans without coverage. There's his press secretary resigning over the president's latest hire and constant reports of infighting in the White House.
And the American people seem to be tired of the constant whirlwind of controversy that Trump has created. The latest polls of his approval rating have pretty much uniformly brought bad news for the president. Gallup pegged his approval at just 37 percent Friday, while 58 percent of Americans disapproved. That's not quite the all-time low for Trump in the Gallup tracking poll-he sunk to just 35 percent in late March when the GOP's first health care plan flopped before the House could even vote-but it's getting close and earlier this month the president had briefly risen back to 40 percent.
Another poll from the American Research Group put Trump's approval at a new low of 35 percent. That's down from 37 percent approval in the group's June poll and 39 percent in both May and April. Even Trump's favorite poll, Rasmussen Reports-which is often criticized for being right-leaning-found the president's approval rating had tied his all-time-low in a survey this week.
T-rump
Robot Finds Nuclear Fuel Debris 'Hanging Like Icicles'
Fukushima
A robot sent into Fukushima's defunct nuclear power plant found what could potentially be melted nuclear fuel debris - hanging in the form of "icicles." The machine was deployed to locate the source of the melted debris and potentially clean it up.
Officials from the Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO), the company tasked with decommissioning the power plant, said the objects the robot spotted were inside the interior of reactor three. The icicle-like objects were hanging onto a control rod drive attached to the bottom of a pressure vessel which holds the core, the Japan Times reported Friday.
The robot, nicknamed "the Little Sunfish," was sent into the plant Wednesday. Images taken by the robot showed chunks of melted material that re-solidified.
"From the pictures today, it's obvious that some melted objects came out of the reactor," TEPCO spokesperson Takahiro Kimoto said a press conference about the findings. "This means something of high temperature melted some structural objects and came out. So it is natural to think that melted fuel rods are mixed with them."
The robot was designed to withstand radiation of up to 200 Sieverts, an amount deadly for human beings. TEPCO officials have been deploying robots in the decommissioning process to do the work humans cannot - though they haven't always been successful. A robot sent into the plant in February was completely incapacitated by the exorbitant levels of radiation inside. Officials had to pull the machine out of the reactor after it ceased to function entirely.
Fukushima
Angry Twitter Spree
T-rump
Donald Trump (R-Buffoon) went on a Twitter tirade Saturday morning, lashing out at multiple targets, including Obamacare, Hillary Clinton, two newspapers, his own administration and the investigation into whether his campaign colluded with Russia to influence the 2016 election.
Notably, he announced that "all agree the U. S. President has the complete power to pardon."
The Washington Post reported Friday that, according to a source, Trump has asked his team about "his power to pardon aides, family members and even himself" in connection with the Russia inquiry. Another source told the Post that "Trump's lawyers have been discussing the president's pardoning powers among themselves."
Trump's Saturday Twitter flurry began with an attack against the Post. The paper reported the day before that, according to intelligence intercepts, Attorney General Jeff Sessionsdiscussed campaign issues with Russia's ambassador. Sessions has repeatedly denied having such discussions with Russian officials.
The president has also repeatedly attempted to deflect the spotlight of the Russia investigation back onto Clinton and her campaign, though Clinton was defeated over seven months ago.
T-rump
Told To Pay Attorney Fees
Kentucky
A federal judge has ordered Kentucky taxpayers to pay more than $220,000 in attorneys' fees for an elected county clerk who caused a national uproar by refusing to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples in 2016.
U.S. District Judge Jim Bunning says Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis was acting on behalf of the state government when she refused to issue marriage licenses to same-couples on the basis of her personal religious beliefs. He ordered the state to pay $222,695 in attorneys' fees and another $2,008.08 in costs. He said the county government and Davis herself are not liable.
"Davis represented the Commonwealth of Kentucky when she refused to issue marriage licenses to legally eligible couples. The buck stops there," Bunning wrote.
A U.S. Supreme Court decision effectively legalized same-sex marriage nationwide in the summer of 2015, setting off joyous celebrations among gay rights advocates nationwide. But just hours after the decision, Davis' announcement she would stop issuing marriage licenses transformed the tiny town of Morehead into the front lines of the culture war with angry demonstrations from both sides captured on national television.
William Sharp, legal director for the ACLU of Kentucky, said he was pleased with the ruling and hopes it serves as a reminder to Kentucky officials that "willful violations of individuals' civil liberties ... will not only be challenged but will also prove costly."
Kentucky
China Aims To Become World Leader
AI
China has outlined plans to become a world-leader in artificial intelligence by 2025, laying down a challenge to U.S. dominance in the sector amid heightened international tensions over military applications of the technology.
China released a national AI development plan late on Thursday, aiming to grow the country's core AI industries to over 150 billion yuan ($22.15 billion) by 2020 and 400 billion yuan ($59.07 billion) by 2025, the State Council said.
With this major push into AI, China is looking to rival U.S. market leaders such as Alphabet Inc's Google and Microsoft Corp, as it is keen not to be left behind in a technology that is increasingly key from smart cars to energy.
Beijing's AI plan comes as the United States is poised to bolster its scrutiny of investments, including artificial intelligence, over fears that countries including China could access technology of strategic military importance.
AI
In Memory
John Heard
Actor John Heard, best known for playing the father in the hit 90s-era "Home Alone" films, has died, according to US media. He was 72.
Entertainment website TMZ said the actor was found dead in a Palo Alto, California hotel where he was recuperating following back surgery.
The veteran actor rose to fame after playing Peter McCallister -- the father of mischievous Kevin, played by Macaulay Culkin -- in the family comedy "Home Alone" and its sequel "Home Alone 2: Lost in New York."
Born in Washington DC on March 7, 1945, Heard worked in theater prior to transitioning to the silver screen. Though most people knew him as the "Home Alone Dad," Heard also acted in films including "Between the Lines," "Heart Beat," "Cutter's Way" and "Big."
In 1999 he scored an Emmy nomination for playing a corrupt detective on the acclaimed mafia drama series "The Sopranos." His other television appearances included "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation," "Modern Family" and "Entourage."
John Heard
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