Marilynn Preston: Want a Happier Life? Make Friends With Your Inner Critic (Creators Syndicate)
Wherever you happen to be on the rewarding and rocky road to a healthier lifestyle, you'll travel more gently and feel more joy if you learn to make friends with your Inner Critic. …The Inner Critic is alive and kvetching, causing us to constantly question our behavior, our thoughts, our accomplishments: "How am I doing? Am I doing well enough, in my relationships, at work? Do others see what I'm doing? Do they approve?"
Mark Shields: The Trap of Becoming Only a Congressional Party (Creators Syndicate)
In five of the past six presidential elections, the Republican Party has lost the nation's popular vote to the Democrats. In those same six presidential contests, 18 states and the District of Columbia, totaling among them 242 electoral votes (you need only 270 to win the White House), have voted every time for the Democratic ticket. This, even our good friends at Fox News would concede, is not good news for the Grand Old Party.
Mark Shields: The Importance of the 'Like' Factor (Creators Syndicate)
[Donald] Trump, like so many sons of privilege of his generation, made sure he was among the "people that weren't captured" by avoiding the U.S. military draft, pleading a bone spur in his foot. While McCain was being brutalized by the North Vietnamese, Trump had his own challenges stateside, where he was able to join "the hottest club in" New York. "It was the sort of place where you were likely to see a wealthy seventy-five-year-old guy walk in with three blondes from Sweden," he wrote.
Susan Estrich: The "No Shame" Debate (Creators Syndicate)
The saddest day I ever spent in a chemotherapy room was the day I sat with my friend (who was dying in her 60s), and watched as a brand new mother was wheeled in, baby in lap, by her own mother, to begin the chemotherapy she had deferred, risking her own life.
Froma Harrop: Sensitivity Over at Gawker (Creators Syndicate)
The truth will make you free, the more horrible the better. And the more humiliating the truth the richer you get - certainly if you're Nick Denton, founder of the gossip-mongering website Gawker.
In 1999, the performing-rights organization Broadcast Music, Inc. (BMI) ranked what song as having had more radio and television play in the United States than any other song during the 20th century?
Adam was first, and correct, with:
14 yrs- just as much time as we have been in LA, here.
Randall wrote:
WTF is "E-page"?
Deborah said:
I'm embarrassed to admit I don't know. 2003? 2002?
I recall reading the late BartCop (R.I.P., Terry) before the turn of the century. As for the E page, I'm not so sure.
Marian answered:
Your page has been continuous for almost 4 years but it is everlasting and seems to have been in my life forever. I love it!!
Gateway mike replied:
Happy anniversary!
14 years!
(Started this email before I saw Saturday page-I set a reminder)
Congratulations on the anniversary of the page!
You are truly an inspiration and beacon to all who crave sanity.
With your page, I (and countless others) know we are not alone.
Uh, this isn't the first time your counter was over 1,000, right?
Thank you most sincerely.
Lickspittle Lois Of Oregon responded:
July 26, 2001. If my math is correct, and it seldom is, that makes 14 wonderful years! Gonna get mauldin now: Thank you Marty for giving so much, for always being there for us, providing a forum for good in a world under seige. You will always be my "home page".
DJ Useo said:
Established 26 July, 2001 is the answer.
How could I not know? I see that info
at the bottom of the page everyday!
;)
Many thanks for all the great pages!
You are truly great!
Happy anniversary!!!
BttbBob answered:
"Established 26 July, 2001"... is what it says between yer 'Free Speech Online Blue Ribbon Campaign' graphic and yer 'click counter'... and right above what looks like a spinning Buddhist prayer wheel and Bart Simpson droppin' trou...)
~~~~~
14 years of laughs-a-minute (or some such thing), great links, graphics and photos; plus lettin' us dagnab 'nobodies' post pretty much whatever we want fer all the world to see (and our own gratification, too, dontcha know); an' fer first-thing-in-the-mornin', rootin'-tootin' entertainment. How cool is that, huh? Eh? Way cool, I'm sayin'...
~~~~~
Thanks, Boss... As I've always said, "Yer the Best!"
Joe S replied:
Oh boy, long time. Long time. Let me count up in Discworld Troll numbers. Troll numbers run like this: one, two, many, lots. So I would say lots. Yes, lots. Fourteen (Earth) years to be exact,
Happy Anniversary Marty! I'm happy to say I've been around for most of 'em.
mj took the day off.
Alan J took the day off.
Dale of Diamond Springs, Burning Norcali took the day off.
Patriot Act NSA Spying Unconstitutional Section 215 National Security Letters Must End
My name is Marc Perkel and I have decided to announce that I will not comply with the so called "Patriot Act" laws requiring me to disclose information about my customers. If I receive a national security letter I will immediately photograph it, post it online everywhere I can, and then make a video of me burning it. I will then await my arrest. If you want to put me in jail then come get me mother fucker.
CBS starts the night with '60 Minutes', followed by FRESH'Big Brother', then a RERUN'Secretary', followed by RERUN'CSI: The Original One'.
NBC opens the night with a RERUN'Hollywood Game Night', followed by a FRESH'Welcome To Sweden', then another FRESH'Welcome To Sweden', followed by a RERUN'American Ninja Warrior'.
ABC begins the night with a RERUN'America's So-Called Funniest Home Videos', followed by a FRESH'Celebrity Family Feud', then a FRESH'BattleBot', followed by a RERUN'Castle'.
The CW offers a RERUN'Monopoly Millionaires' Club', followed by an old 'Friends', then another old 'Friends', followed by 2½ hours of what passes for local news & other fluffery.
Faux has a RERUN'Bob's Burgers', followed by another RERUN'Bob's Burgers', then a RERUN'The Simpsons', followed by a RERUN'Brooklyn Nine-Nine', then a RERUN'Family Guy', followed by a RERUN'The Last Man On Earth'.
MY has an old 'How I Met Your Mother', followed by another old 'How I Met Your Mother', then an old 'Big Bang Theory', followed by another old 'Big Bang Theory', then still another old 'Big Bang Theory', followed by yet another old 'Big Bang Theory'.
A&E has 'Intervention', followed by a FRESH'Intervention', then another FRESH'Intervention', and still another FRESH'Intervention'.
AMC offers 'The Walking Dead', another 'The Walking Dead', followed by a FRESH'HUMANS', then a FRESH'Halt & Catch Fire'.
BBC -
[6:00AM] Nature's Weirdest - Season 1 - Episode 6
[7:00AM] Nature's Weirdest - Season 1 - Episode 7
[8:00AM] Nature's Weirdest - Season 1 - Episode 8
[9:00AM] Nature's Weirdest - Season 4 - Episode 1
[10:00AM] Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares US - Season 7 - Ep 4 - Kati Allo
[11:00AM] Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares US - Season 7 - Ep 5 - Mangia Mangia, Part 1
[12:00PM] Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares US - Season 7 - Ep 6 - Mangia Mangia, Part 2
[1:00PM] Top Gear - Season 20 - Episode 6
[2:00PM] Top Gear: The Worst Car in the History of the World
[3:00PM] Stargate
[5:30PM] The Edge
[8:00PM] The Silence of the Lambs
[10:30PM] 28 Weeks Later
[12:30AM] The Edge
[3:00AM] Top Gear: The Worst Car in the History of the World
[4:00AM] Top Gear - Season 3 - Episode 3
[5:00AM] Top Gear - Season 3 - Episode 4 (ALL TIMES EST)
Bravo has 'Married To Medicine', followed by a FRESH'Bravo's First Looks', then a FRESH'Married To Medicine', followed by a FRESH'Mother Funders', then a FRESH'Watch What Happens Live'.
Comedy Central has the movie 'Tommy Boy', followed by the movie 'Pineapple Express', then the movie 'Pineapple Express', again.
FX has the movie 'Snow White & the Huntsmen', followed by the movie 'Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters', then a FRESH'The Strain'.
IFC -
[6:00AM] BAD NEWS BEARS
[8:30AM] MALCOLM IN THE MIDDLE-THE BOTS AND THE BEES
[9:00AM] MALCOLM IN THE MIDDLE-SMUNDAY
[9:30AM] MALCOLM IN THE MIDDLE-WATER PARK
[10:00AM] MALCOLM IN THE MIDDLE-TRAFFIC JAM
[10:30AM] MARON-STEEL JOHNSON
[11:00AM] COMEDY BANG! BANG!-BRIE LARSON WEARS A BILLOWY LONG-SLEEVE SHIRT AND WHITE SADDLE SHOES
[11:30AM] ZODIAC
[3:00PM] EVENT HORIZON
[5:15PM] THE MIST
[8:00PM] ALIENS VS. PREDATOR: REQUIEM
[10:00PM] ALIENS VS. PREDATOR: REQUIEM
[12:00AM] THE MIST
[2:45AM] TERMINATOR 2: JUDGMENT DAY
[5:45AM] WHITEST KIDS U'KNOW (ALL TIMES EST)
Sundance -
[6:00AM] Love Lust-Love Lust & the Bikini
[6:15AM] The Aviator
[9:45AM] Sixteen Candles
[11:45AM] The Hunting Party
[2:00PM] The Next Three Days
[4:45PM] In the Line of Fire
[7:30PM] Pale Rider
[10:00PM] The Outlaw Josey Wales
[1:00AM] The Outlaw Josey Wales
[4:00AM] Rectify-Hoorah
[5:00AM] Rectify-Episode 2 (ALL TIMES EST)
SyFy has the movie 'Lavalantula', followed by the movie 'Sharknado 3: Oh Hell No!'.
American folk singer Joan Baez performs on the main stage during the 40th Paleo Festival in Nyon, Switzerland,, 25 July 2015. The open-air music festival runs from 20 to 26 July.
Photo by Martial Trezzini
George R.R. Martin, the author of the A Song of Ice and Fire books that A Game of Thrones is based on, has written up an interesting review of Marvel's newest hit movie Ant-Man. While Martin "loved it" overall, he did point out something that he finds a little troubling in most Marvel movies he sees: Namely, the villains.
Martin, of course, has written some of the best villains in modern fantasy fiction, including Tywin Lannister, Joffrey Baratheon, Ramsay Bolton and more. So when it comes to doing compelling (and detestable) villains, he knows what he's talking about.
"While Yellowjacket makes a decent villain here… I am tired of this Marvel movie trope where the bad guy has the same powers as the hero," he writes. "The Hulk fought the Abomination, who is just a bad Hulk. Spider-Man fights Venom, who is just a bad Spider-Man. Iron Man fights Ironmonger, a bad Iron Man. Yawn. I want more films where the hero and the villain have wildly different powers."
Radio personality Howard Stern, right, and Beth Stern attend a special screening of "Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation" at the United Artists East Hampton Cinema 6 on Friday, July 24, 2015, in East Hampton, N.Y.
Photo by Scott Roth
Michael Jackson was the "King of Pop." But he nearly became the King of Acting Flops. The singer reportedly told Star Wars mastermind George Lucas that he wanted to play goofy Gungan Jar Jar Binks, one of the most despised characters in film history, in the franchise's 1999 blockbuster, Episode I: The Phantom Menace. Ahmed Best, who voiced and provided motion capture for the Binks character, explained Jackson's interest in an interview with Vice.
"Me, Natalie Portman and George [Lucas]'s kids - we were at Wembley arena at Michael Jackson's concert," Best said. "We were taken backstage, and we met Michael. There was Michael and Lisa Marie [Presley]. George introduced me as 'Jar Jar,' and I was like, 'That's kind of weird.' Michael was like, 'Oh. OK.' I thought, 'What is going on? After Michael had driven off, we all go back up to a big after-party. I'm having a drink with George, and I said, 'Why did you introduce me as Jar Jar?' He said, 'Well, Michael wanted to do the part, but he wanted to do it in prosthetics and makeup like Thriller. George wanted to do it in CGI. My guess is ultimately Michael Jackson would have been bigger than the movie, and I don't think he wanted that."
The casting probably worked out better for Jackson in the long run: Jar Jar was panned by critics after Phantom Menace hit theaters, inspiring fan vitriol that hasn't dimmed 16 years later. (See Daniel Kimmel's 2011 book Jar Jar Binks Must Die.) Best told Vice that he's accepted the character's outcast status - and he understands why Jar Jar's importance diminished in the two subsequent Star Wars films, 2002'sEpisode II: Attack of the Clones and 2005's Episode III: Revenge of the Sith.
"At the end of the day, it is the movie business, and if the character doesn't work for the people who watch the movie, then the character doesn't work," he said. "I can't take that personally. It's up to the filmmaker to make sure that not only does the film work for the filmmaker but it also works for the audience. So, because he wasn't a fan favorite, I can understand why he was scaled back. And, narratively, they moved on to something else. There's really no room in Revenge of the Sith for him; that was a very dark story. There was nothing about it that needed to be comedic, which was Jar Jar's whole purpose. Jar Jar's whole purpose was to bring light and levity. By that time, there was none."
About 80 descendants of Dr. Samuel A. Mudd marked Friday's 150th anniversary of Mudd's July 24, 1865, arrival at an isolated Gulf of Mexico fort where he was imprisoned after splinting the broken leg of President Abraham Lincoln's assassin.
Wearing "Free Dr. Mudd" T-shirts, the group toured Fort Jefferson, a former Union military prison on an island 68 miles west of Key West in remote Dry Tortugas National Park. Most visited the cell where Mudd spent four years after being convicted as a co-conspirator in Lincoln's assassination.
Great-grandson Tom Mudd, who spearheaded the pilgrimage, believes the doctor was unaware of John Wilkes Booth's crime when he treated Booth.
Samuel Mudd left Fort Jefferson, nicknamed the Gibraltar of the Gulf, after being granted a pardon in 1869, primarily because of the medical work he did in stemming the spread of a yellow fever outbreak at the fort. But his conviction was never overturned.
TV presenter Carol Voderman, left, and comedian Eddie Izzard arrive for the UK premiere of Mission: Impossible- Rogue Nation, at the BFI IMax in central London, Saturday, July 25, 2015, which will be screened simultaneously in 14 screens across the UK.
Photo by Joel Ryan
The "Confederate Memorial Carving" in a state park outside of Atlanta is once again stirring controversy, as Georgia officials try to decide what, if anything, to do about a huge sculpture that memorializes three of the South's Civil War heroes but causes offense to blacks and others.
Chiseled into a side of Stone Mountain, the carving of Confederate President Jefferson Davis, General Robert E. Lee and General Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson spans three acres and is the largest high relief sculpture in the world - even larger than Mount Rushmore.
Controversial since its 1970 unveiling, the sculpture has drawn renewed scrutiny since the massacre of nine black worshippers at a church in South Carolina last month.
The Atlanta NAACP called this month for the carving's removal along with dozens of Confederate monuments on government property around the state. Atlanta's city council this week urged Gov. Nathan Deal to study additions of famous Georgians such as Martin Luther King Jr. to the Stone Mountain carving.
AT&T and DirecTV's merger cleared its final federal regulatory hurdle on Friday, garnering the votes at the FCC for approval.
The $49 billion transaction will create a bundling powerhouse, with the combined company's ability to offer video, broadband and voice services. The combined company will have about 26 million video subscribers, making it the largest pay-TV provider, exceeding even the 22 million video subscribers of Comcast.
Earlier this week FCC chairman Tom Wheeler said that he was recommending approval of the AT&T merger with DirecTV with conditions, including provisions to prevent the combined company from discriminating against online video competition.
The Department of Justice, which also has been reviewing the transaction, said it would not challenge the deal, concluding that "the combination of AT&T's land-based Internet and video business with DirecTV's satellite-based video business does not pose a significant risk to competition."
British singer Shirley Bassey arrives at the "Monaco Red Cross Ball", Saturday, July 25, 2015, in Monaco. The Monaco Red Cross Ball is a charity gala evening bringing together high society as well as donors from all over the world.
Photo by Lionel Cironneau
In an angry rebuke, a judge on Friday ordered the U.S. Marshals Service to seize a collection of records from Sheriff Joe Arpaio's office and leveled harsh criticism at the sheriff's lawyers for failing to turn over documents that had been requested months ago in a racial profiling case.
U.S. District Judge Murray Snow's criticism centered on the agency's failure to hand over more than 1,400 identification documents in a related investigation into allegations that deputies pocketed items during busts.
The judge also focused on the agency's refusal to turn over 50 hard drives from Arpaio's secret investigation involving the judge.
Robert Warshaw, the official monitoring the sheriff's office for the judge, said he learned the ID documents were slated for destruction and that there was an order at the sheriff's office that the existence of the ID records shouldn't be voluntarily revealed.
The court monitor said the unit of the sheriff's office that stores evidence is a lockbox for keeping unflattering documents from public or court scrutiny.
Hilaria Baldwin, from left, Alec Baldwin and Ireland Baldwin attend a special screening of "Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation" at the United Artists East Hampton Cinema 6 on Friday, July 24, 2015, in East Hampton, N.Y.
Photo by Scott Roth
Israel's justice minister sought Saturday to quell speculation that the potential release of jailed spy Jonathan Pollard was a US gesture to ease Israeli anger over the Iran nuclear deal.
"There is no political or diplomatic involvement here," Ayelet Sheked told Israel's privately run television station Channel 2.
"It is an American legal procedure: the parole commission needs to approve his release from prison after 30 years," she said.
A US-born Israeli, Pollard was arrested in 1985 and two years later was sentenced to life in prison for passing American intelligence on Arab and Pakistani weapons to the Jewish state.
Pollard becomes eligible for parole in November, and the US Justice Department indicated on Thursday that it would not oppose his release.
People wear armor as they attend a reenactment of the Battle of Agincourt, in Agincourt, northern France, Saturday, July 25, 2015. The French are hosting a reenactment of the clash with England this weekend. More than 800 people in Medieval garb are gathering at the site to commemorate the battle, which was a turning point in the Hundred Years' War.
Photo by Thibault Camus
Saudi King Salman and a 1,000-entourage arrived on Saturday for holiday on the French Riviera, where over 100,000 residents have petitioned against the closure of the public beach outside his villa.
The monarch's plane landed at Nice airport and he was driven away in a 10-vehicle motorcade, the local prefecture said.
The new king and his inner circle's three-week visit at the family's seafront villa in Vallauris, where U.S. actress Rita Hayworth celebrated her wedding to Prince Aly Khan of Pakistan in 1949, will be a boon for the local economy.
But the closure of the public beach for privacy and security reasons has stirred up a local storm. A petition against the "privatization" of the Mirandole beach below the Saudi villa gathered more than 100,000 signatures in a week.
The mayor of Vallauris also wrote to President Francois Hollande to protest against unauthorized work done by the Saudis at the property, where a slab of concrete was poured directly onto the sand to install an elevator.
Participants in the Ernest Hemingway Look-A-Like contest kick off the annual "Running of the Bulls" in this handout photo provided by the Florida Keys News Bureau in Key West, Florida, July 25, 2015. The whimsical and much safer answer to the event's namesake in Pamplona, Spain, was staged as a facet of the island city's annual Hemingway Days festival that ends Sunday. Hemingway lived and wrote in Key West throughout the 1930s.
Photo by Andy Newman
The first cargo ships passed through Egypt's New Suez Canal on Saturday in a test-run before it opens next month, state media reported, 11 months after the army began constructing the $8 billion canal alongside the existing 145-year-old Suez Canal.
The new waterway, which President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi hopes will help expand trade along the fastest shipping route between Europe and Asia, will be formally inaugurated on Aug. 6.
Sisi wants the canal to become a symbol of national pride and to help combat Egypt's double-digit unemployment. The old Suez Canal is already a vital source of hard currency for Egypt, which has seen tourism and foreign investment drain away in the years of turmoil since a 2011 uprising.
Three container ships crossed the new waterway, state news agency MENA reported. One was an American ship heading to Egypt's Port Said from Saudi Arabia, another was a Danish ship sailing to the United States from Singapore, and a Bahraini ship going to Italy from Saudi Arabia.
The exercise took place amid tight security. An insurgency based in the Sinai Peninsula, which borders on the Suez Canal, has killed hundreds of soldiers and police since 2013. State television said there were helicopters circling above and showed naval vessels escorting the ships.
A butterfly sits on a sock left at Blue Hole, a swimming hole in the Dry River in Rawley Springs, Va., on Wednesday, July 15, 2015.
Photo by Austin Bachand
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