Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Marc Dion: Animal Crackers in My Soul (Creators Syndicate)
I haven't bought a box of animal crackers in a while, but I understand they've changed the picture on the front of the box. They haven't changed the taste, though, so I'll be all right. I pay more attention to what's in the box than I do to what's on the box, which is why I didn't vote for Donald Trump.
Ted Rall: Is Trump a Brand-New Weird Existential Threat to the Republic? (Creators Syndicate)
George W. Bush alone is guilty of far more heinous crimes. He introduced the dangerous explosion of "signing statements" in which the president signs a bill into law and then crosses his fingers behind his back, secretly ordering that the law not be enforced. And he invaded Iraq preemptively, an extreme violation of international law, which states that nations may only go to war in self-defense or when faced with a grave and imminent military threat.
Ted Rall: "Don't Fall for the '1st Amendment Equals Free Speech' Trick" (Creators Syndicate)
We ought not let ourselves be fooled into falsely equating freedom of speech to the First Amendment. Freedom of speech means exactly that: People can say anything at all, anywhere they please, to anyone. Every First Amendment case pertaining to speech is a free speech issue. But only a tiny fraction of free speech issues are First Amendment cases.
Lenore Skenazy: Investigated for Letting Her Kid Walk the Dog (Creators Syndicate)
Corey Widen let her 8-year-old do the most normal, cheerful thing in the world - walk the dog around the block. After the girl returned home, the doorbell rang. It was the police. The cops had received a call about an unsupervised child and had to question the mom. After doing so, they quickly dropped the matter. But then the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services picked it up again - interrogating not just Widen but her kids, other family members and even her pediatrician.
Mark Shields: 'Officers Eat Last' (Creators Syndicate)
The Marine Corps lives by one hard-and-fast rule foreign to American corporate and financial life: "Officers eat last." Simply stated, the Marine officer in command does not eat until all the Marines he is responsible for - beginning with the corporals and the privates - have first been fed. This practice reflects another Corps value: Loyalty for Marines is a two-way street. It must go from the top to the bottom ranks, as well as from the bottom to the top.
Mark Shields: A Church Lacking Sympathy (Creators Syndicate)
After the recent Pennsylvania grand jury report on sexual abuse, which tells of more than 1,000 victims enduring criminal cruelty at the hands of some 300 Catholic priests, I am consumed with anger toward my church. Of course, I am also sad, but I remain even more furious toward my church's hierarchy and its rush not to console the anguish of and heal the wounds of the vulnerable victims but rather to lead a systematic cover-up of priests' crimes against defenseless children to protect the institutional church from legal liability and deserved public outrage.
Froma Harrop: Mothers Who Do Too Much (Creators Syndicate)
Here's a true story about a fine woman with an advanced degree whom I will not name for obvious reasons: We were chatting one day, when her little girl broke in to say she was hungry. It was 4:30 in the afternoon. Rather than respond with "Here's a cookie to hold you until family dinner," the mom took out her pots and pans and started cooking an elaborate meal. Our conversation, of course, was over.
Something is rotten at Fox News (YouTube)
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Presenting
Michael Egan
said:
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
REMEMBERING URI.
STOP THE THIEF!
THE TRAITOR!
WHAT A MORAN.
'A CRIMINAL PRESIDENT'
Visit JD's site - Kitty Litter Music
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Another lovely marine layer.
This Time It's Personal
Bill Maher
Bill Maher's $1 million contribution to Democrats earlier this week wasn't the first time the HBO host hit the seven-figure giveaway mark - that was in 2012 - but this time, he said, it's personal. And he wants the rest of wealthy Hollywood to pony up.
"In 2012 I did it but this is different," Maher said tonight on HBO's Real Time With Bill Maher. "That was for my country. I thought it was very important that the first black president get a second term, and all the money in the country was going to the Republicans.
"This time it's a little more personal. I'm worried about this country and what's going to happen to it on a very existential level, including my own ass. I got a lot of messages from people yesterday saying 'good for you,' and I just want to say to the ones who are rich who said that: Not enough. Not enough."
Maher targeted Los Angeles' moneyed liberals - using rather less tactful phrasing - demanding they put up the goods. "L.A. has Beverly Hills and Bel Air and Brentwood and Malibu - it just goes on and on. Pacific Palisades. There's a lot of rich f*cks and this is the time to step up."
And Maher made sure viewers knew the gift didn't come easy. "You know, this hurts me," Maher said. "Alex Jones says I have $100 million. I don't."
Bill Maher
One Regret
Samantha Bee
"Full Frontal" host Samantha Bee has opened up about the backlash she received after using the C-word to describe Ivanka Trump in May.
The comedian told The Daily Beast she had one regret about calling President-for-now Donald Trump's (R-OfPutin) daughter a "feckless cunt" during a segment about the Trump administration's policy of separating undocumented children from their parents at the border: that her language, not Trump's immigration policies, became the focus.
"I was very regretful that that moment really took away from what I was trying to say with the segment," Bee said. "And the segment really effectively disappeared, you can't find it anymore. That's really a shame, because the subject matter was really important to me."
At the time, the president responded to the segment by calling for Bee to be fired. White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said the comment was "vile and vicious."
Bee later apologized for "using an expletive" to describe the first daughter. "It was inappropriate and inexcusable. I crossed a line, and I deeply regret it," she said.
Samantha Bee
Season 8 Release Date Might Be Later
'Game Of Thrones'
Winter is coming ... with a little bit of a delay.
Earlier this year, rumor had it that "Game of Thrones" Season 8 would begin airing sometime in April 2019. The gossip started with a quote Maisie Williams allegedly gave Metro in the U.K., which she later denied. Still, fans hopped on the date and rally around it to this day.
And, hey, a release earlier in the year makes sense. HBO's president of programming, Casey Bloys, said the show would be premiering in the first half of 2019. And in order to qualify for the Emmy Awards in '19, a series must air between June 1, 2018, and May 31, 2019. So if HBO wanted the final season of "Game of Thrones" to be considered in the next Emmys, it would have to air before the end of May.
In an interview with HuffPost, "Game of Thrones" visual effects supervisor Joe Bauer discussed the show's Emmy hopes (it's nominated for 22 awards at the 2018 ceremony) as well as its future eligibility. "In two years we'll be eligible for the Season 8 work," he said, "which we're just beginning now."
That's right. He said the show will be eligible for the 2020 Emmys, not the 2019 Emmys, meaning it would be airing the bulk of its expected six episodes after the 2019 deadline: May 31.
'Game Of Thrones'
There's An App For That
Windows 95
If you're feeling a little bit of nostalgia for Microsoft's beloved Windows 95operating system, there's finally an app for that. What's old is now a novelty again, and Slack developer Felix Rieseberg created an app that allows Windows 95 to run inside on more modern operating systems, including Apple's MacOS, Microsoft's Windows 10, and Linux.
This current development is based on a web project that supports Windows 95 and a number of operating systems inside a web browser, but Rieseberg goes a step further by packaging Windows 95 neatly into an app that's approximately 129MB in size.
Over the years, Windows 95 has been ported to various platforms. Most recently, it has been shown running on an Xbox One, an Android Wear smartwatch, and the Apple Watch. In the past, various developers got the OS working on a number of different smartphone platforms, including Google's Android operating system, Apple's iPhone running iOS, and Nintendo's 3DS XL.
"I put Windows 95 into an Electron app that now runs on MacOS, Windows, and Linux," Rieseberg announced in a good-humored tweet. "It's a terrible idea that works shockingly well. I'm so sorry."
Because the app began as a joke for a few of his friends, Riesenberg didn't enable some features, like support for mountable drives. However, after user requests, Version 1.1.0 of the app now comes with support for floppy disks!
Windows 95
There Can Be Only One
Comic-Con
A federal judge has awarded San Diego Comic-Con $3.9 million in legal fees in a copyright infringement lawsuit filed in 2014 against Salt Lake City's comic convention.
Also, the Utah comic book convention has 30 days to stop using the Comic Con name and brand, according to SDCC's attorney Peter Hahn.
The event is now referring to itself on its website as FanX Salt Lake Comic Convention (formerly Salt Lake Comic Con.)
Federal court Judge Anthony Battaglia's ruling Thursday follows a December 2017 jury verdict that the Salt Lake City convention violated San Diego Comic-Con's trademarked names.
The December 2017 ruling may have far-reaching legal implications for comic book convention spin-offs wanting to recreate the magic of the original SDCC, which began with 100 self-described comic book geeks in a basement and grew to "one of the best-attended pop culture events in the world," according to Forbes.
Comic-Con
Family Files Lawsuit
Prince
Prince's family has filed a lawsuit against the Minnesota doctor that prescribed the late singer prescription medication prior to his death.
In the lawsuit, filed this week in the Hennepin County District Court, Prince's family states that Dr. Michael Schulenberg and other parties had "an opportunity and duty during the weeks before Prince's death to diagnose and treat Prince's opioid addiction, and to prevent his death. They failed to do so," the Associated Press reports.
In the aftermath of Prince's accidental overdose on April 21st, 2016, Schulenberg admitted to authorities that he had prescribed the powerful painkiller oxycodone to the singer's bodyguard in order to protect Prince's identity; Schulenberg was later fined $30,000 for that violation.
However, Prince's overdose was the result of an "exceedingly high" level of Fentanyl in his system. It remains unclear who provided Prince with the Fentanyl, as an investigation into the Prince's death yielded no suspects. Still, Prince's family seeks unspecified damages in excess of $50,000 from Schulenberg, their lawyer John Goetz stated in the lawsuit.
In April, Prince's family filed a wrongful death lawsuit against a Moline, Illinois hospital Trinity Medical Center that briefly treated Prince in April 2016 after an overdose as well as two Minnesota-area Walgreens locations for "dispensing narcotic prescription medication" for invalid medical purposes.
Prince
Put On Hold
Guardians of the Galaxy
Production on Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 has been put on hold until further notice, following the dismissal of director James Gunn.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, the small crew that was currently prepping preproduction have been dismissed and told they are free to look for new work. Filming was originally set to begin either in January or February, with full preproduction commencing in the fall.
Sources have stated that the halt is more of a temporary "regrouping" as Marvel and Disney negotiate a new director to step into Gunn's place. One source said Thor: Ragnarok director Taika Waititi recently met with Marvel, but there's no indication as to what project was discussed.
There is also no indication as to whether Gunn's already completed script will be used and, since Disney never set a release date for the sequel, how this delay affects Marvel's greater slate.
Gunn was fired last month after alt-right commentators, in response to the director's vocal political position, unearthed old, controversial tweets in which he joked about paedophilia and rape.
Guardians of the Galaxy
Blames Wife
Hunter
Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Grifter), who has been indicted on corruption charges related to the use of his campaign money, appeared to blame his wife for the predicament when he said in an interview Thursday night that she handled the finances for their family and his campaign.
Hunter and his wife Margaret, who was also indicted, entered pleas of not guilty in federal court Thursday morning. They face 60 charges related to the alleged misuse of $250,000 in campaign money. Prosecutors say the couple used the money to illegally pay for personal expenses, including lavish vacations, dental fees and a plane ticket for their pet rabbit.
Among the allegations is that Hunter called his wife when he wanted to buy some Hawaii shorts and that she told him to purchase them at the pro shop of a golf club so they could be listed as golf balls for the Wounded Warriors Project, a veterans charity. Hunter denied that accusation.
On Thursday evening, Fox News host Martha MacCallum asked Hunter, "Are you saying it's more her fault than your fault?"
Hunter, a Republican from San Diego who served in the Marines, replied: "I'm saying when I went to Iraq in 2003, the first time, I gave her power of attorney and she handled my finances throughout my entire military career and that continued on when I got into Congress. Because I'm gone five days a week, I'm home for two."
Hunter
Air Guitar
Finland
Air guitar enthusiasts gathered in the Finnish city of Oulu on Friday to shred and strum their imaginary instruments in pursuit of the world championship of the bizarre dance form.
Under grey, wet skies, this year's 15 finalists appeared on the open air stage on Oulu's central square, twanging, jangling, riffing, screeching and plucking the air.
This year's title was taken by Japan's Nanami Nagura, who performed under the artist name Seven Seas in the contest's 23rd edition.
She started her performance dressed as a modest cleaning lady before transforming into a heavy metal guitarist as her song kicked in. Her prize was a hand-carved guitar called the Flying Finn.
Nagura was one of the seven performers who had entered the final through qualifiers in other parts of the world. The other eight finalists qualified through a "dark horse" round that took place in the host city the night before.
Finland
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