Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Marc Dion: Making an Afghan with No Pattern (Creators Syndicate)
Trump's only genuine political inspiration was to find the least-educated group of people in the country and then agree with them until he got elected. It worked, but not by much, and the closeness of the election will not be mentioned in history books after he becomes president for life.
MARTIN H. REDISH: A Pardon for Arpaio Would Put Trump in Uncharted Territory (NY Times)
… the Arpaio case is different: The sheriff was convicted of violating constitutional rights, in defiance of a court order involving racial profiling. Should the president indicate that he does not think Mr. Arpaio should be punished for that, he would signal that governmental agents who violate judicial injunctions are likely to be pardoned, even though their behavior violated constitutional rights, when their illegal actions are consistent with presidential policies.
Hadley Freeman: My great uncle was alienated in postwar France. Now Americans know how he felt (The Guardian)
These are strange times for liberal Jews who, like me, were born in America only because their grandparents ran there to escape fascism.
When Guardian columns look like spoofs but in fact they are all genuine headlines (The Poke)
Over on Twitter @lisagravesart has been very busy stitching together the headlines on a bunch of pieces by her favourite Guardian columnists.
TIFFANY ORR: Man catches women packing up his beach gear and films confrontation (SF Globe)
A Florida man who had been enjoying a day at the beach with his family on the Fourth of July in 2014, was left flabbergasted when two women tried to steal his beach gear. The man, who was only identified in reports as "Rich," had staked out a spot on New Smyrna Beach in Florida, according to Gawker. Rich and his family had set up a canopy and put beach chairs on the spot. They also had boogie boards and kids' toys near their setup.
Freire Barnes: These Are The Most Colourful Streets in the World (The Culture Trip)
What is life without a bit of colour, and these streets from around the world are more than just colourful, they are vibrant examples of how people engage with their urban environments, enlivening them with visually-engaging murals and transforming them into works of art.
Greg Daughterty: The Last Adventure of Richard Halliburton, the Forgotten Hero of 1930s America (Smithsonian)
Seventy-five years ago, the idol of America's youth set out on what would be his final journey.
David Bruce's Amazon Author Page
David Bruce's Smashwords Page
David Bruce's Blog
David Bruce's Lulu Storefront
David Bruce's Apple iBookstore
David Bruce has over 80 Kindle books on Amazon.com.
Presenting
Michael Egan
took the day off.
has returned to semi-retired status.
In memory.
Reader Suggestion
Michelle in AZ
Bonus Links
Jeannie the Teed-Off Temp
from Marc Perkel
Patriot Act
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
FOR PEOPLE WHO KILL THINGS JUST TO WATCH THEM DIE!
RUNNING SCARED!
MICRO-CRAP!
CALIFORNIA STEAMING!
EVERYONE LOVES A FREAK SHOW!
HE CAN…!
1000 AND COUNTING!
"HANG 'EM HIGH" HENRY.
WHEN MORONS DRIVE TRUCKS!
IT WAS A LOVELY DAY FOR AN ECLIPSE.
RUNNING OUT OF TIME.
"BRANDING?"
Visit JD's site - Kitty Litter Music
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
We're having a heat wave. Ack.
NYT Pulls Book From Best-Seller List
"Handbook for Mortals"
A novel called "Handbook for Mortals" had a very brief reign at the top of a New York Times best-seller list.
The paper confirmed Friday that it had pulled Lani Sarem's book from its young adult hardcover list for Sept. 3 because of "inconsistencies" in the reporting of sales. The announcement came after online complaints that "Handbook for Mortals" had benefitted from so-called "bulk sales," when hundreds or thousands of copies are ordered by a single buyer. On Twitter, young adult author Phil Stamper and others had questioned how a book they knew little about could reach No. 1 on the Times list.
"After investigating the inconsistencies in the most recent reporting cycle, we decided that the sales for 'Handbook for Mortals' did not meet our criteria for inclusion," the Times said in a statement issued through communications director Jordan Cohen. "We've issued an updated 'Young Adult Hardcover' list for September 3, 2017, which does not include that title." Cohen told The Associated Press that it was a "very rare occurrence" for a book to be removed from the paper's best-seller listings.
Published Aug. 15, "Handbook for Mortals" is billed as the first of a fantasy series about a young woman with supernatural powers. It's also billed as the first release through the publishing arm of a Los Angeles-based web site, geeknation.com, which calls itself "an online entertainment destination serving up a fresh, daily dose of news, opinion, lifestyle and community."
The novel's popularity seems highly selective. It ranked No. 34,765 on Amazon.com as of Friday afternoon, but recorded enough sales at independent stores to reach No. 2 on the American Booksellers Association's young adult list. Spokesman Dan Cullen of the ABA, a trade group representing thousands of independent sellers, said the association was reviewing the book's rankings.
"Handbook for Mortals"
Union Strife
Disney
As negotiations start this month over wage increases at Walt Disney World, rebellion is brewing in one of the six unions that advocate for the resort's 70,000 workers.
Many of the performers who entertain guests as Mickey Mouse, the Seven Dwarves and other costumed characters are Teamsters, and some are fed up with how their union is being run. For the first time in recent memory, they're putting together a slate of opposition candidates, promising to make this fall's vote for the leadership of Teamsters Local 385 anything but a heigh-ho-hum affair.
The 9,000 members of Local 385 have key roles in central Florida's tourism and transportation industries. About half are Disney workers; the rest include UPS drivers, hotel employees, food service workers, rental car employees and other drivers across 20 Florida counties.
The unhappiness in Local 385 comes as Walt Disney World management opens talks with the six-union council, which represents about half the theme park resort's workforce. New employees start at $10 an hour, and a council statement said negotiators will push for "significant increases to lift Cast Members out of poverty."
Disney World is the only unionized theme park in Orlando, but given the vast size of its workforce, wages there have a big impact on what other hospitality workers earn in the area. And compared to other major tourist destinations, they're not doing very well: Among the nation's 25 largest metro areas in 2015, Orlando had the third-lowest median household income, at $51,077. One reason: Florida's "right-to-work" law depresses union membership by requiring it to be voluntary, and not a condition of employment.
Disney
Faces Worst Wine Harvest Since 1945
France
France faces its poorest wine harvest since 1945 after an unusually mild March and frosty April, experts said Friday, although a hot summer promises to deliver top vintages.
"At harvests everywhere, in places where we thought there would be a little less, there's a lot less," said Jerome Despey, the head of a governmental wine advisory board.
This year's harvest will be "the smallest since 1945," Despey told a news conference.
The agriculture ministry said output was expected to total 37.2 million hectolitres, 18 percent less than 2016 and 17 percent below the average over the past five years.
The 2016 harvest was already one of the poorest in 30 years.
France
Former T-rump Ethics Director
Walter Shaub
Donald Trump's (R-Crooked) former ethics chief, who resigned last month because of disagreements with the White House over ethics policies, blasted the president's decision on Friday to pardon Sheriff Joe "Pink Panties" Arpaio.
"Vile!!" began Walter Shaub, the former director of the Office of Government Ethics, on a Twitter thread. "What POTUS says 'exemplifies selfless public service' is: dehumanizing inmates, racial profiling, and gleefully defying a court order."
"This pardon also departs from procedural norms. And as an affirmative act by POTUS, it reveals an emboldening," he tweeted.
But Shaub was hardly alone in his outrage, as other current and former public officials also condemned Trump's pardon.
Phoenix Mayor Greg Stanton released a statement saying that the Arpaio's tactics "terrorized Latino families because of their skin color."
Walter Shaub
Five Biggest Scandals
Arpaio
Donald Trump (R-Corrupt) pardoned Joe Arpaio (R-Scofflaw) Friday, sparing the controversial former Arizona sheriff a spell in jail.
The move has drawn an outcry from civil rights groups, given that Arpaio's conviction was for defying a court order to stop traffic patrols targeting suspected immigrants. But others, including the president, have praised Arpaio's stance on some law enforcement and immigration.
As newly elected Sheriff of Maricopa County in the early 1990s, Arpaio pushed the construction of an open-air jail called 'Tent City,' which he claimed was a solution not only to prison overcrowding but to "soft" incarceration policies.
Inmates were made to wear pink underwear and handcuffs, meals were cut down to two a day with salt and pepper removed to cut costs and Arpaio pushed for mugshots of inmates to be posted online.
He also reintroduced the use of chain gangs-including for women and juvenile inmates.
For the other 4, Arpaio
Gianforte Booked
Montana
Montana U.S. Rep. Greg Gianforte (R-Thug) was photographed and fingerprinted Friday, days after a judge ordered him to be booked after pleading guilty to assaulting a reporter on the eve of the special election that put him in office.
Gallatin County Attorney Marty Lambert declined Friday to release the mug shot that Democrats would likely use against him during the 2018 election cycle. Lambert's practice is not to release mug shots without a judge's order. The Bozeman Daily Chronicle reports it filed an application in District Court Friday asking a judge to release it.
Gianforte, 56, pleaded guilty in June to assaulting Guardian reporter Ben Jacobs on May 24. Jacobs said Gianforte "body slammed" him and broke his glasses when he asked a question about a bill to repeal the Affordable Care Act that had passed the U.S. House. Audio taken by Jacobs recorded the sounds of a scuffle followed by Gianforte yelling, "Get the hell out of here!"
The former software executive was ordered to pay a $385 fine, complete 40 hours of community service and 20 hours of anger management counseling. Part of his settlement with Jacobs included a $50,000 donation to the Committee to Project Journalists. He was given a 180-day suspended sentence, but was ordered to report to jail to be booked.
Montana
Apple Removes Top Apps
Iran
Iranians were joined by two ministers Saturday in protesting after Apple removed popular apps from its store, a move the American company says was made to comply with US sanctions.
"Today, respecting consumers' rights is a basic principle which Apple has not followed," Information and Communication Technology Minister Mohammad Javad Azari Jahromi tweeted, promising to "legally pursue" the case.
"IT should be used for making human life better and comfortable not a tool for discrimination between countries," he wrote.
Those now missing include Amazon-style shopping apps Digikala and Bamilo, ride-hailing apps Snapp and Tap30, discount store Takhfifan and a brunch delivery service called Delion.
"Under the US sanctions regulations, the App Store cannot host, distribute, or do business with apps or developers connected to certain US embargoed countries."
Iran
Melting Glacier
Mont Blanc
Italian mountain rescue crews have recovered the remains of two - or possibly three - hikers on a glacier on Mont Blanc's southern face likely dating from the 1980s or 1990s, officials said Friday.
The remains were discovered this week by a hiker who was searching for artifacts from decades-old crashes of two Air India flights, one in 1966 that killed more than 100 people and another in 1950 with nearly 50 fatalities, Alpine rescue commander Delfino Viglione said Friday.
"We have many missing people in that area," Viglione said, including another 20 or so hikers who have disappeared over the decades. "We often have discoveries. We don't go in search of them but they are pointed out to us by hikers and climbers."
Glacier melting during this unusually hot summer in Europe helped reveal the remains, which were torn asunder over the years by natural glacier movements.
"The glacier continues to expel the bodies," he said. "In general, the remains are transported toward the valley. But if the glacier is melting, it increases the possibility of finding them."
Mont Blanc
Sandwich Settlement Thrown Out
Subway 'Footlong'
A U.S. federal appeals court on Friday threw out a class-action settlement intended to resolve claims that the Subway sandwich chain deceived customers by selling "Footlong" subs that were less than a foot long.
The 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago called the settlement "utterly worthless," even as it rewarded the customers' lawyers for convincing Subway it was better to make the case go away than fight.
"A class action that seeks only worthless benefits for the class and yields only fees for class counsel is no better than a racket and should be dismissed out of hand," Circuit Judge Diane Sykes wrote for a three-judge panel. "That's an apt description of this case."
<
A settlement approved by a Wisconsin federal judge in February 2016 required Subway to adopt quality control measures, consistent with "the realities of baking bread," to ensure that its six- and 12-inch sandwiches were that length.
Subway 'Footlong'
| CURRENT MOON lunar phases |
