Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Marc Dion: Here's a Tip (Creators Syndicate)
I tip in coffee shops, even at the drive-thru. I don't tip to show my solidarity with the working class. I tip because, if I don't tip, I hear my dead father's voice. "What are you, cheap?" the voice says. "Throw her half a buck."
Hadley Freeman: Any muppet could write The Tempest, pre-internet (The Guardian)
Shakespeare had it easy. Writing an 800-word column while resisting the siren call of online gossip? That's a literary triumph.
Alice O'Keeffe: Why serious literary fiction like Ishiguro's is vital in times like these (The Guardian)
In our digital age, Kazuo Ishiguro's Nobel prize is a reminder that it is still novels that ask the biggest questions.https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/oct/06/kazuo-ishiguro-nobel-prize-digital-age-serious-literary-fiction-vital
Jonathan Romney: "Anne Wiazemsky: a haunting, humane star who helped France discover itself" (The Guardian)
More than just a foil for Jean-Luc Godard, Wiazemsky was a vital performer - and exhilarating writer - who brought desire and compassion to the screen.
Gwilym Mumford: Anne Wiazemsky, French actor, novelist and muse to Jean-Luc Godard, dies aged 70 (The Guardian)
Actor appeared in films by Bresson, Pasolini and Godard, to whom she was married for 12 years and whose memoir of their relationship was adapted into the 2017 film Redoubtable.
Jonathan Jones: Dalí/Duchamp review - surreal bromance between art's odd couple (The Guardian)
There's plenty of evidence here that Duchamp and Dali were friends who liked each others' work - but for all the shock value of Dali's vulgarity, this is an exhibition about one man who told everyone he was a genius, Dali, and one man, Duchamp, who really was one.
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
answered:
took the day off.
In memory.
Reader Suggestion
Michelle in AZ
Reader Comment
Current Events
Cynthis shared the below; Joy really nails it.
At a certain point, the distaste becomes exhaustion. Donald Trump's presence in our national life has been alternately infuriating, embarrassing, revolting, gross and bizarre. His non-stop assaults on our political norms are testing our capacity to sustain constant outrage without giving in to despair.
I meet victims of Trump fatigue everywhere. They stop me in airports and restaurants and on the street and ask how long we'll have to put up with this madness - when will Bob Mueller finally bring him down, and how much more can our systems bend before they break. When I tell them Trump is likely to clamor on until either the 2018 election slows him down or the 2020 election stops him (or if Russian interference, non-white voter suppression and liberal perfectionism succeed again, 'til he terms out in 2024), the look on their faces is something akin to terror.
For many Americans - many humans - Trump's presidency can often feel unbearable.
Try as you might to put him out of your mind, he blunders back into your consciousness. He lumbers across your television and cellphone screens in his giant Trump suits, squinting and pouting with his silent, sullen wife or exhausted looking cabinet members in tow. One minute he's tearing up international agreements. The next, he's tweeting out his inner demons, mocking people of color, taunting unstable dictators with stupid nicknames and generally wreaking havoc. The Trump Show is the reality TV train wreck you can't turn off, no matter how badly you want to. No sooner does he ruin one thing (so much for empathetic hurricane response being Presidenting 101) than he's on to the next one (stay tuned to find out what our "tease to commercial break" president means by "the calm before the storm!")
Bonus Links
Jeannie the Teed-Off Temp
from Marc Perkel
Patriot Act
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
IT'S ALIVE!
IT'S BIGGER AND FASTER!
"BREAKING UP IS HARD TO DO"
THE "GOLDEN SHOWERS" DOSSIER.
THE DOUBLE STANDARD.
A DUTY TO WARN.
"GOVERNING IS HARDER."
Visit JD's site - Kitty Litter Music
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
So, have finally cobbled together a work-around for the computer situation.
One of the hang-ups was there are only 2 USB ports on the back of this computer - one for the mouse, one for the keyboard. Yeah, it's old.
So every night I had to climb on top of the piano to access the back of the computer and swap the keyboard cable with a flash drive, import the files, then climb back on the piano, remove the flash drive and return the keyboard cable to it's port.
Found an old 4 port hub, plugged the keyboard into one of the ports, and a card reader cable in another.
Magic!
No more climbing on top of the piano.
FWIW, I can also read schematics, determine the Effective Radiated Pattern of a transmitter (without a calculator), and bake a damn fine pie.
White House Interprets For Reporters
First Amendment
White House press secretary Sarah Sanders lectured reporters on the meaning of the First Amendment Thursday, in defense of President-for-now Trump's (R-Crooked) recent tweets suggesting that the Senate Intelligence Committee investigate national news outlets.
Asked whether Trump values the First Amendment, Sanders said replied, "Absolutely, the president is an incredible advocate of the First Amendment." However, she continued, "With those freedoms also come responsibilities. You have a responsibility to tell the truth, to be accurate."
Sanders referenced a recent study by the Pew Research Center that found only 5 percent of news stories published about Trump during his first 60 days in office were positive - compared to 42 percent for President Obama in 2009 and 22 percent for George W. Bush in 2001.
The First Amendment does not impose any obligations on media outlets for the accuracy, balance or significance of what they report. News organizations can be sued for libel for false reporting that damages a person's reputation, although they have broad protections when writing about public figures, such as the president. A Senate investigation into news stories on the basis of the president's disapproval of them would be unprecedented.
First Amendment
Retired Professor Leads Challenge
Gerrymandering
It's as American as baseball or apple pie -- but the days when an incumbent party could redraw voting districts to disadvantage their opponents could soon be numbered, thanks to the tireless efforts of a retired Midwestern law professor.
The US Supreme Court this week examined the dark art of partisan gerrymandering on Tuesday for the first time in over a decade, in a landmark case that could shake up the country's political landscape.
The filing has attracted support from a large body of scholars and senior politicians from both major political parties, who believe that without independent bodies to adjudicate fairly distributed boundaries, democracy itself is under threat.
The case, which could take several months to decide, was brought by 77-year-old retired academic Bill Whitford from Wisconsin, one of several so-called swing states that are almost evenly divided along political lines.
But during state elections, he says, Wisconsin has gone solidly Republican for decades, even in years when Democrats win greater shares of the vote.
His journey began in 2012, when the Democratic party won 53 percent of all votes cast but only 39 percent of seats in the state legislature.
Gerrymandering
Ends Partnership With Defense Contractor
Marvel
Marvel has ended its partnership with defense contractor Northrop Grumman after backlash that the publishing company was in effect prompting war profiteering.
The comics giant had already canceled its New York Comic Con event scheduled for Saturday, which was meant to highlight the new union.
A statement from Marvel reads, "The activation with Northrop Grumman at New York Comic Con was meant to focus on aerospace technology and exploration in a positive way. However, as the spirit of that intent has not come across, we will not be proceeding with this partnership, including this weekend's event programming. Marvel and Northrop Grumman continue to be committed to elevating, and introducing, STEM to a broad audience."
While Northrop Grumman does not manufacture guns, it does deal in cybersecurity systems, bombers, laser weapon systems, aerial drones, and other military hardware, selling mostly to the U.S. government and generating more than $20 billion in revenue each year.
Fans immediately called out Marvel for seemingly promoting the military-industrial complex to children, and cited the fact that Tony Stark (aka Iron Man) eventually gave up manufacturing war materials, pointing out that a partnership with a military contractor was antithetical to Stark's character development.
Marvel
Returned To Jekyll Island
Sick Bobcat
A few minutes before they opened the pet carrier on a sandy trail near the beach, the veterinarians heard a piercing growl from inside the cage. Their patient was ready to go home.
A firm tap on the back of the carrier was all it took Friday for the 15-pound (6.8-kilogram) bobcat to bolt down the trail and vanish among the palmetto fronds on Jekyll Island, where park staffers had made extra efforts to save one of the island's rarest predators after hikers found the wild cat lying paralyzed nearly two weeks earlier.
Located off the Georgia coast about 70 miles (112 kilometers) south of Savannah, Jekyll Island is a state park that's teeming with deer and other wildlife thanks to a state law that keeps two-thirds of the island undeveloped. But it's home to few predators, mostly alligators and rattlesnakes.
Bobcats, while common elsewhere in Georgia, hadn't been seen on Jekyll Island in about a century until 2014, when a remote camera used to monitor wildlife on the island captured an image of an adult male. Two years later, the cameras photographed another adult bobcat, this time a female, with two kittens.
It was one of the younger cats, estimated to be roughly 1 1/2 years old now, that hikers found in late September lying in the sand and unable to move its rear legs, said Joseph Colbert III, Jekyll Island's wildlife manager. That was the first time anybody had seen one of the bobcats up close.
Sick Bobcat
Fallout Grows
Harvey
Attorney Lisa Bloom said Saturday she is no longer representing movie mogul Harvey Weinstein as he confronts sexual harassment allegations dating back years, while a TV news anchor lodged another claim of misconduct against the movie mogul and a third board member resigned from Weinstein's company.
The developments are the latest fallout from sexual harassment allegations against the Oscar-winning producer that The New York Times detailed in an expose Thursday.
"My understanding is that Mr. Weinstein and his board are moving toward an agreement," Bloom said in announcing her resignation on Twitter.
Bloom didn't respond to an email request for further comment. She previously has represented victims of sexual harassment and assault and her work with the co-chair of The Weinstein Co. drew fierce criticism online.
The allegations of sexual misconduct against Weinstein were detailed in a report this week by The New York Times. Weinstein is on indefinite leave from the company he co-founded while it conducts an investigation into the claims made by women including actors Ashley Judd and Rose McGowan and stretching back years.
Harvey
Groups See Hope In States
Gun-Control
Brushed aside by the Republican-controlled Congress, gun control advocates have shifted much of their campaign for tighter firearms laws to the states - and they've chalked up some modest, unexpected successes.
Republican governors in Nevada, North Dakota, Tennessee, Utah and New Jersey all have signed bills this year tightening access to guns. At the same time, efforts to loosen restrictions have failed in several states where Republicans are in control.
For gun control advocates - and for some Republican strategists, too - these developments expose revealing limits to what some had felt was the virtually unlimited influence of the gun lobby. Some GOP state officials have shown a willingness to break ranks - largely on incremental steps - tacking closer to overall public opinion about a need for some curbs on gun purchases, broader background checks and limits on where guns can be carried. Hoping it's at least a mini-trend, gun control advocates say they plan to exploit newly fertile ground in the wake of the Las Vegas shootings.
President-for-now Donald Trump (R-Odious) waved off the first quick demands for tighter restrictions after Las Vegas. But there is growing support among Republicans, even House Speaker Paul Ryan, for restricting "bump stocks" like the shooter in Las Vegas apparently used to effectively convert semi-automatic rifles into fully automated weapons.
There are still plenty of divisions within GOP ranks, but this marks the first time Republicans have even opened the door slightly to gun legislation.
Gun-Control
Expands Audit
EPA Watchdog
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's watchdog is expanding a review of administrator Scott Pruitt's frequent travels to his home state Oklahoma to include more recent trips taken on military and charter flights, according to a memo seen on Friday.
The Office of Inspector General had been investigating the "frequency, cost and extent" of Pruitt's travels to Oklahoma through July 31, and will now expand the "active audit" to include all travel, including the use of private and military flights he has taken up to Sept. 30.
The expanded review coincides with heightened scrutiny surrounding the travels of President-for-now Donald Trump's (R-Corrupt) cabinet officials with reports that some have spent tens and hundreds of thousands of dollars for non-commercial flights.
Pruitt has taken at least four flights that were either not commercial or military-chartered since mid-February, according to government records. EPA spokeswoman Liz Bowman said the four non-commercial flights had been cleared by EPA lawyers.
Pruitt had also traveled to Oklahoma on at least 43 of the 92 days of March, April and May, according to copies of his travel records obtained by the Environmental Integrity Project watchdog and reviewed by Reuters last month, which prompted the initial investigation.
EPA Watchdog
Father Daddy
The Legion of Christ
The Legion of Christ religious order, stained by revelations that its founder sexually abused seminarians and fathered several children, is facing a new credibility scandal: The rector of its diocesan seminary in Rome is leaving the priesthood after admitting he fathered two children of his own.
In a letter released by the Legion on Saturday, the Rev. Oscar Turrion said he fell in love with a woman a few years ago during a time of turmoil in the Legion, fathered a son and, a few months ago, a daughter.
Turrion, a 49-year-old Spaniard, had been rector of the Pontifical Maria Matter Eclesiae International College since 2014.
The institution is a residence for diocesan seminarians who study at Rome universities. Currently some 107 seminarians live there, most from India, Latin America, and Africa, down from about 200 a few years ago.
The Vatican took over the Legion in 2010, after revelations that its late founder, the Rev. Marcial Maciel, sexually abused seminarians and fathered at least three children with two women. It ordered up a wholesale reform, but the scandal hurt the Legion's credibility and stained the legacy of St. John Paul II, who had been a leading Maciel supporter.
The Legion of Christ
Reveals Ecosystem Hidden for Thousands of Years
Antarctic Iceberg
A giant iceberg that broke away from an ice shelf in the Antarctic Peninsula in July is slowly revealing a vast undersea ecosystem that has been hidden for thousands of years, researchers say.
As the iceberg, known as A-68, moves away from the Larsen C ice shelfand into the Weddell Sea, it will eventually expose 2,240 square miles (5,800 square kilometers) of sea floor that has been buried under the ice for up to 120,000 years, without light and linked to the open ocean only by minimal currents, according to scientists with the British Antarctic Survey (BAS).
Now, scientists are keen to begin exploring the newly exposed area as soon as possible, to conduct research on the hidden ecosystem that can be used to make comparisons with any changes that occur over the years to come.
The Larsen C area will be the first to benefit from a 2016 agreement by the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR), an international conservation agency, following the proposal by Grant and her colleague Phil Trathan, head of conservation ecology for the BAS.
The designation of the newly exposed region as a special area for scientific study will prohibit commercial activities like fishing and tourism for an initial period of two years, with an option to extend the protection for another 10 years after that, and potentially indefinitely, according to the BAS.
Antarctic Iceberg
In Memory
Anne Wiazemsky
The French writer and actress Anne Wiazemsky, who famously wrote a best-selling account of her short marriage to New Wave director Jean-Luc Godard, died of cancer in Paris on Thursday, her family said.
Wiazemsky, 70, made her screen debut as an elfin 19-year-old in "Au Hasard Balthazar", Robert Bresson's classic 1966 film about a mistreated Christ-like donkey, before meeting Godard -- then at the height of his fame -- a year later.
They married during the shooting of his 1967 film "La Chinoise", in which Wiazemsky plays a member of a Maoist revolutionary cell.
Her grandfather, the Nobel Prize-winning novelist Francois Mauriac, opposed the marriage to the radical maker of "Breathless" and "Contempt", who was 17 years her senior.
But the French student uprising and strikes of May 1968, in which Godard became a major player, overwhelmed them.
She later wrote a book about their short-lived relationship, "Un An Apres" (One Year Later). It was the basis of a recent comedy about Godard, "Le Redoutable" (Redoubtable), by the Oscar-winning director of "The Artist", Michel Hazanavicius.
One of Wiazemsky's last public appearances was at the movie's premiere at the Cannes film festival in May.
She appeared in more than 35 films, most memorably alongside Terence Stamp in Pier Paolo Pasolini's "Theorem", which was initially banned for obscenity in Italy in 1968 for its story of a lost disciple of Christ who seduces a whole family.
But she gradually set aside acting for writing, publishing more than a dozen novels. Her final book, "Un Saint Homme" (A Holy Man) came out last year.
Anne Wiazemsky
| CURRENT MOON lunar phases |
