Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Marc Dion: A High School Athlete in Heroin's Deadly Grip (Creators Syndicate)
Middle-class white kids overdosing on heroin will do for junkies what AIDs did for promiscuous gay men. Goodbye, despised fringe group! Hello, sacred victims! Wear some kind of colored ribbon! Attend a candlelight vigil! Does Elton John feel like writing a weepy anthem, all proceeds to charity?
Froma Harrop: Are Procrastinators Poor Planners or Victims of Overwork? (Creators Syndicate)
I came upon this article on procrastination and saved it for "later reading." Ha-ha-ha. Procrastination jokes are one of the best ways of putting off work.
Froma Harrop: Facing the Robot Tsunami (Creators Syndicate)
Robots make the perfect employee. They don't complain, they don't get sick, and, as of this writing, they don't have babies. When robots can do the job in today's economy, they get the job. When they can't, a human must suffice. You still need a human to make the perfect latte, ask security questions at the airport and, for the time being, drive a taxi. That hasn't stopped many employers from trying to robotize the people they can't do without.
Lenore Skenazy: You are What You Suddenly Insist on Eating (Creators Syndicate)
"Where's the milk?" I asked my best friend from high school, Gigi, as I peered into her fridge. "It's right there!" "Where?" "There!" But, as Gertrude Stein would have said - if she needed something to pour into her coffee and was still alive - "There's no 'there' there, only almond milk." Gigi shrugged. "That's what we drink."
Lenore Skenazy: When Autism Is a Crime (Creators Syndicate)
Daniel's mom said she will teach Daniel that what he did was wrong. Who will teach the police that it's wrong to throw a man in jail as if he were a rapist when he clearly has special needs and hasn't done anything more than talk to some neighborhood kids?
Susan Estrich: Aging Gracefully (Creators Syndicate)
How I yearn for the days when they held my hand as we crossed the street. But there is a prayer you often hear at Jewish funerals that asks the mourners to consider, even if we could stop time, would we really deny our children the opportunity to grow up and experience all that life has to offer? I would not.
Rosanna Greenstreet: "Ice-T: 'What's my favourite smell? Money'" (The Guardian)
The rapper and actor talks superpowers, his dream dinner party and a near-death experience in our quickfire Q&A.
Clive James: 'The verbal tics of Germaine Greer's trolls affirm the blustering carelessness of the web' (The Guardian)
The writer on maintaining the dignity of words.
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David Bruce has over 80 Kindle books on Amazon.com.
answered:
took the day off.
has returned to semi-retired status.
Reader Suggestion
Michelle in AZ
From The Creator of 'Avery Ant'
Reader Comment
Re: Tarantino
You know Marty,
The cops have promised a "surprise" to Quentin Tarantino for his
criticism of cops. The pigs have even specified that they will get
their revenge against him economically. I'll tell you now, if you go
to the theater to see his films, expect the cops to be staking out the
places for a frenzy of punitive tax slip distributions.
Badge-dangling rapist stops driver exiting movie theater parking lot:
"Say, did'ja see that Tarantino movie tonight?"
Clueless movie-goer: "Um yeah, dude ..."
Vicious cop then whips out his gun and shouts at the movie-goer: "GET
OUTA' THE CAR, NOW! Spread out like a starfish on the dirt, and get
ready to feel my gun barrel up your be-hind! You can also thank QT
for this reception, 'cause us upper-master-class, badge-dangler types
KNOW that all Tarantino fans are hopeless criminals ~"
Then after the cop finishes crippling that movie-going driver, he
starts in on the rest of the family.
Link 1
Link 2
Link 3
DanD
Thanks, Dan!
You know, there was a time when I'd have disagreed with your comments, but today, gotta say you've got more than a point.
Growing up, our next-door neighbor was a local cop, and a damn fine man. My uncle Dave is a sheriff in Idaho, and again, a damn fine man.
So I know not all cops are bad, but my own experiences with the local constabulary have been less than stellar.
Last year on jury duty, we were asked if anyone had had a bad experience with the local cops.
Every person in the juror room raised a hand.
Just this week - Los Angeles County OKs $6 million settlement in officer rape case
and
A rape, a non-investigation, and an 18-year wait for justice.
from Marc Perkel
Patriot Act
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
"YOU'RE A HACK!"
"…THE WHOLE PROBLEM IN A NUTSHELL."
"…THE WHOLE PROBLEM IN A NUTSHELL."
"FOSSIL FOOLS"
"…AND RARE WAS THE WORD 'PEACE'."
"…KEEP BLACK PEOPLE OFF JURIES"
A KKK LEADER GIVES ADVICE.
THE MEAN LITTLE CHRISTIANS!
NETANYAHU.
Visit JD's site - Kitty Litter Music
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Still no hot water.
The plumber showed up, but didn't have the proper part. Since it's under warranty, he said I'd have to wait until Monday.
Or, I could buy a new water heater and he'd install it on the spot.
Got a bad feeling about how things are gonna go on Monday.
Takes On American Health Care System
Trevor Noah
After an emergency appendectomy Wednesday, Daily Show host Trevor Noah had some choice words for what the United States' health care system put him through just to receive treatment.
"I feel like there should be two rooms: one for emergencies, and a room for people who can fill out forms," Noah said. "The lady's like, 'Can you fill out this form?' And I'm like, 'No, I'm dying,' and she's like, 'Yeah, but I need you to fill out the form first.' "
"What more information do you need other than the fact that I'm dying?" he quipped.
"She was like, 'How are you paying for this?' " said Noah. " 'I don't know anything, I've never checked, I don't know how this works.' She said, 'It's health insurance or you're paying for this yourself.' "
The nurse then asked him if he could afford treatment out of pocket-before suddenly realizing with whom she was speaking.
Trevor Noah
Woman With An Opinion
Buffy Sainte-Marie
Less than two months ago, Buffy Sainte-Marie took home the Polaris Prize for best Canadian album for her latest recording, Power in the Blood.
It's just the latest honour in her 51-year career that has included Junos, an Oscar, Order of Canada and honorary doctorates.
This week, she was in Vancouver to perform at SFU's We Are The City event, and then she spoke to On The Coast's Gloria Macarenko about her career, her changing sound, her activism and her thoughts on the federal election.
I was lucky enough to come up in the folk music era. In the '60s, it a lot like now. For a long time it was silent. The playlist was very small. There was a lot of payola. But in the '60s everything opened up, so everyone was listening to each others' music. Now, I think after a real long and repressive time in music, we have the Internet and people can find each other again. People can find music from all over the world, and I think it's great. I feel very at home.
Buffy Sainte-Marie
Found Dead In DC
Puti Pal
Controversial Russian media mogul Mikhail Lesin, who helped launch the English-language television network RT, has been found dead at a Washington hotel. He was 57.
RT, formerly known as Russia Today, said the former minister of media affairs died of a heart attack.
Police in Washington said Lesin was found unresponsive early Thursday downtown, at a location ABC News identified as the Dupont Circle Hotel.
Lesin was Russia's minister of press, television and radio between 1999 and 2004, and later served as a Kremlin aide.
He allegedly amassed millions of dollars in assets in Europe and the United States while working for the government, including $28 million in real estate in Los Angeles.
Puti Pal
2,300-Year-Old Theatre Uncovered
Cyprus
An Australian archaeological team in Cyprus has uncovered a theatre dating from 300 BC, the oldest structure of its kind yet unearthed on the Mediterranean island, the antiquities department said Friday.
"The Australian team has uncovered the oldest theatre in Cyprus: a structure that was used as a venue for performance and spectacle for over six-and-a-half centuries from c. 300 BC until its final destruction in the earthquakes of AD 365," said the statement.
Excavations at the site of the Hellenistic-Roman theatre of Nea Paphos, on Cyprus' southwestern coast, were conducted by the Australian Archaeological Mission from the University of Sydney.
Excavations immediately to the south of the theatre revealed a Roman paved road, approximately 8.4 metres (28 feet) wide, which was the main traffic thoroughfare to access the theatre, the antiquities department said.
Cyprus
Woman Attacked For Speaking Swahili
Minnesota
A woman who was attacked by another woman in a suburban Minneapolis restaurant, allegedly because she was speaking a foreign language, said she feels traumatized and may move out of Minnesota.
Asma Jama told Minnesota Public Radio News that she was chatting with her family in Swahili, one of three languages she speaks, at an Applebee's in Coon Rapids on Oct. 30 when a woman in a nearby booth smashed a beer mug in her face. The attack left cuts on her face and a deep gash on her lip that required stiches.
"Somebody hit me because I was speaking a different language," said Jama, an ethnic Somali who came to Minnesota in 2000 from Kenya. Jama said she couldn't "believe after all these years somebody hit me because I'm different."
The woman accused in the attack, Jodie Burchard-Risch, was arrested shortly after the incident and charged with third-degree assault. The Minnesota chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations has called for hate crime charges.
A criminal complaint alleges that Burchard-Risch was upset that the victim was speaking in a foreign language and yelled at her, then refused to leave when restaurant managers tried to intervene. Burchard-Risch continued to yell and threw a drink on the victim, then smashed a beer mug in her face before fleeing, according to the complaint.
Minnesota
9th Circuit Addresses
Senile Federal Judges
Now 84, federal appellate court Judge William Canby made the difficult decision a few years ago to mostly stop hearing cases after a 30-year career. He was sharp and healthy, but didn't want to risk mental decline that would lead him to make mistakes, he said.
Canby's decision reflects one of the unique job hazards federal judges face: age-related mental decline. Unlike judges in most states, U.S. Supreme Court justices and federal appellate and district court judges are appointed for life. To be removed, they must be impeached by Congress, which has occurred only a few times.
But the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which includes federal courts in California and eight other Western states, has taken a more pro-active approach to the problem of mental decline by trying to get its judges to think about the condition, plan for it and handle it appropriately if it comes up.
The U.S. Constitution guaranteed federal judges lifetime appointments to maintain judicial independence by preventing the easy removal of judges for unpopular decisions.
But life expectancy when the Constitution was signed in 1787 was under 40. It is now about 79.
Senile Federal Judges
License Plate
'0INK'
Indiana acted properly in forbidding a police officer from using a vanity license plate that said "0INK," the state's highest court decided on Friday, reversing a lower court ruling.
The Indiana Supreme Court said the state's personalized license plates are government speech. As a result, it said the Bureau of Motor Vehicles does not violate drivers' free speech and due process rights under the U.S. Constitution by denying applications for plates or revoking previously issued plates.
Friday's decision followed the U.S. Supreme Court's June 18 ruling that Texas did not violate the First Amendment by rejecting plates bearing the Confederate flag.
The Indiana case was brought on behalf of drivers including Rodney Vawter, a corporal in the Greenfield, Indiana police department.
He had used the "0INK" plate for three years, but when the motor vehicle bureau in 2013 rejected another plate that read "O1NK," its computers flagged Vawter's plate as too similar, leading to its revocation.
'0INK'
Military Activity Forces Flight Detours
LAX
Nighttime flights into and out of Los Angeles International Airport will avoid passing over the Pacific Ocean just to the west of the airport for the coming week because the U.S. military has activated airspace there, officials said.
The Federal Aviation Administration and the military did not disclose the nature of the activities taking place near the second-busiest U.S. airport.
Airplanes normally fly over the ocean when arriving and departing the coastal Los Angeles International Airport during the night to avoid disturbing nearby residents, airport officials said in a statement.
But the FAA has indicated that military airspace over that patch of ocean was activated beginning on Friday night and continuing through Thursday night, airport officials said.
As a result, the airport will need to deviate from normal flight patterns during the next six nights, the statement said.
LAX
Top 20
Global Concert Tours
The Top 20 Global Concert Tours ranks artists by average box office gross per city and includes the average ticket price for shows worldwide. The list is based on data provided to the trade publication Pollstar by concert promoters and venue managers.
1. Taylor Swift; $5,397,066; $111.65.
2. Kenny Chesney; $3,271,099; $89.43.
3. Madonna; $2,212,860; $137.97.
4. Ed Sheeran; $1,889,953; $62.51.
5. Luke Bryan; $1,710,065; $50.31.
6. Zac Brown Band; $1,685,791; $58.46.
7. Maroon 5; $1,613,381; $82.44.
8. Marc Anthony / Carlos Vives; $1,359,614; $107.67.
9. Foo Fighters; $1,216,281; $59.40.
10. Violetta; $1,145,986; $67.58.
11. Phish; $1,109,401; $55.40.
12. Dave Matthews Band; $964,123; $57.51.
13. Shania Twain; $942,258; $91.56.
14. Nicki Minaj; $653,854; $45.00.
15. 5 Seconds Of Summer; $635,779; $45.19.
16. Motley Crue; $634,168; $72.55.
17. Def Leppard; $602,537; $47.06.
18. Chris Brown; $594,281; $40.22.
19. Florida Georgia Line; $580,395; $35.03.
20. J. Cole; $567,289; $34.63.
Global Concert Tour
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