Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Paul Krugman: Pax Trumpiana (NY Times Blog)
I don't think Trump is literally an agent of the Kremlin; instead, he's someone Putin is aiding because he knows Trump is close to, probably financially entangled with friendly oligarchs. And equally important, Putin knows that Trump's combination of ignorance and greed would quickly undermine the Western alliance: already we have, incredibly, a presidential candidate essentially proposing that we turn NATO into a protection racket, in which countries get defended only if they pay up.
Paul Waldman: Despite what you've heard, Democrats aren't in disarray. Their party is under attack from the outside. (NY Times)
For a certain kind of activist on the left, the real enemy is never the right; it's always the liberals who are insufficiently committed to their brand of revolution.
Josh Marshall: What's Going on With Putin and Trump and Why It's a Big, Big Deal (TPM)
So I thought I'd take a moment to explain what I see as a sober, one-step-at-a-time explanation of what questions need to be answered and explored.
Andrew Tobias: My Convention Speech
Fortunately, I've been spared from giving one this year (thank you, Jesus!) so let me just update the last one, with none of the stress of trying to read it from a Teleprompter: … Vote for equality, my friends. Vote for prosperity. Vote for my amazing friend Hillary.
Jeffrey Marburg-Goodman: "5 Myths (And One Big Truth) About Hillary's 2002 Iraq War Vote"(Huffington Post)
Although Hillary Clinton has many advantages in the current Presidential campaign (advantages of policy, programs, and, yes, personality) surely her greatest strength vis-à-vis her principal primary opponent is in the area of foreign and global policy-including matters of war and peace, global development and economics, our war against terrorism, and even climate change and preserving the environment.
Robert Evans: Bernie Sanders Just Realized He Might Get Trump Elected (Cracked)
The last American Democratic Socialist to have any kind of a shot at the presidency was Eugene V. Debs, who ran from prison and won six percent of the popular vote. Until Bernie Sanders came along, no American who dared use the word "socialist" to describe himself even came within spitting distance of someone else who was within spitting distance of the White House. And yet, in his greatest moment of triumph, Bernie Sanders might be the most miserable guy in politics right now. He knows he might be watching the movement he created sweep President Trump into the White House.
Cezary Jan Strusiewicz: 6 Ways Being A Child Star [is] Way Darker Than You'd Think (Cracked)
Children and entertainment mix about as well as alcohol and prescription meds -- which, incidentally, often end up being their primary diet. And you don't need to be an A-lister for the biz to ruin your life. "Kathy" learned that the hard way after her father pushed her into a singing career. She first started performing at fairs and talent shows, but by the end, she was singing with her own band for huge crowds ... while hating every last second of it.
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"Doug's Most Shared Facebook Post" Today
wrote:
said:
has returned to semi-retired status.
Reader Suggestion
Michelle in AZ
Reader Comment
15 Years
Hey congratulations on your 15 years at the Bartcop Nation!
Look forward everyday to your blog.
Always a fan,
BSmasher
Thanks, Brain!
Reader Comment
Still feelin the Bern...
Hey, Marty! Did you see Mon. night's Late Night w/ Stephen Colbert, or more precisely, the first 5 min. of his show?
While the whole show was very funny, the first 5 min. almost made me bust my gut laughing! His musical performance, a message to Bernie supporters like myself, was an hilarious, relevant, genius bit of comedy that I'm recommending to anyone who'll listen! Anyone who didn't see it can
watch it here.
Laughter is definitely the best medicine, so do yourselves a favor and at least watch the first 5-6 min. of the show. Enjoy!!
Tiera H.
Thanks, Tiera!
from Marc Perkel
Patriot Act
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
DON'T DO BUSINESS WITH TRUMP!
THE JUDGE FROM HELL!
WHERE ARE THEY NOW?
TURNING OVER A NEW LEAF!
WHY BLACKS DON'T TRUST THE POLICE!
"LORD" OF THE FLIES!
BOOM!
RIDING TRUMPS WAVE!
Visit JD's site - Kitty Litter Music
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Still way too hot, but now with an extra-heaping-helping of humidity.
Coming Back, On Netflix
Mystery Science Theater 3000
Mystery Science Theater 3000-the cult classic TV show where people and robots gather together to make fun of bad, old sci-fi movies-is coming back on Netflix for fourteen full-length episodes.
The show will feature new characters played by Felicia Day and Patton Oswalt, in addition to series mainstays Mary Jo Pehl and Bill Corbett, who played the robots Pearl and Crow. Original host Joel Hodgson will be back in a behind-the-scenes creative role, as an executive producer and a writer.
The whole initiative to get MST3K back on the air started with Hodgson, who launched a tremendously successful Kickstarter with that very goal. Initially seeking two million dollars for three episodes, Hodgson eventually got over double that with a total of $5,764,229. The Kickstarter page shows the project not quite reaching a goal of fourteen episodes, but it looks like Netflix was more than willing to help push them over the edge financially.
Heavily bootlegged (a full collection is believed to be impossible to obtain otherwise) and the subject of various lawsuits and fights over commercial control, Hodgson's show has been through a lot, and Netflix is just the latest chapter. Started on a local Minnesota TV channel, it was eventually bought by HBO and then Comedy Central, and then the Sci-Fi Channel. The show has seen multiple hosts, a film, and countless Rowdowsers
Mystery Science Theater 3000
Not A Mental Health Disorder
Transgender Identity
People who identify as transgender should not be considered to have a mental health disorder, according to a new study from Mexico.
The World Health Organization currently lists transgender identity as a mental health disorder, and the new study is the first in a series of research aimed at finding out whether this categorization is apt. The study will be repeated in Brazil, France, India, Lebanon and South Africa, according to the researchers.
In the new study, published today (July 26) in the journal The Lancet Psychiatry, the researchers investigated whether the distress and dysfunction associated with transgender identity were the result of social rejection and stigmatization or an inherent part of being transgender.
Experiencing "distress and dysfunction" is often considered a defining feature of having a mental health disorder, according to the study. But other factors can cause these feelings as well, including experiencing rejection or stigmatization.
The researchers interviewed 250 transgender people in Mexico City. The people in the study reported at what age they first became aware of having a transgender identity, as well as their experiences of psychological distress, social rejection, difficulty functioning in their daily life, and violence, according to the study.
Transgender Identity
Activist Wins Asia's Nobel Prize
Bezwada Wilson
An Indian activist who helped to set up a human rights group campaigning for the eradication of manual scavenging, a euphemism for disposing of faeces by hand, was awarded Asia's equivalent of the Nobel prize on Wednesday.
The Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation named Bezwada Wilson one of six winners this year, citing his "moral energy and prodigious skill in leading a grassroots movement to eradicate the degrading servitude of manual scavenging in India".
Disposing of faeces from dry toilets and open drains by hand to be carried on the head in baskets to disposal sites, has long been an occupation thrust upon members of the Dalit group, traditionally the lowest ranked in India's caste system.
At least 90 percent of India's estimated one million manual scavengers are women, a hereditary occupation involving 180,000 Dalit households cleaning the more than 700,000 public and private dry latrines across the country.
Wilson, 50, whose own family had been engaged in manual scavenging for generations, said the award was recognition for women workers who had said no to scavenging.
Bezwada Wilson
ALS-Related Gene Found
Ice Bucket Challenge
The ALS Association is crediting money raised through the Ice Bucket Challenge for the discovery of a gene's connection to the progressive disease.
Those who accepted the challenge allowed buckets of ice water to be dumped on their heads to raise awareness and money for ALS.
The challenge became a viral sensation in 2014 and raised $115 million for the association. Figures from the ALS Association show $1 million of that helped fund a global effort to help find genetic drivers of the condition called Project MinE.
The ALS Association says a paper published this week in the journal Nature Genetics reveals Project MinE researchers have identified the NEK1 gene's connection to ALS. It says understanding the gene's role will help in developing new target therapy for ALS.
Ice Bucket Challenge
Top Pope Aide Investigated
Australia
Vatican finance chief George Pell is being investigated by Australian police over child sexual abuse allegations, a report by the national broadcaster said Wednesday, as the leading Catholic cleric denounced the claims as "totally untrue".
The new allegations against Pell being probed by police in Victoria state span two decades, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation reported. They came just months after the cardinal admitted he "mucked up" in dealing with paedophile priests in the state.
When he was the Catholic Archbishop of Sydney in 2002 Pell was accused of historic sex abuse claims but was later cleared of any wrongdoing.
The allegations include claims from two men, now in their 40s, who said they were groped by Pell in summer 1978-79 at Eureka pool in Ballarat, where the cleric had grown up and worked.
They also include allegations that Pell was naked in front of three young boys believed to be aged eight to 10 in a Torquay surf club changing room in summer 1986-87.
Australia
Suspended Chief Justice Defends His Bigotry
Alabama
Suspended Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore has formally defended the gay marriage memo that put his judicial career in peril, saying he was merely trying to answer questions from probate judges that his fellow justices would not address.
Moore could be removed from office if the state's Court of the Judiciary decides he violated judicial ethics by urging probate judges to defy the U.S. Supreme Court on gay marriage.
The ethics complaint stems from a January memo he sent probate judges saying an Alabama Supreme Court injunction against same-sex marriage remained in "full force and effect" despite a federal judge's order to comply with the U.S. Supreme Court's Obergefell decision, which effectively legalized gay marriage six months earlier.
The Judicial Inquiry Commission "has tried to write a story that does not exist," Moore's attorney Mat Staver said Wednesday. "Moore never ordered the probate judges to disregard the U.S. Supreme Court's marriage opinion, but that is the slanderous narrative of the JIC. The JIC has no case and never should have filed the baseless charge," Staver's statement said.
The commission wrote earlier this month that Moore was playing "semantic gamesmanship to try to convince this court that he never counseled defiance."
Alabama
Last Universal Common Ancestor
LUCA
The mysterious common ancestor of all life on Earth may have lived in hot springs that were iron-rich and oxygen-poor, a new study finds.
The last universal common ancestor, or LUCA, is what scientists call the forerunner of all living things. Much about LUCA remains uncertain; while previous research suggested that it was little more than a chemical soup from which evolution gradually built more complex forms, recent work suggested it may have been a sophisticated organism with an intricate structure.
To learn more about how and where LUCA might have lived, researchers analyzed 6.1 million genes from prokaryotes - microscopic, single-celled organisms that lack distinct cell nuclei. Bacteria are examples of prokaryotes, while animals, plants and fungi are eukaryotes, or life-forms whose DNA is contained within cell nuclei. Recent findings suggest that prokaryotes are the oldest group of life on Earth, with eukaryotes descending from prokaryotes.
The researchers focused on clusters of genes that were found in several different branches of prokaryotes. After figuring out how similar or different the genes were from one another, the researchers developed family trees of these genes. This helped the scientists deduce what genes might be the oldest among prokaryotes, and therefore the ones most likely inherited from LUCA.
The genes the scientists examined were blueprints for proteins. (Some genes are not thought to direct protein-making.) Of the 286,514 protein groups the researchers looked at, only 355 matched the strict criteria that the researchers set for potentially belonging to LUCA. Previous research had uncovered the functions of many of these genes, so they now shed light on LUCA's habitat and lifestyle.
LUCA
Remains Of Lost Spanish Fort Found
South Carolina
Archaeologists have found the location of a long-sought Spanish fort on the South Carolina coast at the site of what was once the first capital of Spanish Florida.
A release from the University of South Carolina says the site of San Marcos, one of five forts built during the 21-year history of the early settlement of Santa Elena, has finally been located on Parris Island near Hilton Head Island.
University of South Carolina archaeologist Chester DePratter and Victor Thompson of the Center for Archaeological Sciences at the University of Georgia, have conducted research for the past two years to find the site of the 1577 fort.
Using ground-penetrating radar and other high-tech equipment last month, they found the site and are publishing the details of their work this week in The Journal of Archaeology Science Reports.
Santa Elena, founded in 1566 to protect Spanish shipping interests, was the first capital of Spanish colonial Florida. The site of the settlement itself was located back in 1979 beneath a golf course at the Marine Corps Recruit Depot on Parris Island.
South Carolina
Dutch Men, Latvian Women
World's Tallest
Dutch men and Latvian women are the planet's tallest people but Iranian men and South Korean women have grown the fastest in the last century, according to the largest ever study of height around the world.
Americans, once among the world's tallest people, have dropped from having men and women at 3rd and 4th in the global height rankings a 100 years earlier, to placing 37th and 42nd respectively in 2014.
The research, led by scientists at Imperial College London and published in the journal eLife, also found some nations have stopped growing over the past 30 to 40 years, despite having spurts at the start of the century studied.
The United States was one of the first wealthy countries to plateau, followed by others including Britain, Finland, and Japan. Meanwhile, people in Spain and Italy and many countries in Latin America and East Asia are still gaining height.
In contrast, some nations in sub-Saharan Africa, North Africa and the Middle East have seen average heights decline over the past three to four decades.
World's Tallest
In Memory
Jack Davis
Jack Davis, the prolific Mad magazine illustrator, cartoonist and movie poster artist, has died.
He died Wednesday morning, according to his son-in-law, Chris Lloyd. He passed away in St. Simons, Georgia, of natural causes. He was 91.
As a struggling young artist in New York, Davis was "about ready to give up, go home to Georgia and be either a forest ranger or a farmer," he recalled in an interview a few years ago. Then, in 1950, he scored the first of many sales of his artwork to EC Comics, which published a line of horror titles including "Tales from the Crypt."
He stuck with its editors - William M. Gaines, Albert B. Feldstein and Harvey Kurtzman - when they launched the pioneering satire magazine Mad in 1952. He remained a member of "The Usual Gang of Idiots" (as the magazine billed them) for the next six decades. His far-flung illustrations poked fun at politicians and celebrities along with countless portraits of the magazine's perpetually grinning mascot, Alfred E. Neuman.
Along the way, Davis also created numerous covers for TV Guide and Time, and provided artwork for books, record jackets, and posters for films including "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World," ''American Graffiti" and Woody Allen's "Bananas."
In 1961, he wrote, drew, and edited his own comic book, "Yak Yak," for Dell Comics.
While Davis was masterful at caricatures of recognizable figures, he took amusing liberties with all his subjects, endowing them with distinctly large heads, pipe-stem legs and snowshoe-size feet.
As a proud alumnus of the University of Georgia (which he attended on the G.I. Bill after three years in the U.S. Navy), he continued to produce innumerable billboards and other artwork celebrating the "Dawgs" throughout his life.
Davis is survived by his wife, Dena, of St. Simons, Georgia, as well as a daughter and a son.
Jack Davis
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