Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Paul Krugman: A Trade War Primer (NY Times Blog)
At the moment, the Trumpian trade war appears to be on. And I've been getting some questions from readers about how this is possible. Congress, after all, hasn't voted to back out of our trade agreements, and one suspects that it wouldn't even if Trump asked for such legislation: to all appearances, a lot of Republicans are pretty much OK with the near-certainty that he colluded with a hostile foreign power and is currently obstructing justice, but policy actions that might strand and devalue a lot of corporate assets are something else entirely.
Matthew Yglesias: "The raging controversy over whether to call Trump's lies 'lies,' explained" (Vox)
Yet the troubling thing about media coverage of Trump isn't that the press has failed to label lies as lies once they are proven to be lies. It's that these kinds of statements continue to be taken at face value when they are made, as if they were offered by a normal, reasonably honest person. But Trump is not a reasonably honest person. He is someone who flings around unconfirmed accusations and demonstrable falsehoods with abandon - and who does so, by his own admission, for calculated strategic purposes. Nobody can stop him from acting this way if he wants to, but we don't need to act naive about it. When a hardcore serial liar says something new, treat his claim with the extreme skepticism it deserves.
Matthew Yglesias: Trump's legal memo to Robert Mueller is a recipe for tyranny (Vox)
A clear and present danger to the rule of law
Joe Bob Briggs: "Hey, Look, I'm Driving a Giant iPhone!" (Taki's Magazine)
Question: How can you tell the difference between Elon Musk and an ordinary Tesla owner? Answer: Elon Musk will eventually stop talking about his Tesla.
Joe Bob Briggs: Stop Fiddling With Your Goddamn Phone (Taki's Magazine)
Stop fiddling with your phone. This is my theme today. I want you to consider some cause-and-effect scenarios.
Joe Bon Briggs: Vegas Knows What to Do With a High Roller (Taki's Magazine)
Hunter S. Thompson used to mail me giant photos of objects being blown to smithereens with dynamite or flung from some kind of skeet contraption so they could be exploded midair, and in most cases he was both the photographer and the destroyer. He would scrawl the precise date and time of the explosion on the bottom of the photo and copy it to the sheriff of Pitkin County, Colorado, who had repeatedly warned Thompson that he was in possession of illegal military ordnance, that he was in violation of pyrotechnic laws, and that he was in imminent danger of jail. As a Second Amendment radical, Thompson wanted to document exactly when, where, and how he had violated the law, then dare the law to do something about it.
Laura Lomas: 5 Latino authors you should be reading now (The Conversation)
You likely recognize that the depiction of Latin American immigrants in politics today - as a menacing mass of recalcitrant Spanish-speaking invaders - is overwhelmingly negative. What you may not know is that stereotypes suggesting that Latin Americans represent a threat to United States culture are not just morally repugnant - they're also historically inaccurate. Spanish-language literature actually predates the Puritans' writing in English by nearly a century.
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Presenting
Michael Egan
wrote:
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
DICK-TATOR!
DICK-TATORS MASHUP!
"NUNERS" IS LOSING IT!
CHRISTIAN FASCISM!
Visit JD's site - Kitty Litter Music
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Still sunny, still hot.
Does Not Buy Criticism
Jon Stewart
Jon Stewart has weighed in on the controversy that erupted after Samantha Bee made a lewd comment about Ivanka Trump on a recent episode of Full Frontal.
During an onstage Q&A at Clusterfest comedy festival over the weekend, the former Daily Show host was asked for his opinion on Bee's remark and subsequent apology to the First Daughter.
However, judging by Stewart's commentary on the matter, it seems as though he doesn't think her apology was beneficial.
"Please understand that a lot of what the right does, and it's maybe their greatest genius, is they've created a code of conduct that they police, that they themselves don't have to, in any way, abide," he said, according to The Daily Beast. "Don't get caught in a trap of thinking you can live up to a code of integrity that will be enough for the propagandist right. There isn't. And so, create your own moral code to live by, but don't be fooled into trying to make concessions that you think will mollify them."
"They don't give a s- about the word 'c-,'" he added of the Trump administration. "That is probably-[Trump] says that instead of 'please,' I'm guessing."
Jon Stewart
Man With An Opinion
Seth MacFarlane
After the U.S. Supreme Court sided with a Christian baker who refused to make a wedding cake for a gay couple on religious grounds, writer-actor Seth MacFarlane criticized that ruling as nearsighted.
The 7-2 decision, released Monday, faulted the Colorado Civil Rights Commission for showing "impermissible hostility" to the baker's religion, thus violating his rights under the First Amendment.
The "Family Guy" creator compared the religious freedom to discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation, upheld in this case, to the freedom to discriminate on the basis of race.
"It's a shorter walk than we think, particularly today, from 'I won't bake them a cake because they're gay' to 'I won't seat him here because he's black,'" wrote MacFarlane.
MacFarlane went on to say "those who balk at that comparison" should remember that "religion was deployed to justify far worse treatment not so very long ago" - a likely reference to the Holocaust in which Jewish people were persecuted and murdered en masse for their faith.
Seth MacFarlane
Netflix Working On New Series
Dolly Parton
Netflix is working nine to five - on a new Dolly Parton series.
The streaming giant announced on Monday an upcoming eight-part anthology, with each episode based on a song by Parton. In addition to serving as executive producer, Parton will also appear in the still-untitled series.
"As a songwriter, I have always enjoyed telling stories through my music. I am thrilled to be bringing some of my favorite songs to life with Netflix," Parton said in a statement. "We hope our show will inspire and entertain families and folks of all generations, and I want to thank the good folks at Netflix and Warner Bros. TV for their incredible support."
Turning Parton songs into TV entertainment was recently a success for NBC. In 2015, NBC released the TV movie Coat of Many Colors as a holiday special; it told a story from Parton's childhood that inspired her song of the same name, and starred Alyvia Alyn Lind as young Parton. Following the positive reception, NBC brought back Lind and the rest of the cast - which also included Gerald McRaney, Ricky Schroeder, and Sugarland's Jennifer Nettles - for a sequel, Christmas of Many Colors, in 2016. At one point NBC announced it would also produce a TV movie based on Parton's song "Jolene," but that project never moved forward.
Parton has been busy even outside of TV. In February, as part of her nonprofit literacy organization Imagination Library, Parton donated her 100 millionth book to children around the world.
Dolly Parton
Sells For Two Million Euros
Dinosaur Skeleton
The skeleton of an extremely rare form of dinosaur sold for more than two million euros ($2.3 million) at the Eiffel Tower in Paris on Monday.
The bones of what scientists believe to be "probably a new species" of the carnivorous allosaurus were discovered during a dig in Wyoming in the United States in 2013.
The 150-million-year-old skeleton, which is 70 percent intact, was snapped up by an unnamed French art collector, who promised that the specimen will be lent out to a museum.
The buyer "wants it to be on display in a French museum," auctioneer Claude Aguttes told AFP.
The dinosaur, which is more than nine metres (30 feet) long and 2.6 metres high, lived during the late Jurassic period, said Eric Mickeler who works for the Aguttes auction house.
Dinosaur Skeleton
Study Claims
Disgust
Women experience disgust more frequently than men due to fundamental evolutionary distinctions, a new study has found.
Researchers at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine surveyed more than 2,500 people online, asking them to rate their levels of disgust at 75 potential scenarios ranging from 'no disgust' to 'extreme disgust'.
They subsequently identified six common categories of disgust and found that women reacted to each of these with greater levels of disgust than men.
These included scenarios related to poor hygiene, such as body odour and un-flushed toilets; animal contamination; out-of-date foods and risky sexual behaviours.
According to lead author Val Curtis, these scenarios provoke disgust due to an ancestral inclination to avoid what we believe might cause infection.
Disgust
Huge Parade
Brazil
Hundreds of thousands of people gathered in Brazil's largest city Sunday for its 22nd gay pride parade, which is considered one of the world's biggest.
Waving LGBT rainbow flags in a Carnival-like atmosphere, marchers paraded down Sao Paulo's skyscraper-lined Avenida Paulista to music blasting from 18 sound trucks.
Revelers of all ages, many wearing bright wigs, heavy makeup and multicolored costumes, filled more than 10 city blocks.
This year's parade focused on Brazil's national elections scheduled for October. The theme was "Power for the LGBT - Our Vote, Our Voice," said Claudia Regina, president of the gay rights group that organized the event.
Regina said on the event's official Facebook page that the objective "is to alert the gay community to the importance of choosing its candidates carefully."
Brazil
Wants To 'Empower' Europe's Conservatives
U.S. Envoy
Richard Grenell, appointed by President Donald Trump as the U.S. ambassador to Germany, says he wants to "empower" anti-establishment conservative movements and leaders across the European continent ? a highly unusual statement for a diplomat.
"There are a lot of conservatives throughout Europe who have contacted me to say they are feeling there is a resurgence going on," Grenell told the right-wing outlet Breitbart News in an interview published Sunday.
"I absolutely want to empower other conservatives throughout Europe, other leaders. I think there is a groundswell of conservative policies that are taking hold because of the failed policies of the left," he added.
Grenell praised Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz, who has been called the new face of European right-wing populism for his stance against immigration and refugee migration, as a "rockstar."
It's unclear if Grenell's statements were approved by the State Department. Diplomats are traditionally expected to maintain their political neutrality and not interfere in the internal affairs of other nations.
U.S. Envoy
End Of An Era?
Tea Party
The Republican newcomers stunned Washington back in 2010 when they seized the House majority with bold promises to cut taxes and spending and to roll back what many viewed as Barack Obama's presidential overreach.
But don't call them tea party Republicans any more.
Eight years later, the House Tea Party Caucus is long gone. So, too, are almost half the 87 new House Republicans elected in the biggest GOP wave since the 1920s.
Some, including current Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and White House budget director Mick Mulvaney, joined the executive branch. Others slipped back to private life. Several are senators.
Now, with control of the House again at stake this fall and just three dozen of them seeking re-election, the tea party revolt shows the limits of riding a campaign wave into the reality of governing.
Tea Party
May Have an Electric Charge
Dark Matter
Dark matter, the stuff that's hypothesized to make up about a quarter of the universe yet doesn't seem to interact with light at all, could have a tiny electric charge, according to a new study.
So far, dark matter has made its presence known only through gravity, by tugging on stars and galaxies. But now, astrophysicists Julian Muņoz and Abraham Loeb of Harvard University suggest that a small fraction of dark-matter particles could have a tiny electric charge - meaning dark matter could interact with normal matter through the electromagnetic force.
If true, this idea would not only represent a big step in understanding dark matter but would also explain a recent mystery that's been confounding cosmologists.
In February, astronomers announced the first detection of an elusive signal from hydrogen gas from the cosmic dawn, the period about 180 million years after the Big Bang when the first stars began to shine. At this time, the hydrogen gas floating between the stars was cold - colder than the cosmic microwave background, the leftover radiation from the Big Bang that bathes the universe. [Big Bang to Civilization: 10 Amazing Origin Events]
Because hydrogen is cooler than this afterglow, the gas absorbs the radiation - in particular, radiation with a wavelength of 21 centimeters (8.3 inches). By measuring the absorption of radiation by hydrogen, astronomers can better understand the cosmic dawn, a relatively unknown era of cosmic history. Using a radio antenna in Western Australia called the Experiment to Detect the Global Epoch of Reionization Signature (EDGES), a team of astronomers was able to detect this absorption for the first time.
Dark Matter
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