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Dear Humans: Dogs are not toys. Don't buy them then discard them

Since people can't buy wolves (or maybe because they don't realize the difference), there apparently has been a significant uptick in people buying, then abandoning, huskies. Because apparently wolves make cool pets, according to Game of Thrones, which means they (or huskies) are just what your household needs. Until you discover that big dogs are hard, dirty work, require walking, shed a lot, and really want your attention. At which time, out on the street / off to the pound with them!

People, please don't be idiots. Or, worse, cruel idiots.




‘Game Of Thrones’ Leads To Spate Of Abandoned Huskies With Funny Names
One local rescue group has been seeing upwards of 45 huskies a month, all because they resemble direwolves, and they come with names like Nymeria and Grey Wind.

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Trump is, alas, no Boy Scout

Our President was never a Boy Scout growing up, but, as POTUS, he is the Honorary President of the BSA.

Which calls to mind the Boy Scout Law:

A Scout is …

Trustworthy — Sadly, no. Very little that Trump says can be taken at face value. He regularly lies, stretches the truth, turns tall tales into a lifestyle, repeats disproven assertions, and just plain makes stuff up. Even when repeating things he's been told (e.g., during his daily "Fox & Friends" watching), he passes it on uncritically, and never backs down when it's debunked. In his business dealings, he's left multiple partners high and dry, is often sued by contractors who he's stiffed, and in turn sues companies and municipalities that get in his way or somehow "disrespect" him.

Loyal — While Trump demands absolute loyalty from his employees team, he shows very little of it himself, being more than happy to toss them under the bus if they become inconvenient, distract from his agenda, or distract from him. The record of firings from this White House (as well as his verbal abuse of not-yet-fired folk like Jeff Sessions) show this. The only place he shows loyalty is to family.

Helpful — Trump let his staff, and congressional leaders, do all the heavy lifting on the ACA Repeal effort, limiting himself to angry tweets and occasional last-minute meetings with Senators that were mostly harangues about how they'd better get the job done or else.

Friendly — Trump is, by report, personally charismatic, in a clap-on-the-back raucous bonhomie, get-a-load-of-the-bazongas-on-that-chick sort of way. That charm has gotten him ahead in both real estate deals and as a politician. But, as noted above, that friendliness seems only skin-deep, quickly discarded if you are of no particular use or, worse, are hampering his interests. Just ask his ex-business partners in ventures that went bust, or people who voted for him never expecting such a nice guy to actually do the things he promised to do.

Courteous — Trump has brought campaign and administration rhetoric to a modern low. He insults people publicly. He calls them names. He gives them demeaning nicknames. He insists on precedence and power from his office, and continuously asserts that he is the most important person in any room. Anything nice he has to say about anyone is likely to turn into criticism or insult days later if they don't deliver.

Kind — His persistent efforts to thrown tens of millions off of their insurance all for the sake of cutting taxes for the wealthiest Americans belies any particular, individual act of kindness he sometimes offers. His offhand twitter-ban on transgender people in the military was callous in the extreme. His meanness when countered, and his vengeful nature when he thinks someone has betrayed him, likewise show him to be anything but kind.

Obedient — Donald Trump doesn't take orders. Donald Trump doesn't follow social or ethical precedent. Donald Trump doesn't think the law applies to him. As President, he seems to feel that he is the law.

Cheerful — While Trump is perhaps the smirkingest President of all time, his moods are mercurial. He seems to delight in outrage, and in passing that outrage on to others. He likes to troll people, to get a rise out of them, either out of a sense of superiority or to distract from his other actions (or crises). When he smiles, it's not out of personal good-cheer, but seemingly out of smug satisfaction.

Thrifty — Trump seems more than willing to spend whatever money he has on anything he wants — especially if it's not his money. Nothing is too good or too expensive if it's something he can do to ostentatiously show off his wealth.

Brave — Nervy, perhaps, especially if it's a matter of defying social conventions. But from conveniently dodging the Vietnam draft to denigrating the service record of at least one GOP war veteran who did serve and suffer in that war, there's no sign of either physical or moral courage from the President — even if he pointedly praises military valor and service to draw applause.

Clean — He doesn't drink or smoke. Presumably he regularly bathes (preferably under gold-plated fixtures at one of his resorts, since the White House is such a "dump"). So … maybe?

Reverent — Despite occasional awkward outreach to evangelical Christians in return for their votes, there is no record of Trump being particularly reverent or spiritual in his life. His high-flying New York real estate mogul / man-about-town reputation (complete with pussy-grabbing and woman-ogle-commentary, not to mention serial philandering and marriage) don't seem all that "reverent," either. He use of Christian faith seems to be primarily as a club against his opponents, or to pander to his supporters.

To be fair, the Boy Scout Law is a long row to hoe, and adherence to it is no easy matter. I don't claim to be noteworthily virtuous in all these items, either. But Trump's personal failings in each of the categories seem to make him a poor fit as Honorary BSA President, if not other presidential offices.




Boy Scouts ‘Unaware’ of Call Trump Said He Received From Organization Praising Jamboree Speech
Boy Scouts speech was ‘the greatest ever made to them’

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The Golfing President

This Golf/Sports Illustrated article has been getting play for Trump's alleged comment that he spends so much weekend time off at his resorts because the White House is a "dump," but it's actually a fascinating article at length, looking at how Trump plays golf, who he plays with, and how his golf courses are part of the weird tangle of lawsuits and conflicts of interest that keep dogging him.

Long article, but worth a read, even if you don't golf.




First Golfer: Donald Trump’s relationship with golf has never been more complicated
Donald Trump is never more at home than he is on the links. But, as with everything in the life of a President, his relationship with the game—and the

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Anti-science zaniness takes a new, bold, tail-wagging step

Because of course anti-vaxxers would stop giving their dogs vaccinations, too. Because they might get autism. Which they don't, but, hey, why take that risk?




Not a shot! Anti-vax movement prompts Brooklynites to withhold inoculations from their pets
Call it an outbreak of stupidity.

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Franz Kafka would be proud

Apparently if you are a US citizen and are "mistakenly" held in prison for multiple years to be deported, even though you keep telling ICE and the immigration judges that you are, in fact, a US citizen, and even if ICE lazily bungles its way into leaving you right where you are, not only can you not get a lawyer to represent you and try to fix the problem (because illegal immigrants don't get legal representation), but if ICE holds you in prison long enough, you can't even sue for false imprisonment because the statute of limitations for false imprisonment expired while you were still being falsely imprisoned.

But, hey, he's an illegal alien. Or they thought he was, which is the same thing. So they could do whatever they wanted, as long as they did it for long enough. Even if they shouldn't have. Because America!




U.S. Citizen Who Was Held By ICE For 3 Years Denied Compensation By Appeals Court
Davino Watson was imprisoned as a deportable immigrant for 1,273 days, despite having U.S. citizenship. Now a court says he is not eligible for $82,500 in damages he was awarded.

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Because why do the poor need mobile phones or Internet connections?

I mean, it's not like such things are, I don't know, useful to get a job, pay bills, stay in contact with family, call 911, get access to remote education, or enjoy various services that we Normal People Who Don't Have the Gall to Be Poor take for granted.

Thus, GOP lawmakers are pushing forward a bill that would tweak the Lifeline service — originally designed in 1985 to help pay for landlines for poor households, but expanded under notable liberal spendthrift George W. Bush in 2005 to include mobile phones, and by the FCC last year to include Internet connectivity. Under the bill, the latter services would no longer be covered. Because all anyone needs is a landline on the wall in their cheap apartment, amirite? Because there are pay phones on every corner for people to call home on, and computers down at the library that have Internet that they can study or apply for jobs on. And it's not like landlines are going anywhere, right? [1]

And will this actually save the taxpayers any money? Nope. It's currently all funded out of a small charge on everyone's monthly phone bill. That charge will remain, but any excess be shifted to deficit reduction (though, no doubt, still be listed as "Lifeline"). And while there has been (possible) waste and fraud found in the program, the actual amounts are trivial, comparable to, oh, a single missile launched at Syria, or a single weekend jaunt by the President to one of his resorts.

But, hey, they're poor people, and so an easy target to kick. Maybe if we stop mollycoddling them with basic mobile connectivity and data, they'll go back to where they came from. Or, at least, will stop calling and emailing Congress to complain about all the other programs being cut, amirite?

——

[1] https://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/blog/techflash/2016/05/at-t-pushes-to-end-landline-service.html




Republicans try to take cheap phones and broadband away from poor people
$9.25 monthly subsidy for mobile service would be eliminated by Republican bill.

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The Greatest President and His Greatest Speech Ever (So Far)!

Because don't dare tell the President that reaction to his speech to the Boy Scouts was mixed. It was the biggest Boy Scout speech ever! Standing ovations before and after! Personal calls from the President of the Boy Scouts saying it was Teh Awesome!

As it always is. Or as Trump always describes it.




‘There was no mix’: Trump bristles at reporter’s suggestion of mixed reaction during raucous Boy Scouts speech
President Donald Trump hit back at a suggestion…

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A short-term cheaper workaround for the aging Air Force One fleet

Trump made big noises at how Boeing was ripping everyone off regarding the development with the Air Force for news planes to serve as Air Force One. At his direction, the order was canceled — leaving what to do about the aging 747s (technically VC-25s) that have been flying since George H W Bush's era up in the air (so to speak).

The Air Force has lit on one solution: acquire a couple of 747s that were originally ordered by a Russian airline (yes, irony abounds) that declared bankruptcy (more irony), and use them as the basis for further modification (which will still be ghastly expensive, as the planes flying under the Air Force One callsign are not stock aircraft, either in obvious fittings or in communications and defense capabilities).

It's not a bad idea for the short run, though it still leaves the problem of ongoing maintenance. Boeing no longer makes 747s, and major airlines like United are in the process of phasing them out of their fleet in the next year or two so as to avoid problems with spare part and the like. While Boeing will certainly keep Air Force One stocked and running, it will become progressively more costly (and potentially risky) to do so.

So while this plan will work for a while longer, it will ultimately be a decision will end up costing everyone a lot more further down the road, after the current president is out of office and no longer having to worry about it. Like so many others.




USAF to buy unclaimed Russian 747s for Air Force One replacement
Now parked in the Mojave Desert, aircraft will still have to be upgraded.

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It's an odd day when Jeff Sessions counters Donald Trump

In speaking to a police conference, Jeff Sessions made a point of informing them that brutality and inappropriate use of force was not only wrong, but would lead to federal prosecution.

The comments seemed a pointed response to the "jokes" that Donald Trump made a few days ago in a speech in Suffolk County, when he "joked" that it was okay if apprehended suspects were treated a bit "rough," or if their heads were banged against patrol car doors while they were being stuffed inside.

I have no idea if Sessions was sincere in that, or simply responding to the objections from folk to Trump's "jokes" by being politically correct. But it's at least good to hear what the ostensible policy of the Justice Dept. is.




With Trump under fire for use of force quip, Sessions tells police to be ‘lawful’
Sessions struck a different note with officers speaking at a conference Tuesday, days after Trump told police not to be “too nice” to suspected criminals.

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This is why we can't have nice things. Like Pierogi Festivals

Sigh.

Four years ago, civic-minded residents of Edwardsville, Pennsylvania, launched a festival tied to the pierogi, the potato-filled dumpling that’s ubiquitous in a region whose coal mines drew waves of Polish immigrants more than a century ago.

The Edwardsville Pierogi Festival has been a rousing success — so much so that it’s caught the attention of a chamber of commerce in suburban Chicago, which runs a highly popular “Pierogi Fest” and says the Pennsylvania upstarts are infringing on its trademark. Lawyers for Pierogi Fest recently sent a letter demanding the Edwardsville organizers either stop using the name or pay a licensing fee.

[…] The food fight has landed in federal court, where lawyers for the Pennsylvania group filed a lawsuit Monday against the organizers of the event 700 miles away in Whiting, Indiana, which has been around since 1995 and draws some 300,000 people a year from around the country.

But it turns out it's not just a fear that people going to the Indiana event might follow the wrong signs and end up in Pennsylvania (emphasis mine).

The Whiting-Robertsdale Chamber of Commerce registered Pierogi Fest as a trademark in 2007. The chamber’s lawyers say the Edwardsville Pierogi Festival is “likely to cause consumer confusion,” and are threatening to sue not only the event organizers, but its sponsors, too.

Pierogi Fest Chairman Tom Dabertin said Tuesday that his group has licensed the name to similar ethnic food festivals around the country, and is willing to talk with the Edwardsville group about a similar arrangement.

As always, follow the money.




Food fight erupts over Pennsylvania ‘Pierogi Festival’ name
Like a pot of pierogies left on the stove too long, a trademark dispute involving the name of the popular Polish delicacy is threatening to boil over.
Four years ago, civi

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Kushner claims the "Incompetence" Defense

Quoth Jared Kushner to a group of congressional interns about investigations into the Trump campaign and Russia, “They thought we colluded, but we couldn’t even collude with our local offices.”

Also, he apparently should be excused from criticism over not reporting all his contacts with foreign officials because (a) he didn't think he was going to be in government after the campaign so he didn't bother to keep track of them, (b) he was a political novice learning to juggle “thousands of meetings and interactions” during the campaign, so mistakes were made, (c) an aide made an error in leaving off four meetings not previously reported, and (d) the dog ate his meeting notes.

Okay, I made the last one up.




Kushner says Trump campaign was too dysfunctional to collude
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump’s son-in-law told a group of congressional interns that the Trump campaign couldn’t have colluded with Russia because the team was too dys

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Over 50 retired admirals and generals ask Trump to reverse his transgender ban

Not that, as far as I've read, Trump has done anything more than tweet a statement about banning all transgender individuals from the military, but a group of retired generals and admirals have called on him to formally retract that tweet.

The top military officials said in a letter published Tuesday that transgender military members “must not be dismissed, deprived of medically necessary health care, or forced to compromise their integrity or hide their identity”. It comes less than a week after the president announced on Twitter that the government would not “accept or allow … transgender individuals to serve in any capacity in the US military”.

“This proposed ban, if implemented, would cause significant disruptions, deprive the military of mission-critical talent and compromise the integrity of transgender troops who would be forced to live a lie, as well as non-transgender peers who would be forced to choose between reporting their comrades or disobeying policy,” the letter said.

Given the pressure that's come back on Trump from both the Left and Right on this, one might think he'd be figuring out a way to walk it back. He might merely be waiting for a moment when something else embarrassing / scandalous crops up, as he did with the original announcement. Trump doesn't usually back down on stuff, though, unless he can pretend it wasn't something he was actually asserting (in which case, expect a "I was advised to do this by Top Military Hombres, but have decided it would be wrong for faithfully serving" style statement).

But who knows? If one thing is clear, Trump's policy veering on Twitter are rarely predictable.




Top military officials call on Trump to reverse transgender ban | US news | The Guardian

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No RIP For You!

Ah, religious fundamentalists. Always good for a chuckle (at least when you're not in the same country as them, or when they're not killing people over it, which would be a particularly dark irony in this case).




Orange Order: Protestants told not to use ‘RIP’ as it is Catholic superstition | World news | The Guardian

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First Pluto, and now Jupiter?

Not enough those "scientists" claim that Pluto isn't actually a planet, and now they claim that Jupiter doesn't actually circle the sun?

Well, it turns out … it's true. Jupiter is massive enough that the common point that it and the Sun both rotate around is outside the Sun's surface.

Cool.




Jupiter is so big it does not actually orbit the sun
One of my daughter’s favorite books is “Space Walk” by Salina Yoon. Each page shows a planet accompanied by a rhyming factoid about it. But each time I read it to her — sometimes three or more times a day — I furrow my nerdy brow at this line: “Of all the planets that circle the sun, giant Jupiter is the biggest one.”

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The Past is Prologue

I've heard of sillier ideas.

Originally shared by +Cara Evangelista:

https://twitter.com/vplus/status/892131677576757249

 

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So I guess it's not "obstruction of justice" to "mislead" the press, but

Remember how Trump, Jr's statement about meeting with the Russians kept changing? Well, it turns out the first "misleading" statement Trump, Jr. released to the New York Times, describing the meeting as some unimportant get-together about adoption, was personally dictated by … Trump, Sr.




Trump dictated son’s misleading statement on meeting with Russian lawyer
Some advisers are worried that the president’s direct involvement leaves him needlessly vulnerable to allegations of a coverup.

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Mooched by his own petard

For those who haven't read any Shakespeare trivia, a petard was an explosive charge that, in siegecraft, would be used to undermine a castle wall. During such sieges, forces both inside and outside the castle would mine and countermine to plant such charges, or to intercept the folk doing so, or even delve more deeply and blow up the tunnels that the besiegers were themselves digging.

Thus, in Hamlet we get this set of lines from the title character (Act 3 sc. 4) [1]:

For 'tis the sport to have the engineer
Hoist with his own petard: and 't shall go hard
But I will delve one yard below their mines,
And blow them at the moon: O, 'tis most sweet,
When in one line two crafts directly meet.

Which is the origin of the bolded phrase "hoist on his own petard," meaning someone's plan has (literally) backfired on him (i.e., a siege engineer has been blown up by his own explosives). Hamlet is in the middle of talking to his mother about being sent off to England with Rosenkranz and Guildenstern. He's aware (without having read them yet) that the sealed orders his companions carry are probably some mischief aimed at him by the king, and he plans to go along with things until he can plot more deeply and cause the whole scheme to blow up in his enemies' face.

Which is a very long way around of noting the irony that Anthony Scaramucci planted the seeds of his own destruction by oh-so-cleverly forcing Reince Priebus out, thus giving Trump a chance to bring in someone might actually be an effective chief of staff — and thus someone who would look at the chaos Scaramucci has already contributed to, and fire him.

After the swearing-in ceremony—which Mr. Scaramucci attended—Mr. Kelly returned to his office, where he informed Mr. Scaramucci in a one-on-one meeting that he was being forced to resign, a White House official said.

Boom.

——

[1] http://shakespeare.mit.edu/hamlet/hamlet.3.4.html




Scaramucci Removed as White House Communications Director at Kelly’s Urging
Anthony Scaramucci has been removed from his position as White House communications director, just 10 days after it was announced he would take it. He was ousted at the urging of the new Chief of Staff John Kelly.

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"Pokemon Go Fest organizers blasting off again …"

Because who would have ever thought that massive attendance a huge Pokemon Go celebration, where all sorts of rares and in-game events were being offered, would cause any sort of uptick in mobile data demand? I mean, why would you ever possibly prepare for such an outlandish possibility?




Pokemon Go Fest’s blunders result in class-action lawsuit
What could go wrong other than spotty Internet, huge lines, and a server meltdown?

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Nope, no chaos here, nothing to see, move along

Donald Trump always wanted Anthony "Mooch" Scaramucci to be in his White House staff. Mooch was an early and loyal supporter on the campaign trail, and was "outspoken" in a way that Trump clearly admired. Mooch was delayed early days because of various financial entanglements, but when he was finally scheduled to come in a few weeks ago as the new Director of Communications, Sean Spicer, Trump's press secretary quit. Shortly after Mooch was on the job (with various and sundry invective being quoted from him), and after Mooch noted publicly that he answered directly to Trump, not chief of staff Reince Priebus, his long-time opponent … Priebus was forced to quit by Trump. That's when John Kelly was brought in by Trump to replace Priebus as chief of staff.

Now, within hours of Kelly being sworn in, Trump has fired Mooch from that position at Kelly's insistence.

The President assured us in a recent tweet that there's no chaos at the White House.

I dunno about chaos, but it's a demonstration, once again, that while Trump insists upon absolute loyalty, he himself demonstrates none.




Trump Removes Anthony Scaramucci From Communications Director Role
The decision to remove Mr. Scaramucci came at request of the new chief of staff, John Kelly, sources said.

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"Hamlet" as Pie Chart

Another fun item +Kay Hill dug up last night during intermission at Hamlet.

(UST is "Unresolved Sexual Tension," which plays quite differently when Hamlet is cast with a female actor.)

 

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