May 28, 2017

Zatoichi

For fans of the blind slice and dice master, it looks like all 26 of Ichi-san's movies have been uploaded to Youtube and can be streamed for free.

For those unfamiliar with this Japanese cultural icon, these movies are a real hoot to watch.

May 28, 2017

TRUMP SAYS HE DOES NOT KNOW JARED KUSHNER VERY WELL

TAORMINA, Italy (The Borowitz Report)—Donald J. Trump on Saturday accused the media of exaggerating his relationship with Jared Kushner, asserting that “I don’t know him very well.”

“He’s someone I would see around the office and who, I guess, was working for me,” Trump told reporters on the last leg of his foreign trip. “Beyond that, I couldn’t tell you much about him.”

Trump acknowledged that he had spoken to Kushner at times during the 2016 campaign. “I’d pass him in the hall and say hello,” he said. “He seemed like an O.K. person. I never got much of a sense of the guy.”

When asked whether Kushner might have had improper contact with Russian spies during the transition, Trump said, “I couldn’t tell you if that’s the kind of thing he’d do. You really should ask someone who knows him.”

http://www.newyorker.com/humor/borowitz-report/trump-says-he-does-not-know-jared-kushner-very-well

May 28, 2017

The New Colossus

Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.

"Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she
With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

The words of this sonnet express what made America such a beacon of hope around the world for over two centuries. This is the America Trump and the Republican Quislings are trying to destroy.

May 27, 2017

Farmers say they need Trump to let in more temporary workers to keep crops from rotting in the field

The sun hasn’t cracked the horizon when Alfredo Betancourt and 19 of his countrymen line up behind a packing trailer, knives in hand, knee deep in dewy cauliflower plants.

A tractor growls, the packing trailer jerks into motion and Betancourt and his co-workers begin their routine: walk, stoop, cut, toss. Walk, stoop, cut, toss.

By the time the dense fog lifts from California’s Salinas Valley, the crew has cut enough cauliflower to fill a dozen produce aisle bins at a local grocery store.

They will crisscross this and dozens of other fields eight hours a day, six days a week, for nine months, sleeping three to a room in hotels long since shunned by tourists. Come December, they’ll board a bus and return to Mexico. Richer, they hope.

http://www.latimes.com/projects/la-fi-farm-labor-guestworkers/

May 27, 2017

This is Jupiter? Giant planet surprises scientists in Junos first flybys

Scientists with the NASA Juno mission have released the findings from the spacecraft’s first two orbits around Jupiter — and the results are unlike anything they expected.

Deep beneath its striped layers, Jupiter still has a surprising amount of structure that researchers had not predicted. The core, such as it may be, is not rocky and dense as they suspected, but large and diffuse. Even its auroras seem to work differently than Earth’s.

The deluge of findings, described in two papers in Science and more than 40 more in Geophysical Research Letters, mark the mission’s first major steps toward unlocking the mysteries of Jupiter, which lie at the heart of our understanding of planetary formation.

Launched in 2011, Juno entered orbit around the gas giant last year — the first satellite to do so since Galileo last circled it in 2003. The new spacecraft is bristling with instruments meant to probe the planet’s magnetosphere, polar regions, composition and interior structure.

http://www.latimes.com/science/sciencenow/la-sci-sn-juno-jupiter-surprises-20170525-story.html

May 27, 2017

Its time to plan an escape route, for you and your money, from Trumpland

There are two great dangers when managing your own money and, indeed, the rest of your affairs. The first is reacting too much to recent events. The other is reacting too little.

And when it comes to what’s now happening in this country, the second danger is every bit as risky as the first.

To cut to the chase, it is becoming increasingly clear that Americans should be taking reasonable steps to diversify their investments outside the U.S., including holding assets in currencies other than dollars, and where possible to acquire a second passport.

Yes, I’m serious. Jewish-, Irish- and Italian-Americans, for example, should be checking out whether they qualify automatically for dual citizenship. Others should be looking into their options too. It is always a good thing to be diversified globally and to have the option of leaving the country and living and working elsewhere. But right now it is more important than usual.

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/its-time-to-plan-an-escape-route-for-you-and-your-money-from-trumpland-2017-05-26

May 26, 2017

Study Finds Not Acting Like Total Fucking Moron Most Attractive Quality In Potential Mate

PITTSBURGH—Saying that no characteristic was a better predictor of success in relationships, a new study released by Carnegie Mellon University’s Department of Psychology on Thursday concluded that not acting like a total fucking moron is the most attractive quality one can find in a potential mate.

“Our findings indicate that, far more than physical appearance, wealth, or education level, not being a total dipshit is the single most desirable trait for attracting a romantic partner,” read the study in part, adding that the data demonstrated a robust correlation between behaving like something other than an absolute dumbass and being viewed as a worthy companion.

“Nearly all of our experiment’s participants reported stronger feelings of attachment toward persons who did not conduct themselves like they were too goddamn stupid to function even one day in society, ranking them significantly higher than those who seemed incapable of acting like anything but completely nonsensical fuckwits.”

Although the study couldn’t definitively determine the reasons behind this phenomenon, it speculated that it might be the result of an evolutionary imperative driving people to not want offspring with shit-for-brains genes.

http://www.theonion.com/article/study-finds-not-acting-total-fucking-moron-most-at-56114

I love reading The Onion.

May 25, 2017

A side-by-side comparison of Obamacare and the GOP's replacement plan

The latest Congressional Budget Office report casts a new shadow over the controversial legislation and probably will complicate Republican efforts to get the bill through the Senate, where it already faces difficult prospects.

An estimated 23 million people would lose insurance as a result of the version of the bill that passed the House, a decrease of 1 million compared to the first version of the bill that Republicans introduced this year. The hardest-hit in the long run would be lower-income, older and sicker Americans, according to analysis by the CBO.

The American Health Care Act will cut $834 million in Medicaid spending, which will affect low- and moderate-income Americans. Expanded Medicaid coverage would cease and the funding structure would change.

Average premiums for health plans will be cheaper after 2020 than under Obamacare, but on average, those plans will cover less and have higher out-of-pocket expenses, the budget office projected.

http://www.latimes.com/projects/la-na-pol-obamacare-repeal

Explanatory graphics at the link.

May 24, 2017

Venezuela protests: Hugo Chavez's childhood home set on fire as violence clashes continue

Source: The Independent

The childhood home of the late Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez has been set on fire, according to an opposition legislator, as protests against the socialist government continue to rage.

The house, located in the western city of Barinas, was set alight along with several other government buildings by protesters. Demonstrators have also destroyed at least five statues of Mr Chavez during the on-going protests.

"It is pretty symbolic that the citizens are venting their frustrations on the author of the Bolivarian revolution," said Eric Farnsworth, vice president of the Council of the Americas.

Protesters in Barinas - known as the cradle of Chavez's revolution - also clashed with national guardsmen, while businesses were shuttered and roads were blocked with fire-filled barricades.

Read more: https://www.yahoo.com/news/venezuela-protests-hugo-chavez-apos-135851892.html

May 24, 2017

Fox News retracts Seth Rich conspiracy story as Hannity vows to press on

A controversial Fox News report about the death of a Democratic National Committee employee last summer — a story that had fueled a conspiracy theory that rocketed across right-wing media, but reportedly embarrassed some of the network’s staffers — was retracted by the network Tuesday afternoon.

The report attempted to tie the death of data analyst Seth Rich — who was shot in what Washington police believe was a botched robbery attempt — to the leak of DNC emails to WikiLeaks, which began publishing them two weeks later. The implication, spelled out most directly by former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, was that Rich had provided the emails and was assassinated in retaliation or as part of a coverup. The theory was taken up by right-wing sites like Breitbart and Infowars, and pushed by Fox’s Sean Hannity both on the air and on Twitter.

Hannity continued to push the story on Twitter even as Fox News was publishing its retraction.

“On May 16, a story was posted on the Fox News website on the investigation into the 2016 murder of DNC Staffer Seth Rich,” read the statement. “The article was not initially subjected to the high degree of editorial scrutiny we require for all our reporting. Upon appropriate review, the article was found not to meet those standards and has since been removed.”

https://www.yahoo.com/news/fox-news-retracts-seth-rich-conspiracy-story-hannity-vows-press-201903262.html

What a total asshole. Time for him to go.