New Hampshire's Supreme Court has ruled that calling someone a "patent troll" is not defamatory because "patent troll" is a statement of opinion and can neither be factually proved nor disproved. (more…)
Samuel R "Chip" Delany is a science fiction pioneer: a brilliant literary stylist with dazzling ideas who was one of the field's first openly queer writers, and one of the first Black writers accepted into the field. He is one of the fathers of afrofuturism. (more…)
The American ransomware epidemic shows no signs of slowing, as the confluence of underinvestment in IT and information security and the NSA's reckless stockpiling of computer vulnerabilities means that petty criminals can extort vast sums from distant municipalities by seizing their entire networked infrastructure. (more…)
The Daily Beast reports that a water polo team from a California high school sang Nazi songs during an awards ceremony.
(more…)
Like many large US cities, Phoenix has a housing shortage and like many US cities, that crisis is worsened by the conversion of much of its housing stock into unlicensed hotel rooms through companies like Airbnb, VRBO, and Wanderjaunt, a new competitor in the unlicensed hotel room industry. (more…)
It's easy to think of climate denial as a right-wing phenomenon, but a growing and ultra-violent strain of white-nationalism also embraces climate science, in the worst way possible. (more…)
The LEGO Tantive IV is a must have for my family LEGO display.
Even far, far than the Escape pod.
This set comes with a 1769 piece Tantive IV and 5 minifigs including Bail Organa.
LEGO Star Wars: A New Hope 75244 Tantive IV Building Kit, New 2019 (1768 Pieces) via Amazon
President Barack Obama opened his summer reading list post with encouragement to read or re-read Toni Morrison and then suggested ten other titles including the following:
• Sometimes difficult to swallow, The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead is a necessary read, detailing the way Jim Crow and mass incarceration tore apart lives and wrought consequences that ripple into today.
• Exhalation by Ted Chiang is a collection of short stories that will make you think, grapple with big questions, and feel more human. The best kind of science fiction.
• Haruki Murakami’s Men Without Women examines what happens to characters without important women in their lives; it'll move you and confuse you and sometimes leave you with more questions than answers.
See the rest of President Obama's picks here.
image: President Barack Obama and daughters Sasha and Malia shop for books at Politics and Prose in Washington, D.C., on Small Business Saturday, Nov. 29, 2014. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)
Five years after Eric Garner’s death, his killer, police officer Daniel Pantaleo, has been fired. The Daily Beast was first to report the news, citing a senior law-enforcement official.
Pantaleo's lawyers will appeal.
New York City Police Commissioner James O’Neill will announce on Monday that NYPD officer Daniel Pantaleo has been fired, the official said. O’Neill terminated Pantaleo, 34, after it was determined he violated department policy by restraining Garner with a prohibited chokehold in 2014.
An administrative judge previously recommended Pantaleo’s termination following an internal disciplinary trial. The judge, a deputy commissioner, found Pantaleo was “untruthful” during interviews with investigators and had “recklessly used force” during the fatal encounter.
Pantaleo had not faced official sanction for his actions until now, only being placed on desk duty. The Justice Department in July declined to charge Pantaleo with violating Garner’s civil rights. A Staten Island grand jury in 2014 declined to indict Pantaleo.
[via Pervaizistan, image: shutterstock]
Agent King is an adult animated series about Elvis Presley as a government spy. Priscilla Presley and rock singer John Eddie created the show for Sony and Netflix with Archer's Mike Arnold as writer and showrunner. John Varvatos is designing Elvis's animated outfits. From Spin:
Agent King... imagines Elvis Presley trading his white jumpsuit for a jet pack as he’s inducted into a secret government spy program to help battle dark forces that threaten the country he loves — all while holding down his day job as the most famous rock ‘n’ roll star on the planet...
“From the time Elvis was a young boy he always dreamed of being the superhero fighting crime and saving the world!” said Priscilla Presley, who was married to Elvis from 1967-73.
The Pentagon today announced it tested a conventional ground-based cruise missile that went more than 500 kilometers, which would have been banned under the now-defunct INF treaty. (more…)
In Ohio, a racist 20-year-old man was arrested over the weekend for threatening to attack a Jewish community center, in a post on Instagram. (more…)
The City of Santa Monica is looking to displace a year old homeless feeding program because it is too successful.
ABC7:
Steve Petramale has been feeding at least 100 homeless people every week at Reed Park for more than a year.
Santa Monica officials told Petramale the park is not a good location for his food program. They had threatened to issue a citation if he served meals this Sunday.
Petramale says he's willing to work with the city to find a new location, but he wants to make sure the meals continue.
"I'm more than willing to make this work so everyone is happy and especially that these people eat," he said. "That's my main concern."
Some neighborhood residents have complained.
"Neighbors are concerned about the amount of people, the lack of play space," said Alisa Orduna, an advisor on homelessness with the city of Santa Monica. "The lack of space to be able to stretch out and have their activities."
Petramale says he's sympathetic.
"I understand your concern and why you're upset but I really do feel, regardless, everyone needs to eat," he said.
You may donate to Petramale's organization FamilyFood.us via Venmo.
"I saw light,” said Horry County, South Carolina resident Romulus McNeill said a few days ago after a lightning bolt just missed him. “I tried to get up out of there like the Roadrunner."
(WSOC-TV)
Illegitimate, popular-vote-losing, manifestly unfit United States President Donald Trump tweeted some more crazy shit on Twitter today.
“Wow, Report Just Out! Google manipulated from 2.6 million to 16 million votes for Hillary Clinton in 2016 Election! This was put out by a Clinton supporter, not a Trump Supporter! Google should be sued. My victory was even bigger than thought!
@JudicialWatch”
This is false.
Judicial Watch is an ultra-conservative troll organization that files FOIA lawsuits to investigate claimed misconduct by government officials who are weirdly always Democrats.
That is all.
Illegitimate, popular vote losing, and manifestly unfit United States President Donald Trump said on Monday that at a recent dinner with Tim Cook -- what, you didn't think they hung out and shared meals? -- the Apple CEO made a “very compelling argument” that Apple may lose its competitive edge to Samsung because of Trump's tariffs on goods from China. (more…)
The Mooch is gonna organize a team of disgruntled former cabinet officials to take down our unhinged and unqualified President. That'd be Donald Trump.
Former White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci said on Monday that he’s assembling a team of former Cabinet members to speak out against President Trump in an effort to find a Republican challenger to the president in 2020.
“I'm in the process of putting together a team of people that feel the exact same way that I do. This is not a ‘Never Trump’ situation, this is not just screeching rhetoric. This is, 'OK, the guy's unstable, everyone inside knows it, everyone outside knows it, let’s see if we can find a viable alternative,'” Scaramucci said Monday on CNN’s “New Day.”
“Moreover, I’ve got to get some of these former Cabinet officials in unity to speak up about it.”
Scaramucci would not reveal names of former officials that he said feel that Trump is unstable. But he said he expects more to come out publicly in upcoming months.
Kan was clear: snatch the pebble and GTFO.
Science babies, science.
Adding nuts to a regular diet significantly improves orgasmic function and sexual desire in healthy young men, according to the FERTINUTS study.
The randomized controlled trial, which was recently published in Nutrients, showed a significant increase in the orgasmic function (P = .037) and sexual desire (P = .040) of men of reproductive age who received the nut intervention in comparison with an age-matched control group.
The researchers found no significant between-group differences in changes during the intervention in erectile function (P = .192), intercourse satisfaction (P = .473), and overall satisfaction (P = .333). In addition, there were no significant correlations between changes in erectile dysfunction parameters and in biochemical parameters during the intervention, write Albert Salas-Huetos, PhD, from University Rovira i Virgili, Reus, Spain, and colleagues.
"None of the possible mechanisms explored (nitric oxide and E-selectin, as surrogate markers of endothelial function) seem to explain the beneficial effects observed on orgasmic function and sexual desire," they write. They add that the study "did not provide enough evidence to support the main mechanism for these improvements, however, an absence of evidence does not mean evidence of no effect."
UK media moderated its coverage of the country's post-Savile sex abuse scandal, perhaps to maintain cosy establishment relationships and certainly due to Britain's menacing libel laws. American media has few such interests or impediments, and US coverage has sometimes made the difference in exposing a British problem to British audiences. But the delicious and seemingly well-deserved ruin of Prince Andrew needs no foreign encouragement. The Daily Mail:
EXCLUSIVE: Prince Andrew is pictured inside paedophile Jeffrey Epstein's £63million mansion of depravity nine years ago... so how did he miss signs of the billionaire's sexual deviance?
• Duke was spotted peering around the door of the billionaire's Manhattan home on December 6, 2010
• The footage of the Duke was taken less than an hour after Epstein left the house with a young blonde woman
• Epstein's alleged 'sex slave' Virginia Roberts claims she had sex with the Prince at financier's New York home
• Buckingham Palace has denied any wrongdoing on Duke's part and the Queen has showed him her support
The video above is CBS News' coverage of the release.
