My preferred way get in shape involves mercilessly tracking my effort and results. I have a mishmosh of fitness trackers and gadgets I use to monitor my daily progress towards, or away from, being physically fit. Integrating all that data into one place? Oy vey. Read the rest

Rick Gates, on the witness stand today in the trial of Paul Manafort, says he committed crimes with Manafort, and embezzled “hundreds of thousands” of dollars from Manafort. Read the rest

In the course of my work as a documentary filmmaker, I sometimes find hidden gems. Samuel Fuller’s “The Naked Kiss” is one of them. Read the rest

Joe Parris (@KTVBJoe) lit the internet on fire today with this tweet:

#Breaking - About 100 goats are on the loose right now in a #Boise neighborhood. They are going house to house eating everything in sight. Nobody has a clue where they came from...updates to follow

Full details here, in Joe's story for KTVB in Idaho:

Neighbors say the herd showed up on Summerwind Drive off of Five Mile Road at about 7 a.m., and got to work, snacking on lawns and flower bushes, and stripping the leaves from trees. Animal Control responded to the scene with a single truck, but quickly realized that wasn't going to be enough.

More....

The goats are taking a toll on residents' landscaping, munching every leaf and flower before moving on to the next yard. The ravenous herd has drawn a crowd of onlookers, with children and neighbors standing in the street to watch and snap photos.

At about 8:30 a.m., a large truck from the company We Rent Goats pulled up on the street and began trying to load up the hungry herd. The company rents out herds of goats to clear weeds and help with fire suppression on private land and public property.

KTVB has learned the goats had been grazing nearby when they somehow escaped and set off on a snacking tour of the neighborhood.

Here is a live look at #Boise Goat-a-Paloza 2018 pic.twitter.com/RTZR6bWsRP

— Joe Parris (@KTVBJoe) August 3, 2018

Party is over “kids”! Loose goats have been cornered and loaded back onto a truck owned by “We Rent Goats” pic.twitter.com/qWHrb7X7n6

— Joe Parris (@KTVBJoe) August 3, 2018

The “new kids on the block” are now off the block!

In New York today, a judge rejected a lawsuit brought against Fox News by the parents of Seth Rich, a Democratic National Committee staff member who was killed in 2016. Read the rest

The spokeswoman for the president of the United States won't say whether the American press is or is not “the enemy of the people.” This phrase was used to similar effect by the Nazis and in the Soviet state under Stalin to designate who should be murdered. It's un-American, and so is she, and so is Trump. Read the rest

Facebook's longtime Chief Security Officer Alex Stamos is quitting, as announced earlier this year. The company seems to think it doesn't need a new CSO, despite having just acknowledged Tuesday it is the subject of ongoing, sustained, coordinated information warfare attacks just ahead of the 2018 midterm elections. Read the rest

Documents obtained by CNN outline a plan to eliminate TSA security screenings at more than 150 small and medium sized airports that mostly service planes with 60 seats or fewer. Read the rest

None of the mass shootings in America have been committed by shooters using 3-D Guns, but that's not stopping Donald Trump and a bunch of NRA-backed lawmakers from freaking out about the threat DIY weapons pose, before doing anything about how readily available regular old guns are to regular old bad guys. Read the rest

Facebook is said to be revealing today that it has identified “coordinated political influence campaigns using fake accounts to influence the midterm elections on issues like “Unite the Right” and #AbolishICE,” reports the New York Times. The company has been working with FBI to investigate who's behind the campaigns, which apparently came to light a few weeks ago and have since been shut down by Facebook admins. Read the rest

Evidently the Orange Menace is unimpressed by son-in-law Jared Kushner's attempts to bilk dollars out of his White House job, and longs for his daughter's purported ex-boyfriend.

Via Talking Points Memorandum:

The New York Times reported Saturday that President Donald Trump’s relationship with his son-in-law Jared Kushner has deteriorated over the past few months, and that the president now routinely complains that “Jared hasn’t been so good for me” and that he could have had NFL star Tom Brady as a son-in-law instead. (Short-lived White House communications direct Anthony Scaramucci has claimed that Ivanka Trump and Brady briefly dated.)

Trump has reportedly told his friends and aides that he wishes both Kushner and his daughter Ivanka would return to New York.

Yet the Times reports that because Kushner has outlasted many of his critics and rivals in an administration plagued by factionalism, infighting, and gossip, he isn’t likely to head for the exits anytime soon. On the contrary, he may soon take a more public role, especially now that his security clearance has been restored after months of suspension due to questions about his foreign contacts and financial ties.

Kushner and Ivanka, however, have made little-to-no progress on the policy areas assigned to them, including the Middle East peace process and paid family leave.

ProPublica's Michael Grabell and Topher Sanders obtained police reports and call logs from more than 70 of the 100 shelters housing immigrant children.

What the documents reveal: “If you're a predator, it's a gold mine.” Read the rest

Twitter's stock closed 20.5% on Friday after the company announced it lost 1 million active users. More user loss is predicted. Read the rest

As Kevin Poulsen tweeted, “Tired: Russia's 2016 interference in the presidential election. Wired: Russia's 2018 interference in the midterms.” Read the rest

The U.S. indictment for accused Russian secret foreign agent Maria Butina refers to one of her American contacts as “U.S. Person 2.” Like others having serious legal troubles this week, they shared a love for the NRA. Read the rest

This Bear Butt camping hammock saved my Fourth of July. Read the rest

In a hearing on Capitol Hill today, Former CIA director and Trump's replacement Secretary of State Mike Pompeo says Trump remains upbeat about the prospect of North Korea denuclearization, and that the United States will not recognize Russia's annexation of Crimea. Read the rest