Kate Linnea Welsh: Ted Cruz

Me elsewhere: Your Friday afternoon Daily Read.

This story about an interview hoax involving the Ukrainian president is SO WACKY. God, I love Russia. (As far as... wackiness, not their actual political situation or anything.)

SPEAKING OF: Putin-themed cafe opens in Siberia

Also wacky: Sweden, though generally in more benign ways than Russia.

I assume you all already heard about the Ted Cruz soup story but JUST IN CASE. Because you do not want to miss this one.

The Guardian study's hidden lesson: trolls reinforce white male dominance in journalism (I'm not sure how "hidden" this is, really, but this piece makes important points.)

How “Nina” Became A Disaster Movie

TELEVISION WITHOUT PITY IS COMING BACK TO US. (I realize we should probably wait for more information before getting too excited.)

I would watch a movie about... all of this, really: Archbishop of Canterbury Says DNA Test Shows His Father Was Churchill’s Private Secretary

The Fug Girls have started recapping Outlander and obviously that is great news.

I'm sure I would have watched How I Met Your Dad but I'm not unhappy the decision was taken out of our hands.

Thursday, April 14, 2016

Morning Coffee (4/14/16)

Me elsewhere: The Hunters pilot was okay I guess. And Bones fans, here are some clips from tonight's premiere.

There are a variety of important points this story about ISIS's finances, but I'd never thought about money being LITERALLY INCINERATED by bombs, so that was striking.

In case you need a refresher or to be brought up to date: Brazil's political crisis, explained in 500 words

I had almost forgotten about this, and it's very important: The Legacy of the Kobe Bryant Rape Case

This is a fascinating approach: Inside Saudi Arabia’s Re-education Prison for Jihadists

"'The other candidate on the Democratic side did not reach out to us,' Annette Nance-Holt, whose 16-year-old son, Blair Holt, was shot on a Chicago bus in 2007, said at a campaign event last month. She explained starkly that she was not swayed by Mr. Sanders’s promise of free college 'because my child is dead.'"

I feel like we just went through this with Rubio, and Kasich, but: PAUL RYAN IS NOT A MODERATE. He just yells less.

A Brief and Joyful Update on Fuckin' Craig Mazin, Ted Cruz's Wonderful College Roommate

NOPE: AMC Entertainment CEO Open to Allowing Texting in Some Theaters

Ooh, fascinating: New Evidence on When Bible Was Written: Ancient Shopping Lists

"In so many other movies, Bridget would have been less of a character than a cautionary tale."

Saturday, March 26, 2016

Morning Coffee (3/26/16)

ICYMI, in yesterday's Friday Five I talked about mystery series that should be TV shows.

Here's what's going on with Cruz and the National Enquirer. FWIW, Anne Helen Petersen, who knows whereof she speaks, pointed out on Twitter that the people who investigated things that turned out to be real (like the Edwards story) are no longer AT the Enquirer. So.

And this, about tweets alluding to this story for a while now, almost made me sad that I don't follow more conservative media figures on Twitter. Almost.

UGH: Bernie Sanders’s Hail Mary: maybe superdelegates can save me Hint: If you need the party elite to overturn the will of the people to give you power, you are NOT inspiring a populist revolution.

The one thing he's consistent on: Donald Trump Hates Women

And: White Men Prefer Trump's Overt Misogyny to Clinton's Failure to Center Them Every Moment

"If Kasich wins the nomination after effectively determining that primary voters’ preferences needn’t count, then that establishes primary voters’ preferences needn’t count."

Good Friday and the feast of the Annunciation fell on the same day this year (yesterday) and here is a fascinating post about the history and theological and artistic significance of that.

Kate Spade’s Shiny, Sparkly Success Story

Need a reading list? A Crash Course in the History of Black Science Fiction

Better late than never? NFL acknowledges, for first time, link between football, brain disease

This tragic story brings up a lot of interesting questions about the interaction between cultures; I'm inclined to think that, at least in this case (as described in this article), some of the "they have to be kept isolated to preserve their pure primitiveness" feels like fetishization more than like what the people themselves necessarily want.

Every Meal In Wuthering Heights Ranked In Order Of Sadness

Thursday, March 17, 2016

Morning Coffee (3/17/16)

Here's a primer on Merrick Garland, President Obama's Supreme Court nominee.

I know we've all been distracted by craziness HERE but the situation in Brazil is not good.

Putin didn’t win the Syrian war for Assad. He restored it to a stalemate.

If we're treating Ted Cruz as some sort of less terrible alternative, let's make sure we're clear on his potential issues with separation of church and state.

"Yet here we are, with an eminently qualified woman running for president — a former criminal defense lawyer and advocate for children’s rights, the first female partner at her law firm, the first female chair of the Legal Services Corp., a former senator, a former secretary of state, a liberal by any fair measure — and she just may lose the nomination to a 70-year-old white man who has been in politics for 35 years and yet somehow brands himself an outsider versus Clinton’s establishment candidacy. The truth is that the now coveted outsider status in politics is the status quo for women in male-dominated professions. But for women, it’s nearly always a detriment. Outsider status as an advantage is a privilege reserved largely for men."

Remember when Bernie Sanders was against superdelegates until he decided maybe they could overturn the will of the people in his favor?

WELP: Two Trump delegates with ‘foreign’ names underperform in Illinois

It says a lot about our current political situation that I read this headline and thought "literal barricades?"

Oh: Sheriff says rape kits are irrelevant because most rape accusations are false

Read this: Deep Learning Is Going to Teach Us All the Lesson of Our Lives: Jobs Are for Machines

And then this: "Libertarian but very pro-government": the distinctive ideology of Silicon Valley

Heh: Ayn Rand Writes Torch Songs

Thursday, March 10, 2016

Morning Coffee (3/10/16)

Ted Cruz's secret life as the Zodiac Killer, explained

Study: Bernie Sanders's tax hikes are bigger than Donald Trump's tax cuts (I love this quote from an economist: "If you wanted to test the economic effects of a very large tax increase, this plan would be a good experiment. That is not an endorsement.")

Mississippi flag’s Confederate imagery incites ‘acts of racial violence,’ lawsuit alleges

UGH: Trump backers hate “political correctness.” That's why gaffes don't hurt him.

How one letter changed the story in Pope v. Trump

On the one hand, no duh. On the other, I'm glad people are doing research to show this isn't all in our heads: Online harassment of women at risk of becoming 'established norm', study finds

Team Gloria Steinem, obviously.

Update: That 'Yelp for Humans' App Is Still Awful

FASCINATING: The Secret Lives of Tumblr Teens

This book sounds interesting and I think it's important to fight the idea that "everyone" was religious until very recently: Atheism has ancient roots and is not ‘modern invention’, claims new text

Wednesday, March 9, 2016

Morning Coffee (3/9/16)

Sad news: George Martin has died.

This seems obvious but is important to keep in mind! "Ted Cruz is more interested in winning the Republican nomination than stopping Donald Trump from winning it."

Russia's Communist Party is making a comeback — and it's bad news for Putin

Ugh, John McAfee.

I don't think this should actually SURPRISE anyone but: Trump Tower Funded by Rich Chinese Who Invest Cash for Visas

Perhaps you, like me, are the kind of person to be soothed by a Platonic analysis of Trump, in which case: Here you go.

Internal Data Offers Glimpse At Uber Sex Assault Complaints (with an important update here)

This look at the history of horoscopes in media was very interesting, even for someone with less than zero interest in horoscopes, but also contained the most preposterous sentence I've read in a while: "Astrology is more real than football." What. No. That's not how anything works.

It's sad how often we have to think about this stuff: "Do I cut ties with anyone a friend tells me has been abusive or manipulative, or does their abuse need to reach some arbitrary level of horror? Do I need proof? How many people do I have left after that? When you cut them out, how many publications are left to write for? How many parties are left to go to? How many friends do you start to question because they’re friends with the person you cut ties with? Do they even lose anything without me, or am I the one at a disadvantage?"

Scientists Discover a Boiling River of Amazonian Legend

Saturday, February 27, 2016

Morning Coffee (2/27/16)

Happy Oscar weekend! There are going to be a flurry of posts as I cram in as many more movies as possible, and then early afternoon Sunday check back for my picks for each category.

ICYMI, yesterday's movie posts: Everything Will Be Okay and Day One.

Yesterday was quite a day and Vox had some fun with headlines while despairing about the actual content: Chris Christie endorses Donald Trump for president. Like, of the United States.

America's Trumpiest governor just endorsed Donald Trump

From Obama speechwriter Jon Favreau: Why Electing Hillary in ’16 Is More Important Than Electing Obama in ’08

Wow: Melissa Harris-Perry Walks Off Her MSNBC Show After Pre-emptions "I am not a token, mammy or little brown bobble head." Good for her. I don't watch any cable news shows regularly, but I'm familiar with her work and hers is an important voice to have in the conversation.

This is amazing. Imagine having your bachelor party crashed by Hillary Clinton. "'I love having men at my feet,' Clinton said, laughing, as Kinney and the men all took photos."

I read this and was shocked by how strongly I felt that of course code should count as speech, since it wasn't an issue I'd considered consciously before.

Interesting: A neurologist examines Ted Cruz's face.

Hey, my mom's in this! Pediatricians back new push to allow medical marijuana for some kids

Terrible: Illinois Republicans target single mothers and their babies: GOP bill would ban birth certificates, financial aid if father is not named

Yesterday was the one-year anniversary of llama/dress day, and this oral history was genuinely interesting and also made me wish Arpaio cared about people as much as animals.

Tuesday, February 23, 2016

ICYMI, yesterday's Oscar Project posts: Mad Max: Fury Road, Steve Jobs, Sanjay's Super Team

I agree with Ezra Klein's worries about Sanders's management style: "My worry about Sanders, watching him in this campaign, is that he isn't very interested in learning the weak points in his ideas, that he hasn't surrounded himself with people who police the limits between what they wish were true and what the best evidence says is true, that he doesn't seek out counterarguments to his instincts, that he's attracted to strategies that align with his hopes for American politics rather than what we know about American politics. And these tendencies, if they persist, can turn good values into bad policies and an inspiring candidate into a bad president." (There were two other paragraphs I considered quoting instead, so really, go read the whole thing.)

If you're going to spread a false story about your boss's opponent at least make it a more believable one, geez.

FBI and Apple vie for public support in dispute over California shooter's iPhone

And: Apple, DOJ fight heads to Capitol Hill

An interesting look at the labor law involved in Kesha's case: Following Kesha's Court Decision, Is It Time To Reexamine The Seven-Year Contract Statute?

‘She Was Proving Hard to Control’: Some Background on Kesha's History With Dr. Luke

"Men in the music industry shouldn’t support Kesha out of some sort of chivalry. They should support her because exploitation and unfair business practices are issues that affect every performer, of whatever gender. But, somehow, women are the only ones expected to do anything about it."

The X-Files revival ended last night, and I agree with pretty much everything Zack Handlen says here both about how TERRIBLE that finale was and how I persist in wanting more episodes because they COULD be good. I WANT TO BELIEVE. (There are obviously spoilers at that link, but here's a great, non-spoilery line: "His dialogue sounds like it was a translated from the Greek by a person who speaks excellent German.")

In other X-Files news: We're getting YA books! I find it fascinating that Mulder's book is being written by a female author and Scully's by a male author.

The publication of Umberto Eco's final book has been pushed up a few months to capitalize on his death, and . . . my first thought was "Is it ready??" but it's a collection of previously-published essays, so maybe it is. And, frankly, this is better than whatever the fuck I'm expecting to happen regarding someone miraculously finding yet more unpublished stuff they're just sure Harper Lee would want out in the world making other people money.

Monday, February 15, 2016

Morning Coffee (2/14/16)

Me elsewhere: TV news!

The coming fight to replace Justice Scalia, explained

Heh: If you like Bernie Sanders, you’ll love this other longtime progressive (Seriously, some really good arguments there.)

Why Are Millennial Women Gravitating to Bernie Sanders? (This is driving me crazy. Obviously.)

"It certainly seems more fun to be on the side of political revolution than dour pragmatism. But I just can’t make myself believe. That means I’m invested in Clinton, with all her many faults. And being invested in Clinton, it turns out, is excruciating."

Trump Is Beating Cruz in the War Crimes Primary

Why Iraq Doesn't Prosecute Militia Atrocities

Big Tits for 600: The Ugly, Sexist Aftermath of Appearing on 'Jeopardy!'

This Mozart movie sounds interesting.

Neat: Chicago Seen on TV: An Interactive Map of Windy City Shows

Blind Items From A Central Californian Monastery