Morning Coffee (7/29/19)

Me elsewhere: TV news for the week.

Trump says Daniel Coats, director of national intelligence, to step down

‘I Have a Moral Responsibility to Come Forward’: Colonel Accuses Top Military Nominee of Assault

A controversial deal between US and Guatemala could reshape the asylum process

In Congo, a New Plan to Fight Ebola Follows a Government Power Struggle

RT fined £200,000 for breaching impartiality rules

Moody’s Buys Climate Data Firm, Signaling New Scrutiny of Climate Risks

Sen. Chris Murphy announces new book on violence and guns

Your Data Were ‘Anonymized’? These Scientists Can Still Identify You

Nasa fast-tracks habitation module for planned moon landing

A Shipwreck, 500 Years Old, Appears on the Baltic Seabed

Morning Coffee (4/11/19)

Julian Assange was just expelled from the Ecuadorian Embassy and arrested by British police

Brexit: UK and EU agree delay to 31 October

The U.S. Is Tracking Migrant Girls' Periods to Stop Them From Getting Abortions

Ex-Obama Counsel Expects to Be Charged Soon in Mueller-Related Case

In case you still thought they cared about life at all: Texas lawmakers consider the death penalty for abortion

Why I Am Stockpiling Insulin in My Fridge

GOOD: Washington corrections officials reverse ban, will allow prisoners to get used books in the mail

Yes, Democrats need to beat Trump. But that shouldn’t give Joe Biden a pass.

!!! Darkness Visible, Finally: Astronomers Capture First Ever Image of a Black Hole

Charles Van Doren, a Quiz Show Whiz Who Wasn’t, Dies at 93

Afternoon Tea (2/13/19)

Private Mossad for Hire

It’s 2019. Who Told My Eight-Year-Old Daughter If a Boy Is Mean to You, It Means He Likes You?

What Lunar New Year Reveals About the World’s Calendars

10 Years Later, ‘North & South’ Remains the Greatest Period-Drama Miniseries of All Time

16 LGBTQIAP+ Books by Black Authors

Morning Coffee (2/13/19)

This collection of obituaries by teen reporters of young gun violence victims is moving and important: Since Parkland

Trump supporter attacks BBC cameraman at El Paso rally

Blackface Is the Tip of the Iceberg

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is making the Green New Deal a 2020 litmus test

AP Exclusive: Undercover spy exposed in NYC was 1 of many

Southern Baptist Convention: More than 200 ministers, deacons and others have been found guilty of sex abuse, report says

Greece, 10 Years Into Economic Crisis, Counts the Cost to Mental Health

What’s Anti-Semitic?

Plummeting insect numbers 'threaten collapse of nature'

British Library's collection of obscene writing goes online

Morning Coffee (8/30/18)

Just so we're clear, THIS IS RACIST: U.S. is denying passports to Americans along the border, throwing their citizenship into question

SO IS THIS: Florida's Republican Candidate For Governor Just Said A Vote For His Black Rival Would "Monkey This Up"

Speaking of: Who is Andrew Gillum? Meet Florida’s history-making Democratic nominee for governor.

This is frightening: C.I.A. Officer-Turned-Candidate Says PAC Obtained Her Security Application

Don McGahn to Leave White House Counsel Job This Fall, Trump Says

And related: How the Trump Administration Is Remaking the Courts

Trump lawyer Giuliani got paid to lobby Romanian president (Not the point but it must be KILLING him that he's now just "Trump lawyer Giuliani.")

How Facebook Failed The Rohingya In Myanmar

In City Ballet Shake-Up, One Dancer Out and Two Suspended

5,500-year-old tomb in Meath the ‘find of a lifetime’

Morning Coffee (8/26/18)

John McCain, War Hero, Senator, Presidential Contender, Dies at 81

Kremlin Sources Go Quiet, Leaving C.I.A. in the Dark About Putin’s Plans for Midterms

Paul Manafort and Trump’s Pardon Pattern

Donald Trump’s Gangster Ethic Is Perverting the Jury System

How a Political Machine Works: Candidates Running for 21 Seats, All Unaware

A mass incarceration expert says the 2018 prison strike could be “one of the largest the country has ever seen”

Wow: Miss America: Leadership bullied, manipulated, silenced me

Why Elon Musk Is Reading ‘The Waste Land’

Hear, hear: Your Workplace Isn’t Your Family (and That’s O.K.!)

Summer weather is getting 'stuck' due to Arctic warming

Evidence in the bones reveals rickets in Roman times

Morning Coffee (8/18/18)

Aretha Franklin, the legendary Queen of Soul, is dead at 76

Kofi Annan, Diplomat Who Redefined the U.N., Dies at 80

Citing Costs, Trump Retreats From Massive Military Parade in Capital

Trump revokes security clearance of former CIA director John Brennan — a leading critic of the president

And from Adm. McRaven: Revoke my security clearance, too, Mr. President

Exclusive: new lawsuit claims Trump illegally denied asylum claims of separated parents

565 Migrant Children Remain Separated From Families 3 Weeks Past Judge’s Deadline

This is great: FDA approves first generic version of EpiPen

Stop Calling Teenagers Millennials

Scientists sequence wheat genome in breakthrough once thought 'impossible'

Morning Coffee (5/16/18)

This is just evil: Trump administration preparing to hold immigrant children on military bases

WHAT A SHOCK: North Korea cancels talks with South, and hints it could do the same with US

Suspect Identified in C.I.A. Leak Was Charged, but Not for the Breach

Asian-Americans Blast John Kelly’s Remark About Immigrants Who ‘Don’t Integrate Well’

Tom Wolfe, Author of ‘The Right Stuff’ and ‘Bonfire of the Vanities,’ Dies

Want a taste of my anthology? Maureen Johnson defines resistance in exclusive essay from ‘How I Resist’ collection

! Researchers Uncover Two Hidden Pages in Anne Frank’s Diary

His ex's comment here is GREAT: David Letterman Just Can’t Figure Out Why He Never Had Women Writers

The fraught gender and racial politics of the royal wedding, explained

Wikipedia’s top-cited scholarly articles — revealed

Morning Coffee (1/8/18)

Me elsewhere: TV news for the week.

Hmmm: Initial talks underway about Trump interview in Mueller Russia probe

How U.S. Intelligence Agencies Underestimated North Korea

Masha Gessen on the Michael Wolff book is of course VERY good: “Fire and Fury” Is a Book All Too Worthy of the President

China's Ban On Its Domestic Ivory Trade Takes Effect

Oprah's speech at the Golden Globes last night is worth a watch.

As I said yesterday, I don't like the selection system they use for figure skating, but this is still worth celebrating: Adam Rippon becomes first openly gay U.S. athlete to qualify for Winter Olympics

The U.S. Hockey Team’s Mystery Men

BBC's China editor resigns in protest over gender pay gap

Ooh: Harry Potter: A History of Magic exhibit sets U.S. dates

This show is NUTTY and of course Todd writes about it well: 9-1-1 takes the case-of-the-week show and cranks it up to 500

Morning Coffee (6/24/17)

A must-read: Obama’s secret struggle to punish Russia for Putin’s election assault

Intel chiefs tell investigators Trump suggested they refute collusion with Russians

If you're looking for a good summary: The Better Care Reconciliation Act: the Senate bill to repeal and replace Obamacare, explained

Republicans’ Obamacare repeal would be one of the biggest cuts to the social safety net in history

Saudi Arabia's Game of Thrones

Heh: WhatsApp: the go-to messaging tool for parliamentary plotting

TV in breakaway Ukraine has a distinct Soviet tint to it

Does NASA not have enough to worry about?? NASA Calls Bullshit on Goop's $120 'Bio-Frequency Healing' Sticker Packs

Why the Los Angeles Times Accidentally Tweeted About an Earthquake That Happened 90 Years Ago

Archaeologists unearth prehistoric ritual area around Bryn Celli Ddu

Morning Coffee (4/22/17)

'We've never seen this drought, this disease': Somali families bury their dead

As Erdogan gains power in Turkey, a weakened opposition tries to stand in his way

Macron Wants to Change France. But Will Voters Elect an Unknown?

Finally: Justice Dept. debating charges against WikiLeaks members in revelations of diplomatic, CIA materials

Does... does Jeff Sessions know Hawaii is a state?

But seriously: Jeff Sessions’s attack on a Hawaii judge is an attack on judicial review itself

The C Student in Chief

Theresa May and the Crisis of British Progressivism

Vanessa Redgrave makes directorial debut with film about refugee crisis (This is particularly interesting - to me - because she talks about The Tempest and I saw her as Prospero at the Globe.)

The Intelligence Costs of Underestimating Russia: A Warning from History

The other victim in Facebook killer's crime

I have lots of jokes about the forthcoming Shondaland lifestyle site ('10 Wine Cardigans for Overthrowing the Government'?), but I'll totally read it.

!! You Can Now 3D Print Glass

Morning Coffee (4/1/17)

Warning: It is April Fool's Day. BEWARE. (I will not knowingly fool you.)

The Trauma of Facing Deportation

Good refresher/update on the situation in Venezuela: Venezuela Muzzles Legislature, Moving Closer to One-Man Rule

Oh: Trump administration stops disclosing troop deployments in Iraq and Syria

2 White House Officials Helped Give Nunes Intelligence Reports

Josh Marshall has a good synthesis of Flynn, Nunes, etc.

WHAT A SHOCK: Russians used ‘Bernie Bros’ as ‘unwitting agents’ in disinformation campaign: Senate Intel witness

Interesting: How a Republican Congressman Accidentally Disclosed a Secret Intelligence Debate

The Problems with Trump’s D.C. Hotel Deal Aren’t Going Away

The wine detective battling counterfeiters

Before you yell at them: Why shows leave Netflix

Ooh: See the Ancient World Through Virtual Reality

How Many Books Will You Read Before You Die? (NOT ENOUGH, clearly.)

Morning Coffee (1/12/17)

Well, this happened while we were asleep: Senate Takes Major Step Toward Repealing Health Care Law

Russian Parliament Passes Law Decriminalizing Domestic Violence Through First Round of Votes

Trump Just Shot Jim Acosta In The Middle Of Fifth Avenue And The Press Didn’t Blink

Trump’s bogus plan to avoid conflicts of interest, explained

How the Trump dossier came to light: secret sources, a retired spy and John McCain

The BBC also has some additional information on the Trump/Russia story, what actually exists, and how it came to light.

Donald Trump’s Twitter Account Is A Security Disaster Waiting To Happen

Whoa: High Art, Wall Street Money, and Forgery Claims Collide in Quiet Corner of N.H.

Good for Glamour: The February Issue, Brought to You by Women

Here's an interesting look at the Frankfurt Book Fair.

A Rapidly Spinning Black Hole Was Seen Killing a Distant Star

Bibliomania, the Dark Desire For Books That Infected Europe in the 1800s