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Saturday, July 30, 2016

Closed Sundays

  The blog is closed on Sundays. See you bright and early Monday morning.

work by Bill Traylor

Seven Minutes

Politico: Seven Minutes That Shook the Convention - How the father of a slain Muslim U.S. soldier shamed Donald Trump, upstaged Hillary Clinton and gave the country a lesson in values. By Annabelle Timsit

Holy Mouth

  As of July 29th

NY Times: The 250 People, Places and Things Donald Trump Has Insulted on Twitter: A Complete List By JASMINE C. LEE and KEVIN QUEALY

RABA Research Poll

Slate: Clinton Takes the Lead in First Post–DNC Poll By Emily Tamkin
Among likely voters, Clinton is now polling at 46 percent; Donald Trump, 31 percent. Libertarian Gary Johnson’s polling at 7 percent; the Green Party’s Jill Stein, 2.

'It's A Terrible Thing'

Take a look at the word groupings in this statement from Trump -

“I watched her last night. I was falling asleep. It beats Sominex every time. She could barely beat Bernie. The system is rigged. It’s a terrible thing.”

This is an incoherent rambling string of 3 and 4 word sentences, loosely connected by some sort of imagined meaning. Let's put together something similar using the Trump formula -  

"I saw her. I fell asleep. It's good sleep medicine. Bernie almost won. The system is bad. This is bad."

See what I'm saying. It's baby talk.

Politico: Trump: I give Obama 'tremendous credit' By Rebecca Morin

Running Chronicle Of Hair Raising Trump Activity

The Atlantic: The Daily Trump: Filling a Time Capsule

The Playbook

  A must read

NY Times: How to Counter the Putin Playbook By MICHAEL A. McFAUL
Many are impressed and aim to copy the Putin playbook. Autocrats in Asia, the Middle East and Africa have emulated Mr. Putin’s draconian laws restricting civil society groups. The leader of France’s far-right National Front, Marine Le Pen, has praised Mr. Putin and his policies; her party has taken a $10 million loan from a Russian bank and seeks another $30 million for next year’s presidential election. Two champions of the Brexit campaign — Nigel Farage, the former leader of the anti-immigrant U.K. Independence Party, and Boris Johnson, a Conservative member of Parliament and now Britain’s foreign minister — have spoken fondly of Mr. Putin. So, too, does Hungary’s increasingly authoritarian prime minister, Viktor Orban. The Republican Party nominee for president, Donald J. Trump, has frequently praised Mr. Putin. “He’s a strong leader,” Mr. Trump said in December.

EU Sanctions

From June 17, 2016

Reuters: EU extends sanctions on Russia-annexed Crimea until mid-2017
Following the annexation of Crimea, Russia-backed rebels took up arms against Kiev in eastern Ukraine, where more than 9,000 people have been killed in fighting since the spring of 2014.

Sanctions 2014

From September 15, 2014, some historical context.

BBC: How far do EU-US sanctions on Russia go?
They have blacklisted dozens of senior Russian officials, separatist commanders and Russian firms accused of undermining Ukrainian sovereignty.

The EU sanctions announced on 12 September targeted Russia's state finances, energy and arms sectors. These are sectors managed by the powerful elite around President Vladimir Putin.

Trump, Business In Russia

  A little more background info.

Fortune: Donald Trump's Long, Fruitless Quest for Business in Russia by Geoffrey Smith
In fact, selling U.S. properties to Russians looking to move their money to a place where Putin’s tax collectors can’t get at it seems to be the one line of business that Trump has done in Russia.

Koch Money

Politico: Kochs reject push to meet with Trump - Trump donors have been pushing the billionaire brothers to reconsider their lack of support for the GOP nominee. By Kenneth P. Vogel

NPR - After Hacking Claims, Here's The View From Russia On The U.S. Campaign

Trump's Russia

WTOP: Trump’s Russia reset ideas alarming allies, many in US
Foreign policy experts of all stripes “are left slack-jawed” by Trump’s pronouncements, said Derek Chollet, a senior adviser at the German Marshall Fund and former Pentagon official in the Obama administration.

“He looks at the world solely through the prism of business transactions, talking about allies as if they’re Atlantic City contractors that he can bilk,” said Chollet, who spoke out in favor of Clinton during her Democratic primary campaign against Sen. Bernie Sanders.

Heading Into A Foreign Policy Disaster

  Help, Trump doesn't know anything.

NY Times: What Trump Doesn’t Know About Allies By STEPHEN SESTANOVICH

Have An Excellent Saturday

photography by Robert Durlak

The Onion - Woman Who Doesn’t Use Facebook Completely Out Of Touch With Friends’ Prejudices

The Onion: Woman Who Doesn’t Use Facebook Completely Out Of Touch With Friends’ Prejudices

'Ecosystem Engineers'

Science Daily: New fossil evidence supports theory that first mass extinction engineered by early animals
summary - Newly discovered fossil evidence from Namibia strengthens the proposition that the world's first mass extinction was caused by 'ecosystem engineers' -- newly evolved biological organisms that altered the environment so radically it drove older species to extinction.

TRNN - The Turkish Pivot Towards Russia

Help!

  Do not give this lunatic National Security Briefings!

NBC News: Could Candidate Donald Trump Be Denied National Security Briefings? by Leigh Ann Caldwell and Robert Windrem

GHE20G0TH1K

  Fascinating article on the LGBT community in NYC and the nightlife in Brooklyn. GHE20G0TH1K is pronounced - ghetto Gothic.

Guardian UK: At home in the club: the LGBT parties changing the face of Brooklyn's nightlife - With long lines of expectant attendees, these nights illustrate both the necessity and demand for ‘unapologetically open and inclusive’ clubs
The parties offer an alternative to Brooklyn’s rapidly whitening nightlife landscape – one more inclusive of a community now being displaced by increasing rents and cost of living. The neighborhoods where these parties are based are all included in the top 10 gentrifying areas on an annual housing and neighborhood data report released by the NYU Furman Center on Urban Policy.

Trump - From Russia With Hate

  Now ask yourself, why does Trump need to demonize Clinton as a 'criminal'. You could answer, because it's a tactic to win votes, you smear your opponent, this is politics. That may be true, but what is arising is the fact that Trump wants people to look the other way while he is engaged in utterly fishy business in Russia. This is coming to light and the implications are off the chart. Forget the Trump is a demagogue fascist stuff, Trump is a mad man.

Guardian UK: Donald Trump and Russia: a web that grows more tangled all the time - Frank Mermoud, a key figure at the recent Republican national convention, has strong business ties with Ukraine – the latest in a series of Trump staffers with worrying links to Russia and its interests, including the candidate himself
The party platform written at the convention in Cleveland last week removed references to arming Ukraine in its fight with Russia, which has supported separatists in eastern Ukraine. Trump’s links to Russia are under scrutiny after a hack of Democratic national committee emails, allegedly by Russian agents.

Frank Mermoud also has longstanding ties to Trump’s campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, who in 2010 helped pro-Russia Viktor Yanukovych refashion his image and win a presidential election in Ukraine. Manafort was brought in earlier this year to oversee the convention operations and its staffing.

Global Warming - Mitribah, Kuwait

Climate Central: Searing Kuwait Temp Could Rank Among World’s Hottest
On July 21, Mitribah, Kuwait, recorded a temperature of 129.2°F (54°C) during the height of the heat wave.

By The Numbers

Politico: 5 numbers that mattered this week By Steven Shepard
A Suffolk University poll taken over the first three days of the convention gave Clinton a 9-point lead in the state (Pennsylvania). And of the five most-recent polls that comprise POLITICO’s Battleground States polling average, Clinton has an advantage of 9 points or greater in four of them.

Trump, Russia, GOP Platform, Crimea

  Throw in the hacks of the DNC from Russia and this whole deal is starting to smell very fishy.

New Yorker: How the Republican Establishment Lost to Trump on Russia By Ryan Lizza
Crimea, a Ukrainian territory, was seized by Russia two years ago. The United Nations General Assembly, in a hundred-to-eleven vote, has called on countries not to recognize Crimea as part of Russia. Some prominent Republicans, including John McCain, were willing to go to war with Russia to defend the territory. Trump suggested that he might well let Putin have it.

The Hacks

  I suspect there will be more coming out on this.

NY Times: Computer Systems Used by Clinton Campaign Are Said to Be Hacked, Apparently by Russians By ERIC LICHTBLAU
The C.I.A. director, John O. Brennan, speaking at the Aspen Security Forum, declined to comment on the specific allegations but said that “obviously, interference in the U.S. election process is a very, very serious matter, and I think certainly this government would treat it with great seriousness.”

The Last Word - Capt. Khan’s Parents Remember Their Son

Alienates Everyone

Des Moines Register: Editorial: GOP platform alienates pretty much everyone

Friday, July 29, 2016

'What's In It For Trump'

NY Times: The Real Plot Against America
What’s in it for Trump? Help at winning the ultimate throne of his gilded dreams. And maybe some investment money from Russian oligarchs close to Putin, one of many things Trump may be hiding in his tax returns. The two narcissists share a love of torture, authoritarian rule, and women on runways in bathing suits.

Tweet Tweet

Paraphrasing Alex Wagner - "Not only does Trump not have the temperament to be president but he may not have the temperament to Tweet."

New Poll

Reuters: Clinton leads Trump by 6 points after Democratic confab: Reuters/Ipsos poll

Nate's Latest

  At the moment Clinton appears to be holding a lead according to Five Thirty Eight. Today Five Thirty Eight has her with a 60% chance of winning in November. Hillary Clinton could get a typical bounce next week post convention, that would be in the range of 3 or 4 points, or she could get no bounce at all, or perhaps a large bounce of 9 points. So we have to wait and see.

Five Thirty Eight: Where The Election Goes From Here By Nate Silver

Ratings

Vanity Fair: Sad! Trump Blames G.O.P. After Democratic Convention Beats His TV Ratings - The reality-TV impresario apparently wasn’t as much of a master as he thought. by Tina Nguyen

New Poll

  Some improvement for Clinton, but when you add in Johnson and Stein, it's tied. Next week's polls will be more telling.

Ipsos/Reuters: Ipsos/Reuters Poll (July 29): Core Political Approval

Sullivan

  Last night conservative Catholic political commentator and former editor of The New Republic, Andrew Sullivan wrote -
"The GOP must be shitting themselves. The Dems are taking everything – family values, patriotism, love of the military, the founding fathers and the constitution – in addition to everything they already own. If the GOP loses this election they’re left with… hate and ignorance."

Another Take

NPR: Clinton And The DNC: A Crisis Not Merely Survived, But Transcended by Ron Elving
It was obvious that the DNC controversies fed into a Rules Committee decision to reduce the future numbers of superdelegates (elected officials and party leaders who are uncommitted participants in the nominating convention and may vote their own conscience). In 2020, such delegates will be reduced from 720 to 250.

Up Late

CNN: Girls stay up late to see Hillary Clinton make history By David Williams and Justin Lear

Conservatives On The DNC

TPM: The Reviews Are In: Conservatives Say The DNC Was 'Disaster' For The GOP
Rich Galen, press secretary for Dick Cheney: How can it be that I am standing at my kitchen counter sobbing because of the messages being driven at the DNC? Where has the GOP gone?

Missouri

Politico: Poll: Clinton, Trump in virtual tie in Missouri
Clinton leads Trump by just a single point, 41 percent to 40 percent...

The poll was conducted July 23 and 24, after the Republican National Convention in Cleveland had finished and before its Democratic counterpart in Philadelphia had begun.

Ha!

  As far as I can tell, there are at least two major web spots for the serious Trump supporter, The Daily Caller and Breitbart. I'm sure there are others as well but these two are pronounced. You know who I'm talking about, the one guy who posts repeatedly against hundreds at the Raw Story or on Youtube, the one guy who is taking on the world, that level of Trump supporter. So just in case you are wondering how that crowd is headlining Hillary Clinton's speech, take a peek. I do not recommend visiting the site as it is loaded with junk that will stall your computer.

The Daily Caller: 'What A Disaster’: Boos, Catcalls Mar Hillary Clinton’s Coronation Speech

'A Vulgar, Splenetic Megalomaniac'

  Splenetic? Had to look it up - "bad-tempered; spiteful." He gets points for originality in describing the orange guy.

Chicago Tribune: Column: After Hillary Clinton's takedown of Donald Trump, will any Republicans be with her?
The political helium balloon lifting Clinton up is that she's running against a vulgar, splenetic megalomaniac in Republican business tycoon Donald Trump.

Acceptance

Good read

New Yorker: How Progressive Was Hillary Clinton’s Acceptance Speech? By John Cassidy

'I Just Showed Up'

  Trump is already distancing himself from the RNC.

NY Times: Clinton’s Convention Was Made for TV. Trump’s Was Made for Twitter. by Jim Rutenberg
Asked about the differences, Mr. Trump said he could not speak to them with much specificity, because “I didn’t produce our show — I just showed up for the final speech on Thursday.”

Have An Excellent Friday

photography by Robert Durlak

The Onion - Trump Sick And Tired Of Mainstream Media Always Trying To Put His Words Into Some Sort Of Context

The Onion: Trump Sick And Tired Of Mainstream Media Always Trying To Put His Words Into Some Sort Of Context

A New Photosynthetic Solar Cell

  Another game changer.

Science Daily: Breakthrough solar cell captures carbon dioxide and sunlight, produces burnable fuel - 1,000-fold improved chemistry leads to 'artificial leaf' that makes syngas
summary - Researchers have engineered a potentially game-changing solar cell that cheaply and efficiently converts atmospheric carbon dioxide directly into usable hydrocarbon fuel, using only sunlight for energy.

TRNN - Tim Kaine Full Speech DNC Convention

Khizr Khan

The Guardian UK: Fallen Muslim American soldier's father scolds Trump: 'have you even read the constitution?' In response to Trump’s rhetoric about immigrants, Khizr Khan shames the Republican presidential nominee: ‘You have sacrificed nothing and no one’
Producing a pocket edition of the US constitution to huge cheers from the crowd, he added: “In this document, look for the words ‘liberty’ and ‘equal protection of law’.”

He went on: “Have you ever been to Arlington cemetery? Go look at the graves of the brave patriots who died defending America – you will see all faiths, genders and ethnicities. You have sacrificed nothing and no one.”

Clinton

The Guardian UK: Hillary Clinton accepts nomination with 'boundless confidence in America's promise' - ‘To drive real progress, you have to change both hearts and laws’ she says in laying out a liberal and populist vision amid a thorough takedown of Trump
“Imagine him, if you dare, imagine him in the Oval Office facing a real crisis. A man you can bait with a tweet is not a man we can trust with nuclear weapons,” anticipated Clinton.

Global Warming - North America's Next Three Months, A Forecast

Climate Central: Forecast First: Warmer Temps Favored Across Entire U.S.
Driving that outlook are the warm sea surface temperatures across the globe, including in the Pacific, along the coast of Alaska, and in the Atlantic.

Clinton, Poised And Confident

  She was indeed poised and indeed confident, she is as presidential as it can be.

AlterNet: Poised and Confident, Hillary Clinton's DNC Speech Lays Out a Progressive Agenda—Will the Sanders Insurgency Buy In? After a week of snubs, their grassroots revolution is acknowledged. By Steven Rosenfeld
“And to all of your supporters here and around the country: I want you to know, I've heard you,” she continued. “Your cause is our cause. Our country needs your ideas, energy, and passion. That's the only way we can turn our progressive platform into real change for America. We wrote it together—now let's go out there and make it happen together.”

The Market On Friday

  Good morning. It is a muggy 72 degrees and it is cloudy here in the Upper Hudson Valley. The forecast predicts a partly cloudy day with temperatures in the high 80s this afternoon. Well the news of the morning has to be the DNC, and last night's speeches topped off with Hillary Clinton's acceptance speech. I watched in it's entirety from about 8 p.m. on. I cannot gauge the mood of the entire country as a whole but I would suspect that some people were favorably taken by last night. How about the Muslim mom and dad of the fallen soldier and his offer to share his copy of the Constitution. Republicans speaking out against Trump, it was quite a presentation, and Clinton delivered a very strong speech. I was prepared to not be overly impressed because Hillary Clinton up to this point is not a great campaigner but she may very well have turned the corner on that. The speech was captivating and inspiring. We have a distinct difference going on here, the RNC seemed like a wake for a long gone comrade, the DNC was cheerful, celebratory, and motivating.

  At 9:00 a.m. ET futures are moderately lower and the price of oil per barrel is down. The market is poised to open lower.

  That pesky first report on the second quarter GDP came through this morning with lower than expected numbers. The global economy is sputtering along, hanging on. Enjoy the weekend!

CNN: Stocks: 6 things to know before the open by Alanna Petroff
Investors are set to find out how well the U.S. economy performed in the second quarter. The first estimate of national GDP is due at 8:30 a.m. ET from the Bureau of Economic Analysis.
CNBC: Futures mixed after GDP miss; energy stocks weigh
The advance read on second-quarter GDP showed a 1.2 percent annualized growth rate, well below expectations for 2.6 percent. Consumer spending, which accounted for most of the GDP rebound in the second quarter, increased at a 4.2 percent rate, the fastest since the fourth quarter of 2014, Reuters said. Consumer spending accounts for more than two-thirds of U.S. economic activity,

Schumer's Prediction

Politico: Chuck Schumer's audacious prediction - Forget 2016: Democrats are on the cusp of a golden era, the incoming Democratic Senate leader says in a POLITICO interview. By Burgess Everett and Edward-Isaac Dovere
“We’re going to have a Democratic generation. [President Barack Obama] helped create it. But it’s just where America’s moving demographically, ideologically and in every way,” Schumer told POLITICO in a lengthy interview this week at the Democratic National Convention. “We’ll have a mandate to get something done.”

Reckoning

NY Times: Hillary Clinton Warns of ‘Moment of Reckoning’ in Speech Accepting Nomination By PATRICK HEALY and AMY CHOZICK
“Powerful forces are threatening to pull us apart, bonds of trust and respect are fraying,” said Mrs. Clinton, who worked on the speech until the early hours of Thursday morning. “And just as with our founders there are no guarantees. It truly is up to us. We have to decide whether we all will work together so we all can rise together.”

Trump - A Big Nothing

NY Times: Father of Fallen Muslim American Soldier Rouses Convention with Trump Rebuke By NIRAJ CHOKSHI

Beyond The Pale

Miami Herald: Judge orders Trump to pay nearly $300,000 in attorney’s fees in Doral painter’s lawsuit - The Paint Spot of Doral sued for $34,000 in unpaid painting fees at Trump National

Thursday, July 28, 2016

The Speech

  Hillary did a fantastic job tonight. I look forward to reading reviews and such Friday morning. It's late, heading to bed.

Politico: Clinton makes play for Republicans who fear Trump - 'This feels a lot more like last night of 2004 RNC than Cleveland,' tweeted Romney strategist Stuart Stevens. By Kyle Cheney and Katie Glueck

Headline Of The Hour

Raw Story: Fox media critic: Press didn’t get Trump’s ‘sarcasm’ about Russia because they think he’s ‘insane’

It's Fun!

  Don’t forget if you say something incredibly disturbing that causes perplexing worry and deep concerns, then all you have to do is the next day say you were being sarcastic. Just like that everything will be fine. It’s that simple. Isn’t that fun.

Get Fit

NY Times: Being Unfit May Be Almost as Bad for You as Smoking By Gretchen Reynolds
It is not news that aerobic capacity can influence lifespan. Many past epidemiological studies have found that people with low physical fitness tend to be at high risk of premature death. Conversely, people with robust aerobic capacity are likely to have long lives.

Donors

NY Times: After Lying Low, Deep-Pocketed Clinton Donors Return to the Fore By NICHOLAS CONFESSORE and AMY CHOZICK
A few feet away, Mary Pat Bonner, a gatekeeper to many prominent liberal donors, chatted with her most important client, David Brock, the founder of a cluster of outside groups that has raised millions of dollars to help elect Mrs. Clinton.

Retired Admiral John Hutson

On night three of the DNC, retired Admiral John Hutson said -
“Donald Trump calls himself the ‘law-and-order candidate,’ but he’ll violate international law. In his words, he endorses torture ‘at a minimum.’ He’ll order our troops to commit war crimes like killing civilians. And he actually said, ‘You have to take out their families.” And what did he say when he was told that’s illegal? He said our troops ‘won’t refuse, believe me.’ This morning, he personally invited Russia to hack us! That’s not law and order. That’s criminal intent!”

Digby's Latest

  Digby is extraordinary, perceptive, she's able to see what's going on underneath it all, the underlying intent.

Salon: The DNC message to fed-up Republicans: Leave the dark side and join us - Last night focused on luring GOP moderates appalled by the RNC hatefest. The message was clear, but will it work? by Heather Digby Parton
...it was an excellent opportunity for the party to show America that voting for a madman is unnecessary, even if you generally vote Republican

Putin

NY Times: Donald Trump Reiterates: Putin’s Leadership Better Than Obama’s By ASHLEY PARKER
Pam Thieman, a 61-year-old retiree from Toledo, said she thought Mr. Trump had a “great idea” in encouraging the Russians to hack Mrs. Clinton’s email. “I’m more than happy to have Putin help,” she said. “We’ve got to expose everything that woman is hiding.”

Seth Meyers - Trump, Russia

Have An Excellent Thursday

photography by Robert Durlak

The Onion - Biden Regales DNC With Story Of ’80s Girl Band Vixen Breaking Hard Rock’s Glass Ceiling

The Onion: Biden Regales DNC With Story Of ’80s Girl Band Vixen Breaking Hard Rock’s Glass Ceiling

Second Hand Marijuana Smoke

Science Daily: A minute of secondhand marijuana smoke may damage blood vessels
summary - Rats' blood vessels took at least three times longer to recover function after only a minute of breathing secondhand marijuana smoke, compared to recovery after a minute of breathing secondhand tobacco smoke. With many states legalizing medical and recreational marijuana, and possible corporate expansion within the cannabis industry, this type of research is important to help understand the health consequences of exposure to secondhand marijuana smoke, researchers said.

TRNN - Bernie Sanders Supporters Debate Supporting Clinton

Take

NBC News: 6 Takeaways From Democrats' Marquee Night by Alex Seitz-Wald
Trump's World War III

While Trump complained about the lack of flags at the Democratic National Convention, Democrats fielded a former CIA director and secretary of defense, a retired Navy Admiral, a former Marine Corps captain, a president, a vice president, and a retinue of congressional foreign policy experts.

All essentially made one simple point: Donald Trump might very well start a nuclear war, potentially even by accident, if he's president.

American Debt And Debt Collectors

Guardian UK: Curbs on persistent debt collectors offer hope to Americans in the red - Watchdog group the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau suggests limiting collectors’ emails, calls and letters to debt-laden Americans to six a week
Debt collection affects about 70 million Americans. According to the CFPB, a bureau established five years ago as part of the Dodd-Frank Act, there are more than 6,000 debt collection firms in the US.

Soothe And Boost

Guardian UK: Amazing grace: Obama's speech soothes a convention and boosts Clinton - The president has always been able to capture the attention of a crowd; he used the talent to defeat Hillary in 2008. Now that power is harnessed for her by Lucia Graves
But on Wednesday he sent their love elsewhere as well: to the campaign of Hillary Clinton. And he did it as her longtime observer, opponent and boss, and with all the authority and gravitas of a guy who knows the office.

Global Warming - Fish

Climate Central: Climate Pollution Can Complicate Fishes’ Sex Lives
Elevated levels of carbon dioxide — which dissolves from the atmosphere into oceans, where it changes acidity levels — can affect fishes’ brains and how they behave. Sometimes they swim toward predators instead of fleeing, for example.

The Market On Thursday

  Good morning. It is 77 degrees and sunny here in the Upper Hudson Valley. The forecast predicts a sunny day with temperatures in the 90s. We are in a very dry, hot, and humid spell of weather. Night three of the DNC produced some very memorable moments. Later today the tally of TV viewership for the DNC will be out. So far the DNC has attracted more TVs than the RNC. The numbers are actually very telling, not because the DNC has had more viewers so far, it's because convention viewership is only a small percentage of the American population. On the other hand, it's hard to tell exactly how many people watched as opposed to how many TVs were on. I mean at one point last night there were five people watching the DNC in my living room on a single TV.

  At 9:00 a.m. ET futures are slightly down and the price of oil per barrel is up. The market is poised to open slightly lower.

  Today investors will see reports from many tech companies. Notice that Facebook is showing much better than expected results. Although the indexes are slightly down overall, they still remain in record territory.

CNN: Stocks: 4 things to know before the open by Alanna Petroff
Shares in Facebook (FB, Tech30) are set to surge to fresh record highs this morning after the company posted a better-than-expected earnings report Wednesday evening.

Day Three

Salon: “America is already great”: President Obama’s moving DNC speech lifts Hillary, crushes Trump - "I promise you, our strength, our greatness, does not depend on Donald Trump," Obama said at the DNC

Put A Fork In It

Foreign Policy: Put a Fork in the Tradition of GOP Foreign Policy Competence - In this race, Clinton is the national security candidate and Trump is putting America at risk. By David Rothkopf
Meanwhile, the next day Trump underscored his disregard for traditional norms of foreign policy with an astonishing (even for Trump, which is to say wildly, head-spinningly reckless), call for a foreign intelligence service to continue spying on the United States in order to directly benefit his political campaign. This is the kind of thing that would have produced congressional investigations and instant disqualification for higher office in the past. But for Trump it was just another day on the stump.

'An Assault On The Constitution' And 'Tantamount To Treason'

NY Times: Donald Trump’s Appeal to Russia Shocks Foreign Policy Experts
Carl Bildt, the former Swedish prime minister and foreign minister, wrote on Twitter, “I never thought a serious candidate for US President could be a serious threat against the security of the West. But that’s where we are.”

Obama At Day Three

New Yorker: Obama’s Powerful Message: Donald Trump Is Un-American By John Cassidy
What came out of Cleveland “wasn’t particularly Republican—and it sure wasn’t conservative,” Obama continued. Rather, it was “a deeply pessimistic vision of a country where we turn against each other, and turn away from the rest of the world. There were no serious solutions to pressing problems—just the fanning of resentment, and blame, and anger, and hate. And that is not the America I know.”

Burnt To A Crisp

Politico: The 21 harshest Trump burns from DNC Day 3 By Dan Spinelli and Bianca Padró Ocasio
19. “He even mocked POWs like John McCain. I served in the same Navy as John McCain. I used to vote in the same party as John McCain. Donald, you are not fit to polish John McCain's boots.” - Rear Admiral Josh Hutson, formerly of the U.S. Navy

Treason


Wednesday, July 27, 2016

Bloomberg - Richest Thing About Trump Is His Hypocrisy

  Bloomberg got off some very strong lines tonight.

CNN: Bloomberg: Richest thing about Trump is his hypocrisy - Former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg criticizes Donald Trump's business record and says his plan for America is a disaster in the making.

Granholm

Detroit Free Press: Former Gov. Jennifer Granholm (Michigan) rips Donald Trump, GOP in blistering rant

Trump Asks Russia To Violate Our National Security

Salon: Donald Trump vs. America: The GOP presidential nominee explicitly asks Russia to violate our national security - Trump's call for Russia to hack Hillary Clinton's email is insane, and Republicans have to answer for it by Simon Maloy

Sanders - 'Donald Trump Is The Worst Candidate In The Modern History Of This Country'

Texas Tribune: Thanking Texas Delegates, Sanders Warns of Trump by Patrick Svitek
"Donald Trump is the worst candidate in the modern history of this country."

The Election


Day Two Results

Deadline: CNN Tops DNC Day 2 Ratings, Viewership Way Up From RNC Day 2
Tuesday’s total DNC viewership was up 25% from what the RNC pulled in on its second night on July 19.

WTF?

Politico: Trump confuses Clinton's running mate with former New Jersey governor
"Her running mate Tim Kaine, who by the way did a terrible job in New Jersey -- first act he did in New Jersey was ask for a $4 billion tax increase and he was not very popular in New Jersey and he still isn't," Trump said.

Trump Losing It

NY Times: Donald Trump Encourages Russia to Find Hillary Clinton’s Missing Emails By ASHLEY PARKER
Donald J. Trump said Wednesday that he hoped Russia had hacked Hillary Clinton’s email, essentially sanctioning a foreign power’s cyberspying of a secretary of state’s correspondence.

Have An Excellent Wednesday

photography by Robert Durlak


The Onion - Convention Crowd Really Hoping Bill Clinton Breaks Tension With Joke About How Terrible He Looks

The Onion: Convention Crowd Really Hoping Bill Clinton Breaks Tension With Joke About How Terrible He Looks

Wheat Sensitivity

Science Daily: Biological explanation for wheat sensitivity found - Weakened intestinal barrier, systemic immune activation may explain symptoms in people without celiac disease
summary - People with non-celiac wheat sensitivity have a weakened intestinal barrier, which leads to a systemic immune response after ingesting wheat and related cereals, new research confirms.

TRNN - Thousands Of Black Lives Matter Activists Protest During The DNC

Bigger, Better, More Exciting

MSNBC: Joe: DNC excitement far exceeds that of RNC - Top Talkers: The Morning Joe panel recaps Tuesday's historic night where Hillary Clinton made history by becoming the first female presidential nominee from a major party.

'If I Have To'

Guardian UK: Sanders supporters on Clinton: 'I'll support Hillary if I have to' – video

Making The Case

Guardian UK: Bill Clinton makes powerful case for Hillary in personal speech at the DNC - Former president’s speech caps historic night in which Hillary Clinton is formally nominated by a Democratic party seeking to move on from division
Clinton was at home watching events from her New York state home in Chappaqua, but her daughter Chelsea was on hand in a venue packed with rising female stars from the Democratic party and wider US society.

Global Warming - Longer Mosquito Season, Zika

Climate Central: More Mosquito Days Increasing Zika Risk in U.S.
These are the 10 U.S. cities that have seen the biggest increase in the length of their annual average mosquito season since the 1980s.

Hillary

NY Times: Hillary Clinton, a Reluctant Star of Her Own Prime-Time Show By AMY CHOZICK
“She’s an introvert,” said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, a Democrat. “The spotlight is pretty glaring, and she likes to deflect it.”

The Market On Tuesday

  Good morning. It is 79 degrees and it is sunny here in the Upper Hudson Valley. The forecast predicts a sunny day with temperatures in the low 90s this afternoon. Going to be a scorcher. I watched some of the DNC last night roughly from 9PM on. I heard Bill Clinton's long speech as he worked to portray Hillary in a better light. Let's face it, people on the right heard the speech and they disliked her even more, people on the left are fine with her regardless, and it is the alleged soft group of indies who might listen and be affected.

  At 9:10 a.m. ET futures are moderately higher and the price of oil per barrel is down. The market is poised to open higher.

  Big news today as the Fed gets down to business on interest rates. The expectation is that rates will stay put, and in this regard no news is big news for investors.

CNN: Stocks: 5 things to know before the open by Alanna Petroff
The U.S. Federal Reserve is slated to announce its decision on interest rates at 2 p.m. ET. The market is widely expecting that the Fed will hold interest rates steady.

History

Politico: 5 takeaways from the night Clinton made history - Sanders graciously exits, Bill plays spouse, and the arena unites behind Hillary. By Glenn Thrush
2. Bernie’s graceful exit (stage, far left). It took Bernie Sanders quite a while to internalize the fact that he hadn’t actually beaten Clinton despite receiving 3.7 million fewer votes – but he’s been a more or less exemplary partner to Clinton as she tried to tame the Never Hillary crowd.

Mock Away

LA Times: Actress Elizabeth Banks apes Donald Trump's 'over the top' GOP convention entrance

Tuesday, July 26, 2016

Russian Hacked

  My own personal website was once hacked by Russian hackers. They added code to all the pages on my old site, over 100 pages. The code took you to a porn site. It was ransom oriented, I was supposed to pay to get the code taken off. No big deal to me, I took the site down and reduced it to one page. I figure if it gets hacked again, it's a snap to get rid of the code. Oh those pesky Russians.

NY Times: Spy Agency Consensus Grows That Russia Hacked D.N.C. By DAVID E. SANGER and ERIC SCHMITT

History Is Made

Chicago Tribune: Hillary Clinton makes history as first woman to lead major party as nominee

Most Lives Matter - Full Frontal With Samantha Bee

Have An Excellent Tuesday

photography by Robert Durlak


The Onion - Voice Coming From DNC Sound System During Sanders Address Clearly Hillary Clinton’s

The Onion: Voice Coming From DNC Sound System During Sanders Address Clearly Hillary Clinton’s

Menopause

Science Daily: Hot news flash! Menopause, sleepless nights make women's bodies age faster
summary - Menopause--and the insomnia that often accompanies it --make women age faster, two new studies reveal. The work suggests these factors could increase women's risk for aging-related diseases and earlier death.

TRNN - The European Revolt Against The Neoliberal EU Part 2

Relax

MSNBC: Poll: No Post-Convention Bounce for Donald Trump by Hannah Hartig, John Lapinski and Stephanie Psyllos
Hillary Clinton still leads Trump by a single point: 46 percent to 45 percent. These numbers are unchanged from last week.

Steady As It Goes

  When I first heard about the disarray on day one I was thinking the worst, but as the night went on and the speakers got better and better, my sense is that this convention is working out well.

Guardian UK: Democratic convention: passionate end to day one steadies early drama - Sanders supporters repeatedly disrupted speeches despite senator’s calls for unity as Michelle Obama endorsed Clinton as ‘the president I want for my girls’
Signs that a week of big-name Democratic speakers may help overcome the uncomfortable split also emerged when the first lady delivered a speech that brought the room to a standstill.

Michelle

Guardian UK: Michelle Obama's stirring speech brings Democratic convention to tears - The first lady proved the perfect Trump antidote and drew a ‘wow’ from Bill Clinton as she declared: ‘Because of Hillary Clinton, my daughters ... take for granted that a woman can be president’
“The story of generations of people who have felt the lash of bondage, the shame of servitude, the sting of segregation but who kept on striving and doing what needed to be done so that today I wake up every morning in a house that was built by slaves and I watch my daughters, two beautiful, intelligent black young women, playing with their dogs on the White House lawn.”

Global Warming - Extreme Weather And War

Climate Central: Weather Disasters Can Fuel War in Volatile Countries
Nearly a quarter of deadly armed conflicts in the countries with the most diverse ethnic makeups from 1980 to 2010 were found to have occurred at around the same time as an extreme weather event.

Trump's Hero

Politico: Why Putin hates Hillary - Behind the allegations of a Russian hack of the Democrats is the Kremlin leader’s fury at Clinton for challenging the fairness of Russian elections. By Michael Crowley and Julia Ioffe
“She said they were dishonest and unfair,” Putin fumed in public remarks, saying that Clinton gave “a signal” to demonstrators working “with the support of the U.S. State Department” to undermine his power.

The Market On Tuesday

  Good morning. It is 79 degrees and overcast to sunny to overcast here in the Upper Hudson Valley. The forecast predicts a partly overcast, partly sunny day with temperatures in the high 80s. The DNC kicked off yesterday with a mix of disarray and exceptionally good speeches from the likes of Al Franken, Sarah Silverman, Corey Booker, Elizabeth Warren, Michelle Obama, and Bernie Sanders. The speeches were electrifying and the continuous take downs of the far less than great orange one were a pleasure to hear as the orange one has it coming times a million, make that a billion. I would suspect Hillary Clinton will get a bump out of this especially if nights 2, 3, and 4 produce similar results.

  At 8:55 a.m. ET futures are flat and the price of oil per barrel is down. The market is poised to open in the flat area. And where it goes after that, who knows.

  In spite of a rough day or two the market is still percolating. Notice that BP spent $61.6 billion in its effort to cleanup the Deepwater Gulf spill. Sounds like they got off on the cheap.

CNN: Stocks: 5 things to know before the open by Alanna Petroff
And BP (BP) stock was slipping by about 3% in London after the oil giant released second quarter results. The company reported that the final bill for its high-profile Deepwater Horizon oil spill tallied up to $61.6 billion.

Russian Trump

Salon: The ominous Trump-Russia link: What happens if Moscow really is meddling in the 2016 race? If Russian hackers are conducting a 2016 sabotage campaign, it would put massive strain on our political system by Simon Malo
The FBI suspects that Russian government hackers breached the networks of the Democratic National Committee and stole emails that were posted to the anti-secrecy site WikiLeaks on Friday. It’s an operation that several U.S. officials now suspect was a deliberate attempt to influence the presidential election in favor of Donald Trump, according to five individuals familiar with the investigation of the breach.

Day 1

Politico: 5 takeaways from Day 1 of the DNC - Sanders can’t end his revolution, but the first lady hands Hillary Clinton the best speech of 2016. By Glenn Thrush
But on Monday night Michelle Obama delivered a more passionate and concise case for Clinton than the candidate has ever made for herself — and perhaps the single most effective political address delivered in 2016.

Monday, July 25, 2016

Al Franken Riffs On Trump

Michelle

  Michelle Obama, articulate, passionate, real, and kicking the orange guy's ass around the block.

Corey

  I just watched Corey Booker and all I can say is, this guy could very well end up as President. He was on fire. I was so pleased with the serious Trump knockout. Trump just got bounced out of the country ass first.

A Plus

NY Times: Democratic Convention Challenge: Squeezing In the A-Listers By PATRICK HEALY
Mrs. Clinton wants the 10 p.m. hours to include Americans who can speak to her priorities, like children of immigrants and mothers who have lost children to gun and police violence.

Bernie Pleads

Politico: Sanders scrambles to help Clinton project unity - The progressive urges his delegates not to disrupt the convention. By Edward-Isaac Dovere
Texted from Sanders' account: "I ask you as a personal courtesy to me to not engage in any kind of protest on the floor. It's of utmost importance you explain this to your delegations — Bernie."

Polls

  Maybe the Dems can pull it out this week but right now they are in disarray surrounding the email sabotage and the insistence of the Sanders' supporters to seek retribution. Be prepared, Trump could win, we've said it all along. America appears to want that authoritarian type. It's hard to imagine all the implications of that victory, hard to imagine a single implication benefiting anyone other than a select few.

NY Times: Why You Should Feel Free to Ignore Polls for a Few Weeks By JOSH KATZ and KEVIN QUEALY
Since 1980, the polling average 109 days before the general election has been off by about 7.5 percentage points.

Subplot

NY Times: As Democrats Gather, a Russian Subplot Raises Intrigue By DAVID E. SANGER and NICOLE PERLROTH
Proving the source of a cyberattack is notoriously difficult. But researchers have concluded that the national committee was breached by two Russian intelligence agencies, which were the same attackers behind previous Russian cyberoperations at the White House, the State Department and the Joint Chiefs of Staff last year. And metadata from the released emails suggests that the documents passed through Russian computers.

Listed

Daily Beast: The Biggest GOP Names Backing Hillary Clinton—So Far - Some of the GOP’s best brains are now With Her. And, according to a source within the Clinton camp, highlighting Republicans who’ve crossed over will be a key fixture in campaign ads this fall.

Overt Racism

Salon: Trump’s killed the GOP: He erased covert racism from the party’s platform — by being overtly racist - With the nomination of Trump, the 162-year-old Republican party has rewound to its pre-dog-whistle iteration by Henry Fernandez
Asked to respond to an attack by two supporters who beat and urinated on a Latino man, then told police that “Donald Trump was right, all these illegals need to be deported,” he said:

"I will say that people who are following me are very passionate. They love this country and they want this country to be great again. They are passionate."

Up Is Down

Politico: Donald Trump says EU exists to compete with US - Presidential hopeful hits out at EU, WTO and NATO. By Jules Johnston
The European Union was created to “beat the United States when it comes to making money,” according to Donald Trump.

Last Week Tonight With John Oliver - Republican National Convention

Quick Note

  The headlines are plastered with a Trump bounce in the polls due to the RNC etc. This week the Democrats get their chance. Before you put the house up for sale, wait till the polls come through 10 days or so from today, July 25th.

Have An Excellent Monday

photography by Robert Durlak


The Borowitz Report - Seemingly Decent Human Being’s Involvement In 2016 Election Confuses Voters

New Yorker: Seemingly Decent Human Being’s Involvement in 2016 Election Confuses Voters

Starving Colon Cancer

Science Daily: Common colon cancer tumor type blocked in mice: Clinical trial August 2016
summary - A new scientific study has identified why colorectal cancer cells depend on a specific nutrient, and a way to starve them of it.

TRNN - People For Bernie Call For Civil Disobedience At The DNC

Elizabeth Warren Keynote Monday Night

MSNBC: Warren set to be Monday DNC keynote - In addition to Bernie Sanders speaking on Monday at the DNC, Sen. Elizabeth Warren will deliver tonight's keynote address.

Benghazi, Benghazi, Benghazi

NBC News: Mother of Chris Stevens, Ambassador Killed in Benghazi, Tells GOP: Stop Using Son's Death
"As Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens's mother, I am writing to object to any mention of his name and death in Benghazi, Libya, by Donald Trump's campaign and the Republican Party," Stevens' mother, Mary Commanday, said in a short letter published in The New York Times online Saturday.

"I know for certain that Chris would not have wanted his name or memory used in that connection. I hope that there will be an immediate and permanent stop to this opportunistic and cynical use by the campaign," she said in the letter.

Antisemitism - No Problemo

Guardian UK: Donald Trump and allies forced to answer questions about antisemitism
“I’m overjoyed to see Donald Trump and most Americans embrace most of the issues that I’ve championed for years,” David Duke said, a day after praising Trump’s platform as reflective of his own.

Belly Out

Guardian UK: Tyre trouble: what’s the best way to get rid of abdominal fat? It isn’t just a source of embarassment on the beach – belly fat can lead to diabetes, heart disease and other health problems. But what’s the best way to lose it?
If you want to bust belly fat in a healthy and effective way, it’s the age old advice: diet and exercise. Leave the fads where you found them and eat less, and move more. You’ll be safeguarding yourself from disease and you’ll be able squeeze into those skinnies again.

Global Warming - Algae Bloom In Utah

Guardian UK: Huge toxic algae bloom sickens more than 100 in Utah amid heatwave - Bacteria has spread rapidly to cover almost all of Utah Lake, turning the water bright green with a pea soup texture and leaving scummy foam along the shore
The contamination has now spread to the Jordan river, which supplies irrigation to dozens of farmers around Salt Lake City, about 45 miles north of the lake. The problem has occurred amid days of triple-digit temperatures as growers prepare for farmers markets and try to nurture crops such as corn and fruit trees at key points in their development.

DNC Mess

Politico: Inside the scramble to oust Debbie Wasserman Schultz - Aides to President Barack Obama urged him to get rid of the troublesome DNC chair last fall. He passed, figuring she was Hillary Clinton’s problem to solve. By Glenn Thrush, Gabriel Debenedetti and Edward-Isaac Dovere
“It’s been a huge problem for the Clintons, but the president just didn’t want the headache of Debbie bad-mouthing him. ... It was a huge pain in the ass.”

The Market On Monday

  Good morning. It is 75 degrees, muggy, and sunny here in the Upper Hudson Valley. The forecast predicts a hot day with temperatures in the 90s this afternoon and thunderstorms at some point as well. I hope you had a good restorative weekend. Today the Democratic National Convention begins among headlines that read that Donald Trump is leading Hillary Clinton by 6 points. Boy, what a mess a Trump presidency will be, it can't be overstated. On the other hand let's see where the polls take us in one week.

  At 8:40 a.m. ET futures are ever so slightly higher and the price of oil per barrel is down now in the $43 range. The market is poised to open in the flat to slightly higher area.

  Verizon is buying Yahoo, and right now the market is stopping and accessing where it's at. The DOW is in record territory.

CNN: Stocks: 5 things to know before the open by Alanna Petroff
Verizon (VZ, Tech30) has announced it's acquiring Yahoo (YHOO, Tech30) for $4.8 billion.

Saturday, July 23, 2016

Closed Sundays

  The blog is closed on Sundays. See you bright and early Monday morning.

work by Bill Traylor

Trump Fallout

Daily Beast: Vice Chair of D.C. GOP to Resign Over Trump Nomination

Rapist

Raw Story: A third woman alleges she was sexually assaulted by Donald Trump

Guardian UK: Jill Harth, woman who sued Trump over alleged sexual assault, breaks silence - Harth stands by claims of incident described in 1997 lawsuit as ‘attempted rape’ and wants apology from Donald Trump: ‘Don’t call me a liar’

More On Kaine

NY Times: Hillary Clinton and Tim Kaine Debut Ticket in Battleground of Florida By ALAN RAPPEPORT

Tim Kaine Impresses

The Daily Beast: Holy Crap, Tim Kaine Just Killed It In His First Speech With Clinton - He spoke Spanish to the cheering crowds and delivered a healthy dose of humility in a diseased election year. In other words, Tim Kaine just took America by storm.

Clinton Introduces Kaine, Kaine Blasts Trump

WTSP.com: Clinton pick Kaine blasts Trump, speaks Spanish in Dem ticket debut
In wrapping his remarks, Kaine returned to a theme he's now used twice on the stump against Trump. He said the businessman has shipped jobs overseas, stiffed contractors, opposes a federal minimum wage and equal pay laws for women, calling him a "you're fired president," a "trash talker" and a "me-first" president.

FOX - Vicious Ugly Sexist Workplace

  Not an easy read. The sexual harassment culture at FOX is about as ugly as its worthless news. Both are damaging, one to the women that work there, the other is damaging to the nation. Ailes - lock him up.

NY Times: At Fox News, Kisses, Innuendo, Propositions and Fears of Reprisal By JIM RUTENBERG and EMILY STEEL
But in interviews with The New York Times, current and former employees described instances of harassment and intimidation that went beyond Mr. Ailes and suggested a broader problem in the workplace.

Brilliant

Scott Baio at the Republican National Convention - "Let's Make America, America Again".

Taibbi On The RNC

Rolling Stone: Trump's Appetite for Destruction: How Disastrous Convention Doomed GOP - Republican National Convention made a joke of American democracy by Matt Taibbi
It was a relentlessly negative speech, pure horror movie, with constant references to murder and destruction. If you bought any of it, you probably turned off the tube ready to blow your head off.

Me Me Me Me Me Meee

Politico: The 9 most outrageous statements from Trump's victory lap - The Republican National Convention had no shortage of controversy, but to Trump, it was 'one of the most love-filled conventions in the history of conventions.' By Tyler Pager
5) "I was just on the cover of Time again this week. Time Magazine, OK, I think I was on the cover of Time Magazine twice in my life and six times in the last number of months. So you tell me, which is more important real estate or politics, OK?"

Avec Bun

Man Bun Trump

David Brooks On Trump

NY Times: The Dark Knight
This is less a party than a personality cult. Law and order is a strange theme for a candidate who radiates conflict and disorder. Some rich children are careless that way; they break things and other people have to clean up the mess.

Have An Excellent Saturday

work by Julie Mehretu

The Onion - ExxonMobil Vows Lenient Treatment For Any Species That Surrenders Voluntarily

The Onion: ExxonMobil Vows Lenient Treatment For Any Species That Surrenders Voluntarily

Medical Operations, Microrobots

Science Daily: New remote-controlled microrobots for medical operations
summary - Scientists have developed a new method for building microrobots that could be used in the body to deliver drugs and perform other medical operations.

TRNN - Trump Policy Will Unravel Traditional Neocons

Experience Over Exhilaration

NBc News: Hillary Clinton Opts for Experience Over Exhilaration in Tim Kaine Pick by Alex Seitz-Wald
Choosing not to bend to the anti-establishment winds of 2016, the presumptive Democratic nominee chose one of only a handful of people in American history to serve as mayor, governor, and senator.

Now Kaine will potentially add vice president to a lengthy resume that also include stints as city councilman and Democratic National Committee chairman.

The Best

  Actually a sweet, not graphic, article and a nice reprieve from all the political mischief and misery.

Guardian UK: The best sex of my life - They are the sexual encounters that linger long after the event, the memorable moments of joy when you suddenly see what all the fuss is about – here 10 people share their bliss
My mouth was hanging open in shock until she said “Get your kit off now!” and we didn’t even make the tent. The sand got everywhere and she chucked me when we got back, but that’s still my best sex ever.

Distancing From Trump

Guardian UK: Boris Johnson distinguishes Brexit from Donald Trump's 'America first' policy - New UK foreign secretary dismisses suggestion that Trump’s isolationist foreign policy ideas are similar to Britain’s decision to leave European Union
“I would draw a very, very strong contrast between Brexit and any kind of isolationism,” said Johnson, going on to claim that “Brexit means us being more outward looking, more engaged, more energetic, more enthusiastic on the world stage than ever before.”

Global Warming - North American Forests

Climate Central: North American Forests Not a Climate Change Remedy
But if temperatures get too high, tree growth is inhibited and the (CO2) absorption rate diminishes, said senior author Margaret Evans, a professor at the University of Arizona in Tucson.

Kaine

Politico: How Tim Kaine matches up against Mike Pence - Neither has a taste for smash-mouth campaigning. But both know how to draw blood when necessary. By Burgess Everett
“Hillary and Trump will be the summer action flick. Kaine and Pence will be the NPR program..."

Friday, July 22, 2016

Global Warming - Kuwait, Iraq - 129.2 Degrees

USA Today: All-time record heat scorches Middle East as temperatures hit 129 degrees
The temperature in Mitribah, Kuwait, Thursday soared to 129.2 degrees, which if verified, would be Earth's hottest temperature ever reliably measured outside of Death Valley, Calif...

On Friday, Basra, Iraq, reached that same torrid temperature...

Another Pie For Trump's Smug Face

US News And World Report: McCain Tops Trump in GOP Convention Ratings - Trump's GOP gathering was trumped by the Arizona senator's 2008 nomination convention. By Andrew Soergel
Only hours after the candidate delivered his GOP acceptance speech on the fourth and final night...Nielsen reported Trump drew an estimated 32.2 million viewers across 10 networks to their television sets.

And his performance is well shy of the final night of the 2008 Republican National Convention, which attracted around 39 million viewers across eight networks and was headlined by Arizona Sen. John McCain.

Tim Kaine VP Pick

ABC News via Twitter - BREAKING: Hillary Clinton announces U.S. Senator Tim Kaine as her running mate.

Red States

  Red State is Erick Erickson's creation, I think. It is decidedly conservative, and I suspect many of Red State's audience are Cruz supporters. It's an interesting article, clearly from the other side of the aisle but it expresses a sincere disgust for Trump, which so many of us feel. It's a fundamental disgust, like the man is so monstrously out of place as the GOP candidate. But I would encourage you to check it out, and especially read the comments. There's quite a bit of unhappiness out there in conservative world today. I certainly agree with the article's sentiment in that Trump must not get elected.

Red State: Trump’s New GOP Cheers Homosexuality And Boos God. I’m Done.

Who

Politico: Vanilla nice: Signs point to Kaine as Clinton’s VP choice - Hillary Clinton appears poised to fulfill the Hippocratic oath for vice presidential nominees: First, do no harm. By Annie Karni

World Reaction

BBC: 'Xenophobia, racism and egocentrism' - world media react to to Trump speech
"Xenophobia, racism and egocentrism" formed the key points of the speech, according to Venezuelan-based news channel TeleSur which noted that Mr Trump blamed immigrants for the economic crisis whilst ignoring the millions of dollars spent on "unjustified military invasions".

The First Family

Trump air kissing Pence

Fear

MSNBC: Trump’s bold vision: Make America Hide Under the Bed Again By Steve Benen

Colbert - Billy Eichner Watched All 74 Minutes Of Trump's Speech

Nicole Wallace - The Republican Party 'Died In This Room Tonight'

Colbert - Elizabeth Warren On Trump - 'He Sounded Like A Two-Bit Dictator'

Always Seeking Revenge

Politico: Trump revives rumor linking Cruz's father to JFK assassination By Dan Spinelli

Colbert - Jon Stewart Takes Over Colbert's Late Show Desk

On The Ground

  When a policeman tells you to get on the ground, what exactly, precisely, does that mean? Are we then supposed to sit on the ground hands up in the air, or lay on the ground face up hands in the air, or lay face down hands over our heads, or kneel down hands outstretched? I mean technically speaking are we not already on the ground? If I was in the air, that would really be something.

Have An Excellent Friday

work by Julie Mehretu

The Onion - Trump Takes Moment To Thank All The Fear In Audience For Making This Night Possible

The Onion: Trump Takes Moment To Thank All The Fear In Audience For Making This Night Possible

It's Worse

Science Daily: Historical records miss a fifth of global warming: NASA
summary - A new NASA-led study finds that almost one-fifth of the global warming that has occurred in the past 150 years has been missed by historical records due to quirks in how global temperatures were recorded. The study explains why projections of future climate based solely on historical records estimate lower rates of warming than predictions from climate models.

TRNN - United States Of Amnesia and The Economics Of The RNC