Linkee-poo, Thursday already

Been berry berry busy boy. Not much today.

"An ancient tablet engraved with 13 verses of the Odyssey has been unearthed in southern Greece in what is possibly the earliest-recorded trace of the epic poem, the culture ministry said Tuesday." Funny, I don't remember Odysseus shouting, "How do ya like me now, bitches!" as he and his son killed the suitors. (Grokked from Writers Digest)

"As hurricane season heats up, threatening thousands of coastal properties with storm surges, homeowners should also mark July 31 as a day of reckoning… That’s when the National Flood Insurance Program is set to expire unless lawmakers extend it for a seventh consecutive time since the end of fiscal 2017. In this polarized Congress, there are no guarantees that the cash-strapped program will get another reprieve." What's the problem, Congress. It's not like climate change is real, so storms aren't becoming stronger or more frequent.

"Pornography has provided the first real boom in VR, and adult-entertainment companies like Naughty America are leading the way." And in other news, water is wet. (Grokked from Dan)

Remember people saying that they weren't racists because they didn't hate anyone or use the n-word? So, can we call Papa John's John Schnatter a fucking racists now? What is hilarious is his outburst, where he used racial slurs and implied violence against minorities, was "Forbes reported that the incident took place on a call arranged between Papa John’s executives and Laundry Service as a role-playing exercise for Schnatter to prevent future public-relations missteps." (Grokked from Xeni Jardin)

The Daily Show's reporting from a Trump Rally about Space Force. (Grokked from Dan).

"The North Atlantic Treaty Organization, which has been a keystone of global security since its formation in 1949, does not involve a membership that collects dues. There is no annual subscription." Someone please let the president know. (Grokked from Xeni Jardin)

"The tax cuts Republicans enacted in late 2017 will likely provide less of a boost to economic growth than many forecasters predict—and possibly none at all—economists at the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco said Monday." This is my shocked face. (Grokked from Chuck Wendig)

"No restaurant in Louisville, Kentucky, is safe for Mitch McConnell, it seems. Protesters followed the Senate Majority Leader to his dinner destination on Sunday night, blasting Public Enemy’s 'Fight the Power' and chanting 'no justice, no peace.' McConnell and his group was forced to leave Italian restaurant Sarino mid-meal due to the disturbance, according to the Courier Journal." (Grokked from Chang)

A Jim Wright tweet storm on the Resistance. I am part of the resistance, but there are those who have purity tests and believe it's a virtuous club of some sort. There are always those people. I don't need other people to tell me where to vent my spleen, or where to put my energy. At some point it may be necessary to have some more formal structure. But even when that happens there will be a number of us on the outside, fighting the good fight, waiting for the corruption to sneak into the Salon Succession movement like it always does (that's an Art History reference, in case you needed some direction). Or as I told a professor who told me that given the GOP's war on public unions and pensions, he could no longer support them and joined the Democratic Party, "We're not much better, but at least we won't consciously, maliciously, and with forethought fuck you over."

"For the second day in a row, the Senate pushed back on President Donald Trump, showing stiff resistance to his key policy decisions on tariffs and NATO even as the President is at a summit in Europe wrestling with allies over those same issues." Oh great, the Senate is finally showing some spine. "The bipartisan 88-to-11 tally on the non-binding resolution sends a message to the White House about how frustrated senators are over Trump's disruptive moves on tariffs." Ugh. Non-binding mean "bullshit," in political terms. It's the same as threatening to turn the car around on the family vacation. Dear senators, 88-11 is a veto proof majority. Move to take back your Constitutional powers.

"The new timeline below, which now includes developments since early June and up until July 10, 2018, chronicles publicly reported Trump comments and actions toward Russia since the 2016 U.S. presidential election—whether accommodationist or adversarial or defying easy classification." TL/DR There's a lot of fucking Russians hanging around. (Grokked from Kathryn Cramer)