Linkee-poo for Thursday

Where did all these alligators come from?

"The question is: Who is the senior Trump administration official behind the anonymous New York Times op-ed?" And so begins the Kremlinology (by people who never had to do it before). I wrote about the op-ed last night because it was significant enough to deal with quickly. My final thought, which I added as a comment, is this is cover for the American Operation Hummingbird, hopefully a "velvet" (ie. bloodless) version. That is, the op-ed was not created by the NYTs and was delivered to them by a "Senior Official", but the story it tells is fake. But now Trump has what he needs to begin a mole hunt and root out those deemed "not loyal enough."

McSweeneys' parody of the op-ed, "We still believe utter ruin can be brought to the land through the proper rituals and unhallowed traditions, not by this fly-by-the-seat-of-your-tentacles kind of governing." (Grokked from Neil Gaiman)

"Fall doesn’t technically start for another two and a half weeks. But that doesn’t mean it’s too early to start thinking about the 2018 flu season—including important questions like when you and your family should get your flu shot, how long the season is expected to last, and other critical information—especially after the brutal flu outbreak of 2017-2018. Here’s what you need to know."

"It wasn’t long before a tiny hole was discovered in the Russian-built Soyuz spacecraft docked to the space station. The tiny opening was thought to be the result of damage from a micrometeorite, which isn’t unheard of, and the crew quickly came up with a plan to repair it. Now, days later, Russian space agency Roscosmos says the hole wasn’t made by Mother Nature, but by a person with a drill, and tensions are high." It apparently was made my mistake during manufacture. Waves to my Russian friends.

"Emirates Airline has confirmed that 'about 10 passengers' have fallen ill from an unidentified illness on flight 203, direct from Dubai to John F. Kennedy Airport in New York, where the plane is currently being held under quarantine." But who needs public health officials. (Grokked from Dan)

"A man was arrested in Dallas, Texas, on Wednesday after repeatedly crashing his truck into a building that housed a television station, apparently to highlight a grievance, police said."

"The new 30-second spot, published on Ted Cruz’s Facebook page, is so heavily edited it’s laughable. It shows a voter asking a question about flag desecration, then jumps to O’Rourke responding, 'I think that there is something inherently American about that, and so I’m grateful that people are willing to do that.'… To get that edit, the Cruz campaign had to cut nearly four minutes of O’Rourke speaking, as well as the full context of the question asked."

"With their party majority in extreme peril in November’s midterm elections, House Republicans are facing a dilemma. While they ran on a pledge to “repeal and replace” the Affordable Care Act, support for Obamacare now far exceeds support for the GOP-controlled Congress. Several incumbents have employed a bold strategy: hide the evidence of their position."

"But the California Republican — who, along with his wife, Margaret, was indicted last month on 60 counts related to spending more than $250,000 in campaign cash for personal expenses that included vacations to Italy and Hawaii, dental work, and flying his family’s pet rabbit across the country — may face more scrutiny in the coming months for the 'personal relationships' he had with at least five people on whom prosecutors have alleged he spent campaign donation money." But, wait, I thought he blamed the illegal payments on his wife? So does that mean his wife was paying to support other women to have sex with her husband? I'm so confused (no, not really). "The couple overdrew their bank account more than 1,100 times in a seven-year period." Hey, let's put this guy in charge of the budget committee. (Grokked from Wesley Chu)

Apparently Democratic Judiciary Committee members are releasing some of the documents that are labeled "committee confidential." This could be interesting.