Tuesday Morning Links!

* Dragons Are for White Kids with Money: On the Friction of Geekdom and Race. Posted in a Facebook thread about this snippet of a review I finished today (which references this immortal Pictures for Sad Children comic).

* Hemingway, or My Mother’s Email?

* If We Live Another Billion Years, a Lot of Crazy Shit Is Going to Happen.

* Like this! Trump revealed highly classified information to Russian foreign minister and ambassador. “It’s far worse than what has already been reported.” White House Staff ‘Hiding’ as Russia Chaos Engulfs West Wing.

* Trump to fire everyone? A special prosecutor or an independent commission? Enter the ACLU. 29%. Trump’s Premium on Loyalty Poses Hurdle in Search for FBI Chief. How Trump Gets His Fake News. Republicans who are complicit in Trump’s abuse of power will soon have a big problem. Oh, honey, no. You know, economic anxiety. An all-time great “experts say.” And here’s a bananas story that doesn’t even make the list this week.

* Suddenly relevant: Constitutional Cliffhangers: A Legal Guide for Presidents and Their Enemies.

There was no way to predict Trump would act like this in office except for everything he'd ever done his entire life

— Jon Schwarz (@tinyrevolution) May 15, 2017

Today in arguments you’d be ashamed of 3 years ago: "If Trump wants to give our secrets to our adversaries HE IS LEGALLY ALLOWED TO DO SO!"

— Ben (@BenHowe) May 16, 2017

If it makes you feel better, this is nothing compared to the even worse thing that'll come out in a few days that Ryan won't do shit about.

— Amanda Bower (@heyprofbow) May 15, 2017

This is like an ep of The Twilight Zone except there's no lesson & it's not fun & also it's not an ep of The Twilight Zone it's your life.

— Kumail Nanjiani (@kumailn) May 15, 2017

The best part is that we're not even close to rock bottom yet.

— Jordan Weissmann (@JHWeissmann) May 15, 2017

* If Trump can stop this, though, he deserves a second term.

* Trying in vain to breathe the fire we was born in: Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen (R-My Hometown) ratted a woman out to her boss after she spoke out against him.

* Profiles in courage: Richard Burr.

On at least one occasion, he climbed out of an office window to avoid reporters, while carrying his dry cleaning, according to a senior Republican aide who has spoken to him about the episode.

* Racist North Carolina Voting Law Now Permanently Dead.

* There is a fear, among some at MSNBC, that Lack is making programming decisions in an effort to appease the Trump administration (an accusation that has been made of CNN and Fox News), which may lead to more access to the White House and in turn, conservative viewers. O’Donnell was #1 in his timeslot just a few days ago.

* You didn’t think free speech was free, did you?

* How Noncompete Clauses Keep Workers Locked In.

* Doxing the hero who stopped WannaCry was irresponsible and dumb.

* Twilight of Windows XP.

* Stolen bees recovered in California sting operation.

* A Remote Paradise Island Is Now a Plastic Junkyard. Farmers Scramble to Adapt to Volatile Weather. Monumental Hands Rise from the Water in Venice to Highlight Climate Change.

* Hearing on UW protest bill shows conflicting views on state of campus speech.

* Klan cosplay in Charlottesville. Disgusting.

* Even as the Trump administration prepares to loosen oversight over immigrant detention facilities, medical care already can be so substandard that cancer is treated with ibuprofen, schizophrenia with Benadryl and serious mental illness with solitary confinement, two new reports found. And if you’re not mad yet: Federal Immigration Agent Allegedly Inquired About 4th Grader At Queens Public School.

* Inside the big wood-paneled downtown library here, a sign spells out the future in four words. Come June 1, “All services will cease.”

* The pension thieves.

* The end of department stores.

* Where is North Korea? Here are guesses from 1,746 adults.

* The project, called Your Brain Manufacturing, was an extension of Bekking’s Brain Manufacturing project, which explored whether designers can use brain analysis to determine what people really like, rather than what their social conditioning leads them to believe they like. The answer may surprise you!

* Really, DC’s coming desecration of Watchmen just looks so unbelievably terrible. I can hardly stand it.

* What is dead may never die. What is dead may never die.

* Star Trek: Mirror Broken looks good though.

* ‘Mystery Science Theater 3000’ live tour coming to Milwaukee’s Pabst Theater.

* If it isn’t set on Purge Day, it’s just a documentary.

* An A.I. Dreamed Up a Bunch of Dungeons & Dragons Spells. They’re Surprisingly Perfect.

* The arc of history is long, but Nintendo might be making a Legend Of Zelda mobile game. This has my attention, too: Paradox Publishing A “Hardcore” Strategy Game About Mars.

* Science has proved you’re not drunk, you’re just an asshole.

* Also.

* And in a time without heroes, there was @WeRateDogs.

Spring Break So Close You Can Taste It Links

* Sing to me, Muse, of Fredric Jameson. I’ve never understood the “worst writer” slam against Fred; alongside all the other good things I’d have to say about his work I think he’s actually very clear and precise.

* CFP for the 2014 Marxist Literary Group at the Banff Centre: Energy, Environment, Culture.”

* CFP: Bruce Springsteen Studies.

* Once upon a time in America this was called advocating for justice. But in today’s America, it’s deemed a miscarriage of justice.

* Meanwhile. My god. And my god. And my god. And my god. The US courts are just a bottomless nightmare.

* Obama knew CIA secretly monitored intelligence committee, senator claims. Yes we can!

* Freddie deBoer on the unbearable lightness of always voting Democrat.

* The unbearable whiteness of Project X.

* 25 Years of Declining State Support for Public Colleges. Many Colleges ‘Hoard’ Endowments During Rough Economic Times. The Rising Cost of Not Going to College.

* Service, Sex Work, and the Profession.

* The SATs have been provably racist and classist for decades with no improvements; Canavan’s Razor would suggest that’s the entire point. But this time…

* The “trigger warning” has spread from blogs to college classes. Can it be stopped? Content Warnings and College Classes. The Trigger Warned Syllabus. We’ve gone too far with ‘trigger warnings.’ I think this kind of “trigger warning” — and even offering alternative assignments when circumstances warrant — is very often good pedagogy on the level of the individual classroom; I did so this semester when teaching Lolita, somewhat reluctantly, but I’d come to feel it was necessary. I’m very skeptical it would ever be a good idea at the level of administration or policy.

* An Elegy for Academic Freedom.

* 10 Unintentionally Horrifying Statues of Famous People.

* Tendrils of the invisible web: the undersea cables wiring the Earth.

* “Wearing Google Glass automatically means that all social interaction you have must be not just on yours, but Google’s terms,” Adrian Chen wrote at Gawker almost a year ago, when we all first cringed in fear.

* You know every cop is a criminal: David Cameron’s porn-filter advisor arrested for possession of images of sexual abuse of children.

* Child in wet bathing suit made to stand in -5F weather because school policy forbade her from waiting in teacher’s car.

* The Civ V files: Never Move Your Settler?

* The Fetishization of Lupita Nyong’o.

* Who owns the Oscar selfie?

* Zombie Studies in the WSJ.

* Why Sweden has so few road deaths.

* Durham school board joins teacher tenure lawsuit.

* According to a New Study, Nothing Can Change an Anti-Vaxxer’s Mind.

* Activists Erect A Monument To Rape Survivors On The National Mall.

* How Gun Violence is Devastating the Millennial Generation.

* Sea Level Rise Threatens The Statue Of Liberty And Hundreds Of Other Cultural Heritage Sites. Chipotle Warns It Might Stop Serving Guacamole If Climate Change Gets Worse. But don’t worry! President Obama’s New Budget Is Peppered With Efforts To Tackle Climate Change. Peppered!

* Milwaukee shuts down Little Caesars for day over rodent droppings. A whole day! That’ll show ’em.

* Cheerleader Sues Parents for Refusing to Pay College Tuition. Gambler sues, says he lost $500,000 playing drunk. Having not heard any of the evidence or consulted any of the relevant laws, Canavan Court rules in favor of both plaintiffs!

* How do you remember a massacre?

* How did DC manage to cast anyone but Bryan Cranston as Lex Luthor — much less Jesse Eisenberg? It’s a crime.

* Pretty mediocre hoax. Everyone knows Mattel has had working hoverboards since the 80s anyway.

* A Letter From Ray Jasper, Who Is About to Be Executed.

* And I try not to get sucked into the wingnut-said-something-crazy! scene anymore, but every once in a while: my god.

Thursday! Thursday! Thursday!

* The newest Ted Chiang story details the struggle of forgetting against memory.

* CFP for ICFA 2014, always my favorite conference experience of the year. This year’s theme is “Fantastic Empires.” If history is any guide, I’d wager Ted Chiang will be there!

* Am I Yanomami or am I nabuh? The child of a Yanomami woman and a male American anthropologist goes to the Amazon to look for his mother.

* The Internet Explained By Prisoners Who Have Never Seen It.

* Covert action. Surveillance. Counterintelligence. The U.S. “black budget” spans over a dozen agencies that make up the National Intelligence Program.

* The five (and a half) stages of humanitarian military intervention. Great moments in op-eds: Bomb Syria, Even if It Is Illegal. Adam Kotsko: If the U.S. government lacks either the will or the ability to take care of those very serious problems in a country where it enjoys largely unquestioned legitimacy, stable institutions, and a docile population, exactly why the fuck is it remotely plausible that it can solve problems in a foreign country embroiled in a civil war?

* Hometown news! A Morris County court has determined that knowingly texting a driver could leave you on the hook for their crash.

* Football’s Concussion Crisis, Explained. The NFL has just settled with the players for $765 million in the latest round of concussion-related lawsuits.

* Johnny Manziel’s suspension exposes ridiculousness of NCAA’s double standards.

* Even if he wins, will Bill de Blasio actually be able to accomplish anything?

* Do Republicans really have better-than-even odds to take the presidency in 2016?

* Northeastern just has its adjuncts’ best interests at heart. If anything, maybe it loves too much.

* Meet Dr. Donna Nelson, science advisor for Breaking Bad.

* Eric Holder Says DOJ Will Let Washington, Colorado Marijuana Laws Go Into Effect.

* Science proves men are just the worst.

* The New York Times has a feminist history of Monopoly.

* Definitely, 100% accurate: Scientists say they’ve found key to actual warp drive.

* Teju Cole’s Dictionary of Received Ideas.

SCANDAL. If governmental, express surprise that people are surprised. If sexual, declare it a distraction, but seek out the details.

SEMINAL. Be sure to use in a review of a woman’s work. Proclaim your innocence after.

SMART. Any essay that confirms your prejudices.

STRIKE. Always “surgical.” (See EGGS.)

* Mitch Hurwitz keeps making promises that he better by God deliver.

* And SEK’s Internet Film School is officially open for business. Go read up!

Sunday Links

* Why they occupy: University of California edition.

* The recession comes home to Morris County.

Morris County has experienced a sharp increase in motor vehicle burglaries throughout 2011, according to Morris County Prosecutor Robert Bianchi, who said the increase can be attributed to independent trends that have emerged in small geographic areas in the county at different times and committed by different individuals.

* MetaFilter has your Neil deGrasse Tyson Overdrive.

* Get me Val Kilmer: Christian Bale says he’s done playing Batman.

* Alan Moore on Occupy.

“I suppose when I was writing V for Vendetta I would in my secret heart of hearts have thought: wouldn’t it be great if these ideas actually made an impact? So when you start to see that idle fantasy intrude on the regular world… It’s peculiar. It feels like a character I created 30 years ago has somehow escaped the realm of fiction.”

cf. Frank Miller.

* Also on the Occupy beat: “Pre-Occupied: The Origins and Future of Occupy Wall Street.” And also at the New Yorker: Was anti-Keystone activism the real political movement of 2011?

* Something Is Happening: Notes on the First Two Months of Occupy.

* Mary Roach: 10 Things You Didn’t Know about Orgasm.

* Aaron Bady: “When everything that can be recorded is recorded, our means of protecting privacy must fundamentally change.”

* Robotic prison wardens to patrol South Korean prison. But the prototype looks so friendly!

Scenes from the Class Struggle in My Hometown

From Inside Higher Ed:

Facing criticism from local politicians and conservative groups, the County College of Morris board this week reversed a policy on undocumented students that was adopted only two months ago, The Star-Ledger reported. The New Jersey community college had voted to permit such students to pay in-state tuition rates if they graduated from high school in the United States and entered the country before the age of 16. But this week, the board voted to charge such students out-of-state tuition rates. For a full-time student, the shift increases tuition for a year from $3,450 to $9,780. The Daily Record reported that several board members were influenced by the threat of a lawsuit over the policy granting in-state tuition rates.

Baby, this town rips the bones from your back. It’s a death trap, it’s a suicide rap…

Saturday

* Should LeBron play for the league minimum? Sports Illustrated makes a strong case. (via Eric Barker)

* Naomi Klein on climate debt.

* How to power your galactic empire.

* And two from this week’s New Yorker: a piece on Caster Semenya, the intersex South African runner, and “My Parents, Enid and Sal, Used to Be Porn Stars.” The piece on death hysteria in American politics, centered around Morris County, New Jersey’s Karen Ann Quinlan, is also quite good—but it’s not online.

Midday Monday

Midday Monday. Another apology for so many linkdumps is in order, but I’m afraid I don’t have time to write it at the moment.

* What does it take to really disappear? Wired investigates faking your own death.

* Tarantino’s top-twenty films since he started directing.

* Criterion Collection top-tens from Jonathan Lethem, Steve Buscemi, Robin Wood, and Richard Linklater.

* Usian Bolt sets a new 100m world record. Via MeFi, which immediately accused him of juicing.

* The House Next Door’s review of District 9—which incidentally comes to many of the same conclusions as mine—includes a neat look at the six-minute short from Neill Blomkamp that preceded it, Alive in Joburg.

* More bad press for New Jersey’s Chris Christie originating from his time on the Morris County Board. Discussion at TPM and MyDD.

* And Steve Benen bemoans 44 years of human slavery under Medicare.

Tuesday Night Linkdump #3

Tuesday night linkdump #3.

* Here comes the Dollhouse? ‘Scientists Erase Painful Memories Without Drugs.’

* Both Inside Higher Ed and Barack Obama himself can declare victory alongside UNC.

* Even the National Review says it’s time for Coleman to concede.

* Environmental reporters at The Washington Post hit back at George Will over the many inaccuracies in his climate change columns.

* More on the Morristown UFO hoax.

Morristown in the News

Two self-admitted skeptics who rigged highway flares to weather balloons to create a UFO hoax are now facing misdemeanor charges in Morristown, New Jersey for endangering public and air traffic safety. (via Posthuman Blues)

Morris County

Morris County rocked by earthquake. 2.1 on the Richter scale. Randolph not yet swallowed into hell.

Trying in Vain to Breathe the Fire We Was Born In

Trying in vain to breathe the fire we was born in: someone else has made a movie out of Morris County.

Equal parts drama, horror, true-crime anthology, this grim life-cycle piece presents three tales of alienation and woe in suburbia. Starring indie regular Pamela Stewart (100 Proof, Amateur) and TV mainstay Albie Selznick (24, Suddenly Susan) alongside stunning newcomers Alice Cannon and Darcy Miller, Morris County juggles the horrors of human nature against the kind of sadness that cuts deep. In Ellie, we spend one day in the life of a damaged teen-age girl whose reckless behavior hides a grave secret; The Family Rubin finds a seemingly happy couple and their young son, whose questionable lifestyles begin to tear at the seams; and finally, Elmer & Iris explores the life of an elderly couple who prove that love can overcome almost anything, even death. This triptych of suburban decay will leave you questioning just how well you know your neighbors.

Matthew Garrett’s disturbing debut feature recalls the work of fellow New York indie director Douglas Buck (Cutting Moments), exposing suburbia’s dark heart and the self-destructive compulsions that fester there.

Here’s a trailer:

Morris County Movie Trailer

This Story Has Everything!

The headline reads, “Police Puzzled By Strange Lights Over Morris County.”

Morris County, NJ

The Caucus takes me home to Morris County, NJ, where upscale Republicans are deeply demoralized.

Mr. Nielsen is one of the thousands of people in Morris County — one of the country’s wealthiest — that can usually be counted on to vote Republican. Morris County voters, including Mr. Nielsen, chose George W. Bush in 2000 and 2004, even though Democrats won New Jersey in both elections.

But that was then.

“I look at this election selfishly,” he said over coffee at Drip café on Main Street. “If I am honest with myself and my family, I am better off with a Democrat in the White House. I would be better off health care wise, and I don’t believe in privatizing Social Security. Can you imagine if we had gone that way what would have happened over the last three weeks? With Obama in office we are going to get a more socialized system and some people don’t want that, but more and more people I talk to are going to cross the line.”

If McCain’s lost Morris County, he’s completely screwed.

(Thanks, Steve!)