Kittehs Ownz Intertoobz

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UPDATE: The embed is screwed up so here's the link. It's worth it.

The Brown Paper Bag

Josh Marshall is positively poetic today and the topic is The Donald.

Yesterday was a day of jagged events coming together in unpredictable and surreal ways. Like one was how CNN had Donald Trump on air to provide financial commentary just as President Obama's scheduled 1 PM press appearance was pushed back to 1:30 PM, giving the Donald 30-odd minutes to riff and predict and generally get lost in the brown paper bag of his own imagination. 

Nice.

The White Mouse

The most decorated female in World War II, Nancy Wake worked behind enemy lines in France and with the French Resistance. She was the Gestapo's most wanted. She died on Sunday in Australia, where she grew up.

She initially refused offers of decorations from Australia saying "The last time there was a suggestion of that I told the government they could stick their medals where the monkey stuck his nuts. The thing is if they gave me a medal now, it wouldn't be love so I don't want anything from them".

It's been a tough few days for Honorary Contrariennes.

I Well Remember Bernadine Healy

Long a leader in women's health, her star lost some luster when, as head of the Red Cross during 9/11, the organization was caught using some of those donations for other purposes.
I did not know until today that she had also been entangled in the vaccine/autism controversy.
Maybe it was the brain cancer.

And Now, Straight From The BBC...

Riots in London worsen, Stock Markets drop, and is it all over for hitchhiking?

Charlotte's Preggers

She hung there from my ceiling in the same place next to my chair for almost three hours, not moving. She is, after all, feeling heavy and tired.

When she stirred, I found an envelope for her to rest on, cut the cord, and took her outside. I am not sentimental about the skinny little striped ones, they do not survive if I find them in my house. But I have a soft spot for the white ones, which usually lurk in the center of some of my favorite flowers. I like to think they keep the aphids off the roses. Charlotte probably came in on something I made into a bouquet. Now she's back where she belongs.

Are You Neurotic Or Psychotic?

A psychotic thinks 2+2=5.
A neurotic knows 2+2=4. And hates it.
Today, some believe, the hidden hand of who really runs the country made a margin call. That's all. Carry on.

Hint: John Paulson

(No, I never heard of John Paulson either. Here's Wiki:

John Paulson is not related to former Goldman Sachs CEO and U.S. Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson.^[3][6]

Paulson was ranked 39 on the 2011 Forbes list of the world's wealthiest people ^[1] with a net worth of almost $16 billion.^[1]

Between 2009 and 2011 Paulson made several charitable donations including, $15 million to the Center for Responsible Lending, $20 million to New York University Stern School of Business, $15 million to build a children's hospital in Guayaquil, Ecuador and £2.5 million to the London School of Economics for the John A Paulson Chair in European Political Economy.^[7][8][9]

Paulson has contributed $140,000 to political candidates and parties since 2000, 45% of which went to Republicans, 16% to Democrats, and 36% to special interests.^[10]

Paulson, his wife Jenny, and their two daughters live on the Upper East Side of New York City. He also has homes in Southampton, New York and Aspen, Colorado.^[2]

I Think I'm In Love

First of all: what is work? Work is of two kinds: first, altering the position of matter at or near the earth's surface relatively to other such matter; second, telling other people to do so. The first kind is unpleasant and ill paid; the second is pleasant and highly paid. The second kind is capable of indefinite extension: there are not only those who give orders, but those who give advice as to what orders should be given. Usually two opposite kinds of advice are given simultaneously by two organized bodies of men; this is called politics.

        Bertrand Russell, In Praise of Idleness