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Three Months Of Prep Made Our Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge Trip Amazing
Dan Amrich, writing in kotaku, tells the tale of him and his wife preparing to visit Disneyland’s Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge. They spent a lot of time planning, making costumes and accessories and then, surprisingly, being rewarded.
Cosplay! Who knew?
The Growing Threat of Journalism Around the World
A. G. Sulzberger, publisher of The New York Times, printed the contents of a speech he made at Brown University. In it, he told an astounding story.
To give you a sense of what this retreat looks like on the ground, let me tell you a story I’ve never shared publicly before. Two years ago, we got a call from a United States government official warning us of the imminent arrest of a New York Times reporter based in Egypt named Declan Walsh. Though the news was alarming, the call was actually fairly standard. Over the years, we’ve received countless such warnings from American diplomats, military leaders and national security officials.
But this particular call took a surprising and distressing turn. We learned the official was passing along this warning without the knowledge or permission of the Trump administration. Rather than trying to stop the Egyptian government or assist the reporter, the official believed, the Trump administration intended to sit on the information and let the arrest be carried out. The official feared being punished for even alerting us to the danger.
Unable to count on our own government to prevent the arrest or help free Declan if he were imprisoned, we turned to his native country, Ireland, for help. Within an hour, Irish diplomats traveled to his house and safely escorted him to the airport before Egyptian forces could detain him.
We hate to imagine what would have happened had that brave official not risked their career to alert us to the threat.
I know exactly what would have happened. He would have been killed and the Trump Administration would disavow in knowledge and actively encourage it. In fact, he goes on to outline exactly their position
Eighteen months later, another of our reporters, David Kirkpatrick, arrived in Egypt and was detained and deported in apparent retaliation for exposing information that was embarrassing to the Egyptian government. When we protested the move, a senior official at the United States Embassy in Cairo openly voiced the cynical worldview behind the Trump administration’s tolerance for such crackdowns. “What did you expect would happen to him?” he said. “His reporting made the government look bad.”
The Trump administration hates the free press. Truth is important. Only tyrants want to control the truth.
40 Sentences
David Leonhardt, writing in The New York Times, outlines Donald J. Trump in forty sentences. I deem it worthwhile enough to repost here.
Sometimes it’s worth stepping back to look at the full picture.
He has pressured a foreign leader to interfere in the 2020 American presidential election.
He urged a foreign country to intervene in the 2016 presidential election.
He divulged classified information to foreign officials.
He publicly undermined American intelligence agents while standing next to a hostile foreign autocrat.
He hired a national security adviser whom he knew had secretly worked as a foreign lobbyist.
He encourages foreign leaders to enrich him and his family by staying at his hotels.
He genuflects to murderous dictators.
He has alienated America’s closest allies.
He lied to the American people about his company’s business dealings in Russia.
He tells new lies virtually every week — about the economy, voter fraud, even the weather.
He spends hours on end watching television and days on end staying at resorts.
He often declines to read briefing books or perform other basic functions of a president’s job.
He has aides, as well as members of his own party in Congress, who mock him behind his back as unfit for office.
He has repeatedly denigrated a deceased United States senator who was a war hero.
He insulted a Gold Star family — the survivors of American troops killed in action.
He described a former first lady, not long after she died, as “nasty.”
He described white supremacists as “some very fine people.”
He told four women of color, all citizens and members of Congress, to “go back and help fix the totally broken and crime-infested places from which they came.”
He made a joke about Pocahontas during a ceremony honoring Native American World War II veterans.
He launched his political career by falsely claiming that the first black president was not really American.
He launched his presidential campaign by describing Mexicans as “rapists.”
He has described women, variously, as “a dog,” “a pig” and “horseface,” as well as “bleeding badly from a facelift” and having “blood coming out of her wherever.”
He has been accused of sexual assault or misconduct by multiple women.
He enthusiastically campaigned for a Senate candidate who was accused of molesting multiple teenage girls.
He waved around his arms, while giving a speech, to ridicule a physically disabled person.
He has encouraged his supporters to commit violence against his political opponents.
He has called for his opponents and critics to be investigated and jailed.
He uses a phrase popular with dictators — “the enemy of the people” — to describe journalists.
He attempts to undermine any independent source of information that he does not like, including judges, scientists, journalists, election officials, the F.B.I., the C.I.A., the Congressional Budget Office and the National Weather Service.
He has tried to harass the chairman of the Federal Reserve into lowering interest rates.
He said that a judge could not be objective because of his Mexican heritage.
He obstructed justice by trying to influence an investigation into his presidential campaign.
He violated federal law by directing his lawyer to pay $280,000 in hush money to cover up two apparent extramarital affairs.
He made his fortune partly through wide-scale financial fraud.
He has refused to release his tax returns.
He falsely accused his predecessor of wiretapping him.
He claimed that federal law-enforcement agents and prosecutors regularly fabricated evidence, thereby damaging the credibility of criminal investigations across the country.
He has ordered children to be physically separated from their parents.
He has suggested that America is no different from or better than Vladimir Putin’s Russia.
He has called America a “hellhole.”
He is the president of the United States, and he is a threat to virtually everything that the United States should stand for.
RIG
Nicholas Bate on RIG (Random Idea Generator)
During showers, in synaptic gaps and on walks along the beach with an excited dog, ideas are formed. The RIG (Random Idea Generator) embedded deep in your brain loves to engage but it needs space, a spark of stimulation and a little encouragement. It believes Less is More, Slow is Fast and There is Always a Solution. RIG will work in the rain, loves the quiet of a church and craves a nap. RIG is squashed, trampled and exhausted by e-mail over-load, notifications and conference calls. And RIG finds the bizarre bullet syntax of PPT debilitating. Love your RIG today.
Just Impeach Him Already
Ellen Nakashima, Shane Harris, Greg Miller, and Carol D. Leonnig, writing in The Washington Post, tells the familiar tale of someone thinking the President of the United States did something so wrong as to use an official whistleblower complaint, and now the White House is blocking the investigation. This is kind of a big deal.
The complaint involved communications with a foreign leader and a “promise” that Trump made, which was so alarming that a U.S. intelligence official who had worked at the White House went to the inspector general of the intelligence community, two former U.S. officials said.
Two and a half weeks before the complaint was filed, Trump spoke with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, a comedian and political newcomer who was elected in a landslide in May.
That call is already under investigation by House Democrats who are examining whether Trump and his attorney Rudolph W. Giuliani sought to manipulate the Ukrainian government into helping Trump’s reelection campaign. Lawmakers have demanded a full transcript and a list of participants on the call.
A White House spokesperson declined to comment.
The Democrats’ investigation was launched earlier this month, before revelations that a U.S. intelligence official, who previously worked in the White House, had lodged a complaint with the inspector general for the intelligence community. The Washington Post first reported on Wednesday that the complaint had to do with a “promise” that Trump made when communicating with a foreign leader.
The smart money is the whole whistleblower complaint centers on President Trump promising the new president of Ukraine $250 million in armaments if he’d reopen a criminal investigation involving Joe Biden and his son.
That’s one of them high crimes Presidents get impeached for, right?
Look, Trump realizes the truth of his phone call is going to come out. He is already doing what he does when this happens: tell everyone it happened and that there was nothing wrong with it.
That’s untrue.
He’s already admitted to talking about Biden during the call.
Peter Baker, writing for The New York Times, lays it out in the first two paragraphs
President Trump acknowledged on Sunday that he discussed former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. with Ukraine’s president as Democrats ramped up calls for an investigation into whether he improperly pressured a foreign leader to investigate a political opponent.While Mr. Trump defended his July phone call with President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine as perfectly appropriate, he confirmed that Mr. Biden came up during the discussion and that he accused the former vice president of corruption tied to his son Hunter’s business activities in that former Soviet republic.
Previously, Alan Cullison of The Wall Street Journal reported Trump told the Ukraine president to work with Rudolph Giuliani, Trump’s personal lawyer, to investigate Joe Biden and his son Hunter. It appears this was definitely in relation to over $250 million in security aid. The implication is Trump was withholding the money in exchange for an investigation, and when he realized the whistleblower complaint centered on this, he released the funds.
Giuliani already admitted on national television he sought an investigation on Trump’s behalf.
If Trump tried to use military aid to Ukraine as leverage, he’s no better than a fucking mob boss. The security of America and Ukraine is just a way for Trump to get revenge on his potential political enemies. He used the office of the Presidency for his own personal gain. He elevated his own personal interests over national interests. This comes as no surprise to anyone paying half attention.
And, it doesn’t matter if there was no quid pro quo. If on the phone call he asked a foreign government to investigate a political opponent, that’s it. It’s a crime. If he’s innocent, then he’d release the recording and put an end to it.
If this is what happened, and it looks entirely plausible and likely, he’s going to have to be impeached. The politics here doesn’t matter. Lay out the entire case in open hearings. Get the whistleblower to come forward. Get the audio recording and transcript of the phone call. I know the Senate isn’t going to convict him. Republicans need to be put on the record as enabling this criminal.
Maybe a few of them won’t go along.
Aron Eisenberg, RIP
Aron Eisenberg, the actor responsible for bringing the Ferengi Nog to life on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, has died.
Far too young.
2019 Illinois Athletics Hall of Fame Induction Program
Here’s the full program from the 2019 Fighting Illini Hall of Fame Induction ceremony, hosted by Dave Revsine, at State Farm Center honoring the third Illinois Athletics Hall of Fame class on September 20, 2019.
Promises, Promises
Ellen Nakashima, Shane Harris, Greg Miller and Carol D. Leonnig, writing in The Washington Post, tells the familiar tale of someone thinking the President of the United States did something so wrong as to use official whistleblower complaint and now the White House is blocking the investigation. This is kind of a big deal.
The complaint involved communications with a foreign leader and a “promise” that Trump made, which was so alarming that a U.S. intelligence official who had worked at the White House went to the inspector general of the intelligence community, two former U.S. officials said.
Two and a half weeks before the complaint was filed, Trump spoke with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, a comedian and political newcomer who was elected in a landslide in May.
That call is already under investigation by House Democrats who are examining whether Trump and his attorney Rudolph W. Giuliani sought to manipulate the Ukrainian government into helping Trump’s reelection campaign. Lawmakers have demanded a full transcript and a list of participants on the call.
A White House spokesperson declined to comment.
The Democrats’ investigation was launched earlier this month, before revelations that a U.S. intelligence official, who previously worked in the White House, had lodged a complaint with the inspector general for the intelligence community. The Washington Post first reported on Wednesday that the complaint had to do with a “promise” that Trump made when communicating with a foreign leader.
The smart money is the whole whistleblower complaint centers on President Trump promising the new president of Ukraine $250 million in armaments if he’d reopen a criminal investigation involving Joe Biden and his son.
That’s one of them high crimes President’s get impeached for right?
Here, I’ll let Seth Meyers explain it to you.
Matt Carpenter
— St. Louis Cardinals (@Cardinals) September 20, 2019
When the Cubs tied it in the 10th, I turned the TV off I was so pissed. I just knew the Cardinals and Carlos Martinez had just choked the win away.
I played with the dog a bit who could tell I was worked up and he calmed me down.
I took a deep breath, turned the TV back on just in time to catch Carpenter stroking one right out of the ballpark. Huge momentum shift in the game and the series.
Cubs are sinking. If they lose this four game series, they might be knocked out of the playoff picture.
Now, could the Brewers stumble a bit? Please?
I Wanna Go Back
I’m listening to a compilation of Eddie Money tunes on Spotify as I’m thinking back to 1983 when his videos for Shakin’” and “Think I’m In Love” were all over MTV. A year later, Ric Ocasek was walking on water in the Magic” video and turning into a fly in the “You Might Think” video.
These artists, among so many others, were the soundtrack of my high school days.
Age has a way of catching up with everyone. I’m not 16 anymore, even though, in my mind, some of the pop icons at that time are indelibly etched eternally at the age they were when they meant something to me. The reality is they got older too.
Eddie Money passed away at age 70. Ric Ocasek was 75 when he was found dead at home.
Michael Hutchence, George Michael, Freddie Mercury, David Bowie, Michael Jackson, and Prince have already left us. When Sting, Bruce Springsteen, and Madonna shuffle off this mortal coil, representatives of an incredible era of music will be gone.
As I’ve now reached past 50, the lyrics for “I Wanna Go Back” mean so much more now.
I was listening to the radio
I heard a song reminded me of long ago
Back then I thought that things were never gonna change
It used to be that I never had to feel the pain
I know that things will never be the same now
I’m feeling so much older.
Every Mac Wallpaper Recreated
Josh Gitner, at his site, pointed me to a cool video.
My friends and I visited and recreated every default Apple wallpaper on a one week road trip. Starting with MacOS Mojave in Death Valley National Park, we traveled to each of Apple’s California Locations to try and make an identical photo to their wallpapers that come installed with every new Mac computer.
A Night at the Opera
Bernie Miklasz, writing for 101ESPN, called the Cardinals versus the Cubs game last night operatic.
Just when you thought that the Cubs owned all of the momentum and positive emotion and cranked-up energy, just when you thought the Cubs would win the night on a stunning comeback, Carpenter reset the stars, and put the baseball planets back in alignment.
I don’t know if this was Thursday night baseball or a Night at the Opera.
Acting … drama … plot twists … overwrought scripts.
Bernie is having fun here, but then he gets into the real story of the night.
Now, if you really want to talk about a comeback by a down-and-out guy who won a freaking game and saved his team from a horrendous, spine-weakening loss … well, say hello to Matt Carpenter, and you don’t even have to god him up, because most of the Cardinals fan base is endlessly annoyed with him anyway.
Carpenter didn’t have a sprained ankle; he was suffering from a broken season, and a Grade 3 strain of his baseball career.
It’s been a rough summer. But with one swing of the bat — hell, I refuse to write something stupid like, ‘Swing of the magic wand,’ — Carpenter turned smoke into a game-winning strike and instant happiness. It wasn’t fireworks. It was more like fire Joe Maddon being in the works.
That last sentence. Whoa. Bernie’s on fire.
Creative People
Seth Godin on becoming a creative person:
There’s just one way to become one:
Do something creative.
It’s a little bit like leaders. What they have in common is that they lead.
Simply begin.
The Age of the Athlete-Politician Almost Upon Us?
Will Leitch, writing for New York Magazine, posits and interesting premise: Is it time for superstar athletes to become politicians?
It would seem time, though. There has never been a time when sports and politics have been so inextricably intertwined. From the NFL protests — which not only drew Trump’s ire but came this close to pushing Beto O’Rourke past Ted Cruz last year — to LeBron James and Stephen Curry fighting with the president on Twitter to the equal pay fight with the U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team to Big Macs for unpaid football players in the White House, there is nothing about sports that isn’t politicized anymore. And athletes have begun to realize the power they have. LeBron was one of several athletes who hosted fundraisers for Hillary Clinton and will almost certainly do so again for the eventual Democratic nominee. Megan Rapinoe became a star at the Women’s World Cup as much for her statements off the field as her goals on it. Former WNBA MVP Maya Moore has actually put her basketball career on hold to dedicate her life to criminal-justice reform.
Sports is at the center of every major American issue at this particular moment, from class to race to #MeToo to militarism to labor relations. Simply by being a high-profile athlete, you have an identifiable political platform, whether you want it or not. Tom Brady has always gotten this wrong, thinking you can say nothing in the year 2019 and possibly get away with it. (Not standing for something is a stand.) Megan Rapinoe has a clear, easily understood, deeply compelling political platform already, right now, simply because of what she did and said during the 2019 World Cup. Who has a better rationale to run for president right now: Megan Rapinoe or Bill de Blasio? Who has more to offer the country?
Oh, I know the answer to that one.
Powerful
Survive the school year with these must-have #BackToSchool essentials. https://t.co/9KgxAQ0KGz
— Sandy Hook Promise (@sandyhook) September 18, 2019
This PSA contains graphic content related to school shootings & may be upsetting to some viewers. If you feel this subject matter may be difficult for you, you may choose not to watch. pic.twitter.com/5ijYMtXRTy
This is hard to watch. As it should be.
Kids shouldn’t have to endure this anymore. Vote for the people who will do something about this.
HINT: Not Republicans
No America, It’s Not Gonna Be Okay
John Pavolvitz, writing on his site, has some strong opinions on the state of the American experiment.
The only way things are going to be okay—is if good people make them okay…
I’m afraid he’s right.
Let’s Have a Good Show
Jeremy Werner, writing at his Illini Inquirer site, has one of the best behind-the-scenes stories on what it takes to be the lead broadcasters on a Big Ten football game. It is in-depth and practically minute-by-minute.
In my opinion, it’s one of the best stories Werner has put together. Really solid work and an incredibly fun read.
Obama 2020
The 22nd Amendment says a person can only be elected to be president two times for a total of eight years. But Trump’s GOP never follows rules, norms, or laws. Why should we?
— Dave Pell (@davepell) September 18, 2019
Obama 2020. pic.twitter.com/xX8ROP3cjB
It would be my choice too, but he’s not running. Neither is his wife.
It’s Greta’s World
David Wallace-Wells, writing in New York Magazine, has an incredible story on Greta Thunberg.
She was the Joan of Arc of climate change, commanding a global army of teenage activists numbering in the millions and waging a rhetorical war against her elders through the unapologetic use of generational shame. The comparison might seem hyperbolic and may come to look even more strained than that, depending on what the future brings for Greta and for climate action. But for the moment, there is simply no other appropriate analogy from political history to draw on in describing just how much she has achieved at such a young age and in so little time.
What a rise for this young activist. She’s the future.