Source: Fresno Bee

One contender to replace Rep. Alan Grayson in the U.S. House got a boost from the incumbent over the holiday weekend: by becoming his new wife.

The representative wed girlfriend Dena Minning Sunday night in Melbourne Beach, according to a statement from his office.

“Rep. Alan Grayson and his wife Dr. Dena Grayson had a small, private wedding ceremony Sunday evening, with friends and family in attendance to celebrate their union, in the Florida beach town where Dena grew up,” spokeswoman Brook Hines said, according to the Miami Herald.

The new Dr. Grayson changed her names on Facebook and Twitter, and updated her campaign banners to reflect the name change, according to the Orlando Political Observer.

Read more: http://www.fresnobee.com/news/politics-government/article80848002.html

Never saw it during when it was originally shown, but it must be one of the most violent, profane series to ever appear on non-subscription cable TV.

I also thought it was brilliantly written and totally absorbing, almost reaching the same level of intensity as "The Shield" (also a former FX offering).

Any other recommended law-and-order type series to watch that come close to matching those two shows?

Latin America's biggest airline LATAM said Monday it will suspend its flights to crisis-hit Venezuela for an indefinite period, following a similar move by German carrier Lufthansa.

Chile-based LATAM Airlines group and its Peruvian and Brazilian subsidiaries decided to cut the flights "due to the complex macroeconomic situation that the region is currently going through," it said in a statement.

It said challenging economic conditions in Latin America were prompting changes to its domestic and international routes.

"In this context, the companies will suspend, temporarily and for an indefinite period, their operations in Simon Bolivar international airport in Caracas," the statement said.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/big-airline-latam-suspends-flights-venezuela-152627460.html

In his efforts to capitalize on voter discontent, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has cranked up his anti-trade rhetoric to appeal to workers who have seen their jobs move overseas.

Among other things, Trump has proposed imposing a steep tariff on products made in China and Mexico.

Unfortunately, there are many more things wrong with tariffs than there are right. To begin with it isn't exactly obvious if imposing tariffs on China and Mexico would bring jobs to the US. Rather, companies seeking these manufacturing cost advantages are like to just move production to one of the many other low-cost countries in the developing world.

Whatever the case, such a protectionist trade policy would cause the cost of production to go up, which means the prices for finished goods would most likely go up for consumers. In other words, no one really wins with tariffs.

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/trump-trade-protectionism-tariffs-1930-smoot-hawley-tariff-act-stocks-182046081.html

This is my fifth presidential campaign as a New York Times columnist, so I’ve watched a lot of election coverage, and I came into this cycle prepared for the worst. Or so I thought.

But I was wrong. So far, election commentary has been even worse than I imagined it would be. It’s not just the focus on the horse race at the expense of substance; much of the horse-race coverage has been bang-your-head-on-the-desk awful, too. I know this isn’t scientific, but based on conversations I’ve had recently, many people — smart people, who read newspapers and try to keep track of events — have been given a fundamentally wrong impression of the current state of play.

And when I say a “wrong impression,” I don’t mean that I disagree with other people’s takes. I mean that people aren’t being properly informed about the basic arithmetic of the situation.

Now, I’m not a political scientist or polling expert, nor do I even try to play one on TV. But I am fairly numerate, and I assiduously follow real experts like The Times’s Nate Cohn. And they’ve taught me some basic rules that I keep seeing violated.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/30/opinion/feel-the-math.html

The comparison was inflammatory, to say the least. Former Gov. William F. Weld of Massachusetts equated Donald J. Trump’s immigration plan with Kristallnacht, the night of horror in 1938 when rampaging Nazis smashed Jewish homes and businesses in Germany and killed scores of Jews.

But if it was a provocative analogy, it was not a lonely one. Mr. Trump’s campaign has engendered impassioned debate about the nature of his appeal and warnings from critics on the left and the right about the potential rise of fascism in the United States. More strident opponents have likened Mr. Trump to Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini.

To supporters, such comparisons are deeply unfair smear tactics used to tar conservatives and scare voters. For a bipartisan establishment whose foundation has been shaken by Mr. Trump’s ascendance, these backers say, it is easier to delegitimize his support than to acknowledge widespread popular anger at the failure of both parties to confront the nation’s challenges.

But the discussion comes as questions are surfacing around the globe about a revival of fascism, generally defined as a governmental system that asserts complete power and emphasizes aggressive nationalism and often racism. In places like Russia and Turkey, leaders like Vladimir V. Putin and Recep Tayyip Erdogan employ strongman tactics. In Austria, a nationalist candidate came within three-tenths of a percentage point of becoming the first far-right head of state elected in Europe since World War II.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/29/world/europe/rise-of-donald-trump-tracks-growing-debate-over-global-fascism.html

The courts? Closed most days. The bureau to start a business? Same thing. The public defender’s office? That’s been converted into a food bank for government employees.

Step by step, Venezuela has been shutting down.

This country has long been accustomed to painful shortages, even of basic foods. But Venezuela keeps drifting further into uncharted territory.

In recent weeks, the government has taken what may be one of the most desperate measures ever by a country to save electricity: A shutdown of many of its offices for all but two half-days each week.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/28/world/americas/venezuela-economic-government-collapse.html

Venezuela's government on Saturday extended by two weeks a decree reducing the public sector workweek to Mondays and Tuesdays in a bid to tackle the oil-rich country's electricity crisis.

The enforced leave was first announced in late April, a drastic move for a government also grappling with an economic crisis that has Venezuelans queuing for hours to buy scarce supplies.

President Nicolas Maduro's administration blames the power shortage on a drought caused by the El Nino weather phenomenon, which it says has caused water used by the country's hydroelectric plants to run low.

The authorities had hoped rain would replenish reservoirs while the restrictions were in place.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/extends-shortened-workweek-decree-public-sector-220334901.html

Source: AP

SpaceX pulled off another rocket landing Friday, the third in just under two months.

The first-stage booster of the unmanned Falcon rocket settled vertically onto a barge 400 miles off Florida's east coast, eight minutes after the late afternoon liftoff. Cameras on the barge provided stunning, real-time video.

"Falcon 9 has landed!" said a SpaceX flight commentator.

The touchdown occurred after the rocket launched an Asian communications satellite. Like the last successful landing, this one was especially difficult given the speed and heat of the incoming 15-story booster.

Read more: https://www.yahoo.com/news/spacex-lands-another-rocket-satellite-delivery-220330967.html

Cringeworthy.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3608547/Every-man-s-worst-nightmare-Python-sinks-fangs-man-s-penis-sits-toilet-agonising-struggle-break-free-leaves-hospital-blood-loss.html