Adrian Lamo has died

Those who have been following the Chelsea Manning story may be familiar with the name Adrian Lamo whom I just learned died last week at the age of 37. The cause of death is as yet unknown. Lamo was a hacker and the person who befriended Chelsea Manning online (when she was Bradley Manning), the whistleblower who had released the appalling video of US troops gleefully gunning down Iraqi civilians from a gunship as well as releasing classified military cables to WikiLeaks. Manning revealed to Lamo that she was the one who had released the video and the cables and he reported her to the authorities and that led to her arrest and subsequent sentencing to 35 years in prison where she suffered terrible abuse before her sentence was commuted by president Obama. Lamo later justified his action in an interview.

Illinois primary results

Yesterday was primary election day in Illinois. Despite running a strong race in the 3rd congressional district, progressive candidate Marie Newman just failed to edge out incumbent Democratic congressman Dan Lipinski who won by the slim margin of 51.2-48.8%. Lipinski is a truly awful candidate and one wonders how and why the party establishment supported him, given that it is a solid Democratic seat. As Ryan Grim writes, Lipinski, who ‘inherited’ the seat from his father, “opposes abortion rights, LGBT rights, immigrant rights, a $15 an hour minimum wage, and voted against Obamacare”. Given the open primary system in Illinois, it is possible that many Republicans voted for Lipinski in the Democratic primary especially since on the Republican side an open neo-Nazi was running unopposed.
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Lunuganga

Geoffrey Bawa was a renowned architect in Sri Lanka whose style spread beyond the island’s borders and influenced others in Asia. He would design homes that blended in with the lush tropical foliage. Perhaps his signature achievement was the home that he himself occupied at a place called Lunuganga (that translates as ‘salt river’) on the banks of a river near the southwestern coast of the island. He furnished it with works of art that reflected his eclectic tastes. You can see many photographs here and here. After his death in 2003, the house has been run by a trust set up by his friends. The gardens are open to the public and the buildings are part of a hotel.
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Latest OK Go video

The music group OK Go is known for its highly choreographed videos done in just one take that depends upon carefully timed movements that must require plenty of rehearsing. Sometime ago, I linked to one that had a large number of dogs involved. Their latest one seems to exceed all their previous efforts and involves a ton of paint. I felt sorry about all the guitars, though.

First you can see the video.
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Terry Gilliam is totally wrong

Gilliam is one of the members of the Monty Python troupe, not as well known as the other five because he was rarely seen in the TV series and films. His main role was providing the animations that provided the transitions between sketches and scenes. After the Python era ended, he went on to become a successful director. In a recent interview, he gave his opinion on the recent exposes of predatory sexual behavior in the entertainment industry and said some appalling things, among other things comparing the #MeToo movement to mob rule.
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CBS News fawns over despotic Saudi prince

You have got to hand it to the Saudi Arabian regime. They have figured out how to get really good press in the US despite presiding over one of the most appalling governments in the world when it comes to both domestic and foreign policies. They have realized that as long as they are supportive of US and Israeli goals in the Middle East, the US media will have an immediate bias in their favor that will cause them to find any reason to ignore their appalling record, such as the horrendous amount of suffering they are causing to the people of Yemen, their breeding of extremist Islamic ideology, and their appalling record of human rights at home.
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Doesn’t anybody vet the people in the Trump administration?

That the Donald Trump administration is corrupt is old news. What is incredible is how far down the corruption extends and how even low-level grifters seem to have been able to find a home in its various niches. Ben Carson has already been in trouble because of his willingness to cut programs that benefit those who lack adequate housing while spending money on expensive furniture for himself. Now comes reports that one of his advisors Naved Jafry has resigned under a cloud.
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What lesson did this teach students?

Last week saw students in schools around the nation stage a walkout to protest the lack of action by the government to the easy availability of high-powered guns that have been used in so many mass killings. In general, school authorities and local communities have been supportive of these actions, or at least tolerated it and did not punish students for the walkouts. Some universities have even said that a suspension for such an action would not adversely affect a student’s application for college admission.
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Antifa is making the neo-Nazi movement not fun anymore

Some time ago I wrote that the neo-Nazis, anti-Semites, white supremacists and the various assorted fascistic-minded types were using ‘lulz’ i.e., mocking humor and irony, to draw in new recruits, forgoing the old skinhead, tattooed, tough look for the clean cut boy next door image. And it seemed to be working. But then they encountered the antifa movement and Natasha Lennard writes that now some are discovering that there is a tangible cost to spreading messages of hate .
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