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"John Brennan is panicking. He has disgraced himself, he has disgraced the Country, he has disgraced the entire Intelligence Community. He is the one man who is largely responsible for the destruction of American’s faith in the Intelligence Community and in some people at the top of the FBI. Brennan started this entire debacle about President Trump. We now know that Brennan had detailed knowledge of the [phony] Dossier. He knows about the Dossier, he denies knowledge of the Dossier, he briefs the Gang of 8 on the Hill about the Dossier, which they then used to start an investigation about Trump. It is that simple. This guy is the genesis of this whole Debacle. This was a Political hit job, this was not an Intelligence Investigation. Brennan has disgraced himself, he’s worried about staying out of Jail." Dan Bongino pic.twitter.com/dEm7g4vA8w

The Wall Street Journal asks, “WHERE IN THE WORLD WAS BARACK OBAMA?” A very good question!

Great to have our incredible @FLOTUS back home in the White House. Melanie is feeling and doing really well. Thank you for all of your prayers and best wishes!

May God be with the people of Sutherland Springs, Texas. The FBI and Law Enforcement has arrived. pic.twitter.com/LtJ0D29Hsv

Lars von Trier's 'gross' and 'torturous' film prompts walkout

Provocateur Lars von Trier is under fire again after a screening of his film, The House That Jack Built, prompted dozens to walk out.

Starring Matt Dillon as a serial killer, one reporter, Roger Friedman said it was a "vile movie. Should not have been made. Actors also culpable". Another tweeted: "Gross. Pretentious. Vomitive. Torturous. Pathetic."

Dillon plays an architect who kills several women and children in gruesome fashion. Uma Thurman also stars.

Von Trier had been banned from the festival for seven years for comments he made in a press conference for his sci-fi film Melancholia. The Danish film-maker pushed organisers too far when he said (as a joke it was later assumed) he was a Nazi.

Now, with The House That Jack Built, the offence has gone further - into the throng of the gathered press. In one scene, as the killer Jack mutilates a girlfriend, he says: "Why is it always the man's fault... If you are born male you are born to be guilty. Think of the injustice of that."

IMDB. Film is 2h35m. It doesn't appear to have been widely released, so streaming/downloading it isn't possible yet.

No, Octopuses Don't Come From Outer Space

Disputed study:

Cause of Cambrian Explosion - Terrestrial or Cosmic? (open, DOI: 10.1016/j.pbiomolbio.2018.03.004) (DX)

Nine-year-old Instagram star Lil Tay’s ‘flexing’ got her mom fired — that’s only the beginning of her reign of terror

"flex" = show off wealth

Jake Paul’s influencer circle begins to crumble as his dad comes aboard

****should have a 'Politics' section for Journal Topics!

There is an election coming in Ontario, June 7th (though I usually try to vote in the early polls in case I'm sick on election Day (and lines are non-existent!)

The Liberal party in power, currently, have pretty much blown their welcome for a lot of people but the Conservative party looks like Trump 2.0 (Doug Ford won't give interviews because he's afraid to blow his lead by opening his mouth).

With our voting system, I may be 'wasting' a vote by voting green but it's not a wasted vote for $$$ (each vote brings the party $$$), so my vote will matter $wise.

I'm just tired of status quo, corruption and favouring big business because of money (although parties in Ontario (Canada too???? Not sure) aren't allowed to accept donations from companies, only individuals and up to $1000ish per person WHICH IS AMAZING!!!)

So, I'm going green and Gaaark is becoming Kermit.

Hoping the conservatives don't get a majority, but I want to keep helping the green numbers grow.
The more they grow, the more people may see them as an option.

If you don't know Doug Ford, you may remember his brother Rob Ford...made a scene on (Letterman???) a few years back, lol. Our loveable bum-fuck Rob. :)

U.S. Embassy opening in Jerusalem will be covered live on @FoxNews & @FoxBusiness. Lead up to 9:00 A.M. (eastern) event has already begun. A great day for Israel! youtu.be/7H7Hh5tn2wQ

Mexico says round-the-world cyclists were murdered

Mexican investigators say two European cyclists did not die in an accident as first claimed - they were murdered. The bodies of Holger Hagenbusch, from Germany, and Krzysztof Chmielewski, from Poland, were found at the bottom of a cliff in Chiapas state.

Local authorities had said the pair appeared to have fallen after losing control. However, relatives and fellow cyclists suspected it was more sinister, and had called for a deeper investigation.

The newly appointed special prosecutor, Luis Alberto Sánchez, said, on Friday, that they were killed in what appears to have been a robbery. "Our investigations up to now indicate this was an intentional homicide," he said.

[...] After travelling to Mexico to identify his brother's body, [Reiner] also found out information about the Polish biker. "The Polish cyclist was decapitated and had a foot missing," he wrote on Facebook.

[...] Chmielewski sustained a head injury that may be a gunshot wound, said Mr Sánchez. His body was found next to a bike - but it was not his own. It belonged to his German companion, which aroused suspicions.

There was a post on reddit recently about small events that changed your life. I was wondering if I had any events like that in my life, and realized I did.

I'm sure it's not that uncommon for people to find their partners based on a chance meeting or a simple thing like that.

This story starts in the fall of 2001. I had recently been hired at Future Shop as a salesperson. For you that don't live in Canada, or don't rememeber Future Shop was essentially a Best Buy (Best Buy would end up buying Future Shop a year later). One of the first days on the new job, I saw one of the most beautiful girls working at the customer service desk. She had dyed red hair in a pixie type cut, and bit of a nouveau hippie vibe.

I worked at Future shop for about a year and a half. During that time, we would have many friendly work conversations, but I never received any signals that she had any interest in me at all. There were a couple of times where I tried to ask her out, and she brushed me off with lame excuses (She would say she was busy), but never gave me a hard rejection, so I remained hopeful that one day she would say yes. I ended up working there for about a year and a half. I worked through 2 Christmas seasons, and after the second Christmas was all wrapped up, I was let go in early January as part of the spring purge.

That Christmas, my mom and her partner had gotten us a DVD player as a Christmas present. My brothers and I were REALLY hoping that the DVD player that was under the tree was really a PS2. We were slightly disappointed that it was not, but we came up with a plan to return the DVD player and pitch in some money and upgrade that DVD player to a PS2.

My brother and I went back to future shop to return the DVD player, and as we were nearing the front of the line, my future wife said hi, and then made sure that she was the CSR that ended up helping us. (She just wanted to talk about me getting let go). We did the return, and at the end I tried asking er out again, and she actually said yes and gave me her number. It was a busy day with lots of people returning Christmas gifts, and I caught her in a moment of weakness. She would tell me years later that she didn't really know what had happened until later in the day when she clued in that she had agreed to a date.

We ended up going on that date a couple days later. Me, being the classy guy that I am, I took her to Pizza Hut. We shared a pizza, unlimited refill drinks, and I even splurged for the dessert bar -- so basically the perfect first date. I asked if she wanted to come back home with me (to my mom's basement) and 'watch a movie'. She did. We watched Dazed and Confused (I still have that VHS in my sentimental things collection), and fooled around.

Things progressed quickly. We were almost immediately spending all our free time together. Her roommate had moved out recently and she needed someone to help pay rent, so I moved in. I was 19 and we had been dating for something like 4 months. My parents were not all that impressed.

Months turned into years and now we are married with a toddler. It all started with receiving a DVD player instead of a PS2 for Christmas.

*****

On a side note, my little girl is such a cutie now. She's walking really good now and walks like a quick little penguin around the house. She is still a terrible sleeper though. She loves going to the park now that the weather is good and swinging in the swing. She's also starting to do the slide.

Her vocabulary is growing so quickly. She doesn't do sentences yet, but says quite a few words -- probably around 500. She has the most beautiful red curly hair and a smile that melts my heart.

She understands quite a lot of things you tell her. I'm sure she understands more than I realize. Yesterday I was pretty excited when I asked her to get the cat treats and she found them and brought them to me.

Right now, her favorite thing to eat is probably blueberries. We go though a couple packages a week.

This weekend I'm taking her to a nearby amusement park. We'll ride some of the kiddie rides together. I'm really exited for that!

-- Snow