An instantly infamous gun-toting St. Louis couple, filmed menacing protestors passing by their mansion, are already well-known for bizarre and threatening shenanigans by locals. Jeremy Koher reports that they likewise threatened one of their neighbors with guns, are relentless litigators, and were accused of trying to use HOA rules to get a gay couple kicked out of the neighborhood. The man reportedly sued his own dying father.

In an ongoing suit against Portland Place trustees in 2017, the McCloskeys say they are entitled to a 1,143-square-foot triangle of lawn in front of property that is set aside as common ground in the neighborhood’s indenture. It was that patch of green protesters saw when they filed through the gate. Mark McCloskey said in an affidavit that he has defended the patch before by pointing a gun at a neighbor who had tried to cut through it. ...

One of the rules prohibited unmarried people from living together. Several neighbors said it was because the McCloskeys didn’t want gay couples living on the block. The trustees voted to impeach Patricia McCloskey as a trustee in 1992 when she fought an effort to change the trust indenture, accusing her of being anti-gay.

Their own lawyer, Albert Watkins, became part of the story when reporters noticed his website bio boasted that a client's accuser committed suicide after Watkins was done with her.

Addendum: I never expected this tweet to take off so much, but the attention to the site appears to have led him to remove the last line of the fourth paragraph: “The woman committed suicide thereafter.”

Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/07/11/not-first-rodeo-for-gun-toting.html

It’s almost shocking to say...but there’s actually an incredible amount of manhood wrapped up in how well you cook a steak.

Of course, no one would argue your grilling abilities are THAT important. Or that how well you sear a prime slab of beef should have any bearing on your social standing or feeling of self-worth. However, there is something primal about hunching over an open flame and preparing your fresh kill perfectly. And when your BBQ game isn’t really on point, you’re aware.

But this is about solutions, not finger-pointing. So with half a summer season still to come, we pulled together 14 items that can elevate your grill prowess. Whether it’s your accessories, your grill hygiene or your ultimate BBQ weapon of choice, there are always steps you can take to put yourself atop that meat master mountain.

The Accessories Reusable Heat Resistant Non-Stick BBQ Grilling Pads - $8.95; originally $9.95

Those grill grates can be tricky little suckers — so this cooking mat makes sure your food never falls through the cracks or sticks to the grill. Made of premium heat resistant PTFE-fiberglass to withstand temperatures up to 500°F, these pads fit any type of grill and can be cut to size or space. It even doubles as a baking mat.

Heat Resistant BBQ Gloves - $19.99; originally $49.99

Made of silicone, ultra high strength Dayan aramid fiber and cotton, these gloves can resist heat up to nearly 1,500°F and are still flexible enough to hold small utensils. Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/07/11/save-your-summer-with-these-bb.html

https://boingboing.net/2020/07/11/iridescent-ms-paint-stickers.html

The legendary Oregon Country Fair got COVID-cancelled but that's not stopping them from hosting their annual three-day music and art festival online. This weekend (July 10-12) turn on/tune in for their first-ever virtual fair — they're calling it an "experi-meant." Admission is free but it's not free to produce, so drop them a few bucks.

We’ve prepared quite a few events to help ease the loss of the real world 2020 Fair. Just like the physical event, there is a lot going on and several different ways to engage. Music, Workshops, Spoken Word performances, and more! With 13 stages, and something like 100 acts on the schedule, there is a lot happening. Rose City Circus is even joining by performing onstage from the Alberta Rose Theater in Portland OR and live streaming their performance straight to you!

On Saturday the Community Village is featuring a wide variety of music videos, live streamed performances, activist clips + BLM voices, jokes by Frog, fun MC’s, and a live stream from an empty WOW Hall.

Our very own KOCF 92.7 will host the virtual Hoarse Chorale stage – all streaming video live; some from a local empty venue, and some from up and down the west coast. KOCF will also replay the performances over the radio beginning at 9pm each evening on “Live From the Oregon Country Fair”. You can stream KOCF 92.7 HERE.

screenshot via OCF/Instagram Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/07/11/first-ever-virtual-oregon-coun.html

The tabloids are suffering a liquidity problem, in more ways than one.

https://boingboing.net/2020/07/11/jeffrey-epsteins-prison-con.html

I tried to stop being a t-shirt guy, and for most of my 20s, it even worked. But for the last few years, I've been in the habit of buying more graphic t-shirts than I need, as long as I know that the proceeds are going to a good cause.

This is all to say that: I don't need this shirt, so I probably shouldn't buy it. But goddammit I love this shirt and I want it.

50% of T Shirt and mask profits will go directly to BLM. 100% of BLM enamel pin profits will go directly to BLM. This pre-order will run from 7/8/2020-7/17/2020. Shirts will then go into production and shipped the week of 7/27/20. Separate pin and mask orders will be sent before shirts.

Masks are $10, and shirts are $18 or so, and you can order them through Stupid Rad Merch through July 17. They've offered limited printings of this shirt in the past, and they always go pretty fast, to this is a good chance to get one for a good cause. (I asked for details on the donations, and the designer says they're going to the BLM Global Network via ActBlue, as opposed to the  Black Lives Matter Foundation or another other remotely-affiliated group.)

White Claws Not White Pride [Stupid Rad Merch] Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/07/11/proceeds-from-this-white-cla.html

The notion of two people sleeping in the same bed always inspires romantic visions of love and intimacy. However, most quickly realize that the romance of sleeping together is often quickly replaced by the realities of the act.

One partner snores. The other talks in their sleep. One grinds their teeth. The other hogs the bed. 

And of course, the big one. He’s always hot and she’s always cold. Finding a happy middle ground in the never-ending bed wars can start as a minor annoyance that legitimately grows into a serious relationship problem if it isn’t settled.

The K"omforte Dual Zone Comforter wants to be that happy medium that makes both partners happy. 

The K"omforte tackles the “he’s hot, she’s cold” conundrum with probably the easiest solution possible: one half is cozy warm, while the other half is lighter and cooler. And it isn’t just psychosomatic here either. One side is filled with 150 grams of luxury microfiber, while the warmer side is packed with 300 grams. 

It’s easy to feel the difference and just in case you confuse easily, both sides of this dual temperature duvet are clearly labeled so there’s no mistaking which side of the bed you’re on. The entire comforter is made from 300TC alternative down that’s not only fluffy and ridiculously comfortable, but also hypoallergenic.

The Swedish-inspired design should mesh well with any room decor, but since color always matters, you can choose from four different tones to match your particular bedroom vibe. You can pick up the king-sized model of the K"omforte Dual Zone Comforter for just $129.99, a $50 savings, in four different colors: navy, white, gray, and beige. Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/07/10/the-komforte-dual-zone-comfort.html

U.S. prosecutors have filed a superseding indictment against Ghislaine Maxwell, former girlfriend, longtime business associate, and alleged co-perpetrator of crimes with the late serial rapist Jeffrey Epstein.

The indictment against Maxwell was made public on Friday in Manhattan federal court, and like the original indictment accused Maxwell of six criminal counts.

Maxwell has been charged with grooming and luring girls so Epstein could violently sexually abuse and rape them, which he is said to have sometimes done with Ghislaine's participation.

More at Reuters.

An attorney for Ghislaine Maxwell has issued the first on-the-record response to the criminal indictment against Maxwell for perjury and sex crimes against minors, calling the federal charges “meritless.” https://t.co/GQC6UNXpmf

 ABC News (@ABC) July 10, 2020

"Ghislaine Maxwell is not Jeffrey Epstein," her attorneys said in arguing for her release on bail. They proposed a $5M bond, home confinement, limited visitors and questioned the strength of the government's six-count indictment.

 Aaron Katersky (@AaronKatersky) July 10, 2020

Prosecutors just filed superseding indictment in Ghislaine Maxwell case. Not sure what has changed but they did fix incorrect docket numbers for the civil suit where she allegedly perjured herself. Doc: https://t.co/kQLqoRAcD3 maybe SDNY reads the clips! https://t.co/nj0ZeHyHMw

 Josh Gerstein (@joshgerstein) July 10, 2020

Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/07/10/u-s-files-superseding-indictm.html

• Trump acknowledges for first time that in 2018, he okayed covert cyberattack against Russia’s Internet Research Agency, St. Petersburg-based troll farm that led Russian attacks on 2016 U.S. presidential election, and on 2018 midterms.

Donald Trump, for the first time, confirmed the United States conducted a covert cyberattack in 2018 against Russia's Internet Research Agency, and intelligence experts say -- yikes, he probably wasn't supposed to reveal that information.

But nothing matters.

Trump blurted it out in a puff piece interview in the Washington Post published Friday evening.

The Internet Research Agency is Vladimir Putin's military troll farm, and U.S. intelligence experts and the Mueller Report blame the entity for attacking the 2016 U.S. presidential election and the 2018 midterms.

Thiessen writes in the Post that during his interview he asked Trump whether he had launched a cyberattack. Thiessen said Trump replied, "Correct."

"Nobody has been tougher on Russia than I have," the President told Thiessen. This is a lie.

Trump appeared to confirm that the US had conducted such a cyberattack against a Russian entity during the 2018 midterm elections in a June 2019 Fox News interview, but this is the first direct confirmation, reports Kevin Bohn at CNN:

Trump said during the interview that in 2016, then-President Barack Obama "knew before the election that Russia was playing around. Or, he was told. Whether or not it was so or not, who knows? And he said nothing. And the reason he said nothing was that he didn't want to touch it because he thought (Hillary Clinton) was winning because he read phony polls.

Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/07/10/us-attacked-ru-2018.html

On Friday, the confirmed number of new COVID-19 cases rose by nearly 69,000 across the United States on Friday, according to Reuters, which is a new record high -- and the third consecutive day of new record highs.

And yet, Disney is barrelling ahead with plans to reopen its theme parks in Orlando, Florida, a COVID-19 hot zone. Workers and public health experts are protesting, but the company's chief medical officer says it'll all be fine.

Sure thing.

From Reuters:

A total of eight U.S. states - Alaska, Georgia, Idaho, Louisiana, Montana, Ohio, Utah and Wisconsin - also reached records for single-day infections.

In Texas, another hot zone, Governor Greg Abbott warned on Friday he may have to impose new clampdowns if the state cannot stem its record-setting caseloads and hospitalizations through masks and social distancing.

“If we don’t adopt this best practice it could lead to a shutdown of business,” the Republican governor told local KLBK-TV in Lubbock, adding it was the last thing he wanted.

California announced on Friday the state will release up to 8,000 inmates early from prisons to slow the spread of COVID-19 inside the facilities. At San Quentin State Prison, outside San Francisco, half of the facility’s roughly 3,300 prisoners have tested positive for the virus.

The Walt Disney Co. (DIS.N) said the theme parks in Orlando would open on Saturday to a limited number of guests who along with employees would be required to wear masks and undergo temperature checks. The park also cancelled parades, firework displays and events that typically draw crowds.

Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/07/10/u-s-sets-record-high-covid-ca.html

NASA's AIRS instrument captured this image of Tropical Storm Fay around 2 p.m. local time on July 10, 2020, as the storm swept through New England. Image: NASA/JPL-Caltech

From NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory:

Tropical Storm Fay is sweeping across New England, with the center of the storm making landfall about 10 miles (15 kilometers) north-northeast of Atlantic City, New Jersey, at around 5 p.m. local time. At that time, Fay had maximum sustained winds of around 50 mph (85 kph). Forecasters predicted the storm will dump up to 7 inches (18 centimeters) of rain along its path from Delaware into New Jersey.

NASA's Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) collected this image at around 2 p.m. local time on Friday, July 10. The purple regions indicate very cold clouds lofted high into the atmosphere by the storm and generally linked to heavy rainfall. Warmer clouds closer to the ground show up as green and blue, while the orange areas denote mostly cloud-free parts of the sky.

AIRS, together with the Advanced Microwave Sounding Unit (AMSU), measures the infrared and microwave radiation emitted from Earth to study the planet's weather and climate. Both instruments observe Earth from NASA's Aqua satellite, which launched in 2002.

AIRS and AMSU work in tandem to make simultaneous observations down to Earth's surface, even in the presence of heavy clouds. With more than 2,000 channels sensing different regions of the atmosphere, the system creates a global, three-dimensional map of atmospheric temperature and humidity, cloud amounts and heights, greenhouse gas concentrations, and many other atmospheric phenomena.

Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/07/10/nasa-satellite-eyes-tropical-s.html

Late Friday evening, President Donald Trump commuted the prison sentence of his longtime political operative Roger Stone.

The president's friend was convicted of impeding a congressional inquiry into Russian interference in the U.S. election.

Senior administration official confirms to Politico that President Trump has commuted Roger Stone's sentence

 Betsy Woodruff Swan (@woodruffbets) July 10, 2020

BREAKING WH Press Sec: "Today, President Donald J. Trump signed an Executive Grant of Clemency commuting the unjust sentence of Roger Stone, Jr." pic.twitter.com/UCTMG5spKd

 Yamiche Alcindor (@Yamiche) July 10, 2020

The move comes just days before Roger Stone was supposed to go to prison.

House Intelligence Committed chair Adam Schiff (D-CA) said of Trump's move tonight: “Commuting the sentence of Roger Stone, a crony who lied and obstructed to protect Trump, is among the most offensive to the rule of law.”

Schiff: “Trump makes clear there are two systems of justice in America: one for his criminal friends, and one for everyone else. Trump, Barr, and those who enable them pose the gravest of threats to rule of law.”

Trump just commuted Roger Stone’s sentence.

Stone lied and intimidated witnesses to hide Trump’s exploitation of the Russian hack of his opponent’s campaign.

With Trump there are now two systems of justice in America:

One for Trump's criminal friends and one for everyone else.

 Adam Schiff (@RepAdamSchiff) July 11, 2020

More at the New York Times:

In a lengthy statement released late on a Friday evening, the White House denounced the prosecution against Mr.

Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/07/10/roger-stone-commuted.html

Tokri (The Basket) is a beautifully crafted 15-minute claymation short that took India-based Studio Eeksaurus eight years to complete. Give it a watch, you'll see that it was worth the effort. It certainly has earned every single one of the numerous awards it's won.

The story was inspired by a real-life encounter Eeksaurus' Suresh Eriyat had:

Traversing the crowded streets of Mumbai in his car, animator Suresh Eriyat was approached by a young girl selling baskets. Eriyat shooed her away—it is assumed by most that the hordes of children who pounce upon motorists at the stoplights of the city are organized by gangs, thus any charity exhibited directly rewards the practice of putting children to work as beggars. Yet, despite the unremarkable nature of this occurrence, Eriyat was struck by guilt. Describing the thoughts that circled his mind, he writes, “What if she was in a precarious situation where she had to sell baskets to bring peace to her home? What if she needed some help from Me? How insensitive of me?” The premise of a story was born, one that would take 8 years to bring to completion.

Get a feel for what it took to bring this film to the world in these behind-the-scenes videos:

(Nag on the Lake) Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/07/10/tokri-a-gorgeous-stop-mot.html

Quirky comic institution The Far Side has very quietly returned as a full color irregular online series. Nerds, cows, bears, cavemen, Boy Scouts, old ladies, and aliens are back to the old drawing board, which creator Gary Larson notes is now digitized:

I don’t want to mislead anyone here. This corner of the website—“New Stuff”—is not a resurrection of The Far Side daily cartoons. (Well, not exactly, anyway—like the proverbial tiger and its stripes, I’m pretty much stuck with my sense of humor. Aren’t we all?) The thing is, I thoroughly enjoyed my career as a syndicated cartoonist, and I hope, in spirit at least, we had some laughs together. But after fifteen years of meeting deadlines, well, blah blah blah … you know the rest. The day after I retired from syndication, it felt good not to draw on a deadline. And after moving on to other interests, drawing just wasn’t on my to-do list.

Gary added:

The “New Stuff” that you’ll see here is the result of my journey into the world of digital art. Believe me, this has been a bit of a learning curve for me. I hail from a world of pen and ink, and suddenly I was feeling like I was sitting at the controls of a 747. (True, I don’t get out much.) But as overwhelmed as I was, there was still something familiar there—a sense of adventure. That had always been at the core of what I enjoyed most when I was drawing The Far Side, that sense of exploring, reaching for something, taking some risks, sometimes hitting a home run and sometimes coming up with “Cow tools.”

Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/07/10/gary-larson-quietly-brings-bac.html

On Thursday, on his Instagram account, Iggy Pop announced that, after a 43 year wait, his classic track, "The Passenger," has a video.

“So ‘The Passenger’ finally has an official video. Thank you @simontayl0r for your talent and thank you #EstherFriedman and @paulmcalpinerr for sharing images from the times of The Passenger.”

Bonus track:

Siouxsie And The Banshees's cover which, in my book, gives the original a run for its money.

Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/07/10/iggy-pops-the-passenger.html

Donald Trump once boasted of being so rich he did not want campaign contributions from wealthy donors. Like everything he says, that was a lie. Here is where Donald Trump is on Friday night, July 10, as COVID-19 ravages America.

Trump's fundraiser tonight at an ocean-side mansion in Florida is expected to raise $10 million for his 2020 campaign. Tickets cost $580,600 per couple.

S.V. Date at Huffington Post writes,

This particular rich donor, beef jerky magnate Troy Link, lives in a $9 million, 9,000-square-foot home in Hillsboro Beach, a wealthy suburb of Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Trump arrived there late Friday afternoon following an official visit earlier at U.S. Southern Command in nearby Doral.

Taking six-figure donations is no longer at all unusual for Trump.

A HuffPost analysis of Federal Election Commission data from Jan. 20, 2017, through May 30, 2020, shows that during Trump’s presidency, the Republican National Committee has collected a total of $130.4 million from the 555 donors who have given the party at least $100,000 each. Among them: Elizabeth Uihlein, the president of Wisconsin’s Uline Inc., who has given $1,382,600; longtime Washington, D.C., lobbyist C. Boyden Gray, who has given $1,033,000; and Charles Schwab of the Charles Schwab Corp., who has given $576,300.

Trump’s official super PAC, America First Action, has collected $75.3 million from 90 such six-figure donors, including $10 million from Tim Mellon of Saratoga, Wyoming; $8 million from Geoffrey Palmer of Beverly Hills, California; and $5 million each from longtime Republican donors Sheldon and Miriam Adelson of Las Vegas.

Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/07/10/heres-where-donald-trump-is.html

Add Internet of Things to the shortlist of those actually benefiting from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. You might not realize it, but the organizing principle that is bringing more automation to the world is actually proving to be a major asset as human beings are forced to stay home and away from the workplace.

IoT products are currently doing yeoman’s work monitoring healthcare needs, tracking shipments, and enabling streaming devices to power remote business, education, and even health.

Connecting everyday items to the web is only becoming a more vital piece of our everyday lives. The training in The Complete IoT and Hardware eBook and Video Course provides the background to not only understand how those systems work but to even build and program those systems yourself.

The knowledge download begins with four videos packed with more than nine hours of instruction in the universe of IoT. 

You’ll get your feet wet with a comprehensive opener as Introduction to Internet of Things lays all the basics, from the components and philosophies all the way through step-by-step tutorials to start building the perfect IoT case study, guiding you through the concept and execution of building your own web-connected device.

The training expands with Internet of Things with Python & Raspberry Pi, as students look at two of the IoT creator’s best friends in crafting IoT projects, the Python coding language, and the Raspberry Pi single-card microcomputer.

IoT often engages in robot-controlled mechanics, so the Robotic Process Automation: RPA Fundamentals and Build a Robot first explains the steps for building a robot capable of performing repetitive tasks that a human shouldn’t be performing. Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/07/10/get-you-ready-for-the-internet.html

"He plagiarized from me," Trump told a reporter today on his way to Miami, Florida, referring to Joe Biden's economic plan. And then, "It's very radical left, but he said the right things, because he is copying what I've done." If this isn't perfect gibberish, I don't know what is.

President Trump slams Joe Biden's economic plan: "It's very radical left but he said the right things because he's copying what I've done." pic.twitter.com/bQ73zKhbYU

 The Hill (@thehill) July 10, 2020

Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/07/10/trump-perfects-his-gibberish-t.html

I love this adorable taxidermied rodent May Queen, inspired by last year's folk horror masterpiece Midsommar.

It's the work of Hollie, AKA Folk Horror Magpie, who sells intricately taxidermied works on Etsy. Hollie writes that they adhere to "ethical taxidermy", using only dead specimens rather than killing them for the purpose.

Flat is starting to look like a rodent graveyard so I'm hoping to find some homes for these.

I'll be adding to the shop over the coming weeks, maybe some prints and other bits of art.

 Folk Horror Magpie (@folkhorrormagpi) July 10, 2020

Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/07/10/mousommar-adorable-rodent-may.html

How to cognitive pic.twitter.com/YM51OJ58qA

 Sarah Cooper (@sarahcpr) July 10, 2020

An excited Trump proudly displays his cognitive test to the camera as he boasts that he aced it. Good job, li'l Donny! Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/07/10/sarah-cooper-lip-syncs-trump-b.html