This Week in Links

In gathering stories for the week usually nothing happens the evening before that would so crucial that is must be included in a wrap up for the week. This week we have to mention last night events twice (see previous post).

• Yesterday Greg Gianforte decided that on the eve of the special election to decide who will get Montana’s lone seat in the House of Representatives, it would be a good idea to body slam a reporter from The Guardian. FoxNews has the best account of what happened. 

You read that correctly, FoxNews has the best source on what happened.

While Gianforte’s office decide that victim blaming would be the best strategy to deflect any inquiries into what happened, the first hand account of what happened from the reporters at FoxNews seems to directly contradict the account Gianforte’s office gave.

After all of this I’m thoroughly convinced that all elections should now be decided by a WWE-esque matchup.

I also want to see this happen at all press briefings, Sean Spicer I’m talking to you.

Enough of that. Let’s get on with everything else that seems vastly less important than this now.

• Kevin Spacey, I’m sorry President Frank Underwood, was wandering around Washington, DC yesterday. He was promoting House of Cards. Season 5 will come out on May 30.
• What’s better than Neil Gaiman? Neil Gaiman reading the entirety of The Cheesecake Factory menu. Sara Benincasa, whose work you should check out, approached Gaiman with the idea. He agreed, if she could raise $500,000 for a charity of his choice. He chose UNHCR. She set up a Crowdrise campaign. It currently has $38,000 raised.

Most excited of all is The Cheesecake Factory

Let’s make this happen! #NeilCake http://t.co/uy33k5ZeyZ

— Cheesecake Factory (@Cheesecake) May 22, 2017

• You would think that to win a 50K race you would need a decent pair of running shoes, some solid training, and some experience with racing. Not true.
• The decline of the U.S. Education system has been hurtling down a steep cliff for some time. In an effort to make it sink deeper than the Mariana Trench, Betsy DeVos couldn’t bring herself to deny a state’s right to discriminate if they receive federal money. She also insisted that James Runcie, the former chief operating officer of Federal Student Aid, testify in front of the House oversight committee about improper student aid payments this week. He decided to resign instead.
• I love the scenic view that Highway 1 provides of the California coast. It’s a beautiful drive if you ever get the chance to take it. Although it may be a while before you get that chance.  Sorry about that.
• Poor Sean Spicer. I didn’t want to talk about Trump going overseas on his first major trip, but then he had to treat Spicer like a red-headed step child. Spicer, a devout catholic, had only one dream in life – to meet the pope. Trump crushed that dream. 
• Manchester, and the world is in mourning over the 22 killed in a terrorist attack at an Ariana Grande concert. Grande has decided to pay for all of victims’ funerals. 

I don’t have any jokes to make about that.

• Let’s talk about something happier. Like Twitter’s reaction to Trump and the Pope.
• Or the forced marriage of children. Almost as bad an attack on young women as the Manchester bombing, Chris Christie decided that New Jersey should not ban the marriage of children. That seems to be the kind of thing you would hear about in India, where arranged marriages happen all the time. Surprise, the United States does it too.

What else happened this week that you want to talk about? Let us know down below.