(Permanent Musical Accompaniment To The Last Post Of The Week From The Blog's Favourite Living Canadian)

I see that our plucky little Middle East ally is putting the military aid we lavish upon it to good use again. From CBS News:

The attack has drawn wide international criticism. Both the United Nations and the U.S. State Department called on the coalition, led by U.S. ally Saudi Arabia, to carry out an investigation. "The leadership of the coalition has ordered the immediate opening of an investigation to assess the events, clarify their circumstances and announce the results as soon as possible," a senior coalition official said, according to the French news agency AFP. Earlier, senior Yemeni rebel leader Mohammed Ali al-Houthi said on Twitter that the Houthi rebels welcomed the call and are willing to cooperate in an investigation of the strike that hit a bus carrying civilians, many of them school children, in a busy market in Dahyan district.

Glad to see everyone's on the same page regarding the slaughter of schoolchildren with high-tech weaponry.

The U.S. State Department called on the Saudi-led coalition "to conduct a thorough and transparent investigation into the incident," spokeswoman Heather Nauert said. "We take all credible accounts of civilian casualties very seriously." Also, the U.N. special envoy for Yemen, Martin Griffiths, who has been pushing for peace efforts in the war-torn country, said he was "deeply shocked by the appalling tragedy that claimed so many innocent lives." Still, he called on the warring parties to "engage constructively" in the first round of consultations scheduled for Sept. 6 in Geneva. The United Nations children's agency called the attack in Saada "unconscionable" and a "low point in the country's brutal war."

MOHAMMED HUWAIS Getty Images

As we all know, the United States is hip-deep in this humanitarian disaster. Making friends in that part of the world is something at which we always have excelled. Senator Chris Murphy, Democrat of Connecticut, is right to be exercised by this. From Business Insider:

Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy on Thursday slammed the US for its involvement in the bloody Yemen conflict after a Saudi-led coalition airstrike hit a school bus and killed dozens in the northern part of the country

"...US bombs. US targeting. US mid air support. And we just bombed a SCHOOL BUS. The Saudi/UAE/US bombing campaign is getting more reckless, killing more civilians, and strengthening terrorists inside Yemen."

That's not even to mention the starvation and the cholera epidemic, and what in the hell good has our policy in the Middle East ever done? It's hard to see any good from here.

I don't usually do this, but Rigoberto Mendez has a kid who goes to the very excellent grammar school that all three of mine went through, and this shouldn't happen to anyone coming here for a better life.



Rigoberto Mendez moved to the US in 1991 seeking a better life from his native Guatemala. Rigoberto ended up marrying and have two boys. Now Rigoberto is now in his final days before deportation scheduled for Aug 15, 2018. Mins oldest son is scheduled to go to UMASS Boston in the fall while his younger son is entering 4th grade at Horace Mann Elementary in Newton. Complicating things even more, his wife has Brain Cancer and is currently undergoing treatment.

Rigoberto is a hardworking, loving and amazing Father as well as Husband who belongs here with his family!

I mean, Jesus, what kind of people are we? The link is to a Go Fund Me page. That is what we call a "hint."

Welcome to national politics, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Have we mentioned recently that our national politics is completely batshit fcking insane? From, and apologies all around, The Daily Wire:



"I really just want to make a direct appeal to Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, 'the future' of the Democratic Party, according to Tom Perez, head of the DNC," said Shapiro. "Ms. Ocasio-Cortez, I'm really excited that you've been elevated to that position, and I would love to have a real conversation with you about the issues...You’ve noted you think Republicans are afraid to debate you or talk to you or discuss the issues with you," he continued. "Not only am I eager to discuss the issues with you, I’m willing to offer $10,000 to your campaign today for you to come on our ‘Sunday Special,’ and we can have an hour-long conversation about all the topics under the sun, really probe your belief system."

Ms. AOC has declined the offer, because she is running for Congress and the guy challenging her is a guy peddling mugs with his dimwit aphorisms on them.

Ben Shapiro SOPA Images Getty Images

Not to worry, though, the entire all-star team is lining up. In the history of American political twerpitude, Ben Shapiro already has sewn up an honored place. The rest of these people are a perfect living example of the danger of sampling your own product. Panhandling the better neighborhoods for a debate is a new twist on an old riff. You have to love the Caller, though.

Ocasio-Cortez has yet to offer a response to any of the challenges.

That's because she's running for Congress. She doesn't have time to pump up wingnut book sales.

Weekly WWOZ Pick To Click:"Derelict Junction" (Johnny Sansone): Yeah, I pretty much still love New Orleans.

Weekly Visit To The Pathe Archives: To celebrate the anniversary of History's Yard Waste's having been swept out of the White House, here's his successor, President Gerry Ford, trying out the new White House swimming pool. Gerry apparently was working on his 200-meter Individual Medley. History is so cool.

Hey, did you hear what Omarosa wrote about the presid...no, I can't. I just can't. This is one I'm leaving alone. Turning the executive branch of the United States government into a late-night cable access show is not something of which I want to be a part. Did he pay her off? I don't care. I lost my fascination for that part of his life when he paid off the porn star. You can't make me care about this.

Also, Avenatti For President. Don't bring that in my kitchen, either.

Is it a good week for dinosaur news, BGR? It's always a good day for dinosaur news!



A new study led by Oregon State University entomologist George Poinar Jr reveals that ancient flowering plants had the same kind of fragrant scents as many flowers do today. In fact, Poinar even goes so far as to suggest that such pleasant scents might have played a role in attracting dinosaurs to certain areas. The study focused on long-fossilized examples of flowering plants encased in hardened tree sap. This material, which is called amber, has the ability to preserve both animals and plants for incredibly long periods of time.

By studying multiple examples of now-extinct flowers dating back as far as 100 million years, the researchers were able to determine that the same fragrant compounds that tickle our fancy today were present in ancient flowers from the Cretaceous period, when dinosaurs were abundant.“I bet some of the dinosaurs could have detected the scents of these early flowers,” George Poinar explained. “In fact, floral essences from these early flowers could even have attracted these giant reptiles.”

This drew the longest "Awwwwwwwwwwwww..." in the history of dinosaur news. They really did live then to make us happy now.

The Committee loves it some good spluttering, and Top Commenter Kilgore Trautmann (Not his real pseudonym, pace the late Caroline Knapp) scored with this lovely display of fireworks regarding our post concerning further shenanigans at Wells Fargo.

What? Us? No way! It was the receptionist! She spilled her Starbucks on her keyboard and it shorted our computers into rape mode! not our fault! Red Tape! Elizabeth Warren! Socialism! Squid ink! GDP! Porn stars! Now fuck off! We got some monetizing to do!

Well shouted, my good man. There are 77.23 Beckhams waiting for you at will call.

I'll be back on Monday with whatever these guys stole over the weekend. Be well and play nice, ya bastids. Stay above the snake-line, and, if Ben Shapiro comes to your door demanding to debate you, put a quarter in his tin cup and send him on his way.

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Charles P. Pierce Charles P Pierce is the author of four books, most recently Idiot America, and has been a working journalist since 1976.

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