“Nobody knew healthcare could be so complicated.”
– President Donald J. Trump

It was ironic when Republicans had to delay a vote on their healthcare initiative because one of their senior members had to undergo surgery–his healthcare is of course taken care of due to his position in the Senate. It turned tragic when it was later revealed that the surgery exposed the fact that Senator McCain has brain cancer. Senator McCain is one of the elder statesmen of both his party and the country, a veteran of not just military service but the civic process that guides our governing bodies. Despite disagreeing on many positions, I admire him a great deal and was dreading the day that age or health would bring him to retirement, so to see him diagnosed with something so serious is a bit frightening politically as well as personally. Wishing him and his family the best as they gear up for a fight!

The other news was much of the usual recent nonsense, but I’ve included some of the standout stories in the links this week–which are extra long for your enjoyment! Go forth and enjoy the summer weekend, kittens!

I don’t know if I need pink tigers or green pineapples, but I know I need these pyjamas.

My childhood is coming for you and it looks gorgeous.

Keep dreaming, sir. I’m more chilled by the request that the Prime Minister “fix” the media.

Reporter Tamara Keith (of NPR and PBS) pieced together a fascinating and helpful timeline of the Trump campaign as new facts and unreported meetings have come to light.

A single drop or the first of a cascade? I foresee many a book deal after this administration.

The next Doctor Who is a woman and at the announcement, Twitter resounded with the gnashing of teeth of a million dudebros, and the full bodied cheers of women who, in addition to Jedi knights, Ghostbusters, and their own superhero movies, now get to be timelord protagonists. This after the Wrinkle in Time trailer…I could weep with how great pop culture is right now.

Eats, Shoots and Leaves goes next level.

This dude is living his best life and I love him.

Ready for you, Jane.

Let’s just call it, the President doesn’t understand that conversations with Mr. Putin about adoption (off the record ones at that) are actually conversations about sanctions. The wider New York Times piece from which this snippet derives is fascinating.

Color me heartwarmed.

This write up of a “famous online” person, of whom I had never heard, was weirdly fascinating.

One for the fall calendar, if you live in London.

This article on how the beauty industry is being disrupted was catnip to me. I’m in marketing, I’m both a sucker for good branding and a devotee of the power thereof, but

One of NPR’s new podcasts is It’s Been a Minute by Sam Sanders (formerly of the NPR Politics podcast), and the episode containing his conversation with Anne Helen Petersen, author of Too Fat, Too Slutty, Too Loud: The Rise and Reign of the Unruly Woman is a great listen!

Album of the week: Sounds From the Other Side, by Wizkid