July 3, 2017


News and Views


JUST A THEORETICAL QUESTION: SHOULD FOREIGN NATIONS BE ALLOWED TO OWN LAND AND BUILDINGS IN THE US? WHAT ABOUT ALLOWING THEM TO LEASE IT ON CONDITION OF CONTINUED PEACEFUL INTERACTIONS, INCLUDING SPYING ACTIVITIES?” THAT SITE WAS PROBABLY WHERE THE DNC OPERATION WAS HANDLED. IT WAS FULL OF ELECTRONICS OF THAT KIND, I READ.

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/russia-says-its-patience-with-u-s-is-running-thin-in-returning-russian-embassy-assets/
CBS/AP July 3, 2017, 1:44 PM
Russia says it's patience with U.S. is running thin in returning Russian embassy assets

Photograph -- A dock is seen at a recreational compound owned by the Russian government near Centreville, Maryland, on Dec. 29, 2016. JIM WATSON/AFP/GETTY IMAGES

The Kremlin says its patience with a U.S. plan to return the Russian Embassy's compounds is running out.

President Vladimir Putin's foreign affairs adviser, Yuri Ushakov, said Monday that Russia has demonstrated a remarkable restraint by refraining from a tit-for-tat response to President Barack Obama's decision in December to expel 35 Russian diplomats and shutter Russian compounds in Maryland and on Long Island, New York.

Ushakov says while Russia has shown "unusual flexibility," Moscow's patience "has its limits." He urged Washington to take action to "free Russia from the need to take retaliatory moves," emphasizing that Moscow will feel obliged to respond if the matter isn't settled.

The Russians have been in regular contact with the U.S. about the two compounds, and are now determined to get them back.

The Trump administration told Russian officials last month that it would consider handing the properties back over, if the Russians were to lift their freeze on construction of a new consulate in St. Petersburg, according to the Washington Post. The Russians implemented the construction freeze in response to U.S. sanctions that were imposed following Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2014.

However, a senior adviser for Secretary of State Rex Tillerson denied the report. "The U.S. and Russia have reached no agreements," said R.C. Hammond, who noted that the next senior-level meeting between the U.S. and Russia will be this month in St. Petersburg.

Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak told CBS News in June that the Kremlin was not interested in a U.S. government proposal that would allow the Russians to sell off the properties.

Russia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs even issued an ominous warning tweet demanding the return, saying "If the US doesn't restore diplomatic immunity of Russian property, Russia will reply in kind regarding regarding US property in Russia."

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Putin and President Trump are to have their first meeting at the sidelines of the G-20 summit, being held in Germany on Friday and Saturday.



I’M GLAD THAT THIS ISN’T BEING DONE IN THE USA – SO FAR. I KNOW, BECAUSE TRUMP’S INAUGURATION CROWD WAS ON THE THIN SIDE. AFTER AWHILE MAYBE HE’LL START IT AS PART OF HIS FOREIGN POLICY OF KEEPING AMERICA GREAT.

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/welcome-trump-poland-taps-old-communist-party-playbook-n776186
NEWS JUL 3 2017, 10:50 AM ET
To Welcome Trump, Poland Taps Old Communist Party Playbook
by ALI VITALI and CORKY SIEMASZKO

Back when Poland was part of the Soviet bloc, the Communist Party would bus people into Warsaw from the provinces to ensure there was a compliant crowd to welcome high-level visitors from Moscow.

Now with President Donald Trump heading to Poland this week for a day-long state visit, the country's right-wing government is tapping the old playbook.

"Every deputy from PiS [the Law and Justice Party] is allowed to invite 50 people to Trump's Thursday appearance in Warsaw and the party will pay for the bus," Joachim Brudzinski, vice-marshal of the Polish parliament, said in a message to party members.

Michal Kobosko of the Atlantic Council, a longtime observer of Polish politics, said the ruling Law and Justice party is pulling out all the stops to make sure the Trump visit is a success — though this particular tactic is not without irony, given party leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski was an anti-communist dissident.

Image: Jaroslaw Kaczynski during parliament session in Warsaw on March 9, 2017.
Jaroslaw Kaczynski during parliament session in Warsaw on March 9, 2017. Maciej Luczniewski / NurPhoto via Getty Images

In the 1950s and 1960s, the Communists wanted big public shows of support and sometimes rewarded participants with bottles of vodka. But PiS won't need to bribe anyone with liquor to come see Trump — or line the streets of Warsaw with Potemkin Poles.

A mutually beneficial visit

Trump may have historically low approval ratings at home, but he's an American president. And as the well-known foreign policy expert Michael Mandelbaum famously remarked, “Poland is the most pro-American country in the world — including the United States.”

That quip, which Mandelbaum first made back in the 1980s, when Poland was struggling to shake off its Soviet shackles, goes some way toward explaining why Trump is Warsaw bound.

But it's the fresh threat from Moscow that concerns the Poles now — and that's why they're rolling out the red carpet for Trump.

"The threat that Russia poses cannot be overstated," Piotr Wilczek, Poland's ambassador to the U.S., said in Washington. "Now is the time for ally solidarity. And President Trump's decision to visit Poland so early in his presidency underscores the importance of our region to the U.S. administration."

It also provides Warsaw with some reassurance.

Poles were alarmed when Trump was slow to affirm Article 5 of the NATO charter, which stipulates that other NATO member nations must come to the aid of a member country if it is attacked. They were also rattled by reports of Trump cozying up to Russian strongman Vladimir Putin — and are very much aware of the ongoing investigations into Moscow's alleged meddling in the presidential election.

But Trump also needs a win on the international stage.

In May, on his first trip to Europe as president, Trump was met by thousands of protesters when he arrived in Brussels, Belgium, for the NATO summit. And Trump did himself no favors when he appeared to elbow aside the prime minister of Montenegro to get to the front of the pack for a group photo.

In Poland, however, Trump is not likely to see much in the way of protesters, and he can count on a warmer welcome. Polish President Andrzej Duda even moved the location of the Three Seas Summit that Trump will be attending from the city of Wroclaw to Warsaw to give him a bigger and more secure venue.

Image: President of Poland Andrzej Duda at Presidential Palace in Warsaw, Poland on June 12, 2017.
President of Poland Andrzej Duda at Presidential Palace in Warsaw, Poland on June 12, 2017. Mateusz Wlodarczyk / NurPhoto via Getty Images

Trump might even hear some cheers from average Poles.

“Poles in Poland look at Trump more with respect than disdain,” said Aleksandra Slabisz, a senior editor at Nowy Dziennik, a New York City-based Polish newspaper. “Their perception of the U.S. president is more neutral than is the case with people living in the U.S., where he is either loathed and laughed at or cherished.”

But it's not likely that many of those cheering Poles will be from Warsaw, said Charles Kupchan, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations. He said the electoral landscape in Poland is similar to that of the U.S.

"The urban centers are more center-left, more liberal," he said. "The rural areas that support the Polish government are more conservative. So the government wants to make sure more of those conservative voters are present when Trump arrives."

'Their kind of guy': What Polish politics and Trump have in common
The seeds for Trump's visit were planted last year when former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, an informal adviser to the White House and a Trump campaign surrogate, was in Warsaw after the election and met with Kaczynski, who is the most powerful politician in Poland, Kobosko said.

It was around that time President Barack Obama dispatched a contingent of U.S. troops to buttress security in Poland. Those soldiers, who are now based in the town of Zagan, were greeted warmly by the Poles.

But Kaczynski and Duda, the Polish president, were still not sure what to make of Trump's mixed messages about Moscow, Kobosko said.

Kaczynski, in particular, is deeply suspicious of the Russians. He is the twin brother of the former Polish president Lech Kaczynski, who died in a plane crash in Russia that investigators concluded was the result of pilot error — but which many Law and Justice supporters still contend was a Russian hit.

“They are obviously aware of Trump’s initial positive reaction to Putin, his refusal to be more critical of him,” Kobosko said of Duda and Kaczynski. “That makes Trump’s presence in Poland all the more important.”

January 2017: Polish PM Welcomes U.S. Soldiers
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January 2017: Polish PM Welcomes U.S. Soldiers 1:03

“Poland is in a rough neighborhood,” added David Phillips, director of the Program on Peace-Building and Rights at Columbia University’s Institute for the Study of Human Rights. “They live in the shadow of Russia’s menace.”

Besides, the professor said, “Trump is their kind of guy. Trump and the current Polish leadership share an ultra-nationalist world view.”

Poland, along with Hungary, has defied the European Union with its refusal to take in Syrian refugees. The Duda-led government has also been criticized by the EU for moves to limit press freedom and accused of undermining the Constitutional Tribune, which is the nation's highest court.

Meanwhile, Kaczynski's inflammatory statements about Muslim migrants and refugees have drawn comparisons to Trump, who will head to the G20 summit in Hamburg, Germany, after his visit in Warsaw.

Law and Justice party supporters bristle at the EU criticism and say they are trying to improve the lot of Poles who were left behind as the country became an economic success story. And with the blessing of the country’s powerful Roman Catholic Church, they say the ruling party has been trying to “restore traditional Polish values.”

One such move backfired spectacularly last October when legions of women across Poland took to the streets to protest the government’s attempt to ban all abortions, even in cases of rape, incest and when the woman’s life is at risk.

Image:
Thousands of protesters participate in a nationwide "Black Monday" strike in Warsaw, Poland, to protest a legislative proposal for a total ban on abortion. Czarek Sokolowski / AP

“This is one of those Polish paradoxes,” said Kobosko. “Over 90 percent of Poles are Catholic, but Poles are not just conservatives who go along with whatever the Church says or what their government or any ruler says. For Poles, the most important thing is freedom.”

And that has been the case for much of Poland’s often tragic history. Once a powerful, multicultural haven for Jews and other persecuted peoples, Poland was conquered and then invaded again to touch off World War II with only two decades of independence in between. Six million Poles were killed, half of them Jewish. And then came a half-century of Soviet domination.

Image: A welcome of the U.S. Army's 3rd Armored Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division for the inauguration of a bilateral military training of U.S. and Polish Forces in support of the Atlantic Resolve operation in Zagan, Poland.

U.S. soldiers march with their flag during a welcome of the U.S. Army's 3rd Armored Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division for the inauguration of a bilateral military training of U.S. and Polish Forces in support of the Atlantic Resolve operation in Zagan, Poland on Jan. 30, 2017. Natalia Dobryszycka / AFP - Getty Images
Trump is expected to touch on some of Poland's painful history when he gives a speech at the memorial to the 1944 Warsaw Uprising (not to be confused with the far smaller Warsaw Ghetto Uprising) during which some 200,000 Poles were killed during a two-month battle to liberate the city from the Germans.

How do Polish-Americans view Trump?
Just as Obama did when he visited Warsaw last year for a NATO summit, Trump is also likely to riff on the contributions Polish immigrants have made to the U.S, starting in 1609 when a handful of Polish craftsmen were among the English settlers in the doomed Jamestown, Virginia, colony.

There are now an estimated 9.5 million Polish-Americans. And while they constitute a little over 3 percent of the total population, they made up 10 percent of the electorate in 2012, according to the Piast Institute, a Michigan-based organization that tracks Polish-American voting.

They are mostly Democrats, but they are often conservative Democrats who have crossed party lines to back Republican presidential candidates. And they are concentrated in the must-win states like Michigan, Ohio, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania that went for Trump in the 2016 presidential election.

“They voted for Trump for some of the same reasons they voted for Obama, because he was an outsider and because he promised more security for Poland," Piast Institute director Thaddeus Radzilowski told NBC News. “Also, the Trump campaign courted Polish-American voters and Hillary Clinton’s campaign basically didn’t.”

And what do Polish-Americans make of Trump’s trip to Poland?

“I think the fact that Trump is going to Warsaw is going to reassure a lot of them that he’s not Putin’s puppet," Radzilowski said. “Still, he’s a pretty flawed messenger as far as most Polish-Americans are concerned. To many Poles he’s like the loudmouth at the end of the bar.”

ALI VITALI TWITTERFACEBOOKINSTAGRAMEMAIL
CORKY SIEMASZKO


FIGHTING OVER CUSTODY – THIS IS ONE OF THOSE HIDEOUS AND PROBABLY PSYCHOTIC EVENTS. I DON’T BELIEVE THAT NORMAL PEOPLE DO THINGS LIKE THIS. THE PARENTAL INSTINCT IS TOO STRONG.

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/aramazd-andressian-pleads-not-guilty-to-killing-son-5-found-dead-after-vanishing-in-april/
By CRIMESIDER STAFF CBS/AP July 3, 2017, 3:31 PM
Father pleads not guilty to killing son, 5, who vanished in April

Photograph -- Aramazd Andressian Sr. with his son Aramazd Andressian Jr. CBS LOS ANGELES

ALHAMBRA, Calif. -- The father of a 5-year-old boy whose body was found near a Southern California lake Friday after months of searching pleaded not guilty to a murder charge Monday.

Aramazd Andressian Sr., hands shackled at his waist, appeared before Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Cathryn Brougham, who set bail at $10 million and scheduled a preliminary hearing for Aug. 16.

The boy was found on the same day that his father, of South Pasadena, was returned to Southern California from Las Vegas, where he was arrested last week.

His new attorney, Ambrosio Rodriguez, met with Andressian for the first time during the weekend in jail. "My client is heartbroken, like anybody else," he said.

Andressian, 35, has adamantly denied harming the boy.

Based on additional leads, detectives returned Friday to an area near Lake Cachuma in Santa Barbara County and found the remains of Aramazd Andressian Jr., according to a statement from the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department. The boy had been missing for more than two months.

1aandre2.jpg
Aramazd Andressian Sr. pictured before and after his June 23, 2017 arrest. CBS LOS ANGELES

The boy was last seen at 1 a.m. April 21 leaving Disneyland with his father. Investigators have been searching for the boy since his father was found passed out in a large park in South Pasadena the next day. Andressian had taken prescription pills and was found in a car doused in gasoline in an apparent suicide attempt, sheriff's officials said.

Andressian told authorities that he drove that day about 145 miles to Lake Cachuma. Authorities had twice searched the lake unsuccessfully in the past few months, using dogs and a dive team. Andressian has been uncooperative and gave false information to investigators since he fell under suspicion, reports CBS Los Angeles.

Aramazd Andressian Jr. was last seen by his mother via Skype on April 18, 2017, police said.
Aramazd Andressian Jr. was last seen by his mother via Skype on April 18, 2017, police said. CBS LOS ANGELES

Although initially arrested, Andressian was released but later charged with murder. Prosecutors contend that Andressian killed the boy to get back at his estranged wife. He and the boy's mother, Ana Estevez, were sharing custody as they went through a divorce.

He was arrested in Las Vegas on June 23 because authorities believed he was at risk of fleeing the country.

Andressian had shaved his beard, lightened his hair and had been socializing while living out of a Las Vegas hotel for 47 days - conduct characterized as inconsistent with that of a grieving parent, sheriff's officials said.

Ed Winter, assistant chief of the Los Angeles County Coroner's Office, told CBS Los Angeles an autopsy would be conducted on the boy's remains early this week. Winter also said tests would have to be conducted before his office officially identifies the body, but sheriff's detectives believe it is Aramazd.



BYE, BYE CLEAN AND BEAUTIFUL AMERICA ....

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/epas-pruitt-moves-to-roll-back-over-30-environmental-regulations-in-record-time/
By EMILY TILLETT CBS NEWS July 3, 2017, 11:53 AM
EPA's Pruitt moves to roll back over 30 environmental regulations in record time

Photograph -- Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Scott Pruitt testifies about the fiscal year 2018 budget during a Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, June 27, 2017. SAUL LOEB / AFP/GETTY IMAGES

Since taking over as the head of the Environmental Protection Agency, Scott Pruitt, a longtime critic of the very agency he now oversees, has moved to undo, delay or block over 30 environmental regulations. That's more rollbacks than any other administrator in the agency's 47-year history over such a short period of time, according to the New York Times.

What are the bills President Trump has signed?

Since his February confirmation, Pruitt has embarked on record-setting rollbacks, including filing a proposal to undo Obama-era climate change regulations, legal plans to repeal pollution in the nation's waterways, delaying rules requiring fossil fuel companies to rein in leaks of methane and greenhouse gases, and reversed a ban on the use of a pesticide the EPA deemed dangerous to children's health.

"Just the number of environmental rollbacks in this time frame is astounding," Richard Lazarus, a professor of environmental law at Harvard, told the Times. "Pruitt has come in with a real mission. He is much more organized, much more focused than the other cabinet-level officials, who have not really taken charge of their agencies. It's very striking how much they've done."

In lieu of federal government, states and cities take charge on environment
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In lieu of federal government, states and cities take charge on environment

Environmental advocates say Pruitt is weakening or doing away with numerous necessary regulations, and point to his habit of hiring deputies from major corporations and lobbying groups. Pruitt has also met with numerous corporate lobbyists as he puts his agenda into action.

"It amounts to a corporate takeover of the agency, in its decision- and policy-making functions," Robert Weissman, the president of Public Citizen, told the paper.

Perhaps the most notable and controversial of the Trump administration's rollback of environmental regulations is Mr. Trump's formal withdrawal from the Paris Climate Agreement. Pruitt will now take a leading role in steering the withdrawal, according to the Times.

The U.S. will now be one of only three countries out of 197 nations that isn't signed onto the agreement, with the other two being Nicaragua and Syria.

The pact is aimed at combating climate change around the world and helping nations adapt to its effects by requiring countries to present plans to reduce carbon emissions. Specifically, it requires countries to set their own targets for reducing emissions by 2020.

Climate change and the administration's climate accord pullout are expected to become a major topic up for discussion as Mr. Trump heads to Hamburg later this week to meet with other world leaders at the G20 summit.

Pruitt, meanwhile, says his agency will continue to prioritize handling what he calls "tangible" pollution, such as cleaning up Superfund sites.


Superfund sites

A Superfund site is any land in the United States that has been contaminated by hazardous waste and identified by the EPA as a candidate for cleanup because it poses a risk to human health and/or the environment. These sites are placed on the National Priorities List (NPL).

“Superfund” is a United States federal government program designed to fund the cleanup of sites contaminated with hazardous substances and pollutants. It was established as the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 (CERCLA).

What are the Superfund site "NPL" statuses? - TOXMAP FAQ
https://toxmap.nlm.nih.gov/toxmap/faq/.../what-are-the-superfund-site-npl-statuses.html



BELOW IS AN INTERVIEW WITH ONE OF THE BEST POP SINGERS AND WRITERS OF MY LIFETIME, WHOSE SONGS ARE ABOUT THE INNER SOUL OF PEOPLE WITHOUT MUCH MONEY – JUST ENOUGH TO GET ALONG, AND ABOUT THE PATH FROM YOUTHFUL HOPE TO THE SLOUGH OF DESPOND AND OUT AGAIN ON THE OTHER SIDE. HIS COUNTRY ROCK STYLE IS VERY APPEALING TO ME. MUSIC LIKE THIS HELPED TO HOLD ME TOGETHER FOR SOME 20 YEARS, AND KEPT ME ALIVE EMOTIONALLY AND MENTALLY. ADD IN THERE KRIS KRISTOFFERSON, JUDY COLLINS, JANIS JOPLIN, AND MORE. THE MAN OR WOMAN BORN INTO A WEALTHY HOUSEHOLD WHO HASN’T A CARE IN THE WORLD WILL NEVER UNDERSTAND THIS MUSIC, BECAUSE TRAGEDY TO SO MANY IS NOT GETTING A ROUND THE WORLD TOUR WHEN THEY REACH 21.

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/john-mellencamp-life-goes-on-sad-clowns-hillbillies/
CBS NEWS July 2, 2017, 10:07 AM
John Mellencamp: Life goes on

"Hurts So Good" was a hit summer song back in 1982 for John Mellencamp. Decades later, he's still a singer with stories to tell ... and a lot of drive besides, as Jane Pauley found out firsthand:

Well, I was born in a small town,
And I can breathe in a small town,
Gonna die in this small town,
And that's prob'ly where they'll bury me.

John Mellencamp was born in a small town -- Seymour, Indiana -- and he still lives outside another small town about 50 miles away, where, last month, it crossed fellow Hoosier Jane Pauley's mind she could die in one.

"I am not letting go!" she laughed, holding onto Mellencamp as they took off on a motorcycle. (Yes, she should have worn a helmet.)

john-mellencamp-jane-pauley-on-motorcycle-620.jpg
John Mellencamp with "Sunday Morning" anchor Jane Pauley. CBS NEWS
Mellencamp has come a long way, to his 86-acre estate bordering Lake Monroe near Bloomington.

Pauley asked, "What is it about you and Indiana?"

"I have to come here; I just feel at home," he said. "I mean, I can be away for a long time and come back here and kind of decompress and then: boom!"

It's ironic: he extols the bucolic life, but lives a fast one.

"Where would you rather be than sitting here and being interviewed?" Pauley asked.

"Well, cards on the table? I don't really like being interviewed. I have talked about myself for 40 years. And I'm just not that interesting."

Not interesting? Married in high school and a father at 19, Mellencamp wasted no time. At 21, he went to New York to study art -- or to sign a record deal.

"It turned out that the New York Art Student League wanted money, but the record company wanted to give me money!" he laughed. "I ended up getting a record deal like that."

"I interviewed the head of a record company and he said within minutes, everybody knows that somebody who has walked in the door has something."

"With the most humility, I say that's what happened to me. They didn't even listen to the demo tape!"

But we're still listening to Mellencamp classics, like "Jack & Diane":

Oh, yeah, Life goes on
Long after the thrill of living is gone.


John Mellencamp - Jack & Diane by JohnMellencampVEVO on YouTube
"I don't really know how a 25-year-old guy would know that life would go on long after the thrill of living is gone, but I wrote those words," Mellencamp said. "And for me it was very helpful because I don't know about you, but I want to do something every day. I want to learn something every day. I want to make something every day. If I go for a day and don't make anything, I feel guilty about it."

"I love every part of that statement. What do you think is driving you?" Pauley asked.

John Mellencamp on panic attacks and creativity
Play VIDEO
John Mellencamp on panic attacks and creativity

"I wrote in a song: 'Life is short, even in its longest days.'"

He's a serious and prolific painter. His portraits have been shown at museums. But the music often interrupts the brushwork.

"There's a song on the new record called 'Easy Targets,'" he said. "And I wrote that song in, I don't know, in five minutes. I couldn't even keep up with it. So songwriting has become like a real surprise to me and really exciting at my age. It's more exciting now than it ever was."

His latest -- and 23rd -- album is called "Sad Clowns & Hillbillies."

To watch the music video of John Mellencamp's "Grandview" (featuring Martina McBride), from his new album, "Sad Clowns & Hillbillies," click on the video player below.

John Mellencamp - Grandview (Lyric Video) ft. Martina McBride by JohnMellencampVEVO on YouTube
The critics have taken notice. Pauley asked, "Do you read 'em?"

"Nope. I'm finding this out from you!"

"They've been really, really good."

"I don't care," Mellencamp said. "Doesn't matter to me. If you care about the good ones, then you've got to care about the bad ones."

His music has changed over the years… and so has his name. From the 1970s through the '80s, he was John Cougar. His first manager thought it would sell more records.

To hear "John Cougar" perform "Hurts So Good" click on the video player below:


John Mellencamp - Hurts So Good by JohnMellencampVEVO on YouTube
For a while he went by John Cougar Mellencamp.

To hear "John Cougar Mellencamp" perform "Rain on the Scarecrow" click on the video player below:


John Mellencamp - Rain On The Scarecrow by JohnMellencampVEVO on YouTube
But by the early '90s the "Cougar" was gone.

At times overtly political, Mellencamp songs about freedom, struggling farmers, and the working man led fans to make assumptions. "Quite honestly, that's one of my biggest disappointments," he said. "You would think with all the goddamn people in the world, that somebody would have taken the time to sat down and listen to my lyrics to my songs one time."

"Pink Houses," for instance, is not a red-white-and-blue anthem:

"There's winners and there's losers
But they ain't no big deal
'Cause the simple man, baby
Pays for thrills, the bills, the pills that kill

Oh, but ain't that America
For you and me
Ain't that America
Something to see, baby
Ain't that America
Home of the free, yeah.
Little pink houses
For you and me
Oooh, little baby
For you and me"

"Your fans are probably way, way, way on the spectrum to the right of you," said Pauley.

"Oh, I've been booed," Mellencamp said. "When the Iraq War started, I was so against that."

If John Mellencamp sounds like one self-assured son-of-a-gun, she is the reason why: "Here's the trick, if you want a kid that has confidence: my grandmother told me every day of my life, 'Buddy, don't forget: you're the handsomest, luckiest, talented boy in the world.' The flip side of that is, it's really hard for girlfriends to compete with that!" he laughed.

It's an acknowledged fact that relationships have been a struggle.

Pauley asked. "What is the greatest lesson you've learned from the women in your life?"

"Too many to name. Apparently, women just don't like me very much. That's all I can say about that."

He's been linked in recent years to perennial cover girl Christie Brinkley and actress Meg Ryan -- and before them, three wives. He has five children, and nine grandkids.

john-mellencamp-cigarette-promo.jpg
The singer-songwriter credits cigarettes with giving him a voice like Louis Armstrong. CBS NEWS

He's been smoking, by the way, most of his life -- since he was 10.

As he looked for another cigarette, Pauley noted, "You have a voice to protect. Don't you? Or is it just getting better and better?"

"Are you kidding me? Have you ever heard my voice, honey? It's fantastic! Are you kidding me? I sound like a black guy singing now."

"What?"

"I mean, that's what I wanted. I wanted to sound, you know, like Louis Armstrong. But I didn't. I sounded like a white guy. And now I got it. These are my babies, c'mon!"

He says he doesn't worry so much about cigarettes and his health. He's got a strange theory: "Rightfully or wrongfully, I believe that it's the combination of cigarettes and alcohol that get people -- the two of them combined."

And he hasn't had a drink, he says, since college.

sad-clowns-and-hillbillies-cover-244.jpg
REPUBLIC

"It's probably a wacky idea, but it comforts me!" Mellencamp said. "Now that I've said that, two weeks from now you're gonna read: 'Mellencamp dies of heart attack'!"

Wood knocked.

He's already had a heart attack, at 42. And he does think about mortality.

"I'm 65 years old. I can see the finish line from here. I only have so many summers left. And I intend not to waste them being old."

To read an extended transcript of Jane Pauley's interview with John Mellencamp click here.

See also:

John Mellencamp continues Farm Aid crusade ("The Early Show," 08/12/11)
John Mellencamp: Life and music ("Sunday Morning," 09/23/03)
Mellencamp makes more music ("CBS This Morning," 12/02/98)

For more info:

mellencamp.com (Official site)
Tour information and tickets
Follow @johnmellencamp on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, MySpace and YouTube
"Sad Clowns and Hillbillies" by John Mellencamp (Republic); Available on CD (Amazon and Barnes & Noble), via Digital Download (Amazon and iTunes), and streaming (Spotify)



FLORIDA HAS LOVELY WHITE SAND, EASY TO WALK ON, BUT NC HAS LIFE FORMS OF MANY KINDS, AND THE SHELLY BEACHES THAT THIS ARTICLE IS TALKING ABOUT. THE MULTICOLORED SHELLS THAT COVER THE BEACHES, MAINLY BROKEN AND WORN SMOOTH, BUT OF COURSE THERE ARE LARGE SHELLS TOO, SUCH AS CONCHS AND SOME TINY LITTLE SHELLFISH THAT ARE ALIVE! THERE ARE ALSO LITTLE CRUSTACEANS CALLED “SAND FLEAS,” WHICH ARE DRAWN IN BY THE WAVES AND ALMOST IMMEDIATELY BURROW DOWN INTO THE SAND. I MISS CAPE HATTERAS.

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/shelly-island-new-beach-north-carolina-outer-banks/
CBS NEWS July 3, 2017, 9:30 AM
Shelly Island: The new beach off North Carolina's Outer Banks

There's a new attraction for thousands of people enjoying the long holiday weekend on North Carolina's Outer Banks.

Shelly Island is a destination you won't find on a standard map. The giant barrier island suddenly formed in the Atlantic Ocean, almost overnight.

CBS News correspondent Mark Strassmann reports the mile-long island, which measures as wide as a football field, has attracted hundreds of tourists by boat for the Fourth of July.

Pilot Larry Ihler told Strassmann the island "has definitely gotten bigger" and is "more built up."

Strassmann set out by kayak on Monday to explore Shelly Island with County Commissioner Danny Couch, who is a life-long resident of the Outer Banks.

Couch says he's seen barrier islands pop up before, but not like this one, which he first noticed in April.

"This is the mother of all sandbars," Couch said. "All of a sudden, right here where we're sitting. It's a hoss. It's huge. It is big."

The area off North Carolina's coast is one of the most dynamic ocean environments on Earth -- nicknamed the "graveyard of the Atlantic" -- with more than 2,000 documented shipwrecks since 1585.

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This mile-long sandbar, dubbed "Shelly Island" for its plethora of seashells and colorful pebbles, has been forming and growing since late spring. INSTAGRAM/@CHADONKA
Two powerful currents collided there -- the Gulf Stream from the Caribbean flowing quickly north, and the Labrador Current from the arctic pushing south.

The currents collide, churning surf and sand at Diamond Shoals, creating a cluster of shifting underwater sandbars off the coast of Cape Hatteras. Satellite imagery shows the large shoal has continued to grow ever since it surfaced last March.

"Nobody will ever be able to predict what's going to come out of the ocean or what it's going to look like," Couch said.

Over Memorial Day, 11-year-old Caleb Regan visited the island for the first time. He noticed shells scattered everywhere and gave the place a name that stuck: Shelly Island.

"I thought it would just be like a little family nickname," Caleb said. "I can't believe it got this big. Very incredible."

Strassmann says tourists keep coming to Shelly Island, both for the shells and the novelty. But aside from its beauty, the island presents potential trouble -- sharks swimming near boaters and waders. It's so new that no federal or state agency regularly patrols the area.

"Right now, nobody's really claiming ownership," Couch said. "It's sort of a no man's land. This could be yours, or mine, or somebody's. But it belongs to the American people. It's a phenomenon. Enjoy it while we have it."

Before you rush here to build a beach house, remember that nature gives and nature takes away. The first hurricane that comes along could blow the island, as big as it is, back into the Atlantic.



THE VARIETY OF LIFE FORMS THAT WE GET FROM EVOLUTION IS ONE OF THE MOST FASCINATING THINGS TO ME – HOW DO GOATS GET THE ABILITY TO CLIMB TREES AND, IN OTHER PLACES, SCALE ALMOST SHEER CLIFFS TO LIVE UP THERE? ANSWER, THOSE WHO CAN’T WILL DIE. THAT’S SAD, BUT THE JOY IS WHAT DOES DEVELOP OUT OF THAT WINNOWING PROCESS.

http://www.cbsnews.com/videos/why-are-there-goats-in-the-trees/
Why are there goats in the trees?

VIDEO ONLY, BUT A GREAT VIDEO!

JULY 2, 2017, 9:47 AM| The nut of the argan tree, which grows in the Moroccan countryside of Essaouira, contains a valuable oil known for its anti-aging properties, that is popping up in everything from shampoo and body lotion to food products. But nowhere on the labels will you find the remarkable story behind how this oil was born - and the role goats' digestive tracts play in its harvesting. Jonathan Vigliotti reports. (Originally broadcast on May 15, 2016.)



ANOTHER GREAT VIDEO. THE CBS SUNDAY MORNING NEWS SHOW IS THE BEST.

http://www.cbsnews.com/videos/shady-lady-the-worlds-largest-rose-bush/
Shady Lady: The world's largest rose bush

JULY 2, 2017, 9:22 AM| The Old West city of Tombstone, Ariz., is famous not just for the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral but also for the world's largest rose bush. The Lady Banksia Rose Bush was planted in the back of a boarding house in 1885. Today, more than century later, the rose bush (nicknamed the Shady Lady) is the world's largest - at last measurement, its canopy of white blossoms covers more than 8,000 square feet! Lee Cowan reports on a magnificent, and seemingly immortal, desert bloom.



THIS WEBSITE CONTAINS THE FAMOUS WRYLY HUMOROUS SPEECH, AND LOTS OF GOOD PHOTOS. GO TO IT IF YOU’RE INTERESTED. GOOD SHOT OF PRINCE WILLIAM AND HIS LITTLE FAMILY. TWO MORE CUTE LITTLE ROYAL BABIES.

https://www.royal.uk/annus-horribilis-speech
A speech by The Queen on the 40th Anniversary of her succession (Annus horribilis speech)
Published 24 November 1992

“1992 is not a year on which I shall look back with undiluted pleasure.”
Her Majesty The Queen.


THIS IS THE SUNDAY MORNING NEWS SHOW, AND IT CONTAINS AT LEAST SIX REALLY GOOD IN DEPTH STORIES. SIT BACK AND WATCH IT.
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-attack-cnn-tweet/


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6EA4WFNBhF8
THE EAGLES LIVE 1977 FULL CONCERT HD (THE CAPITAL CENTER)
TUNE IN, RELAX AND THINK BACK TO YOUR TWENTIES.