Matt Garber

As the White House braces for former FBI Director James Comey’s testimony Thursday, sources tell ABC News the relationship between President Trump and Attorney General Jeff Sessions has become so tense that Sessions at one point recently even suggested he could resign.

“Trump’s anger over the recusal has not diminished with time. Two sources close to the president say he lashed out repeatedly at the attorney general in private meetings, blaming the recusal for the expansion of the Russian investigation, now overseen by Special Counsel and former FBI Director Robert Mueller.”

Who is more deserving to be the Belgian monarch: A man who was — literally — born to do the job, or a fast food chain? However silly that question might sound, it’s one that the actual King of Belgium would rather Burger King didn’t ask.

BK is opening its first restaurant in Belgium in June, and to promote the event it’s launched a campaign called “Who is the king?” featuring a cartoon likeness of King Philippe of Belgium, who ascended to the throne in 2013 after his father abdicated.

Reps for the monarch tell Reuters that they are “not happy with them using an image of the king in their campaign.”

Visitors to WhoIsTheKing.be are presented with a cartoon version of the king and a Burger King burger and asked to vote. “Two Kings. One crown. Who will rule? Vote now … ” the site reads.

If you click on King Philippe, a popup asks, “Are you sure? He won’t be the one to cook your fries.”

“We disapprove of this approach,” royal spokesman Pierre Emmanuel de Bauw told the BBC. “Since it is for commercial purposes, we would not have given our authorization.”

After the monarch’s representatives expressed their displeasure, a spokeswoman for Burger Brands Belgium says the company is weighing whether to tweak the advertising. As of May 30, the cartoon king remains.

“We are deliberating on how to proceed,” she told Reuters. “Should we make a change to our campaign we would communicate that.”

Orange Julius-themed toilet paper will hit the shelves this year, and 30% of the profits go towards helping migrants.

Via CNN affiliate Expansion:

Del enfado pasó a la creatividad. Antonio Battaglia, un abogado guanajuatense, pondrá a la venta la marca de papel higiénico 'Trump' a finales de año, y de paso dejará una parte de las ganancias para apoyar a migrantes y a sus compatriotas deportados.

El tono ofensivo que utilizó Donald Trump al referirse a los mexicanos durante sus días de campaña rumbo a la presidencia de Estados Unidos motivó a Battaglia, que buscó generar un mensaje para dejar claro que los mexicanos no son “Bad Hombres”, como les llamó el estadounidense.

"Me generó una molestia y empecé a buscar la manera de hacer algo que tuviera una repercusión, no en tono de burla o un mal desquite, sino de manera positiva”, dijo en entrevista a Expansión.

(h/t Pocho)

North Carolina state Rep. Larry Pittman (R) said in a Facebook post that President Abraham Lincoln was a “tyrant” similar to Germany’s Adolf Hitler, the Raleigh News & Observer reports.

A commenter reminded Pittman that the Supreme Court ruling settled the law on gay marriage and that the lawmaker should “get over it.”

Pittman’s response: “And if Hitler had won, should the world just get over it? Lincoln was the same sort of tyrant, and personally responsible for the deaths of over 800,000 Americans in a war that was unnecessary and unconstitutional.”

Of all the ways players taunt each other in fighting games, there’s no taunt as stylish as the trumpet solos that players can pull off in Skullgirls.

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Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) is using Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s own words against him in a looming confirmation fight, sending the Kentucky Republican his own 2009 letter outlining nomination requirements.

Better follow that burger… with my spider-tracer

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) announced this morning that she is running for reelection in 2018, the Boston Globe reports.

Said Warren: “The people of Massachusetts didn’t send me to Washington to roll over and play dead while Donald Trump and his team of billionaires, bigots, and Wall Street bankers crush the working people of our Commonwealth and this country. This is no time to quit.”

She added: “I don’t kid myself: the upcoming fights in the Senate – and our campaign in Massachusetts in 2018 – are likely to be uglier and nastier than anything we’ve ever imagined. I’m not taking anything for granted.”

zgmfd:

Body Armor for a Dog (1967)
HR Giger

Dangerous levels of inappropriateness.

If you’ve ever thought “Hey, Seinfeld’s great and all, but what it could really use is more anime,” here is Just The Thing for you.

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Whisk yourself back to the days of bulky devices, outmoded physical media, and painfully obvious visual puns with these 1990s high-tech stock photos. Literal surfing and literal webs! Large format high resolution only $399 on some stock sites! (more…)

For several decades, the company behind the Skinless brand of hot dogs tried very hard to make "Weeny Witch" parties a thing. Unfortunately it didn't catch on, but perhaps the time is finally right. More information over at Weird Universe, including rules for a delightful party game called "Feeding the Weeny Witch."

When there’s a disaster in certain areas of the country, people turn to an entity known for its careful preparation for times of crisis and its dependability to be the first business in town to reopen, if it closed at all. With the imminent arrival of Hurricane Matthew, all eyes are on this key piece of our infrastructure: Waffle House.

Waffle House? Yes, the breakfast food chain is concentrated in the South, making it a useful gauge when a hurricane comes. Restaurants have a special storm menu, they keep an eye on the weather, and they have generators that will keep the restaurant going and customers fed in a crisis.

If you’re looking for a sign of how severe this oncoming storm is supposed to be, Waffle House has closed its restaurants across Florida.

The former head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency even had an informal “Waffle House Index” showing that when Waffle House closes, things are serious, and the agency should come help. The system only works in the Southeast, of course, since the rest of the country is deprived of Waffle Houses, but those are areas where hurricanes and tornadoes hit, and emergency preparation is key.

“We’re a 24-hour restaurant, so oddly enough shutting down is a big deal for us,” the company’s vice president of culture told Fox News (Warning: auto-play video at that link) a few days ago, back when the company was planning to stick out the storm. Since then, it has decided to close in areas where the hurricane is projected to hit.

When Waffle House surrenders to a hurricane, you know it’s bad [Miami Herald]
When disaster strikes, FEMA turns to Waffle House [Marketplace]

Huffington Post: “As a record number of Americans tuned in to Monday night’s presidential debate between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, one major pornographic website saw its traffic sharply drop. Compared to an average Monday, Pornhub.com reported that its traffic fell by 16 percent at 9 p.m. Eastern time this Monday ― the moment the televised debate kicked off. Traffic then recovered to normal levels as the debate wrapped up.”

The post People Stopped Watching Porn During Debate appeared first on Political Wire.

Wizards, 1981, by Bob Pepper

Welp, at least someone's happy about summer ending and the school year starting.

(more…)

Bowing to intense pressure from elves and the people who believe in them, the government of Iceland will unearth a purportedly magical “Elfin Lady Stone” buried by highway workers by mistake. The inadvertent burial of their sacred site seriously pissed off the mythical creatures, according to reports.

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Dwarf Fortress is ten years old today. Happy birthday! To celebrate, here’s a list of the best patch notes, like “Fixed bug with mules shitting luggage”.

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Got a lot of time on your hands? Build this amazingly detailed LEGO model of the Ghostbusters Firehouse!

With over 4000 pieces, you also get Venkman, Stantz, Spengler and Zeddemore minifigs, along with a pole for them to slide down!

LEGO Ghostbusters 75827 Firehouse Headquarters Building Kit (4634 Piece) via Amazon

Still rates as better than an episode of Mr. Belvedere.

(Thanks, Leo!)

Duck Dynasty star Phil Robertson, who endorsed Ted Cruz in the GOP primaries, told Fox and Friends that he is willing to be Donald Trump’s “spiritual adviser” and will do “everything he can” to help him become president.

Ursula K Le Guin

Republican operatives are investigating rumors that Sen. Ted Cruz has had extramarital affairs with at least five different women, the National Enquirer reports.

Gawker: “The actual story—which is not online, but which Gawker has obtained a copy of—does not name any of the women with whom Cruz purportedly was involved. Descriptions are given for each, however, and at least one should sound very familiar to folks who have been following this election.”

Syrian refugees who found their way to Canada have been placed in a hotel hosting a furry convention. Wonderfully surreal scenes of displaced kids dancing with fursuiters were captured on video and posted to YouTube. The New York Daily News described an "aww-inspiring" encounter. (more…)

Wired: “Due to an oversight involving a haphazardly-installed Chrome extension during the editing process, the name Donald Trump was erroneously replaced with the phrase ‘Someone With Tiny Hands’ when this story originally published.”