Politicon

Politicon, the unconventional political convention, is returning to Pasadena. On July 29 and 30 at the Pasadena Convention Center political junkies can be satisfied to their heart’s content with panels, debates, art, interviews, comedy shows and more. Among the many political personalities and journalists scheduled to participate in the proceedings are Ann Coulter, James Carville, Jake Tapper, Lesley Stahi, Rep. Karen Bass, Sen. Amy Klobucher, Paul Begala, Bob Shrum, Bill Kristol, Rep. Ted Lieu, KABC’s Doug McIntrye, the Washington Post’s Chris Cillizza, and many more. INCLUDING Fox and Hounds regular columnist Joe Mathews. Read more about Politicon and how to get tickets here.

Monkey See, Monkey Sue

There’s the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals getting its hands on another controversial case. An Indonesian monkey named Naruto was enamored with wildlife photographer’s David Slater’s camera and snapped a few pictures of himself. Slater used the selfies in a book called “Wildlife Personalities.” Lawyers for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) claim that the monkey owns the rights to the selfies. They sued and the Ninth Circuit heard the case in San Francisco this week. The court has to decide if the monkey has rights to the photo. PETA says if it wins the case any monetary reward received will go to improving the habitats of monkey populations.

But the real question is: will the United States Supreme Court have to overturn yet another Ninth Circuit  Court decision? More on the court hearing here.

CalExit Comic

California is at war with the United States in a new graphic novel/comic called CalExit. The series was reported a month after the Trump inauguration and the first issue is now out. The dystopian world of black clad resisters (remember the UC Berkeley protests) and environmental decay was not originally conceived as a response to Trump’s election. Author Matteo Pizzolo was reacting to the California drought but it took on a new life when Trump was elected. An interview with Pizzolo at Entertainment Weekly is here.