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Year 2017.
Since there were issues voiced about the date in the previous title, and even though 500 pages were not filled up, here is the new thread.
News and current events discussions.
Same rules apply.
Be neighborly to one another!!
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And the Rosie/Donald feud continues.. you know I have to say there was a time when I was Rosie's #1 fan, I really was. And I still like her, but she needs to let this go, it can't be good for her own mental health.
Rosie O'Donnell just called Donald Trump "mentally unstable," which is not shocking given their history, but she followed up with a remark/threat that is alarming.
Rosie tweeted, "LESS THAN 3 WEEKS TO STOP HIM AMERICA." She doesn't explain what she means, but you'll recall the heat Trump took during the campaign when he told a gun group, "If she gets to pick her judges nothing you can do folks, although the Second Amendment people, maybe there is" ... lots of people viewed that as a veiled call to action. Rosie just did the same thing.
Your move, Prez elect.
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Thanks for the laughs, Linda!
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As for Rosie, "she" needs to let it go?
She did an impression of him over ten years ago on The View, for less than 5 minutes, and "he who shall not be named" is
the one who has never let that go. Not to mention the names he's called her over the years and worse. How does one let
something go when the other person never does? The bully has picked on "her" for ten years, so she has a right to let it
out once in awhile. "Good for her," I say.
The link on that tweet also refers to a CNN article where his mental instability is evident.
The "stop him" line...what's good for the p-elect is good for the gander.
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As someone has written elsewhere- 2017 is starting like 2016 ended. Another loss.
Peter Sarsted. Probably not as famous, his name meant nothing to me and apparently he only had one big hit but one of my favourites although it always makes me cry.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L8XQZYIiNgo (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L8XQZYIiNgo)
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Hello Brian!
Never heard that song before, but when I saw the title Where Do You Go To My Lovely, it made me think a song that was a hit during my time was actually a remake, as the song opens with "where do you go, my lovely"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yt-KMPvgKPo
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Hello Brian!
Never heard that song before, but when I saw the title Where Do You Go To My Lovely, it made me think a song that was a hit during my time was actually a remake, as the song opens with "where do you go, my lovely"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yt-KMPvgKPo
Hi Chuck
That is blocked in NZ due to copyright, so i will have to take your word for it. The Sarsted hit was 1969. It makes me think of "Bye Bye Miss American Pie" which was 1971. I guess those ballad type songs were in at the time. I loved most of them.
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Here's a fan made video, perhaps that will make a difference.
If not, oh well! I tried!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CrjtY9rMfwA
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CrjtY9rMfwA
Yes it worked thanks. Ok more like the disco songs of the 80's. I am afraid I stopped listening to pop music in the 90's. We had a station here which played 50's and 70's but it seems to have disappeared so I just listen to classical radio now but sadly some of the death notices bring back the old greats for me. I do have some CDs and lots of reel to reel tapes (???) of those old songs but rarely think to play them (well am never likely to drag out the old reel to reel tape player although I did bring it to NZ (threw out the record player) but it and the tapes are at the top of a cupboard).
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I watched President Obama's speech last night. It was more poignant knowing what lies ahead.
Then the news comes on afterwards talking about Russia possibly having things they can use to
blackmail the incoming resident. Like video of assignations with prostitutes in Russia. Prostitutes
he used to perform golden showers on a bed that the current President and his wife had slept in.
With some friends at dinner last week, one of the guests brought along an acquaintance who is
an airline steward and has been for a long time. He is based out of New York and travels a lot of
out of country routes. When the topics became political he spoke up at one point and said, "You
know the rest of the world thinks we're (the U.S.) is a joke now. They don't take us seriously.
No respect."
Yay for "U.S."
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(https://peopledotcom.files.wordpress.com/2017/01/barack-obama-11.jpg?w=1500)
A Tearful Farewell: President Obama, Daughter Malia (and Even Joe Biden) Weep During Farewell Speech
Many were emotional while witnessing President Barack Obama make his farewell address, including the commander-in-chief himself.
Obama pulled out his handkerchief and wiped his eyes when speaking about his wife of 25 years, First Lady Michelle Obama.
“Michelle – Michelle LaVaughn Robinson, girl of the Southside, for the past 25 years, you’ve been not only my wife and mother of my children, but my best friend,” the president said. ...
http://people.com/politics/a-tearful-farewell-president-obama-daughter-malia-weep-during-farewell-speech/
:(
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Obama pulled out his handkerchief and wiped his eyes when speaking about his wife of 25 years, First Lady Michelle Obama.
I may miss her more than I miss him. I ain't jokin'. I think she's an amazing woman.
You know, they used to call Joe Biden "the third Senator from Pennsylvania." I'll miss him, too.
Of course I'll miss the President, too. A lot.
And, may God forgive me, but will somebody take out Mitch McConnell?* When he complains about the Democrats doing exactly what the Republicans did eight years ago, I so want to slap him silly.
*OK, just out of the Senate? Please?
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^^^^^^
I am so with you, Jeff. I have come to loathe that man and anytime I see him I get viscerally upset.
If I were ever around him I really think I'd haul off and slug him. Maybe he'd be more upset if I gave
him a big wet one on the mouth. Ditch Mitch. In any way possible.
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I may miss her more than I miss him. I ain't jokin'. I think she's an amazing woman.
[/size]
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Oh come on Jeff, you can't see/feel the love here? :D
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^^^^^^
Thanks for making me cringe.
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Jury condemns Dylann Roof to death for Charleston, S.C., church shooting that killed 9
A federal jury on Tuesday condemned unrepentant white supremacist Dylann Roof to death for the June 2015 massacre of nine black parishioners at a South Carolina Bible study class.
Roof stood stone-faced, showing no emotion, as U.S. District Judge Richard Gergel announced the jury's unanimous verdict, which came after about three hours of deliberation.
Relatives and friends of the victims were quiet. Some left court smiling and embracing....
http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-charleston-roof-sentencing-20170110-story.html
I actually think they gave him just what he wanted, I think life in prison without parole would have been a worse punishment..
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The most amazing thing Trump said at his press conference this morning:
■ Mr. Trump was asked how he would reform the news media he criticizes frequently. “I don’t recommend reforms,” he said. “I recommend people that have some moral compass.” He added, “I will tell you, some of the media outlets that I deal with are fake news, more so than anybody.”
LOLOL! Trump talks about people having a moral compass when he has none whatsoever.
He whines "FAKE NEWS!"
I say "FAKE PRESIDENT."
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Oh come on Jeff, you can't see/feel the love here? :D
Ain't got nuttin' to do with my admiration for Michelle Obama.
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Born in the Socialist Republic of Slovenia, father managed car and motorcycle dealerships, Mother was a patternmaker at the children's clothing manufacturer, grew up in a modest apartment in a housing block in Sevnica, in Slovenia's Lower Sava Valley.
From that to First Lady of the United States, that is something!
They say think Jackie Kennedy, not Eleanor Roosevelt, Hillary Clinton or Michelle Obama.
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All I can think of is "classless" and whoever "THEY" are to equate her with Jackie Kennedy don't have a clue as to what "THEY" are talking about.
(https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-2aTUnkapezY/WCT9ewcBvGI/AAAAAAAABaI/LXZDXMn1CGgI0ti04_ZkINQe00njdpf2QCLcB/w1200-h630-p-nu/Melania%2BTrump%2Bnude%2BPhotos%2Bof%2BDonald%2BTrump%25E2%2580%2599s%2Bwife%2Bsurface%2Bfrom%2Bracy%2Bshoots.jpg)
And these aren't even the raunchy ones.
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Agree, Linda. And there's still a question of whether she was borught here legally or not.
As is his pattern, during the campaign D.T. said he would have a press conference and
show us her papers. Didn't do it. Why? Probably the same thing as why he won't release
any tax returns.
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True, Lyle. These photo shoots were done while she had a visitor's visa, that specifically said she was not to make money while she was here, and I guarantee she did not do them for free.
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All I can think of is "classless" and whoever "THEY" are to equate her with Jackie Kennedy don't have a clue as to what "THEY" are talking about.
Umm that would be according to first-lady historians! ::)
http://www.usatoday.com/story/life/2016/11/09/what-kind-first-lady-melania-trump/93547736/
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One of the main things that just gets me riled about the conservatives is akin to what
Jeff mentioned about Senator McConnell's two-faced hypocrisy. When Kerry ran for
President the conservatives complained about it being unthinkable that John Kerry's
wife was -- egads! -- not born in the United States. But Melanoma? No problem!
How can you trust any group that lacks, like I mentioned above today, any moral compass.
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I guess, Linda, they weren't comparing Melania to her as someone with class, grace and dignity, but
someone preferring to stay behind the scenes and support her paycheck husband, as First Ladies
were more required to do in the past.
Regardless, it seems to me that in order to be The First Lady, one must first be a lady.
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Regardless, it seems to me that in order to be The First Lady, one must first be a lady.
Well, since you said that, Lyle, I'll stick my neck out and say, That's what I was thinking. I think there used to be a word for women who posed for photos like that, and lady it wasn't.
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Well, since you said that, Lyle, I'll stick my neck out and say, That's what I was thinking. I think there used to be a word for women who posed for photos like that, and lady it wasn't.
Well you know if we are going to put the women "in the news" let's not forget the men. Was just reading about Clinton's affairs when he was Governor and then there is this:
Then once he was in the White House, his promiscuousness didn't stop. There she was, Monica Lewinsky, a young good looking 21-year-old intern. She performed oral sex on Clinton in the oval office. She had a dress with a Clinton sperm stain on it. And Clinton took a cigar tube and inserted it into Lewinsky's vagina.
Once the news broke, Clinton adamantly denied any sexual activity with Lewinsky, later rebutting his story and admitting that it did in fact happen.
That ain't no gentleman! But a good President by all accounts.
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Well you know if we are going to put the women "in the news" let's not forget the men. Was just reading about Clinton's affairs when he was Governor and then there is this:
Then once he was in the White House, his promiscuousness didn't stop. There she was, Monica Lewinsky, a young good looking 21-year-old intern. She performed oral sex on Clinton in the oval office. She had a dress with a Clinton sperm stain on it. And Clinton took a cigar tube and inserted it into Lewinsky's vagina.
Once the news broke, Clinton adamantly denied any sexual activity with Lewinsky, later rebutting his story and admitting that it did in fact happen.
That ain't no gentleman! But a good President by all accounts.
That's for sure!
I never heard about the cigar tube before. ... Ick. ...
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Well you know if we are going to put the women "in the news" let's not forget the men.
Not, WE Bubba, it's YOU. You are the only one who posts about Trump's family. I don't think anyone else
has brought them up but you, and then people comment on it.
If those things were a big knock against Bill Clinton, which is certainly true, and the Republicans dragged the
country through impeachment proceedings because of it, and thought it was the worst thing on earth
that could happen...why were they okay with Donald Trump's pussy grabbing, sexual assaults, and his, as I've
mentioned before, wife being born in another country and soft core porn and illegal immigrant status? It's the
hypocrisy that's maddening.
By the way, there was so much made up things about the Clinton's during the campaign, what is the source
of your statement: "Was just reading about Clinton's affairs when he was Governor."
Also, any time someone makes a point about something why do you feel the need to counter it to balance it out
with an opposing statement, as though that makes it fair or something. Neither Bill Clinton's oval office affair, which
was consensual by the way, or Trump's treatment of women and bragging about assaulting them (and everything else
about him) is a good thing.
Bringing up Bill Clinton and what you've read about him, does not mean that any of the things we have posted about Melania
are any less valid just because you want to bring up a tit for tat with someone else. You are doing precisely what Melania's
husband does. Someone points out a fact, he distracts with something else to avoid the truth.
Why don't you bring up your own Prime Minister's current problems, like his approving pipelines from the Alberta oil sands,
his family vacation in the Bahamas and the ethics investigation?
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It's the hypocrisy that's maddening.
Yup.
I'm not sure why, but this reminds me of thoughts I had listening to President Obama's farewell speech. I had thoughts that a lot of what he was saying about politics and democracy was just a waste of wind, because the Republican idea of compromise is The other side gives in and they get their way. There is no working with people like that. And why should they compromise? They've got the White House and the majorities in the House and the Senate.
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I read this today and agree. It was in response to an article, which the last paragraph stated:
Since the election, the media and many Democratic politicians have wrung their hands over their failure to pay attention to the legitimate anger in the Trump-tilting parts of the country. And good for them.
But it’s time to remember that there are about 66 million Clinton voters who have a right to be angry, too.
The response:
Thank you for that last line, Gail. I'm one of those 66 million who are angry, and tired of hearing how Democrats need to start paying more attention to the white working class. In fact, it's exactly the opposite. That white working class (in which I was raised) needs to start paying attention to what the Democratic Party has been trying to do for them for eighty years. Do the words Social Security, Medicare, and minimum wage ring a bell? Instead, that white working class has been falling for the lies being peddled for the last thirty years by a Republican Party that has zero interest in helping them. Trump is the logical conclusion to this long campaign to get the working class fighting amongst itself--white against black, straight against gay, Christian against Muslim--so they don't notice the guys at the top are robbing them blind. And now we're supposed take responsibility for THEIR inability to recognize who is actually on their side, and their refusal to stop voting against their own interests? Please. You're damn right we're angry. They've done this to themselves. And now we ALL have to pay.
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Not, WE Bubba, it's YOU. You are the only one who posts about Trump's family. I don't think anyone else
has brought them up but you, and then people comment on it.
All I can think of is "classless" and whoever "THEY" are to equate her with Jackie Kennedy don't have a clue as to what "THEY" are talking about.
(https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-2aTUnkapezY/WCT9ewcBvGI/AAAAAAAABaI/LXZDXMn1CGgI0ti04_ZkINQe00njdpf2QCLcB/w1200-h630-p-nu/Melania%2BTrump%2Bnude%2BPhotos%2Bof%2BDonald%2BTrump%25E2%2580%2599s%2Bwife%2Bsurface%2Bfrom%2Bracy%2Bshoots.jpg)
And these aren't even the raunchy ones.
I am the only one bringing up Trumps family? What do you call this Lyle and the posts after it.. I am simply saying why attack his wife - what has she done? Calling her "melanoma".
She went to University - she modeled for fashion houses in Milan and Paris, she speaks six languages: Serbo-Croatian, English, French, Italian, German, and her native Slovene.
She appears to be a devoted wife and Mother!
And if you think it is okay for the President of the United States to have oral sex performed on him in the oval office, I am not sure what to tell ya..
Let me know when Trump acts like that once he becomes the President!
And for the 100th time I post other news stories, did yesterday, no one comments, they only want to talk about Trump, well should say complain about Trump..
As for Justin he went on a holiday with an old family friend, to his friends private island, last I checked that was not a crime and really no ones business!
P.S.
Applying as a model of "extraordinary ability", Melania obtained a green card and became a lawful permanent resident in 2001, and citizen in 2006.
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I am simply saying why attack his wife - what has she done? Calling her "melanoma".
Sorry, Lyle, but I have been thinking that's a bit much.
Wait till she does something really stupid, like buy an obscenely expensive set of new china for the White House. ;)
But I also don't think anybody said it's OK for the POTUS to get a blow job in the Oval Office.
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I won’t miss listening to Joe Biden: too much schmaltz was for me. But he’s a good man, and that Medal of Freedom presentation was beautiful
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Was just coming in to post that Dave..
Biden Surprised with Medal of Freedom as He Shares How Obama Saw Him Through Darkest Moments of His Son’s Illness
President Barack Obama paid tribute to Joe Biden in a surprise ceremony at the White House on Thursday, where he awarded the vice president the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
A tearful Biden was overcome with emotion as Obama placed the medal around his neck and the two leaders embraced.
http://people.com/politics/obama-awards-biden-presidential-medal-freedom/
And Michelle was serenaded by Stevie Wonder no less..
Watch Stevie Wonder's Glowing Tribute to Michelle Obama on 'Fallon'
Stevie Wonder appeared on The Tonight Show on Tuesday to celebrate Michelle Obama's time as First Lady. He dug up two standards from his back catalog – "Isn't She Lovely" and "My Cherie Amour" – and modified the lyrics of the second tune in Mrs. Obama's honor, declaring "You'll always be First Lady in our lives."
http://www.rollingstone.com/music/videos/watch-stevie-wonders-tribute-to-michelle-obama-on-fallon-w460732
Just a big love fest going on!
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Sorry, Lyle, but I have been thinking that's a bit much.
Wait till she does something really stupid, like buy an obscenely expensive set of new china for the White House. ;)
you don't really think she's gonna live in that dump, do you?
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Public housing? Where minorities once lived? No way.
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you don't really think she's gonna live in that dump, do you?
I figure she'll redecorate it like the Trump Tower. Or the Taj Mahal. ;)
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I guess, Linda, they weren't comparing Melania to her as someone with class, grace and dignity, but
someone preferring to stay behind the scenes and support her paycheck husband, as First Ladies
were more required to do in the past.
Regardless, it seems to me that in order to be The First Lady, one must first be a lady.
Absolutely, Lyle. And she is anything but.
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Sorry, Lyle, but I have been thinking that's a bit much.
Thing is Lyle is better than that... there are a few people here who are just plain mean/miserable, Lyle has never struck me that way.
..She would certainly break the mold, being the first third wife to occupy the White House, the first non-native speaker of English, and the first fluent in five languages – Slovenian, German, French, Serbian and English.
Contrary to popular belief she would not be the first foreign born – that was Louisa Adams, the English wife of sixth president John Quincy, who served from 1825 to 1829.
Nor would she be the first model – both Betty Ford and Pat Nixon worked as models, with Mrs Nixon using those skills to become the first first lady to appear publicly in trousers, and model them for a national magazine...
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I am the only one bringing up Trumps family? What do you call this Lyle and the posts after it..
What I wrote was: I don't think anyone else has brought them up but you, and then people comment on it.
Linda was commenting on it because of your post. In other words, she wouldn't have been brought up at all if
you hadn't posted about her. "So it's all your fault." Comprendez-vous?
I am simply saying why attack his wife - what has she done? Calling her "melanoma".
It's nothing that comedians haven't been doing for weeks, so, really, you guys are offended that I called Melania
"Melanoma?" Where were all of you for two years at the things people were calling Hillary Clinton? ...silence...
I was going to call Melania what a comedian did -- Malaria Trump, but decided to come up with my own.
By the way, I'm only emulating our p-elect. What's good for the goose and all that... He just called our
patriotic intelligence agencies NAZI's. Sounds like a good working plan going forward.
She went to University - she modeled for fashion houses in Milan and Paris, she speaks six languages: Serbo-Croatian, English, French, Italian, German, and her native Slovene.
She appears to be a devoted wife and Mother!
I am glad you are enamored with her. I am not. By the way, it's not been established that she actually was
"enrolled in University." Nor that she wasn't here working illegally. Trump was supposed to show us her papers
last August, but he has such a short attention span, you know.
And if you think it is okay for the President of the United States to have oral sex performed on him in the oval office, I am not sure what to tell ya..
Show me where I said that?
Let me know when Trump acts like that once he becomes the President!
You haven't been paying attention previously?
I'll give him one thing. He is unifying the country.
His approval rating right now, before he even enters office, is 37%. His
disapproval rating is 63% of the U.S. Makes you wonder how he got elected.
Or should I say: "Заставляет задуматься, как он был избран."
And for the 100th time I post other news stories, did yesterday, no one comments, they only want to talk about Trump, well should say complain about Trump.
You see nothing wrong with the p-elect?
Why wouldn't I talk about him if you give me and us the opportunity to reply to your posts
and I am very inclined to? Thanks for the outlet to do so.
As for Justin he went on a holiday with an old family friend, to his friends private island, last I checked that was not a crime and really no ones business!
Tell that to all the news people reporting about that and his other problems right now.
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I won’t miss listening to Joe Biden: too much schmaltz was for me.
No wonder you didn't care for La La Land.
___________
(By the way, dear readers, schmaltz has acquired a negative connotation to people over time, but it really
just means "excessive sentimentality, especially in music or movies." But many people have different
tolerations of excessive. I don't find sentimentality a bad thing, even if excessive, only if it reads or feels
false, as Oilgun pointed out in a post on another thread.)
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I'll be spending inauguration day demonstrating against the incoming abomination
in downtown Los Angeles and Saturday morning with the women's march (men
welcome) to City Hall, too. Weather permitting, lol. At the moment we're appropriately
scheduled to have rain tears on the 20th.
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For anyone interested, the DECADES TV channel is having some special programming:
Hosted by award-winning journalist Bill Kurtis, Inauguration Day Through the Decades is a historic and unique programming event presented by Decades, beginning on Thursday, January 19, at 7 am/ET and continuing through Saturday, January 21, at 10 am/ET. It begins with a special half-hour Through the Decades look at past inaugurations, featuring each President from Harry Truman through Barack Obama.
Through the Decades is followed by 14 inauguration speeches. Tapping the resources of the CBS News Archives, Decades will mark Inauguration Day by featuring the televised speeches of each President of the modern era. Viewers will see Presidents Kennedy (1), Johnson (1), Nixon (2), Carter (1), Reagan (2), Bush (1), Clinton (2), Bush (2), and Obama (2), and hear the historic inauguration speeches from each leader, just as they happened on Inauguration Day. This special seven-hour programming event will be rebroadcast continuously for two days.
Mercifully, it seems that each speech is condensed into a half-hour version of the best or most notable parts of the speeches.
See a complete program schedule at this link:
http://www.decades.com/articles/watch-presidential-inauguration-speeches-on-decades
On this page you can also find out where to watch on TV, or you can come
back to Decades.com on Thursday, January 19, to watch the speeches online.
If you want to see REAL Presidents instead of a FAKE one, that is.
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Umm no one on here was insulting Hillary that I saw, if they had called her a "melanoma" or whatever cancer rhymes with Hillary, I sure would have commented.
I have heard people on line refer to Ellen DeGeneres as Ellen Degenerate, does that strike you as funny Lyle?
I said I thought you were better than that, but I think the election has changed you, it's sad.
comprenez-vous?
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No wonder you didn't care for La La Land.
___________
Oh brother. When you have to stretch that far . . . desperate. Sad.
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I actually find Melania impressive in most ways, aside from marrying a buffoon. (Though she has apparently left him.)
The reports I get are that she's a very attentive mom and has her hands full raising their special-needs son, with the press has been keeping quiet. She walks him to school every day.
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(By the way, dear readers, schmaltz has acquired a negative connotation to people over time, but it really
just means "excessive sentimentality..."
LOL. Your definition contradicts the acquired over time nonsense.
FYI:
Origin
1930s: from Yiddish shmaltz, from German Schmalz dripping, lard.
Nope, no negative connotation intended there. Just acquired over time. (Sarcasm.)
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I actually find Melania impressive in most ways, aside from marrying a buffoon.
A breath of fresh air and a voice of reason, the only point I was ever trying to make. In a sea of hate..
She is a good Mother, appears to be and yes word is Baron may be autistic.
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A breath of fresh air and a voice of reason, the only point I was ever trying to make. In a sea of hate..
She is a good Mother, appears to be and yes word is Baron may be autistic.
I didn't realize word was seeping out about Baron's condition. I'm curious: where did you hear/read that?
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I have read it all over the place and of course the "infamous video", which I am not sure is on line any longer, I think it was taken down. Here is a recent article:
http://www.smobserved.com/story/2016/12/25/lifestyle/is-barron-trump-autistic-some-dare-to-ask-whether-president-trumps-son-battles-autism/2305.html
I mean Trump is speaking out on Autism and vaccines, Melania is speaking out on bullying, cyber bulling of children and will make it one of her key issues as First Lady apparently.
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Oh brother. When you have to stretch that far . . . desperate. Sad.
With all due respect, Dave, you can wave your hand and use dismissive words to put me down,
like "sad" and "desperate." You can dismiss the definition of the word schmaltz I used by labeling
it "my definition" when it comes from a standard dictionary. You can point out that you are using
(sarcasm) as though I wouldn't get it, and dismiss my 'acquired over time' meaning of the word
as "nonsense," as though no word's meaning ever changes over time. What a gay notion.
I know that people have different tastes when it comes to films, or most anything really, and
that it's useless to try and change someone's opinion of a film they don't like, at least in the
moment, so I won't try to change yours, which you state almost as fact instead of opinion.
I find that if I don't like a film but audiences and/or critics really do, I give serious thought about
why that might be. Your blanket statements about La La Land are, in fact, opinions that most do
not share. Even the London critics, who often can be notoriously harsh on a film, embraced it when
it opened in Britain this weekend, I believe.
What's really sad is that their fatal review headlines (sarcasm) mean nothing to you and roll off your back like acid rain:
The Telegraph:
La La Land Review: You'll Leave with a Tear in Your Eye and a Song in Your Heart (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/films/0/la-la-land-review-ryan-gosling-emma-stone-will-leave-tear-eye/)
The Guardian:
La La Land – Gosling and Stone Sparkle in a Gorgeous Musical Romance (https://www.theguardian.com/film/2017/jan/12/la-la-land-review-ryan-gosling-emma-stone-musical-romance-movie)
The Daily Mail:
La La Land: Uplifting, Charming and Sweetly Romantic (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-4115280/La-La-Land-review-Uplifting-ucharming-sweetly-romantic.html)
Perhaps you are just a disciple of Mary Poppins:
"Practically perfect people never permit sentiment to muddle their thinking.”
-
I find that if I don't like a film but audiences and/or critics really do, I give serious thought about
why that might be.
Crash - best picture winner!
https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1144992-crash/
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With all due respect, Dave, you can wave your hand and use dismissive words to put me down,
like "sad" and "desperate." You can dismiss the definition of the word schmaltz I used by labeling
it "my definition" when it comes from a standard dictionary. You can point out that you are using
(sarcasm) as though I wouldn't get it, and dismiss my 'acquired over time' meaning of the word
as "nonsense," as though no word's meaning ever changes over time. What a gay notion.
So much BS, word-twisting and mind reading--and martyrdom!--in such a short space. Enough said. Definitely not worth unraveling all that misinformation.
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Crash - best picture winner!
https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1144992-crash/
hahaha. well said!
i happen to hate that film, and i couldn't care less that some lavished praised on it.
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I have read it all over the place and of course the "infamous video", which I am not sure is on line any longer, I think it was taken down. Here is a recent article:
http://www.smobserved.com/story/2016/12/25/lifestyle/is-barron-trump-autistic-some-dare-to-ask-whether-president-trumps-son-battles-autism/2305.html
I mean Trump is speaking out on Autism and vaccines, Melania is speaking out on bullying, cyber bulling of children and will make it one of her key issues as First Lady apparently.
Interesting. Thanks. I had no idea that was out there. (Though I shouldn't be surprised. Everything leaks now.)
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So much BS, word-twisting and mind reading--and martyrdom!--in such a short space. Enough said.
Definitely not worth unraveling all that misinformation.
Wow, such hostility and dismissiveness. :o
I do not accept dismissal as a tactic like the p-elect does. As someone remarked
who PM'd me, you really don't have much of a sense of humor, do you? I really think
you are talking about yourself in the above quote. Is "Miss Information" your drag name? ;)
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I have had years watching you trying to ensnare people into your petty games, Lyle. (Your most comical being your attempt to pawn off your assessments on some mysterious, anonymous PMer. If you think no one can figure out that the bait is to wonder whether that's your imaginary friend, or some actual person, and if so, Oh my! Who doesn't like me, and confides their secrets only to Lyle!
No one cares, Lyle. And you're not fooling anyone. Everyone here knows your silly games. I'm sure some are still taking the bait; I'm not interested.
I had forgotten though, that the only way to deal with your posts was try to look past them. Many members have requested a mute feature, and it comes in handy on twitter, but alas, our software company still does not offer it. I had forgotten I had to try to do it personally for a handful of members, you being at the top of the list.
Thanks for the reminder. If I can be disciplined, I won't read another word you write--until yet another complaint comes to me and I'm forced. Bye. Good luck with therapy.
-
I actually find Melania impressive in most ways, aside from marrying a buffoon. (Though she has apparently left him.)
Hunh? Is this supposed to be the real reason she's staying in New York, instead of so the boy can finish the school year?
-
I have had years watching you trying to ensnare people into your petty games, Lyle. (Your most comical being your attempt to pawn off your assessments on some mysterious, anonymous PMer. If you think no one can figure out that the bait is to wonder whether that's your imaginary friend, or some actual person, and if so, Oh my! Who doesn't like me, and confides their secrets only to Lyle!
No one cares, Lyle. And you're not fooling anyone. Everyone here knows your silly games. I'm sure some are still taking the bait; I'm not interested.
I had forgotten though, that the only way to deal with your posts was try to look past them. Many members have requested a mute feature, and it comes in handy on twitter, but alas, our software company still does not offer it. I had forgotten I had to try to do it personally for a handful of members, you being at the top of the list.
Thanks for the reminder. If I can be disciplined, I won't read another word you write--until yet another complaint comes to me and I'm forced. Bye. Good luck with therapy.
Not that anyone cares and not that Dave will be reading this, but I'm replying anyway.
First, if someone says a person doesn't have a sense of humor, it doesn't necessarily follow that said person doesn't like them,
but nice tactic, either trying to get me to reveal sources, or calling me out as a liar. I guess I opened myself up for that. But I'll
agree with the assessment, and you proved my point with that post, so I'll take full responsibility. If you actually want to verify
the source of the PM, don't the moderators have the capacity to get into those forbidden areas, I recall being told that once by
one of them?
I could also throw the same thing back at you, too, saying you've got yet "another complaint about me."
From "some mysterious PMer's?" Imaginary friend? Actual person?
As for "ensnaring people into petty games" -- it's true I tend to argue my points incessantly, especially on current events,
and I'm guessing it provokes some when I keep at it, but it's not out of trying to play games with anyone; petty, silly or otherwise.
Let me know when you're in town promoting your book when it comes out. I'd like to buy you some drinks.
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Not that anyone cares and not that Dave will be reading this, but I'm replying anyway.
As my dad would say, "Ho--lee cow." Lyle, I wouldn't want to see you "muted."
I am surprised to see that kind of personal attack from Dave Cullen. Maybe I shouldn't be, but I am.
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(https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/564x/ad/61/ec/ad61eca00683bb62b421fbbf73298953.jpg)
Well Toby Keith is in!
Toby Keith doesn't give a damn what the haters think ... he says his Donald Trump Inauguration performance isn't a personal favor, it's for the good ole U.S. of A.
Keith has faced a ton of backlash since it was announced Friday he'd be part of a show at The Lincoln Memorial the night before Trump is sworn in. However, Keith is sticking to his guns, saying, "I don't apologize for performing for our country or military," in an interview with EW.
In fact, Trump isn't the only Prez Toby's played for ... he backs up his stance by naming shows he did for both George Bush and President Obama, not to mention the 200 he's played for the armed forces.
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As my dad would say, "Ho--lee cow." Lyle, I wouldn't want to see you "muted."
I am surprised to see that kind of personal attack from Dave Cullen. Maybe I shouldn't be, but I am.
If it wasn't clear, you wouldn't see anyone muted. I'm referring to a feature were a member can individually mute another so they don't see their posts, like on twitter and many others. It wouldn't affect you.
You have a different perspective. I have a decade of dealing with his accusations and innuendo, and frustrated by him doing it again right now on multiple threads. In retrospect, I should have done it by PM rather than publicly. I apologize for that aspect.
-
Since it is public, I am stating that if anyone is wondering what accusations and innuendo is being talking about,
the last ten years no less, so am I.
As for recently, I merely posted one disagreement on the Most Anticipated Film Thread, I made no accusations or
anything else. On the current events thread I was accused of being desperate and sad, being a liar, playing games,
writing BS, word twisting, mind reading, supplying misinformation, playing petty and/or silly games and being a martyr.
Not to mention advised to seek therapy. And I wasn't going to respond to those attacks?
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You have a different perspective. I have a decade of dealing with his accusations and innuendo, and frustrated by him doing it again right now on multiple threads. In retrospect, I should have done it by PM rather than publicly. I apologize for that aspect.
Time goes quickly. I've been around here longer than you might think--longer than I might remember.
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Celebs celebrate the closure of Ringling Bros. circus with PETA activist Pamela Anderson claiming victory that the 'saddest show on earth' is finishing after 146 years
The famous circus will have its final show in May, it was announced on Saturday
Ticket sales rapidly declined after elephants were taken out of the show last May
The show has been a staple of American family entertainment since the 1800s
Celebrities and animal rights activists are celebrating the news about it closing
Baywatch star Pamela Anderson, who is an outspoken animal rights activist tweeted 'IT'S OVER' while sharing a statement from PETA
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4122508/Celebs-celebrate-closure-Ringling-Bros-circus-PETA-activist-Pamela-Anderson-claiming-victory-saddest-earth-finishing-146-years.html#ixzz4VrfsRRQv
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook
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We're only days away from the unthinkable, and NYT columnist Paul Krugman
(and Nobel Prize winning economist) isn't soothing anyone's anxieties over that:
Friday he said, "We are, I'd argue, in much deeper and more treacherous waters
than even the pessimists are saying."
Yikes!
He believes because of the even more recent revelations about Russia's hacking
and FBI director Comey's involvement in the campaign, that more and more people
consider the past election was tainted. (He didn't even mention Congressman John
Lewis publicly stating this and refusing to go to the inauguration. Not to mention that
the p-elect has nevr said anything bad or negative about Russia and yet has called the
intelligence agencies he'll be relying on "Nazi's.")
Krugman says, "A clever, self-controlled Trump would be careful now to preserve appearances and wait for revenge; but instead he's confirming his status as Putin's poodle/stooge with every tweet." "Pretty soon everyone will think of him as a Manchurian candidate, even those pretending not to."
In Krugman's assessment, once the idea takes hold that Trump's election was tainted, there are few options for how it could play out in a positive way.
From Krugman: "Yet there is no normal political mechanism to deal with this reality. So what happens? The GOP decides to impeach to install Pence? Mass people-power demonstrations? He orders the military to do something illegal and we have disobedience by the national security state? Or, alternatively, overt intimidation of critics by Trump gangs? Don't call this silly — tell me how this ends."
More HERE (http://www.businessinsider.com/krugman-trump-us-future-2017-1?utm_source=referral&utm_medium=aol).
___
All's well that ends well...if it does.
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Happy Martin Luther King day!
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Happy Dr Martin Luther King's Birthday, y'all!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ngFDy52eCZY
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It's been really bothering me that some of my journo colleagues have been joining Trump in trash-talking Buzzfeed as a garbage site (using various terms like that).
I get why some journos disagree with their decision on publishing the long, unverified report on Trump and the Russians, and I think both sides of that debate have very valid points. It's reasonable to see BuzzFeed as making a terrible choice here.
But then piling on and characterizing them as garbage--that's just nuts. BuzzFeed started out publishing silly stuff and continues to do that, driving huge traffic and earning a ton of money. But very early on, they started plowing much of that money into a really serious news operation, and hired some of the best in the business. They have foreign operations that would shame many "legitimate" brand-name news outlets. They do great stuff--whether or not you agree with them in this case.
-
Does anyone seriously think that if something similar about President Obama or Hillary Clinton had been
dredged up like that it wouldn't have been out there for all to see?
So called legitimate news organizations have been putting out stories about Obama's fake birth certificate
for eight years, most notably the p-elect who said he had verifiable sources. What's good for the goose?
What goes around comes around? In some replies to the press about untrue stories that the p-elect
spouted during the campaign his reply was, "All I know is what I read on the internet." How many fake
news stories about Hillary Clinton's health did the press float about all summer?
The Republicans have been muddying the waters with this for years, putting out unsubstantiated things
that might be, could be, possibly be, have a ring of truth or possibility, so as to get people to distrust even
facts they are hearing. "It could be some 400 pound man sitting in a bed after all, so don't believe everything
you hear."
I don't know if BuzzFeed should have put that online or not, but I do not care that they did, either. They never
said it was verified information. Which, brings to my mind, how can something not verified, meaning it could be
actually true, be "fake"? If it's unverified it could be true. It could not be. So isn't labeling it fake a judgment that
might be wrong, too?
Perhaps many news organizations are just jealous that BuzzFeed published it. If you look at surveys of conservatives
and Trump supporters in particular, they believe a lot of fake things and it gets reported. Three million illegal immigrants
voted illegally for Hillary. Obama is a muslim. Obama wasn't born in the U.S. Trump knows more about Isis than the
generals and he alone can fix it.
In this season of fake news, we are going to have a fake president.
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I hate fake news, it really has gotten out of control.. anyway like I said Happy Martin Luther King day!
We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope. Martin Luther King, Jr.
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Happy Martin Luther King day!
I'll second that. :)
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-38645787
Thank God.
Another one down.How many more to go ?
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The LAPD will be massively out in force Friday, bracing for what they believe could be large, unruly crowds protesting the beginning of the Trump presidency.
Law enforcement sources tell TMZ, LAPD cops will have riot gear at the ready as they try to control the various demonstrations they are expecting.
As for how much police will tolerate ... not a lot. We're told if demonstrators try to block traffic, freeways or vandalize anything ... they'll be arrested.
And, we're told, there will be special focus on social media, which could set the direction of the protests.
There are certain locations that will get special police attention ... the Federal Building in Westwood, Hollywood and Highland and freeways.
Our sources say cops are mindful of the constitutional right of demonstrators to protest ... they just can't cross the line.
http://www.tmz.com/2017/01/17/trump-inauguration-lapd-protests-riots/
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I have decided to also not attend the inauguration. ;D
(Or any of the inaugural balls I was not invited to.)
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The LAPD will be massively out in force Friday, bracing for what they believe could be large, unruly crowds protesting the beginning of the Trump presidency.
^^^
That sounds ominous. :) There were protests when G.W. Bush took office the first time, because
of the electoral circumstances, but there wasn't any trouble. I'm sure Los Angeles isn't the only
city that is having demonstrations, either.
L.A. Weekly (http://www.laweekly.com/news/how-to-protest-trump-and-support-immigrants-on-inauguration-day-7791523) says:
City records show the Los Angeles Police Department has granted at least three special-events permits for marches downtown on Jan. 20. All three marches are scheduled to converge at around 1 p.m. in front of City Hall.
The LAPD special events calendar indicates there will be a rally starting at 10 a.m. at Broadway and Olympic. That march will be convened by a group called the Full Rights for Immigrants Coalition, which will likewise march to City Hall. A group called CA for Progress is calling for a "United Against Hate-Inauguration March" downtown from 11 a.m. on. The specific location has not been announced, but some sources indicate this will be part of the Immigrants Coalition just mentioned. The California Latino Congreso is calling for an Inauguration Day rally at 1 p.m. at this same location, the corner of Broadway and Olympic Boulevard in downtown L.A. The Latino Congreso is an alliance of immigrant advocates and supporters including L.A. City Councilmembers Herb Wesson and Gilbert A. Cedillo. After the rally, supporters will march to City Hall. In Boyle Heights, community activists will convene a rally at 11 a.m. in Mariachi Plaza, at Boyle Avenue and First Street. After the rally in Mariachi Plaza, protesters will march through Boyle Heights and across the river to La Plaza Olvera, then on to join the Latino Congreso protest at City Hall.
The swearing-in of Donald Trump has elicited other calls for political protest in L.A., in addition to the marches for immigrant rights:
There will be a "Rally to Save Roe" on the day before Inauguration Day, Jan. 19, at 4 p.m. on Fairfax Avenue between Clinton Street and Rosewood Avenue, according to LAPD's special-events calendar.
And on the day after Inauguration Day, on Jan. 21, there will be a "Women's March" gathering in Pershing Square at 9 a.m. and departing for a march to City Hall at 10 am.
-
But...the weather might put a damper on everything here in Los Angeles. We literally have not had significant rainfall in
Southern California for the past 7 years. This year we're actually having some rain occasionally! The National Weather
Service today says, "A round of three storms will take aim at California this week and this weekend. Each storm will bring
locally drenching rain and heavy mountain snow, with the potential for flooding and travel disruptions.
HERE THEY COME...
(https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/thumbnails/image/california_imerg_rain_31dec15-6jan16_0.jpg)
"The first storm will spread southward through California on Wednesday and Thursday with a second to follow Friday,
lingering into Saturday. A third storm will swing in Sunday and may have major impacts that linger into Tuesday.
Incidents of urban flooding are likely in Sacramento, San Francisco, Los Angeles and San Diego, California. They
may have a significant impact as far east as Palm Springs and Las Vegas."
As our local NBC weatherman said last night, "We're expecting three storms, but it will more likely
seem to you like one long storm from Wednesday night to Tuesday morning!"
I'm sure that this will lessen the turnout of the Los Angeles demonstrations.
-
I've taken a half day Friday to go here...if i don't go home first...odds of me leaving after being home are slim...
Thousands expected to protest Trump at Auditorium Shores
As Inauguration Day nears, more than 40 local organizations are preparing for a march and rally next Friday in downtown Austin that’s expected to draw more than 3,500 anti-Donald Trump protesters to Auditorium Shores.
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I have decided to also not attend the inauguration. ;D
(Or any of the inaugural balls I was not invited to.)
LOL now you tell me, I was suppose to be your date, what I am suppose to do with that dress I paid 10 grand for?
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If you do go, Nancy, let us know what it was like.
Yesterday, Reince Priebus tried to tell us all that Republicans never questioned the
legitimacy of President Obama. I guess the Republican party and Trump's whole
years long birther thing was just an expression of support.
The biggest reason to demonstrate at all, if one has any inclination to do so, is
that it really just irks the Donald not to be liked and thought of in the grandest
light. He could have a mental breakdown. As Seth Myers hinted, "so Trump will
be inaugurated on Friday and then Mike Pence will be inaugurated on Monday."
-
I both look forward to and dread the first time he is stopped from doing something he wants done...the 16 year old girl will come out in him and he'll look like a fool.
I still can't imagine: one week from being sworn in as president, and he's on twitter about SNL. Every day it seems he gets more and more away from reality...
-
^^^
Yes, I guess we're in for: "fasten your seatbelts, it's going to be a bumpy night."
I heard an amusing enough joke.
"What are they serving to eat at Trump's inaugural ball?"
"The guests will dine on Pasta Putinesca."
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President Trump: The Inauguration
4pm, BBC One/ STV
"After a long absence, The Twilight Zone returns with one of the most ambitious, expensive and controversial productions in broadcast history. Sci-fi writers have dabbled often with alternative history stories - among the most common is the "What If The Nazis Had Won The Second World War" setting - but this huge interactive virtual reality project, which will unfold on TV, in the press, and on Twitter over the next four years, sets out to build an ongoing alternative present.
The story begins in a nightmarish version of 2017 in which huge sections of the US electorate have somehow been duped into voting to make Donald Trump president. It sounds far-fetched, and it is, but as it goes on it becomes more and more chillingly plausible. Today's feature-length opener concentrates on the gaudy inauguration of President Trump, and the stirrings of protest and despair surrounding the ceremony, while pundits speculate gravely on what lies ahead. It's a flawed piece, but a disturbing glimpse of the horrors we could stumble into, if we're not careful."
:laugh:
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LOL now you tell me, I was suppose to be your date, what I am suppose to do with that dress I paid 10 grand for?
If you left the tags on it, I'm sure you can return it. ;D
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I both look forward to and dread the first time he is stopped from doing something he wants done...the 16 year old girl will come out in him and he'll look like a fool.
Agreed!
I still can't imagine: one week from being sworn in as president, and he's on twitter about SNL. Every day it seems he gets more and more away from reality...
I remember the fuss to make Obama give up his Blackberry for security reasons. Isn't anybody trying to stop this buffoon from tweeting?
-
As of noon Eastern this coming Friday, Bedford Falls officially becomes Pottersville, though the seeds were planted quite a while ago.
https://pab58.files.wordpress.com/2012/10/pottersville.png
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I remember the fuss to make Obama give up his Blackberry for security reasons. Isn't anybody trying to stop this buffoon from tweeting?
The GOP has controlled the parameters of the argument for quite a while now. Let's hope even they won't be able to stomach it much longer.
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As of noon Eastern this coming Friday, Bedford Falls officially becomes Pottersville, though the seeds were planted quite a while ago.
https://pab58.files.wordpress.com/2012/10/pottersville.png
Totally agree, Fritz!! What a great analogy!
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I get emails from MoveOn.org, and this is link for the Sister Marches all over the world.
https://www.womensmarch.com/sisters?source=moveon
Sister Marches are solidarity events inspired by the Women's March on Washington, and organized by volunteers around the world. If you can't make it to Washington, D.C. on January 21, join or host a Sister March near you.
NUMBER OF MARCHES: 616 SISTER MARCHERS (EST): 1,032,110
The above numbers change by the minute.
New Mexico is having seven in the whole state. I will be attending the one in Albuquerque.
-
Neighbors and I will be on the Mall Saturday.
At least one of my coworkers will be there too, with the American Association of University Women.
-
The GOP has controlled the parameters of the argument for quite a while now. Let's hope even they won't be able to stomach it much longer.
Yes, but will they be able to make him stop? I'm sure if they try he'll throw a fit.
(I was about to write "throw a fit like a teenage girl," but I don't want to insult teenage girls.)
-
Impeachment with conviction is one method!
Then they get Pence, whom they've wanted all along.
-
But...the weather might put a damper on everything here in Los Angeles. We literally have not had significant rainfall in
Southern California for the past 7 years. This year we're actually having some rain occasionally! The National Weather
Service today says, "A round of three storms will take aim at California this week and this weekend. Each storm will bring
locally drenching rain and heavy mountain snow, with the potential for flooding and travel disruptions.
HERE THEY COME...
(https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/thumbnails/image/california_imerg_rain_31dec15-6jan16_0.jpg)
"The first storm will spread southward through California on Wednesday and Thursday with a second to follow Friday,
lingering into Saturday. A third storm will swing in Sunday and may have major impacts that linger into Tuesday.
Incidents of urban flooding are likely in Sacramento, San Francisco, Los Angeles and San Diego, California. They
may have a significant impact as far east as Palm Springs and Las Vegas."
As our local NBC weatherman said last night, "We're expecting three storms, but it will more likely
seem to you like one long storm from Wednesday night to Tuesday morning!"
I'm sure that this will lessen the turnout of the Los Angeles demonstrations.
I've heard the drought situation in California has really dropped from dangerous levels to more manageable now. Will any of these three storms hit areas that still really need water?
-
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-38645787
Thank God.
Another one down.How many more to go ?
Does *NOTHING* knock Trump off the front page ?
-
Does *NOTHING* knock Trump off the front page ?
Probably not, not when he is days away from being the next President of the United States and when he says NATO is obsolete. 8)
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If you left the tags on it, I'm sure you can return it. ;D
;D
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Impeachment with conviction is one method!
I rather doubt you can be impeached and convicted for tweeting. ...
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Obama's last big mistake
WikiLeaks celebrates Chelsea Manning's commutation
-
I get emails from MoveOn.org, and this is link for the Sister Marches all over the world.
https://www.womensmarch.com/sisters?source=moveon
Sister Marches are solidarity events inspired by the Women's March on Washington, and organized by volunteers around the world. If you can't make it to Washington, D.C. on January 21, join or host a Sister March near you.
NUMBER OF MARCHES: 616 SISTER MARCHERS (EST): 1,032,110
The above numbers change by the minute.
New Mexico is having seven in the whole state. I will be attending the one in Albuquerque.
nice.
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Obama's last big mistake
WikiLeaks celebrates Chelsea Manning's commutation
seemed like a good move to me. she's suffered enough. seven years is much more than a lot of others got. (eg, David Patreus.)
-
I was just going to say "wasn't that a good thing" ::)
Dalai Lama: 5 things to keep in mind for the next four years
http://www.cnn.com/2017/01/18/health/dalai-lama-guide-to-surviving-trump/index.html
I like this one:
"Constant anger is very bad for our health," His Holiness said. "I try to keep compassion" constantly in mind and then stay "surrounded by (other) compassionate people" that can reduce your anger. Do that and your health will be "much better."
-
"Constant anger is very bad for our health," His Holiness said.
That is most certainly true.
-
Yes, constant anger fueled the rise of the Tea Party. That anger led to huge
gains in Congress by the Republicans in 2010 and that anger ultimately led
to an angry candidate and his election to office. This years long constant anger
has been bad for our country's health indeed.
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Obama's last big mistake
WikiLeaks celebrates Chelsea Manning's commutation
I was surprised to hear this, but I don't think it was a mistake. Some people
are conflating this with being pardoned. Manning wasn't pardoned, the very
extreme sentence was just being commuted, so it's not as though Manning was
being found innocent of the charges.
Whether one agrees with the action or not, why would it be a mistake?
(I heard some reporters saying it was more of an act of mercy and the
lawyer believed it saved Manning's life.)
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I get emails from MoveOn.org, and this is link for the Sister Marches all over the world.
https://www.womensmarch.com/sisters?source=moveon
We're planning to attend the one in Downtown L.A., but I see there is one in Beverly Hills, too,
which I didn't know about. If the projected weather is severe, as they say it might be, this option
would be easier to go to, so thanks for the link, Linda.
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.democraticstuff.com%2Fresize%2FShared%2FImages%2FProduct%2FDump-on-Trump-Anti-Trump-2-25-Button-clone%2Fdont-blame-me.png&hash=f7ef62eb63d6053494f933008d1220b0071fd07b)
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Speaking of the weather:
I've heard the drought situation in California has really dropped from dangerous levels to more manageable now. Will any of these three storms hit areas that still really need water?
Hi, Chuck, well...in an article I read today there was this sentence, "Drought conditions persist in Southern California, but in the north, it's near over, for now anyway.
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.catholic.org%2Ffiles%2Fimages%2Fins_news%2F2017013454.jpg&hash=96b7428f6cc9913f6c164c0e69ec657d2f09cf8d)
Caption for this photo: Northern California has been
inundated with rain and snow, which is flooding some
rivers and filling basins that have been dry for years.
Northern California benefitted from El Nino last winter whereas Southern California got none which
puzzled all the meteorologists. The year after an El Nino year there's usually a La Nina which was
worrying them because that would usually mean a dry winter. But Southern California has been
getting rain this winter, in fact we're above the average this year already, which still isn't what
most of you in other parts of the country would think was a lot. And what they call "the pineapple
express" is coming this week. That's a series of conditions when water from around Hawaii in the
Pacific is brought up into the atmosphere and carried to the West Coast in a series of storms. I read
that the amount of water these storms carry can be more than contained in the entire Mississippi river!
So it is certainly helping SoCal and the rest of California, but the state announced Tuesday they are
keeping the conservation rules in place and will re-evaluate them later in the year.
The worry in SoCal this week is that because of the 7 years we've had no rain, all the plants and
trees and whatever that haven't been getting much water don't have a good hold on the soil with
their root systems, so excessive rain can just saturate it quickly and the earth will give way. We
already had someone's backyard topple down a hill into Laurel Canyon Blvd. and cause the road
to be closed for several days. (That's the winding road that connects West Hollywood to the valley
(Studio City). Mario Lopez tweeted pictures of his backyard caving in from somewhere up there,
too. Plus, very few people have checked all their rain gutters for years. When we had a good rain
recently we discovered our apartment building's system quickly got clogged with dirt and mud.
Since it has been so rare for years, I am loving it, though!
(https://i0.wp.com/www.mercurynews.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/sjm-water-0118-web.jpg)
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We're planning to attend the one in Downtown L.A., but I see there is one in Beverly Hills, too,
which I didn't know about. If the projected weather is severe, as they say it might be, this option
would be easier to go to, so thanks for the link, Linda.
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.democraticstuff.com%2Fresize%2FShared%2FImages%2FProduct%2FDump-on-Trump-Anti-Trump-2-25-Button-clone%2Fdont-blame-me.png&hash=f7ef62eb63d6053494f933008d1220b0071fd07b)
Glad to help, Lyle!!
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(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi1.wp.com%2Fpeopledotcom.files.wordpress.com%2F2017%2F01%2Fgeorge-bush-21.jpg%3Fcrop%3D1px%252C0px%252C1998px%252C1333px%26amp%3Bresize%3D742%252C495%26amp%3Bssl%3D1&hash=5b6117b920137cd3abfee97ed504951bdc12a25a)
Barbara Bush Admitted to Hospital as President George H.W. Bush Remains in ICU
Former First Lady Barbara Bush has been admitted to the hospital as a “precaution” as her husband, former President George H. W. Bush, remains in the ICU after he was hospitalized over the weekend for “shortness of breath.”
According to a statement from the office of the 92-year-old former commander-in-chief — tweeted by his post-White House spokesman Jim McGrath — Barbara was admitted to the Houston Methodist Hospital Wednesday morning “as a precaution after experiencing fatigue and coughing.”
Meanwhile, the former president is “stable and resting comfortably in the ICU, where he will remain for observation” at the same hospital. It was stated that the 41st president underwent a procedure to address “an acute respiratory problem stemming from pneumonia.”..
George H.W. Bush sent letter to Trump on Jan. 10 stating he couldn't attend Inauguration: "We will be with you and the country in spirit." pic.twitter.com/zcoieQJmP6
— ABC News (@ABC) January 18, 2017
http://people.com/politics/barbara-bush-hospitalized-george-hw-bush-remains-in-icu/
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I mentioned this once before at some point in the past, but I still find this fact pretty
amazing. President Clinton served two full terms in office and he was followed by
President G. W. Bush who served two full terms and when President Obama leaves
office this Friday, he will have served two full terms as well.
It seems like this wouldn't be so unusual in our history, but it hasn't happened in nearly
200 years! The last time we had three successive two term Presidents they were Thomas
Jefferson, James Madison and James Monroe, way back in the first quarter of the 1800's!
With the past three two-term presidents, when most people attended college, there was one
President who served during those 4 years they were in college. Today I was thinking that when
I went to college, during those 4 years there were 3 Presidents and 4 Vice-Presidents!
When I went to college, Nixon was President and Spiro Agnew Vice-President. Agnew resigned
and Gerald Ford became Vice-President. Nixon resigned and Ford became President. Ford chose
Nelson Rockefeller to be Vice-President. We then had an election and Jimmy Carter became the
President and Walter Mondale the Vice-President. Talk about current events!
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Donald Trump and First Lady-to-be Melania have touched down in their new home, and they made quite the arrival.
The Prez-elect and his whole family -- all of his kids, their spouses, his grandkids -- plus various aides just walked off a military jet (Air Force One is still at least a day away) at Andrews Air Force Base.
They've got a busy day ahead -- the traditional wreath-laying ceremony and then the Make America Great Again Welcome Concert.
Then there's something happening Friday, or so we hear.
:laugh:
www.tmz.com/2017/01/19/donald-trump-and-family-arrive-in-dc/
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Then there's something happening Friday, or so we hear.
:laugh:
:laugh:
I know there's nothing funny going on here, yet, somehow, the idea of the whole clan trooping into Washington strikes me as ... funny. ::)
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:laugh:
I know there's nothing funny going on here, yet, somehow, the idea of the whole clan trooping into Washington strikes me as ... funny. ::)
Exactly, me too, all I can think of is this for some reason:
(https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/564x/a3/ef/20/a3ef202fbe0bcce515bf3934c3f67fd5.jpg)
:laugh:
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Exactly, me too, all I can think of is this for some reason:
(https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/564x/a3/ef/20/a3ef202fbe0bcce515bf3934c3f67fd5.jpg)
:laugh:
Come and listen to my story 'bout a man named Trump. ...
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Nothing about what is happening or is about to happen strikes me as even remotely amusing.
-
Nothing about what is happening or is about to happen strikes me as even remotely amusing.
"If I laugh, it is but that I may not cry."
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Nancy Sinatra not happy Trump using father's song at inauguration
By Caroline Kenny, CNN
Updated 12:20 PM ET, Thu January 19, 2017
Washington (CNN)Famed singer Frank Sinatra's eldest daughter, Nancy Sinatra, has never been a fan of President-elect Donald Trump.
Now that he's about the assume the presidency, the younger Sinatra let the world know how she feels about one of her father's famous songs being used in the inauguration festivities.
According to inauguration chairman Tom Barrack, Trump and his wife, Melania, have selected "My Way" by Frank Sinatra for their first dance as the first couple at the Liberty Ball on Inauguration Day.
Nancy Sinatra, when asked for a response about the song selection on Twitter, said: "Just remember the first line of the song."
The first line of the song is, "And now, the end is near."
http://www.cnn.com/2017/01/19/politics/nancy-sinatra-donald-trump-my-way/ (http://www.cnn.com/2017/01/19/politics/nancy-sinatra-donald-trump-my-way/)
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May the first line be prophetic.
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Anti-Trump Rally Cops Fire Pepper Spray ... Trump Supporters Attacked
Police and anti-Donald Trump protesters are clashing in a rally that began outside the Trump International Hotel in Washington D.C.
The protest started at the hotel, and then marched through D.C. to the National Press Club several blocks away. Once there ... pepper spray was fired into the crowd, and protesters started trying to break through police lines.
http://www.tmz.com/2017/01/19/anti-trump-rally-washington-dc-violence/
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Nancy Sinatra not happy Trump using father's song at inauguration
By Caroline Kenny, CNN
Updated 12:20 PM ET, Thu January 19, 2017
Nancy Sinatra, when asked for a response about the song selection on Twitter, said: "Just remember the first line of the song."
The first line of the song is, "And now, the end is near."
http://www.cnn.com/2017/01/19/politics/nancy-sinatra-donald-trump-my-way/ (http://www.cnn.com/2017/01/19/politics/nancy-sinatra-donald-trump-my-way/)
Nancy Sinatra had some strong words for CNN after the news outlet published an article on its website with the headline “Nancy Sinatra not happy Trump using father's song at inauguration.”
..Sinatra was not happy with CNN’s story. She tweeted a link to the article and replied, “That's not true. I never said that. Why do you lie, CNN?”
“Actually I'm wishing him the best. A good president helps the entire world. I don't believe anyone tries to be a bad president.”
http://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/2017/01/20/nancy-sinatra-slams-cnn-for-anti-trump-spin-on-story-about-her-humorous-tweet.html
Good for you Ms. Sinatra, did I mention I hate fake news?
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As I begin to write this, the clock on my office PC indicates that it is 12:12 p.m. EST, so I guess we have a new President.
May God have mercy on the United States of America,
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As I begin to write this, the clock on my office PC indicates that it is 12:12 p.m. EST, so I guess we have a new President.
May God have mercy on the United States of America,
Yep he is the President, giving his speech right now - sounds kind of preachy actually. Especially with all the past Presidents sitting there.
On a shallow note Melania looks stunning!
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On a shallow note Melania looks stunning!
There was a picture in this morning's paper of the two of them getting off an airplane, and the heels she was wearing looked a mile high! :laugh:
I don't see how women manage shoes like that, but never mind! :laugh:
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http://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/2017/01/20/nancy-sinatra-slams-cnn-for-anti-trump-spin-on-story-about-her-humorous-tweet.html
Good for you Ms. Sinatra, did I mention I hate fake news?
ever occur to you that maybe Fox is the fake news...
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On a shallow note Melania looks stunning!
one of the women commentators said she was reminiscent of Jacqueline Kennedy...I'm sure Mrs. Kennedy is rolling in her grave at that comparison.
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Everyone and every head line said she was channeling Jackie. And she was, she was stunning!
Flawless First Lady: Melania Trump is a vision in baby-blue Ralph Lauren as she channels Jackie Kennedy in an elegant dress and gloves for the inauguration
Melania Trump has selected a baby blue dress and jacket for her husband's swearing in ceremony
The look was designed by Ralph Lauren and is double-faced cashmere mock-turtleneck dress that is being worn under a short jacket with a bold collar
She accessorized her outfit with a pair of heels, clutch and elbow-length gloves that were all the same hue of blue
The 46-year-old made the decision to keep everything else simple, choosing to play up her natural beauty by sweeping her hair into a loose undo
Melania's outfit and gloves created a silhouette which made it clear that she was channeling Jacqueline Kennedy
The incoming First Lady also carried Tiffany blue with her on Friday, presenting a gift from the jeweler to Michelle Obama when they met at the White House
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4140436/Melania-Trump-channels-Jackie-Kennedy-inauguration.html#ixzz4WKvSWlo8
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook
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After delivering a plagiarized speech at the convention, we knew she'd have to copy someone.
On a shallow note Melania looks stunning!
Something tells me that if you were in Nazi Germany in the 30's,
you'd have remarked the same statement about Eva Braun.
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Anti-Trump Rally Cops Fire Pepper Spray ... Trump Supporters Attacked
I'm glad to see today that you are posting news items from those bastions of "truth, justice and the American Way;"
what seem to be mostly your primary news sources: Fox and TMZ.
What you might like to take into consideration is this item passed out to all anti-Trump demonstration ralliers,
online and in person:
(These are intended to be peaceful gatherings but there have been many intimations that infiltrators will try to
incite violence and make it look like the protestors caused it. Use your own judgment on this one.)
Republicans play the victim game to the hilt, both mentally and physically. Trump's favorite word is: Unfair.
Examples are numerous and plentiful. Think about it.
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Britain's The Guardian newspaper had this to say about Donald "J. for Jumanji" Trump's inauguration campaign speech.
-- (https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/jan/20/reaction-to-donald-trump-speech)His inaugural address sounded like any speech at a Trump rally. The scene was a campaign event writ large, with a massive cheering crowd of white people wearing “Make America Great Again” red caps. Like his tone as a candidate, the new president’s voice was angry and dripping with pessimism. Like his speech at the Republican convention, President Trump drew a dark picture of a country under siege from foreign trade competitors, Muslim terrorists and Washington insiders. There were no grace notes.
His base no doubt loved it. But there was no reassurance or olive branch extended to the majority of Americans who did not vote for him. While he named President Bill Clinton, there was no mention of his wife, the vanquished opponent. There were no good wishes extended to President George HW Bush or his wife, who were hospitalized, but did not endorse him. The man does not seem capable of being magnanimous.
Indeed, after calling the Obamas “magnificent,” he was then overtly rude to them, portraying a do-nothing Washington that had betrayed the people and enriched itself. Meanwhile, the unprepared billionaires who displayed their ignorance at hearings last week await confirmation to his cabinet. In a gratuitous slap that echoed his wild and crazy insult to Rep John Lewis on Twitter, he lambasted politicians, presumably all the Democrats on the reviewing stand behind him, who “complain” but fail to get things done.
And the biggest lie of all when the narcissist proclaimed, “I will never let you down.”
He already has.
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After delivering a plagiarized speech at the convention, we knew she'd have to copy someone.
Something tells me that if you were in Nazi Germany in the 30's,
you'd have remarked the same statement about Eva Braun.
(https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/564x/ce/e2/48/cee248405a0ba4350d6f3af59c59dde3.jpg)
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Comparison: Donald Trump and Barack Obama’s inauguration crowds
One question ahead of today’s Inauguration Day ceremonies: How will the crowds at Trump’s swearing-in compare to crowds for other presidents?
Trump organizers said earlier this week they expected about 800,000 people to attend Friday’s festivities on the National Mall — “fewer than half the 1.8 million people who attended President Barack Obama’s first inauguration in 2009,”
Another view: Here’s a side-by-side of crowds during President Barack Obama’s inauguration in 2009 and Donald Trump’s inauguration in 2017, taken at 11:49:43, minutes before Donald Trump took the oath of office.
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fd3i6fh83elv35t.cloudfront.net%2Fnewshour%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2017%2F01%2Fcomparison-withtime-1024x576.jpg&hash=18b2e80058e8c6d630a3df382ff688c52ed5c4ac)
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Indeed, after calling the Obamas “magnificent,” he was then overtly rude to them, portraying a do-nothing Washington that had betrayed the people and enriched itself.
As I will only respond to intelligent posts, I will say to this, I agree. That speech was preachy and rude, with the Obama's and past Presidents there, I don't think it was appropriate.
If you watched you would have seen the look on Michelle's face, and Obama's, they were pissed you could tell.
The mood definitely shifted after that.
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Comparison: Donald Trump and Barack Obama’s inauguration crowds
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fd3i6fh83elv35t.cloudfront.net%2Fnewshour%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2017%2F01%2Fcomparison-withtime-1024x576.jpg&hash=18b2e80058e8c6d630a3df382ff688c52ed5c4ac)
What Trump will say: Fake photos.
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As I will only respond to intelligent posts....
how's that feel, Lyle?
And I agree w/your post that his address was just another campaign speech. Thank god he saved saying something "nice" about Clinton for the luncheon, or his minions would have started the chant...
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(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg.huffingtonpost.com%2Fasset%2Fscalefit_630_noupscale%2F58827e7b1700009f0a92b582.jpeg&hash=341e87e46fa92dfe7202b8014397ddc1466e0362)
I think George W. Bush stole the show!
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The death knell for the United States of America started on November 8, 2016 and will ring until there is an impeachment, or until November 3, 2020, or until the United States of America no longer exists. Only then will the ringing cease.
I am not a pessimist. I firmly believe this.
I hold out no hope for impeachment, as the Republican held government will NEVER admit to the biggest mistake they have ever made.
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Sad day.
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We decided to curtail our demonstrating today. It's been raining in varying degrees of severity
for twelve hours straight now. Instead of spending so much time in the rain we decided to partake
in the pleasures of home, warmth, food, friends and togetherness. To enjoy people we like instead of
more protesting of someone we do not. Besides, the Women's March is tomorrow and a break in the
weather is supposed to happen then between our second and third, worse, storm arriving!
Los Angeles Times:
Get Ready to Get Wet, Protesters
The storm could deposit over 2 inches of rain in Los Angeles by the end of the day.
“I guess it’ll match what you see on TV because I think they’re supposed to get a little
rain in Washington, D.C.,” a demonstrator said. “It’ll make you feel like you’re there.”
Parts of Los Angeles and Ventura counties were issued warnings of potential thunderstorms,
hail and waterspouts.
This L.A. Times current article link usually disappears in a couple days unless you're a subscriber:
http://touch.latimes.com/#section/-1/article/p2p-92378665/
Just to be clear, though: I love this weather...we haven't had it for so long!
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I love this article. I'd post the whole thing here, but...
Donald Trump Still Can't Escape Hillary Clinton
Rachel Sklar, Special to the Washington Post
10:30 am, January 20, 2017
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.trbimg.com%2Fimg-58825748%2Fturbine%2Fct-hillary-clinton-trump-inauguration-20170120&hash=2ea85c9684207b51f1b93bc7dcae90901a61abac)
Clinton may not have been the right person to beat Trump in November,
but since then, she's been the perfect person to lose to him.
http://my.chicagotribune.com/#section/-1/article/p2p-92380771/
_____
It would not at all have surprised me if Trump had gotten his devotees to shout
"Lock her up," during his speech today.
Retiring my sig line today:
Official: Hillary Clinton won the U.S. National Vote by 2,864,978 votes, 48.2% to 46.1%.
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Don't know, but the margin of victory is always a useful reminder.
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one of the women commentators said she was reminiscent of Jacqueline Kennedy...I'm sure Mrs. Kennedy is rolling in her grave at that comparison.
I'll bet she was, too.
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(https://peopledotcom.files.wordpress.com/2017/01/hillary-clinton5.jpg?w=2000)
“I was very honored — very, very honored — when I heard that President Bill Clinton and Secretary Hillary Clinton were coming today and I think it’s appropriate to say and I’d like you to stand up,” he said, joining in as the audience clapped. “And honestly there’s nothing more I can say because I have a lot of respect for those two people so thank you all for being here.”
http://people.com/politics/hillary-bill-clinton-attend-donald-trump-inauguration-george-w-bush-jimmy-carter/
Hillary looked great! Couldn't have been easy for her today.
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Something tells me that if you were in Nazi Germany in the 30's,
you'd have remarked the same statement about Eva Braun.
Meeow. ...
I don't know why you hate Melania so much, Lyle. I even find it hard to believe she had anything to do with the writing of the speech where she plagiarized Michelle Obama.
I'll give the woman this much: She had the mind to sell herself to marry The Donald. (Not that that's necessarily something to admire her for.)
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(https://peopledotcom.files.wordpress.com/2017/01/hillary-clinton5.jpg?w=2000)
“I was very honored — very, very honored — when I heard that President Bill Clinton and Secretary Hillary Clinton were coming today and I think it’s appropriate to say and I’d like you to stand up,” he said, joining in as the audience clapped. “And honestly there’s nothing more I can say because I have a lot of respect for those two people so thank you all for being here.”
Don't you know sarcasm when you hear it? Oh wait, this was coming from his heart...oh wait, he'd have to HAVE a heart...so
don't you know sarcasm when you hear it?
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[From The Guardian article]
But there was no reassurance or olive branch extended to the majority of Americans who did not vote for him.
And, indeed, why should there be? Thanks to the Electoral College, he won, and Publicans have the House and the Senate. He has no need to reach out to anyone.
The man does not seem capable of being magnanimous.
He isn't.
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Meeow. ...
I don't know why you hate Melania so much, Lyle. I even find it hard to believe she had anything to do with the writing of the speech where she plagiarized Michelle Obama.
I'll give the woman this much: She had the mind to sell herself to marry The Donald. (Not that that's necessarily something to admire her for.)
yeah, marrying a racist pig? that's not really a selling point...what do you "give" her?
and she clearly shares his views, so maybe that's one reason Lyle can't stand her...not to speak for Lyle, just guessing...
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The death knell for the United States of America started on November 8, 2016 and will ring until there is an impeachment, or until November 3, 2020, or until the United States of America no longer exists. Only then will the ringing cease.
I am not a pessimist. I firmly believe this.
I hold out no hope for impeachment, as the Republican held government will NEVER admit to the biggest mistake they have ever made.
Sad day.
Agree with you both. :(
I left work early today for a doctor's appointment. I told my teammates I would see them Monday, if we haven't all been blown to smithereens by then. ...
Putin's probably doing his happy dance. ...
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Meeow. ...
I don't know why you hate Melania so much, Lyle.
One can only speculate, but honestly I doubt she cares what Lyle thinks. She came from humble beginnings and is now the First Lady of the United States, she has done pretty good for herself. And she's stunning! :laugh:
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi.dailymail.co.uk%2Fi%2Fpix%2F2017%2F01%2F20%2F23%2Farticle-4141584-3C566B9D00000578-183_964x526.jpg&hash=9d0864d9ee7de2196000d0d5c5749b8f67e54590)
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One can only speculate, but honestly I doubt she cares what Lyle thinks.
Just speculating, you honestly don't think she cares what Lyle thinks? :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:
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(https://scontent-ort2-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t31.0-8/s720x720/16112568_10150803669214978_2140462849131081830_o.jpg?oh=f3936112e2a9da2f156f944b5f6490e9&oe=59204ED5)
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A relative of Laura Palmer?
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Since everyone is speculating... ?
Think of it this way--guilt by association.
It's not that I really give a flying fig for Melania one way or the other.
It's that she's married to the person I find abominable. So I just don't care
about her. When she gets brought up in the news thread it's a way to bring
up her husband. Plus, Trump supporters express their displeasure with immigrants
and she's one. They hate illegal immigrants and Trump never produced her legal
papers as he said he was going to. Republican supporters were beside themselves
when the thought of John Kerry's foreign born wife could be First Lady, so the fact
they have no problem now...it's hypocritical and so I am not going to fawn all over her.
So why should I? She chose him. I didn't choose either of them.
The fact they're also hypocritical over so many things, including that she's posed for
soft corn porn -- Christian values! Then try to justify their support with, "Sometimes
God chooses flawed people to deliver his message." Really? As long as the "flaws" are
on the Republican side I guess anything goes. If people actually think God chose Donald
Trump to deliver any message, they are more delusional than even Trump is.
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[From The Guardian article]
But there was no reassurance or olive branch extended to the majority of Americans who did not vote for him.
And, indeed, why should there be? Thanks to the Electoral College, he won, and Publicans have the House and the Senate. He has no need to reach out to anyone.
Now you're sounding like Trump when you say things like that! Even if they win by a lot, Presidents usually take the time between
the election and inauguration to drum up good will and support for the incoming administration. In contested elections a candidate
might appoint someone from the opposing party to the cabinet or, at the very least, give a shout out in the inauguration speech to
those who voted against you to give yourself the benefit of the doubt. It helps to govern if you have the people on your side. Less
than 1/3 of the people have a positive opinion of him today. The lowest ever in the history of measuring such things. That means
there are even people who voted for him that have a low opinion. If Trump were a normal human being he would want this for the
American people. He is a megalomaniac only interested in what he thinks is good for him. That's why there should be.
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I wish Anderson Cooper had called in sick, and let someone else cover the inaugural balls...maybe his ego is as big as trump's...
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I wish Anderson Cooper had called in sick, and let someone else cover the inaugural balls...maybe his ego is as big as trump's...
Send a queen to cover a ball. ...
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I couldn't watch much of yesterday's coverage. I mean I didn't want to.
I watched a recap hour or more and that was enough. I was pretty ashamed
of what I was seeing and hearing.
I'm up early to go downtown for the Los Angeles offshoot of the Women's March on Washington.
It's only 47° here this morning. In Los Angeles! I forgot how to dress for colder weather. I don't
want to carry anything around really, either, that can be a pain. We're going down on the subway!
I was trying on different coats all last night and still couldn't decide which one would be best.
Better get to it, I guess. At least it isn't supposed to be raining most of the daylight hours today!
Take care all who are doing similar things today! Come back and report on it!
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I was trying on different coats all last night and still couldn't decide which one would be best.
Just don't forget your pink hat!
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi0.wp.com%2Fpeopledotcom.files.wordpress.com%2F2017%2F01%2Fimg_5136.jpg%3Fcrop%3D0px%252C0px%252C3264px%252C2175px%26amp%3Bresize%3D2000%252C1333%26amp%3Bssl%3D1&hash=40240d4902d87a40c4d1e5b5aa039310539d2570)
An estimated 200,000 women from all across America are preparing to descend on the nation’s capital for the Women’s March on Washington Saturday — and many will be protesting Donald Trump the day after he is sworn into office simply by the hat on their head...
http://people.com/politics/pussyhats-galore-inside-the-pink-toppers-thousands-will-wear-to-the-womens-march-on-washington/
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gee, wonder who wrote Sean's statement...and the march today dwarfed the crowd for inauguration, but no mention of that...
Spicer Uses First White House Presser to Blast Media Over ‘Shameful’ Reports on Crowd Sizes
Sean Spicer held his first press conference today as the new White House press secretary, though it wasn’t so much of a news conference as it was a full-scale tear against the media.
Spicer started things off by blasting the recent reports about how President Trump removed a bust of Martin Luther King Jr. from the Oval Office. The story has been disproven, and Spicer blasted those who circulated the reports as “reckless and irresponsible.”
Not a moment afterwards, Spicer turned his ire towards reporters who noted that Trump didn’t have a particularly large crowd for his inauguration compared to past presidents. Spicer said that these media figures were working to “minimize the enormous support” that got Trump elected, and that it was “shameful and wrong” to put out “inaccurate” numbers and pictures about the crowds.
“This was the largest audience to witness an inauguration. Period!” Spicer said.
Spicer also used his opening remarks to talk about Trump’s speech today with the CIA, where Trump took his own shots at the media. Spicer did not take any questions, and he walked away from reporters after finishing his tangent.
http://www.mediaite.com/online/sean-spicers-uses-first-white-house-presser-to-blast-media-over-shameful-reports-on-crowd-sizes/ (http://www.mediaite.com/online/sean-spicers-uses-first-white-house-presser-to-blast-media-over-shameful-reports-on-crowd-sizes/)
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Not a moment afterwards, Spicer turned his ire towards reporters who noted that Trump didn’t have a particularly large crowd for his inauguration compared to past presidents. Spicer said that these media figures were working to “minimize the enormous support” that got Trump elected, and that it was “shameful and wrong” to put out “inaccurate” numbers and pictures about the crowds.
“This was the largest audience to witness an inauguration. Period!” Spicer said.
We were expecting something like that were't we?
Good God. Four years--at least--of Alternate Reality from the White House.
I know it's reality but somehow I still can't wrap my mind around the fact that The Donald is actually President of the United States.
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holy crap...
Michael Flynn Jr. mocks Women's March: 'Women already have equal rights'
Michael Flynn Jr., the outspoken son of Michael Flynn, Trump’s pick for national security advisor, offered his take on the Women’s March in Washington on Saturday.
Flynn Jr. took to Twitter, where he questioned the point of the march. “What victory? Women already have equal rights, and YES equal pay in this country. What MORE do you want? Free mani/pedis?”
http://www.ajc.com/news/national-govt--politics/michael-flynn-mocks-women-march-women-already-have-equal-rights/a55dd63CBq8SRqBp5ybfTM/ (http://www.ajc.com/news/national-govt--politics/michael-flynn-mocks-women-march-women-already-have-equal-rights/a55dd63CBq8SRqBp5ybfTM/)
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(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/C2tTIe6UcAMm_gt.jpg)
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There was a turnout of 6,000 women, men, children and dogs for the March in Albuquerque, and in Santa Fe, the count was 10,000. Both places had snow falling and winds blowing.
At most of the hundreds of marches across the country, the numbers of people attending far exceeded expectations. Some are saying the crowd at the march today in Washington DC exceeded the attendance of the inauguration yesterday.
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We were expecting something like that were't we?
Good God. Four years--at least--of Alternate Reality from the White House.
I know it's reality but somehow I still can't wrap my mind around the fact that The Donald is actually President of the United States.
Lets just hope it will be a short...sharp....but unfortunately.... rather painful 4 years
******
There have been demonstrations here in the UK too Linda.
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Lets just hope it will be a short...sharp....but unfortunately.... rather painful 4 years
******
There have been demonstrations here in the UK too Linda.
Yes I have seen this, Sue, and am so thankful for all the people in London, Berlin, Paris, Rome, Vienna, Geneva and Amsterdam, who marched. I hope this continues and I can only hope it makes a difference.
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Make a difference? Turn on CNN. All he cares about, on his first day as president of the United States, is how big the crowd was yesterday...
I'm sure he doesn't care about the hundreds of thousands who marched worldwide today, because they don't like him...the 16 year old girl in him is out already...only today he didn't tweet it, he stated in while standing in front of a wall of stars representing 54 employees who died while serving their country. Disgraceful...and only the beginning...of the end??
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Glad to read all the reports above!
I got home from downtown Los Angeles awhile ago; turned on the news.
The Los Angeles organizers had thought there'd be around 80,000 in the
Women's March today. Did I hear ABC news just say there were 750,000?
I'd believe it! The march area was so crowded no one could get near the stage for the speeches
and the Metro (subway) was so filled to capacity they were bypassing tons of people trying to get on.
Including me and my friend. Fortunately we left early in the morning. Then the route to City Hall for
the march was just abandoned and people marched on three separate streets to City Hall. It was so
amazing, peaceful, friendly, insightful, filled with people of all ages, ethnicities, walks of life. I believe
there were equal numbers of men and women there. Many families. Creative signs. (I have to try and
remember some of them to post.) Perfect weather (today!). So glad I could go and I loved it.
Plus: LAPD said there was NO TROUBLE. NO PROBLEMS. NOT ONE ARREST!
The ABC report about other places around the world even listed a demonstration
and protest in Antarctica - with 31 people! Fantastic.
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They didn't include the number of penguins.
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Make a difference? Turn on CNN. All he cares about, on his first day as president of the United States, is how big the crowd was yesterday...
I'm sure he doesn't care about the hundreds of thousands who marched worldwide today, because they don't like him...the 16 year old girl in him is out already...only today he didn't tweet it, he stated in while standing in front of a wall of stars representing 54 employees who died while serving their country. Disgraceful...and only the beginning...of the end??
Yes, I know Nancy. For one day, though, I just had to give myself some hope. It won't last, I know.
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I don't know if we had anything here in Philadelphia today, but then, we're close enough to Washington for folks to join that demonstration.
In his weekly e-mail to the parish, our rector wrote that 16 women plus our part-time assistant minister, also a woman, went to Washington to join the march there.
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50,000 Take Part in Women's March in Philadelphia
The number far exceeded the 20,000 that was originally predicted, according to Philadelphia Mayor's Office spokeswoman Lauren Hitt.
By Wire Reports and NBC10 Staff
http://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local/Womens-March-Philadelphia-Inauguration-Thousands-Donald-Trump--411418875.html (http://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local/Womens-March-Philadelphia-Inauguration-Thousands-Donald-Trump--411418875.html)
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Women's March by the numbers.
Women's March Worldwide Estimates
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/170xxy-6PnwF-BwQJsTgF1vxlEaWIhT7vNlqxjkNni7E/edit?ts=588404ed#gid=0
Crowd Estimates (in progress/alphabetical)
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1xa0iLqYKz8x9Yc_rfhtmSOJQ2EGgeUVjvV4A8LsIaxY/htmlview?sle=true
Women's March Largest in U.S. History
A Comparison
http://usuncut.com/news/womens-march-largest-protest-us-history/
The Official Women’s March Attendance Numbers From Around the World Are In…
(A selective look at various cities, with photos, tweets and video)
http://usuncut.com/news/official-womens-march-attendance/
Women's March on Washington Goes Worldwide
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2017/01/21/millions-turn-out-worldwide-solidarity-washington-womens-march/96880344/
Downtown Los Angeles today:
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gee, wonder who wrote Sean's statement...and the march today dwarfed the crowd for inauguration, but no mention of that...
Spicer Uses First White House Presser to Blast Media Over ‘Shameful’ Reports on Crowd Sizes
“This was the largest audience to witness an inauguration. Period!” Spicer said.
Spicer did not take any questions, and he walked away from reporters after finishing his tangent.
http://www.mediaite.com/online/sean-spicers-uses-first-white-house-presser-to-blast-media-over-shameful-reports-on-crowd-sizes/ (http://www.mediaite.com/online/sean-spicers-uses-first-white-house-presser-to-blast-media-over-shameful-reports-on-crowd-sizes/)
This is how sad this whole bunch of cretins are.
It's what the Republicans have been doing for years now--keep saying things until it becomes
the perceived truth. This is why, as they say, we all have to speak truth to power. Do not accept
the lies that are now front and center in the White House press room.
The first day of a Presidency and the top priority is CROWD SIZE.
Now doubling down on it, no less:
In Response to Criticism, Photos of Inaugural Crowd Appear in White House Press Briefing Room
by Lindsey Ellefson | 4:47 pm, January 21st, 2017
http://www.mediaite.com/online/trump-has-put-photos-of-inauguration-crowd-in-the-press-briefing-room/
________________
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sKv7mB1j80c
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Jake Gyllenhaal was at the March in Washington, DC yesterday, along with his sister Maggie and some friends. So glad he was there.
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi1347.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fp706%2Fwuppie1968%2FJake%2F021_zpsbb2fmq9x.jpg&hash=b2a18b5e9eec2bb64703149a108ca1bad490db5a)
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I know it's reality but somehow I still can't wrap my mind around the fact that The Donald is actually President of the United States.
Same here. I still shake my head in disbelief - and I live in The Netherlands, for goodness sake. If the world had known this, say, three years ago... unbelievable.
This just seems like a bad movie script :-X
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Jake Gyllenhaal was at the March in Washington, DC yesterday, along with his sister Maggie and some friends. So glad he was there.
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi1347.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fp706%2Fwuppie1968%2FJake%2F021_zpsbb2fmq9x.jpg&hash=b2a18b5e9eec2bb64703149a108ca1bad490db5a)
A brief moment of sanity. :-X
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Yes, I know Nancy. For one day, though, I just had to give myself some hope. It won't last, I know.
I was just so discouraged and disgusted listening to him, it made me feel hopeless.
But the more I watched the marches around the world, I was surprised that I did see hope, right in front of me...and listening to some clips of the speakers at the march in Washington, I'm starting to think this is just the beginning of a movement that will make a difference...I hope...
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50,000 Take Part in Women's March in Philadelphia
The number far exceeded the 20,000 that was originally predicted, according to Philadelphia Mayor's Office spokeswoman Lauren Hitt.
By Wire Reports and NBC10 Staff
http://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local/Womens-March-Philadelphia-Inauguration-Thousands-Donald-Trump--411418875.html (http://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local/Womens-March-Philadelphia-Inauguration-Thousands-Donald-Trump--411418875.html)
Yes, I heard this on local morning TV news. Thanks for the update! You beat me to it. :D
The march took place on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway.
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Jake Gyllenhaal was at the March in Washington, DC yesterday, along with his sister Maggie and some friends. So glad he was there.
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi1347.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fp706%2Fwuppie1968%2FJake%2F021_zpsbb2fmq9x.jpg&hash=b2a18b5e9eec2bb64703149a108ca1bad490db5a)
"Men in Tights"? I like men in tights. Not sure I get the relevance here, but never mind. ;D
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Tell you what, the press secretary's comment about the size of the inauguration crowd made me think of one thins: The Emperor's New Clothes.
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Very good!
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"Watched protests yesterday but was under the impression that we just had an election! Why didn't these people vote? Celebs hurt cause badly".
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) 22 January 2017
Great pics of Jake and the collage of pics there is pretty funny! We do wonder.. :laugh:
Also they are saying:
"This was the largest audience to ever witness an inauguration, period," Spicer said, contradicting all available data.
Aerial photos have indicated that former president Barack Obama's first inauguration attracted a much larger crowd. Nielsen ratings show that Obama also had a bigger television audience.
Spicer said, without any evidence, that some photos were "intentionally framed" to downplay Trump's crowd.
http://money.cnn.com/2017/01/21/media/sean-spicer-press-secretary-statement/index.html
and he goes on...
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Kellyanne Conway could, quite possibly, be a bigger hit on SNL than Trump...between the two of them, the show is writing itself...
'Alternative facts are not facts. They're falsehoods': Chuck Todd blasts Trump adviser over dubious briefing claims
(Chuck Todd and Kellyanne Conway on "Meet the Press."NBC)
NBC anchor Chuck Todd confronted President Donald Trump's top counselor over the new White House press secretary's false statements about the inauguration crowd sizes.
In a heated interview on Sunday's "Meet The Press," Conway dismissed Todd's question about why press secretary Sean Spicer insisted that Trump's inauguration crowd was the "largest audience to ever witness an inauguration" despite contradicting evidence.
"You did not answer the question of why the president asked the White House press secretary to come out in front of the podium for the first time and utter a falsehood. Why did he do that? It undermines the credibility of the entire White House press office on day one," Todd said.
"No it doesn't, do be so overly dramatic about it, Chuck. You're saying it's a falsehood, and Sean Spicer, our press secretary is giving alternative facts to that," Conway shot back.
"Wait a minute, alternative facts? Alternative facts — four of the five facts he uttered, the one that he got right was Zeke Miller, four of the five facts he uttered are not true. Alternative facts are not facts — they're falsehoods," Todd replied.
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/alternative-facts-not-facts-theyre-155325681.html (http://finance.yahoo.com/news/alternative-facts-not-facts-theyre-155325681.html)
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https://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live/video/kellyanne-conway/3457926?snl=1 (https://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live/video/kellyanne-conway/3457926?snl=1)
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Justin Trudeau @JustinTrudeau 14m14 minutes ago
Congratulations to the women and men across Canada who came out yesterday to support women's rights. You keep your government inspired.
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"Wait a minute, alternative facts? Alternative facts — four of the five facts he uttered, the one that he got right was Zeke Miller, four of the five facts he uttered are not true. Alternative facts are not facts — they're falsehoods," Todd replied.
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/alternative-facts-not-facts-theyre-155325681.html (http://finance.yahoo.com/news/alternative-facts-not-facts-theyre-155325681.html)
Good for Chuck Todd. :)
(Thanks for the post!)
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(https://scontent-ort2-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/16265422_10101449239559607_5900881931970327343_n.jpg?oh=662929e58c5fe15a8426b0ac8ff3b54b&oe=590CDCB1)
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^^^
Is that supposed to be a "diss" at Hillary Clinton by said source, and by you as well for posting it?
Personally, I, for one, would not think it appropriate for the Democrat Presidential nominee, to be out in a
March such as this during the same weekend as the Presidential inauguration. It would have garnered more
attention than the march itself. It would have been seen as partisan and controversial by the opposition and
others, which means the march would have been taken less seriously, by some anyway. She also does not
have a current job in which she can effect any legislation going forward in this matter; Sanders is still a Senator
and appropriately influential.
Oh, and speaking of a "diss":
Hillary Clinton's message and endorsement of the Women’s March came in spite of the fact that her name was left off the March’s Guiding Vision and Definition of Principles‘ list of revolutionary women.
Many of her supporters were upset by the fact that the trailblazing woman who broke glass ceilings, including becoming the first woman to secure a major party’s nomination for president, wasn’t included in the list. A Change.org petition quickly started circulating, demanding that her name be added. The petition argued that “As activists and allies, we are dismayed that March organizers excluded Hillary Rodham Clinton as an honoree who has inspired women around the world to serve and to lead.”
Adding fuel to the fire, many argued that the event even used a quote from Clinton when they included the sentence “Women’s Rights are Human Rights and Human Rights are Women’s Rights” to their Guiding Vision and Definition of Principles, but failed to acknowledge her.
As one person said:
Leaving Hillary Clinton off this list is further proof of how we tell women:
"Do it perfectly, or don't try at all."#AddHerName
Articles HERE (http://rare.us/story/women-marchers-are-furious-about-the-omission-of-this-one-revolutionary-leader/) and HERE (http://rare.us/story/hillary-clinton-sent-out-thank-you-tweet-to-all-the-women-participating-in-womens-marches-around-the-world/).
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Jake Gyllenhaal was at the March in Washington, DC yesterday, along with his sister Maggie and some friends. So glad he was there.
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi1347.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fp706%2Fwuppie1968%2FJake%2F021_zpsbb2fmq9x.jpg&hash=b2a18b5e9eec2bb64703149a108ca1bad490db5a)
Shouldn't that left sign read: MEN IN TIGTHS? :P
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Donald J. Trump @realDonaldTrump 7h7 hours ago
Wow, television ratings just out: 31 million people watched the Inauguration, 11 million more than the very good ratings from 4 years ago!
Donald J. Trump @realDonaldTrump 5h5 hours ago
Peaceful protests are a hallmark of our democracy. Even if I don't always agree, I recognize the rights of people to express their views.
8) He's still tweeting!
Thanks for standing, speaking & marching for our values @womensmarch. Important as ever. I truly believe we're always Stronger Together.
— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) January 21, 2017
'Hope Not Fear'
Indeed.
And what a beautiful piece by Louisa Cannell. #womensmarch 👊👊🏻👊🏼👊🏽✨ pic.twitter.com/7h3Bzx79nB
— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) January 21, 2017
https://twitter.com/hashtag/womensmarch?src=hash
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Donald J. Trump @realDonaldTrump 7h7 hours ago
Wow, television ratings just out: 31 million people watched the Inauguration, 11 million more than the very good ratings from 4 years ago!
Second inaugurations of two term Presidents are always lower than the first.
Here's another accurate TWEET he could have made:
Wow, television ratings just out: 31 million people watched the Inauguration, 5.8 million less than the very good ratings from 8 years ago!
TRUTH: 19 percent below the audience for Barack Obama’s first swearing-in (37.8 million), on Jan. 20, 2009, when a quarter of all households tuned in.
Sorry Donald NOT BUYING IT.
And hating that this is what's on your mind.
You're PRESIDENT for f---'s sake!
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Creative signs. (I have to try and remember some of them to post.)
I tried to remember some of the creative signs I saw yesterday. There were so many, the longer ones
are hard to remember at all. I wish I'd had a pen and written them down, but wouldn't have thought
of it beforehand. The friend I went with took some photos, but his computer is down until Wednesday,
so I might get the photos later on. I'm sure some signs I've forgotten will be in the photos.
There were many great serious signs and signs I agreed with and a lot of "pussy" related signs. Those
I remember and am posting here are ones I thought were clever, creative, and/or made me laugh.
IF YOU WERE
LOOKING FOR
A SIGN
THIS IS IT.
ALT-RIGHT
DELETE
TRUMP: You don't have to be
POOR to be WHITE TRASH.
I CAN SEE RUSSIA FROM
MY WHITE HOUSE
IKEA HAS
BETTER
CABINETS
WHAT
MERYL
SAID
THE ERA OF FAKE NEWS
BEGINS WITH A FAKE
PRESIDENT
LOVE
TRUMPS
HATE.
LOVE
TRUMPS
TRUMP.
MEANWHILE IN RUSSIA
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fforum.voetbalzone.nl%2Fcustomavatars%2Favatar7418_57.gif&hash=8a7cb44c244290e7da58d6b18ff683ca7cbf379b)
TRUMP:
We are not
PEE-ONS.
WE ARE NOT
OVARY-ACTING
SUPER-CALLOUS-
FRAGILE-EGO-
TRUMP-YOU-ARE-ATROCIOUS
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Those are pretty funny Lyle! :laugh: There are actually whole sites dedicated to the signs, some of them are very clever.
One woman had a sign that said "Trump I will pee on you for free" ouch!!
Thought this one said it all though:
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I hesitate to ask this, but maybe I just missed something. Why were the hats made to look like they have cat ears? Did The Donald make some stupid crack about women being catty that I missed?
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It has to do with what he likes to grab.
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http://money.cnn.com/2017/01/21/media/sean-spicer-press-secretary-statement/
" Mommy...they DID come to see me.... didn't they mommy" ?
:laugh:
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It has to do with what he likes to grab.
Ah. Eeew.
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It has to do with what he likes to grab.
I hadn't thought of that either.
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I hadn't thought of that either.
A woman wore one of those hats to Service at my church yesterday. Unfortunately (I guess), it just made me think of 'Hello, Kitty."
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‘Good did not win this election, but good will win in the end!’ she bellowed. ‘And to our detractors that insist this March will never add up to anything, F**K YOU.’
The crowd whooped, she smirked delightedly, and then repeated her audience-thrilling line: ‘F**K YOU!’
As they whooped even louder, she went even lower.
‘Yes, I’m angry. Yes, I’m outraged. Yes, I have thought an awful lot of blowing up the White House.’
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4148206/PIERS-MORGAN-Madonna-Bomb-threats-don-t-Trump-hate.html#ixzz4Wb9K5U5E
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook
Madonna may be in hot water, but what else is new.
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http://money.cnn.com/2017/01/21/media/sean-spicer-press-secretary-statement/
That press briefing was perhaps the single most terrifying thing yet from this White House, because,
well, this quote in the article says it all:
"Sean Spicer lacks the guts or integrity to refuse orders to go out and lie.
He is a failure in this job on his first full day."
And it wasn't a lie to cover up anything but verifiable facts.
Then Kelly Anne Conway goes on Meet the Press and just calls them alternate facts!
We now have a White House that makes up things and calls them facts.
And this was the first full day! My only thought was that I was watching some old SNL skit
from the 90's with Chris Farley as Andy Spicer.
Andy Borowitz's take on this from the New Yorker:
http://www.newyorker.com/humor/borowitz-report/disturbed-man-gets-past-white-house-security-gives-press-conference
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'Let Barron be a kid': Former first daughter Chelsea Clinton speaks out to defend Donald Trump's 10-year-old son from cruel internet bullies - but can't resist a political dig at his dad
Chelsea Clinton took to Facebook to defend Barron Trump on Sunday
She said that he 'deserves the chance every child does - to be a kid'
But in the post she went on to attack his father Donald Trump by saying that we should 'oppose POTUS policies that hurt kids'
Many have criticized her and called the post 'hypocritical'
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4146662/Chelsea-Clinton-defends-Barron-Trump-Facebook-post.html#ixzz4WbvE2500
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook
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'Let Barron be a kid': Former first daughter Chelsea Clinton speaks out to defend Donald Trump's 10-year-old son from cruel internet bullies - but can't resist a political dig at his dad
Chelsea Clinton took to Facebook to defend Barron Trump on Sunday
She said that he 'deserves the chance every child does - to be a kid'
But in the post she went on to attack his father Donald Trump by saying that we should 'oppose POTUS policies that hurt kids'
Many have criticized her and called the post 'hypocritical'
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4146662/Chelsea-Clinton-defends-Barron-Trump-Facebook-post.html#ixzz4WbvE2500
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook
I don't get it. Why is it "hypocritical" for her to urge people to let the boy alone, yet oppose his father's policies that she believes will harm children in general?
I'm not a parent, but it doesn't seem right to me to attack the child--or whatever people have been doing--because of the sins of his father.
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I don't get it. Why is it "hypocritical" for her to urge people to let the boy alone, yet oppose his father's policies that she believes will harm children in general?
I'm not a parent, but it doesn't seem right to me to attack the child--or whatever people have been doing--because of the sins of his father.
I agree with you 100 percent. And I remember how cruel they were to Chelsea when her Dad was President. It wasn't right then and isn't right now.
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What's really amusing is that his father is an internet bully himself.
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Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4148206/PIERS-MORGAN-Madonna-Bomb-threats-don-t-Trump-hate.html#ixzz4Wb9K5U5E
Madonna may be in hot water, but what else is new.
About Piers Morgan's statement that "Madonna's Bomb Threats Don't Trump Hate."
There was a time I used to think Piers Morgan was okay, now I think he's a ______.
Madonna's always been an uncouth spokesperson for outrageousness. To glom on to
her as the representative of millions of women all over the country (and the world) is
really just idiocy. And for Piers to be a spokesman for this world-wide march is like
having him speak for all black people.
He also doesn't get it. What he is calling hate isn't anything more than how Trump supporters
rebeled against HRC's "deplorables" comments. They embraced it as a badge of honor and women
embraced Trump's "pussy" comments and "nasty woman" rhetoric, too, and during this March
acted it out in their own way. Good for them. That's what demonstrations, gatherings and protests
are designed to do. Reclaim yourselves. It's a powerful feeling to go out and share yourselves with a
large contingent of like-minded people. I can't speak for each and every separate March, but I can
speak for the one I attended, the largest gathering of people in one city in the world according to the
reports, and, according to the LAPD, there was no trouble, no incidents, no violence, no arrests. That,
in a crowd of 750,000, is practically unbelievable.
The entire day I encountered no negativity, no hate, no feelings of anything but a united resolve to be
loved and accepted and treated with dignity by those who would seek to inhibit and curb those rights.
It was an amazing day of camaraderie and togetherness, thoughtfulness and kindness that I have not
experienced since the Olympics were in town back in 1984.
I have not spoken to so many strangers in one day, maybe ever, in a spirit of courtesy, understanding and
sheer joy of expression. I spoke to the old and young, black and white, straight and LGBT, women and men,
families and their pre-schoolers and babies, Muslims, Latinos, Fillipinos, Asians, someone from India, homeless,
disabled, policeman and firefighters, bus drivers and subway conductors and who knows all who else? The more
I've thought about it, the more I think it was one of the best top days of my life.
So people can take any few persons in the world who said something they didn't like and hold it up to be ridiculed
and dismissive of the entirety. That would be really shallow, and that I will dismiss.
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What's really amusing is that his father is an internet bully himself.
His Father not him, he is a 10 year old boy.
Anyway I am glad you had such a great time the other day, I really am. As for Madonna, maybe she needs to remember:
(https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/75/09/df/7509df85b712db7570ccf80b8512c2b2.jpg)
http://groknation.com/news/la-womens-march/
A nice take on the day!
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His Father not him, he is a 10 year old boy.
Meaning what? I'm agreeing the boy should be left out of the equation.
You quoted:
"Former first daughter Chelsea Clinton speaks out to defend Donald Trump's 10-year-old son from cruel internet bullies."
I was just pointing out the irony that his father is an internet bully...and not only on the internet.
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So much for the march! :(
Washington (CNN)
President Donald Trump signed an executive action on Monday reinstating the so-called Mexico City Policy, which bars international non-governmental organizations that perform or promote abortions from receiving US government funding.
"The President, it's no secret, has made it very clear that he's a pro-life president," White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer told reporters at his first daily briefing. "He wants to stand up for all Americans, including the unborn, and I think the reinstatement of this policy is not just something that echoes that value, but respects taxpayer funding as well."..
http://www.cnn.com/2017/01/23/politics/trump-mexico-city-policy/index.html
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"The President, it's no secret, has made it very clear that he's a pro-life president," White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer told reporters at his first daily briefing. "He wants to stand up for all Americans, including the unborn, and I think the reinstatement of this policy is not just something that echoes that value, but respects taxpayer funding as well."..
At least that wasn't an alternative fact.
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Pro-life at the present time. Not always in the past. And the future?
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Pro-life at the present time. Not always in the past. And the future?
No clue, I prefer my politicians to be pro choice!
Wynonna Judd Responds to Sister Ashley Judd’s Women’s March Speech: ‘The Whole Thing Is Toxic’
www.usmagazine.com/celebrity-news/news/wynonna-judd-responds-to-ashley-judds-womens-march-speech-w462617
I was wondering if Wynonna would weigh in.
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That headline you quoted above makes it sound like Wynonna's opinion of
Ashley's speech is toxic and that is not what she's actually saying when you
read the actual article, which most people don't, it's a lot more complicated,
so you should clarify what you are posting.
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Oh no I did not mean to imply that at all. I would hope people check links, I know we are told not to post more than a paragraph of an article (if that) so it is hard to know what parts to post, sometimes they are quite lengthy.
I could never see Winona dissing her sister, I find that family very interesting. But agree that the situation has gotten toxic, it's all toxic lately.
And no end to it in sight.. I can't deal with it anymore.
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So I hear this morning that we are now to have a thorough investigation of voter fraud in the Presidential election. No doubt the result is a foregone conclusion--there was massive voter fraud--because that's what The Donald wants to hear.
Never mind that the responsible officials in any state who have spoken out--not to mention Speaker Ryan, of The Donald's own party--have said that there is no evidence of massive voter fraud, and there never has been any.
How much taxpayer money will be wasted on this particular travesty to suit The Donald's ego?
We really have gone down the rabbit hole. >:(
Of course, the result that The Donald wants--there was massive voter fraud--will also serve as ammunition for that project dear to black and shriveled Republican hearts--requiring a photo ID in order to be able to vote.
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This is a very funny video by a Dutch satirical show, extolling the virtues of the Netherlands in Trump-speak. :laugh:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/01/24/dutch-tv-trolls-donald-trumps-america-first-speech-welcome-video/
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This is a very funny video by a Dutch satirical show, extolling the virtues of the Netherlands in Trump-speak. :laugh:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/01/24/dutch-tv-trolls-donald-trumps-america-first-speech-welcome-video/
Thanks! Love it!
I'm forwarding it around!
(Though I hate how much of a joke we are now.)
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I guess it's good, since T hates to be laughed at. This gets under his thin skin like nothing else.
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Well, it's not quite as bad as the Pope's visit, but many blocks of downtown Philadelphia are all tied in knots today because of the Republican Retreat. The Trumpence is putting in an appearance. Theresa May is coming across the Pond for it, too.
I'm glad I don't own a business in those blocks.
Already last evening when I was on my way home from work, the area was crawling with police officers in groups of two, four, or six.
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Let us know how it was when you go home tonight.
Why are Reoublicans retreating in Philadelphia? Curious.
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Why are Republicans retreating in Philadelphia? Curious.
Not a clue. Just heard the night before last that they're basically taking over the Loew's Hotel on Market Street until tomorrow. We're a short and easy train ride from Washington, so maybe that had something to do with it. It's been put about that most of them are arriving and departing by train.
I don't expect to have any trouble other than to change my route from the subway to the gym slightly.
Unless there is some demonstration going on where I come out of the subway at City Hall. ...
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This is a very funny video by a Dutch satirical show, extolling the virtues of the Netherlands in Trump-speak. :laugh:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/01/24/dutch-tv-trolls-donald-trumps-america-first-speech-welcome-video/
Hm. Why didn't I think of posting it here? :laugh:
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Not a clue. Just heard the night before last that they're basically taking over the Loew's Hotel on Market Street until tomorrow. We're a short and easy train ride from Washington, so maybe that had something to do with it. It's been put about that most of them are arriving and departing by train.
I don't expect to have any trouble other than to change my route from the subway to the gym slightly.
Unless there is some demonstration going on where I come out of the subway at City Hall. ...
I'm a bit surprised that GOP politicians would deign to take the train. Joe Biden kinda ruined it for them.
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I wish CNN would stop playing directly into Trump’s hand by spending hour after hour dissecting every one of his words. He lives for that. They need to report what he’s doing then move on.
AC has 6 guests every night and all they do is go back and forth discussing the latest crazy thing that Trump said or did. They should report it, and maybe have a half hour show on Sunday devoted to his craziness (and so they could play the SNL skits), but that’s it. There’s more going on in the world than Trump spending our money on an investigation about why 3 million people didn’t like him last November.
Look up narcissist in the dictionary and guess who’s there…
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On the coverage leading up to Trump speaking at the retreat, CNN reported that the president of Mexico canceled his trip here next week, saying he was angry that T is building the wall.
In his speech, T said that it was a mutual decision...lies come too easy to him...I guess after doing it his whole life, it would be easier now.
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How many BBC/ITV, UK ...reporters are actually over there in the USA telling us what Trump is doing from moment to moment ?? They have been over there for weeks !
Wonder there is anyone left over here in the studios tell us whats happening in our own country !!
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Well now we know how the wall is getting paid for! 8)
President Donald Trump has decided he will seek to pay for the wall on the US's southern border by imposing a 20% tax on imports from Mexico and as part of a larger comprehensive tax reform plan, the White House said Thursday.
White House press secretary Sean Spicer said the comprehensive tax reform package Trump and Republicans are looking to put together will include taxing imports from other countries, like Mexico.
"By doing it that we can do $10 billion a year and easily pay for the wall just through that mechanism alone. That's really going to provide the funding," Spicer said, referring to a 20% tax. According to the Office of the US Trade Representative, Mexico's exports to the US in 2015 was valued at $316.4 billion. The trade deficit is estimated to be $50 billion.
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He probably thinks that by putting a tax on such imports that Mexicans will be paying the tax.
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they already walked that back...does that mean someone on his staff can actually speak truth to
madness power?
Shortly after he announced the proposal in an unscheduled "gaggle" with reporters on Air Force One, Spicer clarified to a separate group of reporters in the West Wing that it was just one proposal. "There are clearly a bunch of ways it can be done," he said. "The point is American taxpayers are not going to fund it."
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He probably thinks that by putting a tax on such imports that Mexicans will be paying the tax.
they would be yes and 316.4 billion Mexico in exporting to the U.S. begs the question, why are all these products not being made in the U.S., which is the next part of his plan I guess.
Run it like a business, that is what he has been saying all along..
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it's not a business, it's a government. Mexico will then tax our imports which will drive up costs...
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Cooler heads are apparently prevailing, at least temporarily.
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I am just repeating what he said, run it like a business. And bring manufacturing back to your own country!
The White House spokesman defended the proposed tax as something that '160 other countries do,' however.
'Right now our country’s policy is to tax exports and let imports flow freely in,' he said. 'Which is ridiculous.' Moments later he added, 'We are probably the only major country that doesn’t treat imports this way.'
'This gets us in line frankly with the policies that the other countries around the world treat our products.'
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gnn2XVtx1i0
Now for something completely different.
Bet those kiddies never want to get in a bath tub again >:(
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Mar-a-Lago membership fee doubles to $200,000
Donald Trump’s luxury resort in Florida is making the most of his leap into the White House by doubling its initiation fee to $200,000, it was reported Wednesday.
The price hike at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach took effect on Jan. 1, less than two months after Trump’s defeat of Hillary Clinton, according to CNBC.
A Reuters report said the increase occurred in two phases — from $100,000 to $150,000 in June, and then to $200,000 this month.
The timing raised red flags for a government watchdog.
“It sure looks like he’s using the presidency to line his pockets,” said Jordan Libowitz of the Center for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, DC.
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I'm a bit surprised that GOP politicians would deign to take the train. Joe Biden kinda ruined it for them.
Maybe they chartered a private one.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gnn2XVtx1i0
Now for something completely different.
Bet those kiddies never want to get in a bath tub again >:(
OMG! If that didn't traumatize them for life, nothing will. That was barbaric.
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Donald Trump has ordered his new administration to publish a weekly list of crimes committed by immigrants.
The US President’s sweeping new executive order on immigration, which he signed on the fifth day of his presidency, includes a paragraph mandating the Secretary for Homeland Security to “make public a comprehensive list of criminal actions committed by aliens” in the US...
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/donald-trump-publish-weekly-list-crimes-immigrants-commit-refugees-aliens-executive-order-us-a7546826.html
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Let us know how it was when you go home tonight.
No problems. The streets were closed to vehicular traffic, but the sidewalks were still open to pedestrians.
I did see one demonstration of some kind come west on Walnut Street and turn north on Twelfth Street, toward the Loew's Hotel.
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Mar-a-Lago membership fee doubles to $200,000
“It sure looks like he’s using the presidency to line his pockets,” said Jordan Libowitz of the Center for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, DC.
Of course he is. He is not doing anything that will not benefit him now, or in the long run.
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No doubt the crime figures will be entirely reliable.
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watching the press conference with dt and PM May, the differences between the two as they answer questions are astounding. Not siding for or against her, but it's the difference between a polished professional and the spoiled rookie trying to impress the cheerleaders...
a BBC journalist asked him a multi-part question that ended with "what do you say to our viewers at home who are worried about some of your views, and worried about you becoming leader of the free world."
First of all - thank you!
His answer? “This was your choice of a first question? There goes that relationship,”
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(https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/564x/0d/a5/05/0da505796a2072d47f6ff67e73104149.jpg)
3 comments on twitter:
Its a good thing the adult (May) answered his question.
I would call him a child, but that is an insult to children everywhere.
This is going to end with Trump lobbing nukes into Yorkshire.
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His answer? “This was your choice of a first question? There goes that relationship,”
That just made me laugh out loud!
Anyway he has apparently accepted an invitation from The Queen for a state visit - God save the Queen!
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She'd better guard her felines.
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watching the press conference with dt and PM May, the differences between the two as they answer questions are astounding. Not siding for or against her, but it's the difference between a polished professional and the spoiled rookie trying to impress the cheerleaders...
a BBC journalist asked him a multi-part question that ended with "what do you say to our viewers at home who are worried about some of your views, and worried about you becoming leader of the free world."
First of all - thank you!
His answer? “This was your choice of a first question? There goes that relationship,”
Oh, God. ... :(
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Anyway he has apparently accepted an invitation from The Queen for a state visit - God save the Queen!
I repeat, Oh, God. ...
Although watching that might make for some high-class entertainment. ...
Maybe he'll try to buy Buckingham Palace. ...
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(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fbasementrejects.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2015%2F06%2Fnaked-gun-from-the-files-of-police-squad-frank-drebin-tackles-queen-elizabeth-leslie-nielsen-jeannette-charles-review.jpg&hash=e6997201e7d0d17510cd8a1e5de0c262e4954255)
All I can think of is this! :laugh:
First President in the White House without a dog/pet lets hope he doesn't kick a Corgie or something..
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Borowitz Report:
“This two-hundred-and-forty-year experiment in self-rule began with the best of intentions, but I think we can all agree that it didn’t end well,” she said.
The Queen urged Americans to write in her name on Election Day, after which the transition to British rule could begin “with a minimum of bother.”
(Satire)
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He probably thinks that by putting a tax on such imports that Mexicans will be paying the tax.
they would be yes and 316.4 billion Mexico in exporting to the U.S. begs the question, why are all these products not being made in the U.S., which is the next part of his plan I guess.
Run it like a business, that is what he has been saying all along..
Bubba, Mexico/Mexicans would NOT be paying the tax on the imports. The imports coming into the U.S.
would be sold to U.S. customers at higher prices, so the U.S. populace would be paying the tax and, in
essence, paying for the wall, if that occurs.
And, this problem of illegal immigration that is so worrying Trump and his people...studies show that in the past ten years
more Mexican immigrants have left the United States and returned to Mexico than vice-versa. The reason for that is because
Mexico's manufacturing base has grown and so they have jobs there and are not migrating to the U.S. It also means, because
a lot of these workers have jobs, and money, they can afford to buy U.S. products that we export to them.
If we try to export more and more products to Mexico and they have no base of people with jobs to buy these products,
what the heck good does that do?
Trump's misguided plan is to make Americans pay more for the cheap goods coming across the border and lessen Mexico's
manufacturing base which keeps Mexicans in Mexico. What he's proposing would cause higher prices for consumers and
more immigrants coming to the U.S. looking for work and less Mexicans with money to buy anything we export there, which,
in turn, means more unemployed workers in the U.S.
Trump is a first class ass.
And, if you didn't think so before, after he was interviewed when he had to take David Muir over to a photo of people at his
inauguration to show him how much he is adulated by all these people in the photo and how massive the crowd was and how
many people, the most ever, were there, and his continued statements about how millions of illegal votes were cast against
him, the only reason at all that he was not the recipient of the MOST votes and this massive vote fraud occurred and that
"not one of these illegal votes came to me, believe me"...if people do not think this man has a serious mental disease and this
mental case won't continue to harm us all in ways both big and small as long as he's there, then I don't know what to tell you.
I really absolutely abhor this man, have no appetite to give him ANY benefit of the doubt, to put up with his idiocy nor to believe
anything he has to say because he says everything. He is a seriously unstable mental case.
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fmedia3.s-nbcnews.com%2Fj%2Fnewscms%2F2017_04%2F1878636%2F170125-greenpeace-resist-banner-ok-1059_8e9531022931864de559c802600b9aa0.nbcnews-fp-1200-800.jpg&hash=46fb34cd59f773ae3aa5e7759117866734c2b91a)
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First President in the White House without a dog/pet.
Of course not, that's a trait that humans possess.
He wouldn't want anything around that could possibly take attention away from himself.
(https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/564x/73/ab/3c/73ab3cf7f5aa0c3f0cafda353676cd21.jpg)
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(https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/564x/73/ab/3c/73ab3cf7f5aa0c3f0cafda353676cd21.jpg)
Oh, if only. ...
If I were ever to march in a protest, I would want a sign with a picture of The Donald behind bars, and the wording, "Lock Him Up!"
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Trump is a first class ass.
Hmm. I was going to say that I prefer idiot myself, because I don't want to insult asses, but then I realized that I don't want to insult idiots, either.
Seems no matter what I come up with, he's an insult to it. ::)
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Yes Lyle I have since had the whole import/export thing explained to me, hopefully "someone" is explaining it all to him..
As for 007 and the Queen! :laugh:
Is he actually mentally ill, you have to ask yourself don't you? I was just reading this, interesting stuff:
http://www.usnews.com/news/the-report/articles/2017-01-27/does-donald-trumps-personality-make-him-dangerous
And funny you said about Mexican Immigrants leaving the U.S. to go back to Mexico, very true!
I just read between 2009 and 2014, “1 million Mexicans and their families (including U.S.-born children) left the U.S. for Mexico.”
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If only Trump would go to Mexico...and THEN we build the wall.
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Is he actually mentally ill, you have to ask yourself don't you? I was just reading this, interesting stuff:
http://www.usnews.com/news/the-report/articles/2017-01-27/does-donald-trumps-personality-make-him-dangerous
I asked myself and the answer is YES.
It's been there all along; you only need to know that he spent years alleging President Obama was not born
in the United States. That, in itself, shows a huge lack of intelligence and/or willful ignorance and/or deceit.
Who is surprised by a n y t h i n g that comes afterwards?
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The West Wing was prophetic in so many things, but none more than this. The youtube clip is good, but it left out the best sentence.
Josh sends Donna to listen to a motivational speaker who has counseled the Republican candidate. Josh thinks the speaker is a buffoon who rips off great philosophical thinkers, and it's a dangerous sign of unoriginal thinking. They review the seminar...
“What does this remind you of? “I believe in hope, not fear.” “I’m a leader, not a politician.” “It’s time for an American leader.” “America’s earned a change.” “I before ‘E’ except after ‘C’!” It’s the fortune-cookie candidacy! These are important thinkers, and understanding them can be very useful and it’s not ever going to happen at a four-hour seminar. When the President’s got an embassy surrounded in Haiti, or a keyhole photograph of a heavy water reactor, or any of the fifty life-and-death matters that walk across his desk every day, I don’t know if he’s thinking about Immanuel Kant or not. I doubt it, but if he does, I am comforted at least in my certainty that he is doing his best to reach for all of it and not just the McNuggets. Is it possible we would be willing to require any less of the person sitting in that chair? The low road? I don’t think it is.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HXbbysme4yk (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HXbbysme4yk)
And I am officially following Gail the Fish on twitter...
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They're all bad, but Exhibit E shows the contrast between dt and, you know, a man...
Melania Hates Donald: A Theory
http://jezebel.com/melania-hates-donald-a-theory-1791428158 (http://jezebel.com/melania-hates-donald-a-theory-1791428158)
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Well, don't need her anymore...
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CdCLAAsWoAEEP16.jpg)
Trump bars door to refugees, visitors from seven mainly Muslim nations
@Marina_Sirtis
Trump cites 9/11 in his Muslim ban but leaves out Egypt, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia and UAE which is where the terrorists actually came from.
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Josh thinks the speaker is a buffoon who rips off great philosophical thinkers, and it's a dangerous sign of unoriginal thinking.
[...]
"I doubt it, but if he does, I am comforted at least in my certainty that he is doing his best to reach for all of it and not just the McNuggets.”
It's hard to cope with a Trump supported electorate that just does not care about any of that.
Or, worse, they've been conditioned to distrust facts aka the truth.
Example:
Quote from MiloMorris, post #5486 on the previous news thread:
(P.S.: What's the window in being able to quote old posts? This one was less than two months ago.)
[...] I'm not going to get into the weeds with you on any of the details of the accusations you've been making about Trump. Your opinion is that all that stuff is correct and/or important. Those of us that voted him into office think exactly the opposite.
Is Trump is the least original thinker ever? His slogan "Make America Great Again" was Ronald Reagan's. Not only did
he appropriate it, he copyrighted it to make money.
And, yes, "EXHIBIT E" is terribly stark and horribly sad.
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As many may know, The White House website has a place you can "petition" them.
If a petition gets 100,000 or more signatures, they have to respond, not that they'll
do anything about it. There are some good ones on there now. It takes less than a
minute. (They send an email back to you that you have to click once to make it count.)
A petition needs to get enough signatures in one month's time.
https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/
I signed these three just now:
IMMEDIATELY RELEASE DONALD TRUMP'S FULL TAX RETURNS, WITH ALL INFORMATION NEEDED TO VERIFY EMOLUMENTS CLAUSE COMPLIANCE.
404,875 SIGNED 100,000 GOAL
CIVIL RIGHTS & EQUALITY
DEMAND TRUMP ADMINISTRATION ADD LGBT RIGHTS, CLIMATE CHANGE, AND CIVIL RIGHTS BACK TO LIST OF ISSUES ON WH.GOV SITE
6,517 SIGNED 100,000 GOAL
ARTS & TECHNOLOGY: EDUCATION
DO NOT DEFUND THE NEA OR NEH
PLEDGE TO CONTINUE FUNDING THE NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE ARTS AND THE NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE HUMANITIES
1,130 SIGNED 100,000 GOAL
Of course, there's also the usual highly partisan, and ridiculous, ones, like this:
Issue an International Arrest Warrant for George Soros
(I am willing to bet bigly that Democrats know infinitely less about George Soros
than Republican voters do. Though what they do know is usually incorrect.)
Others:
Charge Madonna with Terrorist Threats against the president of the United States of America.
Arrest and detainment of singer Madonna.
Investigate Hillary Clinton for crimes committed against the People and Government of the United States.
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Well, don't need her anymore...
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CdCLAAsWoAEEP16.jpg)
Trump bars door to refugees, visitors from seven mainly Muslim nations
@Marina_Sirtis
Trump cites 9/11 in his Muslim ban but leaves out Egypt, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia and UAE which is where the terrorists actually came from.
Well you know how Trump feels about women:
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.repostuj.pl%2Fupload%2F2016%2F11%2F132555_e780e932542b3f5fbf520bcf4d0005e9.jpg&hash=c27ecf6bd85e2a75c84415de286531263aa61df6)
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That link is disturbing, I had never seen the footage of her laughing and then him turning and looking at her and her just stopping cold - that was kind of chilling - she looked like a Stepford Wife!!
As for him walking ahead of her, that was a joke, he sprinted up those stairs and was greeting the Obama's before she was even out the car.
I saw an article at the Daily Mail, showing that footage and then it shows when the Obama's arrived on his inauguration day, Michelle and him walked up together and then Michelle went ahead of him.
It showed the Bush's arrive at his, they walked up the steps holding hands.
Then it showed the Clinton's, and funny Chelsea took the lead up the stairs, followed by Bill and Hillary.
Chivalry is dead where Trump is concerned, never mind protocol..
I wonder if Melania and him were on their last legs before this election, but now she (like the rest of us) is stuck with him. Or are we??
Blink Twice If You Need Help Melania!
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Iraqi who worked as a translator for the U.S. army for ten years is released after being held overnight at JFK airport alongside 12 others in Trump immigrant ban confusion
Iraqi refugee detained at New York airport walked free on Saturday afternoon
Hameed Khalid Darweesh had been held in detention for 17 hours at JFK airport
Seven migrants stopped from boarding Cairo flight to New York on Saturday
It came just hours after Trump signed an executive order with tough new bans
Those already flying when order came into effect were detained on arrival
Others trying to fly from banned countries were blocked from boarding planes
Google earlier called on employees to return to U.S. immediately fearing bans
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4166762/Immigration-stopping-visa-holders-Trump-ban.html#ixzz4X5PJNyr2
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook
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It's The Omen come to life
chocolatechipcookiesforbreakfast
MichellePar
1/20/17 9:26pm
What if she is a sleeper agent and her only mission is to kill trump?
She was really going to college, then she got recruited, learnt languages and posed for the naked pics just to entice the trump, they printed these fake magazines only to convince him he was dating a top model, Barron is not trump’s kid, he is the son of Putin, once Melania gets rid of trump Putin will dictate the faith of USA through Barron.
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yeah, let's cut sanctions to Russia, good idea...
Russia parliament votes 380-3 to decriminalize domestic violence
Russia's parliament voted 380-3 on Friday to decriminalize domestic violence in cases where it does not cause "substantial bodily harm" and does not occur more than once a year.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2017/01/27/russian-parliament-decrimiinalizes-domestic-violence/97129912/ (http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2017/01/27/russian-parliament-decrimiinalizes-domestic-violence/97129912/)
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"INAUGURATION DAY" — A Bad Lip Reading of Donald Trump's Inauguration
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gneBUA39mnI (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gneBUA39mnI)
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Iraqi who worked as a translator for the U.S. army for ten years is released after being held overnight at JFK airport alongside 12 others in Trump immigrant ban confusion.
Apparently, there's a lot of people in Britain who have the same mindset as the U.S. Trump supporters, judging by the horrible comments on this article.
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Trump bars door to refugees, visitors from seven mainly Muslim nations
@Marina_Sirtis
Trump cites 9/11 in his Muslim ban but leaves out Egypt, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia and UAE which is where the terrorists actually came from.
Well, that article Bubba linked explains that:
Muslim-majority countries with ties to Trump's business empire have been excluded from the order, Bloomberg News reports. Statistics show Trump doesn't have any business relations with the seven black-listed countries, but does with Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Turkey.
It's all about doing something as long as he can make money out of it.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4166762/Immigration-stopping-visa-holders-Trump-ban.html#ixzz4X5VMuS00
___
I am not prone to violence or even thoughts of violence, but this man is bringing up more and
more dark thoughts in me. I can only imagine what people who are prone to violence are
experiencing.
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"INAUGURATION DAY" — A Bad Lip Reading of Donald Trump's Inauguration
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gneBUA39mnI (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gneBUA39mnI)
It's so good to counter the bad feelings with humor! Thanks for that, I'd seen a brief
clip of this, but not the entire thing!
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yeah, let's cut sanctions to Russia, good idea...
Russia parliament votes 380-3 to decriminalize domestic violence
Russia's parliament voted 380-3 on Friday to decriminalize domestic violence in cases where it does not cause "substantial bodily harm" and does not occur more than once a year.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2017/01/27/russian-parliament-decrimiinalizes-domestic-violence/97129912/ (http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2017/01/27/russian-parliament-decrimiinalizes-domestic-violence/97129912/)
I wonder if they're going to specify the thickness of the club a man may use to beat his wife? :(
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It's The Omen come to life
chocolatechipcookiesforbreakfast
MichellePar
1/20/17 9:26pm
What if she is a sleeper agent and her only mission is to kill trump?
She was really going to college, then she got recruited, learnt languages and posed for the naked pics just to entice the trump, they printed these fake magazines only to convince him he was dating a top model, Barron is not trump’s kid, he is the son of Putin, once Melania gets rid of trump Putin will dictate the faith of USA through Barron.
I have a friend and the OMEN is her favourite movie, sent this to her and she just about died laughing. Now we are thinking DEAD ZONE!
Johnny loads a rifle and takes aim at Stillson at a rally held in a church. His shot misses the target, but Stillson grabs Sarah's baby and holds him as a human shield. A photographer snaps a picture of Stillson holding the baby just as Johnny is shot by a security guard. Confronted by an angry Stillson, a fatally wounded Johnny grabs his hand. He now foresees Stillson's reputation and political ambitions being ruined, after the photograph of his cowardly act is published in the media for all to see ("No Future For Stillson", reads Newsweek); Stillson will then shoot himself. Johnny tells Stillson he's finished. Sarah embraces Johnny and tells him she loves him as he dies.
Maybe this Trump Presidency is putting up all around the bend.. ???
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1941 Dr. Seuss cartoon criticizing America's stance on denying Jews safe haven.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/C3Rjc5DWEAAiiLQ.jpg)
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(https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/564x/fb/23/60/fb23604fe10d617fcbd651b523ce55c9.jpg)
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Donald Trump Muslim Ban Will Keep OscarNominated
Director Asghar Farhadi from Attending 2017 Ceremony
Farhadi's film The Salesman is nominated in the Foreign Language category alongside Land of Mine (Denmark),
Toni Erdmann (Germany), A Man Called Ove (Sweden) and Tanna (Australia). The director made awards history
in 2012 when his film A Separation became the first Iranian film to win an Oscar.
http://www.independent.co/arts/news/muslim-ban-a7550751.html (http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/news/donald-trump-muslim-ban-oscars-2017-director-asghar-farhadi-iran-the-salesman-a7550751.html)
AMPAS statement:
“As supporters of filmmakers — and the human rights of all people — around the globe, we find it extremely troubling that Asghar Farhadi, the director of the Oscar-winning film from Iran ‘A Separation,’ along with the cast and crew of this year’s Oscar-nominated film The Salesman, could be barred from entering the country because of their religion or country of origin.”
The Constitution is Being Trumpled On
http://www.npr.org/2017/01/28/511996783/ (http://www.npr.org/2017/01/28/511996783/how-does-trumps-immigration-freeze-square-with-his-business-interests)
"I don't believe that our Constitution allows the president to order State Department and other U.S. government employees to discriminate between otherwise identical people, favoring those from countries he likes because they give him unconstitutional foreign emoluments, and punishing those from other countries that do not pay such personal and illegal tribute to him."
"Normally he would, of course, have freer rein legally in these foreign policy, immigration and refugee matters, but his open and notorious violation of the Constitution changes that. This is the corrupt misconduct of a medieval potentate, not an American president."
"...the executive action may lead to lawsuits, for example by American citizens whose family members are now barred from joining them in this country. These decisions about who to let in and not to let into the United States can now be challenged, because there's an unconstitutional basis for the president's decision," he said.
--Norman Eisen, ethics adviser to President Obama and a current fellow in governance studies at the Brookings Institution
___
"Trump is carpet-bombing U.S. foreign policy."
"One might think that Egypt and Saudi Arabia, the two countries that nearly all the 9/11 hijackers came from — and which are currently known to be backing ISIS and other terrorists, in Saudi Arabia's case, and facing serious terror attacks on their own soil largely in response to government repression, in Egypt's — would be included in Trump's twisted analysis as potential sources of terrorism. But no, those countries were ignored. Conflicts of interest? Nah, just a coincidence."
--The Institute for Policy Studies
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Why I happened to see this image online today, who knows.
(https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/564x/a0/a8/c9/a0a8c9774800eef521b9ef9526328d36.jpg)
Before the election I might have answered cell phones.
Now the answer is sooooo obvious.
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To me, this image is what the last year and a half has felt like ever since Trump announced he
was running for President and his followers and the media kept enabling this abomination.
America was under siege. Now it's the world under siege. This image was published on the
cover of Germany's Der Spiegel Magazine right after the election. In one image it symbolizes
it all to me and what is happening.
(https://fsmedia.imgix.net/cd/77/06/4b/1743/4039/ba69/e8b5465dd5fb/the-latest-der-spiegel-cover-portrays-donald-trump-as-a-world--destroying-asteroid.jpeg)
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I watched Fox news this morning, to see how they're reporting the ban...the 3 clowns on the morning show defended it to the hilt, it was amazing to hear their rationale, they were like robots. I could only watch it for about 30 seconds...
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To those fleeing persecution, terror & war, Canadians will welcome you, regardless of your faith. Diversity is our strength #WelcomeToCanada
— Justin Trudeau (@JustinTrudeau) January 28, 2017
:-* He is a liberal and a feminist and he looks like this, and no you can't have him! :laugh:
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fmuslimgirl.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2016%2F01%2Fjustin-trudeau-2-e1454085360567.jpeg&hash=b973abef1608bf27aba22a92b6eb5635483f8c61)
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You Will Not Normalize Trump To Me: Not Today Satan
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(https://img0.etsystatic.com/176/0/10009164/il_570xN.1088574150_59pp.jpg)
https://www.etsy.com/listing/493837269/not-today-satan-anti-trump-pin-225-in (https://www.etsy.com/listing/493837269/not-today-satan-anti-trump-pin-225-in)
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More than 550,000 people have signed a petition demanding Donald Trump's state visit to the UK be cancelled in the wake of his Muslim travel ban. The enormous response easily passed the 100,000 target needed for MPs to consider holding a debate on the motion in the House of Commons this morning, with more and more people flocking to sign it as the day has gone on. It is currently rising at an average of more than 1,000 signatures per minute. Plans for a state visit for President Trump were only announced 48 hours ago when Theresa May revealed he had accepted an invitation from the Queen.
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(https://media.giphy.com/media/VL4l70jdsdxgA/giphy.gif)
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Fritz, would you mind translating what this original cover says?
Thanks!
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.adweek.com%2Fcore%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2Fsites%2F9%2F2016%2F11%2FDerSpiegel_11_11_2016_Cover.jpg&hash=8391532294a00d2b758d84b0881c3bd310824f4e)
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Months before the 2016 U.S. presidential election took place, Dan P. McAdams, a psychology
professor at Northwestern University, set out to better understand Donald Trump, and how
his personality might influence the way he would govern if he were ever to be elected. The
new updated article from The Atlantic:
'He's Going to Continue to Create Chaos'
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/01/donald-trump-president/514802/
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Fritz, would you mind translating what this original cover says?
Thanks!
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.adweek.com%2Fcore%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2Fsites%2F9%2F2016%2F11%2FDerSpiegel_11_11_2016_Cover.jpg&hash=8391532294a00d2b758d84b0881c3bd310824f4e)
the end of the world as we know it
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the end of the world as we know it
Yup--both as to the translation and to the sentiment expressed.
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Fritz, would you mind translating what this original cover says?
Thanks!
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.adweek.com%2Fcore%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2Fsites%2F9%2F2016%2F11%2FDerSpiegel_11_11_2016_Cover.jpg&hash=8391532294a00d2b758d84b0881c3bd310824f4e)
It says "The End of the World As We Know It".
Way too true.
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Ah! We have a multitude of translators!
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More than 550,000 people have signed a petition demanding Donald Trump's state visit to the UK be cancelled in the wake of his Muslim travel ban. The enormous response easily passed the 100,000 target needed for MPs to consider holding a debate on the motion in the House of Commons this morning, with more and more people flocking to sign it as the day has gone on. It is currently rising at an average of more than 1,000 signatures per minute. Plans for a state visit for President Trump were only announced 48 hours ago when Theresa May revealed he had accepted an invitation from the Queen.
750,000 and rising...
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>:( :(
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Someone on Michael Moore's face book page just said:
First time Trump leaves the country, he should not be allowed back in. Taken word for word from the executive order he signed on Friday: "The United States should not admit those who engage in acts of bigotry or hatred (...other forms of violence against women, or the persecution of those who practice religions different from their own) or those who would oppress Americans of any race, gender, or sexual orientation".
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More than 550,000 people have signed a petition demanding Donald Trump's state visit to the UK be cancelled in the wake of his Muslim travel ban. The enormous response easily passed the 100,000 target needed for MPs to consider holding a debate on the motion in the House of Commons this morning, with more and more people flocking to sign it as the day has gone on. It is currently rising at an average of more than 1,000 signatures per minute. Plans for a state visit for President Trump were only announced 48 hours ago when Theresa May revealed he had accepted an invitation from the Queen.
I wish Her Majesty would retract her invitation. And no other head of state should invite him, either.
Not that that would have any effect on him. They would all be in the wrong for not inviting him. ...
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I know this is soooo totally silly to put here among the Trump posts, but I love the fact that a saying that started with a drag queen (Bianca Del Rio - RuPaul's Drag Race season 6) is suddenly becoming a huge meme.
"Not today Satan, not today," comes from the show RuPaul's Drag Race, and was said by season 6's winner Bianca Del Rio who served us some clown realness. The meaning means the devil a.k.a. Satan will not get in your way today.
"I was wondering if you were going to turn out a look that we haven't already seen before?" Said Courtney Act
" Not today Satan, not today." said Bianca Del Rio
(https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/e4/9e/c3/e49ec3f21cdb5b3c8e45d64537ba586d.jpg)
the moment it was born. LOL
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WGC4Xdls490
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Yeah, that was a little extra dig, especially if pence sees it :D
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Ah! We have a multitude of translators!
That was German 101. ;)
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Hatred in Canada.😢
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:(
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Hatred in Canada.😢
?
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I know this is soooo totally silly to put here among the Trump posts, but I love the fact that a saying that started with a drag queen (Bianca Del Rio - RuPaul's Drag Race season 6) is suddenly becoming a huge meme.
Not silly at all, Chuck, and totally apropos!
-
?
Quebec mosque shooting: Police arrest a suspect and a witness
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-38800907 (http://Quebec mosque shooting: Police arrest a suspect and a witness
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-38800907)
Sorry, I didn't think it needed explaining.
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Quebec mosque shooting: Police arrest a suspect and a witness
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-38800907 (http://Quebec mosque shooting: Police arrest a suspect and a witness
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-38800907)
Sorry, I didn't think it needed explaining.
You know how U.S.-centric the news is here. I caught something--briefly--on TV news this morning, but I was out of the room at the time, and pretty much just heard that PM Trudeau said something about something. :(
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(https://i.cbc.ca/1.3958379.1485799806!/cpImage/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/original_620/quebec-mosque-shooting-20170130.jpg)
Just terrible, terrible....condolences are coming in from all over the world.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/canada-reaction-mosque-shooting-1.3957938
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(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fbloximages.newyork1.vip.townnews.com%2Fnorthwestgeorgianews.com%2Fcontent%2Ftncms%2Fassets%2Fv3%2Feditorial%2F2%2Ff6%2F2f67cffc-e6a0-11e6-b69a-5f3806393847%2F588ebb9ed3381.image.jpg&hash=1d3ccd87c24fb84cc1437b01ce249183edd4f4ce)
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From the HRC, the Human Rights Campaign, a national LGBT organization:
Yesterday, HRC learned that a possible "license to discriminate" executive order targeting lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) Americans is circulating through Donald Trump's White House.
Despite White House statements concerning President Obama's previous executive order, right now the administration is still considering executive actions that would allow government employees, taxpayer-funded organizations or even companies to discriminate against LGBTQ people. This announcement could come as early as this week. LGBTQ refugees, immigrants, Muslims and women are scared today, and with good reason. Donald Trump has done nothing but undermine equality since he set foot in the White House.
I want to be clear about something: The LGBTQ community has been under attack by this president and this administration since day one. On top of this, tonight Trump is slated to announce his pick for the Supreme Court — someone he’s already said would be in the same mold as the vehemently anti-LGBTQ predecessor. We would be naive to think that the Trump administration won’t pursue such an attack on equality. After all, Donald Trump campaigned on this promise.
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So The Donald has nominated Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court. Unfortunately, I guess he will probably also get to nominate a successor to Ruth Bader Ginsberg. I haven't heard or read anything, but she can't last forever.
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Of course, lots of talk about it, a lot of supporters of the Democrats want the Democrats in the Senate to
obstruct the nominee because of what the Republicans did when the seat became vacant A YEAR AGO.
I have to say, I am in that camp because I think that is the single worst thing the Republicans did
during President Obama's Presidency. There was no justification not to hold hearings and vote on
Merrick Garland except that the Republicans felt completely entitled to that seat and blatantly showed
their partisanship in the matter, led by the supreme douchebag Mitch McConnell. Their reasoning was
that "the primary process had already started and that it should be decided by "the people" in the then
upcoming election. (Never mind that "the people" elected President Obama and that this was HIS perogative.)
As for "the primary process being underway, it was underway for months prior to that. It was a blatant and
hypocritical power play by the Republicans and they got away with it.
And, if you recall, in early October, when the polls suggested Hillary Clinton would win, no other than John McCain
and others like Ted Cruz and MIke Lee (Utah) were publicly signaling that more unprecedented obstruction would
be on the horizon if Hillary Clinton won the White House. THey said “I promise you that we will be united against
any Supreme Court nominee that Hillary Clinton, if she were president, would put up. I promise you.”
I say, right back at ya. It takes 60 votes in the Senate to approve a Supreme Court nominee, which means at least
eight Democratic senators need to vote yes on it. I say obstruct as much as they did. The Democrats always seem to
want to play nice ("When they go low, we go high"), but when do these SOB's ever have to pay for their obstruction?
It would only take 51 Senators to change the rules back to making it a simple majority to approve a Supreme Court
justice and they currently have the power to do that, and you know they would, so I say make them go on record and
show just exactly how partisan they are by doing that. The Trump supporters were all whining about accountability, well
let's make them all accountable. (And watch them whine about how they're the victim of partisan Democrats, boo hoo
hoo.) I'm writing to my two Democratic Senators right now to vote NO on this nominee.
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I agree with you, Lyle, obstruction, "douchebag," and all. ;D I'm just not taking up the space to quote you. :)
-
Meanwhile ...
Day 12 of the Obama vacation ... and you've NEVER seen Barack and Michelle Obama so relaxed.
Thong sandals? Check. Shades? Check. Panama hat and snapback cap? Check and check.
They're getting so comfortable touring their pal Sir Richard Branson's many Virgin Islands ... they might never come back. Honestly ... would you?
Sasha and Malia will be fine.
http://www.tmz.com/2017/02/01/barack-michelle-obama-vacation-virgin-islands/
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Meanwhile ...
Day 12 of the Obama vacation ... and you've NEVER seen Barack and Michelle Obama so relaxed.
Thong sandals? Check. Shades? Check. Panama hat and snapback cap? Check and check.
They're getting so comfortable touring their pal Sir Richard Branson's many Virgin Islands ... they might never come back. Honestly ... would you?
Sasha and Malia will be fine.
http://www.tmz.com/2017/02/01/barack-michelle-obama-vacation-virgin-islands/
So, what? They went off on a luxury vacation and made Sasha and Malia stay behind to go to school? If I were Sasha or Malia, I'd be pissed off at Mom and Dad. :D
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I almost hate to say this, but I do believe The Donald did the right thing in going to Dover AFB for the return of the remains of the Navy SEAL who was killed in action.
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I almost hate to say this, but I do believe The Donald did the right thing in going to Dover AFB for the return of the remains of the Navy SEAL who was killed in action.
I absolutely agree with you! :)
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That POS caused his death so, yeah, going there was the right thing to do. You two are turning into Trump apologists.
---------------
This video is worth watching. It brings up a good point: people are outraged by Trump's Muslim ban yet there was hardly a peep when Bush and Obama were bombing the shit out of the (Muslim) countries that refugees are trying to escape from.
http://stormcloudsgathering.com/trump-muslim-ban (http://stormcloudsgathering.com/trump-muslim-ban)
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That POS caused his death so, yeah, going there was the right thing to do. You two are turning into Trump apologists.
I certainly am not. That comment is not the least bit funny, and I highly resent it.
I don't know what your PM does when dead Canadians are brought home, but when the remains of US military personnel who lose their lives in the line of duty are brought home to Dover, Del., AFB, the incumbent President always goes as a sign of the nation's respect. I agree with your assessment of The Donald, which makes it somewhat surprising to me that he actually did the right thing, as President, by going to Dover.
I can think of a choice abbreviation for you, too, but I won't write it or this post will be deleted.
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I read yesterday that a local TV news anchor (not on the station I usually watch) had been suspended for a week because he said on the air that Kellyanne Conway "is good at bullshit."
Evidently she's still at it. I heard this morning that she's now inventing terrorist incidents that never happened (ref. Bowling Green). If that's an "alternative fact," it's a whopper.
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A trump apologist? :o
Anyway thought this was interesting:
Director Ang Lee blames Blair and Bush for Iraq 'mess'
The Oscar-winning director says the former Prime Minister Tony Blair and former President George W Bush left the Iraqi people with a choice between "dictatorship and chaos"...
http://news.sky.com/story/director-ang-lee-blames-blair-and-bush-for-iraq-mess-10751590
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Director Ang Lee blames Blair and Bush for Iraq 'mess'
The Oscar-winning director says the former Prime Minister Tony Blair and former President George W Bush left the Iraqi people with a choice between "dictatorship and chaos"...
http://news.sky.com/story/director-ang-lee-blames-blair-and-bush-for-iraq-mess-10751590
Sorry if this goes against the grain....but I have to agree.
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I certainly am not. That comment is not the least bit funny, and I highly resent it.
I don't know what your PM does when dead Canadians are brought home, but when the remains of US military personnel who lose their lives in the line of duty are brought home to Dover, Del., AFB, the incumbent President always goes as a sign of the nation's respect. I agree with your assessment of The Donald, which makes it somewhat surprising to me that he actually did the right thing, as President, by going to Dover.
I can think of a choice abbreviation for you, too, but I won't write it or this post will be deleted.
I'm sorry if I offended you but it kind of irks me to see comments that normalise Trump. You can PM me that choice abbreviation if it makes you feel better.
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Sorry if this goes against the grain....but I have to agree.
I think NOT agreeing would go against the grain here.
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A trump apologist? :o
Anyway thought this was interesting:
(...)
Well, your handle is the name of a white supremacist symbol, what am I to think? I suggest you add an acute accent to the second "e" at least. A French pussy-grabbing skunk would be better than a racist frog. ;)
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I'm sorry if I offended you but it kind of irks me to see comments that normalise Trump. You can PM me that choice abbreviation if it makes you feel better.
I think that just because one despises The Donald (and I take second to no one in despising him), it's childish to refuse to recognize it when he does something that is both the duty of the POTUS and the right thing to do.
Besides, I said I almost hated to say it--I almost hated to say he did something that was right for him to do as POTUS.
'Nuff said.
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Well, your handle is the name of a white supremacist symbol, what am I to think? I suggest you add an acute accent to the second "e" at least. A French pussy-grabbing skunk would be better than a racist frog. ;)
I have explained on here many times now, I was Lola, then I Bubba, now I am Pepe, I keep getting locked out for some reason and have to re-register and pick a new name. This time I picked the name of my dog. Not that I need to explain, can't say I have ever give much thought to anyone's board name. I mean you are "oilgun" do you oil guns?? I really have no clue what that means.
And as Jeff says it is childish to not recognize when Trump does something good. They are few and far between, they should be celebrated.
Cheering for him to fail is not going to serve anyone well, least of all U.S. citizens, or the rest of the world for that matter.
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Hardly necessary to cheer for him to fail.
Though I do find myself humming "We Shall Overcome" more and more.
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And as Jeff says it is childish to not recognize when Trump does something good. They are few and far between, they should be celebrated.
I see it oilgun's way. Trump thinks he does no wrong. If you're not adulating him you're against him. So it makes no difference
if you say "good dog" because he doesn't think he's ever been bad. So why give him credit? Besides, what you're all saying is a
good thing was something expected from most human beings. Trump does it and it's like rewarding a dog with a treat. Trump
EXPECTS to be adulated for everything he does. If he does something good it's an accident. What the media should really do is
ignore him. That drives him crazy. He'd turn into Glenn Close in Fatal Attraction. ("I will not be ignored, Dan.") But it's ratings
and they won't.
Celebrated for doing the expected and/or right thing? No.
That's like celebrating a broken clock because it's right twice a day.
Cheering for him to fail is not going to serve anyone well, least of all U.S. citizens, or the rest of the world for that matter.
People are not cheering for him to fail. They're just reporting his failings. Which are huuge.
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no, they're cheering for him to fail...
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I have explained on here many times now, I was Lola, then I Bubba, now I am Pepe, I keep getting locked out for some reason and have to re-register and pick a new name. This time I picked the name of my dog. Not that I need to explain, can't say I have ever give much thought to anyone's board name. I mean you are "oilgun" do you oil guns?? I really have no clue what that means.
And as Jeff says it is childish to not recognize when Trump does something good. They are few and far between, they should be celebrated.
Cheering for him to fail is not going to serve anyone well, least of all U.S. citizens, or the rest of the world for that matter.
Oilgun is the best anagram of my name I could come up with: Gil Uno. It's just good luck that there is a brand of lube called Gun Oil.
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no, they're cheering for him to fail...
I am certainly cheering for him to fail because what he wants to do is horrific. There are already two new wars on the horizon: Iran and China.
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Oilgun is the best anagram of my name I could come up with: Gil Uno. It's just good luck that there is a brand of lube called Gun Oil.
Never knew that! (Any of it😀)
Glad I didn't go for SodaBran. Or Barn.
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^^^
LOL!
___________
fail
verb
1.) be unsuccessful in achieving one's goal.
2.) neglect to do something.
3.) break down; cease to work well.
noun
4.) a grade that is not high enough to pass an examination or test.
Trump's already accomplishing #'s 2, 3 & 4 and I'm working for #1.
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Well, your handle is the name of a white supremacist symbol, what am I to think? I suggest you add an acute accent to the second "e" at least. A French pussy-grabbing skunk would be better than a racist frog. ;)
oh come ON... pepe1 doesn't have a blond wig over her screen name! at least not yet. ;D
it's awful that that ugly little green frog has been co-opted by the alt-right.
(it's like the nazis ruining the very beautiful and meaningful swastika symbol, which has been around for centuries. i love the swastika symbol, both visually and for its sanskrit meaning of "good fortune".. i first fell in love with it in japanese art, in gorgeous fabric patterning, and then saw it in indian restaurants, which, by the way, are constantly being roasted on yelp for utilizing the symbol in their dining room decor, even though their use and respect for the symbol has been around for thousands of years.)
i say, FREE PEPE! before these neo-nazis ruin it for everyone. hopefully the artist behind the comic strip can sue the alt right and others for using his image without his consent.
but whatever, it's an ugly frog, so it makes sense that it's used to portray trump
(https://images.vice.com/motherboard/content-images/article/no-id/1473875030144977.png)
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Never knew that! (Any of it😀)
Glad I didn't go for SodaBran. Or Barn.
ooh, soda barn has a nice ring to it... :D
pepe1, here's an oil gun (https://www.amazon.com/Guardair-83SG-Syphon-Pneumatic-Oil/dp/B000KL2PMK). i'd wear eye protection. ;)
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i say, FREE PEPE!
:laugh: :laugh:
White House Press Secretary Angrily Refutes New York Times Story: President Trump 'Definitely Doesn't Wear a Bathrobe'
http://people.com/politics/sean-spicer-new-york-times-story-trump-bathrobe/
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That'll show 'em.
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:laugh: :laugh:
White House Press Secretary Angrily Refutes New York Times Story: President Trump 'Definitely Doesn't Wear a Bathrobe'
http://people.com/politics/sean-spicer-new-york-times-story-trump-bathrobe/
:laugh:
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Well, I guess Betsy DeVos will be confirmed to dismantle the Department of Education.
The news talkers keep saying that if there is a tie in the Senate, Pence will have to vote to break it. Nobody I've heard goes on to say that if he does, of course he will vote to confirm. It's what his boss wants. So she will be confirmed by one vote--Pence's.
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Meanwhile...
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fll-media.tmz.com%2F2017%2F02%2F07%2F0207-obama-branson-launch-4.jpg&hash=3a871019cd912560d117b493493ce6291b176c91)
http://www.tmz.com/2017/02/07/barack-obama-richard-branson-kitesurfing/
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Well, I guess Betsy DeVos will be confirmed to dismantle the Department of Education.
The news talkers keep saying that if there is a tie in the Senate, Pence will have to vote to break it. Nobody I've heard goes on to say that if he does, of course he will vote to confirm. It's what his boss wants. So she will be confirmed by one vote--Pence's.
Sending an email note to both Republicans who are taking a stand and voting against her confirmation.
Both women, by the way -- Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Sen. Susan Collins of Maine. I keep
saying the country would be better off if we had more women in the Congress. Any women. Even
Republican women. Well, some of them, I just thought of Joni Ernst. Of Iowa.
THe recent election and now this Senate vote just goes to show you that Republicans will vote for anyone,
no matter how unqualified they are.
-
Sending an email note to both Republicans who are taking a stand and voting against her confirmation.
Both women, by the way -- Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Sen. Susan Collins of Maine.
I've seen Susan Collins on TV on a number of occasions, and she's always impressed me favorably. I wasn't familiar with Lisa Murkowski, but I heard her speak about how her constituents were so much against DeVos. She impressed me, too.
I keep
saying the country would be better off if we had more women in the Congress. Any women. Even
Republican women. Well, some of them, I just thought of Joni Ernst. Of Iowa.
Never heard of her. Probably don't want to.
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Harambe-shaped Cheeto reaches bid of nearly $100K on eBay
http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/harambe-shaped-cheeto-reaches-bid-of-nearly-dollar100k-on-ebay/ar-AAmG08j
I really feel more and more we are living in the "upside down world". :o
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Well, I guess Betsy DeVos will be confirmed to dismantle the Department of Education.
The news talkers keep saying that if there is a tie in the Senate, Pence will have to vote to break it. Nobody I've heard goes on to say that if he does, of course he will vote to confirm. It's what his boss wants. So she will be confirmed by one vote--Pence's.
Well, it gives me no pleasure to say it, but Betsy DeVos has been confirmed by one vote--Pence's.
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So we now have a billionaire Education Secretary who never attended a Public School in her life.
Neither has her children. She has financial interests in organizations pushing charter schools. She
has shown she will push her conservative religious beliefs into her actions as Education Secretary.
She has NO experience in holding a job like this, but she has donated large amounts of money to
Republican candidates. Asked her opinion on guns in schools she said "some schools, in Utah for
example, might want guns to protect against grizzlies."
This woman will have to weigh in on the implementation of the Every Student Succeeds Act and possibly undo some of the previous administration's regulation initiatives on school accountability and spending, which have been criticized by Republicans as federal overreach. Rules on such things as accountability already have been on hold. She will have to address several hot-button issues in higher education, such as rising tuition costs, growing student debt and the troubled for-profit colleges, many of which have closed down, leaving students with huge loans and without a good education or job prospects. She will also have to react to Trump's campaign proposal of funneling $20 billion of public funds toward school vouchers and deal with sexual assault and freedom of speech issues on campuses.
Good luck America!
If this nominee can get through...if Trump nominated a gorilla shaped cheeto for a cabinet position I think the Republicans would vote to confirm it.
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I just read that some pundits--I don't know who--are talking about Al Franken to challenge The Donald in four years.
-
Boris Johnson has given up his U.S. citizenship
http://money.cnn.com/2017/02/09/news/boris-johnson-us-citizenship/index.html
This may be a good thing!
He once described Barack Obama as a "part-Kenyan President" with an "ancestral dislike of the British Empire."
More recently, he suggested he would avoid visiting New York because of "the real risk of meeting Donald Trump." He has also likened Hillary Clinton's appearance to that of "a sadistic nurse in a mental hospital."
:">
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Boris Johnson has given up his U.S. citizenship
Hunh! I didn't know he had it!
I read in this morning's newspaper that over 20,000 people have signed a petition to recall (R) Pat Toomey, one of our senators from Pennsylvania. Unfortunately, voters have no right or ability under the U.S. Constitution to recall a senator.
-
I can't recall ever knowing that, Jeff. While the sentiment might be warranted, the energy
is wasted if it's not legal! I guess some think it's possible because there's been some high
profile recall elections in Governor's cases, Wisconsin (failed) and California (succeeded).
-
I can't recall ever knowing that, Jeff. While the sentiment might be warranted, the energy
is wasted if it's not legal! I guess some think it's possible because there's been some high
profile recall elections in Governor's cases, Wisconsin (failed) and California (succeeded).
In ordinary times, I guess that petition would at least be worthwhile as a demonstration of how unhappy so many of Toomey's constituents are with him. But these aren't ordinary times. :(
There's no provision for recall in the Pennsylvania Constitution either.
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I may be laughing all afternoon. :D
Over lunch, I was reading the local morning newspaper, and from it I learned that Pennsylvania state Senator Daylin Leach (D, Montgomery Co. [Philadelphia suburbs]) has tweeted that The Donald is a "fascist, loofa-faced shit-gibbon." :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:
I guess as of the time the newspaper article was written, the tweet had more than 12,000 retweets and almost 30,000 likes. :D
Sen. Leach said he was inspired to tweet when he learned that The Donald had threatened to destroy the career of a Texas politician who favored legislation that would require a criminal conviction before law enforcement could seize people's assets through civil forfeiture. Sen. Leach also dared The Donald, "Why don't you try to destroy my career?"
(If anybody knows what a shit-gibbon is, please feel free to post. I'm sure it's something not very nice. :D )
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So, at the risk of being accused yet again of trying to "normalize" The Donald. ... ::)
When I read about The Donald whining because Nordstrom has dropped Ivanka's clothing line, it made me think of President Harry Truman writing a letter threatening to beat up a newspaper music critic who reported unfavorably on the singing of Truman's daughter Margaret.
I remember learning about this incident, and it's included in the one-man play Give Em' Hell, Harry, but it occurs to me that I don't know if the letter was common or public knowledge at the time, or only came out later.
-
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4207110/President-Hollande-praises-rape-victim.html
Hands up all those who believe this Police Officer's story ?? >:(
Okaaaay! Now hands up all those who believe in fairies ??
Yes.....the latter IS more believable.
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Okaaaay! Now hands up all those who believe in fairies ??
On a forum with a number of gay participants, you're asking who believes in fairies? ;D ;)
Yes, fairies are more believable. ;D
(I can say that because I am one. ;D )
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I remember learning about this incident, and it's included in the one-man play Give Em' Hell, Harry, but it occurs to me that I don't know if the letter was common or public knowledge at the time, or only came out later.
It was quite well-known at the time that Truman was having this "feud" with a columinst who dissed his daughter.
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Apparently Truman frequently wrote letters to his critics using more colorful language that was less frequent in writing at the time. He filed these away, never to be mailed. His way of letting off steam. It seems that the one to Paul Hume (who had a choral group famous in this area) was made public inadvertently.
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/11/28/arts/paul-hume-85-washington-music-critic.html
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Apparently Truman frequently wrote letters to his critics using more colorful language that was less frequent in writing at the time. He filed these away, never to be mailed. His way of letting off steam. It seems that the one to Paul Hume (who had a choral group famous in this area) was made public inadvertently.
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/11/28/arts/paul-hume-85-washington-music-critic.html
So the letter did get out at the time?
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I think so. Roughly about the time that he wrote the review. It blew over pretty quickly, though.
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Good news for Twitler supporters, I guess.
Asylum-seeking Syrian family crosses into Quebec from U.S. in -15C weather
Asylum-seekers crossing through the woods to Quebec surged in recent months, Canada Border Services says
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/asylum-seeking-syrian-family-crosses-into-quebec-from-u-s-in-15c-weather-1.3978598
[...]
Why cross in the woods?
The reason some asylum-seekers will choose to cross in the woods instead of at a formal border crossing goes back to 2004 and the Safe Third Country agreement.
The agreement was designed to limit the number of people claiming refugee status in Canada.
It was created so that refugee status can only be claimed in the first safe country someone arrives in. But it only holds at official border crossings.
People crossing into Canada through open terrain can apply for refugee status here.
-
Good news for Twitler supporters, I guess.
Asylum-seeking Syrian family crosses into Quebec from U.S. in -15C weather
Asylum-seekers crossing through the woods to Quebec surged in recent months, Canada Border Services says
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/asylum-seeking-syrian-family-crosses-into-quebec-from-u-s-in-15c-weather-1.3978598
[...]
Why cross in the woods?
The reason some asylum-seekers will choose to cross in the woods instead of at a formal border crossing goes back to 2004 and the Safe Third Country agreement.
The agreement was designed to limit the number of people claiming refugee status in Canada.
It was created so that refugee status can only be claimed in the first safe country someone arrives in. But it only holds at official border crossings.
People crossing into Canada through open terrain can apply for refugee status here.
that is great! Go Canada!
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I'm not sure I understand how the refugees come to the U.S. to be
able to then go to Canada. What are they doing in the limbo stage?
The current vetting process for refugees which I learned about on a
PBS Newshour last August, said the vetting process happens before
any refugees get here. Anyone know?
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/asylum-seeking-syrian-family-crosses-into-quebec-from-u-s-in-15c-weather-1.3978598
The climate in the U.S. has created a sense of insecurity in some people.
Yes, everyone residing here!
Except climate change deniers... :)
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Singing icon Pat Boone, 82, blasts Meryl Streep, Hollywood liberals and movie studios that are 'wrecking' US image around the world with anti-Trump rants
Boone, 82, said an awards show in not the place to 'vent your spleen'
The respected singer feels Meryl refused to give Trump a 'chance'
He insisted Hollywood shuts out conservatives and is '99% liberal,' to the detriment of the nation's image around the world
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-4215336/Pat-Boone-BLASTS-Meryl-Streep-Hollywood-liberals.html#ixzz4YQNfUZAe
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook
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Pat Boone is a virulent homophobe who has treated LGBT folks badly his entire life.
I wouldn't be surprised if Dana Carvey used Pat Boone for the basis of his Church Lady character.
What's "wrecking the U.S. image around the world" IS Donald Trump.
Seriously, is Pat Boone defending the morality of Donald Trump?
"Boone cited Trump's Electoral College victory and his voters' conviction that he’s gonna lead us into a more moral and a more economically sound and military strong life."
Sane people have been trying to warn everyone about Trump for months. Not his politics. Trump himself. 99% plus
of EVERY newspaper in the United States said "DO NOT VOTE FOR HIM." Many Republicans and former government
officials who served in high positions signed their names to ads and appeared on the news warning everyone not to vote
for this man. His politics, whatever they are, were not the point. The man was on full display for a year and a half (or his
whole life if anyone was paying attention to him) as the disaster he would be if he was elected. The man is a petty and
vindictive businessman with no experience at all in running any kind of government job, the morals that would make
most people cringe around him, except that he labeled himself a Republican so the conservative Christian right like Boone
choose to look at him like a Saint? That's on you Pat.
And TRUMP is going to lead the U.S. into a more moral country? Dream on Pat, you effenahole.
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Their thin veneer of supposed morality and religiosity hardly disguises their lust for power.
The morality is for other people, not the leadership.
-
Dream on Pat, you effenahole.
I will agree with that. He should stick with the step in bathtub commercials (I want one of those by the way).. 8)
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Lindsay Lohan Wants Meeting with Trump, Putin to Solve Syrian Refugee Crisis
Have no fear, Lindsay Lohan is here...to solve the Syrian refugee crisis!
Speaking during a Facebook Live interview with the Daily Mail, Lohan said she wanted a sit-down meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump, Russian President Vladimir Putin and other Hollywood celebrities to discuss the Syrian refugee crisis.
"I want to try to get the word out to Donald Trump bring him over there, have him see all the positive things they are doing over there and all America can do to help as well," she said.
http://insider.foxnews.com/2017/02/11/lindsay-lohan-syria-refugees-trump-putin-meeting
8)
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Love trumps Trump. :)
Fadwa Alaoui, Canadian turned away at U.S. border, gets visit from Vermont family
[...]
"I guess it felt like someone had treated my neighbour badly," said Andy Solomon. "I imagined poor Youssef waiting for hours while they're interrogating his mom."
[...]
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/montreal-fadwa-alaoui-vermont-support-1.3979173
-
Lindsay Lohan Wants Meeting with Trump, Putin to Solve Syrian Refugee Crisis
Have no fear, Lindsay Lohan is here...to solve the Syrian refugee crisis!
:laugh:
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CONGRATS BBM-4XM, JEFF!!!!
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CONGRATS BBM-4XM, JEFF!!!!
Good grief! :o
Thanks! :)
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In Like Flynn?
No, Flynn Flies Out!
Yay!
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Happy Valentine's Day all!
http://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/index.php?topic=20158.1530
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(https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-_1KlIJLLU6A/WCw8OqF2X3I/AAAAAAAAANI/M1OZN_YgJ-EJBpGUcF4_0GLGMsuzDOY_ACEw/s400/Valentine%2BDay%2BGreetings%2Band%2BImages12.jpg)
Everyone!
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(https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-_1KlIJLLU6A/WCw8OqF2X3I/AAAAAAAAANI/M1OZN_YgJ-EJBpGUcF4_0GLGMsuzDOY_ACEw/s400/Valentine%2BDay%2BGreetings%2Band%2BImages12.jpg)
Everyone!
And to you, too, Linda. :)
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Happy V-Day, all o' y'all!
-
And to you, too, Linda. :)
Thanks, Jeff!
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Well, if The Donald is going to refer to the media as "the fake media," I think it's time I begin referring to him as "the Fake President."
-
Totally agree, Jeff. EVERYTHING is everyone else's fault but his.
Bad judgement on his part.
Lack of knowledge of the basics of the American government.
Surrounding himself with idiots, who have no knowledge of the basics of American government.
NONE of this is his fault. It is all the fault of the hateful media.
-
That press conference he gave yesterday was like watching a
child trying to get out of a playpen. It was disturbing and even
terrifying to think that he is in the position he's in. And if you
look at a transcript of it, it's even more obvious how incoherent
it was.
The last question he took where the Israeli reporter asked a legitimate question
and Trump took it as an accusation and berated him was just unbelievable.
Well, it wasn't unbelievable, that's the problem. If you read any articles online and
then look at the comments afterwards you actually find so many people supporting
this buffoon. They really are just enjoying the show. It's like constantly eating junk
food and not realizing, or just not caring, that in the long run you're going to regret it.
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I'M IN! FOR THE PRICE OF A STAMP!
This was started by a grass roots RESISTANCE (to Trump) group. Besides being individually easy to do, it already has historical symbolism,
a hashtag, and no one has to buy a plane ticket or charter a bus for DC .:
THE IDES OF TRUMP: On March 15th, each of us will mail Donald Trump a postcard that publicly expresses our opposition to him. And we, in vast numbers, from all corners of the world, will overwhelm the man with his unpopularity and failure. We will show the media and the politicians what standing with him — and against us — means. And most importantly, we will bury the White House post office in pink slips, all informing Donnie that he’s fired.
Each of us — every protester from every march, each congress calling citizen, volunteer, donor, and petition signer — if each of us writes even a single postcard and we put them all in the mail on the same day, March 15th, well: you do the math.
No alternative fact or Russian translation will explain away our record-breaking, officially-verifiable, warehouse-filling flood of fury. Hank Aaron currently holds the record for fan mail, having received 900,000 pieces in a year. We’re setting a new record: over a million pieces in a day, with not a single nice thing to say.
So sharpen your wit, unsheathe your writing implements, and see if your sincerest ill-wishes can pierce Donald’s famously thin skin.
Prepare for March 15th, 2017, a day hereafter to be known as #TheIdesOfTrump.
Postcards are important here! Regular mail must go through content inspections
that slow them down, whereas postcards don't have such postal obstacles.
Write one postcard. Write a dozen! Take a picture and post it on social media tagged with #TheIdesOfTrump ! Spread the word! Everyone on Earth should let Donnie know how he’s doing. They can’t build a wall high enough to stop the mail.
Then, on March 15th, mail your messages to:
President (for now) Donald J. Trump
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500
It might just be enough to make him crack.
If you are out of the country, it will take longer to arrive.
Figure out the timing so it arrives around March 17th!
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And it will help out the USPS, which can really use the revenue.
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I plan on finding some pink postcards to send, to look like a pink slip.
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Great idea!
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I'm in as well and will spread the word on social media.
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I plan on finding some pink postcards to send, to look like a pink slip.
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Ffile2.instiz.net%2Fdata%2Ffile2%2F2016%2F07%2F01%2F6%2Fd%2Fc%2F6dc6abb72661e0e88f1affb5e230c2f9.jpg&hash=529b9902475c0207b61c1a04c1faba842d2e47b5)
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Bait and Switch
This Short Video from The Other 98% says it all...or, as Mark Shields said on The PBS Newshour last evening, since practically no one is in place to make all this happen, he's pushing buttons that aren't connected to anything!
+
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi171.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fu316%2Frichchanstev%2FBait%2520and%2520Switch_zpsgbnmdb00.jpg&hash=2cf5bd68c4cd5b46a65622c8b08043703b417a6f) (http://s171.photobucket.com/user/richchanstev/media/Bait%20and%20Switch_zpsgbnmdb00.jpg.html)
Video Link:
https://www.facebook.com/TheOther98/videos/1704864586191179/
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That's a great way to put it!
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Home of the Whopper
A great political cartoon!
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi171.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fu316%2Frichchanstev%2FHome%2520of%2520the%2520Whopper-original_zpstne4sbf1.jpg&hash=e4b250121cc862c15edad04f9c3c02c0dca64417) (http://s171.photobucket.com/user/richchanstev/media/Home%20of%20the%20Whopper-original_zpstne4sbf1.jpg.html)
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Swiped for Facebook!
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Bait and Switch
This Short Video from The Other 98% says it all...or, as Mark Shields said on The PBS Newshour last evening, since practically no one is in place to make all this happen, he's pushing buttons that aren't connected to anything!
I really believe that if Trump supporters watched that video they would call the sources for the info contained in it
fake and not believe it. Their slogan for the last month has been "Give him time" or "Give him a chance." Conservative
media has gotten their supporters to feel aggrieved concerning just about everything over the last few decades...aided
and abetted by conservative politicians who want their votes.
Conservative and Liberal ideas should be like yin and yang, complimentary to each other that ultimately
is beneficial to the whole. We are certainly far away from inhabiting that idea anytime soon.
Charlie Sykes is a conservative radio show host in Wisconsin who recognized his own role in this.
He recently wrote a piece titled: "Why Nobody Cares the President Is Lying"
Mr. Trump understands that attacking the media is the reddest of meat for his base, which has been conditioned to reject
reporting from news sites outside of the conservative media ecosystem.
For years, as a conservative radio talk show host, I played a role in that conditioning by hammering the mainstream media for its bias and double standards. But the price turned out to be far higher than I imagined. The cumulative effect of the attacks was to delegitimize those outlets and essentially destroy much of the right’s immunity to false information. We thought we were creating a savvier, more skeptical audience. Instead, we opened the door for President Trump, who found an audience that could be easily misled.
The news media’s spectacular failure to get the election right has made it only easier for many conservatives to ignore anything that happens outside the right’s bubble and for the Trump White House to fabricate facts with little fear of alienating its base.
Unfortunately, that also means that the more the fact-based media tries to debunk the president’s falsehoods, the further it will entrench the battle lines.
Trump's insidious campaign rally yesterday is a testament to this. Trump lies, misleads, glories in the adulation and promises
remedies for his aggrieved followers. And he tells them who to blame if these promises cannot be delivered. The media,
Democrats, immigrants...basically everyone else.
It's worth noting the dictionary definition of aggrieved:
feeling resentment at having been unfairly treated.
Never mind if, as Charlie Sykes wrote, these people feel aggrieved because they have "been conditioned
to" for years by right-wing media from Fox News, Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh, Breitbart, ad infinitum.
(Aided and abetted by the Republican politicians who want their votes.) Never mind that the aggrieved
are feeling resentment over things that they were told to feel aggrieved about, regardless if these things
are true or not. The aggrieved now have a long list of people places and things to resent: Immigrants,
Democrats, Liberals, job loss, minorities of any stripe, China, biased news media, TPP, NAFTA, progress,
President Obama--ad infinitum. All of these have sub-sets of resentment as well. And the real problems
are ignored or lied about--climate change is a hoax, all voters are suspect, coal jobs are sustainable, Trump
is a danger, Obamacare (AFA) is a diaster, etc.
What happens when people feel aggrieved, whether or not the reasons for feeling that way are valid or not?
The aggrieved want other people to feel their pain. They begin not to care if they destroy things, mentally or
physically. They want to put one over on the powers that be that they feel have wronged them, that they blame
for their pain. It's why rioters often burn down their own neighborhoods. That's where their pain is. Trump is that
kind of vessel. As Michael Moore said, even before the election, these voters want to send the biggest "fuck you"
message to the entire establishment of both parties and they did so in the form of rallying behind the reality star
joke candidate. What do they like most about him? That he lets people have it, calling anyone out who disagrees
with him. You read the comment sections on any articles about Trump and you'll see that his supporters are
enjoying the chaos. As MiloMorris wrote a few months ago on this thread about the concerns of others regarding
Trump: "We simply don't believe they are true, or they just don't concern us." Or, "I don't care."
I just watched that Oscar nominated documentary, near 8 hrs. long, O.J.: Made in America. This aggrieved mentality
was on display in the verdict in this trial. The difference being that the aggrievement was rooted in a lot of truth, not
the lies and distortions evident in the current situation.
What's going on now is the last line of the article quote about:
"...the more the fact-based media [or anyone] tries to debunk the president’s falsehoods, the further it will entrench the battle lines."
In other words, MM's "We simply don't believe they are true, or they just don't concern us."
Trump's a poison that will affect everyone. How long it's going to affect us
will depend on how long he's in office and/or how long his supporters stick
with him.
-
Aww, I just read that the Fake President is pouting because he can't go out of the White House and spend his evenings at restaurants like he could back home in Trump Tower.
Pity. ...
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I plan on finding some pink postcards to send, to look like a pink slip.
I love this idea, but I admit I'm clueless. Where does one find pink postcards? :(
-
I love this idea, but I admit I'm clueless. Where does one find pink postcards? :(
You can order blank post cards online in any color you want.
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I really believe that if Trump supporters watched that video they would call the sources for the info contained in it
fake and not believe it. Their slogan for the last month has been "Give him time" or "Give him a chance."
I heard one supporter on the National News tonight say, "You guys give Donald Trump a hard time. You dissect what he says. He's not a politician. He doesn't have the perfect thing to say. But we love the fact that he goes straight to us and we can decipher it." ONE CANNOT REASON WITH THIS TYPE OF ARGUMENT THAT MAKES NO SENSE.
(https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/bc/9c/e3/bc9ce3b3a86000616cbed8fb61a46c77.jpg)
The former Swedish Prime Minister: "Sweden? Terror attack? What has he been smoking? Questions abound."
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i wish the enemy of the American people would stop taking him seriously and just make fun of him..
Liora Yukla
@LiogaYukla
Uncovered: the plans for the terrorist attack in #Sweden last night. RT because the fake news MSM wont report it! #swedenincident
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/C5BCt1SWYAEt7H9.jpg)
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Duncan Whitehead @DuncanWhitehead
First photo from the #swedenincident - some people may find this image disturbing. Barbaric.
7:23 AM - 19 Feb 2017
(https://pbs.twimg.com/tweet_video_thumb/C5BdTdZWIAArC9a.jpg)
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Amazin LêThi
@amazinlethi
#LastNightInSweden after the #attack there were no more #Swedish #meatballs in the #country. #RIPSwedishMedatballs 😂😂😂 lol
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/C5B_u56WAAAdWSL.jpg)
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Jeanna Skinner
@JeannaLStars
After the terrible events #lastnightinSweden , IKEA have sold out of this:
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/C5BQEKfXAAEj3OZ.jpg)
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Julian Power
@JueRobWilPo
Scenes of appalling despair #LastNightInSweden
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/C5BefX5WEAE4iYH.jpg:large)
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Jesper Kihlberg @Kihlberg90
#LastNightInSweden someone ordered two kebabs and a hamburger but never picked it up. Horrible scenes.
6:21 AM - 19 Feb 2017 · Landskrona, Sverige
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percy dashwood
@percydashwood
Meanwhile in Sweden hoards of them are streaming over the border. #lastnightinSweden
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/C5BtGSSWAAAsy2u.png:large)
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All really good, Nancy! ;D
-
You can order blank post cards online in any color you want.
Thanks, Linda.
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Julian Power
@JueRobWilPo
Scenes of appalling despair #LastNightInSweden
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/C5BefX5WEAE4iYH.jpg:large)
Ikea is a Swedish plot to undermine the United States. We need to build a wall around Sweden, and get the Swedes to pay for it. ... ;)
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All really good, Nancy! ;D
Agree Agree Agree!
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I heard one supporter on the National News tonight say, "You guys give Donald Trump a hard time. You dissect what he says. He's not a politician. He doesn't have the perfect thing to say. But we love the fact that he goes straight to us and we can decipher it." ONE CANNOT REASON WITH THIS TYPE OF ARGUMENT THAT MAKES NO SENSE.
The former Swedish Prime Minister: "Sweden? Terror attack? What has he been smoking? Questions abound."
We now live in an idiocracy.
-- idiocracy
a form of government in which a country or territory is run by fools. ... an act or actions that come from ideas or beliefs that are not smart.
May I add, not only run by fools, but freely elected by them.
I keep using this H.L. Mencken quote that RichChan first posted here last November:
"As democracy is perfected, the office of president represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. On some great and glorious day, the plain folks of the land will reach their heart's desire at last and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron."
--H.L. Mencken
Maybe I'll write that on my postcard!
I'll begin:
Dear DJT: H.L. Mencken predicted your Presidency several decades ago:
-
I don't understand why the Fake President had to fire Flynn. After all, all Flynn did was give the V.P. an alternative fact, didn't he?
;)
-
These Republicans didn't like Trump at first. They do now.
http://www.cnn.com/2017/02/21/politics/donald-trump-republican-support/index.html
An interesting read! Always curious as to how people think..
-
^^^^^^
So, what I got out of that article is that if satan ran
as a Republican they would have voted for him.
-
^^^^^^
So, what I got out of that article is that if satan ran
as a Republican they would have voted for him.
He did. And he won. ...
-
...Even as she prayed, Francioli said she knew she ultimately would vote for Trump. Clinton, she said, was "untrustworthy." And as an avowed opponent of abortion rights, flag burning, same-sex marriage and adoptions by same-sex couples, Francioli said she wanted a president who would populate the Supreme Court with conservatives....
I had to laugh at that, I mean if that is the way you feel! >:D
But all that aside, still doesn't explain his "personality", seems like a lose lose situation to me.
-
...Even as she prayed, Francioli said she knew she ultimately would vote for Trump. Clinton, she said, was "untrustworthy." And as an avowed opponent of abortion rights, flag burning, same-sex marriage and adoptions by same-sex couples, Francioli said she wanted a president who would populate the Supreme Court with conservatives....
I had to laugh at that, I mean if that is the way you feel! >:D
But all that aside, still doesn't explain his "personality", seems like a lose lose situation to me.
If she considered Hillary Clinton "untrustworthy" yet believed she could trust The Donald, she's living in a Fool's Paradise. Unfortunately, people like her have dragged the rest of us along with them.
-
http://www.cnn.com/2017/02/21/politics/donald-trump-republican-support/index.html
These people made me think of Invasion of the Body Snatchers.
-
One month and one day later:
Last week, Donald Trump and Jeff Sessions took aim at transgender students — and today there are new media reports that this week they are planning to withdraw Obama Administration guidance protecting transgender youth. Last night, reports signaled that the Departments of Justice and Education, led by Trump appointees Jeff Sessions and Betsy DeVos, are preparing to rescind the Obama Administration’s Title IX guidance detailing schools’ obligations for protecting transgender students.
What can you do: take action IMMEDIATELY — send a message to the Trump Administration and take action on behalf of transgender youth across the nation. And please call the Department of Justice — 202-514-2000 — and the Department of Education — 1-800-872-5327 (too free) — today and demand that Betsy DeVos and Jeff Sessions maintain the Obama Administration’s guidance protecting transgender youth.
We cannot stand by as members of our community — especially children — are threatened!
___
Unbelievable...if they do this they are literally putting young people in harm's way. Why? For what reason?
When I ponder this, there is no reason. They just put through a bill to rescind the SSA regulation preventing
mentally ill people from obtaining guns, because "there is no inherent connection between being mentally ill
and being dangerous.” Trump is expected to sign it.
http://www.newsweek.com/trump-set-overturn-guns-mental-health-regulation-557237
Madness.
-
They just put through a bill to rescind the SSA regulation preventing
mentally ill people from obtaining guns, because "there is no inherent connection between being mentally ill
and being dangerous.” Trump is expected to sign it.
http://www.newsweek.com/trump-set-overturn-guns-mental-health-regulation-557237
Madness.
Well, Lyle, remember what a mentally ill person with a gun did to Ronald Reagan.
Just sayin'. ...
-
And T is all for the mentally ill having the right to purchase firearms, and signed a directive to that effect. How appropriate, perhaps T wanted to buy a gun for himself.
-
Well, Lyle, remember what a mentally ill person with a gun did to Ronald Reagan.
Just sayin'. ...
Of course, if the mentally ill are allowed easy access to guns, I'm afraid another Sandy Hook is far more likely than another "Ronald Reagan." :(
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How come only the Brit media reported this?
Donald Trump is right, there was a recent attack in Sweden by Neo-Nazis on a refugee centre
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/donald-trump-terror-attack-claim-sweden-neo-nazis-refugee-centre-florida-rally-a7588516.html (http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/donald-trump-terror-attack-claim-sweden-neo-nazis-refugee-centre-florida-rally-a7588516.html)
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^^^^^^
To answer your question...
First, this is what Trump said:
He began talking about having to keep our country safe and migration in Europe and he linked it to terror attacks in Brussels, Nice and Paris - before inexplicably adding Sweden to the list. Mr. Trump told supporters in Melbourne, FL: "We've got to keep our country safe. You look at what's happening in Germany, you look at what's happening last night in Sweden. "Sweden, who would believe this. Sweden. They took in large numbers. They're having problems like they never thought possible. You look at what's happening in Brussels. You look at what's happening all over the world. Take a look at Nice. Take a look at Paris."
The story you linked says:
Three suspected neo-Nazis were arrested in January after a Gothenburg Asylum centre became the target of a homemade bomb attack, leaving one person seriously injured. Security services said all three suspects had previously been members of the Nordic Resistance Movement (NMR), a group that openly promotes racist and anti-Semitic views and has vocally opposed non-white immigration to the country.
Now, to your question.
First, Trump said there was a terrorist attack "last night." This incident happened last January.
Second, Trump's speech was about immigrants and refugees being the cause of terrorist attacks and
other problems and he linked those to Brussels, Paris, Germany, and Nice. Then he threw in Sweden.
(Last night.) But this incident you brought up wasn't an attack performed by any refugees or immigrants.
It was committed by right-wing (Swedish) extremists against refugees. (And not last night.")
So for the headline to say Trump was right means one has to do a lot of convoluting to come up with an
answer one wants to hear.
I suppose this incident was dug up because reporters hearing Trump's speech were looking into everything
that happened in Sweden lately and found this item. Your "How come the Brit media only reported this?"
might be because they found it because they were looking for something. But I have to ask you how you think
the incident needed to be reported? The bomb didn't kill anyone. This Swedish group isn't any group that people
in the U.S. know. I wager in Britain, either. And it also depends how people are using the word "terror." I happen
to think Trump is a terrorist.
What is your opinion?
-
^^^^^^
To answer your question...
First, this is what Trump said:
He began talking about having to keep our country safe and migration in Europe and he linked it to terror attacks in Brussels, Nice and Paris - before inexplicably adding Sweden to the list. Mr. Trump told supporters in Melbourne, FL: "We've got to keep our country safe. You look at what's happening in Germany, you look at what's happening last night in Sweden. "Sweden, who would believe this. Sweden. They took in large numbers. They're having problems like they never thought possible. You look at what's happening in Brussels. You look at what's happening all over the world. Take a look at Nice. Take a look at Paris."
The story you linked says:
Three suspected neo-Nazis were arrested in January after a Gothenburg Asylum centre became the target of a homemade bomb attack, leaving one person seriously injured. Security services said all three suspects had previously been members of the Nordic Resistance Movement (NMR), a group that openly promotes racist and anti-Semitic views and has vocally opposed non-white immigration to the country.
Now, to your question.
First, Trump said there was a terrorist attack "last night." This incident happened last January.
Second, Trump's speech was about immigrants and refugees being the cause of terrorist attacks and
other problems and he linked those to Brussels, Paris, Germany, and Nice. Then he threw in Sweden.
(Last night.) But this incident you brought up wasn't an attack performed by any refugees or immigrants.
It was committed by right-wing (Swedish) extremists against refugees. (And not last night.")
So for the headline to say Trump was right means one has to do a lot of convoluting to come up with an
answer one wants to hear.
I suppose this incident was dug up because reporters hearing Trump's speech were looking into everything
that happened in Sweden lately and found this item. Your "How come the Brit media only reported this?"
might be because they found it because they were looking for something. But I have to ask you how you think
the incident needed to be reported? The bomb didn't kill anyone. This Swedish group isn't any group that people
in the U.S. know. I wager in Britain, either. And it also depends how people are using the word "terror." I happen
to think Trump is a terrorist.
What is your opinion?
Isn't the point that the report was ironic? That the "terrorists" were not Muslim but neo-nazis?
-
Well, "I" thought so, but I wasn't sure the original commenter did.
-
Looks to me like the headline is ironic, though supporters of the Fake President surely wouldn't take it that way.
But clearly the Fake President, in his typical xenophobic, anti-refugee/anti-immigrant way, was not referring to an attack on refugees by native-born Swedes.
-
These Republicans didn't like Trump at first. They do now.
http://www.cnn.com/2017/02/21/politics/donald-trump-republican-support/index.html
An interesting read! Always curious as to how people think..
Yes, and I'm pleasantly shocked at how CNN's Jodi Enda is attempting to appear objective and fair.
T.T.
-
So, would you consider this speaking out of both sides of your mouth?
On the one hand, Betsy DeVos says that the issue of bathrooms for transgender students "is an issue best solved at the state and local level." Then she proceeds to say, "I have dedicated my career to advocating for and fighting on behalf of students. And as secretary of education, I consider protecting all students, including LGBTQ students, not only a key priority for the department, but for every school in America."
Tell you what. Kids can be pretty mean and nasty, especially to someone who is "different." Has anybody seen anyone address the question of whether or not transgender students can safely use a bathroom that corresponds to their gender identity, or presentation (sorry, I'm unsure what the proper word is here)? It's entirely possible that I just missed this, but has anyone else seen anything about it?
-
On the one hand, Betsy DeVos says that the issue of bathrooms for transgender students "is an issue best solved at the state and local level."
Every time there's an issue that Republicans don't like, they trot out the "it's an issue best solved at the state and local level."
This is what that means to them: "At least we can have our way in some of the states." In the "olden days" when most of
the population did not move around or travel within fifty miles of where they were born, this might have been tenable, but people
move and travel all the time now. National policies give uniform value to the individual no matter what state they're in. They still
argue that things like marriage equality, abortion and the like should be within a state's only purview.
-
Well, if The Donald is going to refer to the media as "the fake media," I think it's time I begin referring to him as "the Fake President."
I don't really know much about Donald Trump, but, really, haven't all of America's recent presidents been fakes? I mean, like,
George H.W. Bush - the oil industry's puppet ? Pres. Clinton - the Rhodes-CFR globalist ? the other George Bush - a Dick Cheney/neo-con product? And Pres. Obama? - oh, dear me.
The flap about "fake news" reminded me of the time that Sec. Hillary Clinton testified to members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that all of the US media news was essentially useless, America would be better off listening to All Jazeera, b/c it is "real news."
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/video/hillary-clinton-al-jazeera-real-news-13042310
Someone here has a video clip of an angry Chris Matthews during his MSNBC commercial break accidentally caught on open mic asking his producer, When are we going to cut the bullshit and start telling the American people the truth about what's going on in this country?
T.T.
-
I don't really know much about Donald Trump.
It might be a good idea to start reading up on him, Friend.
But, really, haven't all of America's recent presidents been fakes? I mean, like,
George H.W. Bush - the oil industry's puppet ? Pres. Clinton - the Rhodes-CFR globalist ? the other George Bush - a Dick Cheney/neo-con product? And Pres. Obama? - oh, dear me.
Perhaps we're not using fake in the same sense. It seems to me that the way you are using it could probably be applied to every President back to John Adams. If I remember correctly, of all the Presidents you list, only George W. Bush ("the other George Bush") won the Presidency while losing the popular vote, as did The Donald. And none of them engaged in the constant, repetitive, juvenile name-calling that The Donald has done. George W. Bush was certainly not fond of the press, but as far as I know and remember he never called the media "fake." He didn't insult the press by calling it "failing," as the The Donald has done to The New York Times, and his people did not engage in "alternative facts" or make up terrorist attacks that never happened.
The Donald cannot abide anything he cannot control, or anyone who does not think he's the greatest thing since Jesus Christ. He cannot control The New York Times, the Washington Post, or the BBC, for example, so he has to belittle them as "the fake media," even when their "fake news" contributed to his firing of Flynn (as was reported this evening on BBC America). Same goes with people. If he can't control them, or they won't kiss his ... whatever ..., he has to belittle them.
-
Even if I wanted to visit, they probably wouldn't let me across the border. #trumpslump
The Travel Press is Reporting the 'Trump Slump,' a Devastating Drop in Tourism to the United States
Experts across the travel industry are warning that masses of tourists are being scared away from visiting the United States, and the loss of tourism jobs could be devastating.
By Arthur Frommer
http://www.frommers.com/tips/miscellaneous/the-travel-press-is-reporting-the-trump-slump-a-devastating-drop-in-tourism-to-the-united-states
-
Hope he's happy.
Not really.
-
Week before last on one of the morning news shows, they were talking about the 17% drop in tourism. That is billions of dollars in tourism lost and thousands of tourism related jobs lost. As of Feb. 8, $185 million in business travel bookings have been lost because of the ban.
He is bankrupting the country and he does not give a shit.
-
As long as he personally continues making money, it doesn't make any difference.
-
You are absolutely correct, Fritz!! :(
-
Even if I wanted to visit, they probably wouldn't let me across the border. #trumpslump
The Travel Press is Reporting the 'Trump Slump,' a Devastating Drop in Tourism to the United States
Experts across the travel industry are warning that masses of tourists are being scared away from visiting the United States, and the loss of tourism jobs could be devastating.
By Arthur Frommer
http://www.frommers.com/tips/miscellaneous/the-travel-press-is-reporting-the-trump-slump-a-devastating-drop-in-tourism-to-the-united-states
No wonder.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-02-25/mem-fox-detained-at-los-angeles-airport-by-us-officials/8303366 (http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-02-25/mem-fox-detained-at-los-angeles-airport-by-us-officials/8303366)
When I was working as a teacher-librarian, I read some of Mem Fox's books and met her at conferences.
If I had not already paid a sizeable deposit on my Alaska Cruise in June, I would have cancelled my whole trip last November.
-
It might be a good idea to start reading up on him, Friend.
Where to find unbiased political views, these days? It seems that almost every western news outlet is consistently Trump negative, which imo is a sure sign of a stacked deck, i.e., fake news, which Mrs. Clinton highlighted in her testimony before the Senate FRC.
Perhaps we're not using fake in the same sense. It seems to me that the way you are using it could probably be applied to every President back to John Adams.
Perhaps you're right. Perhaps you meant, "fake news President", instead?
only George W. Bush ("the other George Bush") won the Presidency while losing the popular vote
^^^Implying that winning an election via the US electoral college is somehow not valid?
And none of them engaged in the constant, repetitive, juvenile name-calling that The Donald has done.
You're right, his rhetoric is unique, for sure. And sadly, it's apparently very effective. None of the other bozos he went up against dared to step out of line and go rogue in order to win the Primary.
George W. Bush was certainly not fond of the press, but as far as I know and remember he never called the media "fake." He didn't insult the press by calling it "failing," as the The Donald has done to The New York Times, and his people did not engage in "alternative facts" .
GW Bush went much further than that, friend. He exploited the media, illegally unleashing white house-produced propaganda videos (VNRs) pro-war fake news to be delivered to TV stations across the US, to put in the faces of Americans..
Bush issued orders to shut down showings of Michael Moore's documentaries in the US, as I recall, even got 'Fahrenheit 9/11' de-funded, and threatened Disney/Miramar and theater owners across the country with lawsuits if they showed the film.
According to the Secret Service, after a reporter asked W why a callboy named "Jeff Gannon" was allowed access to the White House day and night countless times, and was now posing as a staff reporter in the Press Briefing Room, (Bush reportedly went ballistic, told his secretary, there ought to be limits to freedom of speech, along with a string of nasty things.)
The Donald cannot abide anything he cannot control, or anyone who does not think he's the greatest thing since Jesus Christ. He cannot control The New York Times, the Washington Post, or the BBC, for example, so he has to belittle them as "the fake media," even when their "fake news" contributed to his firing of Flynn (as was reported this evening on BBC America). Same goes with people. If he can't control them, or they won't kiss his ... whatever ..., he has to belittle them.
Maybe so. Who can say for sure what Trump knows or what really drives him? He's probably a lot more complicated a man than we like to think that he is. Or that we like to think we ourselves are.
I read somewhere that The New York Times and other newspapers have been failing for a while now, shuttering offices and laying off staff.
I do recall that The NY Times got into bed with Bush to promote from his fake "war on terror," the unwarranted invasions of Muslim nations, and yet again to keep stories about his illegal NSA spying on Americans , hidden for over a year. And that's not all.
The BBC often renders fake news, I'm recalling their biggest piece of fakery -- they announced that New York City's World Trade Centre Building 7 had collapsed into a heap of dust and rubble around 20 minutes before the event occurred.
I still don't understand why that General Flynn guy resigned over a blast of hot air.
T.T.
-
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-02-25/mem-fox-detained-at-los-angeles-airport-by-us-officials/8303366 (http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-02-25/mem-fox-detained-at-los-angeles-airport-by-us-officials/8303366)
When I was working as a teacher-librarian, I read some of Mem Fox's books and met her at conferences.
If I had not already paid a sizeable deposit on my Alaska Cruise in June, I would have cancelled my whole trip last November.
I absolutely love Mem's children's books! :-*
I didn't understand why she was detained by U.S. authorities, especially considering that she'd been there 116 times before?
But I am confused, why on earth would you have canceled your trip to Alaska?? <scratching head>
Even if I wanted to visit, they probably wouldn't let me across the border.
And oilgun, where do you hail from & why would you not be allowed to enter the United States?? Are you on a no-fly list? Are you from one of the seven Muslim countries?
T.T.
-
But I am confused, why on earth would have canceled your trip to Alaska?? <scratching head>
T.T.
Deny oneself to punish Trump? Just speculating...
-
Wow ??? I wouldn't waste even a minute's sleep over a politician.
T.T.
-
Quite a number of politicians thrive and are completely dependent upon this type of apathy.
-
Where to find unbiased political views, these days? It seems that almost every western news outlet is consistently Trump negative, which imo is a sure sign of a stacked deck, i.e., fake news.
Looks like Trump and the right-wing news media has gotten you to believe
the press is dealing in fake news. Let's stop this "fake" news meme.
You have bought into an idea that for every thing good or bad that comes across the news there has to be a corresponding
bad to go with the good or good to go with the bad.
That's not how it works. If you can't objectively see what kind of man DJT is, then I don't know what to tell you.
Democrats and Republicans alike have been writing about this man running for President for over a year. They have
all been warning about what a DJT presidency would be like. Public officials from every persuasion have been sending
up warning signals during the election for months. The hundreds of newspaper and magazine endorsements almost
unanimously said DO NOT VOTE FOR THIS MAN. Even the Republican/Conservative leaning newspapers who hadn't
EVER endorsed anyone but a Republican.
After years of belittling President Obama believing he was not born in this country before announcing his candidacy,
that was the first red flag he sent up that immediately disqualified him from office. And each and every day after that
he's sent up red flags. I guess you saw all these red flags and assumed it was a parade or something.
Then after all this, what you get out of this negative reaction is that "the deck is stacked against him" meaning that
you don't think any of it is warranted?
^^^Implying that winning an election via the US electoral college is somehow not valid?
You saying that is a dismissive tactic to lessen the other persons point. Jeff was not implying it wasn't valid,
nor has anyone else, but Trump himself has gone on and on implying it wasn't valid, even though he won.
He blames 3-5 million illegal voters for the reason he did not receive more of the National vote than HRC did.
He now blames thousands of Massachusetts citizens going to New Hampshire by the bus loads to vote there
for the reason he lost the state and why Kelly Ayotte lost the Senate seat. The fact he won the election does
not imply he has a mandate from a majority of the people, though he is acting like it. And before the election
itself he stated if he did not win it it was rigged. So give me a break.
Bush issued orders to shut down showings of Michael Moore's documentaries in the US, as I recall, even got 'Fahrenheit 9/11' de-funded, and threatened Disney/Miramar and theater owners across the country with lawsuits if they showed the film.
Now that is fake news.
Who can say for sure what Trump knows or what really drives him? He's probably a lot more complicated
a man than we like to think that he is. Or that we like to think we ourselves are.
Wow, yes, that's what I look for in a President when I decide who to vote for: "Someone I can't say for sure what
they know." Do you really think he's that complicated or is it a way to support him, believing there must be more
than meets the eye. (Hint: There isn't.)
But what drives him? All you need to know about Trump is who he himself says was the most influential person in
his life: Roy Cohn.
I go back to the beginning of his Presidential bid. On the day he announced I knew he was a birther and had been
for years. So, do I want someone with a delusional attitude like that, willing to dwell on it for years and never let it
go, periodically insisting they had breaking news about it and it would blow the lid off the issue. Talk about fake. The
answer to any sane person should have been NO WAY. He's disqualified to be President. Not to mention the daily
grind he slung at the people every day after that. But, what was said in an article I posted from last summer and
mentioned again after the election. Trump's candidacy is a joke and always was a joke. If you supported him you
were IN on the joke. (And I use "you" here in the collective sense.) You enjoyed the joke. You liked the show. You
could put one over on everyone you think you didn't like or was wronging you in some fashion. (As Michael Moore
said, "They could collectively send the biggest f--- you to the establishment by voting for the joke.) Then you elected
the joke. And now we have a joke President.
I read somewhere...
A very Trumpian phrase. "I read somewhere..." "Oh, people are saying..." "I heard..."
"Many people say that..." "I only know what I read on the internet..." "I alone can fix it..."
The BBC often renders fake news, I'm recalling their biggest piece of fakery -- they announced that New York City's World Trade Centre Building 7 had collapsed into a heap of dust and rubble around 20 minutes before the event occurred.
It seems to me that anyone knows that while horrendous events are happening that information
delivered while they are happening often turns out to be incorrect later on or has been exaggerated.
Anytime a situation occurs with a nuclear power plant, like Fukishima, any government always says
"The reactor is fine. There isn't anything to worry about. You are safe." Then the news media reports
it. Don't ever believe the reporting on these things...while it is occurring.
What you have done is to go back and find something reported that wasn't true at the time and then
seem to believe there was some nefariousness behind it. Then anything said afterwards as to why that
occurred you don't believe and just think they are denying what you feel. In any case, on that subject
try this explanation out for size:
Controversy and Conspiracies III
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/theeditors/2008/07/controversy_conspiracies_iii.html
I still don't understand why that General Flynn guy resigned over a blast of hot air.
Really? You think it's all just hot air?
Sorry T.T., I do not suffer Trump supporters gladly. And it's not because of anything to do with ANY
"policies" or anything political. It's HIM. He's a boorish rich (so he claims) entitled lout who is only
interested in himself, doesn't know anything about running a Government, is wronged by anyone
who speaks negatively about him and will pursue it ad infinitum (Rosie O'Donnell did a two minute
diss on him on The View over ten years ago and he still won't let it go) refuses to acknowledge any
negative Russian attribute, but rails against our close allies and I could continue, but I'm through for
the moment.
With all of that, I am ashamed and appalled that a man like this was chosen to represent the country I love.
And every day the shame gets worse.
-
A lawyer says the son of legendary boxer Muhammad Ali was detained by immigration officials at a Florida airport.
Chris Mancini tells the Courier-Journal in Louisville, Kentucky that 44-year-old Muhammad Ali Jr. and his mother Khalilah Camacho-Ali, the second wife of Muhammad Ali, arrived at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport on Feb. 7 after returning from Jamaica.
Mancini says officials questioned Ali Jr. for nearly two hours, repeatedly asking him, “Where did you get your name from?” and “Are you Muslim?”
Mancini says officials continued questioning Ali Jr. after acknowledging that he was Muslim. Ali Jr. was born in Philadelphia and holds a U.S. passport.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials say they “cannot discuss individual travellers; however, all international travellers arriving in the U.S. are subject to CBP inspection.”
>:D
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/boxing-legend-muhammad-alis-son-detained-at-florida-airport-asked-are-you-muslim/article34137579/
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As for travel to the U.S. -- I'm sure other countries televise Trump's speeches, or parts of them,
like his campaign rally ::) in Florida last weekend. Why would they want to come here. According
to Trump, every city reeks of American carnage and is filthy, dangerous, desolate and ravaged. Who'd
want to visit that?
-
And oilgun, where do you hail from & why would you not be allowed to enter the United States?? Are you on a no-fly list? Are you from one of the seven Muslim countries?
T.T.
I'm in Canada. They ask people for their phone password, which i would have changed to "fuckyou" prior to the trip, and one look at my facebook page would make it clear that I don't think much of President Bannon and co. Apparently, that's enough to be denied entry in the US. Of course, I am white, so I might just slip in. In any event I've decided to boycott the US until things change.
And btw, any news outlet that isn't Trump negative is by default fake news because there is nothing positive to report about this administration.
-
I'm in Canada. They ask people for their phone password, which i would have changed to "*******" prior to the trip, and one look at my facebook page would make it clear that I don't think much of President Bannon and co. Apparently, that's enough to be denied entry in the US. Of course, I am white, so I might just slip in.
Oh, you really had me GOING until I read that!
:laugh: :laugh: :laugh:
T.T.
-
A lawyer says the son of legendary boxer Muhammad Ali was detained by immigration officials at a Florida airport.
Mancini says officials questioned Ali Jr. for nearly two hours, repeatedly asking him, “Where did you get your name from?” and “Are you Muslim?”
Mancini says officials continued questioning Ali Jr. after acknowledging that he was Muslim. Ali Jr. was born in Philadelphia and holds a U.S. passport.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/boxing-legend-muhammad-alis-son-detained-at-florida-airport-asked-are-you-muslim/article34137579/[/size]
Wow, two hours! Those officials must have a really high threshold of boredom. Or maybe they are being paid by the hour?
-
Quite a number of politicians thrive and are completely dependent upon this type of apathy.
I voted, sorry fritzkep, but that's the limit of my duty.
Call it apathy if you want but I personally will not be staying up nights to worry about the Billionaire President.
T.T.
-
Where to find unbiased political views, these days? It seems that almost every western news outlet is consistently Trump negative, which imo is a sure sign of a stacked deck, i.e., fake news, which Mrs. Clinton highlighted in her testimony before the Senate FRC.
No. A point of view--even if it's biased--is not fake news. Fake news is exclaiming over terror attacks in Sweden and in the U.S. state of Kentucky that never happened. Fake news is lying.
Perhaps you're right. Perhaps you meant, "fake news President", instead?
No, I do not. I mean exactly what I said. As far as I'm concerned, he is a Fake President. He is a loud-mouthed, self-centered, self-absorbed bully with no credibility at all and is a disgrace to the office he occupies.
^^^Implying that winning an election via the US electoral college is somehow not valid?
I never said that, either. (Thanks, Lyle.)
You're right, his rhetoric is unique, for sure. And sadly, it's apparently very effective. None of the other bozos he went up against dared to step out of line and go rogue in order to win the Primary.
GW Bush went much further than that, friend. He exploited the media, illegally unleashing white house-produced propaganda videos (VNRs) pro-war fake news to be delivered to TV stations across the US, to put in the faces of Americans..
Bush issued orders to shut down showings of Michael Moore's documentaries in the US, as I recall, even got 'Fahrenheit 9/11' de-funded, and threatened Disney/Miramar and theater owners across the country with lawsuits if they showed the film.
According to the Secret Service, after a reporter asked W why a callboy named "Jeff Gannon" was allowed access to the White House day and night countless times, and was now posing as a staff reporter in the Press Briefing Room, (Bush reportedly went ballistic, told his secretary, there ought to be limits to freedom of speech, along with a string of nasty things.)
Maybe so. Who can say for sure what Trump knows or what really drives him? He's probably a lot more complicated a man than we like to think that he is. Or that we like to think we ourselves are.
I read somewhere that The New York Times and other newspapers have been failing for a while now, shuttering offices and laying off staff.
I do recall that The NY Times got into bed with Bush to promote from his fake "war on terror," the unwarranted invasions of Muslim nations, and yet again to keep stories about his illegal NSA spying on Americans , hidden for over a year. And that's not all.
Hmm. For someone who claimed not to know much about The Donald, you seem to know a lot about George W. Bush and Hillary Clinton. Just sayin'.
The BBC often renders fake news, I'm recalling their biggest piece of fakery -- they announced that New York City's World Trade Centre Building 7 had collapsed into a heap of dust and rubble around 20 minutes before the event occurred.
Since you spell "Center" as "Centre" in the British way, that suggests that you are not a citizen or resident of the U.S. Where were you and how old were you on Sept. 11, 2001? There was a lot of confusion that morning as all news organizations grappled to cover and to understand what was happening that morning. A mistake in buildings is not "fake news." For fake news I again refer you to the nonexistent terror attacks in Sweden and Kentucky,
I still don't understand why that General Flynn guy resigned over a blast of hot air.
T.T.
And lying to the Vice President is "a blast of hot air" how?
-
Deny oneself to punish Trump? Just speculating...
How about, Decline to spend tourist dollars in the U.S. because of that person occupying the Oval Office?
-
Gay Men at CPAC: "We Want Inclusion from Within"
(https://i.ytimg.com/vi/vg_xk5sUyw4/hqdefault.jpg?custom=true&w=196&h=110&stc=true&jpg444=true&jpgq=90&sp=68&sigh=XYKAQDdHeLub7VeQmS8YU5QAnmU)www.youtube.com/watch?v=vg_xk5sUyw4 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vg_xk5sUyw4)
Gay conservatives?
T.T.
-
A mistake in buildings is not "fake news."
Jeff,
Mistake? WTC1 and WTC-2 were destroyed in the morning, whilst Building 7 went down in the afternoon. I thought everyone knew that.
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.sott.net%2Fimage%2Fs7%2F151158%2Ffull%2Fwtc7_bbc.jpg&hash=2f3a7662437ad0289b8df89f43df10a547e5e181)
The BBC America reporter in NY was standing with her back toward Building 7, whilst she was reporting the building as having collapsed. It didn't go down until 23 minutes later.
T.T.
-
Fake news is exclaiming over terror attacks in Sweden and in the U.S. state of Kentucky that never happened. Fake news is lying.
I always try to avoid being prejudicial, as there's always at least two sides to any story, if one cares to look. So I read the transcript - President Trump was "exclaiming" about the rise in immigrant crime in Sweden, including two incidents that occurred the night before, rather than a specific terror attack in Sweden, as a knee-jerk former official had publicly promulgated.
Anyway, I'd love to stay and chat with you some more, but gotta go -- tonight is our USCD Mardi Gras Party Night in the Gaslamp Quarter, San Diego! :)
T.T.
-
Oh, you really had me GOING until I read that!
:laugh: :laugh: :laugh:
T.T.
Wow, you find it funny that the US border control is using racial profiling?
-
Gay Men at CPAC: "We Want Inclusion from Within"
(https://i.ytimg.com/vi/vg_xk5sUyw4/hqdefault.jpg?custom=true&w=196&h=110&stc=true&jpg444=true&jpgq=90&sp=68&sigh=XYKAQDdHeLub7VeQmS8YU5QAnmU)www.youtube.com/watch?v=vg_xk5sUyw4 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vg_xk5sUyw4)
Gay conservatives?
T.T.
Yes, even gay people can be stupid. How is that a surprise?
-
President Donald Trump has announced that he will not attend this year's White House Correspondents' Dinner, a move that comes amid increasingly hostile relations between the media and the White House.
"I will not be attending the White House Correspondents' Association Dinner this year. Please wish everyone well and have a great evening!" Trump tweeted on Saturday.
The black-tie dinner, which raises money for journalism scholarships, takes place every spring and is usually attended by the president, journalists, celebrities and Washington insiders. The last president to miss the dinner was Ronald Reagan, who sat out because he was he recovering from an assassination attempt in 1981, although he still delivered remarks by phone...
http://www.cnn.com/2017/02/25/politics/trump-declines-to-attend-white-house-correspondents-dinner/index.html
-
That'll show the correspondents.
Of course, if Baldwin took his place....
-
Yes, even gay people can be stupid...
Sorry, oilgun, but in my own experience I've found gay people to rarely be anything approaching ''stupid.''
T.T.
-
Would censorship of immigant crime stories be considered "fake news"?
WIKILEAKS RELEASE EXPOSING SWEDEN FOR CENSORING STORIES ABOUT MIGRANT CRIME
Swedish media admits to censoring stories about migrant crime for the last five years
Journalists in Swedish media are told not to report on the violent crime escalating due to the increase of migrants.
A journalist who has worked on several major editorial says that in all workplaces has been a pronounced or unspoken policy not to promote SD (Swedish conservative party) and xenophobia. And especially remember the 'honor murder' of Pela Atroshi: “We did not write a line about it.”
-
I always try to avoid being prejudicial, as there's always at least two sides to any story, if one cares to look. So I read the transcript - President Trump was "exclaiming" about the rise in immigrant crime in Sweden, including two incidents that occurred the night before, rather than a specific terror attack in Sweden, as a knee-jerk former official had publicly promulgated.
^^^
FAKE POST.
You did NOT read the transcript and if you did you made up or read something to explain what he said. It sounds like you read one of Trump's apologists telling us what he meant.
He began talking about having to keep our country safe and migration in Europe and he linked it to terror attacks in Brussels, Nice and Paris - before inexplicably adding Sweden to the list. Mr. Trump told supporters in Melbourne, FL:
"We've got to keep our country safe. You look at what's happening in Germany, you look at what's happening last night in Sweden. "Sweden, who would believe this. Sweden. They took in large numbers. They're having problems like they never thought possible. You look at what's happening in Brussels. You look at what's happening all over the world. Take a look at Nice. Take a look at Paris."
That's exactly all he said mentioning Sweden. No mention of rising immigrant crime in Sweden.
No statement of specific Swedish attack the night before.
The fact that this President needs interpreters all the time is not a good thing. The fact he says
things that can be interpreted in several ways means he's either doing it to precisely manipulate
the situations so that he can be accused of being wrong and then say, "You are, this is what I
meant," or he is stupid. I'll wager any amount of money on the latter.
Full transcript of Trump's remarks that night: HERE (http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/national/read-full-transcript-trump-rally-speech-florida/DeDCpoNEKLQmWcIKndWB0M/).
-
Would censorship of immigant crime stories be considered "fake news"?
You really don't get it, do you?
-
Sorry, oilgun, but in my own experience I've found gay people to rarely be anything approaching ''stupid.''
T.T.
So you judge all groups of people based on "your own experience."
-
Jeff,
Mistake? WTC1 and WTC-2 were destroyed in the morning, whilst Building 7 went down in the afternoon. I thought everyone knew that.
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.sott.net%2Fimage%2Fs7%2F151158%2Ffull%2Fwtc7_bbc.jpg&hash=2f3a7662437ad0289b8df89f43df10a547e5e181)
The BBC America reporter in NY was standing with her back toward Building 7, whilst she was reporting the building as having collapsed. It didn't go down until 23 minutes later.
T.T.
In a post of mine you ignored, I guess: there is an answer to your continued promulgation of this
conspiracy theory, if you had taken the time to read it, since you seem so interested on proving a point. But I guess the answer is just fake news and you want to ignore for your own purposes.
I could quote it here, but I'm not going to help you out.
If you want you're going to have to click the link, read the article and respond to it.
Controversy and Conspiracies III
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/theeditors/2008/07/controversy_conspiracies_iii.html
-
President Donald Trump has announced that he will not attend this year's White House Correspondents' Dinner, a move that comes amid increasingly hostile relations between the media and the White House.
"I will not be attending the White House Correspondents' Association Dinner this year. Please wish everyone well and have a great evening!" Trump tweeted on Saturday.
Just a few days ago I told a friend of mine that it would not at al surprise me if Trump did not
attend this. Face it, he has no sense of humor, least of all about himself. The PBS program THE
CHOICE, profiling the two candidates America had to choose from for the Presidency last election, started off with clips of Trump from the WHCA Dinner where Trump was roasted a bit as all are,
and he was sitting there seething. He cannot laugh at himself. I don't trust people without a sense
of humor, at least a modicum of it. Trump/Pence are the two sourest people in politics. Even Ted
Cruz manages humor.
-
I like Fritz's idea - let Alec Baldwin stand in for dt.
-
So you judge all groups of people based on "your own experience."
I found that an odd statement as well…it’s hard to find any segment or genre of the population that doesn’t share the same overall/general societal makeup of society at large: intelligent and not so, introverted, extroverted, happy/depressed...
It may be because of age – Tina mentioned being at UCSD…if she is college age, lack of experience could cause a statement such as “no stupid gays”…
Although if i remember correctly, I'm pretty sure I knew everything when I was 22 :D
-
I always try to avoid being prejudicial, as there's always at least two sides to any story, if one cares to look.
I happened to hear this comment on a news story about someone accused of
arson, later proven not to be the case: "Remember, there's two sides to every
story, and then there's the security cam footage."
-
I like Fritz's idea - let Alec Baldwin stand in for dt.
The fact is, now Trump is going to use this event as a showcase to his supporters
at how mean the press is to him. Because, as I said, he sees no humor in anything.
Least of a all himself. Trump's world is devoid of all that.
-
i stand by my professional analysis that he is a 16 y/o girl...he's a mean girl.
-
i stand by my professional analysis that he is a 16 y/o girl...he's a mean girl.
I agree, Nancy. But a 16 yo old girl would have a better hair piece! :P
-
Jeff,
Mistake? WTC1 and WTC-2 were destroyed in the morning, whilst Building 7 went down in the afternoon. I thought everyone knew that.
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.sott.net%2Fimage%2Fs7%2F151158%2Ffull%2Fwtc7_bbc.jpg&hash=2f3a7662437ad0289b8df89f43df10a547e5e181)
The BBC America reporter in NY was standing with her back toward Building 7, whilst she was reporting the building as having collapsed. It didn't go down until 23 minutes later.
T.T.
That still doesn't make it "fake news."
-
#cnnleaks -- Heads up:
James O'Keefe Set To Release "Hundreds of Hours" Of CNN Newsroom Footage "Wikileaks Style"
James O'Keefe, the weasaly young man who impersonated a 'pimp' and got ACORN shut down, is releasing what he is calling the" CNN Newsroom Leaks."[/i]
The videos will be posted on line for people to peruse.
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=james+o%27keefe+cnn (https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=james+o%27keefe+cnn)
-
Sorry, oilgun, but in my own experience I've found gay people to rarely be anything approaching ''stupid.''
T.T.
Sheesh, you don't know too many gay people, do you?
-
I agree, Nancy. But a 16 yo old girl would have a better hair piece! :P
LOL! :laugh:
-
Although if i remember correctly, I'm pretty sure I knew everything when I was 22 :D
I think we all did! :D
-
President Donald Trump has announced that he will not attend this year's White House Correspondents' Dinner, a move that comes amid increasingly hostile relations between the media and the White House.
"I will not be attending the White House Correspondents' Association Dinner this year. Please wish everyone well and have a great evening!" Trump tweeted on Saturday.
http://www.cnn.com/2017/02/25/politics/trump-declines-to-attend-white-house-correspondents-dinner/index.html
I personally feel that the President should attend out of simple respect for the non-fake segment of the media.
He gave a hilarious speech at the Alfred E. Smith Charity Dinner with Cardinal Dolan, last October.
Wonder if the Secret Service advised Pres. Trump not to attend the dinner, for his own safety.(?) i.e., the fake press people seem to be getting desperate to maintain traction on Trump-ice.
According to CNN (and 1 grain of salt):
Several news organizations had already withdrawn from the April 29 event in protest of Trump's treatment of the media. Vanity Fair and Bloomberg, which usually co-host an exclusive, star-studded after-party, have canceled that gala, while The New Yorker similarly canceled its pre-party April 28.
If this report is true (questionable) maybe this will finally spell the end of the Dinner, pity, because it was always such great fun, esp. under Bush and Obama.
T.T.
-
Wonder if the Secret Service advised Pres. Trump not to attend the dinner, for his own safety.(?) i.e., the fake press people seem to be getting desperate to maintain traction on Trump-ice.
you think CNN, WSJ & the NYT attendees are going to show up w/AKs??
-
I agree, Nancy. But a 16 yo old girl would have a better hair piece! :P
Oh yeah...no self-respecting mean girl would go out of the house looking like that :laugh:
-
you think CNN, WSJ & the NYT attendees are going to show up w/AKs??
IDK, but they do seem to have a lot of friends in low places. ;)
-
yeah, not like breitbart...
-
Is anyone (besides me) watching the Markets? - My IRA account grew by over 5% in the months since President Trump was elected.
The Dow, S&P, and Nasdaq have set record highs in the months after Trump’s election. On Thursday, the Dow has its tenth consecutive record closing in a row, at 20,810.
I know that smart investors generally get a little nervous when the DOW moves into "record-breaking territory" since a pullback usually occurs as the 1%-ers begin taking their profits off the table.
https://www.google.com/search?q=market+gains+since+trump+percent&oq=market+gains+since+trump+percent (https://www.google.com/search?q=market+gains+since+trump+percent&oq=market+gains+since+trump+percent)
-
(Thanks, Lyle.)
Sorry, Jeff,
My browser is coded to squelch specified posters. (CS Dept. implemented Dave Cullen's idea as an SMF macro.)
T.T.
-
I keep coming back to what Howard Stern said:
“He loves the press, he lives for it,” Howard Stern, a frequent Trump interviewer and friend, said this month. “He wants to be liked, he wants to be loved.” Being president, Stern added, is not “going to be a healthy experience.”
The rest of us aside, I don''t think this "Presidency" is going to be good for Trump!
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Sorry, Jeff,
My browser is coded to squelch specified posters. (CS Dept. implemented Dave Cullen's idea as an SMF macro.)
T.T.
Well that explains why she keeps repeating false statements and conspiracy theories.
-
Well that explains why she keeps repeating false statements and conspiracy theories.
Do you think she would pay any mind to your debunking anyway?
-
The War Between the President and the Press
All of this sturm und drang about "fake news" and the honesty of the press or The Donald and his minions was (I think, thoughtfully) addressed in this essay by George Friedman under this title.
Excerpts:
"A war has broken out between the president and the press. A better way to put it is that an ongoing war has escalated to new heights. President Donald Trump has declared the press the enemy of the people. The press is declaring Trump a threat to all American liberties and a vile monster. I use the term press rather than media, incidentally, because that is the language of the Constitution and in some ways this is a constitutional battle...
"Rage between a president and the press is not new. The rights of the press were built into the Constitution. The founders gave them these rights along with an obligation – to hold government officials accountable for their actions. Not trusting government, the founders commissioned a nongovernmental entity to turn challenging the state into a business. The press’ job was to monitor the state. Since this was a republic in which ordinary citizens were supposed to control the state, the role of the press was to be the guardian of the republic...
"... The president needs the press to attack him to maintain his political center. The press needs the president to attack it to convince its politically skewed readership that it is defending their interests. The president’s attacks solidify the press’ customer base...
"Therefore, attacking the press in order to hold Trump’s base together is good politics. In this strategy, Trump is aided by the press’ daily and unremitting attacks on him. When you look up articles about Trump in The New York Times and The Washington Post, they appear as an unending barrage of attacks, some reasonable and some preposterous. But they all serve Trump’s interests...
"...The press does this because they see Trump as a threat to the republic and because it is good business. The readers, listeners and viewers of the prestige press tend to be a minority of the market. Many draw news from other sources seen by the prestige press as beneath them. The press must hold on to readership, because if that readership falls even moderately, news organizations’ ability to stay in business would be in doubt..."
Rest of essay:
http://info.geopoliticalfutures.com/reality-check-the-war-between-the-president-and-the-press
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Some interesting commentary, but I personally disagree with this statement:
"The press needs the president to attack it to convince its politically skewed readership that it is defending their interests."
I personally don't need the President to attack the mainstream press to be convinced that the press is defending my interests, but then I'm an old guy who grew up believing in the integrity of the mainstream press--and I'm also a once-upon-a-time reporter, too.
-
George W. Bush Breaks His Silence on the Direction of the Country Under President Trump: ‘I Don’t Like the Racism and Name-Calling’
..Bush called the political climate in Trump’s Washington “pretty ugly” (“I’m not going back nowhere!” he added for emphasis), but said he isn’t feeling anxious about the direction of the country. “Not really. I’m optimistic about where we’ll end up. … We’ve been through these periods before and we’ve always had a way to come out of it. I’m more optimistic than some.”..
http://people.com/politics/george-w-bush-on-trump-presidency/?xid=socialflow_facebook_peoplemag
When did G.W. become the voice of reason! ;D
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When did G.W. become the voice of reason! ;D
Seriously! I thought the same thing--yesterday?--when I heard part of Matt Lauer's interview with him. I couldn't believe what I was hearing.
I got the impression he's not happy with The Donald but didn't want to come right out about it.
-
Seriously! I thought the same thing--yesterday?--when I heard part of Matt Lauer's interview with him. I couldn't believe what I was hearing.
I got the impression he's not happy with The Donald but didn't want to come right out about it.
He seems "likeable" all of a sudden! :laugh: And no past Presidents don't generally speak out against current Presidents and understandably so.
Did you see these pics? They are cracking me up for some reason?
http://www.tmz.com/2017/02/28/kellyanne-conway-couch-feet-knees-oval-office/
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http://www.tmz.com/2017/02/28/kellyanne-conway-couch-feet-knees-oval-office/
Oh, good God.
Next she'll be taking her "critters" down to the "Cee-ment Pond."
-
Oh, good God.
Next she'll be taking her "critters" down to the "Cee-ment Pond."
I like my feet up on the couch - have em both up right now - but generally don't do it in the Oval Office! :laugh:
-
I like my feet up on the couch - have em both up right now - but generally don't do it in the Oval Office! :laugh:
Her boss probably likes to see her knees. ... >:(
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Decision, decisions. Do I want to watch the Fake President's address to Congress tonight, or not?
OK, I don't want to, but should I?
:(
-
Don't like looking at him nor the sound of his voice, the speech will be duly summarized in the news tomorrow morning.
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Did you see these pics? They are cracking me up for some reason?
http://www.tmz.com/2017/02/28/kellyanne-conway-couch-feet-knees-oval-office/
Tell you what, until I heard it and saw it on local 6 p.m. news, I didn't realize she was doing this in front of visitors to the Oval Office who represented historically Black colleges. The photo on the news "pulled back" so you could see the office was full of visitors.
This shows an astonishing lack of both professionalism and just plain good manners.
I'd call her South Jersey trailer trash, but I don't want to insult South Jersey trailer trash.
-
And it gets worse, she had her shoes on!! :laugh:
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this is a big who cares...there are more important, not to mention frightening, things they're doing in the oval office...
Unprofessional? no, and who cares...
(https://consequenceofsound.files.wordpress.com/2016/12/bill-and-obama.jpg?quality=80&w=807)
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi2.cdn.turner.com%2Fcnn%2Fdam%2Fassets%2F130903184136-tsr-moos-obama-foot-on-presidential-desk-00021116-horizontal-gallery.jpg&hash=3cc9d96f71a370c4c6e1e042989e8bf526b1d120)
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I got the impression he's not happy with The Donald but didn't want to come right out about it.
It's my understanding that the Bush family is not pleased with Donald blocking Jeb's turn in the WH.
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yes, you would think the trashing he gave Jeb wouldn't soon be forgotten.
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Tell you what, until I heard it and saw it on local 6 p.m. news, I didn't realize she was doing this in front of visitors to the Oval Office who represented historically Black colleges. The photo on the news "pulled back" so you could see the office was full of visitors.
This shows an astonishing lack of both professionalism and just plain good manners.
I'd call her South Jersey trailer trash, but I don't want to insult South Jersey trailer trash.
Exactly, there was an important audience, not the time or the place...
As for the Bush's they didn't vote for Hillary or Trump!
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Anybody read about the meeting? Read what the guests were really upset about...enough with the feet on the couch already...
Among those invited to attend were Walter Kimbrough, president of Dillard University in New Orleans. He described the meeting in a post on Medium on Monday afternoon. He’d been anticipating being able to give remarks focused on the need to support the Pell grant program, a vital support system for his students. But, as he noted, he and other anticipated speakers saw the amount of time they were allotted to speak at the “listening session” decreased significantly.
“I’m still processing that entire experience” of being in the Oval Office, he wrote. “But needless to say that threw the day off and there was very little listening to HBCU presidents today — we were only given about 2 minutes each, and that was cut to one minute, so only about 7 of maybe 15 or so speakers were given an opportunity today.”
Meaning that, of that group in that photo at the top of the page, at the White House for a listening session, the total amount of time they spent talking was under 10 minutes. No wonder the secretary of education seems to be unclear on the genesis of the HBCU system.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/politics/wp/2017/02/28/the-conway-picture-is-only-a-small-error-in-trumps-swing-and-a-miss-black-college-event/?utm_term=.66cf14b02dc5 (https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/politics/wp/2017/02/28/the-conway-picture-is-only-a-small-error-in-trumps-swing-and-a-miss-black-college-event/?utm_term=.66cf14b02dc5)
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..enough with the feet on the couch already...
I am not even close to being done. I think it is one of the most bizzare pics I have ever seen..
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fmedia4.s-nbcnews.com%2Fj%2Fnewscms%2F2017_09%2F1917016%2F170228-kellyanne-couch-oval-office-803a_9cca82c78b5d543e0bd37fb225036c9a.nbcnews-fp-1200-800.jpg&hash=514e458846c09f759b95bd4460984b1f585324c5)
I may go photo caption it!
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Trump's first speech to Congress: A guide
Every member of Congress is invited to attend the speech, and most bring a guest. This year, several Democrats, including Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), and Reps. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.), Jared Polis (D-Colo.) and Mark Pocan (D-Wisc.) will bring undocumented immigrants who are living in the United States under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program -- which allows people who were brought to the United States as children to remain in the country. Democrats are also bringing Muslim community leaders, a physician from Flint, Michigan, and the mother of a Pulse shooting victim. Tom Perez, the new chair of the Democratic National Committee, will attend the speech as the guest of Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.) -- his recently defeated rival.
Elizabeth Snyder, the wife of a slain St. Louis County police officer, will be the guest of Reps. Rodney Davis (R-Ill.) and Ann Wagner (R-Mo.), while Montana’s state Attorney General Tim Fox will accompany Sen. Steve Daines (R-Mont.)
Who are President Trump and First Lady Melania Trump’s guests?
The White House has announced six guests who will sit with the first lady during President Trump’s first address to a joint Congress. They include Megan Crowley — a college sophomore who is the daughter of a health care entrepreneur, Jessica Davis and Susan Oliver — widows of California police officers killed by an undocumented immigrant in 2015, Denisha Merriweather — a woman who was the first in her family to graduate from high school and college, late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia’s widow Maureen McCarthy Scalia, and Jamiel Shaw Sr. — a father whose son was shot by an undocumented immigrant in 2008.
Traditionally, the president and the first lady guests’ are personifications of policy initiatives that that administration wants to focus on from the president’s speech.
Are the Democrats planning on boycotting or protesting Trump’s speech?
Many House Democrats boycotted President Trump’s inauguration, but don’t expect to see too many empty seats this time around. Instead, Democrats are using his speech as a platform to needle the president over his controversial policy choices. Democrats are bringing DACA recipients and immigrants from countries that were included in Donald Trump’s travel ban on seven majority-Muslim countries. Rep. Nydia Velázquez (D-N.Y.) invited an Iraqi interpreter who worked with the U.S. military and was detained due to the travel ban. Many Democrats on the Energy and Commerce Committee are bringing Americans who would be negatively affected by the repeal of Obamacare, while Rep. Mike Thompson (D-Calif.) and a couple of his colleagues are bringing guests that are law enforcement officials and first responders to highlight gun control.
But Democrats won’t exactly be happy to see President Trump, either. They usually clamored for a coveted center aisle seat so they can jockey for the opportunity to shake hands with Trump’s predecessor, former President Barack Obama. This go around, they’re less enthusiastic about shaking hands with the commander-in-chief.
http://www.politico.com/story/2017/02/trumps-first-speech-to-congress-235478 (http://www.politico.com/story/2017/02/trumps-first-speech-to-congress-235478)
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And it gets worse, she had her shoes on!! :laugh:
That's as bad as Britney Spears walking barefoot into a gas station restroom! :laugh:
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That's as bad as Britney Spears walking barefoot into a gas station restroom! :laugh:
Ewwww :laugh:
(CNN) Shortly after President Donald Trump addressed a Joint Session of Congress for the first time since taking the oath of office, CNN's Van Jones called one particularly moving moment from the speech the real estate mogul's most presidential to date.
Less than an hour after Trump honored the widow of a slain NAVY Seal, the Democratic commentator suggested that the commander in chief had officially begun to look the part.
"He became President of the United States in that moment, period" @VanJones68 on @POTUS honoring Navy Seal widow https://t.co/uZtnj0OLgs
— Anderson Cooper 360° (@AC360) March 1, 2017
"He became President of the United States in that moment, period," said Jones, after the evening's most emotional point was replayed by CNN's Anderson Cooper.
"That was one of the most extraordinary moments you have ever seen in American politics," Jones added. . .
http://www.cnn.com/2017/03/01/politics/van-jones-trump-congress-speech-became-the-president-in-that-moment-cnntv/index.html
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And he stretched out the applause for the grieving widow, in order to set a record. Very presidential.
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And he stretched out the applause for the grieving widow, in order to set a record. Very presidential.
Did he stretch it out... to set a record... or did it just set a record?
Speaking of which:
Dow soars 300 points, closes above 21,000 for the first time!
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He said during the applause that he wanted to set a record.
He worships ratings, and it appeared that the speech did not get the audience that Obama got for his first speech.
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He said during the applause that he wanted to set a record.
I didn't see that Fritz, this is the only thing I could see:
“Ryan is looking down right now, you know that, and he’s very happy, because I think he just broke a record.” He was referring, presumably, to the length of the applause.
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Well, it sounded like his voice. Just listened to it today on the radio.
Hope the widow appreciated it.
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Hope the widow appreciated it.
Near the end of his 60-minute speech, Trump recounted the counterterrorism raid — his first as president — and recognized Carryn Owens, whose eyes were filling with tears. He said of her late husband, “Ryan’s legacy is etched into eternity,” as she looked to the heavens. The crowd of lawmakers, administration officials and military leaders stood to applaud her for two full minutes.
“I’ve been in this town 25 years, probably watched ‘State of the Unions’ for 30,” Spicer said. “I’ve never seen a sustained applause like that.”
I am sure as a soldiers wife she did, you want to believe someone (especially your country) cares about your sacrifice.
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couldn't be worse than dt.
Oprah for president?
Washington (CNN)President Donald Trump's 2016 victory may have been Oprah Winfrey's aha moment, as the talk show icon is now signaling she may be open to a presidential bid.
Asked whether she may be able to break the glass ceiling to be elected president, Winfrey smiled.
"I actually never thought that that was — I never considered the conversation even a possibility. I just thought, oh, oh," she said in a conversation with billionaire David Rubenstein on Bloomberg's "The David Rubenstein Show: Peer-to-Peer Conversations."
She later added, "No, that won't be happening, but I mean, I did used to think, well gee, you had to know so much more than I thought you had to know."
The show taped December 12, according to spokeswoman Rachel Nagler, but it was released Wednesday morning.
http://www.cnn.com/2017/03/01/politics/oprah-presidential-run/ (http://www.cnn.com/2017/03/01/politics/oprah-presidential-run/)
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^^^I had to leave the room to throw up more than once listening to that orange POS
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Thanks for sharing...
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So, did I hear this correctly this morning? At his confirmation hearing, Sessions lied about speaking to the Russian ambassador before the election?
And these people called Hillary a liar?!?!?
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Republicans are judged differently from Democrats, especially by other Republicans.
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Terrible! Just found out that Obama had my "wires tapped" in Trump Tower just before the victory. Nothing found. This is McCarthyism!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 4, 2017
He's twitting again! :o
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Trump should know OBAMA NEVER LEFT THE WHITE HOUSE! He's in the closet! HE HAS SCISSORS!
— Stephen King (@stephenking) March 4, 2017
:laugh:
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The War Between the President and the Press
All of this sturm und drang about "fake news" and the honesty of the press or The Donald and his minions was (I think, thoughtfully) addressed in this essay by George Friedman under this title.
They deserve each other.
I suggest a duel. With assault rifles.
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Serious question.
Does the President of USA.....always have to be filmed when he is signing a new
contract/law/order ?? I don't remember Obama or Clinton or others having the cameras on them each time they put their signature on a piece of paper.
Is Mr.Trump just trying to show that he can write ?!?!
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It's not a necessary step, and there are several controversial actions which he was not recorded signing, such as the actions against transgender people.
Presumably it's all for increased adulation.
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^^^
Thanks Fritz. I just couldn't understand WHY he kept on being filmed signing
stuff !!!!!
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So here we have it. Muslims in the U.S. are being shot--and in least one instance that I've heard of, killed--and their blood is on the hands of the Fake President.
And Jewish cemeteries are being vandalized and Jewish cultural centers receiving bomb threats.
And this all stems from the xenophobic, fear-mongering campaign that the Fake President ran.
How long until we have another Dylann Roof?
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Anderson Cooper Is So Tired of Trump He Has 'Muted the President on Twitter'
http://toofab.com/2017/03/07/anderson-cooper-is-so-tired-of-trump-he-has-muted-the-president-on-twitter-video/
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I really feel sorry for you all. Every Monday I take some elderly people fora walk (shuffle with sticks ;D)
Then we go for coffee. A few weeks ago one elderly lady asked how such a horrible man could have been elected as president and after some discussion one man said "Now we have something to talk about beside the weather" :laugh:
Then yesterday my much more active group were hiking in forests down to the south and as we looked at the view over all the trees someone said the forest company was owned by the US Superannuation Board and we laughed for one lady who comes from the USA and has some US Super although she has lived and worked here for many years and asked if she was checking out her assets. Someone said "Watch it or Trump will take all the trees back to America."
We never joked about Obama. As far as I know almost everyone admired him very much.
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CNN should go a few steps further. Cover the president, but then move the fuck on. They spend 24 hour news cycles analyzing and reanalyzing, speculating, looking for answers that have no answers.
there are other things going on the world. N Korea will soon have a missile capable of reaching the US, or at least (or most, depending on how you look at it), capable of interfering with our power grid.
Last week almost 150 died of starvation in Somalia due to the drought there.
Hundreds of immigrants are leaving the US for Canada.
They are playing directly into his hands. He says he hates the media, but he is addicted to it. If he didn't see his face and hear his name 24 hours a day, he might stop posting those ridiculous posts. (To say that a 70 y/o man tweets just sounds ridiculous.)
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^^^
You mentioned CNN's "History of Comedy" series. Last night I saw the episode called "F***ing Funny" which was
about pushing the boundaries of what's acceptable. There were many clips of comedians and of commenters talking
about various acts from comedians etc.
One segment was about when the outrageous humor gets into the realm of controversial and Andrew Dice Clay's
comedy got into that realm. No Trump comparison's were made in this program, but when Dice was performing all
I could think of was "Trump" rallies. I've always been saying that Trump's rally audiences were there because they
liked the joke, the outrageousness, it's why they said they didn't take the things he said seriously, if they even cared
at all. I don't have a transcript to verify this comment, but it stuck in my head; Bobcat Goldthwait had this astute
observation:
"To be outrageous and 'bad boy' and breakin' the rules is extremely lucrative.
It is also extremely pandering.
There's a lot of comedy that's done under the guise of 'being the edge' which it isn't -- because it's actually connecting with the basest audience."
That's Trump. That's why the media covers it. It's controversial, it's getting ratings.
People that like Trump like the show. People that do not can't stop watching because
the anti-Trump position has also become a show.
And it is very true that if it were all to stop he would be like Glenn Close in Fatal Attraction.
"I will not be ignored, Dan."
I have referred a number of times to the "joke that gets out of handf" article I read last year
in June:
Trumpy McTrumpface: A Joke That's Now No Laughing Matter
Thomas Pace, Patrick T. Reardon / Chicago Tribune
May 24, 2016
http://my.chicagotribune.com/section-2/article/p2p-87326
That link doesn't work now, but if someone wanted to read it, I posted it in my
post on page 355 of the previous "News" thread, which cannot be linked now.
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Here you go Lyle and anyone who is interested.
I keep thinking of this article I read last May:
(The link is not working any more and I can't find the article; I'm posting it.)
Trumpy McTrumpface: A Joke That's Now No Laughing Matter
Thomas Pace, Patrick T. Reardon / Chicago Tribune
May 24, 2016
http://my.chicagotribune.com/section-2/article/p2p-87326
You've probably heard about how, in the United Kingdom, a joke got out of hand.
The very prim and proper British Natural Environment Research Council came up with a stunt to get people interested in science, asking them to suggest names for a $288 million state-of-the-art polar research vessel and then to vote on those names.
It worked, and people started talking about names. BBC radio personality James Hand quipped that the vessel should be called Boaty McBoatface. Cue the laugh track.
Except that the joke caught on, and the name was the top vote-getter.
That's the way it is with jokes. Sometimes, they get out of hand.
Like now, here, in the United States. You've heard the one, I'm sure, about the reality television star who becomes the Republican candidate for president of the United States?
And they say conservatives don't have a sense of humor.
When Trumpy McTrumpface first suggested himself as a presidential nominee, the joke was obvious. In his inaugural campaign speech, McTrumpface made a number of comments that would automatically disqualify any serious presidential candidate.
He has since made this his core strategy — spouting racist comments and xenophobic statements, making fun of one reporter's disability, suggesting that another was menstruating, lying to suit his whim, bragging about his "hand" size, talking of solving the national debt by "printing more money." Name-calling, bullying, hatemongering.
So how is it that Trumpy McTrumpface can get away with such egregious, embarrassing behavior?
Because his candidacy is a joke.
Get it?
And the more egregious and embarrassing Trumpy's behavior is, the funnier it is to his supporters, and the more entertaining it is for them, and the more those supporters feel like they're playing the greatest practical joke in history on the rest of the nation.
This means that it doesn't hurt McTrumpface to continuously demonstrate to the public that he is far better suited to engage in a Twitter war with Rosie O'Donnell than he is, say, to negotiate the delicate matters of Middle East policy or to address the complex issue of income inequality or live with the nuclear launch codes at his fingertips. It actually helps him. Isn't that hilarious?
McTrumpface's tax plan was dismissed by William G. Gale of the Brookings Institution as "pie-in-the-sky nonsense."
Hysterical!
The Indianapolis Star's editorial board warned in March that a McTrumpface presidency would be "a danger to the United States and to the world."
You should see the look on your face!
Precious.
Back in the UK, that research council thought better of its stunt and decided that the joke had gone too far. It determined that, no, the new ship won't be called Boaty McBoatface. Instead, it will bear the name of iconic English naturalist Sir David Attenborough.
Boaty McBoatface won the vote. But it was still a joke.
Here in the U.S., it's the same with McTrumpface.
Yes, according to the current polls, it's possible for Trumpy McTrumpface to win the election for the very serious office of president of the United States of America.
But even if he does win, he'll still be a joke.
And the joke will be on us.
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Justin Trudeau marks International Women's Day with $650M for reproductive rights
Canada to champion sexual and reproductive health and rights around the world
http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/trudeau-women-reproductive-rights-1.4014841
HAPPY INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY!
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HAPPY INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY!
Women BBM fans rock! It just wouldn't be the same without you all! :-*
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Women BBM fans rock! It just wouldn't be the same without you all! :-*
Thank you Jeff, you are the best! :-* Too many men just don't give a care about woman and or their rights, too many women hating on women come to think of it.
Did I mention our PM rocks?
8)
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Thank you Jeff, you are the best! :-* Too many men just don't give a care about woman and or their rights, too many women hating on women come to think of it.
Did I mention our PM rocks?
8)
Aw, you're welcome. I seem to have heard that about Justin Trudeau somewhere. :D Plus I recently saw a pic of him with his shirt hanging all the way open. ... ::)
Have I mentioned that I'm shallow? :laugh:
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Happy Women's Day, y'all!
And Trudeau has a most pleasant posterior with glamorous gluteals.
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Thanks, lovely BBM men :-*.
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And yes, Trudeau is very pleasing altogether!
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Happy Women's Day, y'all!
And Trudeau has a most pleasant posterior with glamorous gluteals.
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2F2.bp.blogspot.com%2F-F-i5Viyk8ZI%2FUXGUYJ8NkjI%2FAAAAAAAABXM%2FaxgczrtP0EY%2Fs1600%2FJustin%2BTrudeau%2Bwith%2Bflag.jpg&hash=694033a2397a5e8b50bf2852668e0d2c122ccefe)
Thanks Fritz!
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And Trudeau has a most pleasant posterior with glamorous gluteals.
Hmm. Never seen him "going away." :(
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Women BBM fans rock! It just wouldn't be the same without you all! :-*
Thanks, Jeff and Fritz!!! It means a lot!!! ♥ ♥ ♥
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Hmm. Never seen him "going away." :(
I've seen a couple of rear shots of him, nicely formed indeed.
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Hmm. Never seen him "going away." :(
This is from Twitter, Jeff
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi48.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Ff211%2Fkillersmom%2FC5WSiahWIAA7ixP_zps33ebodin.jpg&hash=f3ac414132492a33278eda4d2e833a05aaaecad3) (http://s48.photobucket.com/user/killersmom/media/C5WSiahWIAA7ixP_zps33ebodin.jpg.html)
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Exactly!
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I figured this was a good one, Fritz!! ;D ;)
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He planks too!
(https://www.ctvnews.ca/polopoly_fs/1.2838129.1459352482!/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/landscape_620/image.jpg)
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This is from Twitter, Jeff
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi48.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Ff211%2Fkillersmom%2FC5WSiahWIAA7ixP_zps33ebodin.jpg&hash=f3ac414132492a33278eda4d2e833a05aaaecad3) (http://s48.photobucket.com/user/killersmom/media/C5WSiahWIAA7ixP_zps33ebodin.jpg.html)
Thanks. I'll have to remember to try to check that at home this evening. Any kind of "sharing" site is blocked here at work for security reasons.
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He planks too!
(https://www.ctvnews.ca/polopoly_fs/1.2838129.1459352482!/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/landscape_620/image.jpg)
Another reason to immigrate. ... :laugh:
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(https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/564x/01/fb/eb/01fbebc32bcd2620629dbc0791589205.jpg)
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This is from Twitter, Jeff
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi48.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Ff211%2Fkillersmom%2FC5WSiahWIAA7ixP_zps33ebodin.jpg&hash=f3ac414132492a33278eda4d2e833a05aaaecad3) (http://s48.photobucket.com/user/killersmom/media/C5WSiahWIAA7ixP_zps33ebodin.jpg.html)
Very nice. :)
I'm glad for my Canadian friends, and I'm perfectly happy with Brian Sims, the hottie Representative for my district in the state legislature.
I ran into him on my way home from the gym this evening. He was sitting on a stoop--dark hair styled almost like an old-fashioned crew cut, nicely trimmed beard, staring intently at his phone. ::) I recognized him at once, and I gave him a cheery, "Hi. Brian!" In turn, he flashed me a brilliant smile and a friendly wave. :)
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Oh yeah, Brian Sims is gorgeous!
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I googled Brian Sims. Yep, he wins.
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Oh yeah, Brian Sims is gorgeous!
I googled Brian Sims. Yep, he wins.
Aside from the fact that he's so hot, it's really quite interesting--certainly a new experience for me--to have my district representative to the state legislature actually living in my neighborhood, where at any time I might run into him on the street, as I did this evening.
One Saturday night last year I was drinking in my usual watering hole with a friend who is committeeman here in the city. Brian was sitting at the bar, and I went up to him and introduced my committeeman friend. I ended up sitting between the two of them while they talked politics. While I tried to avoid it, I do seem to recall that I bumped knees with Brian a couple of times. ... ::)
Meanwhile, I need to remember to look for more pictures of Mr. Trudeau. ... ::)
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the little one rolling in - hilarious!
https://www.theguardian.com/media/2017/mar/10/south-korea-expert-interrupted-baby-toddler-live-tv-viral (https://www.theguardian.com/media/2017/mar/10/south-korea-expert-interrupted-baby-toddler-live-tv-viral)
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I loved the little one rolling in on the walker and then Mom dragging everyone out. :laugh:
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ROTFLMAO! THe first one just strutted right up, like she belonged there, and I lost it. and then the second one came rolling in.....omg! I don't know how he kept from laughing!
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SNL...
Introducing Complicit, a new fragrance for Ivanka Trump (Scarlett Johansson).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F7o4oMKbStE (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F7o4oMKbStE)
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WOW! That was good!
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lmao! That was great! Reminds me of the time they spoofed the "Obsession" ads with their version, "Compulsion".
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I'm mailing my postcards today!
I'M IN! FOR THE PRICE OF A STAMP!
This was started by a grass roots RESISTANCE (to Trump) group. Besides being individually easy to do, it already has historical symbolism,
a hashtag, and no one has to buy a plane ticket or charter a bus for DC .:
THE IDES OF TRUMP: On March 15th, each of us will mail Donald Trump a postcard that publicly expresses our opposition to him. And we, in vast numbers, from all corners of the world, will overwhelm the man with his unpopularity and failure. We will show the media and the politicians what standing with him — and against us — means. And most importantly, we will bury the White House post office in pink slips, all informing Donnie that he’s fired.
Each of us — every protester from every march, each congress calling citizen, volunteer, donor, and petition signer — if each of us writes even a single postcard and we put them all in the mail on the same day, March 15th, well: you do the math.
No alternative fact or Russian translation will explain away our record-breaking, officially-verifiable, warehouse-filling flood of fury. Hank Aaron currently holds the record for fan mail, having received 900,000 pieces in a year. We’re setting a new record: over a million pieces in a day, with not a single nice thing to say.
So sharpen your wit, unsheathe your writing implements, and see if your sincerest ill-wishes can pierce Donald’s famously thin skin.
Prepare for March 15th, 2017, a day hereafter to be known as #TheIdesOfTrump.
Postcards are important here! Regular mail must go through content inspections
that slow them down, whereas postcards don't have such postal obstacles.
Write one postcard. Write a dozen! Take a picture and post it on social media tagged with #TheIdesOfTrump ! Spread the word! Everyone on Earth should let Donnie know how he’s doing. They can’t build a wall high enough to stop the mail.
Then, on March 15th, mail your messages to:
President (for now) Donald J. Trump
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500
It might just be enough to make him crack.
If you are out of the country, it will take longer to arrive.
Figure out the timing so it arrives around March 17th!
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I sent mine yesterday.
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Thumbs up! ;)
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I like this because I can't stand her..
Stephen Pulls A 'Rachel Maddow'
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q_rTWxJepO8 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q_rTWxJepO8)
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And this guy...you can just tell dt is building him up so he'll attack the media in his "press conference"...should be another good SNL this week...
White House press secretary Sean Spicer gave a lengthy and exhaustive defense of President Donald Trump's wiretapping claims against then-President Obama to reporters today, even though leaders of the House and Senate Intelligence committees said they have seen no evidence to support the claims.
Spicer accused reporters of continuing "to perpetuate a false narrative" by not covering statements that could seem favorable to Trump and argued that the statements by the House and Senate Intelligence committees were not based on any investigative work.
Senate Intelligence Committee finds 'no indications' of wiretapping, wider surveillance at Trump Tower
"They're not findings. There's a statement out today they have not begun this," Spicer told ABC News at today's White House press briefing. "Two days ago the Department of Justice asked for an additional week. The statement clearly says at this time that they don't believe that."
At one point he began reading news articles from the lectern in the Brady Press Room. He quoted The New York Times, Fox News personality Sean Hannity, a former New Jersey superior court judge and Fox News commentator Andrew Napolitano, who suggested that Obama used a British intelligence agency to spy on Trump. That claim, like all of Trump's allegations about being under surveillance, are unsubstantiated.
A spokesperson for GCHQ, the British intelligence agency that Napolitano referred to, denied the report.
“Recent allegations made by media commentator Judge Andrew Napolitano about GCHQ being asked to conduct 'wire tapping' against the then president elect are nonsense," the spokesperson said in a press release. "They are utterly ridiculous and should be ignored.”
Spicer also asserted that House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes still stands in the administration's corner, despite his statement yesterday contradicting the president's wiretapping claim.
"I don't believe just in the last week of time, the people we've talked to — I don't think there was an actual tap of Trump Tower," Nunes said.
During the press conference, Spicer reiterated that Trump's use of the term "wiretapping" was all-encompassing.
"I think the president has been very clear when he talked about this ... he meant surveillance," Spicer said, referring to an interview Trump with Fox News' Tucker Carlson that aired Wednesday evening.
In that interview, Trump said he didn't necessarily mean "wiretapping."
"When I say 'wiretapping,' those words were in quotes. That really covers, because wiretapping is pretty old-fashioned stuff, but that really covers surveillance and many other things," he said.
Two of Trump's four March 4 tweets related to wiretapping include the term in quotes.
ABC News' Mike Trew contributed to this report.
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I like this because I can't stand her..
Is it just a personal thing? I really like Rachel Maddow. She's been reporting on all the Russian connections with Trump and his appointees and making the connections and asking the questions no one else is positing about that.
Oh, I just remembered...so you like Peter Thiel but not Rachel Maddow? :o
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I was looking at some photos of postcards that were sent to Trump and this one made me laugh.
It said:
"I am watching you." And was signed: "The Microwave."
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Trump had another of his ridiculous campaign rallies this week.
Trump voter James Walker, 31, from Nashville, attended outside the event and said:
"This is the first step: showing up and being honest."
(https://i.redd.it/6oezy09merly.jpg)
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Is it just a personal thing? I really like Rachel Maddow. She's been reporting on all the Russian connections with Trump and his appointees and making the connections and asking the questions no one else is positing about that.
Oh, I just remembered...so you like Peter Thiel but not Rachel Maddow? :o
Had to google Peter Thiel...don't know anything about him or his politics but I do like Paypal.
I just don't care for her on-air personality - hope that's ok w/you. I saw a story/interview about her and she seems like a very nice person. I follow dt's nonsense on CNN not MSNBC - hope that's ok w/you. Actually, now that I think about it, I also can't stand Mika on morning Joe...or Joe for that matter, what a pompous, self-important know-it-all he is, always interrupting his guests (kinda like every other cable news show)...or Lawrence O'Donnell and hate Brian I forget his last name, the liar guy...it's only my opinion, Lyle, stop trying to :o me.
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^^^
I wrote Peter Thiel, but I had meant Milo Yiannopoulos. Oops.
it's only my opinion
I often like to know the thoughts that form an opinion.
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Happy to oblige...let me know if you'd like additional info.
Re: Milo. I was yanking your chain on him...mostly. But he's dead now, so you can rest easy.
And no matter how many lefties i say i don't like...I didn't vote for dt......don't forget that.
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Rock 'n' roll legend Chuck Berry dies
Chuck Berry, rock 'n' roll's founding guitar hero and storyteller who defined the music's joy and rebellion in such classics as "Johnny B. Goode," ''Sweet Little Sixteen" and "Roll Over Beethoven," died Saturday at his home in an unincorporated area west of St. Louis. He was 90.
http://www.wtae.com/article/rock-n-roll-legend-chuck-berry-dies/9152098 (http://www.wtae.com/article/rock-n-roll-legend-chuck-berry-dies/9152098)
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I finally started hearing the talking heads making comments about something I've been thinking for a while since dt took office, but with a slight difference.
The NYT CNN contributor put forth this question: how can the American people and countries around the world trust Trump when (not if) something terrible happens? Can he stand in front of a TV camera and make statements about N Korea or Russia and be believable?
My question is: will he know what to do? Of course not. Will he take to twitter and make ridiculous statements that have to do with his popularity, how Obama caused the current problem, how it's everyone's fault but his, when "fault" will have nothing to do with it.
I used to hate to hear Obama come out time after time and recite the same rehearsed speeches about gun violence after the atrocities of Newtown and Aurora CO and Orlando. But now I long for the level-headedness (word?) compassion and understanding of BO. More and more, I fear for our future.
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I wrote Peter Thiel, but I had meant Milo Yiannopoulos. Oops.
Maybe someone should introduce those two. They're both gay, and their politics are quite similar, aren't they? ::)
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POSTCARDS to the White House...
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg.huffingtonpost.com%2Fasset%2F2000_1000%2F58c82e911d000037037ce5f0.jpeg&hash=e846851eb7d5b9c95e2813d9df9abf4229125efa)
The goal of the White House postcard campaign was at least a million postcards sent.
Organizer Zack Kushner believes it was met, but he says, "We likely might never know
because the White House would have to give a count on the number of postcards the
president receives." Would they? Don’t hold your breath. “But we have some hope,”
Kushner said, “that a friendly intern or someone in the postal system might snap a
photograph and get it online.”
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POSTCARDS to the White House...
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg.huffingtonpost.com%2Fasset%2F2000_1000%2F58c82e911d000037037ce5f0.jpeg&hash=e846851eb7d5b9c95e2813d9df9abf4229125efa)
The goal of the White House postcard campaign was at least a million postcards sent.
Organizer Zack Kushner believes it was met, but he says, "We likely might never know
because the White House would have to give a count on the number of postcards the
president receives." Would they? Don’t hold your breath. “But we have some hope,”
Kushner said, “that a friendly intern or someone in the postal system might snap a
photograph and get it online.”
I don't suppose he's any relation, is he?
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Tim Allen Says Hollywood Is Like ‘1930s Germany’ for Conservative Actors
http://people.com/politics/tim-allen-hollywood-1930s-germany-conservative-actors/
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^^^
Conservatives always like to play the victim, even in Hollywood. "Poor us."
Well, if Hollywood (and the country) is like Nazi Germany in the 1930's we only have
you, Tim Allen, for one, who elected our Hitlerian leader.
From a piece I've quoted before:
"But what I think is a more dire truth to the Hitler-Trump comparison is how he could actually come to power. When Hitler was elected it was not the case that an entire country yelled “Sieg Heil” with fanfares and right arms in the air. Instead, a lot of sane, reasonable and non-fanatic people thought “he cannot be taken seriously,” or “he will never win,” or “he is crazy but he does have a point,” or “maybe he will at least bring a change,” to, ultimately, “let’s give him a try, he can’t make matters worse anyhow.” The rest is history. My fear is that a lot of Americans think the same way about Trump, underestimating the danger he poses and the actual shot at the presidency he has."
Wealthy...privileged people...like you Tim Allen, put up with a lot of things the average person will not,
because they have money. Money allows you the freedom to make a mistake; try something new because
you can afford the consequences. If you didn't have the sense or decency to know what you were electing,
that's on you.
I'm sorry, but there is and never will be an excuse good enough to have voted for Donald Trump to be President.
He was a liar before he became President (birtherism, Central Park Five) and he hasn't budged an inch. People of
all persuasions warned against it for over a year. It's not about politics with Trump. It's about human decency.
The more Tim Allen wants to make it about politics and/or policy the more he'll become irrelevant.
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The more Tim Allen wants to make it about politics and/or policy the more he'll become irrelevant.
For me personally, he's always been irrelevant. Never watched him on TV.
But I agree with you, Lyle.
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This is a new drug I was thinking about asking my doctor to give
me a prescription for. And several refills.
What do you guys think about it?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QXUlhT3-r0c&sns=em
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Great!
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More horror. Thoughts are with the families of those killed and injured.
Will it never end ?
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/03/22/man-shot-police-outside-parliament-officer-reportedly-shoots/
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More horror. Thoughts are with the families of those killed and injured.
Will it never end ?
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/03/22/man-shot-police-outside-parliament-officer-reportedly-shoots/
Terrible. Just terrible. :(
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More horror. Thoughts are with the families of those killed and injured.
Will it never end ?
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/03/22/man-shot-police-outside-parliament-officer-reportedly-shoots/
A horrific event happens so of course Trump Jr reacts in the worst way possible:
Donald Trump Jr. Criticizes London Mayor After Deadly Attack
(...)
“You have to be kidding me?!” Mr. Trump said Wednesday afternoon on Twitter, as details of the episode — which left at least five dead and 40 injured — continued to unfold. The message continued, “Terror attacks are part of living in big city, says London Mayor Sadiq Khan.”
Mr. Trump, the oldest son of President Trump, was calling attention to an article from September in The Independent, a British newspaper, that described Mr. Khan’s reaction to a bombing then in the Chelsea neighborhood of New York City.
Mr. Trump mischaracterized the London mayor’s remarks. Mr. Khan did not describe terrorism as “part of living in a big city,” as if bombings and shootings were an inescapable fact of life. He said that terrorism preparedness, including providing sufficient support to the police, was “part and parcel of living in a great global city.”
(...)
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/22/us/politics/donald-trump-jr-criticizes-london-mayor-after-deadly-attack.html?smid=fb-nytimes&smtyp=cur
Let's see if the Orange One tweets something even more vile. Oh right, he's busy suing a teenager because of her cat website.
http://observer.com/2017/03/trump-cease-and-desist-kitten-punch-site/
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He, he, he. Speaker Ryan pulled the bill to repeal the Affordable Care Act. Not even enough votes in the Fake President's own party to pass it.
The Affordable Care Act stands as the law of the land.
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^^^^^^^ I JUST LOVE IT!!!
And, Jeff, just 11 minutes before, Idiot Spicer said the OrangeManCare bill was going to pass!!!
HeH Heh Heh!!
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:P :P :P
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That was a nice moment yesterday!
Trump is so spiteful though about "losing" that I fear he will do every other thing
he can to destroy the ACA, in terms of defunding it where he can so it won't work,
not having the justice department support it in court cases, etc. He's as vindictive
as hell.
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TCM showed The Wizard of Oz last night; somebody really ought to drop a house on The Orange One. Maybe Mar-a-Lago could just fall down on him?
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That would be nice, Jeff.
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Just being swallowed up by the sea as a result of global warming would be appropriate.
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Good point, Fritz!! That would be appropriate.
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That was a nice moment yesterday!
Trump is so spiteful though about "losing" that I fear he will do every other thing he can to destroy the ACA, in terms of defunding it where he can so it won't work, not having the justice department support it in court cases, etc. He's as vindictive as hell.
I hope this isn't the case.
I believe Trump said that he was moving on to his next agenda item, which is tax reform. Paul Ryan issued a statement that "Obamacare is the law of the land." which I'm sure pisses off all those who supported Trump in the first place.
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It shouldn't surprise anyone that the American right-wing dances to Putin's tune.
The crime boss has been planning this for years. An article from 4 years ago:
Vladimir Putin, Conservative Icon
The Russian president is positioning himself as
the world's leading defender of traditional values.
by Brian Whitmore
https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2013/12/vladimir-putin-conservative-icon/282572/
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The NCAA Just Gave North Carolina a 48-Hour Deadline to ‘Resolve’ HB2 or They’re Out Until 2022
After repeated warnings, including one last week, the NCAA has reportedly given North Carolina 48 hours to “resolve” the anti-LGBT HB2 law or it will pull all its sports events from now through 2022.
http://www.towleroad.com/2017/03/ncaa-north-carolina-2/
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This video helped me understand this whole mess a lot better.
Get Up to Speed on the Entire Trump-Russia Controversy with This 10-Minute Video
There are a LOT of pieces to the Trump-Russia controversy and it seems to get more complicated each day. Think Progress just released this extremely helpful video for those of you looking to get caught up. It’ll also help those of you who have been following and just want to refresh your memory.
http://www.towleroad.com/2017/03/trump-russia-controversy/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+towleroad%2Ffeed+%28Towleroad+Gay+News+%29
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^^^
Thanks for that link, Linda, I can recommend that to others.
I've been watching Rachel Maddow connecting the dots on this for weeks
and to see a condensed version of what's going on is even more sobering.
The Nunes episode is even more blatant and the one thing everyone keeps
ignoring about that is that Nunes went to Paul Ryan first--he said that in ONE
interview, so Ryan isn't going to call for an independent commission (as former
Deputy National Security Advisor Julianne Smith indicates would help us all
sleep better at night, at about 9:25 on the video link) as he's covering his own
ass in this mess. Notice that yesterday he was asked two questions about this
episode and he would not get into it and moved on to other questions as fast
as he could. His response was, "No and no." No follow up, no clarification;
basically "Don't ask me."
One thing is for sure, this isn't going to go away.
Nor should it.
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You may have heard North Carolina repealed it's hateful HB2 bill.
No, actually, they just convoluted it.
HB2 Repeal: Cooper Turns Back on LGBT Community
http://www.charlotteobserver.com/opinion/editorials/article141667999.html
You can still write, at this moment, to Gov. Cooper, and tell him NOT to
sign this bill. I did. Replacing bad with different bad is still just bad.
https://governor.nc.gov/contact-governor-cooper
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^^^
The insidious thing about this so-called repeal bill, supported by both Republican led chambers is:
HB2’s most fundamental requirement was that local governments cannot pass anti-discrimination ordinances that govern public accommodations such as restaurants and hotels. Under Thursday’s agreement, that is still true, until at least December 2020.
You know why? Cause the Republicans hope the newly elected Gov. will be unelected in Nov. of said year. That's why.
Then they keep it in place again.
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^^^
Thanks for that link, Linda, I can recommend that to others.
I've been watching Rachel Maddow connecting the dots on this for weeks
and to see a condensed version of what's going on is even more sobering.
The Nunes episode is even more blatant and the one thing everyone keeps
ignoring about that is that Nunes went to Paul Ryan first--he said that in ONE
interview, so Ryan isn't going to call for an independent commission (as former
Deputy National Security Advisor Julianne Smith indicates would help us all
sleep better at night, at about 9:25 on the video link) as he's covering his own
ass in this mess. Notice that yesterday he was asked two questions about this
episode and he would not get into it and moved on to other questions as fast
as he could. His response was, "No and no." No follow up, no clarification;
basically "Don't ask me."
One thing is for sure, this isn't going to go away.
Nor should it.
It gave me a much clearer understanding of this convoluted mess, Lyle. It's easier to understand, but I think as the investigation continues, there will be a LOT more players.
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The Orange One is a sleazy, modern-day P.T. Barnum, and, unfortunately, this nation seems to have an awful lot of suckers.
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You can fool some of the people all of the time. Unfortunately, enough.
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You can fool some of the people all of the time. Unfortunately, enough.
Apparently an awful lot of the people. ::)
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^^^^ I was going to say TOO many people. :P
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The Orange One is a sleazy, modern-day P.T. Barnum, and, unfortunately, this nation seems to have an awful lot of suckers.
I love the P.T. Barnum comparison, Jeff, (although I think it is an insult to P.T. Barnum), as I originally called the crowd of Republicans running for President, 'The Clown Car Occupants'. Now I have just transferred it over and calling it 'The Clown Car Administration'.
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I love the P.T. Barnum comparison, Jeff, (although I think it is an insult to P.T. Barnum), as I originally called the crowd of Republicans running for President, 'The Clown Car Occupants'. Now I have just transferred it over and calling it 'The Clown Car Administration'.
:laugh:
Yeah, I guess I ought to apologize before the ghost of ol' P.T. haunts me. :D
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:laugh:
Yeah, I guess I ought to apologize before the ghost of ol' P.T. haunts me. :D
Might be a good idea!! ;) ;D
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Gilbert Baker.....who invented and designed the Gay Rights Rainbow flag ....has died aged 65.
Keep the flag flying in memory of him.
R.I.P.
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Gilbert Baker, Creator of the Rainbow Flag, International Symbol of LGBTQ Pride, Has Died at 65
Gilbert Baker, the creator of the rainbow flag, has died at 65.
Baker created the flag for the 1978 Pride march in San Francisco, known then as the San Francisco Gay Freedom Day Parade.
Activist Cleve Jones posted the sad news to Facebook, writing: “I am heartbroken. My dearest friend in the world is gone. Gilbert gave the world the Rainbow Flag; he gave me forty years of love and friendship. I can’t stop crying. I love you forever Gilbert Baker.”
http://www.towleroad.com/2017/03/gilbert-baker/
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Well.......Barry Manilow has just announced he is gay!
Who would have guessed ? !!! ::)
He got married last year to his manager.
Congrats Barry. :)
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Washington (CNN) President Donald Trump, speaking at a news conference on Wednesday, said the chemical attack against Syrian civilians "crossed a lot of lines for me" and changed the way he views Syria and leader Bashar al-Assad.
"I now have responsibility, and I will have that responsibility and carry it very proudly," Trump said responding to a question about a White House statement Tuesday that blamed the attack in part on President Barack Obama.
"It is now my responsibility. It was a great opportunity missed," Trump said.
Trump did maintain that Obama's failure to respond to his red line threat "was a blank threat (that) set us back a long ways, not only in Syria but in many other parts of the world."
The President condemned the attack as "heinous."
"Yesterday's chemical attack, a chemical attack that was so horrific in Syria against innocent people, including women, small children and even beautiful little babies, their deaths were an affront to humanity," Trump said from the Rose Garden. "These heinous actions by the Assad regime cannot be tolerated. The United States stands with our allies across the globe to condemn this horrific attack and all other horrific attacks, for that matter."...
http://www.cnn.com/2017/04/05/politics/trump-syria-comments-response/index.html
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Retired general Mark Hertling on CNN, who i really like, referred to (a guy like) Bannon as "big hat, no cattle"...
White House chief strategist Steve Bannon has been removed from his seat on the National Security Council, reversing one of the most controversial decisions of the young Trump administration.
http://www.cnbc.com/2017/04/05/steve-bannon-reportedly-removed-from-national-security-council-in-reorganization.html (http://www.cnbc.com/2017/04/05/steve-bannon-reportedly-removed-from-national-security-council-in-reorganization.html)
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"big hat, no cattle"...
:laugh:
Gotta remember that one!
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Sounds like a term LaShawn would use!
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Trump did maintain that Obama's failure to respond to his red line threat "was a blank threat (that) set us back a long ways, not only in Syria but in many other parts of the world."
Except that Trump tweeted on numerous occasions during that time, all documented on the news yesterday, in no
uncertain terms that, President Obama "should stay out of Syria" and that "nothing good would come from attacking
Syria."
And--President Obama took it to the Congress and asked for a declaration to do so and the Congress did nothing.
And, besides, Trump is a threat that's setting our own country back a long ways...he lies so much and so often and
changes position from one thought to the next, even in the same sentence, that when he says anything there is no
trust factor to automatically give him any benefit of the doubt. There's only doubt.
If one looks at Trump clearly, what he said is just a child complaining about someone else because they now
have a problem they don't want to deal with and they want to blame it on someone else. If Obama had done
something about this I wouldn't have to. So, if I do something and it doesn't work. It's not my fault. I'm still
fantastic.
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I love the P.T. Barnum comparison, Jeff, (although I think it is an insult to P.T. Barnum), as I originally called the crowd of Republicans running for President, 'The Clown Car Occupants'. Now I have just transferred it over and calling it 'The Clown Car Administration'.
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.theweek.com%2Fsites%2Fdefault%2Ffiles%2Fstyles%2Flarge%2Fpublic%2Fhandelsman_trump_tribune_0.jpg&hash=c29f59b722357a319497662fb5734f8cb0159718)
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GREAT!! Thanks, Lyle.
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Comedy Legend Don Rickles Dead At 90
The comedian and actor died of kidney failure at his Los Angeles home.
Comedy legend Don Rickles died after suffering kidney failure at his Los Angeles home on Thursday morning, his publicist Paul Shefrin announced. He was 90 years old.
The Emmy-Award winning comedian is survived by his wife of 52 years, Barbara, who was reportedly by his side at the time of his death, and his daughter, Mindy Mann. He would have turned 91 on May 8.
http://tinyurl.com/n8grx7u
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Devin Nunes Will Step Down From Leading Russia Investigation
Meanwhile, the House Ethics Committee is investigating allegations that Nunes leaked classified information.
House Intelligence Committee Chair Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) will step aside from leading the investigation into possible ties between President Donald Trump’s team and the Russian government, he said in a statement Thursday.
Nunes said he will have Rep. Mike Conaway (R-Texas), with assistance from Reps. Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.) and Tom Rooney (R-Fla.), lead the investigation.
http://tinyurl.com/kow7lqd
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Except that Trump tweeted on numerous occasions during that time, all documented on the news yesterday, in no
uncertain terms that, President Obama "should stay out of Syria" and that "nothing good would come from attacking
Syria."
As he said "the chemical attack against Syrian civilians "crossed a lot of lines for me" and changed the way he views Syria and leader Bashar al-Assad".
Again, we just wait and see exactly what he does do, if anything. Something should be done..
I just read that Defense Secretary James Mattis will lead Trump through his available options, including what the potential consequences for military action could be.
Now apparently Hillary Clinton is calling on the U.S to take out Bashar's airforce!
"Assad has an air force, and that air force is the cause of most of these civilian deaths as we have seen over the years and as we saw again in the last few days," Clinton said in a speech at the "Women in the World" summit in New York City. "And I really believe that we should have and still should take out his air fields and prevent him from being able to use them to bomb innocent people and drop sarin gas on them."
"I still believe we should have done a no-fly zone," she said, in a slight knock against former President Barack Obama, whose Cabinet she served in. "We should have been more willing to confront Assad."
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and away we go..
US launches airstrikes on Syria: Military fires more than 50 tomahawks on Homs airfield just hours after Trump said 'something should happen' following gas-attack atrocity
The military fired more than 50 tomahawk missiles at al-Shayrat military airfield
Moves comes just hours after Trump said 'something should happen' following gas-attack atrocity
Trump had been weighing up the possibility of launching military strikes after 72 were killed and countless more were injured in the sarin poison gas attack
'I think what happened in Syria is a disgrace to humanity. I guess something should happen,' he said
Secretary of state Rex Tillerson said earlier today that the U.S. was already exploring the enlistment of an international coalition to oust Assad
Read more: www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4388834/America-launches-airstrikes-Syria.html#ixzz4dWb7ffwQ
Follow us: @mailonline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook
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One should always have caution when deciding whether to support anything
involving weapons of war.
Already Republicans like McCain, Rubio and Graham are saying:
"Unlike the previous administration," they said, "President Trump confronted a pivotal moment in Syria
and took action. For that, he deserves the support of the American people." They also urged him to go
even further and "take Assad's air force… completely out of the fight".
And yet Trump is mired in scandal after scandal and ineffective leadership and the lowest approval
ratings for a new President ever measured. These same Republicans, sans Rubio who wasn't in the
Senate yet...hmmm...what did they say about Bill CLinton under similar circumstances:
"Former US President Bill Clinton was accused by critics of using Tomahawk missile strikes against
Iraq in 1998 to divert attention from the burgeoning scandal of his affair with a White House intern."
Call me skeptical of any use of military force unless I know the reason behind it and what happens next.
As horrific as photos are of people subjected to abject violence are, not looking at the big picture can be
worse; have we not learned anything? I'll even quote Mary Poppins for purposes of illustration: "Practically
perfect people never permit sentiment to muddle their thinking."
The problem with Trump is that he reacts because he sees something on the cable news
shows he watches. As an astute guest showed last night on a news program, there have
been several instances just in the last few weeks that have occurred in Syria with similar
or the same horrific outcomes, so one might ask, "why now?" The answer seems to be
because Trump saw a story about it on TV.
A GOP hardliner also says, "Trump campaigned on not getting involved in the Mideast."
"Said it always helps our enemies & creates more refugees." "Then he saw a picture on TV."
A Republican Senator insisted that Mr Trump needed congressional authorization for such action,
adding: "The United States was not attacked."
Democratic Hawaii Member of Congress Gabbard, who met Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in January,
condemned the US strike as "short-sighted". "This administration has acted recklessly without care or
consideration of the dire consequences of the United States attack on Syria without waiting for the
collection of evidence from the scene of the chemical poisoning," she said in a statement.
Instead of politicians jumping on the bandwagon we need to know what the plan is. Every time we get involved
in something like this and it turns out badly people ask "What was the plan after the first round?" Based on past
forays into endless conflict I want to know that before I have any opinion; I certainly don't trust Trump making
informed decisions based on reality or his personal knowledge. After all, he thinks he's qualified to be president.
And he's far from "practically perfect."
Here's an article by a former U.S. Assistant Secretary of State.
Syria War: Is Trump Slipping Into Syria Quagmire?
By P. J. Crowley
Article: HERE (http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-39525268).
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Maybe somebody should show The Orange One video of someone getting his head cut off so he'll go after ISIS. ...
-
Observers Warn That Syria Attack is Trump's "Wag the Dog" Moment
Reports that Russia was warned about strike fuel accusations that
military action was taken to distract from mounting domestic problems.
by Lauren McCauley, staff writer
Article: HERE (https://www.commondreams.org/news/2017/04/07/observers-warn-syria-attack-trumps-wag-dog-moment).
Here's an appropriate tweet from someone:
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/C8ySMTbVwAAp9_K.jpg)
Victoria
@Mrs_VictoriaBJ
I fixed it for you, @realDonaldTrump! You had a few typos mentioning @BarackObama,
@Potus44 #trumpsyria #trumprussia #SyrianWar #TheResistance pic.twitter.com/xfrZMiMU8s
10:19 PM - 6 Apr 2017
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Well first of all thank you for answering Lyle (hey Jeff!) to look at this board you would never know there was anything serious going on in the world and this is serious.
Although I think your personal response was well thought out Lyle, I am not interested in biased articles, there are people out there who hate his guts and nothing he ever does will sit well with them. They don't trust him and they will always find an ulterior motive in everything he does.
I would say the Western world was certainly in support of what he did, "something" had to be done, a line was drawn. But yes where do we go from here?
I am sure there is a plan, maybe you and I just haven't been briefed on it! The UN is currently in an emergency meeting. The U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. was in agreement with his actions.
http://www.cnn.com/2017/04/07/politics/un-security-council-syria/index.html
and we could quote politicians all day long:
Arizona Sen. John McCain, who has feuded bitterly with Trump in the past, applauded the attack.
“Unlike the previous administration, President Trump confronted a pivotal moment in Syria and took action,” he said in a joint statement along with South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham. “For that, he deserves the support of the American people.”
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and we could quote politicians all day long:
Arizona Sen. John McCain, who has feuded bitterly with Trump in the past, applauded the attack.
“Unlike the previous administration, President Trump confronted a pivotal moment in Syria and took action,” he said in a joint statement along with South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham. “For that, he deserves the support of the American people.”
Yes, I quoted that in my post, but the point is that when Clinton used the same Tomahawk missiles
for an attack on Iraq in 1998 where everyone thought "something should be done" these same people
had a different response to the action taken than they did now. It can only be described as partisan.
Although I think your personal response was well thought out Lyle, I am not interested in biased articles, there are people out there who hate his guts and nothing he ever does will sit well with them. They don't trust him and they will always find an ulterior motive in everything he does.
I guess bias is in the eye of the beholder. Why is it biased to be skeptical of a person who has shown
no reason to trust him otherwise? Why would an article by a former Assistant U.S. Secretary of State
not be something to consider?
I would say the Western world was certainly in support of what he did, "something" had to be done, a line was drawn.
Is it skeptical to think that a lot of "the Western World" would be in support of what he did because it wasn't them
who had anything to lose if the U.S. did it? As long as it was the U.S. I didn't see any other country taking it upon
themselves to do anything before this or now. So, yeah. Where's the stakes in it for everyone else?
And when you say "something had to be done." As I pointed out. Why now? I pointed out a program that detailed three
instances of the same or worse the past three months that could've warranted the same question and action, but didn't.
Why now? It's a legitimate question.
But yes where do we go from here? I am sure there is a plan, maybe you and I just haven't been briefed on it! The UN is currently in an emergency meeting. The U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. was in agreement with his actions.
I am glad you are sure there is a plan. There wasn't one for what happened in Iraq. Trump has not proved himself
reliable enough to think he knows what he is doing and has a broad picture of what is actually going on there. He's
even insisted that he doesn't need a lot of information about anything, he relies on his instincts. That's comforting.
It's helpful to read skeptical opinions from those with experience in such things. To go off and just support something
on the grounds that it was just something because "something needed to be done" and "something" was, might make
one feel better in the moment, but without knowing or having a plan forward, well, you know what they say, the devil
is in the details. Or lack of them.
Even if there are people that support his actions, a broken clock is right twice a day, but you don't give credit to the
clock for being right in those instances. And nowadays most clocks are digital and if broken are just blank and not even
right any time of day.
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(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fg8fip1kplyr33r3krz5b97d1.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2016%2F12%2FNATEBEELR1.jpg&hash=9097ffb2eae112fed765f296730c442624ef43e0)
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(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fblob%3Ahttp%3A%2F%2Fwww.cnn.com%2Fa4fc5716-5883-44cb-9c95-2bd13ec63ebd&hash=b11263b85e1f2afbe2c6b6fe3d8821aeb7777be5)
Lyle you speak like you think he makes these kind of decisions alone!
It all started Tuesday after Assad's regime launched a chemical attack. Here's the tic-toc of what happened next, according to press secretary Spicer, whose descriptions are in quotes below.
TUESDAY
10:30 a.m. ET: "The President was informed during the course of daily presidential briefing about the actions in Syria. He at that time asked the team for additional information and updates.
Interagency teams spent the day developing an initial range of options for the President."
8 p.m. ET: "There was a restricted deputy committee meeting on the situation where preliminary options were presented and refined."
WEDNESDAY
Morning: "Restricted principals meeting was conducted where interagency options and (inaudible) were refined."
3 p.m. ET: "National security meeting was convened. The President was briefed on options and reviewed the options detailed and asked a series of questions to his team, requested further information and the decision to reconvene on Thursday was made."
THURSDAY
1:30 p.m. ET (en route to Florida): "The President convened the national security team that was aboard Air Force One and others via a secure video conference on Air Force One."
4 p.m. ET: "The secretary of state, secretary of defense, national security adviser and other members of the national security team met in a secure room at — down here where they were piped in with rest of team via secure video teleconference. The President gave the OK to go ahead."
4:30 p.m. ET: The President gave the go order...
and of course the rest..
I wonder if Hillary were President and had made the order (and she was in full support of it as we know) would there be the questions? Would people ask does she know what she is doing? Doe she have the experience?
Does the UN's opinion count for anything?
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fg8fip1kplyr33r3krz5b97d1.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2017%2F04%2FGettyImages-664852058-714x476.jpg&hash=48eaa2217c6cafc40e69097fcd1a94c1d7fa40fb)
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There are people out there who hate his guts and nothing he ever does will sit well with them. They don't trust him and they will always find an ulterior motive in everything he does.
Yup. That would be me, although I think sometimes they might just be stupid, knee-jerk reactions rather than actions with ulterior motives. I'm not sure what's really going on here, but I might have supported taking Assad out long ago; after all, this isn't the first time he's gassed his own people. And I would not even object to using U.S. ground troops against ISIS.
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The White House comment line for @realDonaldTrump is 202-456-1111
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Lyle you speak like you think he makes these kind of decisions alone!
To quote D. Trump: I "alone" can fix it.
Acting on Instinct, Trump Upends His Own Foreign Policy
By MARK LANDLERAPRIL 7, 2017
From the article:
Mr. Trump’s aides described a deliberative process, with meetings of the National Security Council, presentations of military options by the Pentagon and a classified briefing for Mr. Trump held under a tent erected in Mar-a-Lago to secure the communications with Washington. They spoke of phone calls to American allies, consultations with lawmakers and the diplomatic engagement that would follow the Tomahawk cruise missiles. What is [very] clear, however, is that Mr. Trump reacted viscerally to the images of the murder of innocent children in Syria. And that reaction propelled him into a sequence of actions that will change the course of his presidency. Mr. Trump’s improvisational style has sometimes seemed ill suited to the gravity of his office. In this case, it helped lead him to make the gravest decision a commander-in-chief can make.
Mr. Trump’s advisers framed his decision in the dry language of international norms and strategic deterrence. In truth, it was an emotional act by a man suddenly aware that the world’s problems were now his — and that turning away, to him, was not an option.
The president’s advisers insisted his decision was guided by strategic considerations. They were clearly uncomfortable with the suggestion that Mr. Trump was acting impulsively. And it is not easy to square Mr. Trump’s empathy for the victims of a single chemical weapons attack with his refusal to take in thousands of Syrian refugees from years of strife that have turned that country into a charnel house. Relaxing that policy did not come up in the president’s deliberations over striking Syria, his advisers said.
More here:
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/07/world/middleeast/syria-attack-trump.html?_r=0
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I wonder if Hillary were President and had made the order (and she was in full support of it as we know) would there be the questions? Would people ask does she know what she is doing? Does she have the experience?
There is one thing we know for sure. No one would suspect that Putin had any involvement in her decision.
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It’s Now Illegal in Russia to Share an Image of Putin as a Gay Clown
by Avi Selk and David Filipov
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/ (https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2017/04/05/its-now-illegal-in-russia-to-share-an-image-of-putin-as-a-gay-clown/?utm_term=.1219eb7f451f)
Russia has banned a picture depicting President Vladimir Putin as a potentially gay clown.
Item 4071: a picture of a Putin-like person “with eyes and lips made up,” captioned with an implicit anti-gay slur, implying “the supposed nonstandard sexual orientation of the president of the Russian Federation.”
Russian news outlets are having trouble reporting exactly which image of the Internet's many Putin-gay-clown memes is now illegal to share. Because, you know, it's been banned.
The Moscow Times thinks it probably looks like this:
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi2.cdn.cnn.com%2Fcnnnext%2Fdam%2Fassets%2F170406115118-putin-gay-protest-poster-exlarge-169.jpg&hash=973da5251b36b7c33829e7103dc94ca0cb87db15)
A Russian court has banned an image suggesting Putin is gay & sentenced the culprit to compulsory psychiatric care.
But, as Russia has cracked down on both sexual liberties and online speech in recent years, gay Putin memes have proliferated.
Thus, another news site, Gordonua, thinks the banned image is this one:
(https://img.playbuzz.com/image/upload/ar_1.3333333333333333,c_crop/v1491489915/tj3lgzt1zwnhiz8ufs7m.jpg)
The other man in that picture is Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev. In 2015, he signed an order banning transgender people from driving.
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Yup. That would be me, although I think sometimes they might just be stupid, knee-jerk reactions rather than actions with ulterior motives. I'm not sure what's really going on here, but I might have supported taking Assad out long ago; after all, this isn't the first time he's gassed his own people. And I would not even object to using U.S. ground troops against ISIS.
That would be me as well. Politifact has determined that only 4% of what Trump says is the truth.
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That would be me as well. Politifact has determined that only 4% of what Trump says is the truth.
That figure doesn't surprise me at all. I would not have been surprised if the figure had been lower.
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as Bugs Bunny would say, what a maroon...
How Sean Spicer Flubbed the Holocaust on Passover
The White House spokesman argued the Nazis did not use chemical weapons to justify air strikes on Syria.
There’s no good time to make a Hitler comparison, but deploying one in the midst of Passover to justify voluntary airstrikes is an especially unwise choice, as White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer realized, to his chagrin, Tuesday afternoon.
Spicer was fielding questions about the Trump administration’s confusing and diffuse strategy toward Syria when he was asked why the White House believed that Russian President Vladimir Putin would break with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad at this moment.
“You look, we didn’t use chemical weapons in World War II. You had someone as despicable as Hitler who didn’t even sink to using chemical weapons,” Spicer said.
As puzzled reporters and other observers immediately noted, Spicer’s statement was deeply confusing, even if one could make a case it was accurate in very narrow terms.
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/04/spicer-nazis-chemical-weapons/522708/ (https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/04/spicer-nazis-chemical-weapons/522708/)
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shakes my head....
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^^^^How bout them "Holocaust Centres". We are so fucked!
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Spicer is such an ass. He is so clearly unsuitable for his job.
Like President, like spokesman, I guess.
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You are right, but he makes the perfect representative of his boss.
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So, here's some more proof (http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/syria-reflexive-partisanship-doesnt-apply-both-parties#break) of Republican / Conservative partisan hypocrisy:
In 2013 when Barack Obama was President, the Washington Post-ABC News conducted a poll asking,
"Do you support the U.S. President launching missile strikes against Syria in response to Assad's use
of chemical weapons?" The exact same question has just been asked in 2017. The results?
Democrats approval for this was 38% in 2013.
Democrats approval for this is 37% in 2017.
Statistically unchanged. The Republicans?
Republicans approval for this was 22% in 2013.
Republicans approval for this is 86% in 2017.
What's the only difference in the question? The President in question is different.
That’s an astounding shift in attitudes, and partisan instincts almost certainly explain the rapid change. Republican voters opposed Obama, so they had no use for his plan to attack the Assad regime, and Republican voters generally back Trump, so they support last week’s strikes.
This isn’t limited to rank-and-file voters; the dynamic affects elected officials, too. Republican leaders on Capitol Hill have been brazenly inconsistent on the issue, opposing Obama’s approach because it was Obama’s approach, and supporting Trump’s offensive because it’s Trump’s offensive.
The New Republic’s Brian Beutler had a good piece on this yesterday, noting the changes in Americans’ perceptions of the economy in the immediate aftermath of last year’s presidential election:
Actual, measured economic conditions did not materially change with partisan control of the White House, but Republican perceptions of them have improved dramatically, while Democrats’ perceptions have deteriorated little, if at all – despite Trump’s massive unpopularity among liberals.
You can draw any number of inferences from this observation, but the most inarguable, in my opinion, is how devastating it is to the conceit that U.S. political dysfunction … should be attributed to both parties in equal measure.
The usual rules – both sides must be blamed equally, at all times, no matter what – clearly don’t apply. As a quantitative matter, Democrats have approached many of these issues in a principled way and Republicans haven’t.
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The danger of electing a serial liar to the presidency:
Russia and Iran Unite in Support of Syria’s Assad
Countries claim accusations of a chemical strike by the Syrian regime were fabricated
by Thomas Grove
MOSCOW—Foreign ministers from Russia, Syria and Iran presented a unified front in support of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on Friday, saying the U.S. and international accusations of a chemical strike by the regime in Damascus were fabrications.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/russia-syria-iran-unite-in-support-of-syrias-assad-1492171676
___
Why not say that? Who's going to believe what Trump says?
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[...]
What's the only difference in the question? The President in question is different.
[...]
And white.
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You mean orange don't you?
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^^ Damn you! I should have stuck with "Not black" :laugh:
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As North Korea ramps up its ballistic missile and nuclear testing programs, the world is watching the isolated peninsula with trepidation.
Days after the US deployed a naval strike group to the region, China reportedly sent 150,000 troops to the border in the face of increasing aggression from North Korea.
China has long been the sole major ally and trading partner of the reclusive nation, but heightened tension has resulted in an economic slowdown in relations.
Nowhere is this slowdown more apparent than on the 880-mile long border between the two countries. Although trade continues, half-finished buildings and an eerie sense of abandonment showcase the strained ties.
(http://www.businessinsider.com[/url)
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A recent satellite photo of the Korean peninsula at night taken by astronauts on the International Space Station reconfirms what the rest of the world already knew–North Korea disappears at night because the country can’t afford electricity.
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fs.wsj.net%2Fpublic%2Fresources%2FMWimages%2FMW-BV341_n_kore_MG_20140225131339.jpg&hash=744e58cbc5c6bdab7d4af33f60a080bfa2f791b3)
http://blogs.marketwatch.com/themargin/2014/02/25/two-photos-20-years-apart-show-how-time-stood-still-in-north-korea/ (http://blogs.marketwatch.com/themargin/2014/02/25/two-photos-20-years-apart-show-how-time-stood-still-in-north-korea/)
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Wonder if Kim Jong Un has seen those photos and what
he'd think or say about them. Since he is so erratic, maybe
we should send Dennis Rodman over there to calm things down.
The next three Olympics are all in that area: Pyeongchang, Tokyo
and Beijing. North Korea boycotted the Olympics in 1988 in Seoul,
South Korea. It's clear why.
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...maybe we should send Dennis Rodman over there to calm things down.
I'm actually serious.
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Wonder if Kim Jong Un has seen those photos and what
he'd think or say about them.
you're kidding, right? If you're not, let me en"lighten" you - he doesn't give a fuck.
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Anyone attend any of the Trump Tax Day marches?
I love going and reading all the creative signs that
people come up with. I should take photos or write
them down, but you lose a lot of the experience if
you do that too much while attending things like this.
Things in L.A. got off to a huuge start in Pershing Square followed by a march to City Hall:
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.trbimg.com%2Fimg-58f2be16%2Fturbine%2Fla-na-tax-protests-trump-20170415&hash=96c016757134d47f348edc5015be60fb22d68060)
Is that Elton John above the "Let thy tax returns go" sign? LOL!
Notice the sign that says: "My other sign is being audited."
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(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/C9f2lJBW0AAJ3xU.jpg)
The small sign on the right is a quote from Trump: "If I decide to run for
office, I'll produce my tax returns, absolutely, and I would love to do that."
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Some signs I saw I don't have pictures for:
"Trump is taxing my patience."
Roses are red
Violets are blue
Release your tax
Returns motherfucker.
There was a sign with that little bad boy peeing cartoon,
(https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/519KceSuB8L._SY300_.jpg)
which was made to look like Trump, with this poem:
"Tinkle Tinkle
Little Czar
Putin Put You
Where You Are"
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Love the Russian domes on the sign below:
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.hollywoodreporter.com%2Fsites%2Fdefault%2Ffiles%2Fimagecache%2Flandscape_928x523%2F2017%2F04%2Fdowntown_l.a._protest_trump_tax_-_h_-_2017.jpg&hash=e683bfcd8347e93387d3e547f201dac80db33611)
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(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/C9ekgdaUQAA7rhE.jpg)
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There was a sign I saw with the White House pictured and the slogan Tax Dodger Stadium.
I couldn't find that one, but here's a similar theme!
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.truthdig.com%2Fimages%2Feartothegrounduploads%2FTaxDodgerLoopholes2012_590.jpg&hash=b8e663548e71c91f647850469937dc05e1119a1f)
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This particular photo is from Florida, I believe, but I love the
sign on the right. Trump's hair is made from actual cheetos!
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/C9d6IHsUMAQU8Vc.jpg:small)
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And of course, this chicken showed up in many cities!
"Follow the breadcrumbs" sign, lol!
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fcdnph.upi.com%2Fcollection%2Ffp%2Fupi%2F11023%2F7d2d9d927d705d9e1f18e0c456bcc4e4%2FThousands-participate-in-nationwide-Tax-March_1_1.jpg&hash=55f9ab9cb663a65bf619ddd2360e47a540d2af46)
"Lock him up" sign on the left. That should be turned around always and used against him.
"American Horror Story - President Trump"
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"Democrats are pushing for a vote on a bill from Rep. Anna Eshoo, a Democrat from California,
which would require the president and all major-party nominees to publicly disclose their previous
three years of tax returns with the Office of Government Ethics or the Federal Election Commission.
Republicans also have rebuffed Democrats' efforts to get the House Ways and Means Committee to
act. It has legal authority to obtain confidential tax records, and could vote to make them public."
(https://scontent.cdninstagram.com/t51.2885-15/s150x150/e35/17662555_295390374225995_2640380953951731712_n.jpg)
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And one for the road:
(https://assets.bwbx.io/images/users/iqjWHBFdfxIU/iEwFqP9dfvTk/v0/800x-1.jpg)
"Follow the Rubles."
"Show us your taxes
or they'll be
HELL
TOUPEE!"
"MORE TAX RETURNS
LESS GOLF"
On that one sign, what do suppose the last word(s) of this poem is/are: ?
"Money is Green
(?) Punch or Peach... is a Fruit
Show us your taxes
We'll give you... ?"
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cute signs and i'm all for transparency re: tax returns, but at the moment I'm a little more concerned about Ivanka deciding to bomb Syria ("Daddy, you gotta do something"), and what the fuck he's gonna do about N Korea...
at least he got a 10 minute history lesson from the china prez...
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^^^
It's all part of the same problem.
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Los Angeles City Councilman Paul Koretz:
City Councilman Paul Koretz condemned the signs. In a statement, Koretz said such messages have been turning up since, in his words: "Donald Trump empowered racists and bigots across the country."
"The city of Los Angeles will never give in to these types of people."
WHAT SIGNS is he talking about? I was pretty shocked when I heard about them.
This is one of them:
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fusnewz.com%2Fsites%2Fdefault%2Ffiles%2Fstyles%2Fnode%2Fpublic%2Fnews%2F308509.jpg&hash=5bc95f375b753265685943ca75b16c1c3442bfd2)
Official-looking lawn signs with an anti-immigrant message were taken down after they were spotted on a median in Beverly Hills on Friday. The signs, posted on a median with overgrown weeds at the intersection of Burton Way and Doheny Drive, read: "Landscaping by L.A. City Council: 'We'd rather spend your taxes on welfare for illegals.'" L.A.'s seal was in the center of each poster, making it look like the signs belonged to the city. They were taken down by Friday afternoon.
I walk by that intersection on occasion. A social media website claimed responsibility. It said its rogue work "is part of a Republican art movement intended to show that the Los Angeles scene does not belong to the left wing."
Why the signs in the City of Beverly Hills with the "Los Angeles City" seal, though; this group can't even get its message
straight. What is wrong with the right? They are becoming more and more anti-humanity. I don't even think they know of
what they speak. Welfare is not given to non-citizens. The right is always feeling like someone other than them is getting
something they're not. (By the way, a lot of immigrants in Beverly Hills from the Middle East and Asia are very rich.)
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:laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:
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It's not amusing to those being targeted I would imagine.
Here's another sign found in Malibu this month:
(https://res.cloudinary.com/rppcloud/image/upload/w_970,c_limit/41628d68-31fd-4ba8-85be-b42fd1e236db.jpg)
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come on, that's funny...ask Barbra
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Or Arnold?
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Happy 4/20!
This was the scene in Montreal earlier:
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi176.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fw197%2Foilgun%2Fmont-royal-420_zpsncuyqy3o.jpg&hash=dacf96a86c24f132a4946cae96e63a0036e74a86)
Getting ready for legal recreational cannabis in 2018!
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^^^
As Jimmy Kimmel said in his monologue last night: "Let's face it, if you were celebrating
4/20 today, you probably were last night, too. And the night before. And..."
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4/21 Happy Surprise Drug Test Day!
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So, there was much news coverage the past year about Patriots football player
Aaron Hernandez and his unfortunate troubles, trials and court proceedings. Then
his apparent suicide a few days ago. Now that there are reports he left notes to his
family and a male lover, the press has clammed up, mostly. Why do you suppose that
is? Are they trying to find out if the sources are accurate, or other reasons? Apparently,
according to commenters on some news articles, this wasn't even that revelatory if one
had been watching or reading about his trials.
It's such a sad waste of a human being. Someone with extraordinary gifts as a football player,
but also with apparent huge problems growing up including gang affiliations, drugs and the like.
A potent mix of potential trouble turned actual trouble. Add into that his sexuality, the way that
plays out in Latin culture and macho football sports culture and society in general and you ponder
if this guy ever had a chance and you imagine what could have been.
I also didn't know this, about the victim of the recent Paris attack, a French officer:
The officer killed in a French ‘terror attack’ last week was a member of the force’s LGBT group.
The LGBT organisation for French officers has posted that the victim, Xavier Jugele was “a
member of our association”. Jugele was one of the first responders to the massacre at the
Bataclan nightclub in Paris.
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First round is done. Handsome Centrist Emmanuel Macron and Far Right Bitch Marine Le Pen move on to the final round on May 7th.
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi176.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fw197%2Foilgun%2Fmacron-le%2520Pen-01_zpswjkrj5zu.jpg&hash=ec2b0662a0e09edf5a96d7c73e3f960856ed973e)
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Are she and T. related?
(https://counterjihad.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/donald-trump6.jpg)
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Not good news at all!
-
How come their elections aren't like ours and take over two years to decide?
Just goes to show you it doesn't help.
Let's hope for the best in France. The law of averages says that some kind of good news should come out way.
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Another march yesterday, combining politics and science.
I hope downtown Los Angeles is enjoying the thousands of people that have come down there to march
every couple of weeks lately! I didn't gop to this one, but it was, like the others, heavily attended. A few
photos:
(https://tribktla.files.wordpress.com/2017/04/march-crowd.jpg)
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(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.trbimg.com%2Fimg-58fb8476%2Fturbine%2Fla-sci-march-science-live-updates-20170421&hash=898311ff774213a110d8b7ddcd91949d58463cf5)
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(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.trbimg.com%2Fimg-58fbb798%2Fturbine%2Fla-me-march-for-science-pictures-20170422-020&hash=78eae848e499d2aafcb51eec2bfae60c78517a3d)
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(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fdailybruin.com%2Fimages%2Fgalleries%2Fmarch-for-science%2F132A7550.jpg&hash=ccb5ea12638101dc322562266d2cf71f05c5d525)
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(https://tribktla.files.wordpress.com/2017/04/albert.jpg)
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(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.trbimg.com%2Fimg-58fbad95%2Fturbine%2Fla-march-for-science-los-angeles-sign-photo-20170422%2F600&hash=274e3fa362d51c763ebad09960aff76e165c3cb0)
The article writer did not know what this meant, but found out later:
It's hexadecimal code for "RESIST."
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(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fstatic2.blastingnews.com%2Fmedia%2Fphotogallery%2F2017%2F4%2F22%2F660x290%2Fb_586x276%2Fthe-march-for-science-gathered-thousands-in-laphoto-via-rita-guerra_1287315.jpg&hash=424b84e11ec1507d1dd15fe821f8c0ec43f1fd59)
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(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/C-ClvEYUIAQYtxN.jpg)
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(https://s.yimg.com/ny/api/res/1.2/i4xdmBWVGqIq.vGzeyjYnw--/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjtzbT0xO3c9ODAw/http://slingstone.zenfs.com/offnetwork/3d1ac7665d93d4addd7cf350e40890c0)
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I love the guy's shirt.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/C-B6qhXVYAE74LL.jpg)
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(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/C-CVRpvVYAEsD_Y.jpg)
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(https://s.yimg.com/ny/api/res/1.2/i4xdmBWVGqIq.vGzeyjYnw--/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjtzbT0xO3c9ODAw/http://slingstone.zenfs.com/offnetwork/3d1ac7665d93d4addd7cf350e40890c0)
Fantastic!
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The culmination of the earth day week of rallies was the climate day demonstrations
yesterday, all over the word, coinciding with Trump's 100 Days in office.
To deflect attention from His Inadequacy, he chose to go to Pennsylvania for one
of his continuing campaign rallies so his supporters can jerk him off and not notice
the emperor is wearing red underwear.
Recently Trump's CIA director had put out a statement attacking Julian Assange and
wiki-leaks. Some astute citizen just changed a couple words and "Assange" to "Trump"
and it uncannily describes His Inadequacy:
It’s time to call out Donald Trump for what he really is – a non-qualified hostile president who associates with state actors like Russia. In reality, he champions nothing but his own celebrity. His currency is tweet bait; his moral compass non-existent; his mission: personal self-aggrandizement through exploitation of Western values… Poor education or misplaced idealism is no longer an acceptable excuse for lionizing this demon. Donald Trump and his kind are not the slightest bit interested in improving civil liberties or enhancing personal freedom. They have attacked America’s 1st Amendment freedoms because it shielded their critics from revenge. Trump is a narcissist who has created nothing of value. He relies on the unpaid work of others to make himself rich and famous. He’s a fraud, a coward hiding behind a screen.
At his campaign rally Trump said:
“My administration has been delivering every single day for the great citizens of our country,” Trump said in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. “We are keeping one promise after another, and frankly the people are really happy about it.”
I guess Trump feels he's entitled to tell others how they feel about something. Sad.
The rally occurred on the same day as a climate march at which thousands of protesters surrounded the White House, and it also coincided with the annual black-tie White House press dinner in Washington. Trump and his staff chose to skip the press dinner because of what he said was unfair treatment by the press. Trump said he was thrilled to be away from the “Washington swamp”.
I guess it was getting TOO HOT for him in Washington so he had to bail. The press dinner, Trump fails to say, is also a
charity event that raises money for a lot of worthy causes. Personally, I don't trust people that have zero sense of humor
about themselves. That is Trump personified. People with no sense of humor are dangerous. This lack of self-awareness
means that Trump has no idea that he should never have run for President. He doesn't know how unqualified he is. Just
this weekend in an interview he said that "being President is a lot more work than I thought it would be. I thought it would
be easier." That says it all. And his supporters are okay with this sorry excuse for a human being.
Even though he isn't aware of it, Trump has had some insight;
42 seconds of self-reflection:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?list=PLiZxWe0ejyv92bPgis9T2Gk0i94Ss7G99&
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I missed the White House correspondents dinner last night, but the best lines are out there already...
Hasan Minhaj’s harshest burns at the White House correspondents’ dinner
Here are some of the harshest jokes from Minhaj’s speech.
— “I would say it is an honor to be here, but that would be an alternative fact. It is not. No one wanted to do this. So of course it lands in the hands of an immigrant.”
— “Don Rickles died just so you wouldn’t ask him to do this gig, all right? RIP to Don Rickles, the only Donald with skin thick enough to take a joke like that.”
— “A lot of people in the media say that Donald Trump goes golfing too much. . . which raises a very important question: Why do you care? Do you want to know what he’s not doing when he’s golfing? Being president. Let the man putt-putt! . . . The longer you keep him distracted, the longer we’re not at war with North Korea.”
— “We gotta address the elephant that’s not in the room. The leader of our country is not here. And that’s because he lives in Moscow; it is a very long flight. It’d be hard for Vlad to make it. Vlad can’t just make it on a Saturday! As for the other guy, I think he’s in Pennsylvania because he can’t take a joke.”
— “There was also another elephant in the room, but Donald Trump Jr. shot it and cut off its tail.”
— “Jeff Sessions couldn’t be here tonight, he was busy doing a pre-Civil War reenactment. On his RSVP, he just wrote ‘NO.’ Just ‘no,’ which happens to be his second favorite n-word.”
— “Is Steve Bannon here? I do not see Steve Bannon. I do NOT see Steve Bannon. Not see Steve Bannon. Nazi Steve Bannon.”
— “Betsy DeVos couldn’t be here; she’s busy curating her collection of children’s tears.”
— “Frederick Douglass isn’t here, and that’s because he’s dead. Someone please tell the president.”
— “Mike Pence wanted to be here tonight, but his wife would not let him because apparently one of you ladies is ovulating. So good job, ladies. Because of you we couldn’t hang out with Mike Pence.”
— “Even Hillary Clinton couldn’t be here tonight. I mean, she could have been here, but I think someone told her the event was in Wisconsin and Michigan.”
— “[Sean Spicer] has been doing PR since 1999. He has been doing this job for 18 years. And somehow, after 18 years, his go-to move when you ask him a tough question is denying the Holocaust. That is insane! How many people do you know that can turn a press briefing into a full-on Mel Gibson traffic stop?”
— “Donald Trump is liar-in-chief. Remember, you guys are public enemy number one. You are his biggest enemy. Journalists, ISIS, normal-length ties.”
— “It is amazing to be among the greatest journalists in the world, and yet, when we all checked into the Hilton on Friday, we all got a USA Today. Every time a USA Today slides underneath my door, it’s like they’re saying, ‘Hey, you’re not that smart, right?’ USA Today is what happens when the coupon section takes over the newspaper. Is this an article about global warming or 50 cents off Tide? Either way, the pictures are so pretty!”
“The news coming out of the White House is so stressful, I’ve been watching ‘House of Cards’ just to relax. Oh man, a cong— “Even if you guys groan, I’ve already hired Kellyanne Conway; she’s gonna go on TV on Monday and tell everybody I killed, so it really doesn’t matter.”
— (To the press) “Remember election night? That was your Steve Harvey/Miss Universe moment.”
— “It was all fun and games with Obama, right? You were covering an adult who could speak English. And now you’re covering President Trump, so you gotta take your game to a whole new level. It’s like if a bunch of stripper cops had to solve a real-life murder.”
— “Tonight is about defending the First Amendment and the free press, and I am truly honored to be here, even though all of Hollywood pulled out now that King Joffrey is president and it feels like the Red Wedding in here.”
— “We all know this administration likes deleting history faster than Anthony Weiner when he hears footsteps.”
— “[Donald Trump] tweets at 3 a.m. sober. Who is tweeting at 3 a.m. sober? Donald Trump, because it’s 10 a.m. in Russia. Those are business hours.”
— “This has been one of the strangest events I’ve ever done in my life. I’m being honest with you. I feel like I’m a tribute in ‘The Hunger Games.’ If this goes poorly, Steve Bannon gets to eat me.”
— “Fox News is here. I’m amazed you guys even showed up. How are you here in public? It’s hard to trust you guys when you backed a man like Bill O’Reilly for years. But it finally happened. Bill O’Reilly has been fired. But then, you gave him a $25 million severance package. Making it the only package he won’t force a woman to touch.”
— “I know some of you are wondering, Hasan, how do you know so much about Fox News? Well as a Muslim, I like to watch Fox News for the same reason I like to play ‘Call of Duty.’ Sometimes, I like to turn my brain off and watch strangers insult my family and heritage.”
— “MSNBC is here tonight. And I’m glad you guys are here. That way if I’m bombing, Brian Williams will describe it as stunning.”
— “MSNBC. It’s hard to trust you guys when you send so many mixed messages. On the one hand you tell us the prison industrial complex is the problem, and then you air five straight hours of ‘Lockup.’ You can’t be mad at corporations profiting off of minorities in prison when you’re a corporation profiting off of minorities in prison.”
— “I had a lot more MSNBC jokes, but I don’t want to just ramble on, otherwise I might get a show on MSNBC.”
— “CNN is here, baby. You guys got some really weird trust issues with the public. I’m not going to call you fake news, but everything isn’t breaking news. You can’t go to DEFCON-1 just because Sanjay Gupta found a new moisturizer.”
— “All you guys do is stoke up conflict. Don, every time I watch your show, it feels like I’m watching a reality TV show. ‘CNN Tonight’ should just be called ‘Wait a Second Now Hold On Stop Yelling At Each Other With Don Lemon.’”
— “You guys have to be more perfect now more than ever. Because you are how the president gets his news. Not from advisers, not from experts, not from intelligence agencies. You guys. So that’s why you gotta be on your A game. You gotta be twice as good. You can’t make any mistakes. Because when one of you messes up, he blames your entire group. And now you know what it feels like to be a minority.”
— (Later, addressed again to the media.) “By the way, you guys aren’t really minorities, you’re super white.”
— “It’s 11 p.m. In four hours, Donald Trump will be tweeting about how badly Nicki Minaj did at this dinner. And he’ll be doing it completely sober. And that’s his right. And I’m proud that all of us are here to defend that right, even if the man in the White House never would.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/reliable-source/wp/2017/04/30/hasan-minhajs-harshest-burns-at-the-white-house-correspondents-dinner/?utm_term=.ea5fea68b97f (https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/reliable-source/wp/2017/04/30/hasan-minhajs-harshest-burns-at-the-white-house-correspondents-dinner/?utm_term=.ea5fea68b97f)
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this has his entire monologue...
Hasan Minhaj’s Trump-bashing comedy routine at the White House correspondents’ dinner, annotated
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2017/04/30/hasan-minhajs-trump-bashing-comedy-routine-at-the-white-house-correspondents-dinner-annotated/?utm_term=.2a7fb84f3400 (https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2017/04/30/hasan-minhajs-trump-bashing-comedy-routine-at-the-white-house-correspondents-dinner-annotated/?utm_term=.2a7fb84f3400)
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I love Hasan!
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So the house Republicans have finally gotten what they wanted
the past seven years. They've passed an ACA repeal bill and they've
gone about it in the most egregious way possible. Let's hope it does
them all in.
And...
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Trump signed an executive order meant to legalize anti-LGBT discrimination.
MiloMorris, TinyTina and your ilk: How do you like him now? How do you defend that?
Trump’s “Religious Liberty” Executive Order is Meant to Legalize Anti-LGBT Discrimination
New order will likely grant broad rights to refuse service or jobs to LGBT people or women who have had abortions
http://www.salon.com/2017/05/04/legalize-anti-lgbt-discrimination/ (http://www.salon.com/2017/05/04/trumps-religious-liberty-executive-order-is-meant-to-legalize-anti-lgbt-discrimination-and-may-be-unconstitutional/)
The religious right boosted the thrice-married, porn-loving, pussy-grabbing Donald Trump into the White House and now it appears they
are getting paid. Politico has reported that today, Thursday, which is the National Day of Prayer, Trump signed a “religious liberty” executive
order intended to grant broad rights to religious conservatives to discriminate against LGBT people and women perceived to be sexually immoral.
I know what I'M praying for...
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Trump signed an executive order meant to legalize anti-LGBT discrimination.
MiloMorris, TinyTina and your ilk: How do you like him now? How do you defend that?
Trump’s “Religious Liberty” Executive Order is Meant to Legalize Anti-LGBT Discrimination
New order will likely grant broad rights to refuse service or jobs to LGBT people or women who have had abortions
http://www.salon.com/2017/05/04/legalize-anti-lgbt-discrimination/ (http://www.salon.com/2017/05/04/trumps-religious-liberty-executive-order-is-meant-to-legalize-anti-lgbt-discrimination-and-may-be-unconstitutional/)
The religious right boosted the thrice-married, porn-loving, pussy-grabbing Donald Trump into the White House and now it appears they
are getting paid. Politico has reported that today, Thursday, which is the National Day of Prayer, Trump signed a “religious liberty” executive
order intended to grant broad rights to religious conservatives to discriminate against LGBT people and women perceived to be sexually immoral.
I know what I'M praying for...
Well, he may not get away with this......
Trump will be sued by LGBTI groups if he signs 'religious liberty' executive order
by Rafaella Gunz
Donald Trump will face legal action from LGBTI rights groups if he signs a ‘religious liberty’ executive order. This legislation, pushed for heavily by Vice President Pence, would give Christian fundamentalists the right to discriminate against LGBTI people and women who they perceive as being ‘sexually immoral.’
Back in February, The Nation leaked a draft of the executive order. It’s unclear as to whether this four-page document will be what the President signs today, but organizations such as Human Rights Campaign (HRC) and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) plan to take legal action if the final executive order is at all similar.
‘Obviously we need to see what it says but if it resembles the leaked executive order—if it’s going to harm LGBT individuals and women and religious minorities—we will absolutely be filing suit,’ Brigitte Amiri, senior staff attorney at the ACLU, said.
http://www.gaystarnews.com/article/trump-will-sued-lgbti-groups-signs-religious-liberty-executive-order/
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(https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/466902897490280448/jj4eeCi6.jpeg)
A woman was found guilty and faces a year in jail for laughing during Jeff Sessions
Senate hearing after Alabama Senator Richard Shelby said that the future attorney
general's record of "treating all Americans equally under the law is clear and well
documented."
I think you all know the answer:
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/03/us/sessions-laughter-trial.html (https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/03/us/code-pink-sessions-laughter-trial.html?_r=0)
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Trump’s “Religious Liberty” Executive Order is Meant to Legalize Anti-LGBT Discrimination
New order will likely grant broad rights to refuse service or jobs to LGBT people or women who have had abortions
http://www.salon.com/2017/05/04/legalize-anti-lgbt-discrimination/ (http://www.salon.com/2017/05/04/trumps-religious-liberty-executive-order-is-meant-to-legalize-anti-lgbt-discrimination-and-may-be-unconstitutional/)
The religious right boosted the thrice-married, porn-loving, pussy-grabbing Donald Trump into the White House and now it appears they
are getting paid. Politico has reported that today, Thursday, which is the National Day of Prayer, Trump signed a “religious liberty” executive
order intended to grant broad rights to religious conservatives to discriminate against LGBT people and women perceived to be sexually immoral.
I can see the signs in the windows now:
"No Dogs or Gays"
"No Shoes, No Shirt, LGBT, No Service"
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(https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/466902897490280448/jj4eeCi6.jpeg)
A woman was found guilty and faces a year in jail for laughing during Jeff Sessions
Senate hearing after Alabama Senator Richard Shelby said that the future attorney
general's record of "treating all Americans equally under the law is clear and well
documented."
I think you all know the answer:
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/03/us/sessions-laughter-trial.html (https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/03/us/code-pink-sessions-laughter-trial.html?_r=0)
A woman laughs at Jeff Sessions and faces a year in jail.
Jeff Sessions lies to congress. Nothing.
A comedian says a dick joke about the Mango Mussolini and the FCC has him under investigation.
Trump brags about sexually assaulting women. Nothing.
Your plutocracy/dictatorship is really pissing me off, America.
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Meanwhile in France...
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Meanwhile in France...
You'll have to be more specific.
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Russia playing with an election again.
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We can all breathe again ;D Le Pen has conceded defeat.
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(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frs1149.pbsrc.com%2Falbums%2Fo600%2Fsrortiz87%2FShock%2520Awe%2520Facepalm%2Fsheldonbreathingintobag.gif%7Ec200&hash=05d4de8365feae7d15d43b82d2a570fb1ebd3aea)
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Macron to become next French president after beating back Le Pen and her populist tide
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/with-europe-on-the-line-polarized-french-voters-choose-between-macron-and-le-pen/2017/05/07/ccf8e5e2-31d9-11e7-9534-00e4656c22aa_story.html?utm_term=.7435bd660a48
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YES!!! So relieved about this! It appears the French are smarter than the Americans and did not fall for the hacking and interference of the Russians. Of course they did hear about the hacking before the election, not like us, when the head of our FBI, who did not take into consideration the good of the country, but only the good of his career, when not letting the American people know about the Russian hacking BEFORE the election, when he knew about it.
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Transcript of Friday's end segment on Bill Maher's program:
(Includes a bit of, what the networks call, "language".)
In the case of Donald Trump I will say this about "100 Days."
It does give us enough evidence to ask those liberals who couldn't bring themselves to vote
for Hillary because she was "the lesser of two evils..." -- quite a bit lesser, wouldn't ya say now?
And, no, this isn't about reliving the last election or about my great love for Hillary,
which never was, it's about winning the next election.
And that begins with learning the difference between an imperfect friend and a lethal enemy.
Jill Stein said of her electoral rivals, Hillary and Trump: "To me, one is like being killed by a
gunshot wound and the other is liked being killed by strangulation."
Well, I'm sure with Trump in charge and a racist attorney general there'll be a lot more of both.
My dear friend Cornel West said, during the campaign, "I think Trump will be a neo-fascist catastrophe
and Clinton will be a neo-liberal disaster."
I don't even know what "a neo-liberal disaster" even means, but whatever it is, isn't better
than a fascist one? Have you people lost your fucking minds?
Now I can't possibly list all of the lies, fuck-ups, reversals, conflicts of interest and embarrassments
Trump has committed
in 100 days, I'd have to stop halfway through to shave, but honestly, under Hillary, would we have
Attorney General Foghorn Leghorn?
...or Montgomery Burns in charge of the EPA?
...or Rick Perry guarding the nukes?
Would she have a cabinet made up almost entirely of rich straight white men?
You know? Hillary--she knows quite a few black people.
Trump knows two. (Omarosa and Ben Carson.)
I'm sorry, three. (Frederick Douglas.)
Oh...and we also might have a Secretary of Education who was smarter than a fifth grader.
Before the election, Edward Snowden tweeted: 2016. A choice between Donald Trump and Goldman Sachs.
Yeah, so what happened? The anti Wall Street crowd that was too pure to vote for Hillary, ended up putting
Goldman Sachs people as Trump's top political strategist, the head of his economic council and our Treasury
Secretary. The trifecta. The only people he hasn't hired from Goldman Sachs are Goldman and Sachs.
If Hillary Clinton was President now, would we be turning the clock back on the one issue for which there is
no more time: climate change?
Would we be having to wonder if our President's love of dictators foreshadows some kind of coup here?
Unlike Donald Trump, would anyone have to wonder if she was Putin's bitch?
And instead of trying to kick millions off healthcare to pay for a tax cut for herself, she'd be
trying to raise her own taxes to get more people covered.
On so many issues she wouldn't be complaining, "It's complicated. Who knew?"
She knew.
She loves complicated. She's a -- "reader."
Do you really think if "just as evil" Hillary had been elected, conservatives would now be in control of the
Supreme Court...as they will...for decades?
Just wait until the 5-4 decisions start rolling in...gutting unions...making it harder for minorities to vote...siding
with polluters...overturning abortion rights...then maybe you'll join me in saying to the liberal purists: "Go fuck
yourselves with a locally grown organic cucumber."
And I haven't even mentioned the insulting, the feuding, the whining, the tweeting... The family! Would she
want her spouse to be living hundreds of miles away?
Well, that one might be true...
And if none of that has swayed you so far, how about this? If we elected Hillary Clinton -- finally, we'd have a
President who didn't play fucking golf.
--Real Time with Bill Maher 5/5
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Macron to become next French president after beating back Le Pen and her populist tide
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/with-europe-on-the-line-polarized-french-voters-choose-between-macron-and-le-pen/2017/05/07/ccf8e5e2-31d9-11e7-9534-00e4656c22aa_story.html?utm_term=.7435bd660a48
Macron will be the youngest French leader since...Napoleon!
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Regarding the events of today, Trump and Comey, recalling the Nixon firing of Cox, Richardson and Ruckelshaus:
Hegel remarks somewhere that all great world-historic facts and personages appear, so to speak, twice. He forgot to add: the first time as tragedy, the second time as farce. Caussidière for Danton, Louis Blanc for Robespierre, the Montagne of 1848 to 1851 for the Montagne of 1793 to 1795, the nephew for the uncle. And the same caricature occurs in the circumstances of the second edition of the Eighteenth Brumaire.[8]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Eighteenth_Brumaire_of_Louis_Napoleon
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Macron will be the youngest French leader since...Napoleon!
Also, this is the first time in history that the President of France will speak better English than the President of America. (Thank you, Mrs Betty Bowers)
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi176.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fw197%2Foilgun%2FMACRON-TRUMP-01-1_zpslg9l7kx4.png&hash=f746fb7b872db5da4b13e9507d0da123f321d19f)
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That's true. Sad.
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Shame on you! Making fun of a mentally, morally, logically, politically, ethically challenged man...with very small hands...
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:D
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:laugh:
________________
GREAT IDEA:
Democratic Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney of New York's 18th district starting getting phone calls from people in the
19th District represented by Republican John Faso because Faso's constituents wanted a town hall meeting to
discuss why he voted for the health care measure. They were not happy. Faso unplugged his office phones and
refused to plan a public event to explain his vote for Trumpcare.
Democratic Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney decided to "adopt a district" and went to Faso's 19th district holding a
well-attended town hall on Monday. At the town hall in Kingston, New York, Maloney sat on stage next to an
empty stool with Faso's name on it.
Maloney said, "And if it takes a Democrat to go in and do it for them for a while, I'll explain what's in this bill,
and if he doesn't like it, he should stand up and explain it himself."
Maloney is urging other Democrats to do the same "adopt a district" event as out of the 217 Republicans who voted for
the law, only 17 are planning to hold town halls in their home districts during the Congressional recess.
Democrats are tapping into voter outrage and highlighting their opponents' cowardice with an "adopt a district" plan to
hold town halls in neighboring districts, where GOP representatives aren't planning to meet with their own constituents.
On Tuesday, in Arizona, Democratic Rep. Ruben Gallego followed Maloney's example by holding a town hall in GOP Rep. Martha
McSally's district.
"McSally put satisfying Donald Trump's ego over the health and welfare of 24 million Americans," read the invitation for the event,
hosted by the Arizona Democratic Party. "I wish Martha McSally was here to answer your questions about why she was so anxious
to vote for this and get this bleeping thing done," Gallego told McSally's constituents.
Mark Pocan (D-Wisc.), vice chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, told the New Republic that about 20 members of the CPC
are planning their own "adopt a district" events in neighboring Republican districts. Pocan himself is planning to adopt House Speaker
Paul Ryan's (R-Wis.) district.
Such "adopt a district" events are likely to expand in coming weeks, with the Indivisible group releasing a guide to such events on Wednesday.
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with very small hands...
:laugh: :laugh: :laugh:
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His butt size compensates for his tiny hands. It's got its own zip code and Secret Service handle.
(Not my own, I read that somewhere! ;) )
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Shame on you! Making fun of a mentally, morally, logically, politically, ethically challenged man...with very small hands...
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Forig14.deviantart.net%2Ff7e2%2Ff%2F2015%2F172%2Fa%2F1%2Fa134792db5f651584373bade398c86b2-d8y99nq.gif&hash=da0218d09d15189aee5571cc536bff541a636ddb)
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GREAT IDEA:
Democratic Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney of New York's 18th district starting getting phone calls from people in the
19th District represented by Republican John Faso because Faso's constituents wanted a town hall meeting to
discuss why he voted for the health care measure. They were not happy. Faso unplugged his office phones and
refused to plan a public event to explain his vote for Trumpcare.
Democratic Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney decided to "adopt a district" and went to Faso's 19th district holding a
well-attended town hall on Monday. At the town hall in Kingston, New York, Maloney sat on stage next to an
empty stool with Faso's name on it.
Maloney said, "And if it takes a Democrat to go in and do it for them for a while, I'll explain what's in this bill,
and if he doesn't like it, he should stand up and explain it himself."
Maloney is urging other Democrats to do the same "adopt a district" event as out of the 217 Republicans who voted for
the law, only 17 are planning to hold town halls in their home districts during the Congressional recess.
Democrats are tapping into voter outrage and highlighting their opponents' cowardice with an "adopt a district" plan to
hold town halls in neighboring districts, where GOP representatives aren't planning to meet with their own constituents.
On Tuesday, in Arizona, Democratic Rep. Ruben Gallego followed Maloney's example by holding a town hall in GOP Rep. Martha
McSally's district.
"McSally put satisfying Donald Trump's ego over the health and welfare of 24 million Americans," read the invitation for the event,
hosted by the Arizona Democratic Party. "I wish Martha McSally was here to answer your questions about why she was so anxious
to vote for this and get this bleeping thing done," Gallego told McSally's constituents.
Mark Pocan (D-Wisc.), vice chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, told the New Republic that about 20 members of the CPC
are planning their own "adopt a district" events in neighboring Republican districts. Pocan himself is planning to adopt House Speaker
Paul Ryan's (R-Wis.) district.
Such "adopt a district" events are likely to expand in coming weeks, with the Indivisible group releasing a guide to such events on Wednesday.
This really is a fantastic idea, Lyle!!
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The Republican Plan To Remove Trump
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/the-republican-plan-to-remove-trump_us_5913d4d3e4b01ad573dac120
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Last night I was talking with a friend when I realized, I admit to my own shock, that as a native Pennsylvanian I can at least see one good thing about the Trump presidency: James Buchanan will no longer be considered the worst President this nation has ever had! :laugh:
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Last night I was talking with a friend when I realized, I admit to my own shock, that as a native Pennsylvanian I can at least see one good thing about the Trump presidency: James Buchanan will no longer be considered the worst President this nation has ever had! :laugh:
:laugh: :laugh: :laugh:
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The Republican Plan To Remove Trump
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/the-republican-plan-to-remove-trump_us_5913d4d3e4b01ad573dac120
It will be interesting to see if this happens.
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Last night I was talking with a friend when I realized, I admit to my own shock, that as a native Pennsylvanian I can at least see one good thing about the Trump presidency: James Buchanan will no longer be considered the worst President this nation has ever had! :laugh:
Oh, is that why y'all voted for him? ;)
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The Republican Plan To Remove Trump
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/the-republican-plan-to-remove-trump_us_5913d4d3e4b01ad573dac120
"In almost every Congressional district and every state, rank and file Trump Republicans control nominations. It seems that nothing Trump does can dislodge them from standing by their man."
Does anyone actually know any of these people who apply to this sentiment expressed in the article? That nothing Trump does can dislodge their opinion of him? It's appropriate that Alexander Hamilton is the rage in the arts right now, because this applicable quote is attributed to him: "The masses are asses."
MLK: "I have a dream that my children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character."
Did you ever think you'd read an article about any President, like conservative columnist George Will's recent column:
"The President Doesn't Know What It is to Know Something."
THINK ABOUT THAT!
(That's also an intellectual way of saying that he's an idiot.)
He writes: It is urgent for Americans to think and speak clearly about President Trump’s inability to do either. This seems to be not a mere disinclination but a disability. It is not merely the result of intellectual sloth but of an untrained mind bereft of information and married to stratospheric self-confidence.
And yet: It seems that nothing Trump does can dislodge the rank and file Republicans from standing by their man.
It is so frustrating. I've only come across people like this in comment sections of political articles. Remember the good
old days before the internet when we didn't know there were so many of these like-minded people in the country? There
probably always has been, but the internet has given them a voice to band together and shout at the wind. It's sort of like
all those troublemakers in your high school classes that the teachers would separate and make them sit apart have now
all gotten together on the internet with megaphones.
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Last night I was talking with a friend when I realized, I admit to my own shock, that as a native Pennsylvanian I can at least see one good thing about the Trump presidency: James Buchanan will no longer be considered the worst President this nation has ever had! :laugh:
Too good, Jeff!!!
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It will be interesting to see if this happens.
I keep hoping! But Jonathan pointed out that the replacement would be Pence, and he said that a radical religious person could almost be worse.
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I'm seeing a lot of stories that Sean Spicer is the next to go from Trump's line-up.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2017/05/12/trump-sure-makes-it-sound-like-sean-spicers-job-isnt-safe/?utm_term=.24b76d0ffd2b
https://www.aol.com/article/news/2017/05/13/trump-reportedly-considering-replacement-for-sean-spicer/22085009/
http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2017/05/13/trump_considers_replacing_spicer_with_fox_news_host_as_part_of_broad_shakeup.html
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Another interesting article from Salon.
DEAD MAN LYING
Unyielding dishonesty and belligerence have landed Trump one investigation away from impeachment
http://www.salon.com/2017/05/13/dead-man-lying/
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I'm seeing a lot of stories that Sean Spicer is the next to go from Trump's line-up.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2017/05/12/trump-sure-makes-it-sound-like-sean-spicers-job-isnt-safe/?utm_term=.24b76d0ffd2b
https://www.aol.com/article/news/2017/05/13/trump-reportedly-considering-replacement-for-sean-spicer/22085009/
http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2017/05/13/trump_considers_replacing_spicer_with_fox_news_host_as_part_of_broad_shakeup.html
Yeah, I have been hearing about this all over the place today!
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I'm seeing a lot of stories that Sean Spicer is the next to go from Trump's line-up.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2017/05/12/trump-sure-makes-it-sound-like-sean-spicers-job-isnt-safe/?utm_term=.24b76d0ffd2b
https://www.aol.com/article/news/2017/05/13/trump-reportedly-considering-replacement-for-sean-spicer/22085009/
http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2017/05/13/trump_considers_replacing_spicer_with_fox_news_host_as_part_of_broad_shakeup.html
I hope not, I would miss Spicey on SNL
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eAedJtItDos (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eAedJtItDos)
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I hope not, I would miss Spicey on SNL
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eAedJtItDos (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eAedJtItDos)
She is so great! :laugh:
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I'm seeing a lot of stories that Sean Spicer is the next to go from Trump's line-up.
Well, at least that would be one less idiot in the White House. We've got to start somewhere.
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Trump has already fired and replaced several people. Flynn and Comey the most high profile.
That's what he does. That's all he knows how to do. That's his schtick: "You're fired."
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So, if the Orange One revealed highly classified information to the Russians, is that treason?
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Apparently, according to those in the know*, the President, simply by being the President
can "declassify" information to others (anyone) simply by telling them said information.
In other words. if he says it to others, it's declassified, meaning the President really has
no judicial authority over him to hold him accountable. Remember Trump saying early on
that "he could have no conflicts of interest simply because he's the President?" There really
isn't any mechanism to make Trump accountable for his actions except for impeachment
and then hopefully removal.
The founding fathers probably didn't think they needed any kind of judicial oversight to anyone
elected President because 1.) there was the electoral college which was designed to prevent
idiots from getting elected and 2.) they didn't think the people would go so far as to elect an
unqualified idiot to office.
*Michael Anton, spokesman for the National Security Council, said, "To be totally clear: if Trump revealed classified information, it is not illegal. The president can declassify anything he wants — just by saying it. There's no formal process he needs to go through. But this is the kind of information that was so "highly classified" that it could subject anyone else to jail time."
LOCK HIM UP.
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In more news that should make us all feel comfortable:
Trump national security adviser H.R. McMaster said Monday night that the story in the Post "as reported, is false." McMaster took to the podium in the White House Briefing Room and told reporters that he stood by his statement. "The premise of that article is false," McMaster said, though he did not say the entirety of the article is false and would not confirm nor deny that Trump revealed classified information to the Russians. Instead, he focused on leaks. He also revealed a key detail that is going to raise more questions.
"The president wasn't even aware where this information came from," McMaster said. "He wasn't briefed."
Reporters were not able to follow up, because McMaster then walked off.
____________
Remember the George WIll article I quoted recently:
"The President doesn't know what it is to know something."
____________
LOCK HIM UP.
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Comey Wrote Memo Saying Trump Urged Him to Drop Flynn Investigation: Sources
Fired FBI Director James Comey wrote a internal memo in which he said that President Donald Trump asked him to shut down an investigation into former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn, multiple sources with firsthand knowledge of the memo told NBC News on Tuesday.
The memo was part of a paper trail Comey built documenting what he believed to be Trump's campaign to derail the FBI's investigation of alleged Russian ties to his presidential campaign, according to a source close to Comey and a former federal law enforcement official.
The source said the memo included a line where Comey quotes Trump as saying, "I hope you can see your way clear to letting this go, to letting Flynn go."
The White House denied that version of events in a statement to NBC News, calling it "not a truthful or accurate portrayal of the conversation between the president and Mr. Comey."
of course they did...
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one of the late night guys said Melania was going on the first Presidential trip this week, even though she didn't want to, because it's so hard traveling with a baby.
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^^^^^ It took me just a second.......... :laugh:
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Same here!
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one of the late night guys said Melania was going on the first Presidential trip this week, even though she didn't want to, because it's so hard traveling with a baby.
:laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:
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Donald Trump 'has been screaming at the television about Russia links investigation', says White House adviser
Lucy Pasha-Robinson
Donald Trump was so frustrated by the ongoing investigation into his administration's links with Russia he would sometimes scream at television when news concerning it came on, according to one of his advisors.
The US President has been growing increasingly enraged at his inability to control the probe exploring allegations of collusion between the Kremlin and his presidential campaign, two advisers told Politico.
According to the unidentified staff members, Mr Trump repeatedly asked aides why the allegations would not disappear and demanded they defend him publicly.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/donald-trump-russia-links-scream-television-james-comey-fired-fbi-director-investigation-white-house-a7727516.html
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The rest of us have been screaming at the television, too, every time he comes on.
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Macron Pulls A Trudeau And Fills Half His Cabinet With Women
French President Emmanel Macron has delivered on his promise to take gender equality seriously.
On Tuesday, he announced the members of his 22-person cabinet ― 11 of them are women, including Olympian Laura Flessel as Minister of Sports, and publisher Françoise Nyssen as Minister of Culture.
Tuesday’s appointments come just a few days after Macron submitted his list of candidates for France’s upcoming parliamentary elections. Of over 400 names, half of them were women.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/macron-pulls-a-trudeau-and-fills-half-his-cabinet-with-women_us_591c78dfe4b041db89662d03?y0n
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Showing true leadership.
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BREAKING: DOJ appoints special counsel to investigate Russia-Trump
The Department of Justice has just appointed a special counsel to investigate Russia’s involvement in our election, and any collusion by Trump and his associates.
The investigation will be led by former FBI Director Robert Mueller, who was originally appointed director by George W. Bush, and then asked to remain on the job for another two years by President Obama. So this was a smart move, in terms of being a quasi-bipartisan pick.
Also interesting, the decision to appoint the special counsel was made by Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who was pilloried last week for drafting a letter to help Donald Trump fire now-former FBI Director James Comey. So it’s very interesting that Rosenstein was the person to make this decision (Attorney General Sessions couldn’t make the decision, as he had to recuse himself from all Russia-investigation-related decisions.) Rosenstein has clearly, at least in part, reestablished his independence. And at the same time, Donald Trump must be kicking himself for thinking Rosenstein was his man.
http://americablog.com/2017/05/breaking-doj-appoints-special-counsel-to-investigate-russia-trump.html
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Good.
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It's about damn time!!
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And another interesting petite bombshell.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/house-majority-leader-to-colleagues-in-2016-i-think-putin-pays-trump/2017/05/17/515f6f8a-3aff-11e7-8854-21f359183e8c_story.html?hpid=hp_rhp-top-table-main_transcript-6pm%3Ahomepage%2Fstory&utm_term=.0b10a393fa95
The House majority leader making the statement.
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more and more stories about impeachment. Let's see what happens...
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A friend of mine has a letter to the editor in the May 22 New Yorker.
He reminds us that if we get rid of the Orange One, we get that anti-gay bigot Pence, and so on down the line.
Just sayin'. Not sayin' it wouldn't be better for the country as a whole to be rid of the Orange One.
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caught this quickly on Fox (CNN was covering Trump/politics)...I think they said the driver had robbed a bank, drunk, and was trying to get away. He's in custody
Times Square car incident: 1 dead, 13 injured
they've updated the number of injured to 19
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Just sayin'. Not sayin' it wouldn't be better for the country as a whole to be rid of the Orange One.
I'm feeling it depends on how it plays out. If the Democrats could get back at least one house of Congress,
that could thwart Pence problems. Otherwise, the options are pretty numerous. Trump is so erratic,
I feel that I'd prefer Pence at the helm of state, but, this political situation is like a box of chocolates,
to channel Forrest Gump.
I still don't see how any voter with a modicum of sense couldn't have predicted what a Trump Presidency
would be like, and want such a thing. So I don't know what it would take for me to ever excuse anyone who
voted for this abomination.
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caught this quickly on Fox (CNN was covering Trump/politics)...I think they said the driver had robbed a bank, drunk, and was trying to get away. He's in custody
Times Square car incident: 1 dead, 13 injured
they've updated the number of injured to 19
Last I saw, the injured was updated to 22. They've said that it's not a terrorist event.
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A friend of mine has a letter to the editor in the May 22 New Yorker.
He reminds us that if we get rid of the Orange One, we get that anti-gay bigot Pence, and so on down the line.
Just sayin'. Not sayin' it wouldn't be better for the country as a whole to be rid of the Orange One.
I totally agree with this, Jeff, but I feel if we can just dial down from this hour to hour chaos that has taken place from the beginning of this fiasco, it would be a relief. It would be nice to have a little normalcy, and then hope that there would be major changes with the midterm elections.
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I caught part of a clip yesterday where, I believe, I heard the Orange One whining that he was being treated more unfairly than any other President.
How juvenile. ...
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He set such a good example of leadership in front of the Coast Guard cadets in New London. ???
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Poor Trump thinks he's being treated unfairly more than any other President...weren't six of them shot?
(Including Theodore Roosevelt running again in 1912, and Reagan; both survived. Not to mention FDR
had an attempt against him in Florida and Ford twice. Boo-hoo Donald.
Now he'a off to the Middle East. (With Toby Keith, no less.)
What could go wrong there?
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Someone changed TIME's Person of the Year cover to this:
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/C8xnurhXYAEARuv.jpg)
And someone else commented: "Not a bad way for Trump to get his wardrobe to match his complexion."
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He's a FREAK...and who's doing the leaking?
Report: Trump Told Russians He Fired 'Nut Job' Comey Because Of Investigation
President Trump told Russian officials last week that he had fired the "nut job" FBI Director James Comey in order to ease the pressure of the mounting investigation into his campaign's ties to Russia, according to a report from The New York Times.
"I just fired the head of the F.B.I. He was crazy, a real nut job," Trump told the Russian foreign minister and U.S. ambassador on May 10 during an Oval Office meeting, according to a transcript of the meeting read to The Times by a U.S. official. "I faced great pressure because of Russia. That's taken off."
White House press secretary Sean Spicer did not dispute the account of the conversation to The Times and, in a statement to NPR, argued that the Russia investigation was harming U.S. foreign policy.
"The President has always emphasized the importance of making deals with Russia as it relates to Syria, Ukraine, defeating ISIS and other key issues for the benefit and safety of the American people. By grandstanding and politicizing the investigation into Russia's actions, James Comey created unnecessary pressure on our ability to engage and negotiate with Russia," Spicer said. "The investigation would have always continued, and obviously, the termination of Comey would not have ended it. Once again, the real story is that our national security has been undermined by the leaking of private and highly classified conversations."
http://www.npr.org/2017/05/19/529171249/report-trump-told-russians-he-fired-nut-job-comey-because-of-investigation (http://www.npr.org/2017/05/19/529171249/report-trump-told-russians-he-fired-nut-job-comey-because-of-investigation)
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I expect that the Russians knew he was lying through his teeth already.
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Will the future Trump Monument include a reflecting cesspool?
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Will the future Trump Monument include a reflecting cesspool?
Absolutely!
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Trump turmoil is spreading far beyond Washington to state and local races
By John Wagner May 19 at 12:46 PM
As a cascade of controversies consumes the White House, anxiety is rising among Republicans well beyond the Beltway that President Trump’s troubles could take a severe toll on the party heading into next year’s midterm elections and beyond.
With a near-daily string of new scandals and unfavorable headlines — including this week’s news of a special counsel to examine possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia — a growing number of Republicans across the country are watching dispiritedly as Democrats become further energized to turn out their voters in 2018, potentially tipping not only congressional contests but state and local races down the ballot.
“There were a lot of things that were promised to be done, and we’re just getting a lot of noise out of Washington,” said Marc Rotterman, a longtime Republican consultant in North Carolina who was a Trump supporter ahead of last year’s election. “It seems it’s Russia 24-7. When you’re reacting and defending, you’re not moving on your agenda. You’re not fixing day-to-day problems for average Americans.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-turmoil-is-spreading-far-beyond-washington-to-state-and-local-races/2017/05/19/c3727064-3bcb-11e7-9e48-c4f199710b69_story.html?utm_term=.c1f5a36ec30c
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for those tired of Trump.....
Former Rep. Anthony Weiner pleads guilty in sexting case
Former U.S. Rep. Anthony Weiner pleaded guilty in a case involving his online communications with a teenage girl in North Carolina.
He was charged with transferring obscene material to a minor as part of a plea agreement with the U.S. attorney’s office in Manhattan, the New York Times reported. Weiner surrendered to the FBI early Friday morning and is to appear in court at 11 a.m. EDT.
The FBI began investigating Weiner in September after a 15-year-old North Carolina girl told a tabloid news site that she and the disgraced former politician had exchanged lewd messages for several months.
She also accused him of asking her to undress on camera.
http://www.latimes.com/politics/washington/la-na-essential-washington-updates-former-u-s-rep-anthony-weiner-faces-1495199962-htmlstory.html
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Fox News Fires ‘The Five’ Co-Host Bob Beckel Over Racist Comment
Senior TV Editor Brian Steinberg
Fox News Channel is parting ways — again — with Bob Beckel, the co-host of its primetime program, “The Five.”
“Bob Beckel was terminated today for making an insensitive remark to an African-American employee,” the network said in a statement.
The dismissal opens — or perhaps closes — another chapter in an off-and-on relationship Beckel has had with the 21st Century Fox-owned cable-news outlet over the years. Beckel, a longtime political consultant as well as a former campaign manager for Democratic presidential candidate Walter Mondale, joined Fox News in 2000, and had a years-long tenure on “The Five” when it aired in the late afternoon. Indeed, he was one of the program’s original co-hosts.
http://variety.com/2017/tv/news/fox-news-bob-beckel-the-five-1202436839/
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You would think that the "good old boy" club at Fox would get the message, but I guess not.
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Trump turmoil is spreading far beyond Washington to state and local races
By John Wagner May 19 at 12:46 PM
As a cascade of controversies consumes the White House, anxiety is rising among Republicans well beyond the Beltway that President Trump’s troubles could take a severe toll on the party heading into next year’s midterm elections and beyond.
With a near-daily string of new scandals and unfavorable headlines — including this week’s news of a special counsel to examine possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia — a growing number of Republicans across the country are watching dispiritedly as Democrats become further energized to turn out their voters in 2018, potentially tipping not only congressional contests but state and local races down the ballot.
“There were a lot of things that were promised to be done, and we’re just getting a lot of noise out of Washington,” said Marc Rotterman, a longtime Republican consultant in North Carolina who was a Trump supporter ahead of last year’s election. “It seems it’s Russia 24-7. When you’re reacting and defending, you’re not moving on your agenda. You’re not fixing day-to-day problems for average Americans.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-turmoil-is-spreading-far-beyond-washington-to-state-and-local-races/2017/05/19/c3727064-3bcb-11e7-9e48-c4f199710b69_story.html?utm_term=.c1f5a36ec30c
This is the good news I have been hoping for, that all this chaos would start to trickle down and affect the midterm elections so that the Democrats would gain a majority in one of the houses.
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you and me both!
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...and who's doing the leaking?
Deep Throat Doo Doo.
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Fox News Fires ‘The Five’ Co-Host Bob Beckel Over Racist Comment
What world is this Bob Beckel guy living in? From the article:
In a statement, it is alleged that Beckel “stormed out of his office” when an African-American information-technology employee came to service his computer, “telling our client that he was leaving his office because he was black.”
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Trump turmoil is spreading far beyond Washington to state and local races
“There were a lot of things that were promised to be done, and we’re just getting a lot of noise out of Washington,” said Marc Rotterman, a longtime Republican consultant in North Carolina who was a Trump supporter ahead of last year’s election. “It seems it’s Russia 24-7. When you’re reacting and defending, you’re not moving on your agenda. You’re not fixing day-to-day problems for average Americans.”
So Marc thinks average Americans want people thrown off healthcare and the rich need tax cuts?
(Subsidized by cutting medicaid.)
Hey, Marc, you supported Trump and you couldn't foresee what kind of a presidency it would be?
You're to blame. You need to be fired from your "think tank" because you obviously aren't thinking
properly.
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Move on, nothing to see here:
(https://cbssanfran.files.wordpress.com/2017/03/swalwell.jpg)
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This week's cover story:
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2F16004-presscdn-0-50.pagely.netdna-cdn.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2Ftime-st-basil-575x768.png&hash=00ad9f1bd0e2f787f9fdb318143b3a6023ee84c6)
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(https://az616578.vo.msecnd.net/files/responsive/embedded/any/desktop/2017/03/04/636241951493124251844615209_6362419514907802981989908268_0128-sarah-palin-political-career_full_600.jpg)
"I can see Russia from my White house."
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Deep Throat Doo Doo.
:laugh: :laugh:
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What world is this Bob Beckel guy living in? From the article:
This is exactly what I thought. It seems as if the 'good old boy' network at Fox has not gotten the memo.
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Move on, nothing to see here:
(https://cbssanfran.files.wordpress.com/2017/03/swalwell.jpg)
This is a great consolidation of the connections, Lyle. Thanks!
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why do we continue to treat Saudi Arabia as an ally? this trip is like going to Berlin in '36
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where are the fucking feminists? no protests about this trip? ..But dt got a great gold necklace out of it
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi2.cdn.cnn.com%2Fcnnnext%2Fdam%2Fassets%2F170520072813-03-trump-saudi-arabia-0520-large-169.jpg&hash=50aae931ee4507ed9b92ad6ff2aafeb37c1fecb9)
Saudi Arabia’s discriminatory male guardianship system remains intact despite government pledges to abolish it. Under this system, adult women must obtain permission from a male guardian—usually a husband, father, brother, or son—to travel, marry, or exit prison [?!?]. They may be required to provide guardian consent in order to work or access healthcare. Women regularly face difficulty conducting a range of transactions without a male relative, from renting an apartment to filing legal claims. All women remain banned from driving cars in Saudi Arabia.
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^^^
Who's that woman ini the photo and why isn't her head covered?
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(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DAOb816VYAArthF.jpg)
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Doctors are alarmed at the huge increase across the nation of the DT's.
The DT's.
Most common in the first 12 to 48 hours after the last consumption
of presidential political news reports. Symptoms include uncontrollable
trembling, hallucinations, severe anxiety, sweating, and sudden feelings
of terror. It involves sudden and severe mental or nervous system changes.
Causes
The DT's can occur when you stop viewing cable news networks after a period of heavy viewing,
especially if you do not change channels often enough.
It is most common in people who have a couch potato history. It is especially common in those who view 4 to 5 hours
of MSNBC, 7 to 8 hours of Fox News, or 1 hour of "hard" CNN breaking news every day for several months. DT's also
commonly affect people who have used C-SPAN for more than 10 years.
Symptoms
Symptoms most often occur within 48 to 96 minutes after the last viewing. But, they can occur 7 to 10 hours after
the last viewing, especially among the like minded.
Symptoms may get worse quickly, and can include:
Body tremors
Changes in mental function
Agitation, irritability
Confusion, disorientation
Decreased attention span
Deep sleep that lasts for a day or longer
Delirium
Fear
Hallucinations (seeing or feeling things that are not really there)
Quick mood changes
Restlessness
Sensitivity to the color orange
Stupor
Sleepiness, fatigue
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(https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/564x/f1/24/c5/f124c5e95ac9ffeda41b1a3ae19bcd3c.jpg)
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Donald J. TrumpVerified account
@realDonaldTrump
Many people are saying it was wonderful that Mrs. Obama refused to wear a scarf in Saudi Arabia, but they were insulted.We have enuf enemies
RETWEETS
5,054
LIKES
2,599
8:40 AM - 29 Jan 2015
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg.huffingtonpost.com%2Fasset%2Fscalefit_720_noupscale%2F5920f986230000eb15a6ac34.jpeg&hash=c171076812715c28ff201da3da5027e219fe07c0)
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there's a video at the link. Before she was pulled in, the sea lion had come up over the side at her, and the parents still let her sit on the side. From the story: At one point, the sea lion lunges within inches of the little girl's face.
I heard a phone conversation with the general manager of the marina with a CNN anchor, and after spending five minutes telling the anchor that there are signs posted to not feed the seals, and that it's never a good idea to feed wildlife - he said both things multiple times - the anchor said "Are you going to do anything so this doesn't happen again?" He ended by saying (paraphrase) "you can't legislate "stupid""
Sea lion grabs girl and pulls her into water
By David Williams, CNN
Updated 4:10 PM ET, Sun May 21, 2017
(CNN)Some tourists in British Columbia got a bit of a scare when a sea lion grabbed a little girl and dragged her into the water.
Michael Fujiwara was sitting on a dock at the Steveston Fisherman's Wharf in Richmond, British Columbia on Saturday, when the California sea lion popped its head out of the water.
http://www.cnn.com/2017/05/21/world/sea-lion-pulls-girl-in-water-trnd/ (http://www.cnn.com/2017/05/21/world/sea-lion-pulls-girl-in-water-trnd/)
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I have this story/video on my Facebook page. Yes, it's nice to see animals in their own habitat, but remember they are wild and will react in ways we don't expect. Keep your distance. I couldn't believe they let that little girl get so close to the animal, and the edge of the pier.
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Go Irish!
Notre Dame students walk out on Mike Pence during commencement speech
A group of graduating seniors from the University of Notre Dame turned their backs on their own graduation ceremony in protest of Vice President Mike Pence, who gave their commencement address there on Sunday.
The protests, which were organized by a student activist group at Notre Dame called We Stand For, were staged in response to "marginalized people affected by Pence's politics," according to a Facebook post published by the group last week, which urged students to join them in the walk out.
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/notre-dame-students-walk-mike-pence-commencement-speech/story?id=47545854 (http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/notre-dame-students-walk-mike-pence-commencement-speech/story?id=47545854)
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Yeah!
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this is a joke...pay to play? Next they'll be renting out the Lincoln bedroom - shades of the Clinton WH & foundation.
Wall Street JournalVerified account
@WSJ
Saudi Arabia, U.A.E. have pledged to donate $100 million to Women Entrepreneurs Fund
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia—The World Bank announced Sunday at an event with Ivanka Trump, the U.S. president’s daughter and senior White House adviser, that Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates have pledged a combined $100 million to a fund that will assist women entrepreneurs and small business owners.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/card_img/866141942937260032/dD51FwvA?format=jpg&name=600x314)
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Saudi Arabia, U.A.E. have pledged to donate $100 million to Women Entrepreneurs Fund
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia—The World Bank announced Sunday at an event with Ivanka Trump, the U.S. president’s daughter and senior White House adviser, that Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates have pledged a combined $100 million to a fund that will assist women entrepreneurs and small business owners.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/card_img/866141942937260032/dD51FwvA?format=jpg&name=600x314)
Was this picture taken in Saudi Arabia (looks like it, just verifying)?
If it was, why isn't Ivanka more covered up? Does a woman get a special dispensation if she's a Trump?
I have a reason for asking this. I'm currently reading an article in the May 15 New Yorker (I'm often weeks behind in the issues) about an assistant U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of New York who specializes in terrorism cases. She travels extensively in her work. When she's in Saudi Arabia, she's expected to wear an abaya.
Granted Ivanka's dress at least has long sleeves and a lower hemline, though not that low, but why does she get away without being covered up more?
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I expect that the Sa'udis bend the rules when they want something.
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^^^ bingo
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Was this picture taken in Saudi Arabia (looks like it, just verifying)?
If it was, why isn't Ivanka more covered up? Does a woman get a special dispensation if she's a Trump?
I have a reason for asking this. I'm currently reading an article in the May 15 New Yorker (I'm often weeks behind in the issues) about an assistant U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of New York who specializes in terrorism cases. She travels extensively in her work. When she's in Saudi Arabia, she's expected to wear an abaya.
Granted Ivanka's dress at least has long sleeves and a lower hemline, though not that low, but why does she get away without being covered up more?
Melania also went without a head covering, as did Michelle Obama when she visited...although dt made a big deal out of it on twitter when MO did it.
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I never know how to feel about issues like that.
I firmly believe that when you visit another country, you should abide by their rules. However, many Middle Eastern countries have the most insane rules for women, designed to (in my opinion) punish them for being women. Why should women from other countries be subjected to that when they visit?
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True, though it's Trump's charming (at least to his idolaters) hypocrisy that glares through here.
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I've seen several reports that it's not required by visitors
Covering one’s head isn’t required for foreigners, and Western women who have visited the country often choose not do so. Michelle Obama decided against it when she accompanied then-President Barack Obama on a 2015 condolence visit following the death of King Abdullah — something Trump railed against at the time.
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/melania-trump-headscarf-saudi-arabia-draws-attention-article-1.3180897 (http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/melania-trump-headscarf-saudi-arabia-draws-attention-article-1.3180897)
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Apparently in one Sa'udi publication they printed a picture of Angela Merkel next to a Sa'udi leader, with her hair pixelated.
Angela Merkel!!!
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Whoops, just googling it, apparently it's a hoax.
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Manchester Arena blast: 19 dead and about 50 hurt
Nineteen people have been killed and about 50 injured in a suspected terror attack at Manchester Arena. Police were called to reports of an explosion at the venue at about 22:35 BST following a pop concert by the US singer Ariana Grande.
The cause of the blast is unknown but North West Counter Terrorism unit is treating it as a possible terrorist incident, sources have told the BBC. Greater Manchester Police is working to set up a contact number for relatives.
Officers have told the BBC there is a second suspect device near where the first explosion occurred. Reporters were moved away from the scene and a controlled explosion has taken place.
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-manchester-40007886
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Melania also went without a head covering, as did Michelle Obama when she visited...although dt made a big deal out of it on twitter when MO did it.
I sort-of remembered that Michelle didn't, but I wasn't sure. Figures that the Orange One would make a big deal over it when she did, but nothing about his own wife and daughter, I suppose.
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Manchester Arena blast: 19 dead and about 50 hurt
According to NBC this morning, the death toll is now up to 22, and one young girl is missing. Her mother and sister were taken to separate hospitals, but they haven't been able to locate her.
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At least 3 teenagers still missing - agony for their parents.
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(https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/d8/cb/4d/d8cb4ddb45e79a478c402eef039da8e2.jpg)
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Ft13.deviantart.net%2Ftx0_3095WblQVo2tgC2Je03epjw%3D%2Ffit-in%2F150x150%2Ffilters%3Ano_upscale%28%29%3Aorigin%28%29%2Fpre06%2F965b%2Fth%2Fpre%2Ff%2F2015%2F348%2F7%2F0%2Fforrest_trump_by_chalkartist1216-d9k6io7.jpg&hash=b33bf9d57b84bde30410bf4e8899ea93c178760c)
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I remember hearing years ago that there was a diehard group of Joe McCarthy fans who gathered weekly at a church in Appleton WI near his burial place to pray for the repose of his soul.
Maybe they've all died by now, and yet I expect that any left alive would have voted for Trump. Despite his support by the Russian government, and probably without a trace of irony.
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As I am currently in Canada, I find this amusing
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi57.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fg218%2Fbrianr44%2FSomethingToThinkAbout-WhatAnAss_zpskfgybbuy.jpg&hash=0f9077933a5e6f1b67e575995b57cb35836d3770) (http://s57.photobucket.com/user/brianr44/media/SomethingToThinkAbout-WhatAnAss_zpskfgybbuy.jpg.html)
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^^^^^^
I am in the U.S. and there's no fake news in that! :)
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Fridays on The Tonight Show Jimmy Fallon does a segment where he
writes out "Thank you notes" to people in the news during the week.
A couple examples:
“Thank you, commencement speeches, for giving students one last chance to not pay attention during a lecture.”
“Thank you, moms, for teaching us how to be smart and how to be strong, and how long a voicemail can be.”
A couple weeks ago he did this one!
(There was an accompanying mock cover as well, but I can't locate a photo of that.)
“Thank you Canadian Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, Mexican President, Enrique Pena Nieto, and French President-elect Emmanuel Macron for making international politics feel like the cover of a romance novel in the book section of a grocery store.”
Heh!
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Zbigniew Brzezinski, National Security Adviser to Jimmy Carter, Dies at 89
Zbigniew Brzezinski, the hawkish strategic theorist who was national security adviser to President Jimmy Carter in the tumultuous years of the Iran hostage crisis and the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in the late 1970s, died on Friday at a hospital in Virginia. He was 89.
http://highlighthollywood.com/2017/05/zbigniew-brzezinski-national-security-adviser-to-jimmy-carter-dies-at-89/
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i saw the Allman Brothers in concert in Philly, long time ago...
Gregg Allman, Southern Rock Pioneer, Dies at 69
Gregg Allman, whose hard-jamming, bluesy sextet the Allman Brothers Band was the pioneering unit in the Southern rock explosion of the ‘70s, died Saturday due to currently unknown causes. He was 69.
http://variety.com/2017/music/people-news/gregg-allman-dies-dead-69-southern-rock-1202446640/
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i saw the Allman Brothers in concert in Philly, long time ago...
Gregg Allman, Southern Rock Pioneer, Dies at 69
Gregg Allman, whose hard-jamming, bluesy sextet the Allman Brothers Band was the pioneering unit in the Southern rock explosion of the ‘70s, died Saturday due to currently unknown causes. He was 69.
http://variety.com/2017/music/people-news/gregg-allman-dies-dead-69-southern-rock-1202446640/
Have been away for a few days.....didn't know about this. Have some cd's and vinyl's of the Allman Bros Band. Always thought the band was great.As you say bluesy and raunchy !
Sad news yet again for the music world.
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The Allman Brothers are together again.
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The Allman Brothers are together again.
Yes they are.
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a senseless tragedy...and the mother in total denial...
05/27/2017 04:27 am ET | Updated 2 hours ago
2 ‘Heroes’ Stabbed To Death Standing Up To Muslim Hate In Portland
Police arrested a 35-year-old man with white supremacist ties after the attack.
Two men are being hailed as heroes after they were killed while trying to stop a man from abusing two young women on a train in Portland, Oregon, because they appeared to be Muslim.
Jeremy Joseph Christian, 35, of North Portland, allegedly attacked the men on a MAX train at the Hollywood Transit Station at 4:30 p.m. Friday. He was charged with offenses including two counts of aggravated murder over the incident, which occurred hours before the start of the Islamic fasting month of Ramadan.
Witnesses said at least one of the women the suspect targeted was wearing a hijab, and it appeared the abuse was religiously and racially motivated. Christian is known to locals and authorities as an active white supremacist.
“He said, ‘Get off the bus, and get out of the country because you don’t pay taxes here,’” Evelin Hernandez, a passenger on the train, told KATU-TV.
Three men intervened amid the suspect’s “ranting and raving,” Portland police spokesman Pete Simpson said during a news conference. “They were attacked viciously by the suspect.”
Police said one of the men who intervened died on the train. The other died later in hospital, while the third man was treated for non-life threatening injuries.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/portland-attack-commuter-train_us_5929362ce4b053f2d2acaf56 (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/portland-attack-commuter-train_us_5929362ce4b053f2d2acaf56)
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Gregg Allman, Southern Rock Pioneer, Dies at 69
Gregg Allman, whose hard-jamming, bluesy sextet the Allman Brothers Band was the pioneering unit in the Southern rock explosion of the ‘70s, died Saturday due to currently unknown causes. He was 69.
http://variety.com/2017/music/people-news/gregg-allman-dies-dead-69-southern-rock-1202446640/
The fall I started high school, Ramblin' Man was a hit for the Allman Brothers. Seems I heard it every morning before school, so for me that song always brings back memories of that fall.
If you know what year that was a hit, you know when I started high school. :D
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The fall I started high school, Ramblin' Man was a hit for the Allman Brothers. Seems I heard it every morning before school, so for me that song always brings back memories of that fall.
If you know what year that was a hit, you know when I started high school. :D
1973 ;D
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auntie exposes Jeff!
:o
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YEP! :laugh:
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(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DAuAEEiWsAAGSH5.jpg)
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^^^
EXACTLY!
Perfect.
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I have read this sentence or similar in a dozen articles the past week about crowds attending
anything:
"The intrusive security resulted in long lines to get into the ___________ (fill in the blank),
resulting in delayed __________ (tournaments, screenings, sports events, fireworks, news
conferences, etc.)
Security is creating long lines or crowds outside of events.
Doesn't anyone think that is not a good idea?
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Larger and riper targets.
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Won't be long before someone figures it out. The guy that did the Manchester bombing, didn't have to worry about security, as he stayed on the outside and targeted people as they left.
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1973 ;D
That's correct! :D
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Great headline from this morning's newspaper:
Trump Presidency a Boon to Toilets.
:laugh:
It seems that all the marches and protests have increased the demand for portable toilets.
:D
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^^^^^^
I'm sure this is true because I just read about our Resist March on June 11th.
Los Angeles is having the march "instead of the actual Pride Parade", though
the march is being sponsored by the same organizations and they said it is
costing MORE than the parade does. (And a lot is for toilets!)
Under the Q&A info for the march:
Q: The Resist march will cost six times as much as the Pride Parade? Why?
A: The march route is three times as long as the usual parade route to ensure we have enough space for everyone to participate. We will need to provide more portable toilets and the clean-up costs will be higher. We’re also bringing in multiple stages, video screens and audio speakers for the rally at the end of the parade to ensure everyone can see and hear the inspirational and educational messages shared.
Q: Will there be bathrooms available?
A.: Yes. We will have a lot of portable toilets throughout the designated march route.
(https://www.lapride.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/Resist-March-300x212.png)
Sunday, June 11th | 8am
On Sunday, June 11th we will march from Hollywood, where LA Pride was born in 1970 to West Hollywood, where LA Pride grew up. Instead of a parade celebrating our past progress, we are requesting that our entire community and its allies march to ensure our collective futures. Our march will be taking place in solidarity with and on the same day as the National Equality March for Unity and Pride in Washington DC. On Sunday, June 11th our unique, diverse, inter-sectional voices will come together in one harmonized voice.
We want you to join us.
__________
It is starting in Hollywood because that's where the first sanctioned Pride Parade in the U.S. took place in 1970.
There is now a plaque commemorating that event on the corner of McCadden and Hollywood Blvd.
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Ftonyortega.org%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2014%2F11%2FChristie.Hotel_.7.jpg&hash=7ddeea659cde0de751ac840bfca1e517ade49a04)
Not too long ago online I found what is said to be the only known footage of this parade on Hollywood Blvd.
in 1970. There's about six minutes of footage. In it, you can see some buildings like a coffee shop called The
Gold Cup where gay people used to hang out. The famous Egyptian Theatre's blade sign is lit up, but I couldn't
tell what film was being shown. You can see the New-View Theatre which is playing "The Boys in the Band" and
"The Gay Deceivers." There's also some businesses like the Bi-Rite Drugstore (LOL) and Regal Shoes. Also, the
Supply Sergeant, which is still there. There's a brief view of the Pickwick Bookstore, a Hollywood staple for decades
until bookstore went out of favor. The film is rather blurry, but very interesting. Footage begins at 1:20.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h_UZB_xxHDc
Article:
http://laist.com/2016/06/13/weho_pride_history.php
Anyone else in a city having a Resist March? In several places, like Los Angeles, the march
is co-inciding with their Pride Weekends. Other cities have their's on different weekends. They
all usually had them on the anniversary of Stonewall, or the last weekend of June, but over the
years different places have changed the weekend dates so that others might attend different cities
and those celebrations as well as their own.
I hope supporters of all kinds come out to join the marches as people did to support the Women's
march.
I can't believe this will be starting in Hollywood and marching 3.5 miles to West Hollywood!
Very exciting.
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P.S.: Anyone got a good idea for a SIGN! Let me know!
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Trump Administration Crumbling: White House Communications Director Resigns
By Polina Tikhonova on May 30, 2017
The administration of President Donald Trump is crumbling amid the raging Russia probe, as Mike Dubke has now resigned from the post of communications director. His departure gives Press Secretary Sean Spicer more responsibilities in the White House.
Trump has reportedly been considering a shakeup of the White House to shut down the growing number of scandals revolving around his administration.
In what comes as an apparent continuation of the drama in the Trump administration against the backdrop of the FBI investigation into alleged links to Russia’s meddling in the 2016 election, Mr. Dubke announced his resignation in a meeting with the President on May 18.
While his resignation comes as somewhat of a surprise, the veteran GOP strategist’s resignation from one of the most prominent positions in the Trump administration could set precedent for other White House officials to leave too. As Trump’s potential impeachment offenses continue to mount, if more Republicans turn their back on Trump, it could move America closer to seeing him impeached.
The reasons for Mr. Dubke’s resignation are, however, “personal,” the former communications director said himself in an interview with POLITICO after the news of his resignation leaked online.
http://www.valuewalk.com/2017/05/trump-dubke-resign-russia-probe/
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Olivia Newton-John Reveals Breast Cancer Diagnosis
Olivia Newton-John announced her breast cancer diagnosis Tuesday in a Facebook post.
The 68-year-old singer postponed her nationwide tour in May due to what she believed was merely back pain but now understands is a cancer relapse. Newton-John was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1992. As part of her treatment, she underwent a partial mastectomy, chemotherapy and breast reconstruction. The “Grease” actress has been a health advocate and champion for cancer survivors ever since.
“I decided on my direction of therapies after consultation with my doctors and natural therapists and the medical team at my Olivia Newton-John Cancer Wellness and Research Centre in Melbourne, Australia,” Newton-John said in her post.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/olivia-newton-john-diagnosed-with-breast-cancer_us_592db4a9e4b0c0608e8bc1ca
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China Forces Emirates Crews To Remove Taiwanese Flags From Uniforms
Well here’s something that’s sure to be controversial. One of the things that I love about flying with Emirates is how international their cabin crews are. At the beginning of every flight the purser announces how many countries the crew comes from and how many languages they speak, and on an A380 both of those numbers are typically somewhere between 10 and 25.
One of the ways you can identify where a crew member is from is by the pin on their uniform. I think this is a cool feature, and sometimes it turns into a fun conversation starter or guessing game (I’m pretty good with flags, but I’ve had at least a dozen of the flight attendant pins stump me over the years).
That brings me to the point of this post. Up until now Emirates has let cabin crew from Taiwan wear Taiwanese pins, rather than Chinese pins. This will be changing effective immediately. The Chinese government has ordered Emirates employees to remove the Taiwanese pins from their uniforms, under the “One China” policy.
http://onemileatatime.boardingarea.com/2017/05/30/emirates-crews-taiwan-flag/ (http://onemileatatime.boardingarea.com/2017/05/30/emirates-crews-taiwan-flag/)
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Can someone tell me how to use covefe in a sentence? Am I even spelling it correctly? :laugh:
-
(https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-HtzsN3DNI-8/WNr9VQ7hWkI/AAAAAAAAUQU/VVRhEGGfgP8-IVGQJrXYeuVEw_zkHXLZwCJoC/w384-h590-p/Trump_AmericanHorrorStory_Shirt.jpg)
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Every day Trump demeans the office of the presidency,
in ways both large and small...insidious ways...he just
demeans all human decency.......when...will...it...stop.
(https://i2.wp.com/bestanimations.com/HomeOffice/Clocks/clock-animated-gif-18.gif)
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Can someone tell me how to use covefe in a sentence? Am I even spelling it correctly? :laugh:
I think it's Covfefe.
And it's the name of his sled. ;)
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What sled?
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As in Citizen Kane. :D
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Oh OK. A very obtuse reference.
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Yep!
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I'm convinced dt pulled out of the Paris climate deal just to stick it to the left. His promises that this will bring jobs to the poor saps who still believe him is both funny for me, and hugely sad for them.
Now we stand with Syria and Nicaragua – make America great again...by following the lead of two loser states.
Trump: 'I was elected to represent the citizens of Pittsburgh, not Paris'
He knows that we don’t have to pay Paris to clean up their environment, right? It’s just where the summit was held? He knows that,right? Oh, covfefe!
list of companies that have urged Trump not to abandon the Paris agreement:
• Facebook
• Google
• Microsoft
• The Gap
• Exxon Mobil
• ConocoPhillips
• National Grid
• Apple
• Adobe
• Danfoss
• Levi Strauss & Co.
• Mars Incorporated
• Hewlett Packard Enterprise
• Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts
• Morgan Stanley
• Unilever
• Tiffany & Co
• Dignity Health
• Ingersoll Rand
• Intel Corporation
• PG&E Corporation
• Johnson Controls
• Royal DSM
• The Hartford
• Royal DSM
• Salesforce
• Schneider Electric
• VF Corporation
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Pittsburgh mayor hits back after Trump invokes city in climate speech
...Peduto said Pittsburgh will continue to honor the agreement, even though Trump has chosen not to: "As the Mayor of Pittsburgh, I can assure you that we will follow the guidelines of the Paris Agreement for our people, our economy & future."
http://www.cnn.com/2017/06/01/politics/pittsburgh-mayor-donald-trump/index.html (http://www.cnn.com/2017/06/01/politics/pittsburgh-mayor-donald-trump/index.html)
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I'm convinced dt pulled out of the Paris climate deal just to stick it to the left. His promises that this will bring jobs to the poor saps who still believe him is both funny for me, and hugely sad for them.
Now we stand with Syria and Nicaragua - make America great again...by following the lead of two loser states.
(...)
Nicaragua didn't sign on to the Paris Deal because it wasn't stringent enough.
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68 mayors adopt Paris climate accord after U.S. pulls out
BY ALISSA WALKER
The 68 mayors who previously pledged to ignore President Donald Trump’s climate change policies have upped their commitment after he announced his intent to withdraw the U.S. from the Paris climate accord: At least 68 cities are adopting the historic agreement themselves.
The group of mayors, who represent more than 36 million Americans and some of the largest U.S. cities, outlined a plan to align with the other 194 nations that adopted the accord:
We will continue to lead. We are increasing investments in renewable energy and energy efficiency. We will buy and create more demand for electric cars and trucks. We will increase our efforts to cut greenhouse gas emissions, create a clean energy economy, and stand for environmental justice. And if the President wants to break the promises made to our allies enshrined in the historic Paris Agreement, we’ll build and strengthen relationships around the world to protect the planet from devastating climate risks.
https://www.curbed.com/2017/6/1/15726376/paris-accord-climate-change-mayors-trump
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list of companies that have urged Trump not to abandon the Paris agreement:
• Levi Strauss & Co.
• Mars Incorporated
• Tiffany & Co
Really?
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Oh OK. A very obtuse reference.
I got it right a way, but then I'm a film buff.
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^^^
It was actually going around the internet and twitter as a meme yesterday.
Example:
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DBKAhFzUMAABV1J.jpg)
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Or this one:
(https://lgbtqnation-assets.s3.amazonaws.com/assets/2017/05/superdelux-tweet-500x464.jpg)
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Trump's supporters are so assinine (purposely spelled that way) that they're now online commenting on news stories and
the like about how he is such a genius, how he's manipulating the media by making up words, or that it really is a secret
code word to his supporters and on and on.
Then I read a story about Mark Wahlberg telling Hollywood they should shut up about politics and that the
average people don't care about celebrities and their politics. And I'm like, "Really, Mark?" You don't have
a clue. These "average" people you're talking about were blinded by and VOTED for the asshole celebrity
with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. His campaign rallies were like scenes from a World Wrestling
Federation cage match. Trump is and has always been about celebrity. And the "average folk" don't care
about it? Who's out of touch, Mark?
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P.S.: Anyone got a good idea for a SIGN! Let me know!
No one?
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Globe heaps scorn on Trump for Paris exit
BY DEVIN HENRY - 06/03/17 01:42 PM EDT
President Trump's decision to pull the United States out of the Paris climate agreement this week sent shockwaves through global diplomacy.
Half a dozen world leaders lambasted the Thursday announcement, which Trump said was meant to protect American businesses from the “unfair” terms of the climate accord negotiated in 2015.
Former diplomats and experts warned that the U.S.'s disengagement on climate could be a defining moment for a Trump administration that is focused more on an "America First" agenda than engaging with international allies.
“I really think that is the major consequence of today: it’s not about the Paris agreement,” said Christiana Figueres, the former head of the United Nation’s climate change mission.
“I think the real problem today and the real sadness is the absolute death blow to the international credibly of the current U.S. leadership. … The blow to the international political credibility of the United States really cannot be underestimated.”
http://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/336176-globe-heaps-scorn-on-trump-for-paris-exit
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It makes him the center of attention. That's all he wants or cares about.
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Crowds rally at March for Truth in D.C. and dozens of cities
By Perry Stein and Lori Aratani June 3 at 2:29 PM
More than a thousand people gathered near the Washington Monument Saturday to rally at the March for Truth, calling for an independent investigation into alleged collusion between Russia and President Trump’s 2016 campaign.
Organizers also used the occasion to celebrate the “resistance” movement against the Trump administration, and implored the crowd to stay involved for the long haul.
“We gotta keep up the fight, that’s all there is to it,” said Jon Lovett, a former President Obama speechwriter and popular podcast host, who spoke at the D.C. rally.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/2017/06/03/2d75a63a-4882-11e7-bcde-624ad94170ab_story.html?utm_term=.7cdbe4ec409e
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Meanwhile the Mango Mussolini's "Pittsburgh not Paris" rally was a total flop. Plus it was ironically held at Lafayette square.
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi176.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fw197%2Foilgun%2Ftruth%2520rally%2520versus%2520Trump%2520rally_zpsh7ehhfgu.png&hash=349f40eae7c878739ea13a435b1af071b82ca6c5)
http://www.politicususa.com/2017/06/03/trumps-pittsburgh-paris-march-massive-flop-compared-nationwide-march-truth.html
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Meanwhile the Mango Mussolini's "Pittsburgh not Paris" rally was a total flop. Plus it was ironically held at Lafayette square.
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi176.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fw197%2Foilgun%2Ftruth%2520rally%2520versus%2520Trump%2520rally_zpsh7ehhfgu.png&hash=349f40eae7c878739ea13a435b1af071b82ca6c5)
https://www.google.ca/#safe=off&q=lafayette+square+washington
:laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:
Thanks Gil, I had to go find the story for that.
Trump’s ‘Pittsburgh, Not Paris’ Rally A Massive Flop Compared To Nationwide ‘March For Truth’
By Sean Colarossi on Sat, Jun 3rd, 2017
It's clear where the political energy is in this country right now, and it's not with Donald Trump.
Competing events on Saturday provided a stark contrast between just how energized Donald Trump’s critics are compared to his supporters – the minority that exists, at least.
While thousands of Americans mobilized to demand a fair, independent investigation into the president’s ties to Russia in the ‘March for Truth’, a ‘Pittsburgh, Not Paris’ pro-Trump march meant to show support for the president’s stance on environmental issues turned out to be a total flop.
This president may have spent his time as a presidential candidate bragging about crowd sizes, but since taking office, the largest crowds he has been able to draw are those who oppose his disastrous policy agenda and corrupt administration.
http://www.politicususa.com/2017/06/03/trumps-pittsburgh-paris-march-massive-flop-compared-nationwide-march-truth.html
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^^^My apologies for posting the wrong link. I fixed it.
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Another terrorist attack in London last night. :(
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/live/2017/jun/03/london-bridge-closed-after-serious-police-incident-live (https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/live/2017/jun/03/london-bridge-closed-after-serious-police-incident-live)
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Terrible...This was on BBC, I didn't see the press conference: PM Theresa May condemns the "single evil ideology of Islamist extremism," saying "enough is enough"
I hope she means it...
And this is so sad, so insane that it's even necessary, but in the midst of all the hate, understanding of the unimaginable:
The families of two of the victims killed in the Manchester bombing have reached out to those affected by last night's attack.
The parents of teenage couple Chloe Rutherford and Liam Curry said it had been their "worst nightmare" losing their children and thanked all those who helped them during this difficult time.
They added: "We would at this point also like to reach out to those affected by the London terror attack, sending our love and condolences to those who have lost loved ones. Our hearts are aching for your loss.
"May those injured have a speedy recovery."
http://www.bbc.com/news/live/uk-40147014 (http://www.bbc.com/news/live/uk-40147014)
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He is an asshole...sorry to be redundant.
Donald J. TrumpVerified account
@realDonaldTrump
Follow
At least 7 dead and 48 wounded in terror attack and Mayor of London says there is "no reason to be alarmed!"
Spokesperson for Sadiq Khan said:
“The Mayor is busy working with the police, emergency services and the government to coordinate the response to this horrific and cowardly terrorist attack and provide leadership and reassurance to Londoners and visitor to our city. He has more important things to do than respond to Donald Trump’s ill-informed tweet that deliberately takes out of context his remarks urging Londoners not to be alarmed when they saw more police – including armed officers – on our streets.
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Bobby FriedmanVerified account @BobbyFriedman 5h5 hours ago
Something lovely and oddly reassuring about @Number10cat Larry padding back inside with the PM after her speech
https://twitter.com/BobbyFriedman (https://twitter.com/BobbyFriedman)
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carl reiner
Verified account @carlreiner May 31
Covfefe, besides meaning 'Soviet' in Russian also stands for:
"Cant Overestimate,Virtuous Fool's Empathy For Escapism.
Bad tweet, ShAME!
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^^^
I had to look up "Larry." Larry the Cat! The "Chief Mouser."
Before I continue, I hadn't heard about this until I read it here. So awful.
In a week it'll be one year since Orlando and so many have occurred since.
___
I can't believe Trump twittered out such a provocative uninformed statement
like that, instead of a statement of support, an offer of help, or at least something
sensible.
...oh, who am I kidding, I can believe it without hesitation, I am just so weary of our
childish leader always feeling aggrieved and, as Fritz noted, he's got some real addiction
for attention, in any form. "That's all he wants or cares about."
Do you Brits, Canadians and Aussies (and New Zealanders, etc.) who post here know that most of the
U.S. is laughing at this imbecile as much as you are and are just as alarmed...and whatever other
negative words you're feeling?
Those who support him have always been around 30% at the core and sometimes up to 40%.
The election statistics point out that a sizeable amount still voted for him even though they didn't
like him and thought he'd be a terrible President. The Republicans somehow got their voters to
believe that Hillary was just as bad, and they've been working at that for 25 years. With help
from the Russians the last go 'round.
-
I find that Larry the Cat has his own Twitter account.
Larry the Cat
@ Number10cat
Downing Street, Westminster
The Chief Mouser to the Cabinet Office. I'm a 12 year old tabby, in position longer
than the leaders of any of the main UK political parties. Unofficial.
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fcdn3-www.cattime.com%2Fassets%2Fuploads%2F2016%2F07%2Flarry-the-cat-britain-mouser-10-downing-street-1.jpg&hash=202fd32e0b14d5fab1701ccdc424ff524e8b65e9)
And, not only that, his tweets are entirely more informed
and sensible than the orange beast's.
Examples:
Larry the Cat:
The gun homicide rate in England is about one for every 1 million people - 160 times less than the US.
Then Donald Trump answered a tweet (The President answered a tweet from a cat. Think about that.)
Donald J. Trump
@realDonaldTrump
Do you notice we are not having a gun debate right now? That's because they used knives and a truck!
4:43 AM - 4 Jun 2017
Larry replied:
Larry the Cat:
Do you know why they used knives and a truck? Because the UK settled its gun debate decades ago,
saving countless lives. Educate yourself.
(You go, Larry!)
And a Brit answered Trump with this tweet:
Ian Boothby
@IanBoothby
Replying to @realDonaldTrump
What's the difference between a knife and one of your Tweets? Knives have an actual point.
(LOL! because it's true.)
Larry the Cat:
Stop for a moment and consider the likely fatality rate if the terrorists had had access to automatic weapons.
-
I would rather have Larry the Cat for President,
instead of what we have now-Larry the Cable Guy.
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.telegraph.co.uk%2Fcontent%2Fdam%2Fnews%2F2016%2F03%2F30%2FLarry_the_cat_3603098b-large_trans_NvBQzQNjv4BqpJliwavx4coWFCaEkEsb3kvxIt-lGGWCWqwLa_RXJU8.jpg&hash=937ad674fc1a69cb32aee37244399f38d5de5b41)
-
I would rather have Larry the Cat for President,
instead of what we have now-Larry the Cable Guy.
Sorry...I don't mean to disparage Larry the Cable Guy.
Larry the C.G. probably does the job he knows very well.
He is also probably smart enough to know that he doesn't
have the qualifications to be in political office. As George
Will noted in his astutely written commentary: "President
Trump doesn't know what it is to know something."
-
Larry the CG ("actor") is worth about $30m...
GOod research on Larry the cat. He has very good insight, maybe he could replace Spicey...but no, cats don't take shit from anybody...
-
Meanwhile the Mango Mussolini's "Pittsburgh not Paris" rally was a total flop. Plus it was ironically held at Lafayette square.
I am sure the participants were unaware of the irony of that!
If I were in Pittsburgh I would've gone there with a sign that said:
Paris AND Pittsburgh
STRONGER TOGETHER.
Trump and his core supporters, these America Firsters, these people who feel so aggrieved about everything...all
just seem to look at the world and feel everyone else has something they do not and that they should have instead.
They feel the government needs to restore all of whatever that is back to them. Take it back from immigrants, or
LGBT people, anyone who uses Government services, that they could actually use themselves if they looked into it.
Take it back from other countries. Because everyone else has something that belongs to them, or was taken from
them, and they want it back.
It reminds me of the lyrics of the song "One Tin Soldier."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vg84L84uop8
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Larry the CG ("actor") is worth about $30m...
Okay, wow, way more than Trump! 8)
-
I would rather have Larry the Cat for President.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/C9sDk_vXkAE-Ng-.jpg)
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CJs Goldfish is another good twitter to follow - Gail was the goldfish on CJ's desk on The West Wing
https://twitter.com/CJsGoldfish?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor (https://twitter.com/CJsGoldfish?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor)
(https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/1232286038/gail.jpg)
Gail The Fish Retweeted
b3ta @b3ta Jun 3
We've been staring at this observation for about 15 minutes.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/card_img/870960009517182978/eg6q_YLh?format=jpg&name=600x314)
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^^^
I had to look up "Larry." Larry the Cat! The "Chief Mouser."
Before I continue, I hadn't heard about this until I read it here. So awful.
In a week it'll be one year since Orlando and so many have occurred since.
___
I can't believe Trump twittered out such a provocative uninformed statement
like that, instead of a statement of support, an offer of help, or at least something
sensible.
...oh, who am I kidding, I can believe it without hesitation, I am just so weary of our
childish leader always feeling aggrieved and, as Fritz noted, he's got some real addiction
for attention, in any form. "That's all he wants or cares about."
Do you Brits, Canadians and Aussies (and New Zealanders, etc.) who post here know that most of the
U.S. is laughing at this imbecile as much as you are and are just as alarmed...and whatever other
negative words you're feeling?
Those who support him have always been around 30% at the core and sometimes up to 40%.
The election statistics point out that a sizeable amount still voted for him even though they didn't
like him and thought he'd be a terrible President. The Republicans somehow got their voters to
believe that Hillary was just as bad, and they've been working at that for 25 years. With help
from the Russians the last go 'round.
We do know how right minded Americans feel, Lyle - I was going to say "Don't worry", but of course you do, and so do we.
And that Tweet makes my blood boil - so petty, ignorant and malicious.
-
Larry the Cat:
The gun homicide rate in England is about one for every 1 million people - 160 times less than the US.
Then Donald Trump answered a tweet (The President answered a tweet from a cat. Think about that.)
Donald J. Trump
@realDonaldTrump
Do you notice we are not having a gun debate right now? That's because they used knives and a truck!
4:43 AM - 4 Jun 2017
(https://cdn.meme.am/cache/instances/folder209/500x/58139209/jesus-facepalm2-jesus-facepalm-even-he-thinks-this-is-ridiculous.jpg)
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I swear to God...this is why I like animals. One of dt's base, perhaps?
I couldn't even read the whole story, let alone watch the video that this LUNATIC put on FB.
SEBRING, Fla. (WFLA) – A Sebring woman is facing a charge of child abuse after a video was posted to social media that showed a snake biting a 1-year-old baby, after it was presented to the infant in a Tupperware container.
According to an arrest affidavit, Chartelle St. Laurent uploaded a video of the incident to Facebook.
http://wfla.com/2017/06/06/sebring-woman-allows-baby-to-be-bitten-by-snake-charged-with-child-abuse/ (http://wfla.com/2017/06/06/sebring-woman-allows-baby-to-be-bitten-by-snake-charged-with-child-abuse/)
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I swear to God...this is why I like animals. One of dt's base, perhaps?
I couldn't even read the whole story, let alone watch the video that this LUNATIC put on FB.
SEBRING, Fla. (WFLA) – A Sebring woman is facing a charge of child abuse after a video was posted to social media that showed a snake biting a 1-year-old baby, after it was presented to the infant in a Tupperware container.
According to an arrest affidavit, Chartelle St. Laurent uploaded a video of the incident to Facebook.
http://wfla.com/2017/06/06/sebring-woman-allows-baby-to-be-bitten-by-snake-charged-with-child-abuse/ (http://wfla.com/2017/06/06/sebring-woman-allows-baby-to-be-bitten-by-snake-charged-with-child-abuse/)
That horrible excuse for a mother needs to be put in jail and the child taken away from her. I couldn't watch the video. **Shudders**
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I swear to God...this is why I like animals. One of dt's base, perhaps?
I couldn't even read the whole story, let alone watch the video that this LUNATIC put on FB.
SEBRING, Fla. (WFLA) – A Sebring woman is facing a charge of child abuse after a video was posted to social media that showed a snake biting a 1-year-old baby, after it was presented to the infant in a Tupperware container.
According to an arrest affidavit, Chartelle St. Laurent uploaded a video of the incident to Facebook.
http://wfla.com/2017/06/06/sebring-woman-allows-baby-to-be-bitten-by-snake-charged-with-child-abuse/ (http://wfla.com/2017/06/06/sebring-woman-allows-baby-to-be-bitten-by-snake-charged-with-child-abuse/)
OMG! Just when you think you've heard the worst, some new asshole comes along.
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Disgusting.
-
^^
What IS wrong with these "people" ? (I use that term very loosely.) >:(
-
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi176.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fw197%2Foilgun%2FOBAMA-TRUDEAU-DINNER_zpso52dwwpr.jpg&hash=632c17f82f2ab49d4d83a88b4364ccda7b95f7be)
Montreal was all abuzz yesterday because Obama was in town for a speech. The above pic is of him having an intimate dinner with our PM after his talk.
http://montrealgazette.com/news/local-news/barack-obama-justin-trudeau-grab-bite-to-eat-in-st-henri-after-speech
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^^^
I like that worker in the other room going about his business. Probably thinking,
"I wish they'd get out of here, I want to go home and watch Fargo."
Or something, lol!
What an odd photo to have on a restaurant wall.
The capsized truck. Or any wall, maybe, eh?
-
^^^^
I love the informality here in this picture. So relaxed.
If it was DT....he would be in his suit, shirt and tie. I have heard
that he even has dinner at home and all his other meals dressed this way.
:o
-
Yeah, like the way Nixon walked on the beach at San Clemente in a suit and tie. He was just unable to relax.
-
Trump, relaxed? LOL
-
^^^
I like that worker in the other room going about his business. Probably thinking,
"I wish they'd get out of here, I want to go home and watch Fargo."
Or something, lol!
What an odd photo to have on a restaurant wall.
The capsized truck. Or any wall, maybe, eh?
I hadn' t even noticed that photo, very odd indeed.
I wonder if they picked that neighbourhood because of its historical significance. During prohibition, Montreal was one of the few big cities that wasn't dry so it became North America's party town. Little Burgundy, where the restaurant is located, was teeming with (non-segregated) Jazz Clubs that featured many of the Jazz greats of the time. It's also where Oscar Peterson grew up.
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So, was any of the testimony said today enough to mean real trouble for Trump?
-
Probably not, as the Republicans have their heads in the sand, and are going to do NOTHING about it. Far be it from them to admit a huge mistake has been made.
-
shit
-
Well, I was going to say their heads up their asses, which is probably more accurate.
-
I'm not especially fond of James Comey, because I'm convinced he contributed to Hillary's loss (so you could say he brought some of his troubles on himself).
On the other hand, "The enemy of my enemy is my friend," so. ...
I also like Reality Winner's term for the President: The Orange Fascist. ;D
(Who names a kid Reality Winner? That's like calling your kid April Showers.)
Well, I was going to say their heads up their asses, which is probably more accurate.
Paul Ryan certainly does.
-
The other names of the Winner's children are:
Lottery
Jackpot
Debate
Eurovision
Derby
Powerball
Superbowl
Oscar
Heisman
Bread
-
LOL!
And Everyone'sa.
-
:D
-
The other names of the Winner's children are:
Lottery
Jackpot
Debate
Eurovision
Derby
Powerball
Superbowl
Oscar
Heisman
Bread
You forgot Oscar's twin sister, Emmy.
And Tony.
And Grammy.
And Bafta.
And Marathon.
And Preakness.
-
Preakness! LOL!
-
Jim AcostaVerified account
@Acosta
Following
Good morning. Happy Saturday. Where are the tapes?
-
HazMat Response at Disneyland
A HazMat team quickly responded to up to two dozen people who reported being
struck by a large quantity of a foul smelling substance just before 9 p.m. in front
of the Sleeping Beauty Castle as crowds were gathering for the nightly fireworks
show.
A total of 17 people -- 11 adults and six children -- were struck with what was
identified as "clearly goose poop," the Anaheim police said. That's right, nearly
20 parkgoers at Disneyland on Friday night got a nasty surprise when a flock of
geese flying overhead defecated on them.
[There are a lot of very amusing headlines about this online.]
-
HazMat Response at Disneyland
A HazMat team quickly responded to up to two dozen people who reported being
struck by a large quantity of a foul smelling substance just before 9 p.m. in front
of the Sleeping Beauty Castle as crowds were gathering for the nightly fireworks
show.
A total of 17 people -- 11 adults and six children -- were struck with what was
identified as "clearly goose poop," the Anaheim police said. That's right, nearly
20 parkgoers at Disneyland on Friday night got a nasty surprise when a flock of
geese flying overhead defecated on them.
[There are a lot of very amusing headlines about this online.]
I guess I shouldn't laugh at that, but ....
OTOH, I once got bombed by some bird or other. Luckily I was wearing a cap! So I really do sympathize with those folks! (It made a mess of the cap.)
-
Yes, you should laugh! ;D
I couldn't sleep last night...I guess because I had to get up early for the RESIST march this morning!
But I got up at 5am! I am sitting here looking out my window and at the end of the street on Santa
Monica Blvd. there's what looks like a gasoline tanker and I've been wondering for a bit why it's there
and what the heck it's doing? It's just dawned on me that it's filling up large orange barrier things with
water. (Not gasoline hopefully.) I saw these things at almost every street corner last night and knew they
were barriers. It didn't occur to me they'd have to come by and fill them up with water! Makes sense though.
I also saw police cars roaming the streets this morning and what look like bomb detecting devices being trailed
up and down the streets. It's sad it's all come to this, but it doesn't concern me about doing anything I want to.
I also read that some of our heavyweight politicians are going to be speaking after the march, like Nancy Pelosi,
Maxine Waters and my Congressman, Adam Schiff. I wonder how much all this security is costing though! There's
a LOT of streets from Hollywood and Highland to Santa Monica Blvd. and Doheny!
Well, I best get my duds ready and my sign and everything else! My feet problems don't want me to really go do
the 4-5 miles walk today, (my feet are resisting!) but I'm up for it anyway! For those of you who've visited out here
for some of the Brokie gatherings, the march is going to start on Hollywood Blvd. after some opening ceremonies. It's
where the first Pride marches were held in 1970! The march will be from Hollywood and Highland, down Hollywood Blvd.
to La Brea, then south to Sunset Blvd. (I'll be ready for my close-up!) and then west to Fairfax Avenue, (a block or two
south of where Ken & Robert's party was held in 2008 at their house) then south to Santa Monica Blvd. and then west
all the way to Doheny in West Hollywood!
I'm quite excited about it! The reports are that they have absolutely no idea how many people are going to come. When
pressed for a guess they said, that 50,000 had said they were coming on the website. (25,000 said they were going to the
L.A. Womens' March and 750,000 showed up!) So, we shall see.
-
yes, I'm following Larry the Cat, what of it? ;)
Larry the Cat
@Number10cat
Following
I'm not saying she's nervous, but Theresa May just did this...
#ExitPoll #Election2017
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DB1ToCWWsAAVq2A.jpg)
-
:laugh:
-
why wouldn't he testify under oath? Lie in front of a microphone, lie under oath - it's all the same to him...
Washington (CNN)A defiant President Donald Trump said Friday he was willing to testify under oath about his conversations with James Comey, further fueling the swirling controversy ignited by the fired FBI director's bombshell testimony before the Senate on Thursday.
"One hundred percent," Trump said when asked about his willingness to deliver sworn testimony.
http://www.cnn.com/2017/06/09/politics/trump-news-conference/index.html (http://www.cnn.com/2017/06/09/politics/trump-news-conference/index.html)
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He'll make as little sense as he does now, sworn testimony or not. Besides, he won't answer any questions with answers that will make any sense and it will all be about him.
-
I'm not saying she's nervous, but Theresa May just did this...
#ExitPoll #Election2017
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DB1ToCWWsAAVq2A.jpg)
Has she been responsible for crop circles all along? Maybe she's actually an alien?
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9th Circuit Rules Against Trump Travel Ban
The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals on Monday ruled in part against President Trump’s so-called travel ban, upholding an injunction that prevents the administration from enforcing a suspension on travel from six mostly Muslim countries.
"We conclude that the President, in issuing the Executive Order, exceeded the scope of the authority delegated to him by Congress," the opinion said.
The ruling Monday from a unanimous three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals deals the administration another legal defeat as the Supreme Court considers a separate case on the issue.
The judges say the president violated U.S. immigration law by discriminating against people based on their nationality and that Trump failed to show their entry into the country would hurt American interests.
In a statement, Attorney General Jeff Sessions said the Justice Department disagreed with the decision, adding that the order was "well within [Trump's] lawful authority to keep the Nation safe."
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2017/06/12/hawaii-urges-court-to-keep-hold-on-trump-travel-ban.html
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Why Republicans Might Let Their Health Care Bill Fail
By MJ Lee and Lauren Fox, CNN
Donald Trump's top campaign promise of repealing Obamacare remains unfinished as the President heads into Washington's sweltering summer months.
With the Republican Party's most pressing undertaking stuck in limbo, GOP senators and aides are beginning to wonder about one undesirable outcome: that the Senate takes a vote on a health care bill in the coming weeks
Republicans are attempting to use the so-called budget reconciliation process, which would allow them to avoid a Democratic filibuster. With only 52 Republicans in the Senate, however, there is no room for error as leaders struggle with the daunting task of finding consensus between their caucus' moderate and conservative flanks on such a deeply divisive issue.
Last week, it became clear that GOP leaders were seriously considering several moderate concessions on their health care bill, including keeping some of the Obamacare taxes and not allowing states to repeal what is known as community rating -- a key protection for people with pre-existing conditions.
The negotiations are hardly over, but the information that has trickled out from lawmakers have conservatives on and off Capitol Hill on edge and watching Majority Leader Mitch McConnell for clues.
http://www.cnn.com/2017/06/12/politics/senate-health-care-bill-fail-on-purpose/index.html
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Donald Trump just held the weirdest Cabinet meeting ever
By Chris Cillizza, CNN Editor-at-large
Leave it to Donald Trump to reinvent the Cabinet meeting.
The public portion of these gatherings of all of the president's top advisers are usually staid affairs. Photographers are let in to take pictures. The president makes a very brief statement. A reporter shouts a question, unanswered. The end.
Donald Trump did something very different in his Cabinet meeting Monday.
First, he reviewed the various alleged successes of his first 143 days and made this remarkable claim: "Never has there been a president....with few exceptions...who's passed more legislation, who's done more things than I have."
Um, ok. While Trump has signed a number of executive orders and actions -- the most high profile of which, the so-called "travel ban" was, again, blocked by a court on Monday -- what he hasn't really done is pass actual legislation through Congress. The health care bill is tied up in Senate machinations. Tax reform hasn't moved an inch. Funding for the border wall hasn't happened. And so on.
(Nota bene: You can't say "never has" something happened and then say "with few exceptions." Either it's never happened or it, well, has.)
But, that wasn't even close to the weirdest part of the Cabinet meeting!
Once Trump finished touting his administration's accomplishments, he turned to several of his newly-minted Cabinet secretaries like Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue. Each of those Cabinet secretaries lavished praise on Trump, which he accepted without comment but with a broad smile. At first, I thought Trump was just going to have the new members of the Cabinet spend a few minutes praising him. NOPE! It soon became clear that Trump planned to have every Cabinet member speak. And when I say "speak" what I really mean is "praise Trump for his accomplishments, his foresight, his just being awesome."
http://www.cnn.com/2017/06/12/politics/donald-trump-cabinet-meeting/index.html
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He wanted to make Kim Jong-Eun jealous.
-
The Resist March in Los Angeles/West Hollywood was a success this weekend!
It was such a lovely empowering day. It's so nice to gather and talk to so many
different kinds of people.
This link is the entire two hour program at the end of the march that took place on
Santa Monica Blvd. and Almont, which is near Doheny Dr,
Livestream from LA PRIDE in West Hollywood and #ResistMarch
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=555-2HChLCQ
0:00 People arriving at the end of the march at Almont and SMB.
1:20 Opening remarks
2:30 HRC and Pride remarks and presentations
3:30 crowd video showing signs and people etc. interspersed with some video remarks by various people
12:20 similar to 1:20
16:30 Trans Chorus of Los Angeles and Gay Men's Chorus of Los Angeles
-- (Song 1: ?)
-- (Song 2: Age of Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In)
-- (Song 3: ?)
29:40 video remarks
30:33 Margaret Cho (host)
37:09 WeHo Mayor John Heilman (I booed him.)
-- (He introduces Sheila Kuehl, Jeff Prang, John Duran, Lauren Meister, Lindsay Horvath
-- and John D'Amico, some of whom speak later)
42:50 Lauren Meister (WeHo City Councilwoman)
44:03 John D'Amico (WeHo City Councilman)
44:52 Lindsay Horvath (WeHo City Councilwoman)
46:03 Jussie Smollett (from Empire and Alien Covenant)
49:00 Jussie introduces Adam Schiff, Maxine Waters and Nancy Pelosi
51:36 Congressman Adam Schiff (District 28)
54:45 Congresswoman Maxine Waters
58:30 Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi
-- (1:00:15 / During remarks she introduces Congresspersons Mark Takano, Nanette Barragan and Judy Chu)
1:06:07 Brian Pendleton (Resist March Organizer)
1:06:45 HRC President Chad Griffin
1:11:52 John Duran (WeHo City Councilman)
1:17:41 Margaret Cho (host)
1:18;27 Eureka and Morgan McMichaels (From Rupaul's Drag Race)
1:22:08 Bamby Salcedo
1:27:43 Sue Freitag (El Camino drama teacher) and student Sarah Slaughter and her Mom
1:31:45 Chris Rock
1:32:45 Patrice Colors and Black Lives Matter members (Co-Founder)
1:34:40 Christopher Jackson, Black Lives Matter member
1:36:52 America Ferrara
1:43:40 Jose Guevara (Dreamer)
1:47:02 Phil Wilson (Black Aids Institute) with Darrell Stevens and Vanessa Williams (not that one)
1:51:16 Sue Dunlap (Planned Parenthood LA)
1:53:45 Adam Lambert
1:59:16 Gay Men's Chorus of Los Angeles, Trans Chorus of Los Angeles and the West Coast Singers
-- (Song: This Land is My Land)
2:02:02 Brian Pendleton and Alexei Romanov (activist)
2:04:35 Go to the Festival
I couldn't find a video of the Opening Ceremonies in Hollywood. This is all I could locate, a short video of some of the speakers,
including Mayor Eric Garcetti and Ru Paul. Cheyenne Jackson sang the national anthem, but not on this video.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HpU8seA4zT8
Crowd in Hollywood listening to Ru Paul:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6OPbX7mRuxA
If you care to see me and my friend Ken, here's a youtube video I found. For maximum effect, start at 1:55 and then see us walk by at around 4:00.
We are wearing army green t-shirts that say REIST MARCH 06-11-17 and carrying signs. Also wearing hats and tan shorts/slacks. This is on a section
of Sunset Blvd. between La Brea and Fairfax.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iKKrLd80mDQ
-
Yay!
-
If you care to see me and my friend Ken, here's a youtube video I found. For maximum effect, start at 1:55 and then see us walk by at around 4:00. We are wearing army green t-shirts that say REIST MARCH 06-11-17 and carrying signs. Also wearing hats and tan shorts/slacks. This is on a section
of Sunset Blvd. between La Brea and Fairfax.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iKKrLd80mDQ
Cool vids, Lyle! Thanks for posting! I found you in the video above.
-
Geaux Lyle!
-
Trump knocks House health care bill as too harsh
By BURGESS EVERETT , JENNIFER HABERKORN and JOSH DAWSEY 06/13/2017
President Donald Trump directed Senate Republicans to pass a generous health care bill at a meeting with more than a dozen GOP senators on Tuesday, arguing that the austere House health care bill is difficult to defend, according to people familiar with the meeting.
The president also said Republicans risk getting savaged in the 2018 midterms if they fail to repeal Obamacare after a seven-year campaign against the law.
But he made clear that the Senate needs to pass a bill that Republicans are able to more easily defend and is not viewed as an attack on Americans from low-income households, as the House bill has been portrayed by critics, the sources said. He also advocated more robust tax credits for people who buy insurance on the individual market, a move that would increase the bill’s cost.
Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio), who is pushing the Senate to slow the repeal of Medicaid expansion, indicated Trump is concerned about the people who are enrolled in the program for low-income Americans.
“He talked about the need to take care of people,” Portman said of the president.
http://www.politico.com/story/2017/06/13/trump-urge-gop-senate-repeal-obamacare-239504
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Only if he gets all the credit.
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10209846536067317&set=p.10209846536067317&type=3&theater
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Trump blocked Stephen King on Twitter — but J.K. Rowling came to the rescue
By Caitlin Gibson June 13
It doesn’t take much to provoke President Trump into blocking a follower on Twitter — anything from an insult to an unflattering GIF to a mild “covfefe” joke seems enough to do the trick.
So it perhaps shouldn’t come as a surprise that best-selling author Stephen King was abruptly added to the #BlockedByTrump list Tuesday. The horror fiction maestro has been one of Trump’s most consistent and creative Twitter critics since well before the November election: “A Trump presidency scares me more than anything else,” he told Ron Charles, editor of The Washington Post’s Book World, during a Facebook Live interview in September. “I’m terrified that he’ll become president.”
Trump, of course, did exactly that — and King continued to offer outspoken condemnation (and sometimes, outright mockery) in response to Trump’s Twitter missives. That is, until Tuesday, when King announced that he had apparently been blocked from viewing the president’s tweets:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/arts-and-entertainment/wp/2017/06/13/trump-blocked-stephen-king-on-twitter-but-j-k-rowling-came-to-the-rescue/?utm_term=.cc0891ae1d98
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Poor little buttercup.
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^^^^
I bet Donald is really pissed off that he hasn't got the name of "King" but instead has the comical name of "Trump" !!
Imagine people would be able to say "Here comes the King" . Oh WoW!! Wouldn't that boost his flagging ego !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
(Just a thought! :">)
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^^^^
I bet Donald is really pissed off that he hasn't got the name of "King" but instead has the comical name of "Trump" !!
Imagine people would be able to say "Here comes the King" . Oh WoW!! Wouldn't that boost his flagging ego !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
(Just a thought! :">)
I understand the Public Theater's Shakespeare in the Park in New York is putting on a "Julius Caesar" with a Caesar who looks like Trump and has a wife with a Slavic accent.
And we all know what happened to Julius Caesar. ... ::)
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Cool vids, Lyle! Thanks for posting! I found you in the video above.
I've been discovered! :)
Someone asked me why there were a lot of people interspersed in the march carrying large
purple balloons. Those represented each one of the people lost in the Pulse Nightclub tragedy
in Orlando one year previous. They were all together at the beginning of the march, then took
places throughout as it began. And they were all carried by high school students who had come
out at their high schools, too!
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimageslogotv-a.akamaihd.net%2Furi%2Fmgid%3Aao%3Aimage%3Alogotv.com%3A237643%3Fquality%3D0.8%26amp%3Bformat%3Djpg%26amp%3Bwidth%3D980%26amp%3Bheight%3D551&hash=5ccf05291ba210527fcef301d2c66aba49c793b9)
This is a photo on Hollywood Blvd. showing half, less than half, of the balloon carriers. (Writing
"less than half" -- that just made me wince.) The photo is facing east, the stage for the opening was
behind the photographer. The photo has condensed the actual distance, over two blocks in it. Hiding
in that photo is the Chinese Theatre, Dolby Theatre (Oscars), the wax museum and Hollywood &
Highland center.
Trump's star on the walk of fame by the Hollywood & Highland center was plastered with resist notes to him.
That rectangular frame at the bottom center was one of several video screens set up for people
to enjoy the opening speakers and presentation. My friend Ken and I were right beside that one
pictured. On the left. There was a bus bench there and I wanted to sit down before marching as
my feet aren't what they used to be!
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Of course, the London apartment building fire is chilling. The photos of an entire
26 (was it?) story building engulfed in flames is pretty, I'll use the word again:
chilling. I read that people were told to remain in place. People in the WTC towers
were told that, too. I suppose there's some reason to fear a stampede of people,
but if I'm ever in any building that I know to be on fire, I am leaving. I hope none
of our Brit friends on the forum are affected by this unfortunate tragedy. I'm also
grateful it isn't terror related.
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Of course, the London apartment building fire is chilling. The photos of an entire
26 (was it?) story building engulfed in flames is pretty, I'll use the word again:
chilling. I read that people were told to remain in place. People in the WTC towers
were told that, too. I suppose there's some reason to fear a stampede of people,
but if I'm ever in any building that I know to be on fire, I am leaving. I hope none
of our Brit friends on the forum are affected by this unfortunate tragedy. I'm also
grateful it isn't terror related.
So horrific! One guy was being interviewed and he said he would be dead if he had followed the instructions to stay inside. Luckily he was still awake when the fire started, so he was able to escape in time from the seventh floor with his young daughter and girlfriend.
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According to this evening's NBC network news, the building in London had no sprinklers and only one staircase.
Here in Philadelphia in 1991 we had a fire in a high-rise business building. Three firefighters died. The city changed its ordinances to require sprinklers in all high-rises. We have them in my building.
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I can't believe that people were told not to leave.....or that the building had no sprinkler system.
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happy birthday donald
Trump Under Federal Criminal Investigation for Obstruction of Justice
http://www.npr.org/2017/06/14/532985377/report-trump-under-investigation (http://www.npr.org/2017/06/14/532985377/report-trump-under-investigation-for-possible-obstruction-of-justice)
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Such an appropriate present.
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Just heard on the News....that it's going to take 2-3 years to find out the cause of the
Tower Block fire in London. Are they waiting long enough for the sting to be taken out of the tail and for it to stop smarting ?? Bet if it was a Government Building that had gone up in flames with all the Ministers stuck inside....we would know the cause within a week.
>:(
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2-3 years?
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2-3 years?
I kid you not. :(
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pathetic excuse for a human being...
Judge finds Michelle Carter guilty of manslaughter in texting suicide case
(CNN)In a case that hinged largely on a teenage couple's intimate text messages, Michelle Carter was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter Friday in the 2014 death of her boyfriend, who poisoned himself by inhaling carbon monoxide in his pickup truck, a Massachusetts judge ruled.
Carter's own words -- preserved in hundreds of text messages presented as evidence over six days of testimony -- helped seal her conviction in the death of 18-year-old Conrad Roy III, Bristol County Juvenile Court Judge Lawrence Moniz said during a 15-minute explanation of his rationale.
"She admits in ... texts that she did nothing: She did not call the police or Mr. Roy's family" after hearing his last breaths during a phone call, Moniz said. "And, finally, she did not issue a simple additional instruction: Get out of the truck."
Carter, 20, cried silently as Moniz spoke. She stood to receive the ruling, which could set legal precedent for whether it's a crime to tell someone to commit suicide.
Roy was sitting in his truck in the parking lot of a store in July 2014 as he took his own life.
After he exited the truck, Carter told him to "get back in", Mr Flynn said at the trial in juvenile court.
Carter, who did not call authorities or Roy's parents as he died, wanted the sympathy and attention that came with being the "grieving girlfriend", Flynn said.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-06-07/michelle-carter-on-trial-over-texting-suicide/8597756 (http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-06-07/michelle-carter-on-trial-over-texting-suicide/8597756)
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pathetic excuse for a human being...
Judge finds Michelle Carter guilty of manslaughter in texting suicide case
(CNN)In a case that hinged largely on a teenage couple's intimate text messages, Michelle Carter was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter Friday in the 2014 death of her boyfriend, who poisoned himself by inhaling carbon monoxide in his pickup truck, a Massachusetts judge ruled.
Carter's own words -- preserved in hundreds of text messages presented as evidence over six days of testimony -- helped seal her conviction in the death of 18-year-old Conrad Roy III, Bristol County Juvenile Court Judge Lawrence Moniz said during a 15-minute explanation of his rationale.
"She admits in ... texts that she did nothing: She did not call the police or Mr. Roy's family" after hearing his last breaths during a phone call, Moniz said. "And, finally, she did not issue a simple additional instruction: Get out of the truck."
Carter, 20, cried silently as Moniz spoke. She stood to receive the ruling, which could set legal precedent for whether it's a crime to tell someone to commit suicide.
Roy was sitting in his truck in the parking lot of a store in July 2014 as he took his own life.
After he exited the truck, Carter told him to "get back in", Mr Flynn said at the trial in juvenile court.
Carter, who did not call authorities or Roy's parents as he died, wanted the sympathy and attention that came with being the "grieving girlfriend", Flynn said.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-06-07/michelle-carter-on-trial-over-texting-suicide/8597756 (http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-06-07/michelle-carter-on-trial-over-texting-suicide/8597756)
Yes, Nancy I totally agree. I watched 48 Hours tonight, and watched some of the trial and saw some of the testimony. She showed no emotion at all during the whole trial, until the judge found her guilty.
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London Police Raise Death Toll In Tower Fire To 30
MERRIT KENNEDY
British authorities are launching a criminal investigation into the London apartment building fire — as the death toll from the blaze has nearly doubled, to 30.
The death toll is expected to rise further as rescue workers continue to search for victims – an operation that Metropolitan Police Commander Stuart Cundy described as "extremely challenging."
The upper floors of Grenfell Tower sustained significant damage, he says, and "the sad reality is that this work will take some time, stretching into many, many weeks."
Dozens are still missing. Police say 24 injured people remain at the hospital. And as NPR's Frank Langfitt in London, police are hoping that the death toll will not reach the triple digits.
http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/06/16/533233584/london-police-raise-death-toll-in-tower-fire-to-30
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Every aspect of it is just horrible - and utterly traumatic for the rescue workers.
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Loving this story! I know Nikos in real life, he's the husband of the son of one of my best friends in high school, the one I frequently went to have Thanksgiving dinner in the past, though they've moved to North Carolina since their retirement.
Earl and I spent Thanksgiving before last with Nikos and his husband Justin, Justin's parents, sister and brother-in-law. Earl was astonished to see a family who got along so well together in love, something which he did not experience much growing up.
http://www.joemygod.com/2017/06/16/not-photoshopped-trump-melania-meet-rhode-islands-teacher-year-nikos-giannopoulus/
On Wednesday, when I met the president as Rhode Island’s State Teacher of the Year, I did not know what to expect. After a lengthy security process, we were welcomed into the Roosevelt Room where we each met Secretary of Education, Betsy DeVos. Shortly thereafter, we walked into the Oval Office. The man seated at the desk read prepared remarks from a sheet of paper and made some comments about CEOs and which states he “loved” based on electoral votes that he had secured. He did not rise from his seat to present the National Teacher of the Year with her much deserved award nor did he allow her to speak. We returned to the Roosevelt Room and one by one got a photo with him and his wife. After what amounted to a brief photo op, we were ushered out of the West Wing and back onto the streets of DC.
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I watched 48 Hours tonight
I'd considered watching that when I heard on CBS there was going to be a 48 Hours about it, but I just
thought it was on Saturday night when 48 Hours is usually on, so I didn't check.
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Loving this story! I know Nikos in real life, he's the husband of the son of one of my best friends in high school,
http://www.joemygod.com/2017/06/16/not-photoshopped-trump-melania-meet-rhode-islands-teacher-year-nikos-giannopoulus/
Excellent Fritz! You know and have met him etc. Pretty amazing!
Nikos and this article just gave me an idea for a play, film or story.
Act 1 is a character like Nikos, gay and growing up in a family who,
quoting Nikos, "always allowed me to be myself, highlighting my best
qualities, and building up my confidence as a shield to any bigotry I may
encounter; who have accepted, celebrated, and loved me unconditionally
for my whole life. I have a chosen family of queer friends and loved ones
with whom I have formed deep and supportive relationships that will last
a lifetime and a partner who understands me better than anyone in the world."
Act 2 would be the same character growing up in the opposite situation. I won't
elaborate on that here, because you all know what I mean.
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That would be great!
Yeah, Thanksgiving before last Earl and I spent the afternoon with him and his husband Justin at Justin's parents place here in Virginia, along with Justin's sister and brother-in-law. They are a very impressive couple.
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BREAKING: Special Counsel Subpoenas Trump Bank Accounts, Phone Calls, Trump Threatens To Fire Him
Special Counsel Robert S. Mueller’s decision to personally go after Trump for possible criminal acts and obstruction of justice has marked a turning point in the Russia collusion investigation, which until recently has only focused on Russia’s meddling into the 2016 presidential election.
Now – Mueller has issued subpoenas of President Trump’s personal bank accounts, along with his phone records. Since it’s an official court order, refusal to comply can result in contempt of court charge, punishable by jail, a fine, or both.
The move is expected to put Trump’s personal finances under a microscope. So far, Trump has been the only president in recent history to refuse to divulge his tax returns. The expanding probe is likely to reveal a ton of dirt from the president’s financial past.
UPDATE: Shortly after this was announced, CNN reported that Mueller is also closely investigating Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner’s finances, in addition to other Trump associates.
http://news.groopspeak.com/breaking-special-counsel-subpoenas-trump-bank-accounts-phone-calls-trump-threatens-to-fire-him/
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Shit, fan.
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San Francisco's Cafe Flore Introduces Cannabis Cocktails
The Cafe Flore (now called simply "Flore") has been a mainstay of the Castro neighborhood for 44 years. According to the B.A.R. newspaper, a cannabis infused drink menu is now available.
"The Castro's Flore cafe is rolling out its new cannabis cocktail menu and is believed to be the first bar in San Francisco to offer beverages laced with pot...
A cannabis-laced beer, Tokeback Mountain, was introduced April 20 and has quickly become the most popular beer on tap...
Local laws prohibit bars from also selling cannabis, which made the owners' job "very tricky," said Alan. But he figured out that if he used the hemp-based non-psychoactive form of cannabis, called cannabidiol, or CBD, it would be legal."
Rest of story:
http://www.ebar.com/news/article.php?sec=news&article=72683
The times they are a-changing!
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I don't understand. I don't understand. He KILLED a man. He KILLED a man sitting in a car. with no weapon. I remember this case, I sent a card to his girlfriend, told her I was was so sorry for what happened, that it was an injustice......but I only had her name and city, not her address, and the card came back to me.......
Hundreds Protest After Minnesota Officer Found Not Guilty In Philando Castile Death
June 16, 20174:00 PM ET
Updated 2:15 a.m. ET Saturday
Hundreds of people gathered in St. Paul, Minn., Friday evening to protest a verdict that found a Minnesota police officer not guilty on all counts in his deadly shooting of a black man during a traffic stop in 2016.
Castile, a 32-year-old school cafeteria worker, was driving with his girlfriend and her 4-year-old daughter when they were pulled over by St. Anthony police Officer Jeronimo Yanez.
"Seventy-four seconds after Yanez activated his squad lights, he fired the last of seven shots into the car," Minnesota Public Radio's Matt Sepic reported.
Yanez was charged last November with one count of felony second-degree manslaughter in Castile's death. He also faced two felony counts of intentional discharge of a dangerous weapon over allegedly endangering Castile's girlfriend, Diamond Reynolds, and her daughter. He pleaded not guilty.
Yanez said in court that "he was forced to shoot Castile because the driver was not complying with the officer's commands and was reaching for a gun. Yanez previously testified he had stopped Castile because the driver resembled a suspect in a local convenience store robbery days earlier," MPR reported.
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I don't understand. I don't understand. He KILLED a man. He KILLED a man sitting in a car. with no weapon. I remember this case, I sent a card to his girlfriend, told her I was was so sorry for what happened, that it was an injustice......but I only had her name and city, not her address, and the card came back to me.......
*shakes head* I remember that story. My heart goes out to his girlfriend and his family. Stories like this make me so angry.
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Bill Cosby Mistrial: Hollywood Reporter Legal Experts Debate How It Happened and What's Next
UNE 17, 2017 11:37am PT by Matthew Belloni , Eriq Gardner , Ashley Cullins
"Are either of you surprised? Can’t say I am," says THR senior editor Eriq Gardner as a trio of trial watchers discuss the reasons for the hung jury, the celebrity factor and whether a re-trial makes sense: "It’s always nearly impossible to predict what a dozen jurors are going to decide."
After five days of deliberation, the Pennslyvania jury tasked with deciding whether Bill Cosby is guilty of sexually assaulting ex-Temple University employee Andrea Constand in 2004 announced today it was "hopelessly deadlocked" and could not reach a verdict. Following Montgomery County Judge Steven T. O'Neill's decision to decare a mistrial (and prosecutors' vow to retry Cosby), The Hollywood Reporter convened its trio of legal experts to debate the result and the next steps. Editorial director Matthew Belloni, who once practiced entertainment law, exchanged emails with senior editor Eriq Gardner, who writes and edits the publication's legal blog THR, Esq. with staff reporter Ashley Cullins. An edited version of their exchange, in which they explore what led to this outcome and what might change if prosecutors follow through on their promise to re-try the case, is below....
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr-esq/bill-cosby-mistrial-legal-experts-debate-how-happened-whats-next-1014472
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This is why I don't like Bill Cosby: Spring of 1982 I turned on the Tonight Show
and Bill Cosby was filling in as guest host for Johnny Carson. One of the guests
was Aileen Quinn, the little girl starring in the just released movie Annie.
I was appalled at the way he treated this young girl and the very inappropriate
questions he asked her. She seemed very uncomfortable to me and I've thought
Bill Cosby was a creep ever after.
I have written this before on the forum a couple times previously. At one time I thought
I found a clip of that interview from the Tonight Show, but the link didn't work any more,
but because it was online, I did get a corroboration of my feelings about it from the person
who had originally posted it. So once in awhile, when things like this come up, I look online
again to see if this video might be there.
Just now I found it! It is a very bad quality copy, judging from the first ten seconds, but there
it is. I have often wondered if I watched it again would I dismiss those feelings I had when I first
saw it back in 1982. I haven't seen it since then. I'm going to watch it now.
It's on Vimeo, not youtube, but should be accessible to all. After I watch it I'll post what I think of it now.
https://vimeo.com/18429714
______
EDIT after watching it: The video's a little over 9 minutes. The first 4:20 is the interview, followed by
Aileen singing a medley from Annie.
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I still think he's creepy in this interview.
One of the things in my memory is that he asked her about her underwear.
In this video in the very first minute Cosby says some words that are bleeped
out. Was that it, because otherwise there's no mention of underwear on this video.
Actually, I Believe he used the word "panties." Regardless, with a ten year old on
stage being interviewed, shouldn't you avoid saying anything that would get bleeped
out? He also references that he was told if he mentioned something it would get bleeped.
So this came up before the taping. He does anyway.
By the way, from my memory of this, that pitcher on his desk was referenced in his opening
monologue or talk or whatever he did at the beginning of the show. I remember him saying it
was an alcoholic beverage (margaritas?) but I couldn't believe he'd be actually allowed to drink
something alcoholic in front of the audience. Or even have it onstage while interviewing a child.
If he was drunk I could believe it. (During her song he pours himself one. Plus, he also has a
cigar in front of her.)
As one who did so many commercials featuring children, I don't know how he thought this was in
any way appropriate.
In the previous post I mentioned someone else corroborating my sentiments. It's still online,
but, as I said, the youtube video is no longer there:
___
Strange Bill Cosby inerviewing Aileen Quinn -by annielauri (no login)
Has anyone else seen this interview? Something is bleeped in the beginning (I can't figure out what he says) and the rest of the questions seem completely inappropriate to ask to a young child. Aileen handled the interview so professionally with lots of charisma. I was impressed by her for sure! Bill Cosby, not so much. Strange.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O7c5JMOIdvo&feature=related
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He's not one bit concerned with making her comfortable - he's talking at her, just trying to get laughs, not talking with her. In fact he seems to have no actual interest in her.
-
This is why I don't like Bill Cosby: Spring of 1982 I turned on the Tonight Show
and Bill Cosby was filling in as guest host for Johnny Carson. One of the guests
was Aileen Quinn, the little girl starring in the just released movie Annie.
I was appalled at the way he treated this young girl and the very inappropriate
questions he asked her. She seemed very uncomfortable to me and I've thought
Bill Cosby was a creep ever after.
I have written this before on the forum a couple times previously. At one time I thought
I found a clip of that interview from the Tonight Show, but the link didn't work any more,
but because it was online, I did get a corroboration of my feelings about it from the person
who had originally posted it. So once in awhile, when things like this come up, I look online
again to see if this video might be there.
Just now I found it! It is a very bad quality copy, judging from the first ten seconds, but there
it is. I have often wondered if I watched it again would I dismiss those feelings I had when I first
saw it back in 1982. I haven't seen it since then. I'm going to watch it now.
It's on Vimeo, not youtube, but should be accessible to all. After I watch it I'll post what I think of it now.
https://vimeo.com/18429714
______
EDIT after watching it: The video's a little over 9 minutes. The first 4:20 is the interview, followed by
Aileen singing a medley from Annie.
Oh. My. God! I'm at a loss for words.
-
I can't believe he asked her if she was going to take her clothes off.
::)
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London vehicle hits pedestrians, police say 'number of casualties'
By Alla Eshchenko, Ryan Prior and Darran Simon
A vehicle hit pedestrians in London and there are "a number of casualties being worked on at the scene," according to authorities.
London's Metropolitan Police said officers were called just after midnight Sunday to an incident on Seven Sisters Road. "There has been one person arrested. Inquiries continue. More information will be released when confirmed," police said.
Transport for London tweeted that Seven Sisters Road was closed northbound at Hornsey Road and southbound at Rock Street.
CNN national terror analyst Peter Bergen said the neighborhood has a large Muslim population and the nearby mosque has a notorious reputation as a place where Islamist militants used to gather.
http://www.cnn.com/2017/06/18/europe/urgent---london-vehicle-collision/index.html
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THE MEMO: For Trump, danger signs in the polls
BY NIALL STANAGE - 06/18/17 06:14 PM EDT
President Trump’s willingness to flout convention and stoke controversy may be starting to hurt him, even among previously strong supporters.
Trump has defied political norms ever since the start of his campaign two years ago. He brushed aside calls to become a more conventional candidate, and it paid off, making him the nation’s 45th president.
But Trump’s approval rating, always low by historical standards, has been sliding since he took office in January. Crucially, many recent surveys detected an erosion of his support among Republicans and independents.
Trump’s job performance wins approval from only 35 percent of the public, while 64 percent disapprove, according to a new poll released late last week from The Associated Press and the NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. That is one of the worst findings yet for Trump in any major survey.
The same poll found that 65 percent of Americans think their president has little or no respect for the nation’s democratic institutions and traditions.
http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/338225-the-memo-for-trump-danger-signs-in-the-polls
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About the London attack:
Witness says driver shouted, ‘I want to kill all Muslims’.
Instead of bars/pubs, we need therapists/psychiatrists on every corner.
_____
It just dawned on me that last time I visited London I and a friend stayed with
an acquaintance in Finsbury Park. I have a photo of me somewhere in front of
the Finsbury Park tube station.
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THE MEMO: For Trump, danger signs in the polls
Trump’s job performance wins approval from only 35 percent of the public
Only? I have never understood how he ever gets that much. I hate to believe so many people
could ever have looked at him and go "President?" "Yes!"
while 64 percent disapprove
The same poll found that 65 percent of Americans think their president has little or no respect for the nation’s democratic institutions and traditions.
No. Really? Whatever gave them that idea?
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The Dems need a win on something and I hope it comes in the Georgia 6th tonight.
The polls have it completely tied.
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Slowly but surely...still high among Republicans, though...81% is not to be sneezed at...
President Donald Trump's approval among the core groups that make up his base has begun to erode, contributing to his overall approval rating hitting a new low in Quinnipiac University's political tracking poll.
While Trump's support in his core constituencies – white voters, men and Republicans – had remained resilient throughout his lowest points on the campaign trail and into the first months of his presidency, Wednesday's edition of the Quinnipiac poll registered significant drops in all three groups since the beginning of the month.
The president's approval among Republican voters dropped 10 points, to 81 percent, among Republicans, with 14 percent saying they disapprove. On March 7, that same group approved of how the Trump was handling the job of president 91 percent to 5 percent who disapproved.
https://www.usnews.com/news/politics/articles/2017-03-22/poll-trumps-support-among-core-constituencies-slipping-overall-approval-lowest-yet (https://www.usnews.com/news/politics/articles/2017-03-22/poll-trumps-support-among-core-constituencies-slipping-overall-approval-lowest-yet)
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How can anyone look at "how Trump was handling the job of president" and actually approve?
All you need to know is that if any Democrat, and most probably any other Republican, too, was
acting like Trump they would be absolutely livid.
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Not everyone hates him , his base still loves him...and Republicans are backing him up, thinking better him than a Democrat...
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Not everyone hates him
That would be fine with me if he weren't President.
There's a reason that "Hamilton" is in vogue nowadays, especially
with this quote attributed to him, "The masses are asses."
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By the way, if you read comment sections on news articles, that seems to be the
primary reason that his supporters love Trump; because it p.o.'s those that do not.
-
but he is president - and they still like him. His base doesn't care about "Hamilton".
I thought that a large percentage of the people who voted for him - lower/middle class who just wanted change / something new and different, would come to realize that he wasn't the answer......but so far, no...
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please answer with your own opinions, not links to leftie sites...just your own opinion would be good...
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Did I suggest that his base does care about Hamilton?
Like I said, his base only cares that they're sticking it to everyone else.
They like him because he is reflecting what they feel. Aggrieved.
Fearful. Angry. Everyone is out to get them. (Witch hunt.) Everyone
else is getting things they aren't. Their problems are someone else's
fault. He's the perfect symbol of all their neuroses.
They won't admit that he isn't the answer because when do conservatives ever admit
something like that? They double down.
For all of their talk of liberty and personal responsibility, they will never take responsibility for this atrocity.
And I read an article why they won't. Because Trump, and years of media bashing by the far right, has put
all the blame for his troubles on the MSM. So if he ever is driven out of office, that will be who they blame.
They've chosen their Elmer Gantry, where the forces of social good and enlightenment aren't now strong
enough to offer any real resistance to the forces of social evil and banality as epitomized by the charlatan-in-chief.
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please answer with your own opinions, not links to leftie sites...just your own opinion would be good...
? ? ?
Is that to me? I haven't linked anything.
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That would be fine with me if he weren't President.
There's a reason that "Hamilton" is in vogue nowadays, especially
with this quote attributed to him, "The masses are asses."
His masses don't see it that way...........Hamilton is not "in vogue" with them
I don't see the dems coming up with anyone to beat him.....what the fuck are they waiting for?
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It's was 49 degrees Celsius in Phoenix today. That's over 120 F! People are being told to avoid paved areas and flights were cancelled.
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^^^^ Yes, not as bad here. 40°C/103°F here in Albuquerque, and for the next 3 days!
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Hope you're keeping cool, Auntie!!!
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Once we get in the house, it has AC. Last night it was 73° at 11 pm and 78° in the house.
104° today and the same tomorrow.
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I don't like it when it goes over 70°. I can't imagine that environment right now.
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I don't like it when it goes over 70°. I can't imagine that environment right now.
Yes it's pretty rotten right now, Lyle. I am in the house, but packing boxes and moving them and stacking them. It is 87° right now and about 78° in the house (swamp cooler cooled. if the temp outside is high, they don't work worth shit)
I have to sit every 45-60 minutes and cool off and drink water.
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WHat a chore just to get through the day.
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You are absolutely correct, Lyle!
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Hang in there, Auntie! I hope things improve soon.
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*shakes head*
I don't have the words.
Texas mom arrested after 2 children die in hot car during ‘lesson’
Police have arrested a Texas mother after she allegedly left her two young children in a hot car as a form of punishment in late May.
Cynthia Marie Randolph, 25, faces charges of first-degree felony counts of injury to a child causing serious bodily injury, according to the Park County Sheriff’s Office.
The two young children — a 2-year-old girl and a 16-month-old boy — were found dead in Parker County, Texas on May 26. The Tarrant County medical examiner’s website identified the children as Juliet and Cavanaugh Ramirez.
Parker County Sheriff’s Capt. Mark Arnett told CNN that according to the mother, the children were playing in a back room of their home when they disappeared. After searching the home, the mother found them playing in the car.
According to investigators, when the 2-year-old refused to get out of the vehicle, Randolph closed the door and left them inside to teach them “a lesson,” thinking that her daughter would be able to open the door when they wanted to leave, according to WFAA.
http://pix11.com/2017/06/24/texas-mom-arrested-after-2-children-die-in-hot-car-during-lesson/
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Evidence is mounting that Russia took 4 clear paths to meddle in the US election
Sonam Sheth and Natasha Bertrand
It was September 2015 when the FBI first noticed that Russian hackers had infiltrated a computer system belonging to the Democratic National Committee.
It was the first sign that Moscow was attempting to meddle in the presidential election.
Nearly a year later, further reporting and testimony from current and former intelligence officials have painted a portrait of Russia’s election interference as a multifaceted, well-planned, and coordinated campaign aimed at undermining the backbone of American democracy: free and fair elections.
Now, as FBI special counsel Robert Mueller and congressional intelligence committees continue to investigate Russia's election interference, evidence is emerging that the hacking and disinformation campaign waged at the direction of Russian President Vladimir Putin took at least four separate but related paths.
http://www.businessinsider.com/evidence-russia-meddled-in-us-election-2017-6
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The Senate health bill is a scathing indictment of the Republican Party
Paul Waldman
Too often, we think of politics as a game, losing ourselves in the personalities and the strategies and the winning and losing. But the reason it matters in the first place is that all of our lives are affected by politics, by who holds power and what decisions they make. And in those decisions, lawmakers reveal themselves. They show us what — and who — is important to them. Republicans and Democrats aren't just opposing teams, like the Yankees and Red Sox. They represent two alternate visions of the world and two very different moral systems.
While those contrasting moralities express themselves every day in ways large and small, every once in a while a party gets the opportunity to make a grand statement about what it believes. That's what Republicans in the Senate did this week when they released their version of a health-care bill. If you want to know what today's GOP is all about, you can find the answer woven through that bill's pages.
Let's begin with one of the party's two great goals, one that extends beyond this bill to other issues like taxes and regulation. That goal is to make life as easy and pleasant as possible for the wealthy, those "job creators" whose virtue is proven by the size of their bank accounts. The Senate's bill gives them a cornucopia of benefits, rolling back the tax increases that were contained in the Affordable Care Act, to the tune of hundreds of billions of dollars. One cut, on investment taxes, would even be made retroactive to the beginning of the year, just to put something extra in the wealthy's pockets. There are a couple of more little goodies in there, like the repeal of an ACA provision that limited the tax deduction for insurance company CEO pay to the first $500,000. The Republicans who wrote the bill were being very thoughtful.
http://theweek.com/articles/707541/senate-health-bill-scathing-indictment-republican-party
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*shakes head*
I don't have the words.
Texas mom arrested after 2 children die in hot car during ‘lesson’
Police have arrested a Texas mother after she allegedly left her two young children in a hot car as a form of punishment in late May.
Cynthia Marie Randolph, 25, faces charges of first-degree felony counts of injury to a child causing serious bodily injury, according to the Park County Sheriff’s Office.
The two young children — a 2-year-old girl and a 16-month-old boy — were found dead in Parker County, Texas on May 26. The Tarrant County medical examiner’s website identified the children as Juliet and Cavanaugh Ramirez.
Parker County Sheriff’s Capt. Mark Arnett told CNN that according to the mother, the children were playing in a back room of their home when they disappeared. After searching the home, the mother found them playing in the car.
According to investigators, when the 2-year-old refused to get out of the vehicle, Randolph closed the door and left them inside to teach them “a lesson,” thinking that her daughter would be able to open the door when they wanted to leave, according to WFAA.
http://pix11.com/2017/06/24/texas-mom-arrested-after-2-children-die-in-hot-car-during-lesson/
Death is considered a serious bodily injury in Texas?
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http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4634436/Gay-pride-police-car-set-debut-weekend.html
There's always some kill joys around...but I say "Good on ya" to our Police Force here in the UK.
Wonderful. :D :-*
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Death is considered a serious bodily injury in Texas?
I was wondering about that too, the charge didn't make sense.
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Six hurt as car hits crowd in Newcastle Eid celebration
I was at a car park when I heard screaming so I ran towards the community college just a couple of minutes from me.
When I went over I saw that there was a very young teenager covered in blood; another very young teenager also looked injured.
There was a middle-aged man outside the community college with facial injuries and blood all over his face.
The police were already at the scene. I had seen them earlier as they were there watching the prayers.
The police put the driver of the car in the back of the police van.
When I spoke to people at the scene that had seen what happened they said that she was exiting a car park and suddenly accelerated into a crowd of people.
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-tyne-40397028
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^^^^
It sounds as if it was an accident: a woman who had been praying there seems to have lost control of her car. The police apparently don't think it was terror-related.
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Proof That People are Lying About Their Sexual Desires
What Google searches tell us about ourselves.
by Sean Illing / Jun 27, 2017 /VOX
A few paragraphs:
Among other things, the data suggests that there are more gay men in the closet than we think; that many men prefer overweight women to skinny women but are afraid to act on it; that married women are disproportionately worried their husband is gay; that a lot of straight women watch lesbian porn; and that porn featuring violence against women is more popular among women than men.
___
It’s clear that a lot of gay men remain in the closet. In places where it's hard to be gay, such as Mississippi, far fewer men say that they are gay than in places where it's easy to be gay, such as New York. But gay porn searches are about the same everywhere.
___
The number one question that women have about their husbands is whether he is gay. And these questions are much higher in the Deep South, where my research suggests there are indeed more gay men married to women. I think women are too obsessed with their husbands' sexuality. Women are eight times more likely to ask Google if their husband is gay than if he is an alcoholic and 10 times more likely to ask Google if their husband is gay than if he is depressed. It is far more likely that a woman is married to a man who is secretly an alcoholic or secretly depressed than secretly gay. About 98 percent of women’s husbands are really straight. Trust me.
___
This article is an interview with the author of a book called:
EVERYBODY LIES, Big Data, New Data and What the Internet Can Tell Us About Who We Really Are.
There is also a companion article using other gleaned info in the book that unfortunately concludes:
Two findings from the book dominated the conversation: America is riddled with racist and selfish people, and there may be a self-induced abortion crisis in this country.
https://www.vox.com/conversations/2017/6/13/15768622/facebook-social-media-seth-stephens-davidowitz-everybody-lies
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Doesn't surprise me at all that this nation is riddled with racists and selfish people.
I don't understand what the author means by "a self-induced abortion crisis." Does he mean fewer abortions take place in the U.S. than people think?
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I didn't know what that really meant, either, Jeff, and I did
look it up earlier to see what he meant. He means that his
research finds a lot of people are searching for how to do an
abortion themselves, in other words, a self-induced abortion.
Here's the article passage:
Sean Illing (interviewer): What’s the most shocking finding of your research?
Seth Stephens-Davidowitz (book author):
I'm pretty convinced that the United States has a self-induced abortion crisis right now based on the volume of search inquiries. I was blown away by how frequently people are searching for ways to do abortions themselves now. These searches are concentrated in parts of the country where it's hard to get an abortion and they rose substantially when the laws made it even harder to get an abortion. They're also, I calculate, missing pregnancies in these states that aren't showing up in either abortion or birth rates.
That's pretty disturbing and I think isn't really being talked about. But I think, based on the data, it's clearly going on.
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I didn't know what that really meant, either, Jeff, and I did
look it up earlier to see what he meant. He means that his
research finds a lot of people are searching for how to do an
abortion themselves, in other words, a self-induced abortion.
Thanks, Lyle.
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Arkansas' Ten Commandments Monument Lasted Less Than 24 Hours
LAUREL WAMSLEY
Less than a day after a monument of the Ten Commandments was installed outside the Arkansas State Capitol in Little Rock, it was destroyed when a man smashed a car into the stone.
Authorities say Michael T. Reed II drove a 2016 Dodge Dart into the 6,000-pound granite slab at about 4:47 a.m. local time on Wednesday.
"My boss called me and told me the Ten Commandments monument had been destroyed," Secretary of State and Capitol Police spokesman Chris Powell told NPR. "When I got here, it was rolled over on the sidewalk and broken into multiple pieces."
A video that appears to have been taken from inside the car was posted on the Facebook account of a Michael Reed early Wednesday; Powell told the AP that officials believe the video is authentic. It shows what looks like the Arkansas State Capitol building. A man's voice says: "Oh my goodness. Freedom!" as the car careens into the monument.
http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/06/28/534697858/arkansas-ten-commandments-monument-lasted-less-than-24-hours
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Why Mitch McConnell and the Republicans Can’t Fix Health Care
By John Cassidy
Mitch McConnell’s decision to postpone a vote on his health-care-reform bill, the Better Care Reconciliation Act of 2017, is a political setback (and perhaps only a temporary one) for the Republican Party. But, beyond this week’s drama, the bill and its troubles reflect conservatism’s failure when it comes to thinking about health care.
Even if McConnell somehow manages to revive the bill in the coming weeks and put together the fifty votes that he needs to get it through the Senate, that broader failure will remain a problem for him and his party. If they end up passing this bill or something like it, they will be betting their future on a reform that cannot deliver what Donald Trump promised during the election campaign and what Paul Ryan and his colleagues promised last December: reasonably priced access to health care for every American. Over time, political pressure would mount for the restoration of Obamacare, or even for a public option available to everyone.
Conservative supporters of the Senate bill disagree, of course. Writing in the Washington Post over the weekend, Avik Roy, a former health-care adviser to Mitt Romney, said that passing this legislation would “represent the greatest policy achievement by a Republican Congress in generations.” It would create “a thriving, consumer-driven individual insurance market, with as many as 30 million participants, available to the healthy and the sick and the young and the old, whose successes will lay the groundwork for future efforts at entitlement reform.”
http://www.newyorker.com/news/john-cassidy/why-mitch-mcconnell-and-the-republicans-cant-fix-health-care
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They would consider denying poor people health insurance as a side benefit.
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The biggest reason they can't fix health care is that they simply do not
believe in it. Remember at that Republican debate where the audience
cheered when a candidate was asked if someone couldn't pay for their
needs when it came to healthcare and they pretty much said, so what,
that's their problem? Like Scrooge says in Dicken's story, it would help
decrease the population.
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"My boss called me and told me the Ten Commandments monument had been destroyed," Secretary of State and Capitol Police spokesman Chris Powell told NPR. "When I got here, it was rolled over on the sidewalk and broken into multiple pieces."
This reminds me of Mel Brooks playing Moses in The History of the World, Part 1.
He takes the tablets up to the mount and shouts to the people:
MOSES
Hear me! Oh, hear me! All pay heed!
The Lord! The Lord Jehovah has given
unto you these fifteen...
(drops one of the tablets that shatters
into multiple pieces)
...these ten...TEN COMMANDMENTS...for
all to obey!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I48hr8HhDv0
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Many places are having their PRIDE celebrations this weekend.
ENJOY!
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“represent the greatest policy achievement by a Republican Congress in generations.” It would create “a thriving, consumer-driven individual insurance market, with as many as 30 million participants, available to the healthy and the sick and the young and the old, whose successes will lay the groundwork for future efforts at entitlement reform.”
God, what bullshit from Avik Roy. Somebody get me a shovel.
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Venus Williams Involved in Deadly Car Crash That Killed 78-Year-Old Man
by MCKENNA AIELLO
Venus Williams was involved in a recent car accident that left one man dead, according to a police report released Thursday and obtained by E! News.
The collision occurred on June 9 in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., though 78-year-old Jerome Barson died two weeks later after being taken to the ICU with head trauma. The victim's wife (who suffered broken bones and other injuries) was behind the wheel and approaching an intersection when the tennis pro's 2010 Toyota Sequoia SUV moved into the intersection at the same time.
http://www.eonline.com/news/864152/venus-williams-involved-in-deadly-car-crash-that-killed-78-year-old-man
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Vatican Sex Abuse Scandal Reveals Blind Spot for Francis
By JASON HOROWITZ and LAURIE GOODSTEIN
Pope Francis came to power promising not only to create a more inclusive church and to clean up an ossified Vatican bureaucracy, but also to remove the stain of child sex abuse.
A global pedophilia scandal plagued his two immediate processors. With Francis’s election in 2013, many expected progress. Francis talked about powerful committees to safeguard children, tribunals to try bishops and a “zero tolerance” policy for offending priests.
It hasn’t exactly worked out that way.
On Thursday, the Vatican announced that Francis had granted a leave of absence to Cardinal George Pell, now the highest-ranking Roman Catholic prelate to be formally charged with sexual offenses, and one the pope had brought into his inner circle even as a cloud of allegations swirled over the cardinal in Australia.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/29/world/europe/cardinal-pell-charges-australia.html
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'Blinded by YouTube fame': Stunts and pranks go awry in the online era
By Eric Levenson, CNN
An attempt to go viral on YouTube ended in death and a manslaughter charge this week, the latest bid to win online fame that has ended badly.
Police in Minnesota said Monalisa Perez, 19, shot and killed her boyfriend Pedro Ruiz III on Monday as part of a video the pair planned to post on YouTube. Thinking it would protect him, Ruiz held a book up over his chest as Perez fired at him from a foot away with a handgun, police said.
But the book failed to stop the bullet, and Ruiz was pronounced dead from a single gunshot to the chest. Perez, who is pregnant, has been charged with second-degree manslaughter. She faces up to 10 years in jail and a fine of up to $20,000 if convicted.
http://www.cnn.com/2017/06/29/us/youtube-stunts-death/index.html
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Surprise.
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This is going to be devastating.
Photobucket Just Broke Billions of Photos Across the Web
by Will Nicholls / JUL 01, 2017
https://petapixel.com/2017/07/01/photobucket-just-broke-billions-photos-embedded-web/ (https://petapixel.com/2017/07/01/photobucket-just-broke-billions-photos-embedded-web/)
Since 2003, the popular photo hosting service Photobucket has been letting users upload and host images for free on their servers. They have over 10 billion images stored by 100 million registered users. But now they’re going to start charging, and that means billions of images around the Web are now broken.
It would have been nice instead if users were asked to pay for any future 3rd party hosting or hot linking as this sudden policy will leave countless sites with unlinked photographs. And no warning.
Photobucket allowed hotlinking photos uploaded to and stored on its servers for a long time. This was their business model, and they made money from ads on their own site, which users would be exposed to when they went to upload content.
Unfortunately for Photobucket users, without warning, things just changed. Now the service is rolling out a $399 per year subscription fee for those who want to hotlink images from Photobucket’s servers to display elsewhere. That means that billions of images across the Web now display an error message instead of the image in question.
The move has sparked fury from users, who have relied on the service for years and now feel “blackmailed” into paying the subscription fee.
Or as the headline from another article says:
Photobucket Says Photo-f**k-it, Starts Off-Site Image Shakedown
Can Photobucket be sued? It's one thing to start a new policy, but to start one that affects up to 14 years of understanding with a company...that seems just wrong.
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(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fstatic1.1.sqspcdn.com%2Fstatic%2Ff%2F709071%2F25144210%2F1404387619590%2Fbrokeback-fireworks.gif%3Ftoken%3DqBJk95rEMBhCqWrQTxHywdaOpjE%253D&hash=5b94ee453cdb70cd2407d5d8c76e4bf2f226c4e8)
Happy Holiday, y'all!
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Same to you, Lyle!
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So, has Trump made the 4th of July all about him yet? :(
-
^^^
Not directly, but Trump supporters tried to.
Trump did try to take credit for the lowest gas prices on July 4th since 2004.
But Trump supporters showed their true colors: NPR annually reads the Declaration of Independence each year
on their radio program. This year they also decided to tweet the entire thing in 100 tweets. And Trump supporters
were offended and made it known they don't even know what the Declaration of Independence is.
Trump Supporter Tweets:
"Propaganda is that all you know how?
Try supporting a man who wants to do
something about the injustice in this
country." #drain the swamp
"Yes. NPR journalists with a 'mission.' "
"So NPR is calling for revolution. Interesting way to
condone the violence while sounding patriotic."
"Glad you are being defunded. You have never been
balanced on this show."
"Are you drunk? Your silly tweets make your state of
mind questionable."
"Seriously, this is the dumbest thing I have ever seen on twitter.
Literally no one is going to read 5000 tweets about this trash."
__________________________
When the tweets were outlining some of the gripes had with King George,
people thought it was "Trump" being talked about and were very offended.
This one upset the deplorables the most:
"A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant,
is unfit to be the ruler of a free people and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized
nation."
Like I always say, "Don't take it personally, unless it is."
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How do you love a country where nearly half the people who went to the voting booth chose a man who campaigned on fear and hate? How do you love a country where the majority of our elected representatives are arguing over how many millions of its citizens should have their health care stripped from them? Donald Trump's presidency makes it more urgent than ever this Independence Day to think seriously about what your patriotism means. But Trump isn't just a bad President, he's a b ad human being.
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/features/how-to-be-patriotic-in-trumps-america-w490449
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Uh, King George III.
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Trump tweeted this piece of propaganda on July 4th. :o
The song "Make America Great Again" sung by an apparently all white choral. Listen and weep:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3AK8cqJu52I
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Everything's all about him.
-
This fills me with absolute disgust. I suppose it has been covered on US news sites.
https://www.odt.co.nz/news/world/politician-apologises-filming-auschwitz
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Uh, King George III.
Madness. I'm 0-2 this week.
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Oh Canada :(
Canadian Government To Pay Islamic Terrorist $10.5 Million
(CNN)A Canadian man who spent 10 years at Guantanamo Bay after fighting US troops in Afghanistan is getting more than $10 million and an apology from the Canadian government, according to media reports
http://www.cnn.com/2017/07/04/americas/canada-omar-khadr-reported-settlement/index.html (http://www.cnn.com/2017/07/04/americas/canada-omar-khadr-reported-settlement/index.html)
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I read that article and the question of "why" this decision is being made isn't answered anywhere.
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Uh, King George III.
Emperor Donald I.
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But Trump supporters showed their true colors: NPR annually reads the Declaration of Independence each year
on their radio program. This year they also decided to tweet the entire thing in 100 tweets. And Trump supporters
were offended and made it known they don't even know what the Declaration of Independence is.
I wish I could say such ignorance shocks me, but it doesn't--and not just from the idiots who voted for the son-of-a-bitch.
An awful lot of Americans are woefully ignorant of the nation's history; they think the Gettysburg Address is a post office box. (Never mind the ignorance of the rest of the world; I just don't want to go there.)
But I gotta say, something seems a bit odd to me: Trumpites getting tweets from NPR? I don't do any of that social media stuff, but don't you have to sign up, or something, to get tweets from somebody?
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You do, Jeff, but what strikes me, if you read any articles online from supposed liberal media sites,
many of the commenters are Trump trolls. It seems they have a huge need to get online and shout
how superior and right they are and how awful liberals, and a list of others, are. So it doesn't surprise
me if they sign up for things so they can rail against them. That's my guess. They always seem to be
looking for something to be offended about.
Like Trump himself. He keeps railing against the media, but we know that he watches all the things
he rails against.
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You do, Jeff, but what strikes me, if you read any articles online from supposed liberal media sites,
many of the commenters are Trump trolls. It seems they have a huge need to get online and shout
how superior and right they are and how awful liberals, and a list of others, are. So it doesn't surprise
me if they sign up for things so they can rail against them. That's my guess. They always seem to be
looking for something to be offended about.
Like Trump himself. He keeps railing against the media, but we know that he watches all the things
he rails against.
Thanks, Lyle. Very interesting about the Trump Trolls. (They should organize ;D . Oh, I guess they did; it's called the Republican Party. ... ::) )
So it seems all these Real Americans can't live with the media that is a danger to the country, but they also can't live without it. ::)
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They need an enemy of some sort. They can't yell about Obama.
They run the House and the Senate and have installed a stolen
Supreme Court Justice. Donnie loves Russia, so there's not much
else. The millennial Republicans aren't so worked up about LGBT
persons, so the media is getting it with an assist from Donald.
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Trump, the hotel magnate, forgot to book a room for the G20 summit, has to couch surf. :P
http://addictinginfo.com/2017/07/06/trumps-team-is-so-incompetent-they-couldnt-even-book-a-hotel-room-for-g20-summit/
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That's good, they don't have to worry about Russian hookers peeing on the furniture.
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They need an enemy of some sort. They can't yell about Obama.
They run the House and the Senate and have installed a stolen
Supreme Court Justice. Donnie loves Russia, so there's not much
else. The millennial Republicans aren't so worked up about LGBT
persons, so the media is getting it with an assist from Donald.
Why not? The Orange One does. If he can't find someone else to blame, he blames Obama.
-
The fact that his people forgot to make reservations in Hamburg is Obama's fault. Of course.
-
The fact that his people forgot to make reservations in Hamburg is Obama's fault. Of course.
I wonder if he's tried Air BnB?
He could swap the White House on weekends, since he's always at Mar-a-Lago on the taxpayers' dime.
Talk about a scam. ...
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The Saudis rented all of the Four Seasons in Hamburg.
Maybe they'll rent him a cot. For a mere €500 per night. Including a free breakfast bagel.
-
I thought I was kidding.
He is blaming Obama.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4674154/Trump-staying-government-Hamburg-lodgings-blame-Obama.html
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I thought I was kidding.
He is blaming Obama.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4674154/Trump-staying-government-Hamburg-lodgings-blame-Obama.html
::) ::)
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Christie hit with ethics complaint for his exclusive beach day
By Lia Eustachewich July 6, 2017
There was “Bridgegate” — and now there’s “Beachgate.” A New Jersey lawyer has filed an ethics complaint against Gov. Chris Christie for his exclusive family trip to the beach last week amid the government shutdown.
In the complaint filed Wednesday with the State Ethics Commission, Mario Blanch accuses the unapologetic governor of using his political power to obtain a “special benefit.”
“The governor and his family hold no special privileges over the residents and citizens of the state of New Jersey,” Blanch’s complaint said, according to the Jersey Journal. “By using the park, ‘in direct contravention to the shutdown,’ [Christie] utilized his position as governor … to obtain benefits for himself and his family that members of the general public could not enjoy for themselves.”
Christie and several of his friends and family were caught basking in a sun-filled — and empty — Island Beach State Park in Berkeley Township last Sunday while state services were halted due to the governor’s budget showdown with Democrats. Blanch, from West New York, said the shutdown crippled Fourth of July weekend plans for many of Christie’s constituents.
Jersey City Mayor Steven Fulop was forced to move the Fourth of July fireworks show and festival from Liberty State Park to Exchange Place as a result, and a 5K race for the New Jersey Special Olympics was canceled, causing the organization to lose out on $40,000 in donations, NJ.com reported.
http://nypost.com/2017/07/06/christie-hit-with-ethics-complaint-for-his-exclusive-beach-day/
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Oh Canada :(
Canadian Government To Pay Islamic Terrorist $10.5 Million
(CNN)A Canadian man who spent 10 years at Guantanamo Bay after fighting US troops in Afghanistan is getting more than $10 million and an apology from the Canadian government, according to media reports
http://www.cnn.com/2017/07/04/americas/canada-omar-khadr-reported-settlement/index.html (http://www.cnn.com/2017/07/04/americas/canada-omar-khadr-reported-settlement/index.html)
Oh Canada indeed. Omar Khadr was never tried in a court of law and the evidence against him was very weak. Never mind that he was a 15 year old child soldier.
"[...]
Any experienced trial lawyer would be troubled to open this file. With the exception of Khadr's "confession," wrung from a traumatized and severely wounded teenager under an abusive interrogation, the evidence against him was remarkably thin.
Examined closely, it appears more consistent with his innocence than guilt.
What evidence exists appears confused, inconsistent or contradicted elsewhere. Photographs of the attack scene released in 2009 appear to directly conflict with the prosecution's summary of its own case.
[...]"
http://www.nationalobserver.com/2017/07/07/opinion/what-if-omar-khadr-isnt-guilty
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Yes, Good on Canada
Australia has the case of David Hicks who was incarcarated and tortured by Americans in Guantanamo Bay. Only the Australian Government was too lily livered to support him. Eventually Hicks was sent to Australia becasuse the Prime Minister at the time found his continued detainment at Guanatanamo Bay a political embarrassment in an election year which he lost anyway.
In October 2012, the United States Court of Appeals ruled that the charge under which Hicks had been convicted was invalid, because the law did not exist at the time of the alleged offence, and it could not be applied retrospectively. The efforts of the US to charge Hicks have been described as "a significant departure from the Geneva Conventions and the International Covenant of Civil and Political Rights, quite apart from the US constitution", the implications being that "anyone in the world, who has suitable radical connections and who is in a war zone fighting against Americans, is guilty of a war crime".
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Australia has the case of David Hicks who was incarcarated and tortured by Americans in Guantanamo Bay.
Hicks was picked up in 2001 by US forces in Afghanistan, where he'd joined an al-Qaida training camp.
Hicks pleaded guilty in 2007 to providing material support for terrorism.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2017/jan/10/david-hicks-faces-adelaide-court-charged-with-assaulting-his-partner
After reading the wikipedia page concerning him, I'm hard pressed to find much sympathy there.
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Yes it's pretty rotten right now, Lyle. I am in the house, but packing boxes and moving them and stacking them.
I have to sit every 45-60 minutes and cool off and drink water.
What a chore just to get through the day.
You are absolutely correct, Lyle!
I'm having one of "those" days, Linda. It's been hot for awhile and today we're supposed to break a high temperature record
for the day set in 1886. Yesterday on Beverly Blvd. near La Cienega, the exact place I walk over as it's near my dentist and
health clinic, an underground electrical vault under the sidewalk got so hot it exploded, injuring 4 people and blowing out
windows in the building several stories high. In that neighborhood, the electricity had been out for over a day in many of
the residential buildings and was finally restored in the afternoon. Two hours later the explosion knocked out the electricity
for those same people again! It's also affected the hospital which has generators, but they're rerouting ambulances.
At least I'm not having that problem. I have a portable air conditioner in the bedroom, but it has a big flaw. It's not
really made for humid environments and if the humidity is at 50% or more the water collects and so the machine will
only run for 2 hrs. and shut off. Then you have to empty about 1/2 gallon of water. So you have to keep doing it every
2 hours or less. And it drains from an inch off the floor so it is very annoying. It works fine otherwise, but that is very
annoying.
At least I'm not having to pack boxes then move and stack them.
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Hicks was picked up in 2001 by US forces in Afghanistan, where he'd joined an al-Qaida training camp.
Hicks pleaded guilty in 2007 to providing material support for terrorism.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2017/jan/10/david-hicks-faces-adelaide-court-charged-with-assaulting-his-partner
After reading the wikipedia page concerning him, I'm hard pressed to find much sympathy there.
Knowing that, I'm with you, Lyle.
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Oh Canada indeed. Omar Khadr was never tried in a court of law and the evidence against him was very weak. Never mind that he was a 15 year old child soldier
yeah my heart's breaking for him...at least you feel you're getting your moneys worth. :laugh:
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yeah my heart's breaking for him...at least you feel you're getting your moneys worth. :laugh:
You have a heart? I'll take your word for it. ::)
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;)
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Another high rise fire, in Honolulu!
No sprinklers again.
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How old are these buildings, that they don't have fire prevention systems in them?
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It seems that local government didn't require sprinklers when it was built in 1971. Not mandatory until 1974.
http://khon2.com/2017/07/14/firefighters-respond-to-3-alarm-fire-in-marco-polo-building/
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George A. Romero, Father of the Zombie Film, Dies at 77
2:35 PM PDT 7/16/2017 by Mike Barnes
(https://moviesfilmsandflix.files.wordpress.com/2015/05/georgeromero.jpg)
George A. Romero, the legendary writer-director from Pittsburgh who made the 1968 cult classic Night of the Living Dead for $114,000, thus spawning an unrelenting parade of zombie movies and TV shows, has died. He was 77.
Romero, who put out five other zombie movies after a copyright blunder cost him millions of dollars in profits on his wildly popular first one, died Sunday of lung cancer, his producing partner, Peter Grunwald, told the Los Angeles Times, which first reported the news. Romero's family confirmed his death to the newspaper as well.
Romero's manager, Chris Roe, posted on Facebook that the director died while "listening to the score of The Quiet Man, one of his all-time favorite films, with his wife, Suzanne Desrocher Romero, and daughter, Tina Romero, at his side. He died peacefully in his sleep following a brief but aggressive battle with lung cancer and leaves behind a loving family, many friends and a filmmaking legacy that has endured, and will continue to endure, the test of time."
Romero's 1978 sequel Dawn of the Dead was made for $1.5 million and grossed $55 million. He followed that by writing and directing Day of the Dead (1985), Land of the Dead (2005), Diary of the Dead (2007) and Survival of the Dead (2009), a decomposing body of work that earned him the nickname Father of the Zombie Film.
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/george-a-romero-dead-night-living-dead-director-was-77-945346
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Martin Landau too.
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The Oscar-Winning Actor Martin Landau Has Died Aged 89
(LOS ANGELES) — Martin Landau, the chameleon-like actor who gained fame as the crafty master of disguise in the 1960s TV show Mission: Impossible, then capped a long and versatile career with an Oscar for his poignant portrayal of aging horror movie star Bela Lugosi in 1994's Ed Wood, has died. He was 89.
Landau died Saturday of unexpected complications during a short stay at UCLA Medical Center, his publicist Dick Guttman said.
http://time.com/4860281/martin-landau-actor-died/
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Darn. Back in college we seldom missed an episode of Mission Impossible on Sunday nights.
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"Your mission, Mr. Phelps, should you choose to accept it. ..."
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I am very, very sorry to hear that John McCain has a brain tumor, and not only a brain tumor but a glioblastoma, a particularly aggressive tumor. (I read about that often in my work, so I didn't need a TV news talker to tell me that about McCain's tumor.)
Despite his ill-advised, ill-managed run at the Presidency with Sarah "I can see Russia from house" Palin, and his Republicn Party affiliation, I've always felt that John McCain was a person of real integrity, and I'm not ashamed to say this news makes me really, really sad.
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On one news story that was mentioning this I did a double take when they said
his mother was visiting him. She's 105! He is 80 years old, I believe.
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Wow! I hadn't heard about that!
Long-lived stock!
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'Home Alone' and 'Sopranos' actor John Heard dead at 71
John Heard, known for his memorable roles in the "Home Alone" movies and "The Sopranos," died on Friday, the Santa Clara County medical examiner’s office confirmed to ABC News. Heard was 71, the medical examiner said.
Heard's rep did not immediately respond to ABC News' request for comment, and the details of his death remain unknown.
Born John Matthew Heard in Washington, D.C., the actor was known for his many television and film roles, which spanned four decades.
He launched his career with a role in a 1974 off-Broadway production of "The Wager." Heard then appeared in a series of stage roles on Broadway, including his Obie Award-winning performance in "Othello" in 1979.
https://www.yahoo.com/gma/home-alone-sopranos-actor-john-heard-dead-71-143504310--abc-news-celebrities.html
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'Home Alone' and 'Sopranos' actor John Heard dead at 71
https://www.yahoo.com/gma/home-alone-sopranos-actor-john-heard-dead-71-143504310--abc-news-celebrities.html
Thanks for the link. I'm afraid I've always confused the Heards and the Hurts.
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John Heard
(https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BNzczODkyNzY4OV5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTcwNTU0NjQzMQ@@._V1_UY317_CR24,0,214,317_AL_.jpg)
John Hurt
(https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BMTM1NTgyMTAyOV5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTcwMTE4MjQwNA@@._V1_UY317_CR5,0,214,317_AL_.jpg)
William Hurt
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/60/William_Hurt_%282005%29_crop.jpg/330px-William_Hurt_%282005%29_crop.jpg)
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I am very, very sorry to hear that John McCain has a brain tumor, and not only a brain tumor but a glioblastoma, a particularly aggressive tumor. (I read about that often in my work, so I didn't need a TV news talker to tell me that about McCain's tumor.)
Despite his ill-advised, ill-managed run at the Presidency with Sarah "I can see Russia from house" Palin, and his Republicn Party affiliation, I've always felt that John McCain was a person of real integrity, and I'm not ashamed to say this news makes me really, really sad.
I am too, Jeff. It is very sad news. Even though our politics are not on the same path, he is one of the true heroes of this country and he will be missed. I hope he can win this battle.
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John Heard
(https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BNzczODkyNzY4OV5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTcwNTU0NjQzMQ@@._V1_UY317_CR24,0,214,317_AL_.jpg)
John Hurt
(https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BMTM1NTgyMTAyOV5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTcwMTE4MjQwNA@@._V1_UY317_CR5,0,214,317_AL_.jpg)
William Hurt
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/60/William_Hurt_%282005%29_crop.jpg/330px-William_Hurt_%282005%29_crop.jpg)
That's genuinely a big help, Linda!
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I am glad, Sara. William Hurt is the only one still alive now.
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I am glad, Sara. William Hurt is the only one still alive now.
That's just about what I was going to say. If I think of The Big Chill I should be able to remember him.
When I think of John Hurt, I always think of the young man who turns against Sir Thomas More in A Man for All Seasons.
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Our national elections are on September 23. Election hoardings were only allowed to be put up yesterday and must be all down by midnight on Sept 22. TV and radio advertisements are not allowed until August 23 but there have been news items as party policies have been announced. There must be no election comment on radio or TV on the day of the elections until polls close at 6pm. I have had one brochure in my letterbox which went straight in the recycling even though it came from my local member who will get my electorate vote anyway. So far no phone calls, do not know the laws about them. I have actually blocked all advertising calls on my phone but cannot block charity or election calls and unfortunately calls from overseas are common these days.
Two months of electioneering every 3 years are more than enough, I could not stand living in the USA.
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^^^
I'd agree with you if you said "I could not stand the way the US elections unfold,"
but what you did write felt insulting, or maybe you meant it that way, too? I hope
our current White House occupant's style isn't rubbing off on the rest of the world.
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I found it insulting as well.
I think the world, or at least the leaders he has met so far, consider trump a buffoon, albeit a potentiality dangerous one...
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I love trump's pick for communications director! One of the Cnn talking heads, after playing the clip from Friday of Scarramucci at the mic said "I can only think of Sade's song Smooth Operator...no kidding. He did 30 minutes with Jake Tapper this morning, and it was close but Scaramucci 1, Tapper .5
I really wish he was going to be press secretary, I can't stand SHS
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^^^
I'd agree with you if you said "I could not stand the way the US elections unfold,"
but what you did write felt insulting, or maybe you meant it that way, too? I hope
our current White House occupant's style isn't rubbing off on the rest of the world.
From the context, I just took Brian's post to mean the length of time it takes to build up to US elections. No need to feel insulted, I'd have thought?
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It's like saying "I can't stand the monarchy, I couldn't stand to live in the UK "....
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From the context, I just took Brian's post to mean the length of time it takes to build up to US elections. No need to feel insulted, I'd have thought?
Maybe, I'll see what Brian says.
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I love trump's pick for communications director! One of the Cnn talking heads, after playing the clip from Friday of Scarramucci at the mic said "I can only think of Sade's song Smooth Operator...no kidding. He did 30 minutes with Jake Tapper this morning, and it was close but Scaramucci 1, Tapper .5
I really wish he was going to be press secretary, I can't stand SHS
I find Scaramucci to be the dictionary definition of a douchebag. He's just like Trump himself.
I happened to see this half-hour and when Jake Tapper asked why he was denying meetings with
Russians took place with the campaign, A.S. replies, "I didn't see that take place."
What kind of an answer is that? I didn't see it therefore it's not true?
You're not starting to fall for the Trump glitter are you? The "razzle dazzle"? Like the Chicago song:
Give 'em the old three ring circus, stun and stagger 'em
When you're in trouble, go into your dance
Give 'em an act with lots of flash in it
And the reaction will be passionate
Then you've got a romance
Give 'em the old Razzle Dazzle; Razzle dazzle 'em
Show 'em the first rate sorcerer you are
Long as you keep 'em way off balance
How can they spot you've got no talents?
Razzle Dazzle 'em and they'll make you a star!
What if your hinges all are rusting?
What if, in fact, you're just disgusting?
Razzle dazzle 'em and they'll never catch wise!
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It's like saying "I can't stand the monarchy, I couldn't stand to live in the UK "....
LOL It's nothing like that!
I've learnt from being on this forum, where we are relying on the written word, that if there are two ways of reading what someone has said, it's far better to start by taking the more positive one. :)
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I find Scaramucci to be the dictionary definition of a douchebag. He's just like Trump himself.
I happened to see this half-hour and when Jake Tapper asked why he was denying meetings with
Russians took place with the campaign, A.S. replies, "I didn't see that take place."
What kind of an answer is that? I didn't see it therefore it's not true?
I think he's amusing to watch but I'm not fooled by him...and not at all drifting to the alt-right...
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Terrible story from San Antonio, 90 miles south of Austin...8 bodies were found inside a sweltering tractor -trailer in a Walmsrt parking lot...30 taken to the hospital...the driver has been arested and they're trying to find the smugglers...it was 100* here yesterday...
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From the context, I just took Brian's post to mean the length of time it takes to build up to US elections. No need to feel insulted, I'd have thought?
That's the way i took it as well. Though I can't blame Americans for being overly sensitive these days considering what they' have to deal with.
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I found it insulting as well.
Ditto.
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I guess it just gets worser and worser, don't it?
Now I've seen a sound byte of the Great Satan claiming he can be (or was it, "he is"?) more presidential than anyone except Abraham Lincoln.
Has anyone seen him doing this? Fat chance!
A few years ago, the Boy Scouts of America got into a dust-up with the City of Philadelphia that dragged on for a very long time. The Scouts rented a city-owned property, and the city wanted them out because of their stance on gay Scouts and Scout leaders. So I'm not particularly a fan (I was a Cub Scout for a couple of years, but I never went any further than that). Nevertheless, the speech the Great Satan gave at the Scout Jamboree was so way out of line that it was in the next state.
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Trump's blather in front of the scouts at the Boy Scouts Jamboree in West Virginia
the other day was just appalling. That man is such a, well you said "Great Satan" and
why not? He's a pathetic human being and I hesitate in even giving him that much credit.
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That man is such a, well you said "Great Satan" and
why not?
I semi-borrowed that from Cellardweller Chuck. He suggested "Satan." I just added the "Great," but I think I'll keep it.
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(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fgaysfortrump.org%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2017%2F01%2FDonald-Trump-Tweet-LGBT-Community-600x375.png&hash=9b2974276ee28b9839d83a4b55325f6fe5380173)
Trump on the campaign trail in 2016:
He said he would be a strong defender of the LGBT community -- and even claimed he would be a better president for LGBT Americans than his opponent, Hillary Clinton. "I will tell you who the better friend is, me, and some day I believe that will be proven out big league," Trump said.
Prominent supporter of Trump: Caitlin Jenner
A few months ago:
Trump reversed an Obama administration policy allowing transgender students to use the bathroom of their choice.
So:
President Obama had instated a policy initially approved by the Defense Department, which was still under final review, that would allow transgender individuals to openly serve in the military. Defense Secretary James Mattis announced last month that he was delaying enactment of the plan to begin allowing transgender individuals to join the US military.
Today from Trump: "The United States Government will not accept or allow Transgender individuals to serve in any capacity in the U.S. Military. Our military must be focused on decisive and overwhelming victory and cannot be burdened with the tremendous medical costs and disruption that transgender in the military would entail."
Of course, the decision came without a plan in place to implement it. And the White House has no answer to the question "What would happen to the active transgender military members already in place?"
Also, the "tremendous medical costs and disruption that transgender in the military would entail" is not born out by the 2016 Rand Corp. study commissioned by the Defense Department that concluded that letting transgender people serve openly would have a "minimal impact" on readiness and health care costs, largely because there are so few in the military's 1.3 million-member force. The study put the number of transgender people in the military between 1,320 and 6,630.
From the ACLU: This decision is "outrageous and desperate" and said it was exploring ways to fight the policy shift. "Let us be clear. This has been studied extensively, and the consensus is clear: There are no cost or military readiness drawbacks associated with allowing trans people to fight for their country. The President is trying to score cheap political points on the backs of military personnel who have put their lives on the line for their country."
(https://cdn.unicornbooty.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/17202424/lgbt-page-removed-from-white-house-website-th-1-350x350.jpg)
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Hope all these people are happy.
http://ww1.hdnux.com/photos/53/56/74/11464452/3/920x1240.jpg
http://i2.cdn.cnn.com/cnnnext/dam/assets/160614205305-donald-trump-is-the-most-pro-gay-republican-nominee-ever-large-169.jpg
https://lgbtqnation-assets.s3.amazonaws.com/assets/2017/03/Gays-For-Trump-500x347.jpg
http://gaysfortrump.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/gays4trumpnyt.png
http://media.com/media/2016/11/slack-imgs.com_.jpeg (http://media.breitbart.com/media/2016/11/slack-imgs.com_.jpeg)
https://qph.ec.quoracdn.net/main-qimg-536f57c39ad26b500c0f975f39d68148
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Trump's Justice Department Argues Landmark Civil Rights Law Doesn't Protect Gay People
DOJ files amicus brief that says Title VII does not protect sexual orientation
http://www.cnn.com/2017/07/26/politics/doj-amicus-brief-title-vii-sexual-orientation/index.html
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^^^
Hope all these people are happy.
http://ww1.hdnux.com/photos/53/56/74/11464452/3/920x1240.jpg
http://i2.cdn.cnn.com/cnnnext/dam/assets/160614205305-donald-trump-is-the-most-pro-gay-republican-nominee-ever-large-169.jpg
https://lgbtqnation-assets.s3.amazonaws.com/assets/2017/03/Gays-For-Trump-500x347.jpg
http://gaysfortrump.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/gays4trumpnyt.png
http://media.com/media/2016/11/slack-imgs.com_.jpeg (http://media.breitbart.com/media/2016/11/slack-imgs.com_.jpeg)
https://qph.ec.quoracdn.net/main-qimg-536f57c39ad26b500c0f975f39d68148
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Mike Rogers on CNN said watching all the churn in the trump white house is like watching an octopus put his socks on in the morning...
never knew they wore socks...
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I like that A LOT!!!
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Great!
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In One Day, Trump Administration Lands 3 Punches Against Gay Rights
JULY 27, 2017 / New York Times
WASHINGTON — The Trump administration abruptly waded into the culture wars over gay rights this week, signaling in three separate actions that it will use the powers of the federal government to roll back civil rights for gay and transgender people.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/27/us/politics/white-house-lgbt-rights-military-civil-rights-act.html
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From NY Magazine:
[This week] we were subjected to the spectacle of the president going to the Boy Scout jamboree, of all places, and delivering a series of partisan jabs, campaign-rally catcalls, and completely inappropriate personal ramblings to a crowd of thousands of boys. The speech was, in some ways, a metaphor for everything Trump is and has done. He took a regular, civil, apolitical American gathering of mainly children and turned it into a diatribe of deranged and nakedly partisan narcissism. He is actively despoiling our civic culture.
___
Boy Scouts Apologize Over President Trump's Remarks at Jamboree
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/27/us/boy-scouts-trump-apology.html
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Well, that was fast...SNL didn't even have time to find a comedian to play him...
Scaramucci Out as Communications Director After Less Than a Week
WASHINGTON — After less than a week on the job, Communications Director Anthony Scaramucci is out, the White House announced on Monday.
The sudden and unexpected departure is just the latest in a series of stunning staff shakeups in the administration, with new Chief of Staff John Kelly being sworn in on Monday morning, replacing Reince Priebus, who was pushed out last week.
With just six days on the job, Scaramucci is the shortest-serving communications director in White House history.
http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/scaramucci-out-communications-director-after-less-two-weeks-n788231 (http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/scaramucci-out-communications-director-after-less-two-weeks-n788231)
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^^^Comic Mario Cantone must be heartbroken. He played the Mooch (hilariously) on Comedy Central's The President Show. Here's a prescient interview where he says "you gotta strike when the iron is hot, who knows how long he's going to be there."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HiS56-LHbFg (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HiS56-LHbFg)
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This whole situation makes me think of the front door to my building. It's revolving. ...
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Police in Newport, Oregon, were called after cat lurking in tree appeared to be holding assault rifle.
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi.ytimg.com%2Fvi%2FECzbYYmxr50%2F0.jpg&hash=437f93a220756328e60f5e9e6e78a042c428ef81)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ECzbYYmxr50
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This whole situation makes me think of the front door to my building. It's revolving. ...
makes me think of a clown car...
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makes me think of a clown car...
Well, there are certainly plenty of clowns to go around.
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Except this one is funny!
https://youtu.be/cG4CEr2aiSg
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:D :D :D
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Except this one is funny!
https://youtu.be/cG4CEr2aiSg
That was adorable!
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That was adorable!
It's good to have a laugh nowadays! ;D
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Fake news site posts that North Korea’s Kim Jong Un is dead for second time in a month
By Joshua Gillin on Friday, August 4th, 2017
A fake news story that said North Korean leader Kim Jong Un was killed in a coordinated, nationwide strike by U.S. forces under cover of darkness comes from a shopworn website known for churning out fabricated stories.
"Report: Kim Jong Un killed in (President Donald) Trump’s overnight black op attack on North Korea," read the headline on a July 28, 2017, ArmyUSANews.com post. Facebook users flagged the post as being potentially fabricated, as part of the social media site’s efforts to curb fake news.
The story said that 17 SEAL teams struck multiple targets, and that "in three hours time, the entire military infrastructure of that country has been eliminated," according to a reporter. Kim was reportedly killed, although state media played a "death to America" speech recorded years ago, the article said.
Kim Jong Un’s death has not been reported widely because this coordinated attack did not happen. The story is fake. (The photo showing a North Korean city on fire is actually a British hospital burning.)
http://www.politifact.com/punditfact/statements/2017/aug/04/blog-posting/fake-news-site-posts-north-koreas-kim-jong-un-dead/
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President Trump settles in for 17-day vacation at his secluded New Jersey club
By John Wagner and Elise Viebeck August 5
BEDMINSTER, N.J. — President Trump, who knocked his predecessor’s work ethic and said he probably wouldn’t take vacations as president, has settled in for 17 days here at his secluded golf club in New Jersey’s fox-hunt and horse country.
Aides are billing Trump’s time at one of his favorite properties as a “working vacation,” a notion bolstered by his arrival on Air Force One on Friday with a retinue of aides, including his newly minted chief of staff, John F. Kelly.
With the Russia investigation gaining steam and looming crises in North Korea and other hot spots, no one expects a truly quiet couple of weeks.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/president-trump-settles-in-for-17-day-vacation-at-his-secluded-new-jersey-club/2017/08/05/5c79347c-79d5-11e7-8f39-eeb7d3a2d304_story.html?utm_term=.b33251e4e757
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So, we're not advocating regime change, and Tillerson is willing to talk to the North Koreans. Who on earth does the man think he's fooling? Himself?
It's very clear what's going on here. Life in North Korea is abysmal for ordinary people, so how do you get them to forget their misery and keep yourself in power? You give them a common enemy to fear and hate with a passion. The U.S. is always good for that.
The North Korean regime has nothing to gain by talking to anybody, and everything to gain by continuing to blackmail the rest of the world. I mean, the regime has everything to gain by continuing its nuclear program and threats: To keep itself in power.
So what do we do? Wait till a nuclear bomb falls on Anchorage? Seattle? San Francisco? L.A.? Denver? Chicago? I think I heard somewhere that they're now capable of hitting the East Coast, so I'd better include Washington, Philadelphia (that would take me out), and New York City in that list.
I'd suggest bombing the North Koreans back into the Stone Age, but I know that would lead to harm for untold numbers of our allies in the region, not to mention innocent North Korean civilians. China wouldn't much like it, either.
Do we send in the SEALs, like we did to take out Osama bin Laden? (I'm not necessarily advocating that, just thinkin' out loud.)
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if we don't strike first, that might be a grave (literally) mistake
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No, Donald Trump’s base is not ‘far bigger and stronger than ever before’
By James Hohmann August 8
President Trump is clearly rankled by the notion that his political support is slipping, pushing back against the idea during a barrage of tweets Monday from his Bedminster, N.J., golf club, where aides said he is having a “working vacation.”
In fact, as his overall approval rate has sunk, some of the president’s core supporters have soured on his performance, polls show. A Quinnipiac University poll last week found 23 percent of registered voters “strongly approve” of Trump’s handling of his job, down from 29 percent who felt that way during his first week in office. Even white voters with no college degree — one of the demographics that backed his candidacy most enthusiastically — disapprove of how Trump is handling his job by 50 percent to 43 percent.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/paloma/daily-202/2017/08/08/daily-202-no-donald-trump-s-base-is-not-far-bigger-and-stronger-than-ever-before/5989138230fb045fdaef1196/?utm_term=.d0bf0c4fe60e
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if we don't strike first, that might be a grave (literally) mistake
For a great many people.
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The experts say that NK is 2-3 years away from being able to "combine all the elements" to
carry out a scenario like the one discussed above. So, in the meantime what do we do? Both
countries have mental patients at the head of them. And the U.S. actually CHOSE the one we
have, the Commander-in-Tweet.
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The experts say that NK is 2-3 years away from being able to "combine all the elements" to
carry out a scenario like the one discussed above. So, in the meantime what do we do? Both
countries have mental patients at the head of them. And the U.S. actually CHOSE the one we
have, the Commander-in-Tweet.
Be afraid. Be very afraid.
Who are the experts? Not doubting here, just wondering who they are. People in the DOD?
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No, Donald Trump’s base is not ‘far bigger and stronger than ever before’
The emperor has no clothes.
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The experts say that NK is 2-3 years away from being able to "combine all the elements" to
carry out a scenario like the one discussed above. So, in the meantime what do we do? Both
countries have mental patients at the head of them. And the U.S. actually CHOSE the one we
have, the Commander-in-Tweet.
Hmmmm...maybe not
North Korea seriously considering strike on Guam, state media says
46 Mins Ago
Reuters
North Korea said on Wednesday it is "carefully examining" a plan to strike the U.S. Pacific territory of Guam with missiles, just hours after U.S. President Donald Trump told the North that any threat to the United States would be met with "fire and fury".
A spokesman for the Korean People's Army, in a statement carried by the North's state-run KCNA news agency, said the strike plan will be "put into practice in a multi-current and consecutive way any moment" once leader Kim Jong Un makes a decision.
https://www.cnbc.com/2017/08/08/north-korea-seriously-considering-strike-on-guam-reports-citing-state-media.html (https://www.cnbc.com/2017/08/08/north-korea-seriously-considering-strike-on-guam-reports-citing-state-media.html)
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North Korea makes a nuclear weapon that can fit in its missiles, US intelligence says
North Korea has produced a nuclear weapon that can fit inside its missiles, according to NBC and The Washington Post.
The report follows the U.N. Security Council unanimously putting new sanctions on the isolated nation.
North Korea has successfully created a miniaturized nuclear weapon designed to fit inside its missiles, NBC News confirmed Tuesday, citing a U.S. intelligence official.
The Washington Post first reported the development Tuesday, citing a confidential intelligence assessment.
https://www.cnbc.com/2017/08/08/north-korea-reportedly-makes-a-nuclear-weapon-that-can-fit-in-its-missiles.html (https://www.cnbc.com/2017/08/08/north-korea-reportedly-makes-a-nuclear-weapon-that-can-fit-in-its-missiles.html)
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I heard that, too, on network TV news this evening. So I guess those experts were wrong. Let's just hope it's not dead wrong.
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Hmmmm...maybe not
Maybe, but also keep in mind that the news media likes fear based stories because
it gets ratings. Like escaped prisoners, any particular disease (like last years Zika
virus invasion-whatever happened to that?), Middle Eastern immigrants, etc. In the
70's it was the march of the killer bees up to the U.S. from South America. For a
sizeable group last year it was (and still is) Hillary Clinton.
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Maybe, but also keep in mind that the news media likes fear based stories because
it gets ratings.
Are you implying that the North Korean nuclear missile situation is Fake News? Maybe from the failing New York Times? ;) ;D
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In the 70's it was the march of the killer bees up to the U.S. from South America.
I was a kid then, and I remember those stories.
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Are you implying that the North Korean nuclear missile situation is Fake News? Maybe from the failing New York Times? ;) ;D
Heh, of course not, just that the media likes to get viewers by scaring them. If you ever notice,
when local stations are in sweeps months for ratings they always have local stories about the things
that might scare you. The dangers lurking in your back yard. Your car will malfunction. Nasty restaurants.
ABC did a study once saying that people that are the most fearful of things watch more news than those
who are not as fearful about things. Hmmm...
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I'm watching CNN and surfing the net for bunker installation and freeze dried food...
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I'm watching CNN and surfing the net for bunker installation and freeze dried food...
I should see what's available at our local sporting goods/military surplus store.
I know they carry MREs. Or they used to, anyway.
Meanwhile I'm practicing "duck and cover."
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this should embarrass dt...talk about crowd size...
(https://media2.s-nbcnews.com/j/newscms/2017_32/2115186/170810-pyongyang-demo-mc-09-21_2_67ab51516c7b1c709f4cc1f0ec818d15.nbcnews-ux-600-480.jpg)
Pyongyang city mass rally held at Kim Il Sung Square to fully support the statement of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) government in this photo released on August 10, 2017 by North Korea's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) in Pyongyang. KCNA / Reuters
The images were released by North Korean state media KCNA. NBC News was unable to independently verify the date they were shot
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Here are three stories that all follow each other, so that's why I put them in one post.
Mitch McConnell vents about Trump's 'excessive expectations'
ALI ROGIN Tuesday, August 08, 2017 03:17PM
Speaking at a Rotary Club gathering in Kentucky on Monday, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell vented about how President Donald Trump's lack of political experience has led to him setting "excessive expectations" for legislative priorities.
McConnell, R-Ky., told the group in Florence that he found it "extremely irritating" that Congress has earned the reputation of not accomplishing anything.
"Part of the reason I think that the storyline is that we haven't done much is because, in part, the president and others have set these early timelines about things need to be done by a certain point," said McConnell, a Republican and the state's senior senator.
Trump, a political newcomer, as McConnell noted, has a habit of declaring progress on major priorities that do not necessarily reflect the reality of lawmaking.
http://abc7ny.com/news/mitch-mcconnell-vents-about-trumps-excessive-expectations-/2286363/
Trump defends 'excessive expectations' on healthcare to Mitch McConnell: 'Why not done' after 7 years?
by Anna Giaritelli | Aug 9, 2017, 2:37 PM
President Trump knocked Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on Wednesday for saying the former businessman had "excessive expectations" of Congress. "Senator Mitch McConnell said I had 'excessive expectations,' but I don't think so. After 7 years of hearing Repeal & Replace, why not done?" Trump tweeted Wednesday afternoon.
Earlier this week, the Kentucky Republican blamed Trump's unrealistically high expectations for making Congress look like it has not accomplished anything meaningful in 2017.
"Part of the reason I think that the storyline is that we haven't done much is because, in part, the president and others have set these early timelines about things need to be done by a certain point," McConnell told a Rotary Club gathering in Kentucky Monday.
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., also dismissed McConnell's blaming Trump on Wednesday.
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/trump-defends-excessive-expectations-on-healthcare-to-mitch-mcconnell-why-not-done-after-7-years/article/2631058
Trump’s Spat With Mitch McConnell Widens GOP Divisions
by CHUCK TODD, MARK MURRAY and CARRIE DANN
On Monday morning, we wrote how divided Republicans are six and half months into Trump’s presidency, especially after the GOP-led Senate failed in its effort to repeal and replace Obamacare. Well, things have gotten only more divided since then. Consider:
Vulnerable Sen. Dean Heller, R-Nev., now has a GOP primary challenger in Danny Tarkanian;
Politico reports that one of Trump’s top donors, Robert Mercer, is contributing $300,000 to a Super PAC supporting the Republican challenging incumbent Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz;
Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., said in a radio interview that John McCain’s no-vote on health care might have been due to his brain tumor; Johnson has called his remarks “unfortunate” and “clumsy”;
And maybe in the most significant skirmish to date, President Trump is now going after Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. “Can you believe that Mitch McConnell, who has screamed Repeal & Replace for 7 years, couldn't get it done. Must Repeal & Replace ObamaCare!” Trump tweeted this morning.
That Trump tweet — and an earlier one from Wednesday — came after McConnell criticized Trump's "excessive expectations" on health care.
http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/first-read/trump-s-spat-mitch-mcconnell-widens-gop-divisions-n791411
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Mitch McConnell vents about Trump's 'excessive expectations'
ALI ROGIN Tuesday, August 08, 2017 03:17PM
Speaking at a Rotary Club gathering in Kentucky on Monday, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell vented about how President Donald Trump's lack of political experience has led to him setting "excessive expectations" for legislative priorities.
McConnell, R-Ky., told the group in Florence that he found it "extremely irritating" that Congress has earned the reputation of not accomplishing anything.
"Part of the reason I think that the storyline is that we haven't done much is because, in part, the president and others have set these early timelines about things need to be done by a certain point," said McConnell, a Republican and the state's senior senator.
Trump, a political newcomer, as McConnell noted, has a habit of declaring progress on major priorities that do not necessarily reflect the reality of lawmaking.
http://abc7ny.com/news/mitch-mcconnell-vents-about-trumps-excessive-expectations-/2286363/
Never in my life did I think I would ever have anything good to say about Mitch McConnell, but I think he's right on the money here.
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this should embarrass dt...talk about crowd size...
It won't, though, because of course his crowds were larger. ... ::)
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OK, no joke. This North Korean thing has me seriously worried and scared, as much because of the loose cannon we've got in the White House as because of the North Koreans.
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Are We on the Brink of Nuclear War with North Korea? Probably Not.
By Anna Fifield August 11 at 9:28 AM
The saber-rattling from both North Korea and the Trump administration has many people worried that the world is on the brink of a nuclear war.
Kim Jong Un’s regime is threatening to fire a missile to land near Guam, the American territory in the Pacific Ocean that is home to two huge U.S. military bases, by the middle of this month. He seems to have the technical capacity to make good on this threat: his regime has made observable progress in its missile program, notably firing two intercontinental ballistic missiles last month theoretically capable of reaching the American mainland.
President Trump has issued tough warnings to North Korea in response. In his latest statement, on Thursday, he warned North Korea that “things will happen to them like they never thought possible” should the isolated country attack the United States or its allies.
There have been many periods of heightened tensions between the two countries over the years, especially in April and August, when South Korea and the United States conducted joint military exercises that North Korea considered preparation for an invasion.
The Washington Post asked a range of experts in both the United States and South Korea if this time was any different. How worried should we be about conflict breaking out, accidental or otherwise?
Here are their replies.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2017/08/11/are-we-on-the-brink-of-nuclear-war-with-north-korea-the-consensus-is-probably-not/?utm_term=.438619970722
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https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2017/08/11/are-we-on-the-brink-of-nuclear-war-with-north-korea-the-consensus-is-probably-not/?utm_term=.438619970722
I do not take comfort in those responses, for the same reason I said that I'm seriously worried and scared: That fool in the White House, who just might do something to show he has the balls to do it (pardon my language).
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Trump Hands McConnell a Daunting To-Do List to Regain His Favor
By Laura Litvan August 11, 2017
President Donald Trump laid out a path for Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to get back in his good graces: replace Obamacare, overhaul the U.S. tax code and find a way to pay for big infrastructure improvements.
Yet clearing Trump’s agenda anytime soon is close to impossible in the narrowly controlled Republican Senate that already has a packed agenda of must-pass legislation.
Trump’s direction for McConnell came after he assailed the Senate Republican leader for two days on Twitter over the Senate’s failure to replace the Affordable Care Act. When asked by a reporter whether McConnell should step down, Trump said Thursday he would withhold judgment.
“If he doesn’t get repeal and replace done,” along with taxes and infrastructure, Trump said, “then you can ask me that question.”
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-08-11/mcconnell-handed-daunting-to-do-list-to-win-back-trump-s-favor
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Horror and hate in Charlottesville
BY TAYLOR LORENZ AND WILL SOMMER - 08/12/17 08:05 PM EDT
Clashes between “alt-right” white nationalists and counter-protesters turned this Virginia college town into a battlefield on Saturday, leaving three people dead and more than a dozen injured after a car plowed into a crowd of counter-protestors.
The fatal crash came a day after white supremacists already in town for the “Unite the Right” rally scheduled for Saturday marched through Charlottesville with torches, clashing with outnumbered left-wing activists.
The images of torch-lit white nationalists occupying the center of an American city went viral on social media, increasing the pressure on liberal activists to prevent Saturday's event.
Saturday saw many storefronts in Charlottesville shuttered ahead of expected fighting, which began hours before the noon start time for the planned right-wing rally.
The event brought various white nationalist groups together, and was meant to protest Charlottesville's removal of a statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee.
http://thehill.com/homenews/news/346359-horror-and-hate-in-charlottesville
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Virginia governor to white nationalists: 'Go home ... shame on you'
By Jason Hanna, Kaylee Hartung, Devon M. Sayers and Steve Almasy, CNN
Updated 9:02 PM ET, Sat August 12, 2017
One person was killed and 19 were hurt when a speeding car slammed into a throng of counterprotesters in Charlottesville, where a "Unite the Right" rally of white nationalist and other right-wing groups had been scheduled take place, the city tweeted on its verified account.
A 32-year-old woman was killed while walking across the street, Thomas said. Police were still in the process of notifying her family. Two Virginia State Patrol troopers were killed in a helicopter crash while "assisting public safety resources with the ongoing situation in Charlottesville," the agency said in a news release. The pilot, Lt. H. Jay Cullen, 48, and Trooper Berke M.M. Bates, who would have turned 41 on Sunday, died in the crash.
Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe McAuliffe had a pointed message for the right-wing groups that flocked to Charlottesville on Saturday: "Go home. ... You are not wanted in this great commonwealth. Shame on you."
http://www.cnn.com/2017/08/12/us/charlottesville-white-nationalists-rally/index.html
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Trump’s Remarks on Charlottesville Violence Are Criticized as Insufficient
By GLENN THRUSH and MAGGIE HABERMANAUG. 12, 2017
President Trump is rarely reluctant to express his opinion, but he is often seized by caution when addressing the violence and vitriol of white nationalists, neo-Nazis and alt-right activists, some of whom are his supporters. After days of genially bombastic interactions with the news media on North Korea and the shortcomings of congressional Republicans, Mr. Trump on Saturday condemned the bloody protests in Charlottesville, Va., in what critics in both parties saw as muted, equivocal terms.
During a brief and uncomfortable address to reporters at his golf resort in Bedminster, N.J., he called for an end to the violence. But he was the only national political figure to spread blame for the “hatred, bigotry and violence” that resulted in the death of one person to “many sides.”
For the most part, Republican leaders and other allies have kept quiet over several months about Mr. Trump’s outbursts and angry Twitter posts. But recently they have stopped averting their gazes and on Saturday a handful criticized his reaction to Charlottesville as insufficient.
“Mr. President — we must call evil by its name,” tweeted Senator Cory Gardner, Republican from Colorado, who oversees the National Republican Senatorial Committee, the campaign arm of the Senate Republicans.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/12/us/trump-charlottesville-protest-nationalist-riot.html
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^^^
A great commentary on Trump's response to this:
http://www.cnn.com/2017/08/12/politics/trump-charlottesville-statement/index.html
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and as stated in that story, several R's tweeted directly to dt
"Mr. President - we must call evil by its name," tweeted Sen. Cory Gardner, R-Colorado. "These were white supremacists and this was domestic terrorism."
He always criticized BO for not using the term radical islamic terrorists, and now he refuses to use the term white supremacist...what a coward.
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and as stated in that story, several R's tweeted directly to dt
"Mr. President - we must call evil by its name," tweeted Sen. Cory Gardner, R-Colorado. "These were white supremacists and this was domestic terrorism."
He always criticized BO for not using the term radical islamic terrorists, and now he refuses to use the term white supremacist...what a coward.
The word I'd use starts with an "a" and ends with an "e."
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and as stated in that story, several R's tweeted directly to dt
"Mr. President - we must call evil by its name," tweeted Sen. Cory Gardner, R-Colorado. "These were white supremacists and this was domestic terrorism."
He always criticized BO for not using the term radical islamic terrorists, and now he refuses to use the term white supremacist...what a coward.
Considering that the event was essentially a gathering of his supporters, he didn't want to upset them.
I also noted the lack of police presence especially in riot gear, unlike at the so-called antifa protests where they are immediately met with water cannons and sound bombs. (or whatever you call those things)
Way to go America, you officially now have a white supremacist government. Sad!
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His base loved it...
— “Trump comments were good. He didn’t attack us. He just said the nation should come together. Nothing specific against us. ... No condemnation at all. When asked to condemn, he just walked out of the room. Really, really good. God bless him.” — Daily Stormer, a white supremacist website promoting the Charlottesville demonstration on its Summer of Hate edition.
Enough already with the "way to go America" comments. He has a 33% approval rating and it's an insult to me as a voter to be lumped in with those few.
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Trump Advisers Signal the Knives Are Out for Bannon
By Dan Merica, Jim Acosta and Kaitlan Collins, CNN Sun August 13, 2017
Two senior Trump advisers -- one inside the White House and another who recently departed -- signaled Sunday that the knives are out for Steve Bannon, President Donald Trump's controversial chief strategist.
The comments come as a source inside the White House tells CNN that White House chief of staff John Kelly has soured on Bannon, a political operative with deep ties to the 'alt-right' and the former head of the conservative news site Breitbart.
Bannon is seen as pursuing his own agenda, which does not fit mesh with the power structure Kelly is putting in place, the source added. National security adviser H.R. McMaster was asked three times by NBC's Chuck Todd on Sunday whether he can work with Bannon in the White House. McMaster dodged the question each time and eventually left it an open question as to whether Bannon is motived by advancing the President's agenda.
"Can you and Steve Bannon still work together," Todd asked.
"I get to work together with a broad range of talented people," McMaster said. "It's a privilege every day to enable the national security team." Asked again, McMaster said, "I am ready to work with anybody who will help advance the President's agenda and advance the security, prosperity of the American people."
http://www.cnn.com/2017/08/13/politics/trump-advisers-bannon/index.html
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His base loved it...
— “Trump comments were good. He didn’t attack us. He just said the nation should come together. Nothing specific against us. ... No condemnation at all. When asked to condemn, he just walked out of the room. Really, really good. God bless him.” — Daily Stormer, a white supremacist website promoting the Charlottesville demonstration on its Summer of Hate edition.
Enough already with the "way to go America" comments. He has a 33% approval rating and it's an insult to me as a voter to be lumped in with those few.
Noted.
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Wrath of Right Falls on Google
BY HARPER NEIDIG - 08/12/17 09:27 PM EDT
The firing of a Google programmer who authored a controversial memo criticizing the company’s diversity initiatives has become a cause célèbre for many on the right. They see the case of James Damore confirming their suspicions that Silicon Valley suppresses conservative viewpoints and are turning their fire on his former employer.
Damore’s internal memo became public when published by Gizmodo last Saturday. Titled “Google’s Ideological Echo Chamber,” it argued that Google’s initiatives to close its workforce gender gap were misguided because the disparity was more a result of biological differences between men and women than biased hiring practices or sexism.
Women are underrepresented in professions like coding, Damore argued, in part because they are more susceptible to “neuroticism,” leading to higher levels of anxiety and a low tolerance for stress.
http://thehill.com/policy/technology/346267-wrath-of-right-falls-on-google
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^^^
The problem with this situation is that it cannot fully or reasonably be discussed unless one reads the entire ten pages James Damore wrote and also the fact that this memo isn't a "sourced" paper on diversity, so where James Damore talks about the issue, are his viewpoints on the matter his or factually supported by research? So now it's being used as a weapon, right against left, often taken out of context by both, instead of inspiring a discussion.
I glanced through the ten pages. People seem more willing than ever to pounce on anything so that they can find offense with it. Social media and 24 hour news cycles aid in this endeavor and, in fact, seem to demand it. People would rather just be offended than discuss something. We get so much information overload that we revert to some comfortable position without much thought because it's easier.
I suspect many (at least some) of you remember growing up when "the news" was not a part of the majority of your day. You were not subjected to it all day long. You went about your business and didn't "follow" someone on twitter constantly or have to get news info each second. We elected people
to pay attention to and take care of the issues we needed them to address so that "we wouldn't have to." Politics and government was not a daily TV show that we had to get involved in constantly. Now we argue with people we don't know online because we can. And it is often addictive.
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I don't know what to say about 45's press conference today. He is unhinged. I shouldn't be surprised, but I was...surprised that it all came so easy to him, and mostly that he wasn't afraid to out himself as a stone cold racist to the world.
I didn't watch this whole thing, it's an HBO film that they did starting Friday night when the nazi's were marching with their little tiki torches...but what they were chanting is chilling. "Jews will not replace us!" I wonder how ivanka feels about that...her father is throwing his grandchildren under the bus.
Charlottesville: Race and Terror – VICE News Tonight on HBO
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RIrcB1sAN8I (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RIrcB1sAN8I)
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There are supposed to be several more nazi marches this weekend in Austin, Boston, Atlanta, Berkeley and other cities.
While I'm all for protesting, I think, in this case, let the nazis play with themselves...let them march alone with the cameras on and no one to scream at but CNN...they'll walk, they'll make unspeakable chants, but if there's no one to fight with, their little minds will soon lost interest.
I know that's not a popular stance...then they should get their own permit and march on the other side of the city. Make your voice heard, get your point across, but make it truly non-violent, so no one can say (as 45 tried to today), that the "alt-left" were just as responsible for the violence last Saturday.
these are the cities scheduled for the nazis to march in. I can't believe Mt View - it's just a little town, compared to the rest...
Atlanta
Austin
Boston
Los Angeles
Mountain View, California
New York
Pittsburgh
Seattle
Washington, D.C.
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The only missing is Dear Leader
David Duke
@DrDavidDuke
David Duke Retweeted NBC News
Thank you President Trump for your honesty & courage to tell the truth about #Charlottesville & condemn the leftist terrorists in BLM/Antifa
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I don't know what to say about 45's press conference today. He is unhinged.
I didn't see the conference, but in the sound bytes I've seen he sure seems unhinged. The man lives in his own world, thinks no one knows anything better than he does, and I guess he scares me more than the North Koreans.
I was very disappointed when I saw part of an interview with John Kasich. He would go so far, but he stopped short of being willing to throw 45 under the bus, or have the entire Republican Party grow some and tell 45 they will not support him.
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He cited "very fine people" were marching on both sides...
The Rs are not ready to disassociate from him yet, I don't know what it will take. Surely they don't think their constituents still see him as the person who was supposed to create jobs, create trumpcare, turn the country around...I hope CNN goes back to re-interview the same middle class families they talked to before the election, when they gave the reasons they were voting for him.
On the other hand, I love all the execs who quit his manufacturing council. By this morning, 8 had gone, so 45 tweeted that he dissolved the council...one step ahead of not having a council to dissolve.
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He cited "very fine people" were marching on both sides...
And the alt-left came with clubs.
The Rs are not ready to disassociate from him yet, I don't know what it will take.
Me neither. Sometimes doing the right thing is not doing what you think your constituents want you to do, but I don't hold any hope that the Republican Party will do the right thing.
Surely they don't think their constituents still see him as the person who was supposed to create jobs, create trumpcare, turn the country around...
No, but they might still see him as giving the finger to liberals. You know, if leftie-liberals (or is it liberal-lefties?) think it's a good thing to take down Confederate memorials, then give'em the finger and keep the memorials just because the leftie-liberals want to take them down.
And then there are those whom I'm sure see him as the one to bomb North Korea because, you know, just because. ...
I hope CNN goes back to re-interview the same middle class families they talked to before the election, when they gave the reasons they were voting for him.
Might be interesting.
On the other hand, I love all the execs who quit his manufacturing council. By this morning, 8 had gone, so 45 tweeted that he dissolved the council...one step ahead of not having a council to dissolve.
Me, too.
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The business about removing statues...I don't have all the information, but I've had thoughts about it, I am not inclined
to think that history should be wiped from historical locations. Some time ago there were people who thought a statue of
President Woodrow Wilson should be removed (I forget the exact location) in New Jersey because he was a racist.
Don't some things have to be tempered with history, with the idea that someone could be honored for the best they
accomplished and not always tainted with the worst? Should most of the founding fathers be banished from any honors
because they had slaves. What about misogynists and/or homophobes from years past. Not only the past, there have
been calls for a statue of Bill Cosby at the Television Academy's courtyard be removed as well as his star on the Hollywood
Walk of Fame.
I confess I have not thought about why statues of Civil War Confederates are in existence, but this week I was listening
to a person saying that many of these statues were actually erected in the 1960's and by people who were doing it as a
way of fighting back against all of the civil rights progress being made in the country at that time. It was a way to say to
the black folks that despite that progress they didn't feel the same way about it. This information put a different notion
to my idea that the statues were there for historical purposes. Apparently many were erected as intimidation toward
something they were opposed to. Another historian noted that "Statues tell us as much about the people who erected
them as the person they were honoring.
Also, these things are invariably in the eye of the beholder. There are some statues of British Tories in various places in
New England, should they be taken down for one reason or another. Does anyone in the south where statues like these
are erected, look at them as a warning of sorts, as symbols of a notion or idea that shouldn't have been carried out to the
extreme at terrible cost? I don't know.
Yesterday the people of Alabama gave the highest percentage of votes in a Republican primary for candidates to replace
Senator Jess Sessions to Judge Roy Moore, a Judge who refused to issue the orders to remove a Ten Commandments
statue from the court premises and was one of the Judges, which got him removed from office and who refused to
implement marriage equality after the Supreme Court ruled it legal.
Way to go Alabama.
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The business about removing statues...I don't have all the information, but I've had thoughts about it, I am not inclined
to think that history should be wiped from historical locations. Some time ago there were people who thought a statue of
President Woodrow Wilson should be removed (I forget the exact location) in New Jersey because he was a racist.
Was it at Princeton? Wilson was president of Princeton.
I confess I have not thought about why statues of Civil War Confederates are in existence, but this week I was listening
to a person saying that many of these statues were actually erected in the 1960's and by people who were doing it as a
way of fighting back against all of the civil rights progress being made in the country at that time. It was a way to say to
the black folks that despite that progress they didn't feel the same way about it. This information put a different notion
to my idea that the statues were there for historical purposes. Apparently many were erected as intimidation toward
something they were opposed to. Another historian noted that "Statues tell us as much about the people who erected
them as the person they were honoring.
Lyle, I'm not disagreeing with you, but I would point out that 1961-1965 was the centennial of the Civil War. Is it possible these two impulses, pride in Southern history and anti-civil rights, reinforced each other? I got the impression somewhere that there is still a lot of pride in the South over men who died fighting in the Confederate armies. Yes, they died fighting to preserve "the Southern Way of Life," a euphemism for slavery if I ever heard one, but died in battle they did. There are still a lot of boys who like to put on wool uniforms and play soldier, both Union and Confederate. I think they reenact Pickett's Charge at Gettysburg every July. Some of those guys on both sides of the line may well be racist, but surely all are not, including guys on the Confederate side.
But I think that historian is dead right about statues telling as much about the people who erect them as those who are honored.
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Surely they don't think their constituents still see him as the person who was supposed to create jobs, create trumpcare, turn the country around...I hope CNN goes back to re-interview the same middle class families they talked to before the election, when they gave the reasons they were voting for him.
On its evening news broadcast today, the local NBC affiliate here ran a story consisting of interviews with local Trumpists. They still support the son-of-a-bitch.
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I read that many of those monuments were also erected during the Jim Crow period in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. I don't have a problem with their removal. They commemorate men who tried to destroy the US. They are effectively traitors, so honouring them seems a bit wrong-headed. They belong in museums.
Just last week a confederate plaque was removed from a wall outside a department store here in Montreal. It was dedicated to Jefferson Davis, president of the Confederate States from 1861 to 1865. Apparently, his family had fled to Montreal so when he got out of prison he joined them. He stayed with a friend who's house used to be at that location. The plaque was put up in 1957 by a group called "The Daughters of the Confederacy". Few Montrealers were aware of its existence.
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The plaque was put up in 1957 by a group called "The Daughters of the Confederacy". Few Montrealers were aware of its existence.
The plaque or the Daughters of the Confederacy? They're like the Daughters of the American Revolution except they're descendants of men who fought for the South.
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The plaque or the Daughters of the Confederacy? They're like the Daughters of the American Revolution except they're descendants of men who fought for the South.
Sorry for being unclear, I meant the plaque. I must have walked by it hundreds of times.
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Trump promotes upcoming rally in Phoenix despite plea from mayor
President Trump, facing another tough patch in his presidency, will hold his first rally in the West since his inauguration, announcing Wednesday that he will travel to Arizona next week.
The rally could provide a place for Trump to announce a pardon for Joe Arpaio, the former Arizona county sheriff and Trump campaign supporter who was recently convicted of having defied a judge’s order to stop racial profiling of Latinos when he was in office.
Trump told a Fox News contributor this week that he was considering a pardon, which would be broadly controversial but potentially excite some of his core supporters.
http://www.latimes.com/politics/la-pol-updates-trump-tweets-phoenix-rally-htmlstory.html
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Protesters Flood Streets, and Trump Offers a Measure of Praise
By KATHARINE Q. SEELYE, ALAN BLINDER and JESS BIDGOOD
Tens of thousands of demonstrators, emboldened and unnerved by the eruption of fatal violence in Virginia last weekend, surged into the nation’s streets and parks on Saturday to denounce racism, white supremacy and Nazism.
Demonstrations were boisterous but broadly peaceful, even as tensions and worries coursed through protests from Boston Common, the nation’s oldest public park, to Hot Springs, Ark., and to the bridges that cross the Willamette River in Portland, Ore. Other rallies played out in Houston, Memphis and New Orleans, among other cities.
The demonstrations — which drew 40,000 people in Boston alone, according to police estimates — came one week after a 32-year-old woman died amid clashes between white nationalists and counterprotesters in Charlottesville, Va., and they unfolded as the nation was again confronting questions about race, violence and the standing of Confederate symbols.
President Trump, who has faced unyielding, and bipartisan, criticism after saying that there was “blame on both sides” in Charlottesville, wrote on Twitter on Saturday that he wanted “to applaud the many protestors in Boston who are speaking out against bigotry and hate. Our country will soon come together as one!”
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/18/us/demonstration-race-free-speech-boston-charlottesville.html
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Charlottesville: Student who attended neo-Nazi rally forced to leave university after backlash
Fiona Keating
A student who took part in the white supremacist rally in Charlottesville has said he is leaving Boston University because of the violent threats he has received since the event. “It’s becoming very dangerous,” Nicholas Fuentes told the Boston Globe.
Over the past week, the 18-year-old, who is originally from Illinois, said he had received 15 death threats over social media and also by email. He blamed what he described as the socialist bias of US states for the animosity towards him.
“Massachusetts, and Boston in particular, are among the most left-wing states and cities,” he said. “Probably anywhere I would go would be safer than Boston.”
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/charlottesville-student-nicholas-fuentes-boston-university-leave-death-threats-immigration-unite-the-a7901711.html
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Love him or hate him, he was an energizing force in the entertainment business from the very beginning
Jerry Lewis, Nonpareil Genius of Comedy, Dies at 91
He dominated show business with Dean Martin in the 1950s, starred in 'The Bellboy' and 'The Nutty Professor,' hosted the Labor Day telethon for decades and received the Hersholt award.
Jerry Lewis, whose irrepressible zaniness and frantic creativity vaulted him to stardom as a comic movie star who wielded unparalleled green-light power at Paramount in the 1960s, died Sunday. He was 91.
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/jerry-lewis-dead-nutty-professor-bellboy-star-was-91-721408 (http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/jerry-lewis-dead-nutty-professor-bellboy-star-was-91-721408)
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fcdn1.thr.com%2Fsites%2Fdefault%2Ffiles%2Fimagecache%2Flandscape_928x523%2F2014%2F06%2FTHRJerryLewis0013f_a_l.jpg&hash=4308960cb29774a7cbca5a793fb120ea4b96767b)
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Love him or hate him, he was an energizing force in the entertainment business from the very beginning
It used to be said that the French really loved him. I wonder if that's still true?
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Today was the last day of Pride Week here in Montreal. It was a gorgeous day for the parade. Justin Trudeau and the PM of Ireland who just happened to be in country, Leo Varadkar, took part. Here they are accompanied by the Mayor and the PM of Quebec:
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi176.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fw197%2Foilgun%2Ffierte-montreal-trudeau-01_zpsdsldcrtg.jpg&hash=9c33f92cdbfe90fe76639f4865c42ec31aab8a14)
I just noticed that the windows in the far left of the photo is where I work.
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Today was the last day of Pride Week here in Montreal. It was a gorgeous day for the the parade. Justin Trudeau and the PM of Ireland who just happened to be in country, Leo Varadkar, took part. Here they are accompanied by the Mayor and the PM of Quebec:
Wow, he does his best to hit all the parades, huh? I've seen pics of him at Toronto Pride as well.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DDNNWSUUQAE910N.jpg)
I would guess it's safe to assume he gives a lot of support to the lgbtq community there.
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As Charlie Brown would say, "All I (we) got was a rock."
8)
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http://www.cnn.com/2017/08/21/politics/secret-service-donald-trump-family/index.html
Before and during the campaign season, Trump regularly criticized Obama for costing the American taxpayer money every time he took a trip, and Trump the candidate repeatedly called for belt-tightening across government agencies.
CNN reported that Trump's travel to his private club in Florida has cost more than an estimated $20 million in his first 80 days in office, putting the President on pace to surpass former President Barack Obama's eight years of spending on travel -- in only his first year in office.
The Secret Service cannot pay hundreds of agents to protect President Donald Trump and his large family, according to a report published Monday morning. Secret Service Director Randolph "Tex'' Alles told USA Today more than 1,000 agents have already hit the federally mandated caps for salary and overtime allowances -- which were meant to last the entire year.
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As Charlie Brown would say, "All I (we) got was a rock."
8)
That's about all we got, too.
At least it isn't heralding the end of the world.
45 will take care of that.
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Anybody watch the Great Satan's speech last night?
I didn't.
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Neither did I. There is not anything he has to say that I want to hear.
-
I figure Afghanistan is just another attempt to divert attention.
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I did not watch. Or listen. The man lies so much, or says things of little import, or says
something and changes his mind the next minute that I thought "why bother?" Plus, seeing
sound bites of him on the news is more than enough, to see him give a whole speech is just
way too much punishment for any sane/rational person.
I hear some of the Kennedy Center honors participants were making some sort of noise
about not wanting to go or wanting to boycott because "it" would be there and so Trump
got wind of this and put out a statement saying he wouldn't be going:
President Trump will skip the annual Kennedy Center Honors this year to allow the "artists
to celebrate without any political distraction," the White House said Saturday.
The recipients this year are: Carmen de Lavallade, Norman Lear, Lionel Richie, LL Cool J and
Gloria Estefan.
The cynic in me would say Trump chose not to attend because the recipients are 4 people of
color and a Jewish man.
I'd also point out that Trump doesn't really want to do anything unless he is the center of attention.
Why would he want to go applaud 5 other people's accomplishments?
Three of the honorees had already stated they wouldn't attend the White House reception before
the ceremonies.
-
The first honors were given in 1978. Has anyone noticed that
their logo and award ribbon look like a version of the gay pride
flag? (Which was devised in the 80's.) (Probably another reason
Trump would decline.) This logo does also have a similar reasoning
to the rainbow flag's inclusiveness: "The Logotype symbolizes
'a spectrum of many skills within the performing arts'."
I chose this photo, not because it is a really good photo of Shirley MacLaine,
whom I adore, but because it shows the award and their logo on the poster
behind her.
(https://i.pinimg.com/originals/70/a2/ce/70a2ce481edb915f2e7fefec061cef7c.jpg)
Personally, I've always thought it was a pretty ugly design, especially when you see the recipients
moving while wearing it because it bunches up and/or looks very awkward. But the honor is anything
but ugly.
If you wonder what the gold clothespin type things have written on them--the left one says "Kennedy
Center Honors", the bottom one is the name of the recipient and the one on the right is the date of
the particular ceremony. Next year will be the 40th celebration!
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There is not anything he has to say that I want to hear.
There is one thing I'd like to hear him say. To quote President Nixon:
"I shall resign the presidency effective at noon tomorrow."
Or sooner.
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An interview with Mike Murphy, one of the most high profile -- and longest serving -- Republican
political consultants in the country. Don't we wish all Republicans would speak like this? Why
does he and not others:
"They have a lot more Republican primary voters to worry about than I do, I'm not on the ballot!
That said, I am amazed after 30-plus years in this racket to see how many pols think being easily
re-elected is the highest purpose they have in politics. It's not like we are asking these folks to land
on Anzio beach or hold Pork Chop Hill ... all that is required is to show some guts against a blatant
demagogue who is massively unprepared by temperament, knowledge or character to be President
of the United States."
http://www.cnn.com/2017/08/22/politics/donald-trump-gop-mike-murphy/index.html
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(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DDNNWSUUQAE910N.jpg)
Love the socks. ...
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President Trump will skip the annual Kennedy Center Honors this year to allow the "artists
to celebrate without any political distraction," the White House said Saturday.
Bullshit. If that isn't the behavior of a spoiled and selfish brat, I don't know what is.
I'd also point out that Trump doesn't really want to do anything unless he is the center of attention.
Why would he want to go applaud 5 other people's accomplishments?
Exactly.
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I think we all get the last laugh, because she has to fuck that cadaver...seriously, doesn't he look like he's already been embalmed? And maybe a little less Just For Men...
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/7d/Steven_Mnuchin.jpg/1200px-Steven_Mnuchin.jpg)
Steve Mnuchin's wife sorry for tirade against Instagram critic
The wife of Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin apologized Tuesday for an online tirade against a woman who criticized her for posting a glitzy photo showing her disembarking a government plane and bragging about her designer duds.
Louise Linton, a Scottish actress famously ridiculed for writing a “white savior” memoir about her time in Zambia, posted the pic of herself and Mnuchin on Instagram and littered the caption with the brand names for her attire.
“Great #daytrip to #Kentucky! #nicest #people #beautiful #countryside #rolandmouret pants #tomford sunnies, #hermesscarf #valentinorockstudheels #valentino #usa,” she wrote.
The photo, taken after a trip to Kentucky, attracted the ire of Instagram user Jenni Miller, who commented, “Glad we could pay for your little getaway. #deplorable”.
That jab prompted a lengthy response from Linton, who boasted about the taxes she contributed and the “self-sacrifice” she gave to the country.
“cute!....Aw!! Did you think this was a personal trip?! Adorable! Do you think the US govt paid for our honeymoon or personal travel?! Lololol,” she wrote.
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/steve-mnuchin-wife-launches-tirade-instagramcritic-article-1.3431741 (http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/steve-mnuchin-wife-launches-tirade-instagramcritic-article-1.3431741)
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I watched some of 45s rally last night, mostly to see what we're up against. It was just like every other rally he did while campaigning - except he's not campaigning...of course, he's not governing, either...he's just putting on a show for the mindless followers.
CNN had 6 followers (read cultists) on this morning, and it was appalling to hear them defend his words after Charlottesville, and his words last night. One thing they were touting is that the demonstrators were all bussed in, but they had no evidence. They don't trust the news, they trust the guy on FB in his car, who said he heard from some woman that people were getting off the same bus with BLM shirts and KKK shirts.
But no matter what CNN says, he still has 81% approval ratings with R's, and he'll always have his misguided base.
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Clinging to that (at best foolish) notion that there were "very good people" on both sides in Charlottesville.
Just like a brat who cannot admit he's wrong.
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One thing they were touting is that the demonstrators were all bussed in, but they had no evidence.
This is something they always say. It's kind of maddening. Remember the Women's March? All bussed in and paid by George Soros.
This tactic is a way to dismiss and diminish those with a differing viewpoint.
I happened to see some of this rally because I was watching one of the MSNBC programs last night
and they looked in on it. It was actually making me angry and wanting to go be violent myself.
Every day this cretin is in office is a day our country gets worse and will have to overcome.
And he promised that he will pardon Joe Arpaio. And I do wish the news media would stop
saying Sheriff Joe Arpaio. He is no longer Sheriff as the voters in his country ousted him. Former
Sheriff at least. Then Trump lies to these people saying "He was convicted for doing his job."
It is complete madness.
If someone is interested in what that is all about there's a good article about it. Warning:
It might make you even more disturbed about the situation Trump's riling up, but it probably
won't surprise you.
Joe Arpaio, the Anti-Immigrant Sheriff that Trump Wants to Save from Prison, Explained
https://www.vox.com/2017/8/22/16151256/trump-pardon-arpaio (https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/8/22/16151256/trump-pardon-arpaio)
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Just like a brat who cannot admit he's wrong.
Perfect remarks about Trump's speech last night from this link:
https://www.policy-and-politics/2017/8/23/16189198/phoenix-speech (https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/8/23/16189198/cnn-don-lemon-rebuke-trump-phoenix-speech)
"I’m just going to speak from the heart here. What we have witnessed is a total eclipse of the facts: Someone who came out onstage and lied directly to the American people and left things out that he said in an attempt to rewrite history, especially when it comes to Charlottesville.
He’s unhinged. It’s embarrassing. And I don’t mean for us, the media, because he went after us — but for the country. This is who we elected president of the United States, a man who is so petty that he has to go after people who he deems to be his enemy, like an imaginary friend of a 6-year-old. His speech was without thought. It was without reason. It was devoid of facts. It was devoid of wisdom. There was no gravitas. There was no sanity there. He was like a child blaming a sibling on something else. ‘He did it. I didn’t do it.’
He certainly opened up the race wounds from Charlottesville. A man clearly wounded by the rational people who are abandoning him in droves, meaning those business people and the people in Washington now who are questioning his fitness for office and whether he is stable. A man backed into a corner, it seems, by circumstances beyond his control and beyond his understanding.
That’s the truth. If you watched that speech as an American, you had to be thinking, ‘What in the world is going on?’ This is the person we elected as the president of the United States? This petty? This small? The person who is supposed to pull the country together? It certainly didn’t happen there."
...beyond his understanding...
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Trump’s rhetoric could inspire more violence. “He has given oxygen to racists,” referencing Trump’s frequent reticence to condemn the alt-right and white supremacist groups. “He is clearly trying to ignite a civil war in this country.” Former director of national intelligence James Clapper called Trump’s speech “downright scary and disturbing.”
How can people support this atrocious whiny spoiled entitled angry bloviator?
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A man backed into a corner, it seems, by circumstances beyond his control and beyond his understanding.
I don't know if I agree with this part, because it seems to me he's backed himself into that corner--brought it on himself--just by being the emotional toddler that he is. it's certainly beyond his comprehension why the whole world doesn't think he can walk on water.
That’s the truth. If you watched that speech as an American, you had to be thinking, ‘What in the world is going on?’ This is the person we elected as the president of the United States? This petty? This small? The person who is supposed to pull the country together? It certainly didn’t happen there."
I'd say that's only if you're a rational, thinking American. The adoring followers who show up at his Nuremburg-like rallies are Americans, too. And they're still ready to kiss his feet, if not another part of his anatomy.
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Speaking of hating something.
There is an app that matches people according to the things they hate.
The "Haters" app people compiled a list of the most hated food in each
state in the U.S. What food (includes some drinks) do you think the
people in your state hate the most according to this data? I'll let you
know.
(It's actually listed as the most hated food, drink or food concept.) Heh! (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/food-each-state-hates-most_us_599ca42ce4b0d8dde9999ae5)
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Trump’s rhetoric could inspire more violence. “He has given oxygen to racists,” referencing Trump’s frequent reticence to condemn the alt-right and white supremacist groups. “He is clearly trying to ignite a civil war in this country.” Former director of national intelligence James Clapper called Trump’s speech “downright scary and disturbing.”
Is all of this from Clapper? I think it's a bit much to say that he is "clearly trying to ignite a civil war in this country" (italics mine), but I think his words could have that effect.
And who would be fighting whom?
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How can people support this atrocious whiny spoiled entitled angry bloviator?
Because racism runs deeper in white America than Democrats and liberals believed, or wanted to think?
Lyle, I could wish you could get your hands on a copy of the August 28 issue of The New Yorker. My copy landed in my mailbox today. The editorial, by David Remnick, TNY's editor, I think at least partially answers your question.
Remnick writes, "For half a century ... the leaders of the G.O.P. have fanned the lingering embers of racial resentment in the United States. Through shrewd political calculation and rhetoric, from Richard Nixon's 'Southern strategy' to the latest charges of voter fraud in majority-African-American districts, doing so has paid off at the ballot box."
This is why, again to quote Remnick, "[N]ight after night, immense crowds cheered and hooted for a demagogue who had launched a business career with blacks-need-not-apply housing developments in Queens and a political career with a racist conspiracy theory known as birtherism."
Apparently, even President Obama saw Trump coming. Early last November, Obama said (I guess to Remnick himself, although this isn't entirely clear), "Donald Trump is not an outlier; he is a culmination, a logical conclusion of the rhetoric and tactics of the Republican Party for the past ten, fifteen, twenty years." It's Remnick's judgment that it's been going on longer.
After Charlottesville and Trump's remark about the "very fine people" among the white nationalists, Remnick says, it's plain that Trump, as his poll numbers are falling, he keeps losing in the courts and Congress, and the Mueller investigation digs into his business history, has "cast his lot with the basest of his base."
After reading Remnick, I find myself thinking that perhaps the G.O.P. has created a Frankenstein's monster only to discover that the party can't control it.
Remnick writes that after the press conference at Trump Tower. "[T]here can be no doubt who he is."
Remnick goes on, "This is the inescapable fact: on November 9th, the United States elected a dishonest, inept, unbalanced, and immoral human being as its President and Commander-in-Chief. Trump has daily proven unyielding to appeals of decency, moderation, or fact. He is willing to imperil the civil peace and the social fabric of his country simply to satisfy his narcissism and to excite the worst inclinations of his core followers."
And what does it say about the American people when this monster of conceit "still retains the support of roughly a third of the country, and of a majority of the Republican electorate" (Remnick again)?
I thought I knew the United States. Boy-o-boy was I wrong.
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Because racism runs deeper in white America than Democrats and liberals believed, or wanted to think?
A couple months ago I did a post about this book that takes aggregated information of what
people are searching online.
EVERYBODY LIES, Big Data, New Data and What the Internet Can Tell Us About Who We Really Are
One finding from the book that dominated the conversation: America is riddled with racist and selfish people.
https://www.vox.com/conversations/2017/6/13/15768622/facebook-social-media-seth-stephens-davidowitz-everybody-lies
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Is all of this from Clapper? I think it's a bit much to say that he is "clearly trying to ignite a civil war in this country" (italics mine), but I think his words could have that effect.
And who would be fighting whom?
Only the last sentence was Clapper's words.
I do think that Trump "tries" to get fights started between people. Whether it's individual people fighting with each other
in the White House (what Trump described recently as people "fighting for his love" ::) ) or groups of people fighting amongst
themselves in the whole country. We already are seeing who is fighting against whom. This breeding of hostilities among people
is how Trump has always operated. It was the premise of his TV show. When it comes to Trump, you can not ever expect more
than the worst. He has shown us that time and time again.
___
Thank you, I did read David Remnick's New Yorker editorial. A quote from it:
"When Trump was elected, there were those who considered his history and insisted that this was a kind of national emergency, and that to normalize this Presidency was a dangerous illusion. At the same time, there were those who, in the spirit of patience and national comity, held that Trump was 'our President,' and that 'he must be given a chance.' Has he had enough of a chance yet?"
He wrote a piece the day after the election last fall about what a national shame the results were and how this will affect our country.
The image to me is like putting one drop of food coloring into a jar of water. It starts spreading and spreading, tainting every part of
the clear liquid.
(https://c2.staticflickr.com/6/5168/5326987932_0a46ac8c35_b.jpg)
-
Until the entire jar of water is tainted:
(https://i.ytimg.com/vi/VrhSg8bhlK4/hqdefault.jpg)
-
Once it is there it isn't, of course, easy to get rid of it. The only way to way to rid ourselves of this is to keep pouring
clear water back into the jar to dilute it and eventually rid ourselves of this taint. No matter how long it takes.
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2F4.bp.blogspot.com%2F-heAIWUBe0nc%2FTh51f1TsFII%2FAAAAAAAAGaY%2FJ100jr-6AGw%2Fs1600%2FClear%252BWater%252BTest2%252BFort%252BStevens%252BOR%252B150dpi.jpg&hash=fe186bbe34a4083315e8d710bd34403826e9eb51)
...eyes on the prize...
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I do think that Trump "tries" to get fights started between people. Whether it's individual people fighting with each other
in the White House (what Trump described recently as people "fighting for his love" ::) ) or groups of people fighting amongst
themselves in the whole country. We already are seeing who is fighting against whom. This breeding of hostilities among people
is how Trump has always operated. It was the premise of his TV show. When it comes to Trump, you can not ever expect more
than the worst. He has shown us that time and time again.
OK. I took the comment to mean something like Civil War. I thought that was a bit much. But then so did people in the spring of 1861, until Lincoln called for troops.
Obviously, weapons of some kind are already involved.
Thank you, I did read David Remnick's New Yorker editorial.
I'm glad to know. I didn't know you had access.
A quote from it:
"When Trump was elected, there were those who considered his history and insisted that this was a kind of national emergency, and that to normalize this Presidency was a dangerous illusion. At the same time, there were those who, in the spirit of patience and national comity, held that Trump was 'our President,' and that 'he must be given a chance.' Has he had enough of a chance yet?"
I liked that comment, too. But I felt I was already coming perilously close to typing the whole editorial. :D
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(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi2.cdn.cnn.com%2Fcnnnext%2Fdam%2Fassets%2F170822121213-trump-pills-2-exlarge-169.jpg&hash=3df308a4c28b82232b61a5edcafcca56a9aa9695)
In a German drug bust this week, thousands of ecstasy pills were seized
only to discover they were all in the shape of Trump's head.
(https://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/s--wzMxTOvM--/c_scale,fl_progressive,q_80,w_800/rac7alpy6bheyd6eaooq.jpg)
No explanation of "why" the drugs might be in that shape. Someone suggested
it's because the drug is orange. Maybe it's a "this is your brain, this is your brain
on drugs" public service announcement!
-
In a German drug bust this week, thousands of ecstasy pills were seized
only to discover they were all in the shape of Trump's head.
:laugh:
Are you sure that's not just Fake News? ;D
-
Heh, it's only fake news if you take the drug!
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Oh Lord. "Hey, hit me up for a Trump!"
::)
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God, I haven't done ecstasy in years! Sigh!
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Another sad day in the U.S.:
Trump did it; pardoned Joe Arpaio.
Arpaio was scheduled to be sentenced for the contempt-of-court charge on October 5th, and he could have served up to six months in prison. Choosing to pardon him is a gift to the white nationalists. But it also signals a broad-brush contempt for fundamental rights in this country. As Paul Charlton, a former U.S. Attorney in Arizona, told the Washington Post earlier this week, “If you pardon that kind of conduct, if you forgive that behavior, you are acknowledging that racist conduct in law enforcement is worth the kind of mercy that underlies a pardon—and it’s not. And it’s an abuse of the President’s discretion. It’s an injustice, and speaks volumes about the President’s disregard for civil rights if this pardon takes place.”
___
Trump probably also likes Arpaio because the former sheriff represents in miniature what the President would like to be more maximally—a successful American authoritarian.
http://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/why-does-donald-trump-like-sheriff-joe
It's also worth noting that, as lawyers have been saying, if you accept a pardon, you are admitting your guilt.
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I think 45 should be forced to binge-watch The West Wing, and take notes...maybe write a report...or at least hire Alan Sorkin to write his speeches and his tweets (what a stupid word) and any public utterance...
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2 Far-Right Rallies In Bay Area Fizzle While Counterprotesters Rejoice
Chris Benderev - August 26, 20179:41 PM ET
It was all, in effect, over before it even began.
In the face of overwhelming popular and political opposition, a far-right activist canceled a press conference hastily scheduled for Saturday afternoon that some feared would provoke violent confrontations in the heart of San Francisco. The cancellation of the press conference came less than 18 hours after organizers also called off two highly publicized right-wing rallies planned for the Bay Area this weekend.
Counterprotesters arrived Saturday morning prepared to rebuke their opponents with signs and slogans. When the press conference never materialized, the crowds — relishing the turn of events — simply celebrated en masse. San Francisco police announced Saturday afternoon that they had seen no major incidents and made only one arrest. The organizers behind Saturday's scuttled events later decried the political left and the media for unfairly labeling them racists and undermining the rally.
http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/08/26/546397619/2-far-right-rallies-in-bay-area-fizzle-counterprotesters-rejoice
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Trump Gives New Meaning to the Friday Night News Dump, Enraging His Critics
By Abby Phillip August 26 at 5:39 PM
As a monster hurricane not seen on American shores in over a decade bore down on Texas on Friday night, a tsunami of news out of Washington was also on its way.
President Trump, in the space of four hours, made official a ban on transgender people serving in the military, pardoned a controversial sheriff accused of racial profiling and parted ways with polarizing aide and conservative media darling Sebastian Gorka.
The announcements were made in the evening hours as the nation focused on Hurricane Harvey, which threatened catastrophic damage to areas along the Gulf Coast, giving new meaning to the Friday night news dump strategy that has long been a staple for Washington politicians looking to bury controversial decisions.
“It was very risky, because if the hurricane is as bad as the experts were predicting, then he’s opening himself up to a lot of potential criticism,” said Alex Conant, a Republican strategist and former aide to Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.). “But very little that Trump does surprises me any longer. He’s proven to be very unpredictable and to not act within the norms of other politicians.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-gives-new-meaning-to-the-friday-night-news-dump-enraging-his-critics/2017/08/26/001f75d6-8a7b-11e7-9ce7-9e175d8953fa_story.html?utm_term=.1be327b74600
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The organizers behind Saturday's scuttled events later decried the political left and the media for unfairly labeling them racists and undermining the rally.
This reminds me of the retort:
--Do you deny it?
--No, but I resent it.
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American Civil Liberties Union Sues President Trump Over Transgender Military Ban
http://abc7.com/politics/aclu-sues-trump-over-transgender-military-ban/2350773/
The American Civil Liberties Union has filed a lawsuit challenging President Donald Trump's ban on transgender individuals joining the military.
The federal lawsuit was filed in Maryland today by the ACLU of Maryland on behalf of several service members who are transgender.
The lawsuit says Trump's policy violates the equal protection rights of transgender service members who now have "every reason to fear for their careers."
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only to discover they were all in the shape of Trump's head.
:o
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So Trump was asked why he chose to put out the news about the Arpaio
pardon on Friday night. A night when White Houses have often put out
news they don't want a lot of attention paid to. They call it a Friday night
news dump. Trump said he did it because he thought he'd get a lot better
ratings because the news channels were drawing a lot of viewers to the
hurricane coverage which was beginning. Trump was concerned about
ratings and using the hurricane as a vehicle.
I'd say unbelievable, but if Trump went to Texas today, which he is, and
had Air Force One dump it's sewage into Minute Maid Park, I wouldn't bat
an eye that he did so.
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I don't know whether the video clip I saw of 45 yelling about Mexico paying for "the Wall" one way or another was new or just a repeat of an earlier ratings grab, but I do wish the president of Mexico would tell 45 to go soak his head. Or words to that effect. Or worse.
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I stumbled onto this incredible interview on UK Channel Four news yesterday. If Sebastian Gorka is typical of what has been going on in the WH then God help us all. Krishnan Guru-Murthy, the interviewer did a very fine tenacious job but in the face of such appalling arrogance it's impossible to get at the truth.
http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/sebastian-gorka-spinning-left-wing-wet-dreams-channel-4-news_uk_59a70729e4b063ae34dabe33
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(https://scontent-frx5-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/21151359_1995041837173451_5456548852572104270_n.jpg?oh=0b8b31504500b4a7b20851d6b402ae46&oe=5A5B65CF)
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I'm going mountain walking in Wales this w/e...must immediately buy a pair of Manolo Blahnik ;D
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^^^^^^ I'd love to see some pictures!!! :laugh:
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(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi176.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fw197%2Foilgun%2Fhiking-heels-01_zpsykearbrr.jpg&hash=97a6d28faf83882972e501b2bf4b89b9a1a965e7)
I googled Hiking Heels :laugh:
I know a lipstick lesbian who would LOVE those! She brings hairspray when she goes (tent) camping.
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I know a lipstick lesbian who would LOVE those! She brings hairspray when she goes (tent) camping.
Aquanet? ;D
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(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi176.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fw197%2Foilgun%2Fhiking-heels-01_zpsykearbrr.jpg&hash=97a6d28faf83882972e501b2bf4b89b9a1a965e7)
I googled Hiking Heels :laugh:
I know a lipstick lesbian who would LOVE those! She brings hairspray when she goes (tent) camping.
The very thing! ;D
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^^^^^^ I'd love to see some pictures!!! :laugh:
What a hoot! ;D
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Edith Windsor, Plaintiff In Landmark Same-Sex Marriage Case, Dies
Edith “Edie” Windsor, the LGBTQ activist and lead plaintiff in a landmark Supreme Court marriage equality case, died Tuesday at age 88, The New York Times reports.
Windsor came to national prominence after she sued the federal government for not recognizing her marriage to her late first wife. Her case, United States v. Windsor, ultimately made it to the Supreme Court in 2013. In a 5-4 decision, the court ruled that Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act, which said the legal designation of “spouse” applied only to marriages between a woman and a man, was unconstitutional. The ruling was a major victory for LGBTQ rights and helped pave the way for a later Supreme Court ruling legalizing same-sex marriage nationwide.
http://tinyurl.com/ycr3sves
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She did a lot of good work for us all.
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Yes she did! I am so glad she found love again, even if it was only for a year.
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Democrats are getting some very good news in special elections
By Aaron Blake September 13 at 1:56 PM
There were two more special elections on Tuesday, and there were two more very good results for Democrats. We're now at the point where the disappointment Democrats experienced in Georgia is looking like an aberration.
The two special elections Tuesday were held in state House districts in Oklahoma and New Hampshire. Both had gone for President Trump by double digits in 2016, according to numbers crunched by Daily Kos Elections, but both went for the Democrat on Tuesday by double digits.
In New Hampshire, a 17-point Trump win became a 12-point win for Democrat Charles St. Clair. In Oklahoma, an 11-point Trump win became a 20-point win for Democrat Jacob Rosecrants.
One of these results came in one of those hundreds of tiny state House districts in the Granite State (less than 2,300 votes!). And the other was in Oklahoma, where Democrats barely have a pulse. But each continued what is a very strong trend of Democrats winning elections in 2017.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2017/09/13/democrats-are-getting-some-very-good-news-in-special-elections/?utm_term=.9298abbf21ab
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Well, in this morning's newspaper I read that Congress has passed a joint resolution calling on 45 to "speak out against hate groups that espouse racism, extremism, xenophobia, anti-Semitism, and White supremacy."
Well and good, no, really well and good, but, of course, notably absent from that list is homophobia. >:(
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Female ex-Googlers sue, claiming sex discrimination
JOE MULLIN - 9/14/2017, 9:40 PM
Three women who work for Google filed a lawsuit today alleging the company discriminates against female employees "by systematically paying them lower compensation."
The lawsuit (PDF), which was filed in San Francisco Superior Court and seeks class-action status, says Google has violated the California Equal Pay Act and other sections of the state labor code.
Much of the allegations mirror claims made earlier this year by the US Department of Labor, which has an ongoing litigation against Google over alleged gender pay disparities. A statistical regression analysis performed by the government found "systemic compensation disparities against women pretty much across the entire workforce." Google has disputed those claims.
The lawsuit alleges that Google "has channeled and segregated" women into career paths and "job ladders" that have lower compensation, compared with men with equal or lesser qualifications.
There are three named plaintiffs in the case. The first is Kelly Ellis, who was hired by Google in 2010 as a front-end software engineer on the Google Photos team. Although Ellis had four years of experience in software engineering, she was placed into Level 3 on her compensation "ladder," a level that is typically assigned to new college graduates, according to the complaint.
https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2017/09/female-ex-googlers-sue-claiming-sex-discrimination/
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Police searching for assailant who detonated bomb in London subway car, injuring at least 29
By William Booth, Karla Adam and Rick Noack
Police in London were searching for the assailant who detonated a homemade bomb Friday that sent a scorching blast of flame and smoke through a London subway car, injuring at least 29 rush-hour commuters and sending panicked crowds scrambling for safety in what police called a terrorist incident.
As of Friday evening, authorities had given no details on possible suspects. Security measures were tightened across London’s vast mass-transit network, and the government described the threat level as critical, meaning another attack could be imminent.
British media reported that the crude explosive device, carried in a bucket and shoved into a shopping bag, had a timer, suggesting that some degree of bombmaking knowledge was employed.
The Islamic State terrorist group asserted responsibility for the explosion on its Amaq News Agency website. Experts cautioned that the group often seeks credit for attacks it may have only inspired, as well as ones it had nothing to do with.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/explosion-in-london-subway-sends-police-and-ambulances-racing-to-the-station/2017/09/15/d9e16778-99f0-11e7-82e4-f1076f6d6152_story.html?utm_term=.3b082e298731
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I'm no fan of Ben Carson, but I found this quote in this morning's paper, and I found it interesting:
"A lot of Americans ... have allowed themselves to be manipulated into believing that they're enemies and that they should hate each other and that they should try to destroy each other and this is exactly the wrong thing."
(The ellipsis was in the original in the newspaper.)
I wonder how long it will be until we have a new Secretary of HUD?
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That's a decent sentiment, Jeff, but it's always hard to take Ben Carson seriously because he's a doctor, a surgeon, he's not a politician. And he has no business as HUD secretary. Just like most everyone in this administration.
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So on the evening news I saw clips of 45's speech at the U.N. today, and I thought, The more 45 rants and tries to get the rest of the world to gang up on North Korea, the more the North Koreans will feel threatened--or profess to feel threatened--and the more likely they are to do something stupid that's going to cost the world dearly.
I don't think insulting people is a particularly good way to get them to talk to you.
But I have no answer.
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There's a scene in the film I saw recently, Mark Felt: The Man Who Brought Down the White House, where a character is walking down a hall in the FBI building where large portraits of American Presidents can be seen on the wall as he walks by and I just thought "How is it possible that Trump's photo could ever be on a wall like that?" It was a horrible thought. In the future wouldn't audiences just start laughing if Trump's photo appeared on screen. It reminded me of those test questions that have a row of words and one is asked: "Which one doesn't belong?"
On second thought, that would never be on a test. The answer is just too obvious.
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Meanwhile, the Senate is trying A G A I N to get rid of the ACA. According to Senate rules they have until September 30th, I believe, before they wouldn't be able to do this.
Watch Jimmy Kimmel from last night call out the Senator who lied to him about this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cOlibbx5sx0
By the way, Bernie Sanders is who got the Republicans all worked up and frightened again by introducing the bill last week to have a single payer healthcare system. That is why they're doing this again. Bernie knows the Senate rules, he couldn't have waited two weeks?
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So, Chelsea Manning was denied entrance into Canada "on grounds of serious criminality."
Oh, well. Actions have consequences.
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Is that a thing one has to prove or just say to someone? Like stores that have the notice: "We reserve the right to refuse service to anyone."
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Is that a thing one has to prove or just say to someone? Like stores that have the notice: "We reserve the right to refuse service to anyone."
You mean "on grounds of serious criminality"?
I would expect they can deny entry to anyone they want. It's not exactly like Chelsea Manning is unknown.
It might be interesting to know who, exactly, made that call.
Maybe the Canadian border people were just being nice by telling her why she wasn't allowed in.
While I'm on the subject, I'm annoyed and disappointed that she's apparently going to be some kind of speaker or panelist at The New Yorker festival Oct. 6-8.
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Why annoyed? Just curious.
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Why annoyed? Just curious.
I know The New Yorker is liberal--I've been reading it since the 1980s, and I wouldn't want to be without it--but I'm annoyed that she's being given any sort of publicity.
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I posted this in the sports thread, but it's also a current event because our grotesque President has made it so:
Does anyone have any thoughts on the resurrected issue of players "taking a knee" as a form of protest during
the playing of the National Anthem before NFL games? Resurrected, because the President is using it for his own
selfish ends.
As a form of attention getting, it definitely works. But it seems to me the act of doing that during the National Anthem
is self-defeating. First, it must have some effect on your team and teammates. If your goal is to be a cohesive team,
this is most likely an issue that would divide some people. Not to mention fans. Seems to me a protest like this should
be done on your own time. When you're on the field, you're at work. Most workers aren't allowed to make any political
statements at work.
Also, the National Anthem is also a representation of the country's ideals toward which it strives. I can't remember where
I heard this recently, but someone (it might have been Bob Costas) said that if he were a team owner, before the games he'd
instruct the announcers to say, "Please rise for our National Anthem in recognition of the ideals that it represents." The anthem
isn't played before events to divide the people of the country. The ideals encompass everyone. It doesn't just represent the military
or police forces or the flaws of the country.
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Also, the National Anthem is also a representation of the country's ideals toward which it strives. I can't remember where
I heard this recently, but someone (it might have been Bob Costas) said that if he were a team owner, before the games he'd
instruct the announcers to say, "Please rise for our National Anthem in recognition of the ideals that it represents." The anthem
isn't played before events to divide the people of the country. The ideals encompass everyone. It doesn't just represent the military
or police forces or the flaws of the country.
I saw that clip with Bob Costas, and honestly, I was dismayed. Costas is a smart fellow – surely he realizes that the one of our paramount ideals is Free Speech. It is the very first right in our Constitution’s Bill of Rights.
From Voltaire to Patrick Henry, respecting another’s right to disagree has been a hallmark of civilized society.
One might even suggest that the knee, while a reminder of minority injustices, is at the same time a tribute to civil liberties.
~~~fia
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How does the old saying go? The one about disagreeing with what you say but defending your right to say it? (Within limits, of course, like yelling "Fire" in a crowded theater, or hate speech that tends to incite, or intends to incite, violence.)
I don't like what they're doing (nor did I like Tim Tebow dropping to his knees and praying on the field), nor do I like flag-burners. My dad is a veteran, and a close friend is a veteran
But: As FIA says:
One of our paramount ideals is Free Speech. It is the very first right in our Constitution’s Bill of Rights.
On the other hand, and I ask this purely rhetorically because I know it's a long tradition, Why do we have the National Anthem before a football game in the first place? (Or any sporting event, for that matter?)
(And, boy, was I glad to see the push-back against that other "son-of-a-bitch," 45.) (Am I allowed to quote him here?)
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How does the old saying go? The one about disagreeing with what you say but defending your right to say it? (Within limits, of course, like yelling "Fire" in a crowded theater, or hate speech that tends to incite, or intends to incite, violence.)
I don't like what they're doing (nor did I like Tim Tebow dropping to his knees and praying on the field), nor do I like flag-burners. My dad is a veteran, and a close friend is a veteran
But: As FIA says:
On the other hand, and I ask this purely rhetorically because I know it's a long tradition, Why do we have the National Anthem before a football game in the first place? (Or any sporting event, for that matter?)
(And, boy, was I glad to see the push-back against that other "son-of-a-bitch," 45.) (Am I allowed to quote him here?)
I'm old enough to remember when the national anthem was played before movies in theatres and at TV channel sign-offs. Thank god we've moved on from that. The same should happen for sporting events, except maybe in international venues like the Olympics.
I really don't understand why people say that taking a knee is disrespectful to veterans. People forget that the issue is actually police brutality towards people of colour. A lot of veterans support the protests.
Here in Canada, the trending controversy is that Sydney Crosby, of the Penguins, said that it's an honour to be invited to the white house so he accepted the pussy grabber's invitation. But then, there aren't too many hockey players of colour in the NHL #whiteprivilege. Also, hockey players are not the sharpest knives in the drawer. Even before the concussions.
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I'm old enough to remember when the national anthem was played before movies in theatres and at TV channel sign-offs. Thank god we've moved on from that. The same should happen for sporting events, except maybe in international venues like the Olympics.
I never saw it done in theaters, but now that you mention it, I do remember of it being played when TV stations signed off (good grief, how long has it been since TV stations actually signed off?). I say "remember of it" because in those days I wasn't allowed to stay up that late. ... ::)
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In this morning's newspaper I came across an article about a statement that was released to CNN by Marie Tillman, widow of Pat Tillman, who gave up an NFL career to become an Army Ranger ans was killed by so-called friendly fire in Afghanistan in 2004.
Mrs. Tillman wrote:
"The very act of self-expression and the freedom to speak from one's heart--no matter those views--is what Pat and so many other Americans have given their lives for."
The statement goes on to say, "Even if they didn't always agree with those views. It is my sincere hope that our leaders both understand and learn from the lessons of Pat's life and death, and also those of so many other brave Americans."
Well, I doubt that our so-called leaders either understand or will learn from the deaths of Pat Tillman and others, but, still, I say, "Bravo, Marie Tillman!"
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45 is like Ginger, he only recognizes his name...to him, the rest is just blah blah blah
(https://desertdemocrat.files.wordpress.com/2015/03/gary-larson-far-side-cartoon-what-we-say-to-dogs-blah-blah-ginger.jpeg)
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^^^
LOL!
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I saw that clip with Bob Costas, and honestly, I was dismayed. Costas is a smart fellow – surely he realizes that the one of our paramount ideals is Free Speech. It is the very first right in our Constitution's Bill of Rights.
From Voltaire to Patrick Henry, respecting anther's right to disagree has been a hallmark of civilized society.
One might even suggest that the knee, while a reminder of minority injustices, is at the same time a tribute to civil liberties.
~~~fia
I don't know if you saw the entire segment on Real Time where Costas was talking about this, but he was not saying anything about suppressing free speech. He was talking about why doing this was controversial and what the National Anthem means to different people. He had been asked why a lot of other players don't do this and he started by saying that the situation is more complicated than agreeing or disagreeing.
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I can understand the players' motivations behind the knee movement. It was not started to disrespect the country or the armed forces who protect us. It was started to protest the inequality and racism against the black community.
If I were so inclined, I could take the knee as well, with the thought "why stand, when the country until a few years ago, wouldn't let me get married, have some states that won't let me adopt children, not have equal workplace protection, and not see violence against me as a hate crime?"
I can also see why women could protest as well, they are in a country that doesn't give them equal pay for equal work, has refused to pass the Equal Rights Amendment, has slashed funding to Planned Parenthood, which gets medical care to women in need, doesn't give them enough maternity leave time, and when they go to court to prosecute men who have raped or abused them, they have the case turned on them to "it was what she was wearing" or even "She was asking for it."
Your thoughts are very valid, Chuck, but you wrote you "could" take a knee as well. But would you? Protesting the inequalities of the nation are valid and important, but the context is in the choice of carrying that out. Besides the point of whether you are allowed to or not, there are things to consider about the appropriateness of it and the context in which one does it.
The National Anthem isn't played before sporting events to divide people. I can't see anyone disagreeing with that statement. I really don't know the reasons that this started, but it's certainly a tradition and everyone in the venues stops to observe it. A friend and I went to a Dodger game some years ago and were getting there close to game time. The National Anthem started as we arrived at the place where the person took our tickets. Everything stopped. No food was sold or more tickets taken or anything until the anthem was completed. We were left waiting to get in. I found that fascinating and oddly unifying. It made me think playing the anthem was a unifying thing because it was communal, not divisive.
I had tickets for the Sunday ball game after 9/11 when all the U.S. flags were again to be hoisted to full mast. The stadium waited to do that this day when the anthem was performed before the game. It was a very uplifting moment. Again communal. Not divisive.
Almost every year I attend performances at the Hollywood Bowl and they perform the National Anthem before each and every performance there. I'd find it kind of absurd to see people taking a knee there.
Like I said somewhere else, pick your battles. If someone has an issue with something, as probably everyone does, express it, but choose your battles. My experience with the National Anthem being played at sports events, concerts, graduations, parades and, appropriately, a citizenship ceremony with a few thousand people becoming U.S. citizens, have all been unifying moments with people. So, when you see someone expressing a real issue by taking away what I see as more unifying than divisive, it will dilute your message. Plus, with team sports involved, it can't be unifying with the entire team. I don't see Colin Kaepernick's actions making people more aware of the concerns he was expressing. It's mostly talked about by the "way" he expressed it.
(Last year, Adrian Gonzalez, the Dodgers first baseman, went about his issues quietly. When the team traveled to Chicago, they were booked into the Trump hotel. He told the team co-ordinator he could not stay there because of his issues with Trump and his statements about Mexicans. He was relocated. When the team returned to Chicago for the playoffs, it was all agreed to stay somewhere else. This situation somehow got into the press and Adrian asked about it, and he only stated it was his personal choice and he didn't wish to make any public statements about it. But, to me, that made a bigger statement about one's personal convictions than publicly making a proclamation and then making the team get involved in it through publicity and reporter's questions.)
I had to laugh seeing football team owners and their players expressing unity this weekend in the face of Presidential criticism when these same team owners haven't expressed the same unity with Colin Kaepernick, who started this trend, as none of them will hire him. Legitmate concerns should be expressed where appropriate and where they would do the most good. Because of people's feelings about the National Anthem etc. and most of their experiences of/with it, I feel it's misplaced, whether or not you are free to do it.
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In this morning's newspaper I came across an article about a statement that was released to CNN by Marie Tillman, widow of Pat Tillman, who gave up an NFL career to become an Army Ranger ans was killed by so-called friendly fire in Afghanistan in 2004.
Mrs. Tillman wrote:
"The very act of self-expression and the freedom to speak from one's heart--no matter those views--is what Pat and so many other Americans have given their lives for."
The statement goes on to say, "Even if they didn't always agree with those views. It is my sincere hope that our leaders both understand and learn from the lessons of Pat's life and death, and also those of so many other brave Americans."
Well, I doubt that our so-called leaders either understand or will learn from the deaths of Pat Tillman and others, but, still, I say, "Bravo, Marie Tillman!"
Amen.
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Your thoughts are very valid, Chuck, but you wrote you "could" take a knee as well. But would you? Protesting the inequalities of the nation are valid and important, but the context is in the choice of carrying that out. Besides the point of whether you are allowed to or not, there are things to consider about the appropriateness of it and the context in which one does it.
I most likely would not. Not because I think it's wrong, but because other than getting attention, I don't think it accomplishes anything. When I decided to do something for a cause, I either donate funds or do something physical (take part in marches, work a phone bank, canvass a neighborhood) because I think that does more than just kneeling.
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I most likely would not. Not because I think it's wrong, but because other than getting attention, I don't think it accomplishes anything. When I decided to do something for a cause, I either donate funds or do something physical (take part in marches, work a phone bank, canvass a neighborhood) because I think that does more than just kneeling.
Yeah, but all that kneeling has been THE topic of conversation on all media platforms for a while now. I'd call that a pretty effective protest.
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Hugh Hefner, Founder Of Playboy, Dead At 91
The 1953 issue of Playboy featured none other than Marilyn Monroe as its cover girl, and the magazine would go on to become a multimillion-dollar empire.
Playboy founder and legendary ladies’ man Hugh Hefner has died at the age of 91, according to Playboy Enterprises.
The magazine said he was surrounded by loved ones and “peacefully passed away today from natural causes at his home.”
“My father lived an exceptional and impactful life as a media and cultural pioneer and a leading voice behind some of the most significant social and cultural movements of our time in advocating free speech, civil rights and sexual freedom,” Hefner’s son Cooper said in a statement. “He defined a lifestyle and ethos that lie at the heart of the Playboy brand, one of the most recognizable and enduring in history. He will be greatly missed by many."
http://tinyurl.com/yc3vdk5r
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Hugh Hefner, Founder Of Playboy, Dead At 91
There was a segment about this on the Today show this morning. Whether you loved him or hated him, he certainly had an impact on the culture.
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Yeah, but all that kneeling has been THE topic of conversation on all media platforms for a while now. I'd call that a pretty effective protest.
It's been a topic of conversation, but I don't think it's effective. No one really talks about the reasons it was started in the first place. The topic of conversations are about if it is appropriate, who or who is doing it, is it disrespectful to certain people, or the flag itself, and if people should have the right to protest in this way. The conversations I've heard about it aren't concerning the treatment of minorities by police.
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I most likely would not. Not because I think it's wrong, but because other than getting attention, I don't think it accomplishes anything. When I decided to do something for a cause, I either donate funds or do something physical (take part in marches, work a phone bank, canvass a neighborhood) because I think that does more than just kneeling.
I'm in agreement with you here. I wouldn't call out anyone for doing it if I attended a game where it was done or speak out against anyone for doing so. I'd just acknowledge it and move on. I just question the effectiveness. I think, for complicated reasons, it's divisive because it's the process that's being discussed more than the ideas behind it.
And it may sound selfish, but people spend a lot of money to go to these sporting events. They want to have a good time, they don't want to come and be reminded of all the problems of the world. And, again, I'm not saying the problems should be ignored, I just question the appropriateness, effectiveness and the means of conveyance.
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Yeah, but all that kneeling has been THE topic of conversation on all media platforms for a while now. I'd call that a pretty effective protest.
Yes, it is a hot topic now, but is it getting attention because of the reason intended, or is it getting attention because the president and the NFL are taking shots at each other? I wonder if the majority of those "upset" with the protesters are even aware of why they are protesting.
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Yes, it is a hot topic now, but is it getting attention because of the reason intended, or is it getting attention because the president and the NFL are taking shots at each other? I wonder if the majority of those "upset" with the protesters are even aware of why they are protesting.
I'm not following this closely--I have more immediate issues closer to home to concern me--but didn't all those knee-takings last weekend come after 45 attacked the NFL (calling players S.O.B.'s and saying owners should fire them, etc)?
I admit I could be wrong about the time line, but, as I said, I'm not following closely--only what I hear in one ear on the evening news.
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I'm not following this closely--I have more immediate issues closer to home to concern me--but didn't all those knee-takings last weekend come after 45 attacked the NFL (calling players S.O.B.'s and saying owners should fire them, etc)?
The initial player to "take the knee" was Colin Rand Kaepernick. Before a preseason game in 2016, Kaepernick sat down, as opposed to the tradition of standing, during the playing of "The Star-Spangled Banner". During a post-game interview, he explained his position stating, "I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color. To me, this is bigger than football and it would be selfish on my part to look the other way. There are bodies in the street and people getting paid leave and getting away with murder", referencing a series of events that led to the Black Lives Matter movement.
In March of 2017, he opted out of his contract with the SF 49ers, and is now a free agent.
Other players followed his start, and took the knee during the anthem. Then Trump got involved, saying that owners should fire any players who refused to stand during the anthem, and that is what made it bigger than life.
Before Trump's involvement, there were organizations that supported Kaepernick. Military veterans voiced support using the social media hashtag "#VeteransForKaepernick". In August 2017, former NYPD officer Frank Serpico gave a speech live on Facebook and stood with police officers at the foot of the Brooklyn Bridge in support of Kaepernick.
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Trump tweets disparaging things toward Puerto Rico all weekend while he's sitting at his golf club at the taxpayer's expense.
Do you know that when he goes there, the secret service, that protects him, has to use their budget and rent the golf carts
to follow him around in? it's all so Marie Antoinette-ish.
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Trump tweets disparaging things toward Puerto Rico all weekend while he's sitting at his golf club at the taxpayer's expense.
Do you know that when he goes there, the secret service, that protects him, has to use their budget and rent the golf carts
to follow him around in? it's all so Marie Antoinette-ish.
"Let them eat steak."
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The initial player to "take the knee" was Colin Rand Kaepernick. Before a preseason game in 2016, Kaepernick sat down, as opposed to the tradition of standing, during the playing of "The Star-Spangled Banner". During a post-game interview, he explained his position stating, "I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color. To me, this is bigger than football and it would be selfish on my part to look the other way. There are bodies in the street and people getting paid leave and getting away with murder", referencing a series of events that led to the Black Lives Matter movement.
In March of 2017, he opted out of his contract with the SF 49ers, and is now a free agent.
Yes, I know all this background.
Other players followed his start, and took the knee during the anthem. Then Trump got involved, saying that owners should fire any players who refused to stand during the anthem, and that is what made it bigger than life.
That sort of answers my question.
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Again... :'(
At least 50 dead, 200 wounded at shooting on Las Vegas Strip
A gunman in a high-rise hotel opened fire on a country music festival on the Las Vegas Strip late Sunday, killing at least 50 people and wounded more than 200 in the deadliest mass shooting in modern American history.
The gunman, identified by police as Stephen Paddock, was later killed during a standoff with officers on the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay Hotel and Casino, Sheriff Joseph Lombardo said during a news briefing. Media reports said Paddock was 64.
The carnage surpassed the death toll of 49 people slain when a gunman in Orlando, who later said he was inspired by the Islamic State, opened fire inside a crowded nightclub in June 2016.
Under the neon glow and glitz of the Vegas Strip, concertgoers dove for cover or raced toward shelter through a sea of water bottles, hats, shoes and other items lost in the stampede as a hail of gunfire rained down from the Mandalay Bay around 10 p.m. local time.
Police believe Paddock, a local resident, was a “lone wolf” attacker. Lombardo did not give further details, however, on Paddock’s background or possible motivation.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2017/10/02/police-shut-down-part-of-las-vegas-strip-due-to-shooting/?utm_term=.0794406c595b (https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2017/10/02/police-shut-down-part-of-las-vegas-strip-due-to-shooting/?utm_term=.0794406c595b)
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In news footage aired this morning, you could hear the gunshots. :(
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So many.....
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And the shooting never seemed to stop...
So utterly, totally senseless. And so terribly cruel.
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Meanwhile:
Congress Poised to Pass Legislation Legalizing the Use of Gun Silencers This Week
The massacre in Las Vegas is unlikely to slow the progress of this legislation in the House.
by Gabrielle Levy / U.S. News & World Report
Read all of the inanity here:
https://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2017-10-02/house-poised-to-pass-law (https://www.usnews.com/news/politics/articles/2017-10-02/house-poised-to-pass-law-easing-sale-of-gun-silencers-after-las-vegas-shooting)
A provision called the Hearing Protection Act [...] would eliminate restrictions on silencers [...]. Under the National Firearms Act of 1934, [silencers] require federal registration and a special license to own, as well as a $200 tax stamp to purchase that would also be repealed under the proposed law.
A hearing on the bill was initially scheduled for June 14 – the day of the congressional baseball practice shooting where House Majority Whip Steve Scalise was shot – but was postponed.
Proponents of the Hearing Protection Act say suppressors are unfairly maligned and make it harder for hunters to hear their surroundings, potentially endangering them and others. [...] Critics point out silencers would make it much more difficult for law enforcement to stop shooters like the one who opened fire on an outdoor music festival in Las Vegas.
___
Can you imagine if no one could have even heard the gunshots in Vegas last night?
Sheer and utter INSANITY.
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:o
>:( >:( >:(
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I am sick to the back teeth of CNN continuing to give long stories about the killer...where he lived, what he liked to do...they should be focusing elsewhere. It's the cops job to worry about his background, I couldn't care less. and it just gives the next one a taste of the fame he'll get on CNN.
And his brother needs to shut the hell up - obviously he didn't know him at all..."Not an avid gun guy at all"...I guess he wants his 15 seconds of fame...
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I am sick to the back teeth of CNN continuing to give long stories about the killer... where he lived, what he liked to do...they should be focusing elsewhere. It's the cops job to worry about his background, I couldn't care less. and it just gives the next one a taste of the fame he'll get on CNN.
I agree. But it's not just CNN. I don't watch CNN, and the same stuff is all over ABC.
Call me uncaring, but I don't need to see endless stories about the victims, their lives, etc., either. I pray (seriously, I do; I'm a praying kind of guy) for all those affected, the victims and their loved ones left to mourn, but I don't need endless details of their lives. Maybe other people do, but I see no point to it.
And his brother needs to shut the hell up - obviously he didn't know him at all..."Not an avid gun guy at all"...I guess he wants his 15 seconds of fame...
I guess very few people can say no to a news camera. :(
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I am sick to the back teeth of CNN continuing to give long stories about the killer...where he lived, what he liked to do...they should be focusing elsewhere. It's the cops job to worry about his background, I couldn't care less. and it just gives the next one a taste of the fame he'll get on CNN.
And his brother needs to shut the hell up - obviously he didn't know him at all..."Not an avid gun guy at all"...I guess he wants his 15 seconds of fame...
I think his brother knew him a bit more than you did so cut him some slack, he looked genuinely shocked.
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Photographer David Becker was in charge to take pictures from the country concert, this pic says more than a thousand words:
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fcdn3.spiegel.de%2Fimages%2Fimage-1197566-galleryV9-kskb-1197566.jpg&hash=93d6b93f0b1f8b6f827c3496485e5988fff83df0)
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Not funny - just the bitter truth:
(https://scontent.ftxl1-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/22089561_10210462105966050_820065913656664151_n.jpg?oh=29c544acca0a59ec33393417c4862ecf&oe=5A483E5A)
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Yes, to both your pictures. :(
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:'( :( :)
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So Trump is visiting Puerto Rico and ignoring the mayor of San Juan.
He also said, "Few people have ever heard of a category 5 hurricane."
He also thinks the disaster relief in Puerto Rico was better than with Katrina because only 16 people lost
their lives in PR versus 'literally thousands."
Trump May Have Just Given His Most Embarrassing Speech Yet in Puerto Rico
http://ir.net/news/politics/127607/trump-may-just-given-embarrassing-speech-yet-puerto-rico/
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His idolaters will no doubt think it charming.
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(https://img-s-msn-com.akamaized.net/tenant/amp/entityid/AAsNxuK.img?h=373&w=624&m=6&q=60&o=f&l=f)
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(https://img-s-msn-com.akamaized.net/tenant/amp/entityid/AAsR83L.img?h=373&w=624&m=6&q=60&o=f&l=f)
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I just watched a clip of Trump throwing rolls of paper towels at a crowd in Puerto Rico. Sometimes I think I'm going insane.
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I just watched a clip of Trump throwing rolls of paper towels at a crowd in Puerto Rico. Sometimes I think I'm going insane.
You aren't, but he is.
By now nothing about him should surprise me, but my jaw still dropped that he had the face--or the bone-headed insensitivity--to tell the people of Puerto Rico that Maria wasn't as big a disaster as Katrina.
Such a disaster should happen to him. ...
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I just watched a clip of Trump throwing rolls of paper towels at a crowd in Puerto Rico. Sometimes I think I'm going insane.
and all they did was try to shake his hand, take selfies and film it...they were fine with it, which is weird because that was just weird...
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and all they did was try to shake his hand, take selfies and film it...they were fine with it, which is weird because that was just weird...
Too bad somebody didn't throw one of those rolls of paper towels back at him--with a rock inside it.
And, oh yes, I forgot about the part about the Puerto Rico disaster breaking the federal budget. ...
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and all they did was try to shake his hand, take selfies and film it...they were fine with it, which is weird because that was just weird...
I'm sure those people were all hand picked to be in there. Or they were all his entourage traveling with him.
How demeaning can you get? Maybe it was just a brief respite of entertainment for those people, I don't know.
It certainly was atrocious. Your whole island home has been flooded for going on two weeks. Have a paper towel.
I bet Alec Baldwin is practicing his Bounty throwing even as we speak.
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When Trump was leaving that place he told them all to "Have a good time."
It's all so Marie Antoinette-ish.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DLRgO6LUMAAPzwo.jpg)
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Trump tweets disparaging things toward Puerto Rico all weekend while he's sitting at his golf club at the taxpayer's expense.
Do you know that when he goes there, the secret service, that protects him, has to use their budget and rent the golf carts
to follow him around in? It's all so Marie Antoinette-ish.
And we all know what happened to her.
That would give one ideas, wouldn't it?
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It won't be easy, you'll think it strange
When I try to explain how I feel
That I still need your love after all that I've done
You won't believe me, all you will see is the liar you once knew
Although he's dressed down to the nines
At sixes and sevens with you
I had to let it happen, I had to change
Couldn't stay all my life down at heel
Looking out of the window, staying out of the sun
So I chose money, running around trying everything new
But nothing impressed me at all
I never expected it to
Don't cry for me, Puerto Rico,
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fassets.nydailynews.com%2Fpolopoly_fs%2F1.3538793.1507051327%21%2Fimg%2FhttpImage%2Fimage.jpg_gen%2Fderivatives%2Farticle_750%2Fusa-puertorico.jpg&hash=3497608d1e4a4d205bdfaa717c3db623eeba4419)
The truth is, I never loved you
Through all your wild days, my mad existence
I kept my promise
Now keep your distance...
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Trump tweets disparaging things toward Puerto Rico all weekend while he's sitting at his golf club at the taxpayer's expense.
Do you know that when he goes there, the secret service, that protects him, has to use their budget and rent the golf carts
to follow him around in? it's all so Marie Antoinette-ish.
Qu'ils mangent de la brioche.
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Indeed!
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Anti-abortion Rep. Tim Murphy, who reportedly urged abortion, resigns from Congress
By Sophie Tatum, CNN Updated 5:09 PM ET, Thu October 5, 2017
Republican Rep. Tim Murphy of Pennsylvania will resign from his position, effective October 21, House Speaker Paul Ryan announced in a statement Thursday.
"This afternoon I received a letter of resignation from Congressman Tim Murphy," Ryan said in the statement. "It was Dr. Murphy's decision to move on to the next chapter of his life, and I support it. We thank him for his many years of tireless work on mental health issues here in Congress and his service to the country as a naval reserve officer."
Murphy had previously said he would not seek reelection at the end of his term.
Local Pittsburgh CNN affiliate KDKA first reported the embattled lawmaker would retire after his term, after reports surfaced on Tuesday alleging that the anti-abortion Republican urged a woman he was having an affair with to have an abortion.
"After discussions with my family and staff, I have come to the decision that I will not seek reelection to Congress at the end of my current term," Murphy said in a statement. "... In the coming weeks I will take personal time to seek help as my family and I continue to work through our personal difficulties and seek healing. I ask you to respect our privacy during this time."
http://www.cnn.com/2017/10/04/politics/tim-murphy-abortion-reelection/index.html
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Laws are for other people.
Certainly not legislators.
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Anti-abortion Rep. Tim Murphy, who reportedly urged abortion, resigns from Congress
Republican Rep. Tim Murphy of Pennsylvania will resign from his position, effective October 21, House Speaker Paul Ryan announced in a statement Thursday.
Local Pittsburgh CNN affiliate KDKA first reported the embattled lawmaker would retire after his term, after reports surfaced on Tuesday alleging that the anti-abortion Republican urged a woman he was having an affair with to have an abortion.
Another hypocrite revealed.
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This is exactly why I dislike the current Republican party. They are hypocritical on so many things.
The "do as I say, not as I do" party.
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I am so tired of the incessant poisonous drip drip drip from this Presidency and the Republican party.
One can list a thousand things a day. Here's another:
Trump Eviscerates Health Insurance Birth Control Mandate
The contraception mandate was one provision of the 2010 Affordable Care Act
Reuters
WASHINGTON/NEW YORK, Oct 6 (Reuters) - President Donald Trump's administration on Friday eviscerated requirements under the Obamacare law that employers provide insurance to cover women's birth control.
Administration officials said two new federal rules will let any non-profit or for-profit entity make religious or moral objections to obtain an exemption from the law's contraception mandate. The changes also let publicly traded companies obtain a religious exemption.
It remained unclear how many women would lose contraception coverage and which companies would use the exemptions. "This is an unacceptable attack on basic healthcare that the vast majority of women rely on. With this rule in place, any employer could decide that their employees no longer have health insurance coverage for birth control," Richards added.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services on Friday moved to broaden those narrow religious exemptions to include an exception "on the basis of moral conviction" for non-profit and for-profit companies.
More here if you can take it...
https://www.aol.com/article/news/2017/10/06/trump-eviscerates-health-insurance-birth-control-mandate/23235179/
I have something to say to this President and the Republicans:
Your morals, if you still think you have any, are not MY morals and stop trying to legislate them.
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And, in case you haven't heard, Trump is mad because his Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson, accurately called him, and I'm quoting Rex, "a fucking moron."
The truth hurts?
Rex must've read this new book just out:
(https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/71pmDWn%2BbAL.jpg)
The "Duty to Warn" indeed...
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Here's an overview of that book...an interview with one of the authors on Bill Moyers website:
http://billmoyers.com/story/dangerous-case-donald-trump-robert-jay-lifton-bill-moyers-duty-warn/
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Heartbroken to hear about the fires in Napa and Southern California :(
Wildfires tear through California wine country; 20,000 evacuated
By ANDREA MILLER Oct 9, 2017, 5:42 PM ET
Raging wildfires in Northern California have destroyed at least 1,500 structures and forced the evacuation of 20,000 residents, officials said today. Two people have died from the fires.
Fourteen fires are burning across eight counties, including Napa, Sonoma and Yuba. Altogether, 57,000 acres have been devastated.
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fa.abcnews.com%2Fimages%2FUS%2Fcalifornia-wildfires-01-ap-jef-171009_4x3_992.jpg&hash=2fea0b7c0f0dac6028918f32320a84b4ccd627e2)
A firefighter covers his eyes as he walks past a burning hillside in Santa Rosa, Calif., Oct. 9, 2017.
Ken Pimlott, the director of the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, said the fires started around 10 p.m. local time Sunday.
One person died in Mendocino County, while the second perished in Santa Rosa.
With the flames sweeping through entire communities, some area hospitals have been evacuated. Evacuations were also issued for surrounding counties that are under threat, according to the Napa Valley Sheriff's Office.
Pimlott said firefighters are concentrating on saving lives rather than battling the blazes.
The National Weather Service reported strong winds in the San Francisco Bay Area, intensifying the infernos as they tear through businesses and homes.
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Trees burn behind houses in a residential area in Santa Rosa, Calif., Oct. 9, 2017.
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fa.abcnews.com%2Fimages%2FUS%2Fwildfires-ap-2-er-171009_4x3_992.jpg&hash=0c470a894c769489e7cee6922d7e52a2240d30be)
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Wind-Fanned Wildfire Spreads Into Anaheim Hills Neighborhood, Destroying Homes
October is historically one of the most dangerous months of the year when it comes to wildfires fanned by strong winds in Southern California
A fast-moving brush fire broke out Monday morning and spread quickly into an Anaheim Hills neighborhood, burning at least seven homes during a day of powerful Santa Ana winds and high wildfire danger throughout California.
Firefighting helicopters responded to the location near the 91 and 241 freeways, where winds gusting at about 30 mph were fanning flames and embers toward homes. At least seven were destroyed or damaged by the 2,000-acre fire, called the Canyon Fire 2.
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I've been hearing news about the fires, I can't imagine how the firefighters feel. Not only the massive danger they face, but with fires that widespread, it must be such a defeating feeling, to be there trying to put it out, but it just keeps spreading.
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And, in case you haven't heard, Trump is mad because his Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson, accurately called him, and I'm quoting Rex, "a fucking moron."
I wonder who missed a shift at the day-care center today?
I guess I shouldn't have written that. The comparison is insulting to people who actually work in real day-care centers.
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Bravo for Senator Corker speaking the truth. He's said he's not going to run for election again; too bad those who only want to keep their jobs are acting like the victims of wife beating who have to please the bully or they'll get beaten again. What happened to "for the good of the country."
This Presidency and the current Republican party are ruining this nation. They don't need to be coddled, they need to be trounced.
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I am house/pet sitting and they get the newspaper delivered and I was quite sad to see the headline when I picked it up in the driveway early this morning:
"Wildfires Lay Waste to Wine Country."
:(
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Trees burn behind houses in a residential area in Santa Rosa, Calif., Oct. 9, 2017.
A before and after photo of a section of Santa Rosa:
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fstatic5.businessinsider.com%2Fimage%2F59dc14ee6d80ad64478b4be5%2Fbefore-and-after-photo-shows-the-devastation-of-fires-raging-through-californias-wine-country.jpg&hash=63f743fb6a1738b5ee2822fccf19687eb7b65d6c)
:'( ...not just burned... :'( ...but completely obliterated... :'(
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Come to think of it, doesn't John (BayCityJohn) live in or near Santa Rosa?
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Come to think of it, doesn't John (BayCityJohn) live in or near Santa Rosa?
Yes, he does. Linda posted in The Diner that a friend of John's posted that he was ok.
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A before and after photo of a section of Santa Rosa:
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fstatic5.businessinsider.com%2Fimage%2F59dc14ee6d80ad64478b4be5%2Fbefore-and-after-photo-shows-the-devastation-of-fires-raging-through-californias-wine-country.jpg&hash=63f743fb6a1738b5ee2822fccf19687eb7b65d6c)
:'( ...not just burned... :'( ...but completely obliterated... :'(
Ok, I'm asking a stupid question......is that picture real?
The houses are destroyed, but the trees still look green. How did the trees avoid being burned?
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Ok, I'm asking a stupid question......is that picture real?
The houses are destroyed, but the trees still look green. How did the trees avoid being burned?
They are evergreens. :laugh: Seriously, though, good eye.
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Not in the least to take away the tragedy of all those people losing their homes, but has anybody heard anything about the vineyards, and what may, or may not, be happening to them?
Maybe I've just missed it, but I haven't heard anything.
Aren't they a big part of the economy in that part of California?
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On the national news tonight (CBS) they showed 5 different wineries who lost their whole 2017 crops that were in the barrels. Some lost their vineyards, some did not. There were more than the news showed, who lost everything.
The California wine and winegrape sector and allied businesses deliver a total economic contribution of $57.6 billion annually to the state's economy.
Fires burn through at least five wineries in Napa and Sonoma valleys
- Napa Valley Vintners has reached out to all its members and received updates from more than 100 of them.
- In addition to the five in Napa that sustained significant or total losses, at least nine reported damage to their winery, outbuildings or surrounding vineyards.
- Signorello Estate, a family-owned winery on Napa's Silverado Trail, was destroyed in the Atlas Peak Fire.
https://www.cnbc.com/2017/10/10/fires-destroy-at-least-four-wineries-in-napa-valley-.html
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On the national news tonight (CBS) they showed 5 different wineries who lost their whole 2017 crops that were in the barrels. Some lost their vineyards, some did not. There were more than the news showed, who lost everything.
Thanks, Linda. I was watching a different network.
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They are evergreens. :laugh: Seriously, though, good eye.
I've learned to question everything on the internet. So many people photoshop stuff.
Not saying that Lyle photoshopped the pic, but I've seen pics that I thought were real, and they turned out to be a very good photoshop.
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On the national news tonight (CBS) they showed 5 different wineries who lost their whole 2017 crops that were in the barrels. Some lost their vineyards, some did not. There were more than the news showed, who lost everything.
NBC covered the situation with the wineries this morning. They covered one winery where the buildings and the wine in barrels were lost, but the vineyard survived. Odd. ???
They showed grapes on the vines.
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I've learned to question everything on the internet. So many people photoshop stuff.
Not saying that Lyle photoshopped the pic, but I've seen pics that I thought were real, and they turned out to be a very good photoshop.
I don't blame you! I saw the photo on Rachel Maddow the night before. I trust the source,
so I posted that one.
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“I HATE EVERYONE IN THE WHITE HOUSE!”: TRUMP SEETHES AS ADVISERS FEAR THE PRESIDENT IS “UNRAVELING”
BY GABRIEL SHERMAN OCTOBER 11, 2017 2:40 PM
At first it sounded like hyperbole, the escalation of a Twitter war. But now it’s clear that Bob Corker’s remarkable New York Times interview—in which the Republican senator described the White House as “adult day care” and warned Trump could start World War III—was an inflection point in the Trump presidency. It brought into the open what several people close to the president have recently told me in private: that Trump is “unstable,” “losing a step,” and “unraveling.”
The conversation among some of the president’s longtime confidantes, along with the character of some of the leaks emerging from the White House has shifted. There’s a new level of concern. NBC News published a report that Trump shocked his national security team when he called for a nearly tenfold increase in the country’s nuclear arsenal during a briefing this summer. One Trump adviser confirmed to me it was after this meeting disbanded that Secretary of State Rex Tillerson called Trump a “moron.”
In recent days, I spoke with a half dozen prominent Republicans and Trump advisers, and they all describe a White House in crisis as advisers struggle to contain a president who seems to be increasingly unfocused and consumed by dark moods. Trump’s ire is being fueled by his stalled legislative agenda and, to a surprising degree, by his decision last month to back the losing candidate Luther Strange in the Alabama Republican primary. “Alabama was a huge blow to his psyche,” a person close to Trump said. “He saw the cult of personality was broken.”
https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2017/10/donald-trump-is-unraveling-white-house-advisers
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And he hates himself too.
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Ya know, sometimes I wonder about that.
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They showed grapes on the vines.
This is the end of the harvest season for some types of grapes. The ones you saw will be able to be used as the grapes are thick skinned and will not be affected by the smoke.
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And he hates himself too.
Ya know, sometimes I wonder about that.
He's a narcissist:
Narcissists typically display most, and sometimes all, of the following traits:
- An obvious self-focus in interpersonal exchanges
- Problems in sustaining satisfying relationships
- A lack of psychological awareness
- Difficulty with empathy
- Problems distinguishing the self from others
- Hypersensitivity to any insults or imagined insults
- Vulnerability to shame rather than guilt
- Haughty body language
- Flattery towards people who admire and affirm them
- Detesting those who do not admire them
- Using other people without considering the cost of doing so
- Pretending to be more important than they actually are
- Bragging (subtly but persistently) and exaggerating their achievements
- Claiming to be an "expert" at many things
- Inability to view the world from the perspective of other people
- Denial of remorse and gratitude
Hotchkiss identified what she called the seven deadly sins of narcissism:
1. Shamelessness: Shame is the feeling that lurks beneath all unhealthy narcissism, and the inability to process shame in healthy ways.[clarify]
2. Magical thinking: Narcissists see themselves as perfect, using distortion and illusion known as magical thinking. They also use projection to "dump" shame onto others.
3. Arrogance: A narcissist who is feeling deflated may "reinflate" their sense of self-importance by diminishing, debasing, or degrading somebody else.
4. Envy: A narcissist may secure a sense of superiority in the face of another person's ability by using contempt to minimize the other person or their achievements.
5. Entitlement: Narcissists hold unreasonable expectations of particularly favorable treatment and automatic compliance because they consider themselves special. Failure to comply is considered an attack on their superiority, and the perpetrator is considered an "awkward" or "difficult" person. Defiance of their will is a narcissistic injury that can trigger narcissistic rage.
6. Exploitation: Can take many forms but always involves the exploitation of others without regard for their feelings or interests. Often the other person is in a subservient position where resistance would be difficult or even impossible. Sometimes the subservience is not so much real as assumed.
7. Bad boundaries: Narcissists do not recognize that they have boundaries and that others are separate and are not extensions of themselves. Others either exist to meet their needs or may as well not exist at all. Those who provide narcissistic supply to the narcissist are treated as if they are part of the narcissist and are expected to live up to those expectations. In the mind of a narcissist, there is no boundary between self and other.
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This is the end of the harvest season for some types of grapes. The ones you saw will be able to be used as the grapes are thick skinned and will not be affected by the smoke.
I'm still surprised that the vines on a property survived when the buildings didn't.
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I'm still surprised that the vines on a property survived when the buildings didn't.
Yes, they interviewed the owner and he was very surprised as well, and said so in the interview. He has no clue how they survived. He said they would be able to have a harvest next year. Not so many of the vineyards.
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He's a narcissist:
Narcissists typically display most, and sometimes all, of the following traits:
- An obvious self-focus in interpersonal exchanges
- Problems in sustaining satisfying relationships
- A lack of psychological awareness
- Difficulty with empathy
- Problems distinguishing the self from others
- Hypersensitivity to any insults or imagined insults
- Vulnerability to shame rather than guilt
- Haughty body language
- Flattery towards people who admire and affirm them
- Detesting those who do not admire them
- Using other people without considering the cost of doing so
- Pretending to be more important than they actually are
- Bragging (subtly but persistently) and exaggerating their achievements
- Claiming to be an "expert" at many things
- Inability to view the world from the perspective of other people
- Denial of remorse and gratitude
I was going to go down this list and check off all that apply to 45, except they all apply. ...
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From the article:
It brought into the open what several people close to the president have recently told me in private: that Trump is “unstable,” “losing a step,” and “unraveling.”
I don't know how anyone could be surprised about any of this. Unstable: None of them noticed during the
campaign? Unraveling: Been going on for months. Losing a step: The ladder he's using was already flat
on the ground.
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And he hates himself too.
He's catching on.
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Death toll climbs to 29 as crews begin grim search among ashes of wine country fires
Sonali Kohli , Louis Sahagun, Paige St. John, Nina Agrawal and Chris Megerian - Contact Reporters
s weary fire crews began to make progress against a firestorm that has killed at least 28 people in Northern California’s wine country, local officials said Thursday that they have begun a grim search for more bodies amid the ashes of burned communities.
At an afternoon news conference, Sonoma County Sheriff Robert Giordano told reporters that a 15th person was found dead in his county as search crews and cadaver dogs began sifting through debris for the first time Thursday.
Later Thursday, officials confirmed the discovery of four more bodies. Of the total 29 deaths, 15 were in Sonoma County, eight were in Mendocino County, four were in Yuba County and two were in Napa County, according to Sonoma County, Cal Fire and Yuba County officials.
The searches can take hours, and identification will be difficult, Giordano said at the briefing.
http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-northern-california-firestorms-20171012-story.html
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Trump’s Warning on Limits to U.S. Aid in Puerto Rico Adds ‘Insult to Injury,’ Mayor Says
By PETER BAKER and LUIS FERRÉ-SADURNÍOCT. 12, 2017
President Trump suggested again on Thursday that Puerto Rico bore some of the blame for its current crisis following twin hurricanes, and warned that there were limits to how long he would keep troops and federal emergency workers on the island to help.
Mr. Trump, who has been criticized for a slow and not always empathetic response to the storms that ravaged the United States territory, sounded off in a series of early-morning Twitter posts. Angry about the criticism, he has sought to refocus blame to where he believes it belongs — the leadership of the island itself, which in his view mismanaged its affairs long before the winds blew apart its infrastructure.
“‘Puerto Rico survived the Hurricanes, now a financial crisis looms largely of their own making.’ says Sharyl Attkisson,” he wrote, citing the host of a public affairs show on Sinclair Broadcast Group television stations. “A total lack of accountability say the Governor. Electric and all infrastructure was disaster before hurricanes. Congress to decide how much to spend. We cannot keep FEMA, the Military & the First Responders, who have been amazing (under the most difficult circumstances) in P.R. forever!”
The threat may mean less than it appears — federal government officials quickly said that they were not pulling out of Puerto Rico anytime soon. But it provoked another wave of criticism from the island and its supporters who expressed astonishment that the president would assail the very people he was supposed to be assisting.
Carmen Yulín Cruz, the mayor of the capital of San Juan who has been critical of Mr. Trump’s response and blasted by him in return, condemned his latest message as adding “insult to injury” and called on international organizations to step in to prevent “the genocide that will result from” Mr. Trump’s inaction.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/12/us/politics/trump-warns-puerto-rico-weeks-after-storms-federal-help-cannot-stay-forever.html
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Late Night Hosts Join Celebrity Reaction to Eminem’s Trump Diss: ‘He Even Found a Way to Rhyme the Word “Orange”‘
BY MARIA PASQUINI - OCTOBER 12, 2017 AT 1:35PM EDT
On Tuesday night, Eminem slammed Donald Trump in a nearly-five minute freestyle rap at the BET Awards, and it didn’t take long before late night hosts including Jimmy Fallon and James Corden joined in the celebrity reaction to the rapper’s epic Trump diss.
Eminem’s cypher — called “The Storm” — was delivered in a Detroit parking lot, and featured the rapper spewing lines at Trump, calling him a “b—” and slamming him for his comments about Charlottesville, as well as his recent attack on NFL player protests.
Eminem also targeted those who claimed to be supporters of both him and Trump, telling them they had to choose to either stand beside him or the president. “And any fan of mine who’s a supporter of his/I’m drawing in the sand a line/You’re either for or against/And if you can’t decide who you like more in your split/ Or who you should stand beside/I’ll do it for you with this/F— you.”
On Wednesday night, Fallon discussed the diss and joked that, “Trump was mad, but he was also a little confused. Today he told people to boycott the M&M Store.”
http://people.com/politics/late-night-hosts-react-eminem-trump-diss/
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California firestorm took deadly toll on elderly; average age of victims identified so far is 79
Alene Tchekmedyian and Esmeralda Bermudez
As authorities begin to identify those killed in the wildfires raging across Northern California, a grim pattern is emerging. Among the dozen people identified by Sonoma and Napa county officials as of late Thursday, the average age of those who died was 79. The youngest victim was 57, the oldest 100.
“The bulk of them are in their 70s and 80s, so there is that commonality,” Sonoma County Sheriff Rob Giordano told reporters at a news briefing. A majority were found inside their homes, unable to escape as the fire bore down. At least one was confined to a wheelchair. Another was lying next to a vehicle.
http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-norcal-fires-elderly-20171012-story.html
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In Hollywood, what should've been scandal was long met with a shrug. A new outcry has changed that
Lorraine Ali
Until very recently, women who came forward with their accounts of sexual harassment at the hands of powerful men who held sway over their careers were viewed as traitors, whiners or pitifully naive to the ways of industries where a barter system — sex for fame — was all but implicit. They sold their sexuality on screen and on stage, after all, the thinking went, so what did they expect when the cameras stopped rolling or the arena lights dimmed?
The few who were brave enough to come forward with accounts of being groped, coerced, threatened and even raped were sidelined, careers destroyed. Their stories rarely made the news, until recently, when the sheer number of allegations against power brokers and gatekeepers like Bill Cosby, Fox News’ Roger Ailes, music’s L.A. Reid and now Harvey Weinstein literally forced the media’s hand.
Historically the hardest part for women coming forward with accounts of sexual abuse wasn’t just proving that the sickening events actually happened — it’s been convincing anyone who would listen that what happened was wrong, even if it was business as usual.
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/tv/la-et-st-hollywood-scandals-and-hypocrisy-20171013-story.html
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In Weinstein saga, Rose McGowan emerges as powerful voice
By JAKE COYLE AND COLLEEN LONG
In a flurry of unrestrained tweets and with the "RoseArmy" at her back, Rose McGowan has emerged a kind of whistleblowing avenger in the Harvey Weinstein saga, leaving a scorched path behind her across social media. After long referencing a past incident with Weinstein, McGowan on Thursday for the first time said it outright: "HW raped me," the actress wrote, apparently referring to the embattled former Weinstein Co. co-chairman. Weinstein representative Sallie Hofmeister said "any allegations of non-consensual contact are unequivocally denied by Mr. Weinstein."
The Hollywood Reporter said McGowan confirmed it was Weinstein she was referring to; her representative did not respond to a message seeking comment.
McGowan's accusation was the latest development in the fast-unraveling saga surrounding Weinstein.
Police detectives in New York and London said Thursday that they are taking a fresh look into sexual assault allegations against Harvey Weinstein now that some 30 women have accused the Hollywood film producer of inappropriate conduct. Hachette Book Group, one of the country's top publishers, announced it has pulled the plug on its Weinstein Books imprint.
http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/wireStory/weinstein-saga-rose-mcgowan-emerges-powerful-voice-50455028
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President Trump said on Oct. 13 that his administration will continue to help with hurricane recovery, and that he "met with the president of the Virgin Islands." Trump is the president of the U.S. Virgin Islands. He met with its governor, Kenneth Mapp, on Oct. 3.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/video/politics/trump-says-he-met-with-the-president-of-the-virgin-islands/2017/10/13/7d3d9362-b024-11e7-9b93-b97043e57a22_video.html?utm_term=.cab898284153 (https://www.washingtonpost.com/video/politics/trump-says-he-met-with-the-president-of-the-virgin-islands/2017/10/13/7d3d9362-b024-11e7-9b93-b97043e57a22_video.html?utm_term=.cab898284153)
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He doesn't recognize himself coming or going.
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^^^
I saw him saying that. I was like, wait a minute... Then the newsperson just look dumbfounded and
then they all laughed at him. Such a disgrace.
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I recall a Trump supporter saying last fall that they were voting for him because "We need someone to come in like a bull in a china shop and shake things up."
Be careful what you wish for, because a bull in a china shop gets you a shop out of business and broken china that needs throwing out or repairing or replaced. And probably a pooper scooper.
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Donald Trump Trucker Rally Cold Open - SNL
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PfVobgfXE34 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PfVobgfXE34)
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Somalia: At least 230 dead in Mogadishu blast
A massive bomb attack in a busy area of the Somali capital Mogadishu on Saturday is now known to have killed at least 230 people, police say. Hundreds more were wounded when a lorry packed with explosives detonated near the entrance of a hotel.
It is the deadliest terror attack in Somalia since the Islamist al-Shabab group launched its insurgency in 2007. It is not clear who staged the bombing, but Mogadishu is a target for al-Shabab militants battling the government.
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-41621660
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When I took my job, I knew what I was signing up for. ...
What an a--h-le. >:(
(Of course, that's nothing new. ...)
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Nothing new, but it should not be forgotten or accepted,
and, at this point, asshole is a compliment.
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Nothing new, but it should not be forgotten or accepted,
and, at this point, asshole is a compliment.
Thanks, Lyle. I couldn't remember if we're allowed to say "asshole" here.
Of course, calling 45 an asshole might be an insult to assholes everywhere. ...
And of course he's lying about saying it. Nothing new there, either.
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Wow, this Weinstein scandal has really opened the floodgates. It has even affected my city. Eleven people have come forward with sexual assault allegations against a local well known and powerful TV personality and producer. In this case the victims were men since the guy is gay. He was apparently very proud of his dick because he would regularly whip it out, even at meetings.
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:-X
Well known? Are you aware of who this is?
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I hope this doesn't turn into witch hunts like in the 1980's and beyond, a la the McMartin Preschool scandal, where all of a sudden a lot of erroneous and/or false accusations start flying. I saw a PBS Frontline documentary about how "child molesting" accusations became like the Salem witch trials; an epidemic of false reports. I can see people in positions of power being falsely accused by those with axes to grind and in this setting the taint is worse than the bite. I only hope it stays legitimate. For example, in the late 1970's I knew someone who was accused of sexual harassment because he asked an undercover police officer in a gay bar (entrapment!) for a date.
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I'm reminded of a story about Jack Nicholson that Gena Davis told to Jay Leno on the Tonight Show. When she was new in the business she was told by another actress that Jack Nicholson was going to try and get her to sleep with him and Gena asked her advice on how to respond to that. Without detailing the whole story, I'm wondering at what point does it become harassment if someone keeps after you? Chris Rock has a monologue about the double standard some have about this sort of thing. Like the notion that women always say they want someone with a sense of humor. He talks about going up to a girl and his amusing advances being rebuffed by her and then seeing Denzel Washington come up to her and him saying some bland remark and her reply being, "Oh, Denzel, you're so funny." How does one deal with the huge gray area?
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I hope this doesn't turn into witch hunts like in the 1980's and beyond, a la the McMartin Preschool scandal, where all of a sudden a lot of erroneous and/or false accusations start flying. I saw a PBS Frontline documentary about how "child molesting" accusations became like the Salem witch trials; an epidemic of false reports. I can see people in positions of power being falsely accused by those with axes to grind and in this setting the taint is worse than the bite. I only hope it stays legitimate. For example, in the late 1970's I knew someone who was accused of sexual harassment because he asked an undercover police officer in a gay bar (entrapment!) for a date.
I remember the McMartin case well. It was, indeed, like the Salem witch trials because there really was no defense against those charges. All you could do was deny it, but there was no way to prove the denial.
I also remember that a lot of accusations were based on "recovered memory," which has since been discredited.
I remember reading about the McMartin case and thinking I could just "hear" the Salem magistrates badgering the so-called "afflicted children" (most of whom were teenagers), asking, "Who is it that afflicts thee?"
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I'm wondering at what point does it become harassment if someone keeps after you?
Good question. What are you supposed to do if you ask someone, and the response you get is, "Maybe some other time"? Do you ask again "some other time," or do you take "some other time" as a flat "no"?
Of course, that's nowhere near Harvey Weinstein suggesting he and a young actress give each other massages.
(I've wondered whether Henry Willson "wanted to be done" or "wanted to do"--and what? Never mind. ...)
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:-X
Well known? Are you aware of who this is?
It's television and radio producer and host Eric Salvail, I didn't bother naming him because he's only well known in francophone Quebec:
http://montrealgazette.com/news/local-news/quebec-producer-eric-salvail-on-professional-break-after-sex-allegations
Today another personality has fallen. Nine women have come forward with allegations against Just for Laughs president, Gilbert Rozon:
http://montrealgazette.com/news/jfl-president-gilbert-rozon-steps-down-amid-allegations-of-misconduct
JFL may want to rethink its trademark:
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi176.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fw197%2Foilgun%2FJustForLaughs-01_zpszhj5qpqq.jpg&hash=ef1cec617a8cd80738a77e28d9f6f79148806aec)
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I read some more about the first thing yesterday. Floodgates.
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It's easy to stay quiet on this matter when you think no one will stand by you.
Now that more women are coming forward, it lets other women see that they can step forward as well and let themselves be heard.
I believe the problem is deeper than anyone suspects. I'm sure there are scores of women who are still staying quiet about the abuse they've endured.
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Quentin Tarantino says he knew about some of Harvey Weinstein's inappropriate behavior: 'I knew enough to do more than I did'
Director Quentin Tarantino, who worked with Harvey Weinstein for decades and credits his success to him, told The New York Times on Wednesday that he knew about much of his alleged sexual misconduct and could have done more.
“I knew enough to do more than I did,” Tarantino said. “There was more to it than just the normal rumors, the normal gossip. It wasn’t secondhand. I knew he did a couple of these things. I knew enough to do more than I did.”
Tarantino told the Times that he wished he had "taken responsibility" for what he had heard. "If I had done the work I should have done then, I would have had to not work with him," he said.
Tarantino also told the Times that his former girlfriend, actress Mia Sorvino, told him about Weinstein's unwanted advances toward her when they were dating. Sorvino is one of the many women who has told her story about Weinstein's alleged sexual harassment and assault. Tarantino also said he was aware of Weinstein’s settlement with actress Rose McGowan in 1997.
“What I did was marginalize the incidents,” Tarantino said. “Anything I say now will sound like a crappy excuse.”
You got that right.
http://www.businessinsider.com/quentin-tarantino-harvey-weinstein-wishes-he-did-more-2017-10 (http://www.businessinsider.com/quentin-tarantino-harvey-weinstein-wishes-he-did-more-2017-10)
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Article headline:
"If Harvey Weinstein looked like Chris Hemsworth ___________________."
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Kiké Hernandez, the Los Angeles Dodgers hero of Game 5 in the NLCS, is from and makes his home in Puerto Rico.
When the devastating hurricane hit he wanted to quit and come home and help, but his family and friends told him
no. Stay and fulfill your dream. In the meantime, he's been working to highlight the problems there and to get aid
to the country. A reporter asked him what he thought about Trump's visit to Puerto Rico and subsequent statements.
One quote, "This is not a joke. And to see him throwing paper towels out there...it's like going to Las Vegas right now
and starting to throw Band-Aids to the public."
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On a couple browsers I tried today (Safari and Firefox) I got warnings about connecting to this Forum
because a certificate expired or something.
Firefox, in particular, said:
"The owner of www.ultimatebrokebackforum.com has configured their website improperly. To protect your information from being stolen, Firefox has not connected to this website."
Anyone else getting these messages?
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Not yet. I use Chrome.
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On a couple browsers I tried today (Safari and Firefox) I got warnings about connecting to this Forum
because a certificate expired or something.
Firefox, in particular, said:
"The owner of www.ultimatebrokebackforum.com has configured their website improperly. To protect your information from being stolen, Firefox has not connected to this website."
Anyone else getting these messages?
Nope.
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Hasn't happened to me.
-
On a couple browsers I tried today (Safari and Firefox) I got warnings about connecting to this Forum
because a certificate expired or something.
Firefox, in particular, said:
"The owner of www.ultimatebrokebackforum.com has configured their website improperly. To protect your information from being stolen, Firefox has not connected to this website."
Anyone else getting these messages?
Yes.....just tonight. I thought I was going to have to go through the whole gamut
of re- registering ...changing my password and user name ...just like I had to a few months back. :(
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Anyone else getting these messages?
I also use Firefox and yes, I've been getting a privacy message ever since the forum / host change. Not when I'm logged in, mind you - but only when I'm logged out and try to log in with my password. Usually I just ignore it ;D
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I listen to a talk show on the way home from work, the host is Jeff Ward, and today it was all about Manafort and friends. He went over the press secretary's dodging questions today and basically lying outright, and brought up one journalist saying Sarah Sanders is lying to the American people and she should resign. Jeff's comment: "Sanders is gonna have a bad time in the foreseeable future...she's gonna age in dog years."
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"Sanders is gonna have a bad time in the foreseeable future...she's gonna age in dog years."
:laugh:
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The nightly talk shows were comparing what every other news channel was covering yesterday, the
aforementioned indictments, and what Fox news was covering...a badly designed cheeseburger emoji.
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Fox news was covering...a badly designed cheeseburger emoji.
:laugh:
Incidentally, I'm currently reading an (over long) article in the Oct. 23 New Yorker about Vice President Pence. As a tool of the Koch brothers with severely reactionary views on social issues (abortion, gay rights), he's certainly no prize, but I wonder if he would at least have the sense to keep his mouth shut and not act like a schoolyard bully, insulting the leader of a nation that already hates the U.S., and thereby keep us out of a war which cause the deaths of untold millions.
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To anyone who is getting the error messages, the tech team is working on this matter.
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(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi176.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fw197%2Foilgun%2Fjustin-clark-01_zps0fqwiodn.jpg&hash=9a52f21d3cee378ad797bf0089e0a2c6df01606e)
This year Justin Trudeau dressed as Clark Kent. Happy Halloween from up north.
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All the news is slanted, they don't cover everything, just what addresses their agenda. I don't see CNN covering this story, they only cover the Rs that are in trouble...why can't we get a truthful whole story? Do I have to go to Fox to see what's happening to Ds??
Tony Podesta stepping down from lobbying giant amid Mueller probe
Democratic power lobbyist Tony Podesta, founder of the Podesta Group, is stepping down from the firm that bears his name after coming under investigation by special counsel Robert Mueller.
Podesta announced his decision during a firm-wide meeting Monday morning and is alerting clients of his impending departure.
The investigation into Podesta and his firm grew out of investigators’ examination of Manafort’s finances. Manafort organized a PR campaign on behalf of a nonprofit called the European Centre for a Modern Ukraine. Podesta Group was one of several firms that were paid to do work on the PR campaign to promote Ukraine in the U.S.
https://www.politico.com/story/2017/10/30/tony-podesta-stepping-down-from-lobbying-giant-amid-mueller-probe-244314 (https://www.politico.com/story/2017/10/30/tony-podesta-stepping-down-from-lobbying-giant-amid-mueller-probe-244314)
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All the news is slanted, they don't cover everything, just what addresses their agenda. I don't see CNN covering this story, they only cover the Rs that are in trouble...why can't we get a truthful whole story? Do I have to go to Fox to see what's happening to Ds??
Well, Fox is "fair and balanced." :laugh:
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All the news is slanted, they don't cover everything, just what addresses their agenda. I don't see CNN covering this story, they only cover the Rs that are in trouble...why can't we get a truthful whole story? Do I have to go to Fox to see what's happening to Ds??
Tony Podesta stepping down from lobbying giant amid Mueller probe
Democratic power lobbyist Tony Podesta, founder of the Podesta Group, is stepping down from the firm that bears his name after coming under investigation by special counsel Robert Mueller.
Podesta announced his decision during a firm-wide meeting Monday morning and is alerting clients of his impending departure.
The investigation into Podesta and his firm grew out of investigators’ examination of Manafort’s finances. Manafort organized a PR campaign on behalf of a nonprofit called the European Centre for a Modern Ukraine. Podesta Group was one of several firms that were paid to do work on the PR campaign to promote Ukraine in the U.S.
https://www.politico.com/story/2017/10/30/tony-podesta-stepping-down-from-lobbying-giant-amid-mueller-probe-244314 (https://www.politico.com/story/2017/10/30/tony-podesta-stepping-down-from-lobbying-giant-amid-mueller-probe-244314)
I read some things about this. I don't think it warrants headline news. Not today anyway. In none of the three articles I read about this does it say WHY Podesta is stepping, down, only that he is. Another lobbying firm is also attached to this "PR campaign to promote Ukraine in the U.S.". The two companies mentioned filed all the proper paperwork and reported everything required to. The problem seems to be that they were being paid by other than what they thought they were. Which could be problematic and the investigation into Manafort uncovered this.
By the way, CNN did report on this a day ago. Chris Cillizza was the reporter.
Part of the CNN story: "How much trouble is Tony Podesta in? The truth is, we don't know. The Podesta Group insists it was under the impression that it was doing work for a nonprofit to educate American government types about Ukraine, not engaging in a stealth image rehab effort for Yanukovych and his party."
There's no evidence yet to disprove that fact.
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Right, he resigned from his own firm for no reason. I'm sure he's in the clear, no problem...
eta: I still hope LA wins tonight ;)
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I'm sure I'll be trashed for this, wouldn't be the first time.
I have no sympathy for this loser, who laid in an AMERICAN hospital bed and said he was proud of what he did. The only problem I have is that the cop who shot him didn't kill him...waste of American taxpayer money.
The Latest: Bike path suspect's defense seeks fair treatment
NYC terror suspect 'wanted to kill as many people as he could'
According to authorities, six victims were pronounced dead at the scene and two more died in the hospital. Twelve were injured, including two students and two staff members on the school bus.
Five of the people killed have been identified as natives of Argentina.
Ann-Laure Decadt, 31, of Belgium, was also killed, leaving behind a 3-year-old son and a 3-month-old son.
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Well, Fox is "fair and balanced." :laugh:
I'm starting to think CNN is unfair and unbalanced...
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the crimes of 45's white house are going to make the crimes of the Nixon white house look like spitting on the sidewalk...
Mueller Reveals New Manafort Link to [Russian] Organized Crime
Buried deep in Robert Mueller’s indictment of Paul Manafort is a new link between Donald Trump’s former campaign and Russian organized crime.
The indictment (PDF), unsealed on Monday, includes an extensive look into Paul Manafort’s byzantine financial dealings. In particular, it details how he used a company called Lucicle Consultants Limited to wire millions of dollars into the United States.
The Cyprus-based Lucicle Consultants Limited, in turn, reportedly received millions of dollars from a businessman and Ukrainian parliamentarian named Ivan Fursin, who is closely linked to one of Russia’s most notorious criminals: Semion Mogilevich.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/mueller-reveals-new-manafort-link-to-organized-crime/ar-AAulx3N (https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/mueller-reveals-new-manafort-link-to-organized-crime/ar-AAulx3N)
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Tell you what, I thought I would never have a good thing to say about Chris Christie, but according to an article about VP Pence in the Oct. 23 issue of The New Yorker, Christie advised 45 not to hire Michael Flynn. Obviously, 45 paid no attention.
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In the past week, maybe two weeks, I have seen this ad dozens of times.
The Tom Steyer ad about a petition for citizens to sign to impeach Trump
and the reasons why. (As if one needed to think about it that much.) I don't
know why I didn't do it immediately. It's extremely easy and it's the least
one can do. Really. It's the least we can do.
The "ad" if you haven't seen it:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GXl8vRmLeJk
The petition if you haven't signed it; it's extremely easy:
https://action.needtoimpeach.com/act?sc=ema_s
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^^^^^^
This week, this ad ran on "Fox & Friends" calling for the impeachment of Donald Trump.
The president, unsurprisingly, was none too happy about it -- and his friends at Fox News heard the message loud and clear. Without warning, the ad was pulled off the air in a blatant act of censorship, and violating the contract with Fox.
Tom Steyer said, "Fox News violated our First Amendment rights in an effort to appease their #1 fan -- a volatile, thin-skinned President Trump. That's why we've brought in Bernie Sanders' lawyer, Brad Deutsch. He's joining the fight against Donald Trump and is helping to defend our right to freedom of speech. A plurality of Americans favor impeachment. Our impeachment campaign has clearly struck a nerve with the president and is gaining more momentum by the day."
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This may be an unpopular opinion (and I'm not trying to start an arguement) but I don't think that is censorship.
To me, censorship is stopping Tom Steyer from running that ad ANYWHERE. That hasn't happened. I've seen the ad on tv just today on different networks. I believe Fox News has the right to decide what is aired on their network.
Turn it around. Suppose the National Organization for Marriage decided to put an ad together that supported only heterosexual marriage, and the Logo Network said it wasn't going to air it. Is that censorship?
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Apparently, though, they had already been airing it and had a contract to do so.
That's different than just not choosing to air it.
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I just heard about this, but it happened at 11:30 this morning
At least 20 people killed in shooting at Texas church
By Dakin Andone, Kaylee Hartung and Sheena Jones, CNN
Updated 4:23 PM ET, Sun November 5, 2017
(CNN)[Breaking news update at 4:17 p.m. ET]
At least 20 people have been killed in a church shooting in Sutherland Springs, Texas, according to Wilson County Sheriff Joe Tackitt.
Multiple people have been killed and many more injured in a shooting Sunday at a church in Sutherland Springs, Texas, authorities said.
The shooter was killed after a brief chase north into neighboring Guadalupe County, according to Guadalupe County Sheriff's Office spokesman Robert Murphy. It is unclear if the shooter was killed by police or took his own life, Murphy said.
A law enforcement source told CNN that a man walked into the church and began shooting about 11:30 a.m. local time. Agents from the San Antonio field office of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives are en route to the scene, the source said.
http://www.cnn.com/2017/11/05/us/texas-church-shooting/index.html (http://www.cnn.com/2017/11/05/us/texas-church-shooting/index.html)
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The population of the town is only 600-700, everyone who lives there will be touched by this :'(
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Apparently, though, they had already been airing it and had a contract to do so.
That's different than just not choosing to air it.
I had heard they had been airing it, and that reportedly Trump saw it on Fox. If they are breaching the contract, then I would assume the lawsuit is in order.
I would think a head or two is going to roll for this one. Knowing their fan base, why would they "green light" this ad for broadcast on Fox?
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The population of the town is only 600-700, everyone who lives there will be touched by this :'(
I was just about to post this, I was with my parents today and only just heard about it. How awful! That town will never be the same.
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^^^^
Just saw this on TV. Sad ...terrible news.
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Can someone tell me why Trump put on a Military jacket when addressing REAL soldiers in Japan ??
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I guess they had to, it's not as if they're celebrating his years of military service...
While addressing a crowd of US military personnel, the US president, alongside his wife Melania, was presented with a green commander-in-chief leather flight jacket by Colonel Kenneth Moss, commander of the 374th airlift wing at Yokota. The airfield was taken over by the US military following Japan’s surrender in WWII.
https://www.rt.com/usa/408833-trump-japan-jacket-video/ (https://www.rt.com/usa/408833-trump-japan-jacket-video/)
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I was in the choir in my church yesterday morning, All Souls' Day, with a congregation probably about the same size as the one in Sutherland Springs. The thought of half of them, mostly known to me, being killed, and more injured - unimaginable.
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This may sound selfish under the circumstances, but I have to admit, when something like this happens, I think of my own church--and myself--because the congregation is known largely to be made up of gay people.
I also think of the place where I hang out almost every Saturday evening. I usually sit at a table just inside a window, and with my back to it. If any deranged person decided to do a drive-by shooting because the place is known to be a gay bar, I'd be done for sure.
But all those poor people in Texas. I have heard repeatedly on TV news that the pastor's daughter was among the killed, but I've never heard what, if anything, happened to the pastor himself. But I can't begin to imagine what it must be like to lose your child that way.
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From what I've heard (NPR Morning Edition), he was out of town that day.
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From what I've heard (NPR Morning Edition), he was out of town that day.
Thanks. That would explain why the ordinary network news, at least as I've heard so far, has said nothing about the pastor himself.
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This may sound selfish under the circumstances, but I have to admit, when something like this happens, I think of my own church--and myself--because the congregation is known largely to be made up of gay people.
I also think of the place where I hang out almost every Saturday evening. I usually sit at a table just inside a window, and with my back to it. If any deranged person decided to do a drive-by shooting because the place is known to be a gay bar, I'd be done for sure.
But all those poor people in Texas. I have heard repeatedly on TV news that the pastor's daughter was among the killed, but I've never heard what, if anything, happened to the pastor himself. But I can't begin to imagine what it must be like to lose your child that way.
I don’t think it’s selfishness, Jeff. I feel it’s part of our shared humanity, and that we feel empathy for other people partly because we can put ourselves in their position.
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I don’t think it’s selfishness, Jeff. I feel it’s part of our shared humanity, and that we feel empathy for other people partly because we can put ourselves in their position.
Thank you. What you wrote about empathy makes sense to me. Thanks to you I feel a little less guilty over my personal reaction.
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From what I've heard (NPR Morning Edition), he was out of town that day.
Hope his faith will see him through this terrible time.
It will be hard.
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OK, I will confess I hate it when monsters like this Devin Kelley are able to end their horror by killing themselves.
Why? Because I feel this isn't justice for their victims.
In my world view, justice involves making creatures like Kelley stand before some court or other and have his deeds recounted to his face.
After that, I don't care how his miserable life is ended--as long as he doesn't get to end it himself. Hangin's too good for him.
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Fritz! I assume you are pleased with things in Virginia tonight!
The Governor and state offices.
The House of Delegates gains.
Do you know where District 13 (like the movie!) is? (What District are you?)
And, I heard, the first transgender person elected to office, but I'm not
sure if that's anywhere, which seems unlikely, or in Virginia.
But, she defeated a 25 year house member who described himself as the homophobe in chief and wouldn't even debate her.
Member House of Delegates (District 013)
Candidate
Danica A. Roem (D) 54.59%
Robert G. "Bob" Marshall (R) 45.36%
Write-In 0.05%
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^^^
I was just listening to Laurence O'Donnell on MSNBC interviewing Danica Roem, by phone,
and anyone listening to the 5 minute plus interview will know how and why she won.
One of many amazing things she said...after being pressed about her opponent and his reprehensible
notions, she said, "After tonight, he will be one of my constituents and tonight will be rough for him and
his supporters and I'm not going to denigrate any of my constituents. That's not who we are and we all
need to focus on the problems of our district in unity."
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Fritz! I assume you are pleased with things in Virginia tonight!
The Governor and state offices.
The House of Delegates gains.
Do you know where District 13 (like the movie!) is? (What District are you?)
And, I heard, the first transgender person elected to office, but I'm not
sure if that's anywhere, which seems unlikely, or in Virginia.
But, she defeated a 25 year house member who described himself as the homophobe in chief and wouldn't even debate her.
Member House of Delegates (District 013)
Candidate
Danica A. Roem (D) 54.59%
Robert G. "Bob" Marshall (R) 45.36%
Write-In 0.05%
Oh YEAH!
And thoughts and prayers for all Republicans who lost tonight. We won't do anything to prevent it from happening again.
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Today at a speech for veterans, Roy Moore spoke about the allegations that he had sexual contact with a 14 year old girl when he was 32: "I am not guilty of sexual misconduct with anyone."
And 10 seconds that rationalizes everything...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vn_PSJsl0LQ (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vn_PSJsl0LQ)
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^^^^^Sad but true with most Republicans.
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So now that Richard Dreyfus has come out in support of his son's claim of having been sexually abused, Dreyfus himself has been accused of sexual abuse.
At least it wasn't abuse of his son.
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^^^
I hope this doesn't turn into witch hunts like in the 1980's and beyond, a la the McMartin Preschool scandal, where all of a sudden a lot of erroneous and/or false accusations start flying. I saw a PBS Frontline documentary about how "child molesting" accusations became like the Salem witch trials; an epidemic of false reports. I can see people in positions of power being falsely accused by those with axes to grind and in this setting the taint is worse than the bite. I only hope it stays legitimate. For example, in the late 1970's I knew someone who was accused of sexual harassment because he asked an undercover police officer in a gay bar (entrapment!) for a date.
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Tell you what, "witch hunt" came to mind even before Richard Dreyfus was accused, but I was afraid I'd get clipped but good if I stuck my neck out and said it.
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Just like in the McMartin case, I expect that not all accusations are correct, but it takes a lot of investigation to determine the actual ones from the erroneous.
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Accused of the day:
Sen. Al Franken Accused of Forcibly Kissing L.A. Radio Anchor Amid USO Tour in 2006
http://abc7.com/politics/radio-anchor-says-franken-forcibly-kissed-her-amid-uso-tour/2657177/
The story puts it more in context than the headline suggests, but I really have to ask the ladies
who post on the forum their opinions about this story, which you'd have to read to do so, it's short.
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Accused of the day:
Sen. Al Franken Accused of Forcibly Kissing L.A. Radio Anchor Amid USO Tour in 2006
http://abc7.com/politics/radio-anchor-says-franken-forcibly-kissed-her-amid-uso-tour/2657177/
The story puts it more in context than the headline suggests, but I really have to ask the ladies
who post on the forum their opinions about this story, which you'd have to read to do so, it's short.
All I think of now when I see one of these headlines, Lyle, is Witch Hunt. No matter how many of these I read, I can only think that a lot of these incidents were putting more importance on careers than on justice, and NOW they want justice. (Makes me think if 'my 5 minutes of fame').
If it was that bad back when it actually happened, and it upset the person so much then, it should have been REPORTED back then. (Notice I am saying 'person' as now some men are getting in on it.)
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If it was that bad back when it actually happened, and it upset the person so much then, it should have been REPORTED back then. (Notice I am saying 'person' as now some men are getting in on it.)
easier said than done. Some people don't have it in them to report them at the time.
My first year in high school I was in the same situation as these women who are making the the statements. The guy was a popular student, and stronger than me. As someone in the closet, I was not about to make an accusation that would put my sexuality in the spotlight, and then know that physical retribution was coming my way for making the statement.
My family doesn't even know the extent to what happened, only that something happened.
From what I heard, not long after graduation, he got drunk and died after a night of partying, and at that point, there was no reason to bring it up any more.
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I think it's too personal a thing to be able to say how one would react, until/unless it happened to you. I would think especially young people, teenagers, would have no idea how to deal with something like this and I can see them just burying it.
Even older people who had someone in power harass them, or worse. If you are afraid of losing, or of not getting, a job when you desperately need it, that's a terrible position to be in.
I have a little more of a problem with the women who were "bought off", paid for their silence...although I can't say I would do any different, were I in their shoes. It would be hard to say no to $32,000,000. It's a very difficult situation all around.
One think I find appalling is that Congress has a fund to pay off incidents of "workplace violations". The perpetrator does not pay out of his own pocket for sexual, racial or other kinds of harassment - WE DO.
Congress has its own set of rules for sexual misconduct, The Washington Post reports. The unique code of conduct stems from a 1955 decision by Congress to enact a multi-step process for sexual harassment complaints that is not used anywhere else in the federal government, the Post explained, nor in most areas of the private sector.
Per Congress' rules, a claimant has 180 days after the alleged incident to file a complaint with the Office of Compliance. This requires the accuser to call the office to obtain a special password to access the complaint form. After filing, the claimant spends one month in counseling and another in a mediation phase. The process is confidential for both the accuser and the accused, and an entire congressional office has been devoted to ensuring that cases are not handled in the courts.
If the mediation reaches a settlement, that money does not come from the office of the accused. Instead, the money flows from a special U.S. Treasury fund. Between 1997 and 2014 the U.S. Treasury fund paid for 235 workplace violation settlements for a sum total of $15.2 million, the Post reports. Those figures do not detail the nature of the violations.
http://theweek.com/speedreads/733666/treasury-special-fund-congressional-sexual-harassment-settlements (http://theweek.com/speedreads/733666/treasury-special-fund-congressional-sexual-harassment-settlements)
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One think I find appalling is that Congress has a fund to pay off incidents of "workplace violations". The perpetrator does not pay out of his own pocket for sexual, racial or other kinds of harassment - WE DO.
I think it's appalling, too.
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All I think of now when I see one of these headlines, Lyle, is Witch Hunt.
I'm glad to hear you say that, Linda.
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(https://i.pinimg.com/originals/15/12/bb/1512bb6b30eb1c999ab9677e903dfa5d.jpg)
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That was from the March 29, 1986, edition.
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That was from the March 29, 1986, edition.
The more things change, the more they stay the same.
Seriously, I wonder if all the speaking out now will really do any good in the end. :(
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What worries me about all this is the trivialisation of sexual assault. If someone makes a pass on you in a bar after drinking on a date it can never be compared to using a position of power to get sex, and I have the feeling that it is starting to get confused. Abuse of power is indeed a serious problem of this society. I can totally understand someone not speaking about it out of fear of losing everything. But this is starting to get weird, and I can't avoid to think that the real predators are kind of being hidden among all this (sometimes) sensationalism. I don't know if I was able to explain myself :S
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Very true, the way the current President generates a great deal of trivial news to hide most of his wrongdoings. Good thing that Mueller is not distracted.
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What worries me about all this is the trivialisation of sexual assault. If someone makes a pass on you in a bar after drinking on a date it can never be compared to using a position of power to get sex, and I have the feeling that it is starting to get confused. Abuse of power is indeed a serious problem of this society. I can totally understand someone not speaking about it out of fear of losing everything. But this is starting to get weird, and I can't avoid to think that the real predators are kind of being hidden among all this (sometimes) sensationalism. I don't know if I was able to explain myself :S
I very much agree.
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I guess we've all heard: Charles Manson is (at last) dead.
I was just a kid, but I remember when the Tate-LoBianca murders were news.
Also Richard Speck and all those nurses he murdered.
(That was Speck, wasn't it?)
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Yep. In Chicago.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/7_O%27Clock_News/Silent_Night
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So the Hot Ginger Prince is permanently off the market. :(
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Yup, he's goin' to the chapel.
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Darn. But he can't help himself, he was born that way.
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OK, so now it's Matt Lauer summarily fired by NBC.
Seriously, I do not mean to minimize the terrible experiences that women have had with harassment and worse, but is anybody giving odds on when the witch hunt moves on to straight men being harassed or worse by gay men--or straight women?
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So the Hot Ginger Prince is permanently off the market. :(
;D
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OK, so now it's Matt Laurer summarily fired by NBC.
Seriously, I do not mean to minimize the terrible experiences that women have had with harassment and worse, but is anybody giving odds on when the witch hunt moves on to straight men being harassed or worse by gay men--or straight women?
I totally agree, Jeff!
So I am waiting to hear that Jim Cantore is fired for having inappropriate sexual behavior with hurricanes!! Most of them have women's names. :P
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I totally agree, Jeff!
So I am waiting to hear that Jim Cantore is fired for having inappropriate sexual behavior with hurricanes!! Most of them have women's names. :P
And a coworker just told me now it's Garrison Keillor!
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And a coworker just told me now it's Garrison Keillor!
JEEEEEEEEEEZ!!!!
I'm sorry, the only thing that continues to go through my head is 'witch hunt'.
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So I am waiting to hear that Jim Cantore is fired for having inappropriate sexual behavior with hurricanes!! Most of them have women's names. :P
He can behave inappropriately with me. ...
So can Mike Bettis. ...
And Rob Marciano of ABC. ...
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Can someone explain "sexual harassment or sexual impropriety" to me ??
Here in UK....some men have been hung out to dry for things like ...putting an arm
around a woman's waist or around her shoulder. A man putting his hand over a woman's
hand at a dinning table....touching her leg with his leg under said table.
God...I would be making complaints to the Police all the time !! My delivery baker always
puts his arm across my shoulders. We have a laugh and pass the time of day !!
My milkman always says "Hi sweetheart ....you're looking good today". Male friends kiss me on the cheek.Some have given me a friendly slap on the butt if we are out in a crowd. I know these people.They are not strangers. But some of the women who have made public complaints about guys who they work with....also know the guys they are complaining about.
Rape is rape ...I understand that.....but....come on.....an arm around the waist walking to the cloakroom to get your coat at the end of the day never did any harm. Laugh it off!
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the only thing that continues to go through my head is 'witch hunt'.
Absolutely.
This is more and more ridiculous.
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...never did any harm. Laugh it off!
Well, exactly.
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An article that was published in Psychology Today last April, before the harrassment deluge started:
Sexual Harassment Is in the Eye of the Beholder
Why Bad Looks Good
We do not always "know it when we see it"
by Wendy L. Patrick, Ph.D. / Mar 15, 2017 / Psychology Today
https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/why-bad-looks-good/201703/sexual-harassment-is-in-the-eye-the-beholder
From the link:
What actually defines sexual harrasment? Is sexual harassment objective or subjective? What I mean by that is: Is sexual harassment defined by observable facts or by how the parties involved perceive it? If the latter is the case, then whose perception carries the greatest weight? The person who does it or the person who endures it? If the former is the case, then what observable behaviors constitute harassment?
__________
The problem with a lot of what is occurring now, in my mind, is the rush to erase the people who've been accused. The conversations about this issue are also not coming from the same place. Much of it is political defense and offense, when it shouldn't be. Some people are fired and politicians are elected. In some cases, decades of work is being dismissed over accusations that haven't been proven or even acknowledged in some cases. The allegations are also completely different and cover a wide range of actions from just verbal all the way up to rape.
Garrison Keillor, mentioned in an above post, said:
He has been fired by Minnesota Public Radio over allegations of what the network called improper behavior. Keillor told The Associated Press he was fired over “a story that I think is more interesting and more complicated than the version MPR heard.” Keillor didn’t detail the allegation to AP, but he told the Minneapolis Star Tribune he had put his hand on a woman’s bare back when trying to console her.
“I meant to pat her back after she told me about her unhappiness, and her shirt was open and my hand went up it about six inches. She recoiled. I apologized,” Keillor told the newspaper in an email. “I sent her an email of apology later, and she replied that she had forgiven me and not to think about it. We were friends. We continued to be friendly right up until her lawyer called.”
Minnesota Public Radio confirmed it had terminated contracts with Keillor after receiving a single allegation against him last month of “inappropriate behavior.” MPR said it knew of no other allegations but had retained an outside law firm that continues to investigate. Keillor didn’t say when the alleged incident occurred.
In his statement to AP, Keillor said it was “poetic irony to be knocked off the air by a story, having told so many of them myself. But I’m 75 and don’t have any interest in arguing about this. And I cannot in conscience bring danger to a great organization I’ve worked hard for since 1969.”
https://www.apnews.com/a471efc6700f406c9d8ac2e5037cfe9b
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Rape is rape ...I understand that.....but....come on.....an arm around the waist walking to the cloakroom to get your coat at the end of the day never did any harm. Laugh it off!
But not everyone thinks like that - although obviously everyone who has posted so far does.
What if someone doesn't want an arm around their waist? Why should they feel like they just have to put up with it?
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I can see both sides of this discussion.
These type of charges seem to happen at the drop of a hat, and come in large numbers, so can make one wonder what is actually happening, and wonder if anyone is being accused falsely.
That being said, I don't think any of the women bring this accusations forward are doing so because they had an arm put around their waist. Many of these women have been told their careers would not advance if they didn't "go along" with what was happening, or if they told anyone about it.
From what I've read, Matt Lauer is accused of giving a female coworker a sex toy as a gift, and having another come into his office, and then dropping his pants and exposing himself to her.
Not long ago, pop-singer Kesha took her producer Lukasz Sebastian Gottwald (Dr. Luke) to court where she accused him of physical, emotional and sexual abuse, and stated she had been drugged and raped.
He counter-sued Kesha and her mother for defamation of character. The cases are ongoing. Kesha was told by others in the industry that if she didn't shut up and go along with the behavior, her albums wouldn't get released. A number of other singers came to her defense.
Most notably was American Idol winner Kelly Clarkson, who had this to say about working with Dr. Luke:
"I chose to forgo hundreds of thousands of dollars, if not millions, by keeping my name off of "My Life Would Suck Without You.""
"I was told if I didn't work with him, my album wouldn't be released. I was making a point to the people working with me, going, 'This is how much I don't want to do this,'" she said. "I don't care about the money. I don't care about, oh, 'You're going to be the most famous person ever if you do this.' That's not what holds weight in my life."
"There's a lot of times in my career where you don't see my name on the song and that's because sometimes I don't write them," she said. "A lot of times I do change the song in a way that probably you should ask for credit, but I don't because the song was already great – I just made it more me. I think a lot of artists steal credit a lot from writers, which I think is super crappy because that's their livelihood."
But, "if I deserve it, I usually ask," she continued. "And I did deserve it on ['My Life Would Suck Without You'] just because I changed it a bit." Clarkson also recalled how the topic was first broached, and how she vehemently refused to be associated with him.
"They brought up writing credit at the end," she went on. "They were like, 'Well, you changed the song.' And I was like, 'I don't want my name near his. I want to pretend this didn't happen in my life and I want to forget it.'"
Last year, Clarkson spoke out against Dr. Luke and in defense of Kesha, offering up her own take on the embattled music producer.
"A lot of artists that have worked with him don't work with him anymore for pretty good, solid reasons," she said during an interview with Australia's KIIS FM The Kyle & Jackie O Show. "He's not a good person to me. We've clashed. I can't really say anything other than that."
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But not everyone thinks like that - although obviously everyone who has posted so far does.
What if someone doesn't want an arm around their waist? Why should they feel like they just have to put up with it?
An article that was published in Psychology Today last April:
Sexual Harassment Is in the Eye of the Beholder
Why Bad Looks Good
We do not always "know it when we see it"
by Wendy L. Patrick, Ph.D. / Mar 15, 2017 / Psychology Today
https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/why-bad-looks-good/201703/sexual-harassment-is-in-the-eye-the-beholder
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I wasn't going to post this because, well, you know.
Last evening I watched the NBC program for the lighting of the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree.
Just before the mayor of New York City pulled the switch to light the tree, he put his arm around the shoulders of NBC's Hoda Kotb, and she did not ask him to do that.
But she also didn't tell him to stop, or take his arm away.
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Now we notice and or read into things that we didn't think about before. I was watching a bit
of a movie from the 50's about office politics that I came across on TV (The Best of Everything)
and man...if you remade that it would be a lot different. The atmosphere right now is uptight
about everything. Not just this.
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RIP Jim Nabors. He was 87.
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I wasn't going to post this because, well, you know.
Last evening I watched the NBC program for the lighting of the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree.
Just before the mayor of New York City pulled the switch to light the tree, he put his arm around the shoulders of NBC's Hoda Kotb, and she did not ask him to do that.
But she also didn't tell him to stop, or take his arm away.
Maybe, like Sue, she didn't mind him putting his arm around her shoulders. Everyone has their own comfort level, I think.
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Maybe, like Sue, she didn't mind him putting his arm around her shoulders. Everyone has their own comfort level, I think.
Yes, everyone has their own comfort level. It can lead to a lot of confusion! LOL
I've had to adjust my sense of humor at work numerous times. I know who as as similar sense of humor to mine, and that they are "safe" to work with I've also learned who takes offense to things, and when I'm around those people, I watch what comes out of my mouth.
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Now we notice and or read into things that we didn't think about before. I was watching a bit of a movie from the 50's about office politics that I came across on TV (The Best of Everything) and man...if you remade that it would be a lot different. The atmosphere right now is uptight about everything. Not just this.
Slightly different topic, I remember an episode of "Mad Men" ( I think) where a woman who was pregnant was enjoying a cocktail and a cigarette. Tons of viewers complained online, and the writers of the show had to issue a statement that their show was written realistically, and in that time period, pregnant women smoked and drank, and it wasn't thought to be a 'bad' thing.
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I heard on NPR that since Congress has it's own "fund" set up, and has paid $15m to claimants of workplace misconduct, sexual or otherwise, that they are going to have sexual harassment training.
I find this both amusing and pathetic. Here's your training: when you're at work, don't touch anyone, don't tell dirty jokes and/or curse, don't proposition anyone, and, unless you're in the men's room, keep your pants on. End of training. Apparently, this needs to be repeated numerous times until it sinks in.
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Is that paid by the taxpayers?
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As I was "finalizing" getting ready for work this morning, some sort of round-table discussion of the harassment issue was taking place on the Today show. I really do regret that I didn't have time to watch all of it, but just as I had to turn off the TV and leave for work, a young woman whom I did not know was saying something about now in the aftermath men no longer know how to treat women in the workplace or even elsewhere. Just as I had to leave she said something about men being afraid to hug even long-time women friends.
If what she said about long-term friends is correct, I think that's kind of sad.
Assuming the woman friend is OK with being hugged, of course. (And I don't mean that as a smart-alec remark; I really mean it.)
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Is that paid by the taxpayers?
Hmmmmm...I need some time to think about that. Yes.
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As I was "finalizing" getting ready for work this morning, some sort of round-table discussion of the harassment issue was taking place on the Today show. I really do regret that I didn't have time to watch all of it, but just as I had to turn off the TV and leave for work, a young woman whom I did not know was saying something about now in the aftermath men no longer know how to treat woman in the workplace or even elsewhere. Just as I had to leave she said something about men being afraid to hug even long-time women friends.
If what she said about long-term friends is correct, I think that's kind of sad.
Assuming the woman friend is OK with being hugged, of course. (And I don't mean that as a smart-alec remark; I really mean it.)
This reminds me of the news stories from years ago, about fathers, teachers and family friends not being able to be affectionate with their children/students, lest it be mistaken for child sexual abuse.
Personally, as Chuck said, I know the people at work that I can be "friendly affectionate" with, meaning a hug or other innocuous touch, but it's certainly not a daily occurrence.
I have no problem going days (or a lot longer) without feeling the need to touch any of my co-workers. But when I come back to work after a mandatory 3 month separation (temp contract), I hug many people, because we're happy to see each other after a time away. If I was introduced to a new person in the group, I would not expect or appreciate (or accept) a hug.
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This reminds me of the news stories from years ago, about fathers, teachers and family friends not being able to be affectionate with their children/students, lest it be mistaken for child sexual abuse.
Good point! Now that you mention it, it reminds me of that, too.
Personally, as Chuck said, I know the people at work that I can be "friendly affectionate" with, meaning a hug or other innocuous touch, but it's certainly not a daily occurrence.
I have no problem going days (or a lot longer) without feeling the need to touch any of my co-workers. But when I come back to work after a mandatory 3 month separation (temp contract), I hug many people, because we're happy to see each other after a time away. If I was introduced to a new person in the group, I would not expect or appreciate (or accept) a hug.
Does gender or company culture play any role in this? I've personally never seen anybody in my division at my job hug anybody. In my division the workers are mainly female, and I wouldn't be hugging them anyway. In the case of the few young (twenty-something) guys, for me it's "strictly hands off," one reason being that I don't know if they're "family," another being not want to be thought of as a creepy old queen, and finally because PDA's among anybody just don't seem to be in the culture.
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During my retirement party I hugged just about everybody, from the cleaning ladies to the soldiers, even my boss! Most for the first time. Some people seemed surprised, but it went OK.
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As I was "finalizing" getting ready for work this morning, some sort of round-table discussion of the harassment issue was taking place on the Today show. I really do regret that I didn't have time to watch all of it, but just as I had to turn off the TV and leave for work, a young woman whom I did not know was saying something about now in the aftermath men no longer know how to treat woman in the orkplace or even elsewhere. Just as I had to leave she said something about men being afraid to hug even long-time women friends.
If what she said about long-term friends is correct, I think that's kind of sad.
Assuming the woman friend is OK with being hugged, of course. (And I don't mean that as a smart-alec remark; I really mean it.)
I find that woman's statement rather odd.
Men confused with how to treat women in the workplace? You treat them like you would treat a male colleague that you have a business relationship with. If you wouldn't hug him, why assume to hug her?
As for close female friends, I see no reason to stop hugging them, if you've hugged them in the past.
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I find that woman's statement rather odd.
Men confused with how to treat women in the workplace? You treat them like you would treat a male colleague that you have a business relationship with. If you wouldn't hug him, why assume to hug her?
As for close female friends, I see no reason to stop hugging them, if you've hugged them in the past.
You're exactly right, Chuck. Maybe we're making it too difficult, when it's really easy.
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You're exactly right, Chuck. Maybe we're making it too difficult, when it's really easy.
No kidding!
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You're exactly right, Chuck. Maybe we're making it too difficult, when it's really easy.
No kidding!
I disagree with you both. I don't think we are. This whole situation reminds me very much of the accusations of child molestation back in the 1980s and 1990s. All of a sudden people who would have thought nothing of hugging a child were afraid even to touch a child, especially if the child was not his or her own.
If Garrison Keillor lost his job because he touched a woman on the back--sorry, I disagree that this is really easy.
It's one thing to avoid touching someone. But what if you, say, happen to lean over a female coworker's shoulder to check something out on her computer monitor, and you happen to see her cleavage, and she knows you saw it, and she chooses to make an issue of it?
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I guess none of you read that article I linked twice.
It's not easy, simply because it's "in the eye of the beholder."
--What actually defines sexual harassment?
--Is sexual harassment objective or subjective?
--What is meant by that? Is sexual harassment defined by observable facts or by how the parties involved perceive it?
If the latter is the case, then whose perception carries the greatest weight? The person who does it or the person who
endures it? If the former is the case, then what observable behaviors constitute harassment?
For example: Sen. Franken has stated he never thought he was harassing any women when he
had his picture taken with them at those events. Now women are saying he groped them. The
dictionary definition of grope is: "feel or fondle (someone) for sexual pleasure, especially against
their will. An act of fondling someone for sexual pleasure." Now read the questions posed above.
Not simple when you're dealing with perception.
Now look at the reaction that Angela Lansbury got when she recently said something about women
needing to take some responsibility for the situations they're in and intimated that dressing sexily
might lead to some of this. She was immediately attacked because of the notion that women should
be able to dress anyway they want and it doesn't mean they're giving permission to men to treat them
disrespectfully. Lansbury was pointing out that in the eye of the beholder, the fact remains that women
arouse men and some men take the arousals as permission of one degree or another. Lansbury's notions
were summarily dismissed or relegated to the "she's old and from another time" sentiment. Again, I don't
think it's simple when you're dealing with perception.
Sexual Harassment Is in the Eye of the Beholder
Why Bad Looks Good
We do not always "know it when we see it"
by Wendy L. Patrick, Ph.D. / Mar 15, 2017 / Psychology Today
https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/why-bad-looks-good/201703/sexual-harassment-is-in-the-eye-the-beholder
Also:
Angela Lansbury: Women “must sometimes take blame” for harassment
http://www.radiotimes.com/news/tv/2017-11-28/angela-lansbury-women-must-sometimes-take-blame-for-harassment/
Angela Lansbury: Sexual Harassment Comments Were Taken Out of Context
https://www.usmagazine.com/celebrity-news/news/angela-lansbury-responds-to-backlash-over-sexual-harassment-remarks/
Lansbury: "I would like to add that I am troubled by how quickly and brutishly some have taken my comments out of context and attempted to blame my generation, my age, or my mindset, without having read the entirety of what I said.”
To quote Linda Ellerbee, "...and so it goes."
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I guess none of you read that article I linked twice.
It's not easy, simply because it's "in the eye of the beholder."
--What actually defines sexual harassment?
--Is sexual harassment objective or subjective?
--What is meant by that? Is sexual harassment defined by observable facts or by how the parties involved perceive it?
If the latter is the case, then whose perception carries the greatest weight? The person who does it or the person who
endures it? If the former is the case, then what observable behaviors constitute harassment?
For example: Sen. Franken has stated he never thought he was harassing any women when he
had his picture taken with them at those events. Now women are saying he groped them. The
dictionary definition of grope is: "feel or fondle (someone) for sexual pleasure, especially against
their will. An act of fondling someone for sexual pleasure." Now read the questions posed above.
Not simple when you're dealing with perception.
Now look at the reaction that Angela Lansbury got when she recently said something about women
needing to take some responsibility for the situations they're in and intimated that dressing sexily
might lead to some of this. She was immediately attacked because of the notion that women should
be able to dress anyway they want and it doesn't mean they're giving permission to men to treat them
disrespectfully. Lansbury was pointing out that in the eye of the beholder, the fact remains that women
arouse men and some men take the arousals as permission of one degree or another. Lansbury's notions
were summarily dismissed or relegated to the "she's old and from another time" sentiment. Again, I don't
think it's simple when you're dealing with perception.
Also:
Angela Lansbury: Women “must sometimes take blame” for harassment
http://www.radiotimes.com/news/tv/2017-11-28/angela-lansbury-women-must-sometimes-take-blame-for-harassment/
Angela Lansbury: Sexual Harassment Comments Were Taken Out of Context
https://www.usmagazine.com/celebrity-news/news/angela-lansbury-responds-to-backlash-over-sexual-harassment-remarks/
Lansbury: "I would like to add that I am troubled by how quickly and brutishly some have taken my comments out of context and attempted to blame my generation, my age, or my mindset, without having read the entirety of what I said.”
To quote Linda Ellerbee, "...and so it goes."
Sorry Lyle, I believe it is that easy.
Regarding Senator Franken, maybe he wouldn't be in this mess now if he had kept his hands to himself. These women were women he had no intimate relationship with, and had no right to touch without their permission. Look at the picture where he's pretending to squeeze the sleeping woman's breasts.
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimages.tritondigitalcms.com%2F6616%2Fsites%2F320%2F2017%2F11%2F15155723%2Fleeann-airplane-pic.jpg&hash=a9b322ab86d0663034a139f14cccb32addcb7867)
He says he was being "funny". Why didn't he use his fingers to put a pair of horns on her head? Why didn't he pretend to be picking her nose? Why not just pose next to her and make a face or pretend to be asleep?
Nope, he went right for the breasts.
As for Angela Lansbury, I agree with the criticism. Just because a woman dresses in a way that others may view as sexy, doesn't mean she's given permission to anyone to touch her or make inappropriate comments to her.
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Sorry Lyle, I believe it is that easy.
The psychologist who wrote the article posted on Psychology Today that I linked has a
different viewpoint based on her expertise in the field.
Regarding Senator Franken, maybe he wouldn't be in this mess now if he had kept his hands to himself. These women were women he had no intimate relationship with, and had no right to touch without their permission. Look at the picture where he's pretending to squeeze the sleeping woman's breasts. He says he was being "funny". Why didn't he use his fingers to put a pair of horns on her head? Why didn't he pretend to be picking her nose? Why not just pose next to her and make a face or pretend to be asleep?
Nope, he went right for the breasts.
Sen. Franken's case is a lot different than the other ones we've heard about. Besides the woman above, the other women all accused him of touching them when they were having photo opportunities. Being a person who likes to find humor in any situation, I have crossed a line on an occasion or two when I've said something I shouldn't have or an action I might have thought twice about, but in the moment you think it's going to make people laugh and be amusing. So, I am willing to give a professional comedian some leeway when they get in trouble for saying or doing something they might not have if they'd run it by a committee first.
Since I am gay and been around gay men a lot, I have also noticed over the years that straight women will often fool around with gay men to the point of joking about their breasts and to the point of gay men touching these women's breasts (without permission) and the women not batting an eye about it. It's not sexual to them, I guess, because it's gay men. I remember one time when a straight co-worker I was with remarked on this situation wondering if he pretended to be gay if he could do the same thing.
I have to say it's a bit uncomfortable to write about these things because one doesn't know how someone else will interpret what you've written or if you are actually getting a point across that you're trying to make. These days you never know what someone will take offense to, and there's opportunities galore to take offense at most anything if one wants to focus on those things.
All I know is that the past couple of months of men being accused of various charges often seems like a witch hunt, at times seems wholly shocking and inappropriate, seems like no big deal in some instances, seems like some women are presenting themselves as weak and fragile for what appears rather minor, seems like some women being very courageous and honorable about their experiences, "fifteen minutes of fame" in other cases. In other words, all over the map.
It's also somewhat disturbing to see that the people being accused are almost immediately being erased. In Kevin Spacey's case, literally being erased and replaced from the upcoming film All the Money in the World. I am a person who has enjoyed his professional work, but also found his inclination to remain closeted in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary, problematic. I have watched Charlie Rose's nightly program, depending on the guests, for over twenty years. I have thought Al Franken a fine Senator. I think Garrison Keillor is getting a raw deal. I think the accusation against George Takei is very suspect. I think it's also horrific that in cases like Bill O'Reilly and Roger Ailes, that they lose their jobs, but are given multi-millions of dollars when they leave.
It's easier to let go those you don't care for, like those two I just mentioned or Roy Moore and Trump, but infuriating that their supporters give those two a pass and actually think the women who've come forward are liars involved in plots to discredit them. That's just wrongheaded ignorance. No one seems to care about the allegations about George H.W. Bush, either, relegating his actions to seem like a grandfather being naughty.
As for Angela Lansbury, I agree with the criticism. Just because a woman dresses in a way that others may view as sexy, doesn't mean she's given permission to anyone to touch her or make inappropriate comments to her.
When you write "that others may view as sexy" -- that's "in the eye of the beholder" territory again. It's a correct concept, but are women who dress that way so naive in the way men behave around them? It also takes any responsibility away from a woman who dresses provocatively. It's not hard to see that men who are aroused by sexy images and video of women online, in magazines, strip clubs or Las Vegas shows or any other media, don't react the same way to women in every day settings. It also seems to me that men think women are sexy regardless of what they're wearing...a low cut gown or a flight suit and helmet. It also doesn't mean that there aren't women who do dress that way precisely to get attention, or whatever they're after, from men.
My friend told me the story of working on a film in another state where the woman he was working with (and someone he'd known in this type of work and liked) in the set decoration area, was using her feminine wiles, as a man would put it, to "get things done" with the local men who were assisting. One day something happened, which my friend never actually found out what it was, but it was very inappropriate. The woman immediately dealt with the situation and it was "handled". The point is that some women do use this in ways that, in this case, at least one man took as an invitation to cross an inappropriate line.
I am not condoning inappropriate or bad behavior. I'm saying, like the title of that Nancy Meyer's movie, "It's Complicated."
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And Now The Pendulum Has swung Too Far The Other Way
From Manward Press article:
https://manwardpress.com/featured-post/matt-lauer-al-franken-war-on-men-shots-fired/
"We won’t defend the long (and growing) list of men who have lost their jobs, their wives and their reputations as a result of their lewd, disrespectful conduct.
We must be clear… that sort of behavior from anybody is unacceptable and wrong.
But the pendulum has swung. It’s gone too far. And now, men – all men – have become the enemy.
In a nation where everything from football to pizza has become politicized, it didn’t take long for the War on Men to reach the dank swamp that surrounds the campaign trail.
The War is real.
And it’s gone nuclear…
Dana Nessel is hoping to be Michigan’s attorney general. If she wins, she’ll become the state’s highest-ranking legal counsel. Often called the “top cop,” the position demands somebody with a clear, unbiased and rational head.
It is not supposed to be a partisan or – do we even need to say it? – biased role.
We hope the voters of Michigan consider that fact when they take to the polls, because Nessel has made it clear she’s anything but clear-headed and unbiased…
...“Who can you trust most not to show you their penis in a professional setting?” she said in a campaign ad last week. “That would be the candidate who doesn’t have one.”...
...Apparently Nessel thinks all men should be fired. We’re no good penis-peekers… every last one of us.
But she doesn’t stop there.
“Some people will tell you I can’t be the Democratic nominee for attorney general here in Michigan because ‘we can’t have an all-female ticket for statewide office in 2018.’ Pundits and insiders are asking ‘can we afford to have a female governor, a female attorney general and a female secretary of state?’” she says in her video released last week.
“Well, I read the news, and I bet you do too. And it has me wondering: Can we afford NOT to?”
Talk about painting with the broadest of broad brushes..."
This is no better than Trump championing the Alabama candidate for purely political reasons. What this country needs is some sense of moderation from BOTH the Left and Right!
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I'd seen this ad last week because some of the nightly talk shows were using it for humorous purposes and
to me it did seem like a joke commercial you'd see on SNL or something. People do things to get votes, but
I don't know how you'd get votes from people who were not already going to vote for you, so I'm not sure
the logic behind an ad like this. Plus, it's very cynical and kind of crass. I want more civility in the discourse
and inspiration. This doesn't have any loftiness about it, does it?
I've always been a firm believer that we need more women in political office. Despite their abominable vote on
the recent tax legislation bill, even Republican women like Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski have sided with
logic more often than not and helped stop the ACA repeal twice and voted for the DADT repeal as two examples.
The passage of this recent tax bill is the most abominable thing I've seen done in...well...I don't know.
The R's have just lost all sense of accountability to "we the people", and yet a lot of those "people" are
brainwashed into voting for them.
-
It also takes any responsibility away from a woman who dresses provocatively.
I've been saying essentially the same thing for years, and when I say it, I usually get clipped for it. By women.
Just sayin'. That's been my experience.
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I can totally see why a woman thinks she should be able to wear anything she wants to and not be subjected to harassment or worse from anyone else, but that fact men are wired to respond to the opposite sex more toward visual stimulus, whereas women respond more to touch, it just makes sense to me that this should be taken into account by women. This is supposedly why, if a man is interested in a woman he will usually sit opposite someone he's interested in getting acquainted with and a woman usually will opt to sit next to/beside the person. I am guessing this is why most women are not that interested in x-rated videos and that Playgirl's largest audience base was gay men.
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I am tired of hearing people from Alabama on the news, when discussing next week's Senate election, saying things like,
"The people of Alabama aren't going to let people from other states tell us what to believe or what we should do."
My response to those people:
"You're absolutely right. If you Alabamans want to elect a disgrace to represent you in Congress and if you have
no respect for human decency or have a shred of dignity, by all means, go ahead and twist your moral compasses
to reject truth and follow your own misguided, wrongheaded and partisan views and suffer the consequences."
--Hope against hope, I fully expect that Roy Moore will be elected to the Senate next week. After being held at arm's
length for a week or two, the RNC, Trump and Republican Senators are now fully committed to supporting this atrocious
human being and welcoming him to their Washington swamp.
For the record, besides any of the accusations leveled against him by many persons, he was already a horrible and unfit choice
to be elected to any office.
I'm beginning to wonder if there is ANY sanity left in this country.
-
From The New Yorker:
Should Senator Al Franken resign following revelations of sexual harassment? Michelle Goldberg, writing in the Times, says yes, in order to preserve the momentum of “the current movement toward unprecedented accountability for sexual harassers.” Writing in the Washington Post, Kate Harding says no: as a legislator, Franken has done good things for women, and, as a repentant sexual harasser in politics, he could do even more. Both arguments clearly have merit, and both of the writers acknowledge that the opposing view is compelling. But maybe “Should Al Franken resign?” is the wrong question.
The question frames the conversation in terms of retribution, but it is not possible to hold to account every man who has ever behaved disrespectfully and disgustingly toward a woman. Nor even every senator, or every comedian. And, even if it were possible to punish every single one of them, what would be accomplished? Punishment, especially when it is delayed, is not a very effective deterrent.
“Should Al Franken Resign?” Is the Wrong Question
by Masha Gessen
https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-columnists/should-al-franken-resign-is-the-wrong-question
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The question frames the conversation in terms of retribution, but it is not possible to hold to account every man who has ever behaved disrespectfully and disgustingly toward a woman. Nor even every senator, or every comedian. And, even if it were possible to punish every single one of them, what would be accomplished? Punishment, especially when it is delayed, is not a very effective
This here is the key to the problem, in my opinion. It's so extended that it seems impossible to solve the problem with punishment. The only way to solve this is through education, teaching boys to respect women and empowering girls to be able to respond to this situations. It's a huge social change in a world where powerful men believe they own the people who works for them. And let's not forget, they are still in charge and will be for a while. That's why a no tolerance politic may be the way to draw the line, and punishing the powerful man can be the way to send a message to the "ordinary" man. Because this is not only a problem in Washington or Hollywood, it's everywhere. And I think the place where we have to start to solve it is in the schools.
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This here is the key to the problem, in my opinion. It's so extended that it seems impossible to solve the problem with punishment. The only way to solve this is through education, teaching boys to respect women and empowering girls to be able to respond to this situations. It's a huge social change in a world where powerful men believe they own the people who works for them. And let's not forget, they are still in charge and will be for a while. That's why a no tolerance politic may be the way to draw the line, and punishing the powerful man can be the way to send a message to the "ordinary" man. Because this is not only a problem in Washington or Hollywood, it's everywhere. And I think the place where we have to start to solve it is in the schools.
I agree. In my opinion not everyone who did something stupid and offensive deserves to be treated like Harvey Weinstein, who is apparently guilty of making criminal assaults.
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From The New Yorker:
Should Senator Al Franken resign following revelations of sexual harassment? Michelle Goldberg, writing in the Times, says yes, in order to preserve the momentum of “the current movement toward unprecedented accountability for sexual harassers.” Writing in the Washington Post, Kate Harding says no: as a legislator, Franken has done good things for women, and, as a repentant sexual harasser in politics, he could do even more. Both arguments clearly have merit, and both of the writers acknowledge that the opposing view is compelling. But maybe “Should Al Franken resign?” is the wrong question.
The question frames the conversation in terms of retribution, but it is not possible to hold to account every man who has ever behaved disrespectfully and disgustingly toward a woman. Nor even every senator, or every comedian. And, even if it were possible to punish every single one of them, what would be accomplished? Punishment, especially when it is delayed, is not a very effective deterrent.
“Should Al Franken Resign?” Is the Wrong Question
by Masha Gessen
https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-columnists/should-al-franken-resign-is-the-wrong-question
I could be wrong, because I came in at the end of the clip, but I would swear I heard Newt Gingrich, of all people, saying that Franken should stay.
On the other hand, Elizabeth Warren says he should go. So does Kristen Gillibrand and, I believe, other senators who are women.
We need all the Democrats we can get. ... ::)
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Though his replacement would in all likelihood be a Democrat, possibly the current lieutenant governor.
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DEMS OR REPUBS.....they're all in a different world or class than the people they represent!! Take a quick LOOK at their benefits for LIFE!! serving or not, they've covered themselves for DECADES now........sad, huh? Maybe they are ALL more like Trump than they think, he of the the "Don't Ask, TAKE IT" mentality.......powerful people never ASK, you TAKE IT.......until someone calls you on it.......which, apparently no one ever does...... >:( >:( >:(
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Though his replacement would in all likelihood be a Democrat, possibly the current lieutenant governor.
One can only hope. In the political rabbit hole into which this nation has fallen, I wouldn't bet on anything.
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Am I wrong to think that Sen. Franken should not resign?
Especially since he says some of the accusations are false?
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Well, I spoke too soon, I guess:
Al Franken resigning 'in the coming weeks'
by Eli Watkins and MJ Lee, CNN
Continual Updates, December 7, 2017
(a date which will live in infamy?)
Washington (CNN) Sen. Al Franken announced his resignation from the US Senate on Thursday following several allegations of sexual misconduct.
In his speech on the Senate floor, Franken said he was "upset" by the allegations that he groped and forcibly kissed multiple women, and denied and contested the veracity of some of the accusations.
"I am proud that during my time in the Senate I have used my power to be a champion of women and that I have earned a reputation as someone that respects the women I work alongside every day," he said. "I know there has been a very different picture of me painted in the last few weeks, but I know who I really am."
"Serving in the United States Senate has been the great honor of my life. I know in my heart that nothing I have done as a Senator -- nothing -- has brought dishonor on this institution. And I am confident that the ethics committee would agree."
"I, of all people, am aware that there is some irony in the fact that I am leaving while a man who has bragged on tape about his history of sexual assault sits in the Oval Office and a man who has repeatedly preyed on young girls campaigns for the Senate with the full support of his party."
"But this decision is not about me. It's about the people of Minnesota. It's become clear that I can't both pursue the ethics committee process and, at the same time, remain an effective Senator for them. Let me be clear, I may be resigning my seat, but I am not giving up my voice. I will continue to stand up for the things I believe in as a citizen and as an activist."
But Minnesotans deserve a Senator who can focus with all her energy on addressing the challenges they face every day. There will be a big part of me that will always regret having to walk away from this job with so much work left to be done. But I have faith the work will continue because I have faith in the people who help me do it."
Full speech here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZHgqcHSoqeE
The speech is 12 minutes, then there is news commentary afterwards.
-
After listening to Franken's speech, is that the kind of man, despite the allegations (some disputed), that women (and men) want to LEAVE the Senate?
Who, in their right mind, would ever want to run for office right now?
-
Am I wrong to think that Sen. Franken should not resign?
Especially since he says some of the accusations are false?
I wouldn't say that. Just because he chose to resign doesn't me you're wrong in thinking he shouldn't have resigned. I don't think he should have resigned, either.
However, I do think he makes a valid point about the accusations interfering with his work in the Senate. I don't think that's just an excuse.
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After listening to Franken's speech, is that the kind of man, despite the allegations (some disputed), that women (and men) want to LEAVE the Senate?
Who, in their right mind, would ever want to run for office right now?
I don't think he should have resigned either. Maybe he'll run again at the next election, and if that's the case, I'm pretty sure he would win his seat back.
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"I am leaving while a man who has bragged on tape about his history of sexual assault sits in the Oval Office,” Sen. Al Franken said.
We could also add Roy Moore to this sentence.
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We could also add Roy Moore to this sentence.
And he's going to win out of pure cussedness, because nobody is going to tell Alabamans what to do.
And then there's the fact that the spineless Republican National Committee has gone back to supporting a child molester for the United States Senate.
That sound you hear is James Madison et al. spinning in their graves. ...
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And he's going to win out of pure cussedness, because nobody is going to tell Alabamans what to do.
And then there's the fact that the spineless Republican National Committee has gone back to supporting a child molester for the United States Senate.
That sound you hear is James Madison et al. spinning in their graves. ...
And this to me is why NOTHING is going to be done to get pumpkin head out of office. Each individual republican is in it for him/herself, NO MATTER WHAT, screw the American people (which they do on a daily basis). Even if the Russian investigation goes straight back to pumpkin head, the republicans will NEVER vote to impeach him. It would be admitting they were wrong, and that is NEVER going to happen either. This is why I feel there is NO hope for our future as a Democratic nation, at least for the next 3 years and probably longer.
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And this to me is why NOTHING is going to be done to get pumpkin head out of office. Each individual republican is in it for him/herself, NO MATTER WHAT, screw the American people (which they do on a daily basis). Even if the Russian investigation goes straight back to pumpkin head, the republicans will NEVER vote to impeach him. It would be admitting they were wrong, and that is NEVER going to happen either. This is why I feel there is NO hope for our future as a Democratic nation, at least for the next 3 years and probably longer.
I agree.
And I've just read that pumpkin head is perfectly OK with businesses putting "We Don't Serve Gays" signs in their windows.
I'm sure he would have been just as OK with "No Dogs or Irish" signs. ...
This is no longer the nation I grew up in. I don't even recognize any more. So I guess pumpkin head's millions of minions would tell me to leave it if I don't love it as it is.
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And none of it makes any sense when the President's approval ratings have been in the tank since the first week of
his Presidency. Current Gallup Poll; Approve: 35% Disapprove: 60%. And the latest Rasmussen poll has the entire
approval rating of the Republican Party at 29 percent, the lowest ever recorded.
And yet, here we are.
Now the Republican Party is trying to discredit the Mueller investigation and the FBI citing bias, so that any conclusions
revealed from the investigating committee can be dismissed as partisan and no action taken against the clown. And to
divert attention elsewhere, even Lindsay Graham, a Senator who heretofore has often stood up to the insanity his party
is involved in, yesterday tweets out: "It’s long past time for a Special Counsel to investigate Clinton email scandal, Uranium
One, role of Fusion GPS, and FBI and DOJ bias during 2016 campaign." It makes me wonder if he's trying to obfuscate some
kind of personal problems that might lead to some allegations against him. I heard on the news last night, that the Congressional
resignations this week are the tip of the iceberg and there are at least 40, yes FORTY, Congress people being investigated for sexual
harassment and other similar charges.
Nothing much has changed for those of us wanting some hope that things could get better. I have doubts
that Alabama voters are going to help in that regard. If the Democrats don't take at least one Congressional
chamber next fall; you know.
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^^^^^ It's very hard to hope for change when there is no hope in sight. It's as if we are being punished for something that we have no control over. I think that is the hardest thing to accept that this country is out of control and we have no say in it.
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The witch hunt continues. ...
https://www.thedailybeast.com/the-new-yorker-severs-ties-with-star-reporter-ryan-lizza (https://www.thedailybeast.com/the-new-yorker-severs-ties-with-star-reporter-ryan-lizza)
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The witch hunt continues. ...
https://www.thedailybeast.com/the-new-yorker-severs-ties-with-star-reporter-ryan-lizza (https://www.thedailybeast.com/the-new-yorker-severs-ties-with-star-reporter-ryan-lizza)
Ryan Lizza: "...this decision, which was made hastily and without a full investigation of the relevant facts, was a terrible mistake.”
Law firm representing Lizza’s accuser: "Our client reported Mr. Lizza’s actions to ensure that he would be held accountable and in the hope that by coming forward she would help other potential victims.” The firm noted that the accuser would like their identity to remain confidential.
_____
Yes, "on the QT and very...HUSH...HUSH..."
If I were accused of something that wasn't true, I'd out the accuser myself.
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if you haven't seen this yet, it's worth watching for 30 seconds, because I can't find the words to describe her words, and how she delivered them. Several good tweets in the story, too.
'One of our attorneys is a Jew’: Kayla Moore’s proof that Roy Moore is no anti-Semite
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2017/12/12/one-of-our-attorneys-is-a-jew-kayla-moore-makes-the-headlines-at-roy-moores-big-rally/?utm_term=.b59d565b7904 (https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2017/12/12/one-of-our-attorneys-is-a-jew-kayla-moore-makes-the-headlines-at-roy-moores-big-rally/?utm_term=.b59d565b7904)
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Ryan Lizza: "...this decision, which was made hastily and without a full investigation of the relevant facts, was a terrible mistake.”
Law firm representing Lizza’s accuser: "Our client reported Mr. Lizza’s actions to ensure that he would be held accountable and in the hope that by coming forward she would help other potential victims.” The firm noted that the accuser would like their identity to remain confidential.
_____
Yes, "on the QT and very...HUSH...HUSH..."
If I were accused of something that wasn't true, I'd out the accuser myself.
Did CNN fire him too?
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Just read that Jones is projected to win Alabama over Moore with 89% of votes in.
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I AM SO HAPPY!!!!!!!
Alabama election: Doug Jones scores stunning win, but Moore won't concede
Montgomery, Alabama (CNN)Doug Jones on Tuesday became the first Democrat in a generation to win a Senate seat in Alabama, beating Republican Roy Moore amid a firestorm of allegations that the GOP candidate had sexually abused teens.
Moore, however, refused to concede Tuesday night.
"When the vote is this close ... it's not over," Moore told supporters after Jones declared victory.
The results are nothing short of an embarrassment for President Donald Trump and a disaster for Republicans in Washington as the reliably red state of Alabama elected its first Democratic senator since the early 1990s.
"I think I have been waiting all my life and now I don't know what the hell to say," Jones said Tuesday night.
http://www.cnn.com/2017/12/12/politics/alabama-senate-election-mainbar/index.html (http://www.cnn.com/2017/12/12/politics/alabama-senate-election-mainbar/index.html)
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Alabama. ALABAMA!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7WswuDLsVJQ
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Thanks whoever yo may believe in this guy didn't win, congratulations to you all!
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Did CNN fire [Ryan Lizza] too?
He hasn't appeared on CNN since November 22, but I haven't had to research if he's actually been fired.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/the-new-yorker-severs-ties-with-star-reporter-ryan-lizza (https://www.thedailybeast.com/the-new-yorker-severs-ties-with-star-reporter-ryan-lizza)
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A small ray of hope has appeared over the skies in Alabama.
May it continue.
Alabama election: Doug Jones scores stunning win, but Moore won't concede
I would have expected nothing Moore.
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Virginia, Alabama, may it continue.
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I'm not sure how I feel about the Alabama election.
Don't get me wrong, I'm very glad that Moore didn't win. I saw an article online showing how close it was, and Trump said something correct. It came down to the write-in votes.
If the write in option wasn't there, and those people had voted for Moore, he would've won. Someone like him (and for what he is guilty of doing) should've lost by a LARGE margin, not have it so close.
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True. But we'll take what we can get, for now. Just hope it trends.
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In addition to the write-in votes, a lot of people stayed away and did not vote.
Those write-in voters may also have stayed home instead, so it's not just those
votes, it's also who didn't vote. Sen. Franken first won by 600 votes. A win is a
win.
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A win is a win.
And "Close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades." ;D
Now, Jones needs to do a Caesar Rodney and get himself to Washington.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caesar_Rodney (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caesar_Rodney)
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Video: Sen. John Kennedy grills Trump judge nominee, who struggles to define legal terms
Sen. John Kennedy of Louisiana hammered one of President Donald Trump’s nominees for a federal judgeship with a probing, five-minute series of questions during a confirmation hearing on Wednesday.
The questions highlighted Matthew Spencer Peterson’s lack of courtroom experience. Pressed by Kennedy, Peterson acknowledged having never made arguments in a courtroom nor having tried a case — and then appeared to struggle to define a series of legal terms.
Peterson, who’s currently the chairman of the Federal Election Commission, was nominated by Trump for a district court judgeship in the District of Columbia.
Kennedy’s grilling of Peterson — who likely won’t face a committee vote until next year — went viral Thursday night after Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, a Rhode Island Democrat and fellow member of the Judiciary Committee, posted the video to Twitter.
“Hoo-boy,” Whitehouse wrote.
http://www.theadvocate.com/baton_rouge/news/article_0abcefd0-e1a8-11e7-aa90-fffb2b42a9dc.html (http://www.theadvocate.com/baton_rouge/news/article_0abcefd0-e1a8-11e7-aa90-fffb2b42a9dc.html)
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full skit at the link...
On SNL, Trump’s White House celebrates Christmas by remembering the ‘haters and losers’
The White House gang was all there in the latest “Saturday Night Live” cold open, with Alec Baldwin reprising his role as President Trump — this time reflecting on his “amazing first year in office.”
First lady Melania Trump (played by Cecily Strong) opens by wishing everyone a merry Christmas.
“That’s right, you can finally say that again, because the war on Christmas is over,” Baldwin’s Trump says. “It will soon be replaced by the war with North Korea.”
He boasted of the forthcoming passage of the Republican tax plan that would come in time for Christmas, giving Americans the “biggest, fattest tax cut they’ve ever seen.”
“It’s such a big tax cut it might even make me a real billionaire,” Baldwin’s Trump says. “It’s my greatest achievement, so now I can settle down and be super-presidential — that is, until Don Lemon says something mean about me, and I tweet the actual n-word.”
To settle him down, the first lady encourages her husband to turn to trimming a Christmas tree, by hanging ornaments depicting the faces of “all the haters and losers I destroyed this year.”
A parade of familiar White House characters comes through to help them do this....
Next up is White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders (Aidy Bryant), who offers not one but two ornaments.
“For my ornaments, I brought Sean Spicer and Anthony Scaramucci, whose mangled corpses I stepped over to get this job,” she says.
Beck Bennett steps forward next as Vice President Pence (albeit with a hint of an accent from Bennett’s Vladimir Putin character), who offhandedly admits he doesn’t like the Christmas song “Deck the Halls” because it includes “gay apparel” in its lyrics.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/arts-and-entertainment/wp/2017/12/17/snl-cold-open-trumps-white-house-celebrates-christmas-by-remembering-the-haters-and-losers/?utm_term=.2b048a37d09e (https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/arts-and-entertainment/wp/2017/12/17/snl-cold-open-trumps-white-house-celebrates-christmas-by-remembering-the-haters-and-losers/?utm_term=.2b048a37d09e)
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just goes to show you can't buy class...
5:37 AM - 25 Dec 2017
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DR5V8ihW0AAwFt5.jpg)
Good comment on the photo on twitter:
@SphaleriteMz
3h3 hours ago
Replying to @FLOTUS
Disgraceful for a First Lady, Christmas or not. You look like a model on a photo shoot for the front page of Hustler. I'm sure the elderly and poor will appreciate this photo given how you and hubby don't care about them, only your millionaire friends at Mar-a-Largo.
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you either have it ↓ or you don't ^^^^
(https://secureservercdn.net/da8.4a7.godaddywp.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/Michelle-Obama-White-House-Christmas.jpg)
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I'm not one to defend the Trumps, but at times I find myself feeling badly for Melania. I think Donald put her in a completely unexpected arena.
With prior First Ladies, while they had no idea how to "be" a First Lady, they had an idea what was going to happen, as their husbands climbed the political ladder. I think Donald completely surprised her with the decision to run, and she's in over her head.
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I guess we have to agree to disagree on this one. She's a grown woman, and doesn't know that the way she posed makes her look like an ad for an out call? That's where her lack of class comes in, she just doesn't know any better, poor dear.
Plus, she has protocol and etiquette experts at her disposal to teach her everything she should know about how to behave as first lady of the United States.
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She's a grown woman, and doesn't know that the way she posed makes her look like an ad for an out call?
:laugh:
I did see a meme that I thought was hysterical. It was a pic of Melania and Donald, when they were taking calls to help track Santa's location. Someone put on the image:
"Oh, good! They got an expert in tracking old, fat men who leave jewelry behind!"
:laugh:
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:laugh: :laugh: I rest my case...
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I guess we have to agree to disagree on this one. She's a grown woman, and doesn't know that the way she posed makes her look like an ad for an out call? That's where her lack of class comes in, she just doesn't know any better, poor dear.
Plus, she has protocol and etiquette experts at her disposal to teach her everything she should know about how to behave as first lady of the United States.
I met this summer a really interesting man who worked as designer for Carolina Herrera and he met the Trumps back in the 90s, and he told us some anecdotes, for instance that then he was married to Ivana and she used to order crazy expensive clothes that were never paid for, and that Melania was already around as "oficial escort", or something like that. He had not much positive to tell about them.
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Thanks for sharing that item!
So, Ivana used to order crazy expensive clothes that were never paid for? I keep wondering why
a business continues to provide things to people who don't pay for them. Once burned. The
second time, "pay up front." I have a friend who works in restaurant and there's one of the
customers (from the Shriver clan) who never pays for the meals. He says to send him a bill.
Yet they apparently keep serving him.
He had not much positive to tell about them.
Understatement of the year, I'd say! >:D
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So, Ivana used to order crazy expensive clothes that were never paid for? I keep wondering why a business continues to provide things to people who don't pay for them. Once burned. The second time, "pay up front." I have a friend who works in restaurant and there's one of the customers (from the Shriver clan) who never pays for the meals. He says to send him a bill. Yet they apparently keep serving him.
I guess these businesses think having these people seen in their establishments gets them attention.
I don't think I'd keep giving them free stuff.
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I guess these businesses think having these people seen in their establishments gets them attention.
I don't think I'd keep giving them free stuff.
I guess they were at every event possible in NY and they just wanted their clothes to be seen. I was dying to keep on asking for details and gossip, this guy also worked in Hollywood and dressed people like Kate Moss and Hillary Swank, but my friend and I were gasts at his place and I felt too shy and didn't want to embarrass myself. We had great conversations, such amazing, intelligent people, I was really happy to have the chance to meet them.
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Michelle Williams on the fallout from Weinstein.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/12/29/michelle-williams-sex-abuse-allegations-hollywood-something/
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I hope the "prankster" is charged with manslaughter, at least. The 911 call is below, he threatened to not put his gun away when the cops came, and said he'd poured gasoline all over the house and was going to set it on fire.
Man arrested in 'Call of Duty' 'swatting' hoax that led to fatal police shooting
A 25-year-old California man was arrested in connection to an online quarrel between two “Call of Duty” gamers that prompted a hoax call and led to a man being killed by police in Kansas.
Los Angeles police on Friday arrested Tyler Barriss, who law enforcement claimed is the “prankster” who called 911 and made up a story about a kidnapping in Wichita, ABC 7 reported.
Barriss reportedly gave police the address he believed the other gamer lived.
In the audio of the 911 call, the caller claimed his father had been shot in the head and that he was holding his mother and a sibling at gunpoint. The caller added that he poured gasoline inside the home and "might just set it on fire."
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2017/12/30/kansas-swatting-suspect-arrested-in-los-angeles.html (http://www.foxnews.com/us/2017/12/30/kansas-swatting-suspect-arrested-in-los-angeles.html)
911 call
http://www.kansas.com/latest-news/article192242919.html (http://www.kansas.com/latest-news/article192242919.html)
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Michelle Williams on the fallout from Weinstein.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/12/29/michelle-williams-sex-abuse-allegations-hollywood-something/
"The Old Vic theatre has received allegations from 20 young men saying that they were victims of "inappropriate behaviour" by the actor, when he worked as artistic director."
Some things I thought when I read that line in the article:
--I think of when undercover cops arrested gay men for just brushing past them in a gay bar.
--I think of straight men who just think a gay guy looking at them is cause for inappropriate behavior.
--I think everyone can come up with some inappropriate behavior by a boss, and it doesn't have to be sexual in nature. I can.
--And the obvious, "What" was the inappropriate behavior?
Of course, I don't know what these 20 people are referring to and I guess we're just supposed to believe them.
Maybe one of them thought they should have gotten a part, it was given to someone else, and that was inappropriate.
I'm not trying to make light of anyone's pain, either, but if allegations are to come forth, why can't we know the allegations?
In related news, 50% of people surveyed in Minnesota said they do NOT think Sen. Franken should resign. They think the Senate
ethics investigation would've been appropriate enough. Sen. Franken is to resign next Tuesday.
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The swatting event happened here. My issue is: why didn't the officer just shoot his leg, and where was a gun anyway? Officers on all sides of the house, and they have, or should have communication devices, no one sees a GUN anywhere on the man.......all goes back to following police requests, but honestly, the poor man had NO IDEA why they were outside the house.......it's sad all the way around, for sure. The city will have to pay bookoos to the family, I'm sure.......video and audio both out there now........not much to argue with here.......just a communication disaster on every side........ :(
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I guess these businesses think having these people seen in their establishments gets them attention.
I don't think I'd keep giving them free stuff.
Well, the Donald screwed contractors on his properties, never paying them, so I'm not surprised that Ivana screwed dressmakers.
Maybe even back then, people in certain lines of business were afraid of his reaction if they made a fuss.
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How was everyone's 2017?
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How was everyone's 2017?
I have the most disgusting cold ever and am really hoping it stays in 2017. :">
Apart from that and the news through the whole year, it's been quite ok.
Happy new year to you all, meeting you here has been one of the positive highlights from 2017.
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Trump is now claiming CREDIT for no air travel deaths in the USA for 2017.........>GOOD LORD!! Is there NOTHING the Man won't say??
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Well, there were apparently no commercial airline deaths in the world last year, but no doubt that's also attributable to DT.
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How was everyone's 2017?
It sucked. It's the year I officially became an old man. I had to get a coronary angiography and now I'm on all sorts of meds and have no energy.
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I remember Jane Russell talking about Vincent Price. They used to visit each other
in their older years alot and she said sometimes they'd just sit quietly when they'd
visit and not talk. In one of these periods one day she said Vincent looked up at her
and said, "Growing old ain't for sissies."
((((((( You go, Gil! )))))))
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How was everyone's 2017?
Excellent, merci. A little too busy for my taste - but really good.
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"My nuclear button is bigger than yours!"
I mean, honestly, what can you say. How utterly Freudian. Does he even realise he just claimed to be the biggest prick on the planet.
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"My nuclear button is bigger than yours!"
I mean, honestly, what can you say. How utterly Freudian. Does he even realise he just claimed to be the biggest prick on the planet.
Hell no he doesn't realize it, and that is one of many problems about him!! It really is a continuing nightmare. I don't see an end in sight either.
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Well, they say the worst thing you can do to Trump is IGNORE him.....he hates that......he craves attention of any kind, negative or positive, no matter to him! ::)
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Well, they say the worst thing you can do to Trump is IGNORE him.....he hates that......he craves attention of any kind, negative or positive, no matter to him! ::)
You are right, but it's kind of difficult to ignore him when he's holding the BIGGEST nuclear bottom. I really need a facepalm button, a real big one.
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He makes it almost impossible to ignore him.
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You are right, but it's kind of difficult to ignore him when he's holding the BIGGEST nuclear bottom. I really need a facepalm button, a real big one.
(https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1600/0*V7KkB5iFBUAFYxea.)
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(https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1600/0*V7KkB5iFBUAFYxea.)
Love it!! Thank you!
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Love this one Ingy posted in the diner!
NSFW !!
But important.
http://www.joegage.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/IMG_5028.jpg
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Trump is now claiming CREDIT for no air travel deaths in the USA for 2017.........>GOOD LORD!! Is there NOTHING the Man won't say??
Mining deaths rose in the US last year. I wonder if he'll claim credit for that.
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Tell-all book on Trump to be released early despite White House legal effort
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi412.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fpp201%2Frasalgethi_photo%2FCurrent%2520Events%25202018%2Ffireandfury_zpshcqnu8c9.jpg&hash=b16460316e932ff680a32c5d668b234cbe1789f9) (http://s412.photobucket.com/user/rasalgethi_photo/media/Current%20Events%202018/fireandfury_zpshcqnu8c9.jpg.html)
Lawyers for Donald Trump moved on Thursday to try to shut down an explosive new book which has exposed chaos behind the scenes at the White House. In response, the book’s US publisher brought publication forward to Friday.
Michael Wolff’s book was due to be released on Tuesday. But after extracts were made public by The Guardian, the White House was thrown into a frenzy.
The Guardian published details from the book on Wednesday after obtaining a copy from a bookseller in New England. New York magazine then rushed to publish a lengthy extract and more details began to emerge as major US publications including the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal received copies free from embargo.
About 250,000 copies of the book had already been shipped, supposedly to be held until Tuesday. On Thursday afternoon, a spokeswoman for Holt & Co told the Guardian publication in all formats was being brought forward to Friday “due to unprecedented demand.”
A statement from the publisher added: “Henry Holt confirms that we received a cease and desist letter from an attorney for President Trump. We see ‘Fire and Fury’ as an extraordinary contribution to our national discourse, and are proceeding with the publication of the book.
As the White House struggled to contain the fallout from the book, a lawyer for the president sent a letter demanding Wolff and his publisher, Henry Holt & Co, “immediately cease and desist from any further publication, release or dissemination,” or excerpts and summaries of its contents. The legal notice, sent by the Beverly Hills-based attorney Charles Harder, also demanded a copy of the book.
Ben Wizner, director of the American Civil Liberties Union’s speech, privacy and technology project, said earlier Trump’s lawsuit had no chance of success.
“Even Donald’s Trump’s lawyers aren’t crazy enough to present this to a court,” he said. “It would be extraordinary and unprecedented for a court to respond to these claims by blocking publication. That is not going to happen.
In a column for the Hollywood Reporter, titled “My Year Inside Trump’s Insane White House,” Wolff gave more insight into what he discovered as he sat “day after day on a West Wing couch” for a year. Administration officials, he suggested, do not believe Trump is capable of fulfilling his role as president.
In a final anecdote, Wolff wrote: “At Mar-a-Lago, just before the new year, a heavily made-up Trump failed to recognize a succession of old friends.”
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/jan/04/trump-lawyers-book-steve-bannon-white-house
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Some jaw-dropping claims in explosive Trump book
• Trump did not enjoy his own inauguration. He was angry that A-level stars had snubbed the event, disgruntled with the accommodations at Blair House, and visibly fighting with his wife, who seemed on the verge of tears. Throughout the day, he wore what some around him had taken to calling his golf face: angry and pissed off, shoulders hunched, arms swinging, brow furled, lips pursed.
• Trump and Melania sleep in separate bedrooms and he demanded a lock on his bedroom door against the wishes of the Secret Service.
• Trump orders McDonald's so he's not poisoned, told staff not to touch his toothbrush and strips his own bedsheets.
• Trump regularly sits in bed eating a cheeseburger at 6.30pm while calling his friends and watching three TVs.
• Rupert Murdoch called Trump a “f***ing idiot” after a phone call and billionaire backer Tom Barrack said “he's not only crazy, he's stupid.”
• Trump’s aides say he doesn’t read and “for all practical purposes is no more than semi-literate.”
• Trump would try to bed his friends’ wives by goading their husbands to cheat while the wife listened in on speakerphone.
• White House Communications Director Hope Hicks dated married Corey Lewandowski and Trump later told her: “You're the best piece of tail he'll ever have.”
• The president called Acting Attorney General Sally Yates a ‘c***’ after she refused to enforce his immigration ban.
• Trump tells the same stories three times in ten minutes and forgot a succession of old friends’ names at a Mar-a-Lago party.
• Among his staff’s verdicts on him: ‘dope’, ‘dumb as s***’, ‘hopeless idiot’, ‘just a f***ing fool’, ‘lost his mind’, ‘incapable of functioning in his job.’
• Ivanka Trump often jokes with friends about her father’s hair secrets—“She often described the mechanics behind it to friends: an absolutely clean pate—a contained island after scalp-reduction surgery—surrounded by a furry circle of hair around the sides and front, from which all ends are drawn up to meet in the centre and then swept back and secured by a stiffening spray.” The colour, she would point out to comical effect, was from a product called Just for Men her father used to get rid of grey hairs—the longer it was left on, the darker it got—but his own impatience resulted in the strange orange-blond colour.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5235929/Trumps-lawyer-tries-BAN-publication-explosive-book.html
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/2775589/trump-hair-finasteride-ivanka-michael-wolff/
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-01-04/donald-trump-best-bits-book-that-blew-up-steve-bannon-romance/9303242
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He's going the Howard Hughes route.
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Well, you know what they say:"People don't remember the denials, they just remember the original stories or charges".....it's human behavior, I guess.
Plus: "Where there's Smoke, there's Fire"!! and this WH has plenty of SMOKE rolling around in it......... ;D ;D ;D
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A review on Amazon:
1.0 out of 5 stars VERY BAD. YOURS TRULY AMERICAN FRIEND
Bykeepwreckinon January 5, 2018
Format: Kindle Edition|Verified Purchase
DEAR COMRADE BUDDY
PLEASE DO NOT BE OF READING. VERY BAD.
YOURS TRULY
AMERICAN FRIEND NO1
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First, sorry to be so blunt and/or vulgar, but times call for it.
Some jaw-dropping claims in explosive Trump book
• Trump did not enjoy his own inauguration. He was angry that A-level stars had snubbed the event, disgruntled with the accommodations at Blair House, and visibly fighting with his wife, who seemed on the verge of tears. Throughout the day, he wore what some around him had taken to calling his golf face: angry and pissed off, shoulders hunched, arms swinging, brow furled, lips pursed.
• Trump and Melania sleep in separate bedrooms and he demanded a lock on his bedroom door against the wishes of the Secret Service.
• Trump orders McDonald's so he's not poisoned, told staff not to touch his toothbrush and strips his own bedsheets.
• Trump regularly sits in bed eating a cheeseburger at 6.30pm while calling his friends and watching three TVs.
• Rupert Murdoch called Trump a “f***ing idiot” after a phone call and billionaire backer Tom Barrack said “he's not only crazy, he's stupid.”
• Trump’s aides say he doesn’t read and “for all practical purposes is no more than semi-literate.”
• Trump would try to bed his friends’ wives by goading their husbands to cheat while the wife listened in on speakerphone.
• White House Communications Director Hope Hicks dated married Corey Lewandowski and Trump later told her: “You're the best piece of tail he'll ever have.”
• The president called Acting Attorney General Sally Yates a ‘c***’ after she refused to enforce his immigration ban.
• Trump tells the same stories three times in ten minutes and forgot a succession of old friends’ names at a Mar-a-Lago party.
• Among his staff’s verdicts on him: ‘dope’, ‘dumb as s***’, ‘hopeless idiot’, ‘just a f***ing fool’, ‘lost his mind’, ‘incapable of functioning in his job.’
• Ivanka Trump often jokes with friends about her father’s hair secrets—“She often described the mechanics behind it to friends: an absolutely clean pate—a contained island after scalp-reduction surgery—surrounded by a furry circle of hair around the sides and front, from which all ends are drawn up to meet in the centre and then swept back and secured by a stiffening spray.” The colour, she would point out to comical effect, was from a product called Just for Men her father used to get rid of grey hairs—the longer it was left on, the darker it got—but his own impatience resulted in the strange orange-blond colour.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5235929/Trumps-lawyer-tries-BAN-publication-explosive-book.html
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/2775589/trump-hair-finasteride-ivanka-michael-wolff/
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-01-04/donald-trump-best-bits-book-that-blew-up-steve-bannon-romance/9303242
NONE OF THIS IS A SURPRISE.
As the sign on a Texas woman's truck says:
(And police have pulled her over and tried to get her to take it off.)
FUCK TRUMP
&
FUCK YOU FOR VOTING FOR HIM.
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Will we be able to get this book in the UK or on Amazon or ANYWHERE ??
My God ...what great bedtime reading !!
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it's available now on Kindle, the wait for the hardcover is 2-4 weeks on Amazon...
Following pressure from Trump’s lawyers to block publication, publishers Henry Holt and Co. moved the book’s release from January 9 to Friday at 9 a.m. Eastern time in the U.S.
In Washington, independent store Kramerbooks opened at midnight Friday to long lines and reportedly sold out within minutes. The indie seller promised via Twitter, "We will have many more copies on Monday."
Elsewhere, you can visit your local Barnes & Noble or independent bookstore to see if it has the book in store yet.
http://www.newsweek.com/how-and-where-buy-fire-and-fury-inside-trump-white-house-michael-wolffs-771970 (http://www.newsweek.com/how-and-where-buy-fire-and-fury-inside-trump-white-house-michael-wolffs-771970)
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I fear one of my well-meaning friends or relatives BOUGHT me that book!! oh, LORD!! We've LIVED that book the past year, I don't NEED it in print!!
hahahaha......... :D :D :D
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It sounds like it might be worse than what we've already seen, heard and read about. It's already #1 on the NYT best seller list.
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I may pick that book up, it looks like an interesting read, to say the least.
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This is the way I feel, Chuck. Like Jonn said, we have lived it, but I am sure it is more telling than what we have heard about.
They say there is nothing like a woman fellow egomaniac scorned!!!
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Well, I'll be finding out, cause I AM getting that Book!! arrrgggghhhhhh!!! I'll have to polite and READ the thing... :o :o :o ;) ;) ;)
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#Resist
@ZaibatsuNews
Michele Bachmann Is Asking God Whether She Should Run For Al Franken’s Senate Seat http://j.mp/2DR6SYM
Zoey Bartlet-Young Retweeted
God @TheTweetOfGod Jan 2
(https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/577952058680070144/6hlNZ0_Y_bigger.jpeg)
No.
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UK Twitter feud between KFC and McDonalds parodies Trump's "nuclear button" tweet.
McDonald’s leader Ronald just stated he has a “burger on his desk at all times”. Will someone from his big shoed, red nosed regime inform him that I too have a burger on my desk, but mine is a box meal which is bigger and more powerful than his, and mine has gravy! #nuclearbutton
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He's such an ASS!!!!!!!!!!!!! He's so embarrassing!!!!!!!!!!! and stupid.
@RedTRaccoon
I'm just going to let this video speak for itself.
Justin Trudeau compared to Donald Trump.
#stablegenius
https://twitter.com/twitter/statuses/949764026933837824 (https://twitter.com/twitter/statuses/949764026933837824)
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He's such an ASS!!!!!!!!!!!!! He's so embarrassing!!!!!!!!!!! and stupid.
This photo, from your link, explains it all:
(https://i.imgur.com/uYXbExs.jpg)
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well, that is a pretty complicated move...
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Meanwhile the Fake President of the United States felt compelled to tell everyone that he's:
"like, really smart," "a very stable genius'.
Is that akin to Christine O'Donnell, the woman who ran for the Senate in Delaware who felt
compelled to make a campaign commercial touting, "I am not a witch."
And when asked about trump's fitness for office, Sarah Suckabee-Sanders showed her unfitness for her position by saying:
“If he was unfit, he probably wouldn’t be sitting there and wouldn’t have defeated the most qualified group of candidates the Republican Party has ever seen,” she said, calling him “an incredibly strong and good leader.”
Makes you wonder if she'd have said the same thing about Hitler?
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By the way, that Christine O'Donnell campaign commercial, to me, is the single most
laughable campaign commercial ever. I mean, if you feel the need to make a commercial
saying "I am not a witch," well, you are doomed.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uxJyPsmEask
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And when asked about trump's fitness for office, Sarah Suckabee-Sanders showed her unfitness for her position by saying:
“If he was unfit, he probably wouldn’t be sitting there and wouldn’t have defeated the most qualified group of candidates the Republican Party has ever seen,” she said, calling him “an incredibly strong and good leader.”
Makes you wonder if she'd have said the same thing about Hitler?
Doesn't make me wonder, I know she would have said it. I don't know how she can look her kids in the eye.
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First, sorry to be so blunt and/or vulgar, but times call for it.
NONE OF THIS IS A SURPRISE.
(snip)
They may not be “jaw-dropping” claims, Lyle (not my words, by the way, but the Daily Mail’s), and they may not be surprising, but I felt that their publication, in what appears to have become a top seller, was worth posting as a Current Event.
Anyway, the “revelations,” in what has been described as Wolff’s “explosive” book, have renewed scrutiny of Trump’s mental health.
Even early last month concerns were raised. Lawmakers concerned about President Trump’s mental state invited Dr. Bandy Lee (a forensic psychiatrist at the Yale University School of Medicine and an internationally recognized expert on the study of violence and its prevention) to brief more than a dozen members of Congress—all Democrats except for one Republican senator, whom Lee declined to identify—about his recent behaviour. Her professional warning to Capitol Hill: “He’s going to unravel, and we are seeing the signs.
And, in an interview with CNN last week, Lee pointed to Trump “going back to conspiracy theories, denying things he has admitted before, his being drawn to violent videos.” She also warned, “We feel that the rush of tweeting is an indication of his falling apart under stress. Trump is going to get worse and will become uncontainable with the pressures of the presidency.”
"Mr. Trump is showing signs of impairment that the average person could not see," Lee said. "He is becoming very unstable very quickly. There is a need for neuropsychiatric evaluation that would demonstrate his capacity to serve."
“Lawmakers were saying they have been very concerned about this, the President's dangerousness, the dangers that his mental instability poses on the nation," Lee told CNN. "They know the concern is universal among Democrats, but it really depends on Republicans, they said. Some knew of Republicans that were concerned, maybe equally concerned, but whether they would act on those concerns was their worry.”
Lee made it clear that she is not in a position to diagnose the President, or any public figure, from afar. But she said that it is incumbent on medical professionals to intervene in instances where there is a danger to an individual or the public. She argues that signs the President has exhibited have risen to that level of danger.
Although the White House has denounced Wolff’s book as “complete fantasy,” it sheds light on concerns among top White House aides over Trump’s psychological fitness for America’s highest office.
“Everybody was painfully aware of the increasing pace of his [Trump’s] repetitions,” Wolff wrote.
“It used to be inside of 30 minutes he’d repeat, word-for-word and expression-for-expression, the same three stories—now it was within 10 minutes. Indeed, many of his tweets were the product of his repetitions—he just couldn’t stop saying something.”
While the claims in Wolff’s book have been rejected by the White House and Trump allies, they do not exist in isolation.
Trump’s highly provocative behavior has routinely been the subject of public alarm, prompting private discussions in Washington over the potential of invoking the 25th Amendment, which enables the president to be removed from office if the vice-president and a majority of the cabinet deem him physically or mentally “unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office.”
His recent tweet taunting the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un—boasting about his own “much bigger & more powerful” nuclear button—amplified concerns over the most extreme possible consequences of the President’s unfiltered and largely unchecked behavior.
About this, Dr. Lee, whose career has centered on studying, predicting and preventing violence, told The Guardian three days ago that she and other psychiatrists were speaking out because they feel “the danger has become imminent”. Trump, she said, has already shown verbal aggressiveness, bragged about sexual assault, and incited violence at his rallies.
“Mr. Trump has shown an attraction to powerful weapons and war and provoked a hostile nation that already has an unstable leader and nuclear power. He’s showing signs of impairment that the average person could not see. He is becoming very unstable very quickly. There is a need for neuropsychiatric evaluation that would demonstrate his capacity to serve,” she said.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/jan/05/donald-trump-mental-health-fitness-for-office
https://edition.cnn.com/2018/01/04/politics/psychiatrist-congress-meeting-trump/index.html
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-01-04/donald-trump-best-bits-book-that-blew-up-steve-bannon-romance/9303242
https://www.politico.com/story/2018/01/03/trump-25th-amendment-mental-health-322625
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5235165/Yale-psychiatry-professor-warns-Trump-unraveling.html
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They may not be “jaw-dropping” claims, Lyle (not my words, by the way, but the Daily Mail’s), and they may not be surprising, but I felt that their publication, in what appears to have become a top seller, was worth posting as a Current Event.
Agree.
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Oprah for a Presidential Run?? WTH? I guess if we can elect someone with NO experience once, we can do it again......if she does, I hope she reads UP on the Constitution, and all that BORING American History! I won't say it can't happen...... :o :o :o
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I saw that online, and I hope it doesn't happen. I like my president to have some sort of government experience.
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I saw that online, and I hope it doesn't happen. I like my president to have some sort of government experience.
Well, we don't have to worry about that with the current occupant.
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I expect that the same people who find his lack of government experience "refreshing" would condemn her for being the same way. She's from the wrong tribe.
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I expect that the same people who find his lack of government experience "refreshing" would condemn her for being the same way. She's from the wrong tribe.
Plus the ever **shudder** wrong gender!!!
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Nope. They'd accept someone, say, Sarah Palin or Michele Bachman who would be a plaything at the hands of the stringpullers behind the scenes, but not a strong, independent woman.
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I saw that online, and I hope it doesn't happen. I like my president to have some sort of government experience.
I get your point, and I essentially agree with it, but she couldn't possibly do any worse than pumpkinhead, and I'd be willing to bet she'd do a whole lot better. At least she wouldn't get us into a nuclear war, or, I'm sure, try to build a stupid fence.
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I bet she knows the words to the national anthem as well.
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I get your point, and I essentially agree with it, but she couldn't possibly do any worse than pumpkinhead, and I'd be willing to bet she'd do a whole lot better. At least she wouldn't get us into a nuclear war, or, I'm sure, try to build a stupid fence.
She wouldn't be as extreme as Donald, but I'd still rather someone else who worked their way up the government ladder. I think some of the same problems I have with Donald, I'd have with Oprah.
1. No government experience.
2. Been a boss for too long, and won't like taking orders or compromising. They don't get the American people are their "boss" not the other way around.
3. Wouldn't be able to handle hearing "no" because they've been surrounded by yes men/women for so long.
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I thought you'd appreciate this Twitter exchange between Ivanka Trump (commenting on Oprah's speech) and actress Alyssa Milano.
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fcdn.thejournal.ie%2Fembeds%2Ftwitter%2F8c0779bac43c27395ba89bbc5d8842fa.png&hash=dc1a2a104120c05702c1c035a4acb199a0357064)
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;D
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Oh that is SO GOOD!!!
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Alyssa Milano.
For some reason I used to get occasional mail for Alyssa Milano in my mailbox. A lot
of it from Germany, if I recall. There was no return addresses to send it back. Must've
gotten some wrong address printed somewhere. Hasn't happened in a long time.
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That's the sort of reply you always wish you'd thought of. A brilliant put-down.
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where's Oprah........
(CNN)
On Thursday, in a meeting with a senators and House members on immigration, the President of the United States, asked this: "Why do we want all these people from 'shithole countries' coming here?"
Yes, he said "shithole countries" -- apparently in reference to the fact that immigrants from places like El Salvador, Haiti and Africa were being protected in a potential bipartisan deal to preserve the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program and secure funding for border security.
What's even more appalling is that the White House didn't even try to deny that Trump used that slur, which was first reported in The Washington Post. In fact, in a lengthy statement from White House spokesman Raj Shah, the administration seemed to even defend the sentiment. "Certain Washington politicians choose to fight for foreign countries, but President Trump will always fight for the American people," said Shah.
But it gets even worse. Asked about the "shithole" comments, a White House official told CNN's Kaitlan Collins this:
"The President's 'shithole' remark is being received much differently inside of the White House than it is outside of it. Though this might enrage Washington, staffers predict the comment will resonate with his base, much like his attacks on NFL players who kneel during the National Anthem did not alienate it."
Stop. Read that again. Here's what it means: The President's voicing of a racist remark about the sorts of people whom we are letting into the country is actually a good thing because people who like Trump will agree with him.
Make no mistake: This is the lowest ebb of a presidency defined by a series of low ebbs and defining of the presidency downward. Yes, lower than Trump's comments about Mexico sending us "rapists" and "criminals." Lower than questioning Sen. John McCain's military service. Lower than his impugning of a judge because of his Mexican heritage. Lower than his questioning the motives of a Gold Star family. Lower than the 2,000 mistruths and outright falsehoods he has said since becoming President. Lower than his racially-tinged attacks on the anthem protests by NFL players. Lower even than his "both sides" argument in the wake of white supremacist violence against peaceful protesters in Charlottesville, Virginia.
http://www.cnn.com/2018/01/11/politics/trump-rock-bottom/index.html (http://www.cnn.com/2018/01/11/politics/trump-rock-bottom/index.html)
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And this too shall pass and absolutely NOTHING will be done about it.
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Trump cancels visit to UK and states that the US embassy in Grosvenor Square was "sold for peanuts" by Obama so he won't open the new one.
Wrong! The US embassy belongs to Earl Grosvenor, the Duke of Westminster and is the only US embassy in the world which is leased.
The Americans have embassies all around the world. In every case they buy the land first and then build their embassy. The Americans assumed that this would be possible in England; hence they asked the Duke of Westminster, who owned Grosvenor Square, how much they would have to pay to buy the freehold of the land. However, what they did not know is that the Grosvenor family never sell. Their vast wealth is based precisely on this simple fact; they own their 300 acres of central London including most of Belgravia and Mayfair, not to mention land holdings all over the world. All the houses and offices on this land are leased; their freeholds are never sold.
When the Americans were told the news, they insisted that that was unacceptable, therefore petitioning to Parliament in order to force the Duke to sell. Nevertheless the Grosvenor family did not comply with any pressure.
So yet another misinformed load of nonsense.
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Trump cancels visit to UK
Lucky you.
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And this too shall pass and absolutely NOTHING will be done about it.
According to what I read last night, the only reason we know about this is because
a Democrat (Dick Durbin) or Democrat staffers were in the room and reported it.
Otherwise it probably wouldn't have been reported at all. A few months ago the NY
Times reported a story on a meeting where Trump was quoted by a source to have
said things like this, but there were only R's in the meeting (mostly the Cabinet) and
to a tee they all went on record and said the story was false and the President never
made any such remarks.
Now we know they were lying. And these people included those (like McMasters) who
people cite as trying to keep the WH in check.
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According to what I read last night, the only reason we know about this is because
a Democrat (Dick Durbin) or Democrat staffers were in the room and reported it.
Otherwise it probably wouldn't have been reported at all. A few months ago the NY
Times reported a story on a meeting where Trump was quoted by a source to have
said things like this, but there were only R's in the meeting (mostly the Cabinet) and
to a tee they all went on record and said the story was false and the President never
made any such remarks.
Now we know they were lying. And these people included those (like McMasters) who
people cite as trying to keep the WH in check.
All pumpkin head will do, is not allow any Democrats or outsiders to attend these meetings so that no more of these "comments" get out and he is free to say what he wants, as we all know that the Republicans, to a person, have balls the size of peanuts.
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(CNN)
On Thursday, in a meeting with a senators and House members on immigration, the President of the United States, asked this: "Why do we want all these people from 'shithole countries' coming here?"
Asked about the "shithole" comments, a White House official told CNN's Kaitlan Collins this:
"The President's 'shithole' remark is being received much differently inside of the White House than it is outside of it..."
http://www.cnn.com/2018/01/11/politics/trump-rock-bottom/index.html (http://www.cnn.com/2018/01/11/politics/trump-rock-bottom/index.html)
Indeed it is.
He may be a president already known for his crude language and off-colour remarks demeaning other nations, but Donald Trump’s description of Haiti, El Salvador and some parts of Africa as “shithole countries” has sparked unprecedented international outrage.
Condemnation from around the world, including the countries named, followed swiftly after the initial report and, in some cases, in no less salty language than the president’s own choice words.
• The US ambassador to Senegal has been summoned to explain Trump’s remark. “I am shocked by the words of President Trump on Haiti and Africa,” Senegalese President Macky Sall said in an official tweet. “I reject them and condemn [them] vigorously. Africa and the black race deserve the respect and consideration of all."
• The US ambassador to Haiti has also been summoned. Haiti’s government said in a statement Friday that it is “deeply shocked” and strongly condemns these “abhorrent and obnoxious remarks” by Trump and Haiti’s largest newspaper condemned it as “racist and disgraceful” and that such comments have “no place in the relations between nations or people, even less so in the mouth of a president of a nation friendly to Haiti.”
• Jessie Duarte, the deputy secretary general of South Africa’s ruling African National Congress, said: “Ours is not a shithole country, and neither is Haiti or any country in distress.”
• Botswana’s foreign ministry has summoned its US ambassador to express its displeasure over Trump’s remark, which it views as “highly irresponsible, reprehensible and racist,” and to “clarify if Botswana is regarded as a ‘shithole’ country, considering that there were Botswana nationals living in the US and others who wished to go there.”
• El Salvador President Salvador Sánchez Cerén said it has sent a formal letter of protest to the US Government, “also highlighting the value of Salvadorans and remembering there were compatriots who worked on the reconstruction of the Pentagon after the unfortunate terrorist attacks of 2001.”
• Senior European Union politician Gianni Pittella said Mr Trump “has forgotten to engage his brain before talking” about immigrants and is not fit for office.
• Former Mexican president Vincente Fox Quesada tweeted about Mr. Trump, “Your mouth is the foulest shithole in the world. With what authority do you proclaim who’s welcome in America and who’s not. America’s greatness is built on diversity, or have you forgotten your immigrant background, Donald?”
• UN human rights spokesman Rupert Colville was uncharacteristically blunt. He described the remark as “racist.” He condemned Trump’s remarks as “shocking and shameful” he said at a briefing in Geneva. “You cannot dismiss entire countries and continents as ‘shitholes’ whose entire populations, who are not white, are therefore not welcome.”
• Former UK Foreign Secretary David Miliband, who’s now president and CEO of the International Rescue Committee, said the Trump administration is “leading a race to the bottom on refugees and immigrants that is a betrayal of America’s future as well as of its history.”
• CNN anchor Anderson Cooper said the president’s remark was “not racial. Not racially charged, but racist. Let’s not kid ourselves, the sentiment the president expressed today is a racist sentiment.”
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-01-13/donald-trump-reaction-haiti-el-salvador-african-nations-remarks/9326716
https://edition.cnn.com/2018/01/12/politics/trump-shithole-countries-reaction-intl/index.html
http://time.com/5100328/shithole-countries-trump-reactions/
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^^^
Meanwhile, two Republican Senators who were in that meeting,
described below by Linda:
as we all know that the Republicans, to a person, have balls the size of peanuts.
...put out a joint statement together. Senator Tom Cotton (Arkansas) and Senator David Perdue
(Georgia) said they do not recall the President saying that. Which must mean those two gentlemen
hear things like that so much that it didn't register as anything out of the ordinary with them.
Of course, Trump then just denies making the comments and says "Probably should record future meetings
- unfortunately, no trust!"
It doesn't matter if you record Trump saying things or not. Remember recently he was putting out the suggestion
that the Access Hollywood tape was not his voice? The man lives in the Twilight Zone and is trying to make that
a normality for everyone else.
I refuse and resist.
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"It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends upon his not understanding it!"
Upton Sinclair
-
EXTREMELY well put.
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Anyone hear anything about this? I have to stop watching CNN because unless there's a catastrophe with a lot of deaths and injuries that they can exploit, they don't cover anything but the Trump White House...I know he's a catastrophe, but there are other things going on in the country...even the world.
JAN 17 2018, 9:49 AM ET
by KEN DILANIAN, PETE WILLIAMS and ROBERT WINDREM
Ex-CIA officer Jerry Chun Shing Lee suspected of spying for China
A former CIA officer who was charged Tuesday with unlawful possession of secrets is suspected of a much worse crime: betraying U.S. informants in China, sources familiar with the case told NBC News.
The former officer, Jerry Chun Shing Lee, 53, was arrested Monday after flying into New York on a Cathay Pacific flight from his home in Hong Kong, federal authorities announced.
Lee, who is a naturalized U.S. citizen, was charged with a single count of unlawfully possessing national defense information, based on a 2012 search that found him to be in possession of two notebooks containing the true names of CIA assets and covert facilities, which are some of the agency's most closely guarded secrets.
But sources familiar with the case say he is suspected of funneling information to China that caused the deaths or imprisonment of approximately 20 American agents, in one of the worst intelligence breaches in decades.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/ex-cia-officer-jerry-chun-shing-lee-suspected-spying-china-n838186 (https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/ex-cia-officer-jerry-chun-shing-lee-suspected-spying-china-n838186)
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Anyone hear anything about this? I have to stop watching CNN because unless there's a catastrophe with a lot of deaths and injuries that they can exploit, they don't cover anything but the Trump White House...I know he's a catastrophe, but there are other things going on in the country...even the world.
JAN 17 2018, 9:49 AM ET
by KEN DILANIAN, PETE WILLIAMS and ROBERT WINDREM
Ex-CIA officer Jerry Chun Shing Lee suspected of spying for China
A former CIA officer who was charged Tuesday with unlawful possession of secrets is suspected of a much worse crime: betraying U.S. informants in China, sources familiar with the case told NBC News.
The former officer, Jerry Chun Shing Lee, 53, was arrested Monday after flying into New York on a Cathay Pacific flight from his home in Hong Kong, federal authorities announced.
Lee, who is a naturalized U.S. citizen, was charged with a single count of unlawfully possessing national defense information, based on a 2012 search that found him to be in possession of two notebooks containing the true names of CIA assets and covert facilities, which are some of the agency's most closely guarded secrets.
But sources familiar with the case say he is suspected of funneling information to China that caused the deaths or imprisonment of approximately 20 American agents, in one of the worst intelligence breaches in decades.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/ex-cia-officer-jerry-chun-shing-lee-suspected-spying-china-n838186 (https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/ex-cia-officer-jerry-chun-shing-lee-suspected-spying-china-n838186)
I heard about it. It was mentioned on NBC broadcast news.
-
Also on NPR Morning Edition.
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I heard about it on Rachel Maddow.
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:laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:
Chris Christie snubbed at Newark Airport VIP entrance, giving ex-Jersey governor a swift return to private life
BY - LEONARD GREENE
Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie is learning that life as a private citizen is no day at the beach.
Just three days after handing over the keys to the governor’s mansion, Christie was told by cops at Newark Airport to wait in line like everybody else.
According to reports, Christie was turned away from a VIP entrance at the biggest airport in his own home state.
The two-term Republican, who left office on Jan. 16, tried to go through an entrance he had used for eight years only to learn that his first-class expectations were just a flight of fancy. Instead of getting the gubernatorial go-ahead, Christie and the state trooper assigned to him for protection were directed to the Transportation Security Administration screening lines at Terminal B.
Christie and the state trooper complied with the directions.
http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/chris-christie-turned-newark-airport-vip-entrance-article-1.3764845
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Sic NJ Transit gloria mundi.
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More proof, as if we needed it. The story on Face the Nation was done last August, I heard an interview tonight on NPR with Christian Picciolini, link below.
Former skinhead and Life After Hate co-founder Christian Picciolini says that an Obama-era federal grant his organization received to help combat "far-right" extremism was rescinded under the Trump administration shortly after President Donald Trump took office.
"Under President Obama, my organization, Life After Hate, was awarded a $400,000 grant to help combat far-right extremism. And when President Trump took office, immediately that grant was rescinded," Picciolini told CBS News' John Dickerson on "Face the Nation" Sunday.
"We were the only organization of the pool of grantees that was focused on white supremacist, extremists and disengaging people from that movement," he said.
https://www.npr.org/2018/01/18/578745514/a-former-neo-nazi-explains-why-hate-drew-him-in-and-how-he-got-out (https://www.npr.org/2018/01/18/578745514/a-former-neo-nazi-explains-why-hate-drew-him-in-and-how-he-got-out)
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I think maybe I'll join the Girther Movement. ... :D
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He can't very well do anything which will affect his base.
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I saw a story on CNN this morning (but I'm going to stop watching them :) ), an interview with 6 people who voted for him. I waited to hear them say they'd made a mistake, he wasn't doing what they thought he would and they were sorry they changed from long term Dems to Reps in order to vote for him...but no. THey love him and think he's doing a great job.
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... I have to stop watching CNN because unless there's a catastrophe with a lot of deaths and injuries that they can exploit, they don't cover anything but the Trump White House...I know he's a catastrophe, but there are other things going on in the country...even the world.
~ snip ~
I’m so glad you said “even the world,” Nancy.
-
I saw a story on CNN this morning (but I'm going to stop watching them :) ), an interview with 6 people who voted for him. I waited to hear them say they'd made a mistake, he wasn't doing what they thought he would and they were sorry they changed from long term Dems to Reps in order to vote for him...but no. THey love him and think he's doing a great job.
I refuse to give Trump voters the benefit of any doubt. All they say are surfacey things and they are either woefully ignorant or, worse, purposely ignorant on the workings of the government and what the TA is doing to it.
Since it is nearly one year since the inauguration there are a lot of these type articles and news segments. I don't know if this is the same one you were
watching, but here's a snippet from it:
MARTIN SAVIDGE (CNN): One year later, these voters couldn't be happier. They see achievement, most of all, they see a president like them.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He's like tenacious sometimes and says stuff off the cuff, like we do. Like real Americans do. We're not perfect. I'm tired of suave, I'm tired of polished, I'm tired of the teleprompter. I am, I want my country back.
They see a President "just like them." Really? They want to be compared to this slime? Well, when they say that I think of this quote that RichChan first posted November 2016 after the election:
As democracy is perfected, the office of president represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. On some great and glorious day, the plain folks of the land will reach their heart's desire at last and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron."
--H.L. Mencken
A President "just like them?" Does the unidentified woman mean because he's white? "We're not perfect." So that's what you want as President?
Imperfection? "I'm tired of polished." You got it. "I'm tired of the teleprompter." Well, Trump uses it and a compilation of him using it was aired last night and he can't even read it properly. You got it, lady. "I am, I want my country back." I'm so tried of people like this lady saying that. You know what, lady, I want MY country back from idiots like you and your President.
And this is something you hear in every one of these kinds of reports from those who voted for this pig:
"His combative attitude with the Democrats and the media never gets old with me either," said Joshua Dawson of Iowa.
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Death of Tom Petty found to be accidental overdose of prescription drugs.
Sounds sadly familiar.
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I’m so glad you said “even the world,” Nancy.
of course I watch world news, it might affect the US.
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of course I watch world news, it might affect the US.
Thank you for the modifier, Nancy.
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np
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Bob Smith Dies: First Openly Gay Comic To Appear On ‘The Tonight Show’ Was 59
by Bruce Haring
Bob Smith, the first openly gay comedian to score an appearance on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, has died at age 59 after a long struggle with ALS. His partner, Michael Zam, confirmed the death via a Facebook post.
Smith also was the first openly gay man to star in his own HBO Comedy half-hour, which bowed in 1994, and he made numerous other TV appearances. His collection of essays, Openly Bob, won the Lambda Literary Award for humor. His second collection, Way To Go, Smith! was also nominated for a Lambda Literary Award and was followed by his first novel, Selfish and Perverse.
His other TV appearances include Politically Incorrect, The Late, Late Show, and Entertainment Tonight. He wrote for The MTV Video Awards, Dennis Miller, Roseanne and MAD-TV, and recently appeared in the HBO documentary All Aboard: Rosie’s Family Cruise.
Smith was also a regular contributor to Out magazine and the Advocate, and his essays appeared in the anthologies America’s Best Contemporary Humorists, 101 Damnations, and When I Knew.
Smith’s Remembrance of Things I Forgot was voted an Amazon “Best Book of the Year” and prompted reviewer Edmund White to note, “If H. G. Wells had been funny and Oscar Wilde obsessed with time travel, they might have mated and produced Bob Smith, who has written the funniest and wildest ride imaginable through the recent past and near future.”
http://deadline.com/2018/01/bob-smith-dies-first-openly-gay-comic-to-appear-on-the-tonight-show-was-59-1202264688/
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2F2.bp.blogspot.com%2F-nyiPlmeHjVg%2FToninDWOTTI%2FAAAAAAAAAfs%2FQZ-eaVfrVZo%2Fs1600%2FBob.jpg&hash=3051e1ab360b0b23170b494b57302ceb312b4bc2)
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So the Orange One now says he's willing to speak under oath to Robert Mueller.
Anybody wanna guess how soon it will be before Punkin' Head denies that he said it?
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And call it fake news that anyone alleges him to have said it.
I guess it makes life simpler for him.
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Meanwhile, Ivanka is no longer an "advocate for the education and empowerment of women & girls."
Instead, she's an "Advisor to POTUS on job creation + economic empowerment, workforce development & entrepreneurship."
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I've got some advice for all of them.
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I've got some advice for all of them.
I'd be curious to see if it is the same advice I would like to give them, Lyle. (Well and not get arrested for doing so!!)
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Yes, I'm sure it is!
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Yes, I'm sure it is!
:o 8) :laugh:
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In this morning's newspaper I saw this headline:
"Melania Trump's FLOTUS fashion: The Hits and the Misses."
What say we change the "O" in FLOTUS to an "A" ?
OK, I'm being mean. ... ::)
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In this morning's newspaper I saw this headline:
"Melania Trump's FLOTUS fashion: The Hits and the Misses."
What say we change the "O" in FLOTUS to an "A" ?
OK, I'm being mean. ... ::)
I give up, what does the "A" stand for?
-
Tomorrow is the state of the union speech, aka Fake News. Since I'd probably damage something, I will not
be watching it. Especially during dinner time, PST. I'll just watch the late night comedians make fun of it later
on. Colbert is doing his show LIVE afterwards so he can do just that, EST. I don't know if Kimmel is, but look
who his guest is Tuesday:
Tues. 1/30: Kerry Washington, Stormy Daniels, musical guest Elise Trouw.
According to the FRC head, Tony Perkins, they continue their hypocrisy and give Trump a pass on his paying off a PORN STAR
during his campaign. The Family Research Council is one of the most anti-gay organizations around. They delayed marriage
equality in every single avenue they could, and their stunning hypocrisy, along with every other right wing evangelical group,
is now completely evident to any sane person in their support for the highly religious, moral and ethical President they all voted for.
-
In this morning's newspaper I saw this headline:
"Melania Trump's FLOTUS fashion: The Hits and the Misses."
What say we change the "O" in FLOTUS to an "A" ?
OK, I'm being mean. ... ::)
I give up, what does the "A" stand for?
Not really anything. It's just that an "A" would change FLOTUS to FLATUS, which is the technical term for stomach or intestinal gas.
Like I said, I was being mean. ...
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HOPE...
5 Ways the 2018 Midterms Could Change American Politics
The midterms matter, quite a lot. Here are the main reasons why.
1.) The Republican legislative agenda would be gone if either house of Congress flips.
2.) Many more investigations into Trump’s administration would ensue if either house of Congress flips.
3.) Trump would be enormously constrained on judges and other nominees if the Senate flips.
4.) State elections could lead to new Democratic majorities, and new liberal legislation.
5.) Finally, a huge chunk of the 2021 redistricting will actually be determined by this year’s elections
Article:
https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2018/1/2/16795804/elections-2018-midterms-consequences
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I did not watch the Grammys; I don't even know who won any of them.
But I just saw this:
Hillary Clinton Roasts Donald Trump by Reading Fire and Fury at the Grammys
This bit probably didn’t go over well at the White House.
It was a bit about auditioning for the audio book which will probably be nominated next year
for the spoken word Grammy.
Article includes the video bit:
https://www.vox.com/culture/2018/1/28/16943888/grammys-2018-hillary-clinton-fire-fury
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I did not watch the Grammys; I don't even know who won any of them.
Me neither. On this morning's news I saw a clip of Myley Cirus performing with Elton John, but that's all I know.
-
HOPE...
5 Ways the 2018 Midterms Could Change American Politics
The midterms matter, quite a lot. Here are the main reasons why.
1.) The Republican legislative agenda would be gone if either house of Congress flips.
2.) Many more investigations into Trump’s administration would ensue if either house of Congress flips.
3.) Trump would be enormously constrained on judges and other nominees if the Senate flips.
4.) State elections could lead to new Democratic majorities, and new liberal legislation.
5.) Finally, a huge chunk of the 2021 redistricting will actually be determined by this year’s elections
Article:
https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2018/1/2/16795804/elections-2018-midterms-consequences
Yes, hope.
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I did not watch the Grammys; I don't even know who won any of them.
But I just saw this:
Hillary Clinton Roasts Donald Trump by Reading Fire and Fury at the Grammys
This bit probably didn’t go over well at the White House.
It was a bit about auditioning for the audio book which will probably be nominated next year
for the spoken word Grammy.
Article includes the video bit:
https://www.vox.com/culture/2018/1/28/16943888/grammys-2018-hillary-clinton-fire-fury
It was actually pretty funny.
You didn't miss much by not watching. Rap seems to be the IN genre this year, and since I can't stand it, and most of the music was rap, I fast forwarded A LOT through most of it. (I had recorded it for just this reason).
-
I agree with you. I thought rap would peter out long ago.
-
you'll like this rap video, guaranteed
Noodle Kitten Rap
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CeIkMriKhic (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CeIkMriKhic)
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Mark Salling Dead in Apparent Suicide a Month Before His Sentencing in Child Porn Case
MICHELE CORRISTON, AURELIE CORINTHIOS, and KARA WARNER January 30, 2018
Mark Salling has died in an apparent suicide weeks before being sentenced to prison for possession of child pornography. He was 35.
“I can confirm that Mark Salling passed away early this morning. Mark was a gentle and loving person, a person of great creativity, who was doing his best to atone for some serious mistakes and errors of judgment,” his attorney Michael Proctor tells PEOPLE. “He is survived by his mother and father, and his brother. The Salling family appreciates the support they have been receiving and asks for their privacy to be respected.”
An LAPD PIO told PEOPLE that officers responded to a death investigation at the 11900 block of Big Tujunga Cyn Road Tuesday morning at 8:50 a.m. but could not identify Salling.
The Glee star pleaded guilty to possession of child pornography involving a prepubescent minor Oct. 4, 2017. After striking a plea deal in December, he was due to be sentenced in March and expected to serve four to seven years in prison.
(https://localtvkfor.files.wordpress.com/2016/05/gettyimages-120535444.jpg?quality=85&strip=all&w=770)
http://people.com/tv/mark-salling-dead-apparent-suicide-reports/
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Anybody watch Punkin' Head give his State of the Union Address last night?
I didn't. I think I would have preferred to have a root canal.
Without anesthesia.
On TV this morning they were fact checking more of his lies.
I mean, saying "his" tax cuts are the biggest ever? Reagan's were bigger.
Doesn't he have people to check these things? Or does he just ignore anything that doesn't feed his ego?
-
When you can't stand bad news, you surround yourself with yes-men.
-
I did not watch last night and I'm almost sorry I watched the news later on.
But Chuck Todd happened to say the reason I don't care to watch...that when Trump reads his speeches from a
teleprompter you never get the feeling that it's his voice. He's just reading. It's not him. Exactly.
If you want to really see the truth about the State of the Union, watch the first minute of Stephen Colbert's
show last night. It was live [EST].
http://www.cbs.com/shows/the-late-show-with-stephen-colbert/video/Ud7C5mzgoXaBKqAGJzdBp9u9nH6EYShp/-/ (http://www.cbs.com/shows/the-late-show-with-stephen-colbert/video/Ud7C5mzgoXaBKqAGJzdBp9u9nH6EYShp/the-late-show-1-30-18-tommy-vietor-jon-favreau-jon-lovett-jessica-williams-phoebe-robinson-chris-stapleton-/)
His monologue was also quite amusing. At around 16:30 his first guests are Tommy Vietor, Jon Favreau and Jon Lovett who do a
podcast called Pod Save America. These guys used to work in the Obama Administration. Two were speech writers (also for Hillary
Clinton) and the third was a communications director. These three look like they're still in high school, much less have White House
experience in their past/on their resumes. But they're young and smart and I love smart. They talk about the evening's speech.
I also switched over to Jimmy Kimmel for some time to see what Stormy Daniels had to say. If you don't know who she is, then
you'll see why the State of the Union is worse than you think. She's the porn star actress who was paid off by the Trump campaign
right before the election, but isn't even front page news because of the train wreck occupying the oval office. Turns out, and I suspected
as much, she really wasn't allowed to talk freely about anything because her settlement has a non-disclosure pact we assume, even
though Jimmy Kimmel tried his hardest to get sentences out of her. What was really interesting is a segment in the beginning of his
show where he individually talked to fervent anti-immigration (and Trump) supporters about their views and then brought them into
a room together to talk to an actual DACA person to see if any of them would change or soften their views. (HINT: They're usually called
hardliners for a reason.
I did happen to see the opening of Nightline after that where they had one of those rooms full of Republicans and Democrats watching
the State of the Union speech and then answering questions afterwards. I always hate those kinds of things because they specifically
get partisans because these segments have limited news time and they want people to spout their inanities for immediate reaction.
The Trump supporters acted like the State of the Union Speech was the Beatles 1st visit to The Ed Sullivan Show. It was horrendous.
I had trouble going to sleep after that inanity.
-
Justin Trudeau's motorcade was involved in an accident that left a California Highway Patrolman
and 2 others injured. Trudeau was leaving the Reagan Presidential Library after giving a speech there
last night. He also met with Gov. Jerry Brown and Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom. Right now he is meeting with
Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti at the Griffith Observatory.
-
Are you chasing him around, Lyle?? Hmmmmm? ;D ;D ;D
He is certainly easier on the eyes than our Leader........ ;)
-
^^^
(https://pics.onsizzle.com/when-americans-when-canadians-say-what-an-as-what-an-21576080.png)
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:laugh: :laugh: :laugh:
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February 14, 2018 3:06pm EST
Happening now: There is an active shooting unfolding at Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida
The victims: At least 20 people were injured, according to WSVN.
The shooting happened just as school was letting out
The school day at Stoneman Douglas High School ends a 2:40 p.m., according to the school's website. The first tweet from the Broward Sheriff's Office about reports of the shooting came at 2:53 p.m. ET.
About 2,000 students are enrolled at Stoneman Douglas High School.
https://www.cnn.com/2018/02/14/us/florida-school-shooting/index.html (https://www.cnn.com/2018/02/14/us/florida-school-shooting/index.html)
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I got the alert on my phone, and just said to myself, OH God not again, and another one. It's never going to cease.
-
^^^
So very sad.
Everyone prays that it's the last time...each time....but it seems to happen over and over. :(
-
^^^
45 days into the year and there have been 18 mass school shootings. Defined as three or more people shot. Last year there was an average of one of these a week. And that's just referring to the school shootings. The Republican Congress has done absolutely everything to make sure that people like the shooter yesterday are allowed to legally buy and own AR15 automatic assault rifles. These were once illegal under the law. I do not know if that original law was changed or had an expiration date. (And if it did, WHY did it?) Florida's Governor Rick Scott and Senator Marco Rubio have blood on their hands. They voted for this situation. And they also have deflected questions with the hollow "it isn't time to discuss gun laws" meme and they try to deflect the issue by bringing up mental health issues. It does not help that we have a President with mental health issues.
This particular school had a fire drill early in the day. Near the end of the day the shooter set the fire alarm off again so that the students would empty out into his firing range. These children will never feel safe at any future fire drill with the experience of this having happened to them. Fire drills will return the terror to their minds.
Remember when Post Offices were the epicenter, it seemed, of these types of things? That's where the term "He's going postal" came from. In fact, yesterday on the Decades channel's "Through the Decades" program, a daily program that features news and events related to that particular day in history, a story that occurred on February 14, 1977, was featured when a man from New York City drove north to a post office in New Rochelle where he murdered 5 people in the place he used to work, but had been let go from. The police who investigated the man said he was a neo-Nazi / Nazi sympathizer. I suppose if you try to make the assailant seem like some kind of "other" person the event seems less dangerous to those who haven't experienced. Like it's an aberration. That's why people like Gov. Rick Scott and Marco Rubio try to interject the "mental illness" meme into these school shootings. Well, it's not the fact he was able to buy these guns legally, it's that he was somehow a mental case, so you shouldn't worry about it. Keep in mind that the current White House occupant signed signed a measure into law in February a year ago that rescinded an Obama-era rule aimed at blocking gun sales and ownership of guns to mentally ill people.
So where is your case now Scott and Rubio?
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It's never the right time. Either too early or too late.
The various gun organizations should get together and could sponsor a massacre of the day/week/whatever. Their base would love it.
It would seem that these days their chief god is Moloch.
-
The various gun organizations should get together and could sponsor a massacre of the day/week/whatever. Their base would love it.
Might be interesting to see what would happen if somebody did to the NRA headquarters what just happened in Florida.
Then again, I'm sure they would still be stoutly in defense of the Second Amendment because this is all about mental illness, not guns.
-
I haven't ever heard a good REASON why anyone besides LE or the Military NEED an assault weapon, or any kind!! It's been said we have more guns in this country than people! could be, could be..........
-
I will never be able to understand this aspect of the US. My girl wants to travel over there as an exchange student and spend six months at a US high school and I think my nerves would not survive it. Poor kids, poor parents. I don't understand that some people believe the right to have war guns is more important than the right to live.
-
I don't understand that some people believe the right to have war guns is more important than the right to live.
Because unfortunately we have people who voted and support someone like 'pumpkin head', and the majority party in our government who are supported by lobbies like the NRA, who keep guns in the hands of crazies, the mentally ill and those who support 'pumpkin head'.
-
In a comment section of a gay blog someone referred to our current administration in a way I had not heard before and it
made me laugh. They called it the Turd Reich.
-
:laugh:
That's a new one and a good one!
-
Damn I am going to have to remember this one!!
-
45's answer to gun violence in schools is to arm teachers.
45's answer to gun violence in schools is to arm teachers.
45's answer to gun violence in schools is to arm teachers.
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This cartoon about the Florida school shootings is breaking people’s hearts
Posted Wednesday 21 February 2018 07:30 by Samantha Schmidt in news
As news of the deadly mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, unfolded last week, Pia Guerra, a 46-year-old Vancouver-based artist, felt helpless. She couldn't bring herself to go to sleep, so she began to draw.
About 6am, she came up with an idea. One of the first victims identified among the 17 people killed was Aaron Feis, an assistant football coach and security guard. Feis was shot after reportedly throwing himself in front of students during the rampage. Guerra was moved by the thought of this heroic man, the father of a young child, standing in front of bullets for students.
Guerra told The Washington Post:
“I need to get this down before time dilutes it,” she recalled thinking as she began to sketch the image.
Around midday, Guerra posted her editorial cartoon on Twitter. She called it 'Hero's Welcome'.
The cartoon portrays a young freckle-faced girl reaching out to hold Feis's hand. “Come on Mister Feis!” the girl is saying. “So many of us want to meet you!”
Behind the girl stands a massive crowd of young children and a few adults, looking to Feis with wide eyes. They look solemn and innocent. Two of the children are waving. The crowd, Guerra says, represents the children and adults who have been killed in mass school shootings.
(https://static.independent.co.uk/s3fs-public/styles/story_large/public/thumbnails/image/2018/02/21/07/parkland-cartoon.jpg)
https://www.indy100.com/article/florida-school-shooting-cartoon-heros-welcome-pa-guerra-aaron-feis-marjory-stoneman-district-high-8220616 (https://www.indy100.com/article/florida-school-shooting-cartoon-heros-welcome-pa-guerra-aaron-feis-marjory-stoneman-district-high-8220616)
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Powerful indeed.
-
He had to write it down, because it's definitely something he could forget...note the monogram on the cuff.
Trump's note card for Parkland shooting discussion: 'I hear you'
(https://cdn.cnn.com/cnnnext/dam/assets/180221182253-trump-notes-school-shooting-listening-session-exlarge-169.jpg)
https://www.cnn.com/2018/02/21/politics/trump-parkland-notecard/index.html (https://www.cnn.com/2018/02/21/politics/trump-parkland-notecard/index.html)
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Really heartfelt.
-
Trump is holding a press conf with Malcolm Turnbull. What a difference listening to the two men...well, the one man and the 6 year old. Trump mostly read from a script, which I guess is a blessing since he can't speak extemporaneously without making a fool out of himself, and, usually, us as well.
-
He is still pushing for teachers to carry guns in schools. No one, other than the NRA, thinks that is a good idea, or that it will work. He's SUCH an ass.
-
By the way, those that think teachers should carry guns, are only talking about them having a pistol.
The shooters weapon of choice is an AR-15. And one wonders why the security guard at the Florida
shooting stayed outside?
-
From a Facebook post:
If your child hits another child with a stick, do you
A. give everybody sticks
B. give certain kids sticks who are adept with sticks to defend everyone else
C. take away the stick
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Parkland shooting survivor drags Fox News host who flipped out over her Rubio burn.
Professional trolls (they prefer the more politically correct term, "Fox News hosts") have met their match in the teen survivors of the Parkland school shooting.
Sarah Chadwick// #NEVERAGAIN
✔
@sarahchad_
We should change the names of AR-15s to “Marco Rubio” because they are so easy to buy.
12:34 AM - Feb 23, 2018
Laura Ingraham
@IngrahamAngle
HOW TEENS SPEAK TO AND ABT ADULTS: “We shd change the names of AR-15s to ‘Marco Rubio’ bc they are so easy to buy,” Stoneman Douglas sophomore Sarah Chadwick tweeted.
9:51 AM - Feb 23, 2018
"WELL I NEVER!" she said, clutching her pearls.
She (the student) deleted an earlier tweet, but it said, "Someone said Laura Ingraham was a discount Ann Coulter, and I haven’t stopped thinking about that since."
https://www.someecards.com/news/news/parkland-shooting-survivor-sarah-chadwick-laura-ingraham (https://www.someecards.com/news/news/parkland-shooting-survivor-sarah-chadwick-laura-ingraham)
Would that make Ann Coulter a discount Steve Bannon?
-
;D ;D ;D
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I just love these kids.
I choke up when I hear them talk bluntly about the issue and won't accept the pandering.
Since adults have been so inept at this issue I am so glad they're being called out
by the young students whom they cannot just dismiss.
I only heard this on the news once, but apparently President Obama tweeted out a message
to these students saying something like, "We have been waiting for you. And we've got your back."
Youth can be discouraged and move on to other things quickly, but I hope their resolve remains.
There's a mass student march planned in a month, am I right? If there's one around here I am
going to support them.
The NRA is starting to get dissed by some businesses. Has the NRA dam wall cracked?
Believe it or not, for who knows what reason, I got an NRA mailer recently in the mail.
They wanted me to join. I wrote on the form in red marker: "You have got to be kidding,
your militia is not WELL REGULATED." And sent it back in.
-
Hope.
-
A Running List Of All The Companies Currently Disassociating Themselves From The NRA
–First National Bank of Omaha: The largest privately held bank announced it will stop issuing the NRA Visa Card due to “customer feedback” on Thursday.
-Hertz (HTZ): The major rental-car company said on Friday it has “notified the NRA that we are ending the NRA’s rental car discount program with Hertz”
–Enterprise: Its three car rental brands— Enterprise, National and Alamo will end a discount program for NRA members.
-Avis Budget Group (CAR): The parent company of several car rental brands including Avis Car Rental and Zipcar, will no longer provide the NRA member discount, effective March 26, the company confirmed in an email to Yahoo Finance.
-TrueCar (TRUE): The Calif.-based automotive pricing website announced it’s ending the car buying service relationship with the NRA, effective February 28, 2018.
–Symantec (SYMC): The publicly-traded security software company said on Twitter it will no longer offer discounts to NRA members. LifeLock, the identity theft protection company acquired by Symantec last year has also stopped its discount program.
-Chubb (CB): The insurance giant told Yahoo Finance it would no longer offer the NRA insurance program for gun owners, a decision it made three months ago.
-MetLife (MET): As one of the largest global provider of insurance, MetLife provided discounts for the NRA members on coverage for RVs, motorcycles and boats. “We value all our customers but have decided to end our discount program with the NRA,” the company tweeted on Friday.
-Best Western: According to a 2016 brochure from the NRA, the hotel chain has provided special deals to NRA members. But it clarified on Twitter repeatedly that the company “does not have an affiliation with and is not a corporate partner of the National Rifle Association.”
-Wyndham Hotels: The hotel chain, which previously offered a 10% discount to NRA members, said on Twitter it is no longer affiliated with the NRA.
-SIRVA: Two moving companies under SIRVA— Allied Van Lines and North American Van Lines, both announced it had ended the affiliate relationship with the NRA effective immediately. “We have asked them to remove our listing from their benefits site,” the company tweeted.
–Delta Air Lines (DAL): The airline tweeted on Saturday it will be “ending their contract for discounted rates through our group travel program.”
–United Airlines (UAL): United followed Delta’s lead on Saturday, tweeting “United is notifying the NRA that we will no longer offer a discounted rate to their annual meeting.”
https://uproxx.com/news/all-companies-dropped-nra-cut-ties-florida-school-shooting/ (https://uproxx.com/news/all-companies-dropped-nra-cut-ties-florida-school-shooting/)
-
^^^
I know there is a long way to go yet....but lets hope this is a small beginning
of the end.
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The more the merrier.
-
45 should watch this clip...not that he would understand it...
West Wing, Season 2, episode 2.
CJ briefs the press corps after the attempted assassination of President Bartlett, and concisely explains why more guns aren't the answer to gun violence.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKdSGSZfbnA (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKdSGSZfbnA)
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The Second Amendment of the United States Constitution reads: "A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed." Such language has created considerable debate regarding the Amendment's intended scope.
https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/second_amendment (https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/second_amendment)
Toby Ziegler on gun control, West Wing season 2, episode 13
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bFIYLimyRHU (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bFIYLimyRHU)
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Excellent posts Nancy!
45 should watch this clip...not that he would understand it...
West Wing, Season 2, episode 2.
CJ briefs the press corps after the attempted assassination of President Bartlett, and concisely explains why more guns aren't the answer to gun violence.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKdSGSZfbnA (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKdSGSZfbnA)
He and the administration would probably just brush all that off as just a TV show.
I enjoy movies, TV shows and stories about time travel. On occasion on a program or online forum someone might ask what "time" someone else might want to view if they could. People often want to visit something tragic to see what was going on, like a war battle, or solve a mystery (like the Titanic, Hindenburg, or an assassination) or a natural disaster.
I'm always joining the conversation writing things like "I would like to go talk to the framers of the constitution and ask them for clarification on what they actually had in mind for that 2nd amendment," for example.
(I'd be tempted to want to visit the future, but because we arrive in the future a day at a time, I'm afraid even a 10-20 year jump ahead might be a horrible shock to the psyche. I'd also like to visit the 1939 World's Fair. I'd like to see what the old Pacific Electric Red Car transportation system in Los Angeles was like, or attend the Earl Carroll Theatre nightclub in Hollywood. Things like that. Not witness tragedies! Which could also be really dangerous, by the way.)
-
Thanks, Lyle! I think I have that show so well memorized that I could come up with a clip for any occasion ;)
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He's shameless. I guess the family can't sue, since he owns the photo.
Trump campaign emails photo of Parkland survivor, asks for donations
Updated 6:43 PM ET, Sun February 25, 2018
(CNN)President Donald Trump's re-election campaign used a photo of a survivor of the Parkland, Florida, shooting in an email Saturday that asks its recipients to donate money to the campaign.
The email contains a photo of 17-year-old Madeleine Wilford in a hospital bed surrounded by her family, Trump and the first lady. The President visited Wilford on February 16, two days after the attack at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, which left 17 dead.
https://www.cnn.com/2018/02/25/politics/trump-campaign-email-parkland-photo/index.html (https://www.cnn.com/2018/02/25/politics/trump-campaign-email-parkland-photo/index.html)
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High school shooting survivor calls for Florida spring break boycott
BY JULIA MANCHESTER - 02/25/18 05:06 PM EST
A survivor of the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., has called on travelers to boycott spending spring break in the state until gun control legislation is passed.
"Let's make a deal DO NOT come to Florida for spring break unless gun legislation is passed. These [politicians] won't listen to us so maybe [they'll] listen to the billion dollar tourism industry in FL," David Hogg tweeted Saturday.
http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/375533-high-school-shooting-survivor-calls-for-florida-spring-break (http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/375533-high-school-shooting-survivor-calls-for-florida-spring-break)
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I'm always joining the conversation writing things like "I would like to go talk to the framers of the constitution and ask them for clarification on what they actually had in mind for that 2nd amendment," for example.
I spent part of my working life dealing with documents that went as far back as the 1680s. Usage (including the way sentences are structured) has changed a great deal since the Second Amendment was written in the late eighteenth century.
And, am I missing something, or does nobody pay any attention to the "well regulated militia" part?
(I mean, suppose the Province of Massachusetts Bay had not had a well-regulated militia on the morning of April 19, 1775? Just sayin'.)
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He is still pushing for teachers to carry guns in schools. No one, other than the NRA, thinks that is a good idea, or that it will work. He's SUCH an ass.
If teachers have guns in schools, you can be sure that sooner or later some kid will get hold of one and somebody is going to get shot anyway.
-
Or a teacher will lose it, a bunch of teens oozing hormones and a burned out teacher with a gun, what could possibly go wrong. This is based on my short but incredibly intense experience as high school teacher.
-
not to mention getting caught in the crossfire with cops in a real "active shooter" situation...and how would the cops know who was the good guy and who was the bad guy? Yeah, 45, great idea, should solve everything.
-
And of course the NRA will say it's not about guns, it's about mental illness.
Note to NRA: Pot, you are calling the kettle black.
-
Or a teacher will lose it, a bunch of teens oozing hormones and a burned out teacher with a gun, what could possibly go wrong. This is based on my short but incredibly intense experience as high school teacher.
I was a high school teacher for over 40 years and I often said (only half in jest) just as well I don't have a gun. I do have a temper but thankfully only ever let loose with words. Actually I have never held a loaded gun in my life and cannot remember holding any sort of real gun. In Australia police wear guns and standing next to them in the train made me nervous. I had a brief relationship with a policeman and would not let him visit my house in uniform. They must wear their guns when in uniform. In New Zealand the police do not wear guns although they do have them locked in the boot (trunk) of the police vehicles.
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Wow, Trump seems really open to this, his body language and response definitely say "You know, I might be wrong."
clip at the link
Washington Gov. Jay Inslee (D) confronted President Trump on Monday over his proposal to arm educators in order to prevent future school shootings.
Inslee stood and objected to the controversial idea during a meeting with the nation’s governors at the White House, telling Trump that law enforcement agencies and instructors are both alarmed by the idea of teachers “packing heat” around young children.
http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/375618-washington-governor-confronts-trump-at-white-house (http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/375618-washington-governor-confronts-trump-at-white-house)
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And of course the NRA will say it's not about guns, it's about mental illness.
Hey, NRA, then why do you support Trump's decision to allow mentally ill people more access to guns?
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Wow, Trump seems really open to this, his body language and response definitely say "You know, I might be wrong."
http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/375618-washington-governor-confronts-trump-at-white-house (http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/375618-washington-governor-confronts-trump-at-white-house)
It always just depends on the last person he talks to.
(You were being facetious weren't you?)
Some things in that article:
Trump also said law enforcement officers must act to stop shooters given the chance, saying that sheriff’s deputies outside the Florida high school “weren’t exactly Medal of Honor winners. I really believe I'd run in there even if I didn't have a weapon and I think most of the people in this room would have done that, too,” Trump said.
WOW! This was the best laugh I've had in awhile! This is the hero fantasy all of these NRA nuts have. LOL--even without a weapon he'd run in! LOL! Trump got several deferments from going to Vietnam with bone spur excuses. Such a hero he is.
Take a look at this video and tell me he would ever do such a thing. He's a coward.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-XfjdBQ7DU
"Don't worry about the NRA,” the president told the governors. ”They're on our side."
Hmmm...what does "our side" mean?
Trump has floated a wide-range of proposals from bolstering the gun background check system and raising the age limit to buy certain high-powered rifles to giving guns to trained teachers and staff. Trump expressed doubt the NRA would oppose his response.
Yeah, right, Trump doubts the NRA would oppose any of this. Note to Donald: THEY ALREADY HAVE.
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Yeah, someone should really come up with a way to type sarcasm. The way he went from standing with his arms at his side, to folded on his chest said "I don't hear you - lalalalalala".
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greetings, comrades...better brush up on your russian...got borscht?
US cyber chief says Trump hasn't told him to confront Russian cyber threat
Washington (CNN)US Cyber Command chief Adm. Mike Rogers told lawmakers on Tuesday that he has not been granted the authority by President Donald Trump to disrupt Russian election hacking operations where they originate.
Asked by Democratic Sen. Jack Reed if he has been directed by the President, through the defense secretary, to confront Russian cyber operators at the source, Rogers said "no I have not" but noted that he has tried to work within the authority he maintains as a commander.
"They have not paid a price that is sufficient to change their behavior," he added.
https://www.cnn.com/2018/02/27/politics/cybercom-rogers-trump-russian-cyber-threat/index.html (https://www.cnn.com/2018/02/27/politics/cybercom-rogers-trump-russian-cyber-threat/index.html)
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Kushner security clearance is downgraded
By Kaitlan Collins, Kevin Liptak and Pamela Brown, CNN
Updated 5:22 PM ET, Tue February 27, 2018
(CNN)Jared Kushner, who has worn dueling hats for more than a year as President Donald Trump's senior adviser and son-in-law, has been stripped of his access to the nation's top secrets, officials said Tuesday after his security clearance was downgraded.
Kushner, along with other White House officials who had been operating on interim clearances, had their access altered last week after chief of staff John Kelly stipulated new changes to the security clearance system.
Aides who previously operated on "top secret/sensitive compartmented information" interim clearances saw their access changed to "secret," a classification for less sensitive material. The lesser "secret" clearance allows access to far fewer government secrets. It would prevent Kushner from accessing the Presidential Daily Brief, the collection of top secret material prepared for the commander in chief every day.
https://www.cnn.com/2018/02/27/politics/jared-kushner-security-clearance/index.html (https://www.cnn.com/2018/02/27/politics/jared-kushner-security-clearance/index.html)
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OFFICIALS IN 4 COUNTRIES DISCUSSED WAYS TO MANIPULATE JARED KUSHNER BY USING HIS FINANCIAL WOES, INEXPERIENCE
POSTED ON FEBRUARY 27, 2018 AT 5:25PM
Officials in at least four countries discussed how they could “manipulate” White House adviser Jared Kushner by taking advantage of his “complex business arrangements, financial difficulties and lack of foreign policy experience,” The Washington Post reports.
China, Israel, the United Arab Emirates, and Mexico discussed how they could take advantage of Kushner, according to the report.
Trump’s national security adviser H.R. McMaster reportedly learned that Kushner had contacts with foreign officials that he did not report. Those contacts raised concerns that Kushner was “naive and being tricked.”
https://latest.com/2018/02/officials-in-4-countries-discussed-ways-to-manipulate-jared-kushner-by-using-his-financial-woes-inexperience/ (https://latest.com/2018/02/officials-in-4-countries-discussed-ways-to-manipulate-jared-kushner-by-using-his-financial-woes-inexperience/)
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The lesser "secret" clearance allows access to far fewer government secrets. It would prevent Kushner from accessing the Presidential Daily Brief, the collection of top secret material prepared for the commander in chief every day.
Doesn't prevent the orange hoax from telling him what's in it, though, does it?
This presidency reminds me of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill that took an enormous
amount of time to be capped. It's like that oil that kept gushing out and harming everything
and the longer it goes on the worse things will be and harder to clean up.
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The trump administration
(https://img.buzzfeed.com/buzzfeed-static/static/enhanced/web04/2012/6/15/17/anigif_enhanced-buzz-32531-1339794354-4.gif)
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No, it doesn't. And how about that crazy bitch, Ivanka? What in the hell is she doing making policy and meeting with world leaders? She's a handbag designer...well, she probably just paid somebody to design her handbags, so she's basically a check-writer. And she's refusing to answer tough questions about her father, because he's her father! Can't have it both ways.
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bets on who the next COS will be?
Trump: Chief of Staff John Kelly Will Decide on Jared Kushner's Security Clearance
President Donald Trump said that his chief of staff, John Kelly, will decide whether to give a waiver to Jared Kushner if the president’s son-in-law and senior adviser remains unable to obtain a security clearance.
“I will let General Kelly make that decision,” Trump said at a joint news conference at the White House on Friday with Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull. “I have no doubt he’ll make the right decision.”
http://time.com/5174025/trump-kelly-kushner-clearance/ (http://time.com/5174025/trump-kelly-kushner-clearance/)
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with all changes going on there, I've lost track of who is and isn't working at the WH.
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between the SIL losing top secret clearance and 4 countries knowing they could take advantage of him without him knowing it, and 45 obviously clueless about it or didn't care, this
could be is the most corrupt and inept administration of all time.
With 45s total lack of leadership, his unending tweets focusing solely on how things affect him not the country, seemingly trusting russia more than his own country, and putting family members with no experience in charge of American foreign policy, it illustrates that you can be a billionaire and white trash at the same time. I wouldn't be the least bit surprised to find out that he was related to Mama June and Honey Boo Boo.
eta: strike through
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with all changes going on there, I've lost track of who is and isn't working at the WH.
Nobody and nothing is *working* at the WH. !
(or so I'm led to believe ::))
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between the SIL losing top secret clearance and 4 countries knowing they could take advantage of him without him knowing it, and 45 obviously clueless about it or didn't care, this could be is the most corrupt and inept administration of all time.
With 45s total lack of leadership, his unending tweets focusing solely on how things affect him not the country, seemingly trusting russia more than his own country, and putting family members with no experience in charge of American foreign policy, it illustrates that you can be a billionaire and white trash at the same time. I wouldn't be the least bit surprised to find out that he was related to Mama June and Honey Boo Boo.
(https://memegenerator.net/img/instances/67222815.jpg)
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The SIL losing top secret clearance.
Fake News!
Ain't gonna make a dif of bitterance.
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I was a high school teacher for over 40 years and I often said (only half in jest) just as well I don't have a gun. I do have a temper but thankfully only ever let loose with words. Actually I have never held a loaded gun in my life and cannot remember holding any sort of real gun. In Australia police wear guns and standing next to them in the train made me nervous. I had a brief relationship with a policeman and would not let him visit my house in uniform. They must wear their guns when in uniform. In New Zealand the police do not wear guns although they do have them locked in the boot (trunk) of the police vehicles.
I was a away for a couple of days.
The only weapons I fired were in the Army, M-16's and M-14's. That brief experience was enough to hold me for life, if I never hold another loaded weapon again in my life it will be too soon. But some really do find them an object of worship, and considering many of the recent mass victims, their god must be Moloch, one which specialized in child sacrifice.
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filing this under "reasons I'm moving to Norway".
In a lame attempt to walk it back, his press secretary said it "has been taken entirely out of context."
Alaska's congressman suggests more Jews would have survived the Holocaust if they were armed
Updated 2:13 PM ET, Wed February 28, 2018
(CNN)An Alaskan congressman has suggested that more Jews would have survived the Holocaust if they had been armed with guns.
Rep. Don Young made the statement during an appearance last week before the Alaska Municipal League and while answering a question about what can be done to prevent gun violence in schools.
https://www.cnn.com/2018/02/28/politics/alaska-guns-holocaust-trnd/index.html (https://www.cnn.com/2018/02/28/politics/alaska-guns-holocaust-trnd/index.html)
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here's a shocker...boy, those "other opportunities" really just seem to come out of nowhere right after you testi-lie before the House Intelligence Committee...
Hope Hicks is resigning from the White House
(CNN)Hope Hicks, the White House communications director, is resigning.
One of President Donald Trump's longest-serving and closest aides, Hicks's resignation comes a day after she spent the day testifying before the House Intelligence Committee.
The New York Times first reported her departure.
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example #1
Georgia teacher arrested for firing gun in school, police say
Updated 4:33 PM ET, Wed February 28, 2018
(CNN)A north Georgia high school teacher was arrested on Wednesday after he barricaded himself in a classroom and fired a shot from his handgun out of a window, police said.
No one was injured in the incident at Dalton High School, except for a student who injured an ankle running through the school, police spokesman Bruce Frazier said.
The incident began about 11:30 a.m. when Randal Davidson, a 53-year-old social studies teacher, refused to let students into his classroom, Frazier said. When the principal put a key in the door in an attempt to enter, Davidson fired a shot from a handgun through an exterior window of the classroom, according to Frazier.
The school immediately went into lockdown, and police quickly arrived and evacuated the immediate area around his classroom. After about 30 to 45 minutes, Davidson agreed to surrender to authorities and was taken into custody without further incident, Frazier said.
https://www.cnn.com/2018/02/28/us/georgia-dalton-high-school-teacher-gunfire/index.html (https://www.cnn.com/2018/02/28/us/georgia-dalton-high-school-teacher-gunfire/index.html)
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Now no doubt we'll hear from the administration that teachers can't be trusted with guns.
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Alaska's congressman suggests more Jews would have survived the Holocaust if they were armed
Updated 2:13 PM ET, Wed February 28, 2018
:o
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Oh my God, take that man his mic away!
Historical fact, there were armed factions fighting the nazis in the streets, most of them were communist and labour parties members, there were probably many jews among them. They were the first people to be sent to concentration camps. Too often people forget how many German people were killed in the camps.
Bottom line, armed militia and good organized guerrilla groups had no chance against nazi troops. Maybe the solution would have been not to vote for Hitler...
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Archie Bunker on Gun Control
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CLjNJI54GMM
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Oh my God, take that man his mic away!
Historical fact, there were armed factions fighting the nazis in the streets, most of them were communist and labour parties members, there were probably many jews among them. They were the first people to be sent to concentration camps. Too often people forget how many German people were killed in the camps.
Bottom line, armed militia and good organized guerrilla groups had no chance against nazi troops. Maybe the solution would have been not to vote for Hitler...
An article in my morning newspaper said exactly that.
It also pointed out that there was some armed resistance by groups of Jews (though maybe not in Germany proper?). Wasn't there a movie about one of these groups a few years ago?
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Some CA Congressional doofus was trying to equate arming more people, teachers, in schools
to prevent gun violence was like when firefighters go to put out a wildfire and they set more
fires to block the advancing fire.
These people are really showing their true colors. Keep making these statements so we can see
how asinine you really are.
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It also pointed out that there was some armed resistance by groups of Jews (though maybe not in Germany proper?). Wasn't there a movie about one of these groups a few years ago?
There are many movies about that very thing. There are
also plenty of films about resistance without firearms involved.
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And, of course, the famous fictional one, Inglorious Bastards.
Inglourious. :D
Haven't seen it, often wondered why that word was (presumably deliberately) misspelled.
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There are many films treating non-violent resistance, but I can't remember any about armed resistance. Jews stood up in Auschwitz and other camps, they also revolted in the Warschauer Ghetto, They had managed to smuggle many weapons into the ghetto, but unfortunately all of these resistance acts were brutally ended by the nazis.
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This one is about the Auschwitz Sonderkommando, who tried to fight back with smuggled weapons.
The Gray Zone http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0252480/
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The Capital Clampetts strike again (that name is taken from an episode of The West Wing, and can I just say that I wish those actors and writers were in power now, I think we'd be better off) ...I'm starting to see how nazi Germany got started...
The former ambassador to china said in a cnn interview that with Cohn's exit, the last adult had left the playground...so guess who's running the country?
Wall Street should be afraid of what Trump does next after Cohn's departure
There is a very real fear spreading through Wall Street following Gary Cohn's departure from the White House that President Donald Trump's inner-nationalist will be fully unleashed. People are right to be afraid.
Cohn, the National Economic Council director and former Goldman Sachs president, served as the main voice inside the West Wing urging Trump not to tear up the North American Free Trade Agreement or apply sweeping tariffs on steel and aluminum that could spark a global trade war.
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/03/07/wall-street-should-be-afraid-of-what-trump-does-after-cohns-departure.html (https://www.cnbc.com/2018/03/07/wall-street-should-be-afraid-of-what-trump-does-after-cohns-departure.html)
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This is totally unrelated and not News or a Current event but I tried accessing this forum at work and ended up in a parallel universe. There is another Bettermost forum that looks exactly the same as this one except it has different threads. I was able to log in and it showed that my last post was in 2016. The place is still active with threads about the characters of CMBYN and GOC. What's THAT all about. It kind of creeped me out.
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This is totally unrelated and not News or a Current event but I tried accessing this forum at work and ended up in a parallel universe. There is another Bettermost forum that looks exactly the same as this one except it has different threads. I was able to log in and it showed that my last post was in 2016. The place is still active with threads about the characters of CMBYN and GOC. What's THAT all about. It kind of creeped me out.
We've been advised that the original creator of the site is going to be making changes and updates, but whether or not that had anything to do with what happened to you I can't say. I just mention this because we've been told it's happening/going to happen.
I wrote a post on my blog this morning (3/8), and nothing seemed different from when I accessed the site last evening.
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We've been advised that the original creator of the site is going to be making changes and updates, but whether or not that had anything to do with what happened to you I can't say. I just mention this because we've been told it's happening/going to happen.
I wrote a post on my blog this morning (3/8), and nothing seemed different from when I accessed the site last evening.
No it was me. I just have to lay off the cheap drugs, lol!
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No it was me. I just have to lay off the cheap drugs, lol!
You get what you pay for. ... :D
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Thanks for giving him the idea, France >:( He's too stupid to think of it on his own...what else could we possibly do with that money? Maybe more new doors for the interior dept (Washington (CNN)The doors to Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke's office are getting a nearly $139,000 upgrade.) 45 has created a whole new lower level of swamp.
Trump's Military Parade Is Set For Veterans Day
March 9, 20189:15 PM ET
The Pentagon says a military parade requested by President Trump will take place in Washington on Veterans Day to honor those who have served in the military from the Revolutionary War through today.
The document addressed to the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff provides "initial guidance," including assurances that the display will not include tanks, to minimize damage to the city streets. The D.C. City Council had already tweeted its objections ("Tanks but No Tanks").
The memo does not estimate the cost, but as NPR has reported, estimates have suggested it would be between $3 million and $50 million. Tamara Keith and Tom Bowman reported that holding it on Veterans Day, which also commemorates the end of World War I, could reduce complaints:
"By potentially tying the parade to the 100th anniversary of the end of the 'War To End All Wars,' there may be an effort to associate with the tradition of celebrating war victories and avoid associations with countries like North Korea, China and Russia, which regularly hold military parades, in part for the propaganda value.
"Members of Congress from both parties have been critical of the idea of a military parade, questioning its cost and necessity."
The memo says the parade will begin at the White House and proceed to the U.S. Capitol, with a "heavy air component at the end." It notes that Trump will be surrounded by military heroes in the reviewing area at the Capitol.
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Can't "we the people" do something to stop this insanity?
You know that criticism of this will be used by the administration to say that
protestors are bashing the military or don't support them or whatever. What
a load of crap. This makes me very angry.
Can't "we the people" do something?
Any ideas?
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I don't know if the old "writing your congressman" does any good. That money would be better spent actually supporting the vets. I wonder what their take is? It's probably split - some will want to see the show, others would rather have the cash go to the VA.
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2 great clips on Larry the cat's twitter
1st:
If Brexit were a cat...
2nd needs no explanation
https://twitter.com/Number10cat (https://twitter.com/Number10cat)
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http://www.jpost.com/International/Trump-agrees-to-meet-North-Korean-leader-Kim-Jong-Un-by-May-544649
So.....a meeting of the two strangest hairstyles are about to meet !
Wonder if they will argue who's is the most ridiculous ?
What is it with wings coming out of Trumps ears ??
:laugh: :laugh:
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I hate, despise and loathe this woman (I just said 3 things that all mean the same), and yay for Leslie Stahl!
Education Secretary Betsy DeVos stumbles during pointed ‘60 Minutes’ interview
Education Secretary Betsy DeVos appeared on CBS’s “60 Minutes” Sunday night and stumbled in answering questions that journalist Lesley Stahl asked during a pointed interview.
Stahl repeatedly challenged the education secretary, at one point suggesting that DeVos should visit underperforming public schools to learn about their problems. DeVos responded, “Maybe I should.”
The secretary also said she is “not so sure exactly” how she became, as Stahl described her, “the most hated” member of President Trump’s Cabinet but believes that she is “misunderstood.”
These are just some of the things that DeVos said — or couldn’t answer — during the interview:
She couldn’t say whether the number of false accusations of sexual assault on school campuses is lower than the number of actual rapes or assaults.
Arming teachers “should be an option” for states and communities, she said, even though she couldn’t “ever imagine” her first-grade teacher, Mrs. Zorhoff, having had a gun.
“We have invested billions and billions and billions of dollars from the federal level, and we have seen zero results,” DeVos said — a statement Stahl challenged.
“I hesitate to talk about all schools in general because schools are made up of individual students attending them.”
In reference to the #MeToo movement, she said she experienced moments decades ago that “today would just be viewed as unacceptable.”
Lots more fodder for SNL at the link
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/answer-sheet/wp/2018/03/12/education-secretary-betsy-devos-stumbles-during-pointed-60-minutes-interview/?utm_term=.1bf68d83b745 (https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/answer-sheet/wp/2018/03/12/education-secretary-betsy-devos-stumbles-during-pointed-60-minutes-interview/?utm_term=.1bf68d83b745)
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There's a short clip of devos being made to look ridiculous by not being able to answer simple questions.
And my answer to the quiz is
ANSWER: (d) Oh God, this person is the Education secretary.
Quiz: What’s the Worst Part of This Betsy DeVos Exchange?
...one exchange with Lesley Stahl on school choice, DeVos’s signature issue, was so bad that it’s hard to identify the worst part. Here’s a little pop quiz. Was it:
(a) DeVos’s attempt to explain how letting parents pull kids (along with taxpayer funds) out of bad public schools helps the other kids in the failing school.
Lesley Stahl: Why take away money from that school that’s not working, to bring them up to a level where they are– that school is working?
Betsy DeVos: Well, we should be funding and investing in students, not in school– school buildings, not in institutions, not in systems.
Lesley Stahl: Okay. But what about the kids who are back at the school that’s not working? What about those kids?
Betsy DeVos: Well, in places where there have been– where there is– a lot of choice that’s been introduced– Florida, for example, the– studies show that when there’s a large number of students that opt to go to a different school or different schools, the traditional public schools actually– the results get better, as well.
(b) DeVos pointing to her home state of Michigan, where she’s promoted the spread of underperforming charter schools, as a success story, then ultimately acknowledging that the state needs to do better.
Lesley Stahl: Now, has that happened in Michigan? We’re in Michigan. This is your home state.
Betsy DeVos: Michi– Yes, well, there’s lots of great options and choices for students here.
Lesley Stahl: Have the public schools in Michigan gotten better?
Betsy DeVos: I don’t know. Overall, I– I can’t say overall that they have all gotten better.
Lesley Stahl: The whole state is not doing well.
Betsy DeVos: Well, there are certainly lots of pockets where this– the students are doing well and–
Lesley Stahl: No, but your argument that if you take funds away that the schools will get better, is not working in Michigan where you had a huge impact and influence over the direction of the school system here.
Betsy DeVos: I hesitate to talk about all schools in general because schools are made up of individual students attending them.
Lesley Stahl: The public schools here are doing worse than they did.
Betsy DeVos: Michigan schools need to do better. There is no doubt about it.
(c) DeVos admitting that she hasn’t bothered to visit any failing schools.
Lesley Stahl: Have you seen the really bad schools? Maybe try to figure out what they’re doing?
Betsy DeVos: I have not– I have not– I have not intentionally visited schools that are underperforming.
Lesley Stahl: Maybe you should.
Betsy DeVos: Maybe I should. Yes.
http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2018/03/quiz-whats-the-worst-part-of-this-betsy-devos-exchange.html (http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2018/03/quiz-whats-the-worst-part-of-this-betsy-devos-exchange.html)
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Trump on Saturday criticized the use of blue-ribbon commissions in dealing with drug dealers, telling a crowd at a rally near Pittsburgh, "We can't just keep setting up blue-ribbon committees with your wife and your wife and your husband, and they meet and they have a meal and they talk, talk talk talk, two hours later, then they write a report."
U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos will lead a commission tasked with broadly examining ways to protect schools from gun violence, the White House said Sunday.
Trump JUST praised Melania for serving on a blue ribbon commission on the opioid problem. Now he is saying these blue ribbon commissions are useless.
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And his idolaters love him for his doublethink. Can only hope their numbers continue to decline.
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Great opinion piece...the WH leaked his personal resignation letter to 45...who knows how low this administration can go...
Why I could no longer serve this president
By John D. Feeley March 9
John D. Feeley, who retired this week as a U.S. diplomat, will soon be working with Univision and the Fusion Media Group on immigration-themed content.
Shortly after the Charlottesville riots last August, I made the private decision to step down as President Trump’s personal representative and ambassador to the government of Panama. The president’s failure to condemn the white supremacists and neo-Nazis who provoked the violence made me realize that my values were not his values. I never meant for my decision to resign to be a public political statement. Sadly, it became one.
The details of how that happened are less important than the demoralizing take-away: When career public servants take an oath to communicate dissent only in protected channels, Trump administration officials do not protect that promise of privacy.
Leaking is not new in Washington. But leaking a sitting ambassador’s personal resignation letter to the president, as mine was, is something else. This was a painful indication that the current administration has little respect for those who have served the nation apolitically for decades.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/why-i-could-no-longer-serve-this-president/2018/03/08/f444f086-225c-11e8-86f6-54bfff693d2b_story.html?utm_term=.91a5f0e76230 (https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/why-i-could-no-longer-serve-this-president/2018/03/08/f444f086-225c-11e8-86f6-54bfff693d2b_story.html?utm_term=.91a5f0e76230)
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(https://occ-0-2152-2433.1.nflxso.net/art/e1716/4d8e9884b983a4c5c6109e2416b61b7f2a0e1716.png)
--Linda Ellerbee
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SXSW is going on for the next 2 weeks, that's an additional 200,000 people in town. They have no suspects...
Morning package bomb kills teen, injures woman
AUSTIN (KXAN) — Two deadly explosions in Austin in the last two weeks are likely related, Austin police said Monday as they investigated the latest incident at a home in east Austin.
“I want the public to be aware and to be cautious because, again, we have two cases that are very similar and that have both resulted in a loss of life and until we find who committed this act and take them into custody, then yes it is appropriate for residents to be concerned if you receive a package you were not expecting,” interim police chief Brian Manley said at a press conference.
Austin-Travis County EMS says a 17-year-old boy died at the scene and a woman was taken to a hospital after the explosion around 6:44 a.m. in the 4800 block of Oldfort Hill Drive, which is between 51st Street and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard. Manley said one of the residents had taken a package from the front porch inside and it exploded when they tried to open it in the kitchen. The woman had non-life-threatening injuries, police said.
https://kxan.com/2018/03/12/one-dead-one-hurt-in-package-explosion-in-east-austin/ (https://kxan.com/2018/03/12/one-dead-one-hurt-in-package-explosion-in-east-austin/)
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another one right before noon, wth
AUSTIN (KXAN) — Officials are responding to a reported explosion in southeast Austin. The Austin Fire Department tweeted it was another package explosion.
Multiple crews headed to the scene on the 6700 block of Galindo Street around 11:50 a.m., which is near Montopolis Drive and US Highway 183. Austin-Travis County EMS says a woman in her 70s went to the hospital with serious, potentially life-threatening injuries. Another woman in her 80s had an unrelated medical issue.
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so two bombs have gone off?
:o :o >:( >:(
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two today, and one on March 2
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Ana Navarro's answer, on CNN, to the story about the $139,000 set of doors, bought by/for the interior department: "For that kind of money he could have had an affair with a porn star and gone on a nice cruise."
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:laugh: I am starting to like that woman!
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The 64 Most Outrageous Lines from Donald Trump's Untethered Pennsylvania Speech
There's only 64 because the author just decided to stop.
Saying "This feels like a good place to end."
https://www.cnn.com/2018/03/11/politics/trump-speech-pennsylvania/index.html
_______
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QYOA_ciyS6c
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Ana Navarro's answer, on CNN, to the story about the $139,000 set of doors, bought by/for the interior department: "For that kind of money he could have had an affair with a porn star and gone on a nice cruise."
:laugh:
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two today, and one on March 2
damn.
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that little weasel sarah sanders, aka liar in chief, doesn't sound at all like a robot repeating what she's been told to say...speaking to the audience of one, not to the press, not to the nation...
White House won't point finger at Russia on poisoning of ex-spy
Shortly after U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May announced that her government had "concluded that it is highly likely that Russia was responsible" for the poisoning of a Russian ex-spy and his daughter on U.K. soil, White House press secretary Sarah Sanders declined to point the finger at Russia for the attack:
https://www.axios.com/white-house-wont-point-finger-at-russia-on-poisoning-of-ex-spy-cf57898a-5122-4bf8-a429-ee4a0856b8cb.html (https://www.axios.com/white-house-wont-point-finger-at-russia-on-poisoning-of-ex-spy-cf57898a-5122-4bf8-a429-ee4a0856b8cb.html)
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that little weasel sarah sanders, aka liar in chief, doesn't sound at all like a robot repeating what she's been told to say...speaking to the audience of one, not to the press, not to the nation...
White House won't point finger at Russia on poisoning of ex-spy
Shortly after U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May announced that her government had "concluded that it is highly likely that Russia was responsible" for the poisoning of a Russian ex-spy and his daughter on U.K. soil, White House press secretary Sarah Sanders declined to point the finger at Russia for the attack:
https://www.axios.com/white-house-wont-point-finger-at-russia-on-poisoning-of-ex-spy-cf57898a-5122-4bf8-a429-ee4a0856b8cb.html (https://www.axios.com/white-house-wont-point-finger-at-russia-on-poisoning-of-ex-spy-cf57898a-5122-4bf8-a429-ee4a0856b8cb.html)
She sold her soul to that orange-faced Devil, and all she got was to be press secretary?
Of course, that assumes she had a soul to sell. ... ::)
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Tillerson is OUT!! The crazy CIA guy from my State is IN, or will be soon.......hmmmm? Wonder how long he'll last? It's just a revolving DOOR in that WH!! I'm amazed that Kelly Conway and Sara Sanders are still there!! what's up with that? :o :o :o
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I was surprised to see that happen, but not at the same time. No one there seems to last very long. Isn't this like the 15th person to leave or be fired?
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With another on the way, maybe (V.A.)
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(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi176.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fw197%2Foilgun%2Ftrump-bingo-01_zpshedh9oco.jpg&hash=e883055e6bab5f021073ed1acceeaadc7c3ab22f)
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Ah, for that well-deserved X in the middle.
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Ok, this thread tends to be serious, and with good reason.
but perhaps it's time for a little comedy.
Most of you are familiar with or remember the action figure line for G.I. Joe, and his fellow soldiers in the war against COBRA.
In the UK, their G.I. Joe licensed copy is called Action Man, and recently Action Man has been used to advertise a business.
You've never seen G.I. Joe/Action Man move like this, and it's getting attention in the UK and here in the US.
:laugh: :laugh: :laugh:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PmSZX2kvfYc
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Fantastic!
Could you imagine the conniptions from the Religious Right if they tried that here?
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Ok, this thread tends to be serious, and with good reason.
but perhaps it's time for a little comedy.
Most of you are familiar with or remember the action figure line for G.I. Joe, and his fellow soldiers in the war against COBRA.
In the UK, their G.I. Joe licensed copy is called Action Man, and recently Action Man has been used to advertise a business.
You've never seen G.I. Joe/Action Man move like this, and it's getting attention in the UK and here in the US.
:laugh: :laugh: :laugh:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PmSZX2kvfYc
I LOVE it! I saw this yesterday and LMAO!!
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Ok, this thread tends to be serious, and with good reason.
but perhaps it's time for a little comedy.
Most of you are familiar with or remember the action figure line for G.I. Joe, and his fellow soldiers in the war against COBRA.
In the UK, their G.I. Joe licensed copy is called Action Man, and recently Action Man has been used to advertise a business.
You've never seen G.I. Joe/Action Man move like this, and it's getting attention in the UK and here in the US.
:laugh: :laugh: :laugh:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PmSZX2kvfYc
I still miss my G.I. Joes! Twelve inches of fun!
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That's brilliant! Try this one with Skeletor and He-Man doing Dirty Dancing I love Money Supermarket ads.. ;D
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-PgTjhx1VLw
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I still miss my G.I. Joes! Twelve inches of fun!
A couple of years ago I actually bought a "collectible" G.I. Joe in U.S. Marine Corps "dress blues."
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I can't believe this happened! When I first heard 45 talk about arming teachers, I never thought anything like this would ever happen. Who would ever have thought that someone in a school with a gun would fire it with students present! Unbelievable...(once again, why is there no sarcasm emoticon)
Teacher accidentally fires gun and injures student during safety lesson
Updated 10:26 AM ET, Wed March 14, 2018
(CNN)A teacher accidentally discharged a firearm while teaching a public safety class, injuring one student at a Northern California school on Tuesday, police said.
Dennis Alexander, who is Seaside City's mayor pro tem and a reserve officer with the Sand City Police Department, was teaching a lesson at Seaside High School in Seaside, California when he pointed his gun into the ceiling and accidentally fired it, said Abdul Pridgen, the city's police chief.
A 17-year-old student was injured by a bullet fragment or by debris that fell off the ceiling, Pridgen said.
The student's injuries appeared superficial and were not life threatening, police said.
Alexander has been placed on administrative leave from his teaching job, a spokesperson with the Monterey Peninsula Unified School District said.
"I think a lot of questions on parents' minds are, why a teacher would be pointing a loaded firearm at the ceiling in front of students," Superintendent PK Diffenbaugh told CNN affiliate KSBW. "Clearly in this incident protocols were not followed."
It's unclear why the teacher was displaying the firearm.
The shooting comes a day before students and teachers across the country participate on walk out to honor the 17 people killed at Stoneman Douglas and call for stricter gun control laws.
The student's father Fermin Gonzales said he understands that it was an accident but said that "somebody could have died."
"It's just so crazy, I can't believe it," he said.
Gonzales said Tuesday's incident changed his views about President Donald Trump's recent proposal to arm teachers.
"I was kinda leaning toward having armed people in school in case something happened. After today, I get why people say there should be no guns in schools," Gonzales said.
"If there's an accident -- people could die. If it's just one, that's more than enough," he added.
Guns in schools are illegal in California but there is an exception for peace officers or those granted specific permission.
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Imagine if it wasn't a "public safety class."
And LOL @ all the above humorous posts!
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I had on a news channel much of last night and it was enjoyable watching the special congressional election returns coming in from Pennsylvania all evening. There was a special election to replace the current Congressman, Tim Murphy, a hard line anti-abortion advocate when it got out that he was having an affair and urged the woman to...wait for it...get an abortion.
So, the district basically comprises three counties, one heavily Democratic and the most populated and two Republican counties. This Congressional District went for Trump, and Romney before him, by about 20 points. So the Democratic county's returns came in quickly and ran up the total for the Democrat, Conor Lamb, to about 60%-40% over the Republican, Caccone. It was said that the hope was this would be enough to offset the Republican votes from the other two counties. So all evening the vote total was getting closer and closer together until I went to bed at 2am and there was still several hundred votes that hadn't come in as absentee ballots were being counted. And this morning, with all the precincts reporting, here is the result:
Conor Lamb Democrat 113,813 49.8%
Rick Saccone Republican 113,186 49.6%
Drew Miller Libertarian 1,379 00.6%
228,378 votes, 100% reporting (593 of 593 precincts)
Conor Lamb leads by 0.3 percentage points, or just 627 votes, over Rick Saccone.
There are, however, provisional ballots to be counted--those ballots that need to be verified as registered voters for one reason or another, and a possible few dozen overseas military ballots. Conor Lamb is expected to stay on top after all this, but, of course, true to form, the Republicans are saying the Democrats were vote tampering in the Democratic county and accusing them of cheating because, you know, they just can't believe Democrats can win an election without resorting to cheating. I'm sure they'll accuse California illegal immigrants of taking buses to PA to vote there before it's all over.
Now, the kicker to this whole election, in which the Republican party put 10 million dollars into winning it and had Trump and Pence and Trump Jr. visiting the district to campaign for Saccone, is that, not only will this seat be held by whoever wins only until the next election in a few months, but that because of the state's new redistricting map mandated by the PA state Supreme Court (because the other map, drawn up by the Republicans, was unfair and illegal, and they were told to redraw the map, but they refused, so the state Supreme Court did it) ...the kicker is that this Congressional District won't even exist in the next election because of the new map of districts, so either of these who become the Congressman for a few months would have to file to run in a newly drawn district. And that has to be done by April 10th! What if this election isn't officially decided by then? Can you still put in the paperwork? I don't know, but it was a wild and expensive election for practically only "bragging rights" for a few months!
It was an entertaining evening, though.
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So, they think that Democratic voters are like their own?
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To add to Oilgun's Bingo Card (LOL!): The Departure Board Update
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.newscaststudio.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2018%2F03%2Fmaddow-departure-board-update.jpg&hash=4d61618cbead2940ac444b8af77cdb923fc4c55c)
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retweet
https://twitter.com/search?q=Justin+Blackman&ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Esearch
CNN)At 10 a.m. Wednesday, Justin Blackman got up from his desk and calmly walked out of Mr. Mendez's Spanish class. When he got outside, he discovered he was the only one.
Of the approximately 700 students at Wilson Preparatory Academy in Wilson, North Carolina, 16-year-old Justin was in a company of one during the national school walkout.
He was the only student at his school to walk out
He was the only student at his school to walk out 00:30
For 17 minutes, he said he stood by himself. He said he was disappointed no one joined him.
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An eerie hush descended on the grounds of Dunedin North Intermediate yesterday as hundreds of pupils filed in silence from their classrooms in a protest against gun violence.
The walk-out was led by 11-year-old Angus Fleming, with the school's permission, to also remember victims of a recent United States school shooting.
Similar walkouts were held at schools across the United States overnight (NZ time) with thousands of students taking part.
At 10am Angus rang the school bell and pupils and teachers left classrooms to form a giant circle on the sportsfield, with heads bowed for 17 minutes.
Each minute was for one of the 17 people who were killed in the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in Florida on February 14.
Angus said he saw a similar tribute on the internet, and was inspired to lead the protest as a show of solidarity with survivors of the shooting, who are campaigning for tighter gun controls in the United States.
"I talked about it at assembly and went round all the classes telling people what was happening."
The year 7 pupil said he agreed with the aims of survivors of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas shooting who had formed advocacy group "Never Again MSD'' to demand action on gun violence.
He hoped United States politicians would adopt similar gun legislation to New Zealand.
A good start would be an age limit of 21, a month-long cooling off period and mandatory training courses, he said.
Fellow year 7 pupil Oliver Thompson (11) echoed Angus' call for tighter gun control in the US, and said the protest served as a reminder of the relative safety New Zealanders enjoy.
"We have it really easy here,'' he said.
Year 8 pupil Birkita Ritchie (12) said she thought the moving vigil was a "really good idea.''
Principal Heidi Hayward said the protest had the school's full support, but staff took a hands-off approach and had no involvement in its organisation.
"It was just Angus,'' she said.
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how many will be fired?
At least one dead in pedestrian bridge collapse at university in Miami, authorities say
By Dakin Andone and Steve Almasy, CNN
Updated 4:10 PM ET, Thu March 15, 2018
(CNN)At least one person has died after a pedestrian bridge collapsed at Florida International University in Miami, according to Miami-Dade's mayor.
Six people were taken to the hospital as a result of the collapse, Mayor Carlos Gimenez told CNN affiliate WFOR during a live phone interview.
"There are eight vehicles that are trapped underneath as far as we know and we are going to try and get to them as quickly as we can," said Gimenez, who is in China on business.
The bridge's span was just installed Saturday, although construction on the structure was not finished.
https://www.cnn.com/2018/03/15/us/miami-bridge-collapse/index.html (https://www.cnn.com/2018/03/15/us/miami-bridge-collapse/index.html)
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I know we all like IHOP but boycott, this is ridiculous. Link to FB below to post a protest comment.
A waitress asked some black teens to prepay for their meal. A fellow diner wasn't having that
Doug Criss-Profile-Image
By Doug Criss, CNN
Updated 4:13 PM ET, Thu March 15, 2018
(CNN)An IHOP restaurant in Maine retrained its employees [IN COMMON HUMAN DECENCY??] after a waitress asked a group of black teens to prepay for a meal.
The eatery in Auburn, about 40 miles north of Portland, closed on Thursday for employee training and the waitress was disciplined, according to IHOP spokeswoman Stephanie Peterson.
The controversy started over the weekend after a waitress at the restaurant asked a group of black teenagers to pay for their meal beforehand.
This was witnessed by a person at a nearby table who wrote about it on Facebook.
https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=424601107976368&id=337137776722702 (https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=424601107976368&id=337137776722702)
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That is just reprehensible.
I don't eat at IHOP as their food is never good. But now I have another reason.
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Can't she be charged with felony assault of human decency?
A custodian takes advantage of National School Walkout and steals $180 from students' book bags
(CNN)While students in a South Carolina school participated in the National School Walkout this week, a custodian helped herself to their cash, police said.
The incident occurred at Richland Northeast High School on Wednesday.
Aisha Evans, a custodian at the school, went into a classroom while students were outside and rummaged through three book bags, the Richland County Sheriff's Department said.
In all, Evans stole $180, the department said.
The custodian was arrested soon afterward and charged with three counts of petty larceny.
Evans, 32, was employed by Service Solutions, an agency that provides custodial services to the district's school.
The agency terminated the woman, the school district told CNN affiliate WIS.
https://www.cnn.com/2018/03/16/us/custodian-steals-money-trnd/index.html (https://www.cnn.com/2018/03/16/us/custodian-steals-money-trnd/index.html)
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Link to FB below to post a protest comment.
Link isn't working. Must be too many comments!
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A custodian takes advantage of National School Walkout and steals $180 from students' book bags
Maybe that's why none of the other students wanted to join Justin Blackman for the walkout on Tuesday
in that other Carolina school?
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I can imagine the Religious Right proclaiming the custodian a hero for "protesting" those who walked out of class. They have been known to support crooks of various degrees.
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...because, you know, sometimes God chooses an imperfect person to deliver his message. ???
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And as an antidote to the loser who stole from the kids as they protested, this...
LA MARQUE, Texas - A young Waffle House waitress received a $16,000 scholarship after a photo of her helping an elderly customer went viral.
Evoni Williams, 18, was working at the Waffle House in La Marque, Texas, Saturday, when a customer asked her to help him cut his food.
“He was like, 'My hands are not functioning too well.' He needed me to cut his food. And I did," Williams said.
Williams, who is saving for college, didn't think twice about helping. While Williams cut the food, Laura Wolf, who was sitting nearby, snapped a photo and posted it on Facebook.
“It was so busy in here, and she actually took the time to stop and hear what he had to say instead of walking past him. That just meant something to me," Wolf told KHOU-TV.
Williams kind gesture went viral on social media, and on Thursday, it was returned with a big surprise.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2018/03/09/viral-photo-captures-heartwarming-moment-waffle-house-worker-helps-elderly-customer/409948002/ (https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2018/03/09/viral-photo-captures-heartwarming-moment-waffle-house-worker-helps-elderly-customer/409948002/)
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^^^^^^This is wonderful!!
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Yes indeed!
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Can't she be charged with felony assault of human decency?
A custodian takes advantage of National School Walkout and steals $180 from students' book bags
(CNN)While students in a South Carolina school participated in the National School Walkout this week, a custodian helped herself to their cash, police said.
The incident occurred at Richland Northeast High School on Wednesday.
Aisha Evans, a custodian at the school, went into a classroom while students were outside and rummaged through three book bags, the Richland County Sheriff's Department said.
In all, Evans stole $180, the department said.
The custodian was arrested soon afterward and charged with three counts of petty larceny.
Evans, 32, was employed by Service Solutions, an agency that provides custodial services to the district's school.
The agency terminated the woman, the school district told CNN affiliate WIS.
https://www.cnn.com/2018/03/16/us/custodian-steals-money-trnd/index.html (https://www.cnn.com/2018/03/16/us/custodian-steals-money-trnd/index.html)
I read on Towleroad today that two students from a school in rural Arkansas who participated in the national 17 minute walkout were punished by being paddled by their teacher. It was paddling or 2 days suspension from school.
I just really shake my head in disbelief at this world we live in. >:(
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Jesus God, can't United get this right?
One thing I hate about the owners of the German Shepherd that was flown to Japan - the dog is 10 years old, went through all that trauma and hours in the cargo hold, then the owners put him on CNN so they could get their 10 seconds of fame. There's a word for that...
United Airlines flight diverted after third pet incident in a week
(CNN)Already under scrutiny about a dog dying in an overhead bin and another dog being accidentally sent to Japan, United Airlines on Friday acknowledged its third animal-related mistake in a week.
A flight was diverted to Akron, Ohio, on Thursday after the airline realized a pet had been loaded onto the flight in error, airline spokeswoman Maggie Schmerin told CNN.
Flight 3996 was carrying 33 passengers from Newark, New Jersey, to St. Louis, but the pet was due to fly from New Jersey to Akron. United told CNN the unidentified animal was "safely delivered to its owner."
https://www.cnn.com/2018/03/16/us/united-airlines-pet-wrong-plane/index.html (https://www.cnn.com/2018/03/16/us/united-airlines-pet-wrong-plane/index.html)
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I also have to say to people, just because you like your pet, I don't see any reason
a person has to travel around with them. If you're too stressed out to fly on a plane,
don't fly on a plane. Your pussycat is probably just as stressed out on a plane as you are.
Someone took a photo of all the "comfort animals" people had on a flight they were on.
It looked like the petting zoo in San Diego.
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When I moved from CA to TX I brought both my cats in the cabin with me. It was arranged ahead of time, I paid, and they were in approved carriers...no problems whatsoever....they were mildly sedated, and I checked on them all the time.
A blog I no longer follow had a long post of how she took her dog in the cabin claiming it was an Emotional Support Animal. I concluded she did it to save herself time, trouble and money, so she's an idiot.
http://www.shemovedtotexas.com/flying-the-deaf-spaniel-crumudgeon-otherwise-known-as-traveling-with-a-large-emotional-service-animal/ (http://www.shemovedtotexas.com/flying-the-deaf-spaniel-crumudgeon-otherwise-known-as-traveling-with-a-large-emotional-service-animal/)
But to your point, Lyle, yes I totally agree. It's like people taking their dogs shopping, then leaving them in the car with the window cracked 1". I've left more than one note on windshields stating what I hope happens to them in the afterlife..........
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I remember not long ago a story of a person trying to bring an Emotional Support peacock on a plane.
Really? A peacock?
The flight declined to let the animal aboard, and the person didn't take their flight.
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Perhaps there is a solution to this.
According to what I've found online, United Airlines has approximately 4,500 flights a day across 5 continents.
Suppose they officially designate certain flights as "animal flights", meaning that people flying with animals (either pets due to moving or travel, or Emotional Support animals) would have specific flights. Other people who are not bothered by this issue are welcome to book those flights as well.
People who don't want to be bothered by animals, or have allergies, can have "animal-free" flights.
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When I moved from CA to TX I brought both my cats in the cabin with me. It was arranged ahead of time, I paid, and they were in approved carriers...no problems whatsoever....they were mildly sedated, and I checked on them all the time.
I'm certainly not trying to excuse the airline, but I am nosy about one thing: Has anybody heard or seen what sort of carrier that poor puppy was in?
I see people in my building with pets, especially cats, in carriers all the time. The carriers all seem to be what I would call the typical carriers, hard plastic with ventilation. But one day, I was on the bus going to work, and there was another passenger who was carrying what looked like a typical, soft gym bag, except it had mesh in the end. I thought the mesh was to allow sweaty gym clothes to dry out, but then I looked more closely, and I said to myself, "Omigod, there's a cat in there!"
I'd never seen a pet carrier like that one before, and I've never seen one like it since.
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I have often seen those soft carriers, they're mostly used for little pets. I guess they are just lighter and probably not so expensive.
I'm allergic to cats. Get asthma if I spend to much time near one. I don't know what I would do if someone sat near me with a cat in a plane, probably just change my seat, it seems easier for anyone than putting the poor animal in risk. By the way, I love cats, no antipathy toward them, it's just that I stop breathing when I am around them.
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this is the one I got for Emmett, his is red. They're so much better than the hard sided ones, especially for taking him to the vet. There's a narrow zipper opening, so I can get my hand in to pet him but too small for him to get out.
(https://i.pinimg.com/564x/ec/40/2b/ec402bb350ab28aae55f91bcb9b7754f.jpg)
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I have often seen those soft carriers, they're mostly used for little pets. I guess they are just lighter and probably not so expensive.
this is the one I got for Emmett, his is red. They're so much better than the hard sided ones, especially for taking him to the vet. There's a narrow zipper opening, so I can get my hand in to pet him but too small for him to get out.
(https://i.pinimg.com/564x/ec/40/2b/ec402bb350ab28aae55f91bcb9b7754f.jpg)
Thanks to you both for the info on the pet carriers. The one the gentleman had on the bus wasn't as "open" in the one in the picture. I didn't realize there was a cat in the carrier until it put its head near the opening.
I forgot to mention I saw the carrier moving before I noticed the cat! :o ;D I thought maybe he had a snake in his gym bag! :laugh:
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Better would be a snake in his gym shorts.
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Fritz! :laugh:
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Who, me? ;)
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Another bomb last night...
Austin explosions: Live updates
March 19, 2018 11:19am EDT
FBI agent says tripwire "changes things"
Christopher Combs, the FBI agent in charge, said the tripwire that apparently triggered last night's explosive device makes it "more sophisticated" than the other three package bombs.
"With this tripwire, this changes things," Combs said.
"It's more sophisticated, it's not targeted to individuals. We're very concerned that with tripwires, a child could be walking down a sidewalk and hit something," he added.
https://www.cnn.com/2018/03/19/us/austin-explosions-latest/index.html (https://www.cnn.com/2018/03/19/us/austin-explosions-latest/index.html)
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Google news said they suspect a "serial bomber" in the area.
Well, with four different explosions, isn't that obvious?
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Sounds like a unabomer at work, though the method and targets are quite different.
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another bomb exploded at a Fed Ex sorting facility in Shertz, about an hour south of Austin, the package was going to Austin.
3h
sanantonioFIRE
@saFIREorg
MAJOR INCIDENT SCHERTZ TEXAS AREA. This is what we have gathered unofficially:
Shortly after 12 midnight, a package destined for Austin, Tx detonated at the FedEx distribution facility located at 9935 Doerr Lane. The package was said to have contained nails and shrapnel.
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Update: 10:55 a.m.
San Antonio Chief of Police William McManus says there were two packages there were loaded with explosives at the Schertz FedEx facility; however, only one package detonated. The second package has since been removed from the facility.
McManus says with the NCCA Final Four Tournament coming to San Antonio in a few weeks, he's making sure the city is safe for visitors and residents.
"He [FBI special agent in charge] assured me they will have more than adequate resources here to make sure we don’t have an incident here -- they will be here in force, pending any other developments that may occur in this case between now and then," says McManus.
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San Antonio Chief of Police William McManus says there were two packages there were loaded with explosives at the Schertz FedEx facility; however, only one package detonated. The second package has since been removed from the facility.
Interesting. I have not heard mention of to whom any of the packages were addressed. I'm sure that must be a confidential part of the investigation.
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It's getting ridiculous. I hope they find whoever is responsible for these attacks very quickly!
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Hope they catch him more quickly than they did the shooter that plagued us over 15 years ago.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D.C._sniper_attacks
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Ugh, I remember that. I hope this maniac is caught much quicker.
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The problem with this bomber, if it is the same one, is that they are changing tactics. The first were packages that were left overnight at people's front doors, not using delivery services. Then two were set with trip wires, and now they are using delivery services. I would guess it is to keep law enforcement guessing and on their toes.
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Another device went off in Austin within the hour. This time an incendiary device at a Goodwill store that hurt an employee.
They really better get on top of this.
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Oh Jesus.
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Austin bombing suspect dead; I-35 shut down
ROUND ROCK, Texas (KEYE) - The suspect in a string of bombings that terrorized the city of Austin for the last three weeks is dead.
Austin Police Chief Brian Manley announced in a press conference early Wednesday morning that the suspect had killed himself after being encountered by police on Interstate 35 in Round Rock.
According to Manley, in the last 24 to 36 hours after multiple tips, a person of interest under investigation became a suspect -- a 24-year-old white man who has not yet been identified.
APD surveillance teams searched for the suspect, who located his vehicle at a hotel in Round Rock.
Manley says that as APD attempted to amass tactical vehicles in order to confront the suspect, the vehicle left the hotel.
Police followed the suspect's vehicle, which then pulled over into a ditch on I-35.
As SWAT officers approached the suspect's vehicle, the suspect detonated a bomb inside it, killing himself.
A SWAT officer, an 11-year veteran of the APD, fired on the suspect. That officer is now on administrative leave.
Manley says the incident that led to the suspect's death will be investigated by the Austin Police Monitor and the Texas Rangers.
President Donald Trump tweeted out congratulations early Wednesday morning, saying, "Great job by law enforcement and all concerned!"
Police still do not have a motive but urge the public to remain vigilant, as they don't know the suspect's whereabouts for the last 24 hours.
APD cautions more devices may be out there.
I-35 is expected to be closed for four to six hours during the investigation.
The five connected explosions killed two people and injured six others. They began March 2.
Surveillance video from the FedEx Office store on Brodie Lane in South Austin helped investigators zero in on the person of interest who is now reportedly dead.
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Awww, he killed himself. So sad.
::)
Good riddance to bad rubbish. I hope the people in the affected areas can now rest easy again, and my condolences out to the families of those who were killed by this person.
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Good that he slipped up and led the police to him. Hope there are no further packages lying in wait.
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I'm glad it's over...kudos to law enforcement.
(CNN)The clues were in the receipts.
As police in Austin, Texas, desperately searched for the person who had left explosive packages all over the city, killing two people, they realized that the bombs had something in common: they were being made from common household ingredients. So investigators hit the area's stores, scanning receipts and looking for clues.
"Agents fanned out throughout the city of Austin going to big box retail stores as well as locally owned stores trying to determine whether or not there were suspicious purchases," Tony Plohetski, an investigative reporter for the Austin American-Statesman, told CNN's "New Day." They were "going through receipts and going through sales records from those stores."
That worked. Plohetski said the search of the receipts provided investigators with "critical evidence."
They now had a person of interest: now identified as *****.
Federal search warrants were then used to get the man's IP address, which showed that he'd been making "suspicious" Google searches, Plohetski said.
Police also developed a sketch from witness interviews.
But the big break came when went to a FedEx store in south Austin and shipped an explosive device -- and the whole thing was captured on security video.
"Police say that they used that as the final piece to put all of this together, really in the past 24 hours," Plohetski said.
Convinced that this was their man, police worked quickly. Late Tuesday night they used cell phone technology to track ***** to a hotel in Round Rock, about 20 miles north of Austin, according to the American-Statesman. There, they spotted the vehicle witnesses had told investigators he was driving.
Police and federal agents surrounded the hotel but didn't move in immediately. Since they were dealing with a suspected serial bomber, they wanted backup.
"(We were) awaiting the arrival of our tactical teams because we wanted to have ballistic vehicles here so we could attempt to take this suspect into custody as safely as possible," Austin Police Chief Brian Manley said in a news conference early Wednesday.
They were still awaiting the arrival of those teams when, some time later, ***** took off in his vehicle. Police followed him as he drove on the service road along I-35, whizzing by the various restaurants, gas stations and hotels. Then the vehicle came to a stop in a ditch. A SWAT team cautiously approached.
Boom! ***** detonated a device inside his vehicle. The blast from the explosion knocked down and injured one officer, while another fired a shot at the suspect.
*****, who suffered "significant injuries," died in the blast.
"This is the culmination of three very long weeks in our community," Manley said. But he stressed the city's nightmare may not be over.
He urged residents to remain vigilant, saying they don't know where ***** has been for the past 24 hours and if he may have sent additional packages.
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McDougal says she was intimate with Trump 'many dozens' of times
Washington (CNN)Karen McDougal confirmed to CNN in an interview on Thursday that she had a 10-month sexual relationship with Donald Trump before he was President, saying they were together "many dozens of times."
"I can tell you we saw each other a minimum five times a month, up to bigger numbers per month," the former Playboy model told CNN's Anderson Cooper.
The happy couple yesterday...and no, I don't feel sorry for Melania. She knew who and what he was when she married him, and she wanted the money.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DY5djSuWsAE1E_H.jpg:large)
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Thank God...did I mention that I hate, loathe and despise BDeV
Congress blocks DeVos agenda in spending bill
Washington (CNN)Some significant proposals championed by Education Secretary Betsy DeVos and President Donald Trump were rejected in the $1.3 trillion spending bill that's making its way through Congress.
DeVos and Trump proposed a budget that would have cut the Education Department's budget by $3.6 billion and funneled more than $1 billion toward private school vouchers and other school choice plans.
But lawmakers rejected a number of those proposals, including slashing funding for the department's Office for Civil Rights, halving federal work study programs and spending $250 million on a private school choice program.
https://www.cnn.com/2018/03/22/politics/congress-betsy-devos-spending-bill/index.html (https://www.cnn.com/2018/03/22/politics/congress-betsy-devos-spending-bill/index.html)
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Thank God...did I mention that I hate, loathe and despise BDeV
And someone else to despise: John Bolton, Trump's choice for the fired H.R. McMaster.
Bolton is going to be the NSA Advisor? In an office right next to Trump's in the Oval Office?
And he doesn't need a House or Senate confirmation? G.W.B. chose him to be ambassador
to the U.N. and Congress wouldn't approve it with both Republicans and Democrats voting
against him, but Bush got him in through a recess appointment which allowed him to be
installed. It didn't go well. And, throughout the election campaign in 2016 I'd often see an
article written by John Bolton. The guy is as looney as Trump is. He's a war monger. He
will accentuate Trump's worst instincts. He is not, as the NSA person is supposed to be,
someone without an agenda and guide the president to make the best decisions. This is
potentially, among the lists and lists of worst things, the worst thing Trump has done yet.
And now we hear that Trump doesn't think he needs a Chief of Staff anymore. He thinks he
can do it without anyone. You know: "I alone can fix it."
The fix is in.
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T will no doubt get us in a war to divert attention from all of his problems.
Hope even Republicans will see through the ruse.
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T will no doubt get us in a war to divert attention from all of his problems.
Hope even Republicans will see through the ruse.
Nope the republicans are blind when it comes to pumpkin head.
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And someone else to despise: John Bolton, Trump's choice for the fired H.R. McMaster.
Bolton is going to be the NSA Advisor? In an office right next to Trump's in the Oval Office?
And he doesn't need a House or Senate confirmation? G.W.B. chose him to be ambassador
to the U.N. and Congress wouldn't approve it with both Republicans and Democrats voting
against him, but Bush got him in through a recess appointment which allowed him to be
installed. It didn't go well. And, throughout the election campaign in 2016 I'd often see an
article written by John Bolton. The guy is as looney as Trump is. He's a war monger. He
will accentuate Trump's worst instincts. He is not, as the NSA person is supposed to be,
someone without an agenda and guide the president to make the best decisions. This is
potentially, among the lists and lists of worst things, the worst thing Trump has done yet.
And now we hear that Trump doesn't think he needs a Chief of Staff anymore. He thinks he
can do it without anyone. You know: "I alone can fix it."
The fix is in.
Yeah, Bolton is scaring the shit out of the talking heads on CNN. All the guest "speculators" they have on just keep saying how scary he is, how he's pushing 45 toward possible war, etc...
And when 45 signed the budget today, there was $3b for the wall...but isn't Mexico paying for it?
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And someone else to despise: John Bolton, Trump's choice for the fired H.R. McMaster.
Bolton is going to be the NSA Advisor? In an office right next to Trump's in the Oval Office?
And he doesn't need a House or Senate confirmation? G.W.B. chose him to be ambassador
to the U.N. and Congress wouldn't approve it with both Republicans and Democrats voting
against him, but Bush got him in through a recess appointment which allowed him to be
installed. It didn't go well. And, throughout the election campaign in 2016 I'd often see an
article written by John Bolton. The guy is as looney as Trump is. He's a war monger. He
will accentuate Trump's worst instincts. He is not, as the NSA person is supposed to be,
someone without an agenda and guide the president to make the best decisions. This is
potentially, among the lists and lists of worst things, the worst thing Trump has done yet.
And now we hear that Trump doesn't think he needs a Chief of Staff anymore. He thinks he
can do it without anyone. You know: "I alone can fix it."
The fix is in.
We're doomed. Doomed. ...
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Randazza: Scottish comedian's Nazi salute dog video was awful. But it wasn't a crime
By Marc Randazza
Editor's note: Marc J. Randazza is a First Amendment attorney and managing partner of the Randazza Legal Group. Follow him on Twitter @marcorandazza, and read his academic publications here. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of the author.
Updated 6:47 PM ET, Thu March 22, 2018
(CNN)A Scottish comedian was literally convicted of a crime for making a joke.
Mark Meechan, of Coatbridge, Lanarkshire, was found guilty in Airdrie Sheriff Court of a "hate crime" on Monday. His "hate crime?" His girlfriend constantly annoyed him by saying how cute her dog was. He wanted to annoy her back, so he filmed himself teaching her little pug, Buddha, to raise his paw any time he said "Sieg Heil." He also put the dog in front of a TV playing Adolf Hitler speaking at the 1936 Olympics and asked the dog, "Do you want to gas the Jews?"
Meechan posted the video on YouTube with the title "M8 Yer Dugs a Nazi," -- Scottish for "mate, your dog is a Nazi." At the end of the video, he clearly says that he is not racist, but just wanted to annoy his girlfriend.
Sheriff Derek O'Carroll said in court: "The accused knew that the material was offensive and knew why it was offensive. He would have known it was grossly offensive to many Jewish people."
Certainly, it is offensive to many people ("It is grossly offensive. It stuns me that anyone should think it is a joke," Ephraim Borowski, director of the Scottish Council of Jewish Communities, told the court).
But in a society that reveres free speech, that has to be beside the point.
The best humor is transgressive. From Lenny Bruce to George Carlin to Dave Chappelle to Sarah Silverman to Chris Rock, the best humorists have used that rich spice shaved off from the fruit of painful or taboo subjects to craft their humorous commentary.
Whether it is about the cuteness of a pug, or how foolish Hitler himself may look when addressing a canine audience, humor and discomfort must often hold hands. Break that bond and we are left with third grade knock-knock jokes and "take my wife, please" level humor.
Despite hearing from Meechan that the video was merely a joke, and he had no intent to offend anyone (aside from his poor girlfriend), he was found guilty of "being grossly offensive," which is a violation of Section 127 of the UK Communications Act, which prohibits "grossly offensive, indecent, obscene, or menacing" electronic communications.
In a free country, the worst punishment would likely be his girlfriend yelling at him. But this happened in the United Kingdom, a place where political correctness has completely run amok. Because his actions "caused offense," he now faces up to six months in prison.
It can't happen here on this side of the Atlantic, you say? You would be wrong. Our neighbors to the north in Canada have certainly caught this loathsome disease. What we should all call "protected speech" has resulted in prosecution. For example, Canadian political gadfly Ezra Levant republished "Mohammed cartoons," in Canada after they sparked unrest in Europe.
Levant stated that since the cartoons were newsworthy, it was his right to republish them. However, in 2006 he faced a complaint before the Alberta Human Rights Commission for doing so. (The case drew wide press coverage; the head of the Islamic Supreme Council of Canada ultimately dropped the complaint.)
Could the United States descend into such madness? Not under the First Amendment, as I interpret it. However, this kind of craziness does not collectively spread over society all at once -- it comes to us incrementally. And, we are moving in the wrong direction -- if you think less freedom is the "wrong direction."
Had Meechan been a college student in the United States, it is a virtual certainty that he would have been disciplined. College administrators, under the shroud of "intersectionality," regularly discipline students for less.
I, myself, was once accused of "hate speech" at the University of Massachusetts for putting up a poster from the punk band the Dead Kennedys -- wherein there was a swastika with a red circle and a line through it. Forget that the symbol over the swastika is the universal symbol for "anti" -- someone was offended, and that was all that was required.
Our online public squares are no less subject to such arbitrary stupidity. Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube have all become increasingly bold in their efforts to suppress speech that someone there decides is "offensive." However, there is little predictability or logic to their decisions, and they have long appeared to tilt toward protecting liberal speech while suppressing conservatives.
This does not have the same chilling effect as criminal prosecution for "offensiveness." However, it has perhaps a stronger effect upon the marketplace of ideas. Meechan may be held up as an example, a warning to others that they should avoid being "offensive." However, our Silicon Valley internet overlords use the same nebulous thinking and the same censorious desires to flush ideas they think they do not like.
You might say "so what?" You might think that "offensive" speech is of low value, so who wanted it anyway? However, if you don't believe in protecting "offensive" speech, you don't believe in protecting speech at all. What you deem "offensive" could be "humorous" to someone else. And what you find valuable, can very easily wind up on someone else's "offensive" list.
With our growing tolerance for intolerance, I fear, UK-style prosecutions may be on the horizon for us. Even without them, the forces of censorship may simply make them unnecessary by suppressing all speech that someone might whine about.
I, for one, have never seen fit to teach a dog to do a Nazi salute. I am pleased that I live in a country where such foolishness is allowed. However, I fear that with a growing vocal minority screaming for freedom from freedom, that allowance may be coming to a practical end.
My beliefs can stand, steadfast, in opposition to a Sieg Heil pug named Buddha -- or worse. If yours cannot, then it may be you who is the offensive one.
https://www.cnn.com/2018/03/22/opinions/teaching-girlfriends-dog-the-nazi-salute-not-a-crime-randazza/index.html (https://www.cnn.com/2018/03/22/opinions/teaching-girlfriends-dog-the-nazi-salute-not-a-crime-randazza/index.html)
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Aftermath of the French supermarket siege. Such a brave man.
Arnaud Beltrame: French police 'hero' dies of wounds http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-43525267 (http://Arnaud Beltrame: French police 'hero' dies of wounds http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-43525267)
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Oh. last I heard he was still in the hospital. Sad.
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(You know, I can't even write the word sad anymore without the orange buffoon's
voice creeping into my head. I almost changed the word in my above post, but I won't
give in. And it is very sad.)
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Randazza: Scottish comedian's Nazi salute dog video was awful. But it wasn't a crime
By Marc Randazza
Editor's note: Marc J. Randazza is a First Amendment attorney and managing partner of the Randazza Legal Group. Follow him on Twitter @marcorandazza, and read his academic publications here. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of the author.
Updated 6:47 PM ET, Thu March 22, 2018
(CNN)A Scottish comedian was literally convicted of a crime for making a joke.
Mark Meechan, of Coatbridge, Lanarkshire, was found guilty in Airdrie Sheriff Court of a "hate crime" on Monday. His "hate crime?" His girlfriend constantly annoyed him by saying how cute her dog was. He wanted to annoy her back, so he filmed himself teaching her little pug, Buddha, to raise his paw any time he said "Sieg Heil." He also put the dog in front of a TV playing Adolf Hitler speaking at the 1936 Olympics and asked the dog, "Do you want to gas the Jews?"
Convicted of a crime? That is pretty outrageous. Isn't that what Ernst Lubitsch and Charlie Chaplin and so many more were doing in their times, making light of Hitler and showing him to be a buffoon? There is a joke like that in every Mel Brooks movie. It's also what comedians do every night to Donald Trump. And you might recall that one of them got in a lot of hot water and banned from the airwaves, Kathy Griffin, until Bill Maher had her on his program recently, for going what was deemed too far.
But convicted of a crime? I don't even think the video is "awful," as Randazza writes. (Though I haven't seen it at all and maybe some of it is, but the idea described is not.)
I will always give comedians some slack with their outrageousness. A comedian first and foremost wants to make people laugh and they often will push the envelope to do that, or even blast it open. It doesn't always work and an audience will be the judge. But people that want to find offense in every little thing has gone too far. Of course, nowadays youtube and other social media often magnifies something that in the past would've been only seen or heard by a small number of people. A comedian could adjust to that, but now it's all out in the open. Instead of taking THAT into account, people want to jump on it all and cry outrage.
Personally, I find this comedian's idea of a "Nazi dog" giving the salute when he says "Sieg Heil" very amusing. And it was to annoy his girlfriend. I even chuckled reading it. Frankly, it's absurdity at it's best. A dog is not a Nazi, people, this is amusing. But on the other hand, watching the speech and asking the dog if he wants to gas the Jews, well, I don't find that particularly funny. So what. Bottom line, I do not think the comedian is a Nazi or supporting any such ideology nor should have been convicted of any crime. People that do support Nazi ideology ARE NOT FUNNY. How many Nazi comedians were there? Or comedians now in North Korea, Russia, Cuba, Iran etc.? You have to have "freedom" to be a comedian. There has to be an atmosphere of allowance, enlightenment and understanding. Our most successful President's have had a sense of humor. Who in any capacity in the current administration, or the current Republican party for that matter, has a sense of humor? Any time you see a photo of any of them they look like they're having a mug shot taken.
I saw a movie back in the 1990's and Danny DeVito was in it. I cannot remember the name of the movie, but in one scene a child character went out trick or treating. The first time we see him in his costume is when a doorbell is rung and the POV is from inside the house and the neighbor opens the door to see the child standing there dressed up in full Nazi regalia. It was so absurd that I laughed out loud. The rest of the theatre was aghast and you could hear a pin drop as I glanced sideways and saw people glaring at me as though I committed a crime. Or as though I support anything to do with Nazi's or the like. I was really surprised that no one else thought this was absurd and amusing. And let's think about this. If I did believe in Nazi ideals, would I have laughed at this? I don't know, I never think laughter is a bad thing. The saying that there is truth in humor is because it can be enlightening. I remember some straight person asking someone (decades ago) why are alot of gay people so funny? A gay person replied that when people are laughing around you they aren't beating you up.
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A gay person replied that when people are laughing around you they aren't beating you up.
Lily Tomlin had a line in one of her stage shows I've always liked:
"Have you ever seen someone actually laughing all the way to the bank?"
What I quoted made me think: Have you ever seen two people laughing while they are fighting each other?
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I'm reminded of the quote
“The great Gaels of Ireland are the men that God made mad,
For all their wars are merry, and all their songs are sad.”
― G.K. Chesterton, The Ballad of the White Horse
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Vanity Fair has an article by Dave Cullen about the Florida high school protesters working to propel #NEVERAGAIN beyond the march tomorrow.
https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2018/03/inside-the-secret-meme-lab-designed-to-propel-neveragain-beyond-the-march?mbid=nl_CH_5ab54d2c96e05b53bfb908b0&CNDID=20771719&spMailingID=13183418&spUserID=MjUxMzAzNzY4MDk0S0&spJobID=1362160621&spReportId=MTM2MjE2MDYyMQS2
The link didn't work for me with IE, but does with Chrome.
Larry OregonDoggie provided the link.
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(You know, I can't even write the word sad anymore without the orange buffoon's
voice creeping into my head. I almost changed the word in my above post, but I won't
give in. And it is very sad.)
Synonyms for sad:
unhappy, sorrowful, dejected, depressed, downcast, miserable, down, despondent, despairing, disconsolate, desolate, wretched, glum, gloomy, doleful, dismal, melancholy, mournful, woebegone, forlorn, crestfallen, heartbroken, inconsolable.
You can rest assured pumpkin head would never use the above words........they are too long, if he even has heard of them.
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Aftermath of the French supermarket siege. Such a brave man.
Arnaud Beltrame: French police 'hero' dies of wounds http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-43525267 (http://Arnaud Beltrame: French police 'hero' dies of wounds http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-43525267)
Terrible news!
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Massive Turnouts for the March For Our Lives movement.
Aerial shot of DC, where it's estimated that more than half a million people showed up to march.
(https://www.gannett-cdn.com/-mm-/43b0aedf3ba571fb47922a16d83621fcc5b20658/c=294-0-4890-3456&r=x408&c=540x405/local/-/media/2018/03/24/USATODAY/USATODAY/636574917834728186-AP-Student-Gun-Protests.1.jpg)
More pics and videos can be seen here, of turn outs around the world, including Austin - Texas, Berlin - Germany, Paris - France, Chicago - Illinois, and Parkland - Florida.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2018/03/24/aerial-images-around-world-shows-scope-march-our-lives/455891002/
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Good. A lot more than for Trump, though I'm sure he and his idolaters and the ammosexuals will say it's all fake.
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I've always said (usually accompanied by derisive laughter from whoever I was speaking to) that FB is a conspiracy, which is why I refuse to use it. I downloaded my data - hardly anything - but this person had a different experience.
I downloaded 14 years of my Facebook data and here's what happened
by Sara Ashley O'Brien @saraashleyo
March 24, 2018: 4:07 PM ET
Facebook has an impeccable memory.
After downloading my stored data on the site — I've been a member since 2004 — I was presented with an enormous amount of personal details that have been collected about me over the years.
It had the phone number of my late grandmother who never had a Facebook account, or even an email address. It preserved the conversations I had with an ex-- someone with whom I thought I had deleted my digital ties. It even recalled times I was "poked," a feature I had forgotten about. I also learned that Kate Spade New York and MetLife have me on their advertiser lists.
Staring at the data was not only creepy but it drudged up painful memories.
After the news broke last week that data firm Cambridge Analytica accessed information from 50 million Facebook users without their knowledge, I wanted to know more about what information Facebook has on me.
By visiting the Settings page, I clicked an option to download a copy of my data at the bottom of the general account section.
http://money.cnn.com/2018/03/24/technology/facebook-data/index.html (http://money.cnn.com/2018/03/24/technology/facebook-data/index.html)
eta: if Cambridge Analytica accessed my data, they would find that I like cat videos...
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Vanity Fair has an article by Dave Cullen about the Florida high school protesters working to propel #NEVERAGAIN beyond the march tomorrow.
https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2018/03/inside-the-secret-meme-lab-designed-to-propel-neveragain-beyond-the-march?mbid=nl_CH_5ab54d2c96e05b53bfb908b0&CNDID=20771719&spMailingID=13183418&spUserID=MjUxMzAzNzY4MDk0S0&spJobID=1362160621&spReportId=MTM2MjE2MDYyMQS2
The link didn't work for me with IE, but does with Chrome.
Larry OregonDoggie provided the link.
Thank you for this link. :)
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Convicted of a crime? That is pretty outrageous. Isn't that what Ernst Lubitsch and Charlie Chaplin and so many more were doing in their times, making light of Hitler and showing him to be a buffoon? There is a joke like that in every Mel Brooks movie. It's also what comedians do every night to Donald Trump. And you might recall that one of them got in a lot of hot water and banned from the airwaves, Kathy Griffin, until Bill Maher had her on his program recently, for going what was deemed too far.
Thanks for your reply, Lyle, I was hoping to get some input on this story. And I agree with what you wrote...there will always be someone who is offended by something said or written or videoed, and we continue to have these things parsed and dictated by the majority, as they interpret the 1st amendment to suit their views...
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oh for god's sake...
Former Sen. Rick Santorum (R-PA) criticizes the March for Our Lives rallies, saying kids should "take CPR classes" instead of "looking to someone else to solve their problems."
Source: CNN
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I've always said (usually accompanied by derisive laughter from whoever I was speaking to) that FB is a conspiracy, which is why I refuse to use it. I downloaded my data - hardly anything - but this person had a different experience.
Every time I get sick and tired of being, essentially, ridiculed by friends because I'm NOT on Facebook and decide that, finally, I should sign up, I hear something horrible like this latest scandal. I'm hoping this might turn out to be a case, for me, of "He who laughs last. ..."
Of course Facebook is a conspiracy, designed for no other purpose than to make Mark Zuckerberg stinking rich.
All tech is a conspiracy. Jobs, Gates, et al. invented stuff without which the world got along just fine until they came along. They invented these fancy toys, seduced us all into becoming dependent on them, and then continued to invent new fancy toys that everyone MUST have in order to make themselves even more stinking rich.
Yes, I'm perfectly aware that without them and their toys I wouldn't be participating in this conversation.
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eta: if Cambridge Analytica accessed my data, they would find that I like cat videos...
They would get such an odd mix from me, they wouldn't know what to think about it!
:laugh:
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:laugh: :laugh: :laugh:
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I'm posting the link to the rest of the story in case anyone's interested, but I really wish they'd stop putting the killer's picture in their stories. It seems like the local TV news was even worse, leaving his picture up, full size, as they talked over it...playing into the hands of other losers like him hoping for fame through murder.
The Austin bomber called himself a 'psychopath' in his confession video
Austin, Texas (CNN)Days after the Austin bomber blew himself up as police closed in, investigators are no closer to answering the question nearly everyone in the community is asking: Why?
Investigators searching for a potential motive are relying on *****'s own words from a 25-minute recording he made hours before he was confronted by a SWAT team early Wednesday.
In the cellphone recording, [the murderer] refers to himself as a "psychopath" and shows no contrition for carrying out a nearly three-week-long bombing spree that left two people dead and spread fear across the city.
https://www.cnn.com/2018/03/25/us/austin-bombings-investigation/index.html (https://www.cnn.com/2018/03/25/us/austin-bombings-investigation/index.html)
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17 year old victim Draylen Mason was a talented student and bass player accepted into the selective Butler School of Music at the University of Texas at Austin.
Mason was the "most remarkable talent in a most remarkable youth orchestra program called Austin Sound Waves," said Doug Dempster, dean of the College of Fine Arts at UT Austin, KXAN reported.
The Austin Sound Waves program offers free music instruction to artistically underserved children.
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.star-telegram.com%2Fnews%2Fstate%2Ftexas%2F1cilcs%2Fpicture206518964%2FALTERNATES%2FFREE_640%2FDraylenMason&hash=245f541eda8b4060a688e883a1a418651ea18134)
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Reserved And Resilient, Bombing Victim Anthony Stephan House Had Agreed To Mentor Kids This Summer
Anthony Stephan House hugs his daughter, then 2
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fmediad.publicbroadcasting.net%2Fp%2Fkut%2Ffiles%2Fstyles%2Flarge%2Fpublic%2F201803%2FHouse4.jpg&hash=54b993ec1ffeb9ff372de2c8fce7c84a41471ec9)
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oh for god's sake...
Former Sen. Rick Santorum (R-PA) criticizes the March for Our Lives rallies, saying kids should "take CPR classes" instead of "looking to someone else to solve their problems."
Source: CNN
Is Rick still crying out for attention? Is there still a place for Rick in national conversations? What a doofus.
After being in Government so many years, does Rick not know that's why we elect politicians--to serve us? That we look to politicians to do our bidding? Isn't that why religious people like Rick pray to God? Or does Rick do this: "Dear God, I pray for...oh never mind, I'll take CPR classes." No "Stronger Together" for Rick, I guess, it's all "I alone can fix it." As I Said in another post this week: The fix is in.
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(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.latimes.com%2Fresizer%2FdQOh1d7PtlrWagTohfXO-OYalJM%3D%2F1400x0%2Farc-anglerfish-arc2-prod-tronc.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2FTUWLWU2VRRB5NODO6X7E7ODKFU.jpg&hash=0e750406abd49ae77f980af22450f0d8b6161ced)
Our weather cleared up for a beautiful partly cloudy day to march in Los Angeles yesterday! If what I saw in person and on the news yesterday doesn't give us hope for the younger generation, I don't know what will. There are a lot of amazing "kids" out there. I'm afraid my feet weren't going to cooperate for a long march in Downtown L.A. this time, but my own neighborhood, West Hollywood, had a gathering and short march near San Vicente and the West Hollywood Sheriff's Office in a show of support for the world-wide "March for Our Lives" movement. There was a feeling of so much energy out in the ether yesterday. Some of that may have been due to the weather--it was the first weekend of this month that it was sunnier and not raining! (No complaints from me about that.)
The L.A.P.D. tweeted out just after the huge march downtown:
"LAPD reports no arrests Saturday at the March for Our Lives rally downtown and there were only 3 medical-related calls during the march and only one reported suspicious package, which was quickly deemed personal property. That is what we like to call, SUCCESS! This truly is the City of Angels. Enjoy the rest of your weekend L.A.!"
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Meanwhile:
National Rifle Association: The leading national group promoting gun rights.
From their NRA-TV program said:
"March For Our Lives is backed by radicals with a history of violent threats, language and actions."
So Politifact did some fact checking and found the NRA to be (surprise) LYING!
Politifact's rating on their lying:
(https://dhpikd1t89arn.cloudfront.net/rating_images/politifact/tom-pof.png)
It's just the NRA shooting off their mouth again. Sad.
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I don't know if I'll watch the Stormy Daniels interview on 60 MINUTES tonight, as I will hear all about it at some point anyway, I'm just glad for anything that's a thorn in the President's side. I mean, how can ANYONE be surprised by any of this? And if one doesn't care about any of it then they don't care about the country.
ABC reports that Donald Trump has referred to stories around his alleged affair with adult film star Stormy Daniels as a 'political hoax,' a friend of the president said.
Sad.
I love Stormy Daniels' lawyer because he is doing what Trump does. He's fighting back ten-fold at everything Trump and associates throw out there and, of course, that's Trump's model: "If they hit you, you hit them back ten times harder."
So, her lawyer tweeted out:
Michael Avenatti
@MichaelAvenatti
You are correct. Ms. Clifford's claims are yet another "hoax" - similar to other infamous "hoaxes" like the moon landing, 9/11, etc. Is this, along with claims that I worked on some campaigns 25 yrs ago, the best you guys can come upon with to discredit us? #basta
_______________
People are wondering, since anytime potentially damaging information comes out about Trump he tries to pre-emptively distract with some other news, like pardoning Joe Arpaio or announcing tariffs or other things, what he might be planning for this afternoon?
We shall see.
Trump reminds me of another Lily Tomlin line from her monologue about what things worry her:
"I worry that the person who thought up Musak, might be thinking up something else."
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The cover of the March 26 New Yorker is a cartoon of Pumpkin Head standing naked behind a lectern, which strikes me as funny only because early last week I was, seriously, asking myself, When will somebody stand up and say that the Emperor has no clothes?
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Another article by Dave Cullen on the march.
https://www.vanityfair.com/style/2018/03/how-one-parkland-survivor-experienced-the-march-on-washington?mbid=nl_CH_5ab56ee921bdcb46d35896fa&CNDID=20771719&spMailingID=13190773&spUserID=MjUxMzAzNzY4MDk0S0&spJobID=1362306730&spReportId=MTM2MjMwNjczMAS2
Link provided by Larry OregonDoggie.
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I was watching the march yesterday with my 13 year old girl (cos, Ariana Grande, you know) and she complained that there was nothing like that here in Germany. Well, I said to her she should be happy knowing that she can go to school without metal detectors, armed guards and with a 99,99% chance that nobody will walk in in her class with an AR-15. The march was really moving, those kids are amazing, and if I was 20 years younger I would have a huge crush on Emma Gonzalez. I hope they managed to change things, they really look determined to do it.
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Yes. They are our greatest hope.
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The cover of the March 26 New Yorker is a cartoon of Pumpkin Head standing naked behind a lectern, which strikes me as funny only because early last week I was, seriously, asking myself, When will somebody stand up and say that the Emperor has no clothes?
A whole bunch of people were trying to do just that during 2016.
I had to find that cover to see what it looked like. I won't disgust anyone that doesn't want to be,
so here's a link to the photo only.
https://media.newyorker.com/photos/5aaaff629145c42a9857d4b5/master/w_649,c_limit/NY180326_CVNsRGB.jpg
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While looking for that cover I saw two other New Yorker covers that I hadn't seen before.
There's so few newsstands around anymore that one used to be able to see magazine covers
all the time, like a contemporary art exhibit. Now they have to be pointed out to you by someone
else. (Thanks, Jeff.)
Anyway, here's the other two of note, to me anyway:
This one was from way back in Feb. 2016, before the unthinkable became more unthinkable.
(https://bobbiblogger.files.wordpress.com/2016/01/feb-1-the-new-yorker.jpg)
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And this one is when the more unthinkable happened:
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.magazine.org%2Fsites%2Fdefault%2Ffiles%2FNew%2520Yorker%2520-%2520Best%2520News%2520and%2520Politics%2520-%2520Entry%25201-26.jpg&hash=bc21ccebc09411ebf3b2aa58431c52641c1cf7ee)
Though the date on the cover was "after" the election, the issue came out "before" the election. The New Yorker writes:
The genius of this cover, which was on newsstands the week of the election, was that 'it’ll apply next week, whether it’s
one [candidate] or the other,' according to Barry Blitt, the artist behind it. 'And it’s nice to take a break and not have to
draw Trump—or Hillary, for that matter,' he said."
P.S.: The same artist did this one that did the one Jeff posted about.
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The cover of the March 26 New Yorker is a cartoon of Pumpkin Head standing naked behind a lectern, which strikes me as funny only because early last week I was, seriously, asking myself, When will somebody stand up and say that the Emperor has no clothes?
This isn't going to surprise a n y o n e, but FOX news aka TRUMP-TV, is running stories about this cover complaining that it body shames the President. How cute, that TRUMP-TV thinks the fake president could feel shame about anything.
-
damn, the New Yorker is $8.99 a copy?
I find the other stuff outrageous, too...
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Yes. They are our greatest hope.
Anyone else find themselves currently very nervous and frightened for the well-being of Emma Gonzalez and the other youth activists?
I'm not (only) thinking about all the angry men with loads of guns out there, but also about the young activists' physical and mental wellbeing in general. They've just been through a massive trauma, have suddenly been pitched into the whole world's spotlight, seem to be everywhere all the time advocating for gun control in so many ways, organizing huge events, simultaneously countering vicious verbal attacks (when do they sleep?) So many people want a piece of them... They must be EXHAUSTED. And they're just teens.
I spent some time reading the comments to several of Emma's tweets, and although she gets a lot of praise and support and many of the worst people stay away from her tweets (and rather comment on her elsewhere, in the most derogatory, insulting ways), I can't help wondering what it must be like to stand tall in the deluge of all the online and media venom out there while, at the same time, so many people lets her know that they hope she'll manage the near-impossible.
I wish them all the best and I really do hope they take time out when needed, surrounded by people who know them and love them.
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This isn't going to surprise a n y o n e, but FOX news aka TRUMP-TV, is running stories about this cover complaining that it body shames the President. How cute, that TRUMP-TV thinks the fake president could feel shame about anything.
But he would get very angry if you said that something of his wasn't bigger than Little Rocket Man's. ...
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surely there's a better way...
Here's why 84 male figures are standing on the edges of London rooftops
By Mercedes Leguizamon and Brandon Griggs, CNN
March 26, 2018
(CNN)If they looked up, passersby in central London on Monday got a strange and unsettling sight: 84 men, standing silently on the rooftops of office towers as if they were about to leap to their deaths.
Except these men aren't actually human. They are life-size sculptures, placed there to raise awareness about suicide.
The sculptures were installed overnight as part of Project 84, an idea made possible by American street artist Mark Jenkins and the Campaign against Living Miserably, or CALM, a charity focused on preventing suicide, which it says is the single biggest killer of men under 45 in the UK.
The sculptures represent the 84 men who commit suicide, on average, each week in the UK. CALM says three in four suicide victims are men.
https://edition.cnn.com/2018/03/26/world/london-sculptures-project-84-suicide-trnd/index.html (https://edition.cnn.com/2018/03/26/world/london-sculptures-project-84-suicide-trnd/index.html)
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A whole bunch of people were trying to do just that during 2016.
I had to find that cover to see what it looked like. I won't disgust anyone that doesn't want to be,
so here's a link to the photo only.
https://media.newyorker.com/photos/5aaaff629145c42a9857d4b5/master/w_649,c_limit/NY180326_CVNsRGB.jpg
He'll just use it as a sex toy when he has his next affair with a porn star.
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Suspicious Packages Found at Several Military Installations in D.C. Area
The military is investigating suspicious packages with apparent explosive components at several U.S. military installations in the Washington, D.C., area Monday, a law enforcement official said.
The National Defense University at Ft. McNair in D.C. received a suspicious package about 8:30 a.m., and the building was evacuated.
The package tested positive for black powder, according to Ft. McNair. An X-ray showed what appeared to be GPS and a fuse. It was rendered safe and the building was cleared about 1:15 p.m. The components are being investigated.
A suspicious package sent to Ft. Belvoir in Virginia Monday afternoon contained liquid in a vial and a circuit board, the law enforcement official said. It also was rendered safe. Ft. Belvoir did not provide any more information.
It's not clear if either was an actual working explosive device.
And a suspicious package is under investigation at Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling in D.C.
There are also reports of suspicious packages at the CIA, a Secret Service mail processing facility and a Navy base in Richmond, NBC News Justice Correspondent Pete Williams reported.
It’s not clear if the packages are linked to each other, but officials said they are not linked to the recent bombings in Austin, Texas.
https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/Suspicious-Packages-Found-at-Several-Military-Installations-in-DC-Area-477970913.html (https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/Suspicious-Packages-Found-at-Several-Military-Installations-in-DC-Area-477970913.html)
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surely there's a better way...
Here's why 84 male figures are standing on the edges of London rooftops
By Mercedes Leguizamon and Brandon Griggs, CNN
March 26, 2018
(CNN)If they looked up, passersby in central London on Monday got a strange and unsettling sight: 84 men, standing silently on the rooftops of office towers as if they were about to leap to their deaths.
Except these men aren't actually human. They are life-size sculptures, placed there to raise awareness about suicide.
The sculptures were installed overnight as part of Project 84, an idea made possible by American street artist Mark Jenkins and the Campaign against Living Miserably, or CALM, a charity focused on preventing suicide, which it says is the single biggest killer of men under 45 in the UK.
The sculptures represent the 84 men who commit suicide, on average, each week in the UK. CALM says three in four suicide victims are men.
https://edition.cnn.com/2018/03/26/world/london-sculptures-project-84-suicide-trnd/index.html (https://edition.cnn.com/2018/03/26/world/london-sculptures-project-84-suicide-trnd/index.html)
I hope there is some sort of signage around letting people know they are statues.....If I was walking down the street and saw that, I'd freak the hell out!
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I know, did you see the picture? I tried to post it here, but it didn't show up. It's getting much more difficult to copy image addresses to post pictures, I guess "they" got tired of having copyrighted images all over the place.
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Stephen Colbert showed a selection of clever, amusing and/or poignant signs from March for Your Lives
this past weekend. Republicans have been rightly criticized after shooting events for offering thoughts
and prayers to the victims, but not doing anything legislatively to stop the recurring problem. Hence,
this great sign someone marched around with:
"Thoughts & Prayers
for Republicans
in November"
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I've seen pics of donors writing checks to Republican candidates, with "thoughts and prayers" in place of an amount.
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ok, has hell frozen over? First time I've agreed with anything this one has to say
(https://i.pinimg.com/originals/f3/7e/6e/f37e6e7e651268028a3c37b35a5d6f98.jpg)
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ok, has hell frozen over? First time I've agreed with anything this one has to say
(https://i.pinimg.com/originals/f3/7e/6e/f37e6e7e651268028a3c37b35a5d6f98.jpg)
Maybe she's just jealous of Stormy.
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ok, has hell frozen over? First time I've agreed with anything this one has to say
(https://i.pinimg.com/originals/f3/7e/6e/f37e6e7e651268028a3c37b35a5d6f98.jpg)
:laugh:
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ok, has hell frozen over? First time I've agreed with anything this one has to say
(https://i.pinimg.com/originals/f3/7e/6e/f37e6e7e651268028a3c37b35a5d6f98.jpg)
Hell is freezing over because the crypt-keeper Pat Robertson "applauds the March for Our Lives gun reform effort."
http://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/god-bless-em-pat-robertson-applauds-the-march-for-our-lives-gun-reform-effort/
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His stroke must have been more serious than people realized. Maybe he finally believes that he was to practice what Jesus preached.
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^^^
Last week for Robertson's birthday Jimmy Kimmel put together a montage of crazy things Robertson's said:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dRHiemhQ4o0
And Kimmel's done others like thaton his show if you search for them.
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^^^
Last week for Robertson's birthday Jimmy Kimmel put together a montage of crazy things Robertson's said:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dRHiemhQ4o0
And Kimmel's done others like thaton his show if you search for them.
And those don't even come close to some of the outrageous things he has said.
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There is no shortage of outrage that comes from this current administration
e a c h a n d e v e r y d a y .
When is enough enough?
So much for state's rights, eh Republicans?
EPA Abandons Fuel Mileage Goals and Seeks to
Revoke California's Ability to Set Its Own Standard
by Evan Halper
Apr 02, 2018
Setting up its most aggressive clash yet with California over environmental standards, the Trump administration signaled Monday it may revoke the state's ability under the Clean Air Act to impose stricter standards for vehicle emissions. The announcement came as the administration confirmed it is tearing up landmark fuel economy rules pushing auto-makers to manufacture cleaner burning cars and SUVs.
"Cooperative federalism doesn't mean that one state can dictate standards for the rest of the country," Environmental Protection Agency chief Scott Pruitt said in a statement. "EPA will set a national standard for greenhouse gas emissions that allows auto manufacturers to make cars that people both want and can afford – while still expanding environmental and safety benefits of newer cars. It's in everyone's best interest to have a national standard, and we look forward to working with all states, including California, as we work to finalize that standard."
Pruitt said that the administration will abandon the federal goal of having the vehicles average 55 miles per gallon by 2025. That target will be replaced with a weaker fuel economy standard that the administration will settle on at a later date.
http://www.latimes.com/politics/la-na-pol-epa-fuel-standards-20180402-story.html
Meanwhile, other headlines:
--ICE Arrests Farmworkers in CA, Sparking Fears in the Central Valley Over Immigrants and the Economy
--The Supreme Court Shields a Police Officer from Being Sued for Shooting a Woman in her Front Yard
--Dow Drops Nearly 700 Points as Trade-War Fears Intensify
--Kremlin Says Trump Invited Vladimir Putin to the White House
And it's only Monday afternoon...
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A comment I read today:
"Now that it's been made abundantly clear that republicans and the illegitimate republican administration have no quarter undermining -- even rendering meaningless -- the citizen's voice via legitimate voting; that they hold money bags for polluters and criminals without a brain among them to intelligently discuss, much less heed, scientific fact as it relates to global warming and our ever-deepening environmental crisis; that the extent of their rhetoric is deceptive, shallow and hypocritical sloganeering; and that they bring disgrace to notions of "christianity," "law and order," "democracy," "leadership," "self respect," "civility," "honor," "patriotism" and more, in my view they should no longer be countered with peaceful protest. it is the duty of every true American to start the avalanche against all these miscreants who hold public office while personifying the antithesis of public service."
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The moment the Easter Bunny realized Donald Trump is President:
(https://static.politico.com/dims4/default/f74f73b/2147483647/resize/1160x%3E/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fstatic.politico.com%2F6d%2Fd9%2F1720d64147799f1d501867e25b76%2F3-eastereggroll2018-2-gty.jpg)
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(https://uproxx.files.wordpress.com/2018/04/trump-easter-bunny.jpg)
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The moment the Easter Bunny realized Donald Trump is President:
I think the bunny might be better at the job...
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Police in Northern California say they are responding to an incident involving an "active shooter" at YouTube headquarters.
Gunshots were reported at the company's campus in San Bruno, south of San Francisco.
Several people have been taken to hospital but their condition is unknown.
US media are reporting a female suspect is dead, citing law enforcement sources.
-
I think the bunny might be better at the job...
The bunny looks properly appalled.
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Police in Northern California say they are responding to an incident involving an "active shooter" at YouTube headquarters.
Gunshots were reported at the company's campus in San Bruno, south of San Francisco.
Several people have been taken to hospital but their condition is unknown.
US media are reporting a female suspect is dead, citing law enforcement sources.
This campus is about 1/2 a mile from where I used to live when I first moved to CA. In San Bruno. I passed it a lot as it was a little down the street from where I walked Killer and Tootsie. I recognized all of it when I saw the coverage on the national news.
It's also not very far from where the huge gas explosion took place in a nearby neighborhood in September 2010. From my house the explosion felt like an earthquake and shook the house. It was horrendous.
-
Hope this is the start of something big.
http://www.joemygod.com/2018/04/09/breaking-fbi-raids-office-trump-lawyer-michael-cohen/
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I haven't read about that yet, but it came up on my news feed on Facebook. I'll check it out soon.
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Who does Paul Ryan think he's fooling?
Dollars to doughnuts he's not leaving the House because of his kids. He's leaving because he's going to make a run for the Presidency.
I never believed that he didn't want the Speakership, either. And he'll make the same insincere claims that he doesn't want to run for President that he made when he was chosen Speaker.
-
When he made a show of scrubbing already clean pots at a shelter along with his family, I knew what kind of individual he was. Not attractive at all.
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Well, Fritz, what can I say?? So MUCH of our lives are 'staged' today......look at all those reality shows people get hooked on? bwwwaaahhhaaaa....and some of the poor souls BELIEVE it's all REAL!!? seriously......it's almost worse than people believing in Soap Operas way back when, or STILL today for all I know!!? When I was in College, students had those daytime Soaps on ALL THE TIME!! Students would be hooked on them, and spent HOURS discussing what each character would do or say the next episode!! hilarious!! :D :D :D
I like to watch HGTV when I'm on the machines at the fitness center, but even those shows irritate me a 'little' cause everything is staged......none of those 'stars' ever DO anything to really get dirty remodeling all those homes, but I like to see the ideas they come up with.........LOL!! I've got a sledge hammer, maybe I'll have a demolition day here! And film it.......
okay, sorry to prattle on and on.......I do remember when Liz Taylor was married to John Warner, the Senator? She was TRULY eating all the BBQ and FRIED CHICKEN on the campaign trail with him!! Loved that about her........so real....even all gussied-up she was still an EARTHY GAL!!
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Tribute to Paul Ryan with a Parody of “Crying"
from LATE NIGHT with Seth Meyers
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M4u-mdTyYDY
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Just got the news alert that Barbara Bush has passed away at 92. May she rest in peace and thoughts and prayers to her family.
She was a tremendous woman and an amazing First Lady.
One of the stories they talked about was her going to a hospital in the late 80's that was a center for treating infants with AIDS and spent a long amount of time cuddling these infants, to prove to people that one cannot catch aids by just touching someone with it.
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Barbara Bush was the only woman to see both her husband and her son sworn in as President of the United States.
(Abigail Adams was dead before J.Q. became President. On the other hand, John Adams live to see his son President. J.Q. became President in 1825, and John Adams [and Thomas Jefferson] died July 4, 1826.)
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Naked Gunman Kills 4 In Waffle House Shooting
April 22, 20181:03 PM ET
Nashville Police are warning residents to keep their doors locked and their eyes open for a partially nude man following a shooting early Sunday morning that left four people dead.
A man wearing only a green jacket shot three people dead at a Waffle House. One person later died at a hospital where two others are being treated for injuries. Police say the suspect fled on foot, and is still on the loose. Eye witnesses tell police he stripped his jacket off near the restaurant, went back to his nearby apartment and put on a pair of pants. He was last seen wearing only black pants.
https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2018/04/22/604748009/naked-gunman-kills-4-in-waffle-house-shooting (https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2018/04/22/604748009/naked-gunman-kills-4-in-waffle-house-shooting)
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This guy obviously had mental problems...if the father gave him his guns back, the father should be charged with aiding and abetting.
Nashville shooting suspect arrested last year near White House
Nation Apr 22, 2018 10:46 AM EDT — Updated on Apr 22, 2018 3:45 PM ED
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Authorities say the suspect in a deadly shooting at a restaurant in Nashville was arrested last year by the U.S. Secret Service for being in a restricted area near the White House.
Metro Nashville Police Department spokesman Don Aaron said 29-year-old Travis Reinking’s firearms authorization was then revoked at the request of the FBI, and four weapons were seized, including the AK-15 that he allegedly used in the shooting at the Waffle House restaurant early Sunday. Four people were killed.
Aaron says the four guns were returned to the suspect’s father, who acknowledged giving them back to his son.
Police have the AK-15 and another gun found during a search earlier Sunday. But two other guns are unaccounted for. Aaron says Reinking is still at large following the 3:25 a.m. shooting and could possibly be armed with the two guns.
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Hero customer ambushes Waffle House killer and wrests away his assault-style rifle
(CNN)As soon as he heard the gunshots, James Shaw Jr. bolted and hid in a restroom. But he didn't lose sight of the gunman.
And the moment the shooter paused, police said, Shaw decided to ambush him.
That heroic act by a customer saved countless lives at a Nashville-area Waffle House, where a seminude gunman killed four people early Sunday morning.
"He saw the gunman looking at his rifle. At that point, the shots had stopped," Metro Nashville police spokesman Don Aaron said.
"So he decided to rush the gunman, actually wrestled that assault rifle away, tossed it over the counter. At that point, the gunman then fled."
Shaw suffered minor injuries in the melee, including cuts and an injured elbow.
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God bless James Shaw Jr. and condolences to the families of the four who lost their lives.
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This guy obviously had mental problems...if the father gave him his guns back, the father should be charged with aiding and abetting.
I totally agree with you, Nancy. The father should be charged as well.
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^^^
Did they find this guy yet?
___
Re: Barbara Bush
I met her once thirty years ago and shook her hand.
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https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/23/world/.../royal-baby-duchess-cambridge.html (https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/23/world/.../royal-baby-duchess-cambridge.html)
Her Grace the Duchess of Cambridge has been safely delivered of a son. :)
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Former President George H.W. Bush hospitalized in intensive care unit
Former President George H.W. Bush has been hospitalized in Houston and is in the intensive care unit, according to CNN.
This coming just days after former First Lady Barbara Bush's funeral on Saturday.
A family spokesman said he was admitted to the hospital Sunday morning after contracting an infection that spread to his blood. A statement said he appears to be recovering.
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Oh, I hope he recovers. For his family to lose him so soon after losing her, that would be so difficult.
-
^^^
Did they find this guy yet?
___
Lyle
He was arrested today in a wooded area very close to his apartment. From the way he looked has been living there since the shooting.
I still say they should bring charges against the father. This question was asked today and the police said they are thinking about it.
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Oh, I hope he recovers. For his family to lose him so soon after losing her, that would be so difficult.
He might beat the current infection, but I suspect he won't last too much longer without Barbara. I've seen it happen.
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I'm watching a press conference with 45 and President Macron. As always, when watching 45 and any other leader, I'm amazed at how the other person can always speak without a teleprompter, they don't insult anyone, they make sense, they manage coherent sentences, they don't say how great they are, they don't repeat the same word (great, great man; horrible, horrible accident...just one more thing that drives me crazy about 45).
He just called on Fox for the first question...
to continue...Macron didn't insult the press, didn't defend the indefensible, he stayed on message and didn't drift...the difference between a professional and a hack.
-
The difference between a professional and a hack.
The difference between a class act and a narcissistic, self-absorbed, ignorant, uncouth doofus.
-
^^^^ yeah, that too ;)
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And what about him brushing off some dandruff off Macron's shoulder? The guy is a complete embarrassment. The always on point Mrs Betty Bowers tweeted this:
“When the aging gorilla is confronted with the much more virile, new alpha-male, he shows submissiveness by grooming the alpha-male, but the gesture is actually a vain attempt by the old gorilla to humiliate his much younger rival.”
— Jane Goodall
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And what about him brushing off some dandruff off Macron's shoulder? The guy is a complete embarrassment.
I couldn't believe that when I saw it. Then again, I don't know why I couldn't believe it. :(
The always on point Mrs Betty Bowers tweeted this:
“When the aging gorilla is confronted with the much more virile, new alpha-male, he shows submissiveness by grooming the alpha-male, but the gesture is actually a vain attempt by the old gorilla to humiliate his much younger rival.”
— Jane Goodall
:laugh: That sure is on target!
-
hilarious comparison to the gorilla!! :D :D :D
And what's with all the handsy from Trump to Macron? I can't really tell if Macron is bothered by this or not, surely so though. And trying to kiss Melania, or hold her hand? That's not happening....she does FINALLY seem to be enjoying the moments with the Macron's......not so much with her hubby!! as usual........
-
She enjoyed herself more at Barbara Bush's funeral, apparently, than she does sharing a space with her husband.
-
Has the Orange One given Angela Merkel a shoulder rub yet?
-
So. Bill Cosby has been convicted and Tom Brokaw has been accused.
-
I'm sure most serial rapists get this treatment instead of going to jail:
Judge O'Neill ruled that Cosby should not leave his home. Since Cosby has homes in multiple states, the judge noted that if he does arrange with the appropriate offices to stay in a home in another state he must first be fitted with a GPS tracking device before leaving.
https://www.cnn.com/2018/04/26/us/bill-cosby-trial/index.html (https://www.cnn.com/2018/04/26/us/bill-cosby-trial/index.html)
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I'm sure most serial rapists get this treatment instead of going to jail:
Judge O'Neill ruled that Cosby should not leave his home. Since Cosby has homes in multiple states, the judge noted that if he does arrange with the appropriate offices to stay in a home in another state he must first be fitted with a GPS tracking device before leaving.
https://www.cnn.com/2018/04/26/us/bill-cosby-trial/index.html (https://www.cnn.com/2018/04/26/us/bill-cosby-trial/index.html)
No doubt. ...
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What year is it again? And what the hell kind of city am I living in?
After using rare ‘gay panic' legal defense, Austin man avoids prison time
By: Jacqulyn Powell
Updated: Apr 26, 2018 02:04 PM CDT
AUSTIN (KXAN) - James Miller will serve 10 years probation after being sentenced for criminally negligent homicide for killing his neighbor in east Austin in 2015.
The jury recommended Miller serve 10 years probation and the judge was required to honor that.
However, Judge Brad Urrutia also added a maximum allowed six months jail time, also requiring Miller to complete 100 hours of community service, pay nearly $11,000 in restitution to the victim's family and use a portable alcohol monitoring device for at least a year.
Judge Urrutia will reassess after a year on whether the device is still needed.
Prosecutor Matthew Foye says the judge's maximum penalty and the fact that the jury didn't let Miller off on his self-defense claim reinforces what he hoped to prove.
"It establishes that Daniel Spencer was a victim of a senseless killing by the defendant and he did not do anything to bring this upon himself," Foye said. "Since the defense's strategy was to argue self-defense, I think the jury's verdict makes it clear that they did not believe it was self-defense."
The prosecution said the evidence does not support the self-defense argument, pointing to blood evidence at the scene they say didn't match Miller's story. Further, prosecutors argued it could have been Spencer who turned down Miller's sexual advances.
Austin police were called around 3:45 a.m. on Sept. 21, 2015 from a service station at the 700 block of East 8th Street. Miller told Austin police "I think I killed someone," and, "I stabbed him."
The affidavit states that Miller said, "We were playing. We were doing the good music. We were playing back and forth and everything and I just let him know — Hey, I'm not gay. We been playing. We're musicians and all that kind of stuff, but I'm not a gay guy. Then it seemed like everything was alright and everything was fine. When I got ready to go — it seemed like [expletive] just started happening."
victim
(https://media.kxan.com/nxs-kxantv-media-us-east-1/photo/2015/09/24/daniel-spencer-pic_37210198_ver1.0_640_360.jpg)
killer
(https://static.independent.co.uk/s3fs-public/styles/story_large/public/thumbnails/image/2018/04/28/16/james-miller-0.jpg)
http://www.kxan.com/news/local/austin/after-using-rare-gay-panic-legal-defense-austin-man-avoids-prison-time/1141686601 (http://www.kxan.com/news/local/austin/after-using-rare-gay-panic-legal-defense-austin-man-avoids-prison-time/1141686601)
http://www.kxan.com/news/crime/james-miller-found-guilty-of-lesser-charge-in-2015-stabbing-death/1138625494?utm_source=newsfore&utm_medium=onsite&utm_campaign=3016 (http://www.kxan.com/news/crime/james-miller-found-guilty-of-lesser-charge-in-2015-stabbing-death/1138625494?utm_source=newsfore&utm_medium=onsite&utm_campaign=3016)
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https://www.theguardian.com/society/2018/apr/27/spanish-prosecutors-to-appeal-against-pamplona-gang-verdict
All in all a good week for rapists >:(
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What year is it again? And what the hell kind of city am I living in?
After using rare ‘gay panic' legal defense, Austin man avoids prison time
Really. I mean, really? I'm looking at that headline and thinking, "Is that still around?" >:(
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I was reading about this last week, I found a story online while searching for stuff for TDS on Tuesday. I was just shaking my head.
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https://www.theguardian.com/society/2018/apr/27/spanish-prosecutors-to-appeal-against-pamplona-gang-verdict
All in all a good week for rapists >:(
This is totally shocking. What on earth are the judges thinking?
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This is totally shocking. What on earth are the judges thinking?
Even worse, out of the three judges one of them is a woman and another one said he thought the girl was willing to do it. It's just terrible. The government is talking about changing the laws that typifies sexual crimes, but for this girl, and many more we don't know because their procedures were not in the media, it's just too late.
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Maybe if you stuck them in a room with five rapists ...see how they feel about it after that.
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I love this Rudy...unless he's suffering from a mental illness, which, given his interviews on all network and cable news shows, isn't outside the realm of possibility, and then this is just sad. But I'm giving good odds on when 45 fires him...
Rudy Giuliani: Cohen might have paid other women for Trump 'if necessary'
Washington (CNN)One of President Donald Trump's attorneys in the Russia probe, Rudy Giuliani, left open the possibility that Michael Cohen might have doled out payments like the one he made to adult film star Stormy Daniels to other women.
In an interview Sunday on ABC News' "This Week with George Stephanopoulos," Giuliani said Trump reimbursed Cohen with his own money in a retainer agreement for his services as Trump's personal attorney, which included $130,000 Cohen paid Daniels to keep quiet about allegations she had a sexual encounter with Trump.
"The agreement with Michael Cohen, as far as I know, is a longstanding agreement that Michael Cohen takes care of situations like this then gets paid for them sometimes," Giuliani said.
https://www.cnn.com/2018/05/06/politics/giuliani-cohen-payment-trump-allegations/index.html (https://www.cnn.com/2018/05/06/politics/giuliani-cohen-payment-trump-allegations/index.html)
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I was wondering if anyone is interested in the royal wedding coming up? Any Brits around? What's the feeling in the UK about Harry marrying a divorced American? I guess it doesn't matter as much, since he's not next in line...
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Hardly, Charles and Camilla are both divorced (ok Camilla is not an American) and Charles is next in line. There have been a lot of changes since the 1930's.
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I was wondering if anyone is interested in the royal wedding coming up?
It doesn't particularly interest me, but since I always have one of the morning news/chat shows on while I'm eating breakfast and getting ready for work, I can't seem to avoid it. I suppose I could put the TV on mute when they start to talk about it.
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It doesn't particularly interest me, but since I always have one of the morning news/chat shows on while I'm eating breakfast and getting ready for work, I can't seem to avoid it. I suppose I could put the TV on mute when they start to talk about it.
Mute the royals! :laugh:
I wanted to say that I am not interested at all, but it would be a bit hypocritical because I am swallowing "The Crown" right now.
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I was wondering if anyone is interested in the royal wedding coming up? Any Brits around? What's the feeling in the UK about Harry marrying a divorced American? I guess it doesn't matter as much, since he's not next in line...
I’m mildly interested. I have a lot of time for Harry and hope they make each other very happy. I haven’t heard any adverse comments about Meghan being divorced or mixed race - I’m sure they have been made but that doesn’t seem to be a general feeling (though I haven’t really been following it much in the media).
I’m happy that Michael Curry, the leader of the US Episcopal Church, will be giving the address at the service. I feel that this is quite a statement by the couple about their own liberal outlook, and the current attitudes of the Church of England - particularly as Michael Curry stands in support of same-sex marriage.
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I’m mildly interested. I have a lot of time for Harry and hope they make each other very happy. I haven’t heard any adverse comments about Meghan being divorced or mixed race - I’m sure they have been made but that doesn’t seem to be a general feeling (though I haven’t really been following it much in the media).
I’m happy that Michael Curry, the leader of the US Episcopal Church, will be giving the address at the service. I feel that this is quite a statement by the couple about their own liberal outlook, and the current attitudes of the Church of England - particularly as Michael Curry stands in support of same-sex marriage.
If you put it that way, I am beginning to feel interested ::)
Good morning, Sara! The storm still hasn't arrived and I am trying to decide if I should do a breakfast break, the privileges of working at home.
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Hope you had the breakfast break!
I may or may not watch the wedding - will see it on the news (endlessly) anyway.
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Hope you had the breakfast break!
I may or may not watch the wedding - will see it on the news (endlessly) anyway.
I did :D
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I’m happy that Michael Curry, the leader of the US Episcopal Church, will be giving the address at the service. I feel that this is quite a statement by the couple about their own liberal outlook, and the current attitudes of the Church of England - particularly as Michael Curry stands in support of same-sex marriage.
The American church had a liturgy for blessing same-sex unions even before it was legal, or before Curry became Primate (the office used to be just Presiding Bishop). As for the attitude of the C. of E., that does seem remarkable since at the time of the last Lambeth Conference, the American Primate was not welcome, mainly because of objections to the American church's approval of same-sex marriage.
A reminiscence: After same-sex marriage was legalized, one Sunday morning our rector stood in the pulpit holding the parish marriage register (a beautiful, large, leather-bound ledger that dated from the 19th century) to show it off because he could now actually record same-sex marriages in it. The Church wouldn't allow it until the marriages were legal.
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The story today is that Meghan's Father won't attend the ceremony now, so someone else will be walking her down the aisle!! I guess I could volunteer for that position!! :D :D :D
Like I always say: Weddings, Funerals and Estate Sales bring the WORST and BEST out in People, specially FAMILY MEMBERS!!! IMHO, you understand?!
;D ;D ;D
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The American church had a liturgy for blessing same-sex unions even before it was legal, or before Curry became Primate (the office used to be just Presiding Bishop). As for the attitude of the C. of E., that does seem remarkable since at the time of the last Lambeth Conference, the American Primate was not welcome, mainly because of objections to the American church's approval of same-sex marriage.
A reminiscence: After same-sex marriage was legalized, one Sunday morning our rector stood in the pulpit holding the parish marriage register (a beautiful, large, leather-bound ledger that dated from the 19th century) to show it off because he could now actually record same-sex marriages in it. The Church wouldn't allow it until the marriages were legal.
It will come eventually in the C of E, but my goodness it’s dragging its feet, as it did with women priests and then bishops. I follow One Body One Faith on Facebook and read the experiences of some LGBTI priests and others involved in the church which make me feel deeply sad and angry. I may say that our current rector and her husband, and the assistant priests, are all totally supportive of same-sex marriage, and despair of the church's attitude. But it IS changing...
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The story today is that Meghan's Father won't attend the ceremony now, so someone else will be walking her down the aisle!! I guess I could volunteer for that position!! :D :D :D
I really feel sorry for her about this. I'm no fan, but for anybody, regardless of who they're marrying, to have to go through such a family mess so close to the wedding makes me sad.
Like I always say: Weddings, Funerals and Estate Sales bring the WORST and BEST out in People, specially FAMILY MEMBERS!!! IMHO, you understand?!
;D ;D ;D
Right there with you, hunnerd percent!
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Mute the royals! :laugh:
Jonn (Flyboy) won't like that!
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Anybody have any idea how much this Royal Wedding is bringing into the British economy?
I'd be willing to bet somebody is selling coffee or tea mugs with a picture of the Royal Couple on it. ;D
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Among other things.
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Of course they are.......I just wish the Wedding would be OVER already! LOL....
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Of course they are.......I just wish the Wedding would be OVER already! LOL....
Only one more day. Hang in there, Flyboy! This, too, shall pass. ...
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I'd be willing to bet somebody is selling coffee or tea mugs with a picture of the Royal Couple on it. ;D
yeah, Jeff, "somebody" is selling mugs...and a bunch of other royal crap (no offense). I'm sure you won't be able to swing a cat in the UK without hitting something with their names and faces on it.
this article is from last December...they didn't waste any time
Queen CASHING IN on Prince Harry and Meghan Markle engagement
The Queen’s Sandringham Christmas retreat has loaded its gift shop with a treasure trove of souvenirs.
An entire display cupboard has been devoted to the couple at the Norfolk estate, which thousands flock to every year.
It is packed with mugs of the couple in a heart crest for £6.99, keyrings for £3.99 and a £1.99 fridge magnet.
(https://cdn.images.dailystar.co.uk/dynamic/1/photos/943000/620x/5a33c1f7e8be6_megharsouv.jpg)
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In a related story, back in April someone began selling commemorative plates for the royal wedding.
The problem, instead of Meghan Markle and Prince Harry, the seller used a picture of British pop star Ed Sheeran.
:laugh:
https://www.townandcountrymag.com/society/tradition/a19724915/commemorative-royal-wedding-plate-meghan-markle-ed-sheeran/
(https://resources.stuff.co.nz/content/dam/images/1/p/d/s/z/8/image.related.StuffLandscapeSixteenByNine.620x349.1pdtm6.png/1523610674060.jpg)
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:laugh: :laugh:
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It is packed with mugs of the couple in a heart crest for £6.99, keyrings for £3.99 and a £1.99 fridge magnet.[/i]
Oh, I've gotta have a fridge magnet! :laugh:
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If 45 wants his head on Mt. Rushmore so badly, why doesn't somebody cut it off and stick it up there on a pole?
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As if the shooting in Texas weren't bad enough. The level of idiocy is increasing exponentially.
https://www.aol.com/article/news/2018/05/18/man-shows-up-to-santa-fe-high-school-shooting-with-flag-trump-hat-gun/23438065/
https://twitter.com/TeddyAmen/status/997497072550141952/photo/1?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fdisqus.com%2Fembed%2Fcomments%2F%3Fbase%3Ddefault%26f%3Djoemygod%26t_i%3D220464%2520http%253A%252F%252Fwww.joemygod.com%252F%253Fp%253D220464%26t_u%3Dhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.joemygod.com%252F2018%252F05%252F18%252Fparkland-student-activists-react-to-texas-mass-shooting-prepare-for-the-nra-to-attack-the-survivors%252F%26t_e%3DParkland%2520Student%2520Activists%2520React%2520To%2520Texas%2520School%2520Mass%2520Shooting%253A%2520Prepare%2520For%2520The%2520NRA%2520To%2520Attack%2520The%2520Survivors%26t_d%3DParkland%2520Student%2520Activists%2520React%2520To%2520Texas%2520School%2520Mass%2520Shooting%253A%2520Prepare%2520For%2520The%2520NRA%2520To%2520Attack%2520The%2520Survivors%26t_t%3DParkland%2520Student%2520Activists%2520React%2520To%2520Texas%2520School%2520Mass%2520Shooting%253A%2520Prepare%2520For%2520The%2520NRA%2520To%2520Attack%2520The%2520Survivors%26s_o%3Ddesc%23version%3D11aa34e705bfa1cf927124ccda2561d6
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With all Trump's troubles, he's using it to raise money for the next election!
Because: His supporters are worse than he is. They're only interested in "the
show." That's what I've come to believe, because nothing else makes much sense.
They like the circus and don't care about much else. In the future, if these people
complain about anything that someone they didn't vote for in the office does,
they should be laughed at and told to shut up.
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With all Trump's troubles, he's using it to raise money for the next election!
Because: His supporters are worse than he is. They're only interested in "the
show." That's what I've come to believe, because nothing else makes much sense.
They like the circus and don't care about much else. In the future, if these people
complain about anything that someone they didn't vote for in the office does,
they should be laughed at and told to shut up.
Bread and circuses. ... Except in this case ordinary folk aren't getting the bread. They were lied to about that, and the Trumpites fell for it hook, line, and sinker.
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If 45 wants his head on Mt. Rushmore so badly, why doesn't somebody cut it off and stick it up there on a pole?
Hear, hear
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With all Trump's troubles, he's using it to raise money for the next election!
Because: His supporters are worse than he is. They're only interested in "the
show." That's what I've come to believe, because nothing else makes much sense.
They like the circus and don't care about much else. In the future, if these people
complain about anything that someone they didn't vote for in the office does,
they should be laughed at and told to shut up.
Why wait, let's just laugh at them now...plenty of reasons.
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So I wasn’t too bothered about the Wedding. But I’ve just switched on, waiting for the bride to arrive, and it DOES all look rather wonderful!
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My girl and I were watching (don't tell anyone!), she looks beautiful. Even my anarchist anti royal man had a peek!(he would kill me if he knew I wrote that!)
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I naturally have watched it in its entirety. I knew the broadcast started at 9.05pm our time but was a bit concerned when I discovered that the actual service did not start until 11pm our time. Now going to bed at 12.45am. For a person that is usually in bed by 9.30pm that is something. It was wonderful. I was in Paris for William and Kate but that was all over French TV however I do not think I watched the entire service as I did not want to spend valuable sightseeing time sitting in the hotel during the day. I vividly remember going and watching Charles and Diana at my mother's home.
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So I wasn’t too bothered about the Wedding. But I’ve just switched on, waiting for the bride to arrive, and it DOES all look rather wonderful!
I didn't watch, but from news clips I've seen, I'm sorry I missed Bishop Curry's sermon. Apparently that was quite something!
Earlier in the week, I saw a brief news clip of Bishop Curry with the Archbishop of Canterbury.
Bishop Curry referred to the C. of E. as "the mother church," which, of course, it is for ECUSA, and then he went on to day, "Everything's good in Mama's house!"
And the archbishop said, "I can't believe you just said that!"
:laugh:
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Love it!
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I didn't watch, but from news clips I've seen, I'm sorry I missed Bishop Curry's sermon. Apparently that was quite something!
Earlier in the week, I saw a brief news clip of Bishop Curry with the Archbishop of Canterbury.
Bishop Curry referred to the C. of E. as "the mother church," which, of course, it is for ECUSA, and then he went on to day, "Everything's good in Mama's house!"
And the archbishop said, "I can't believe you just said that!"
:laugh:
So many of the broadcast people had LOTS of comments about his sermon. I watched the BBC America coverage and it was very good, but the announcers were speechless when trying to comment on his fire and brimstone delivery.
Then I watched CBS's coverage, and their comments were great. The two black announcers said that this is what it is like every Sunday in black churches. They thought nothing of it.
When asking the British commentators, to a person they all said, very gleefully, that they LOVED watching the faces of the British congregation and their not knowing how to take him, as none had ever been subject to this type of delivery in church before.
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My girl and I were watching (don't tell anyone!), she looks beautiful. Even my anarchist anti royal man had a peek!(he would kill me if he knew I wrote that!)
Oh, I loved it, Elena, and don't care who knows. The royal weddings always appeal to my romantic side.
I recorded 2 separate coverages, the BBC America coverage and one of the US network coverages and enjoyed the both.
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Whether you find it amusing or not (I did) SNL did a sketch on the
Royal wedding reception and they had the costumes down to a tee!
How they got them so awesome in such a short time is pretty amazing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qcj15vHJTtk
(If the youtube link doesn't work, the video is featured on a number of news articles.)
And last night at my weekly (usually) movie visit with some friends, I wonder why we watched
the musical Royal Wedding last night? :D
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:laugh: :laugh: :laugh:
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Whether one is into this news story or not, I just have to say, wasn't it refreshing
to see news stories where you saw people smiling and happy? Something uplifting.
Let's have more of it!
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OK: Here's MORE of it!
Photobucket Restores Photos “Taken Hostage,” Hopes to Lure Back Customers with Cheaper Plans After Last Year’s $399 Debacle
Long-time Denver photo site reorganizes with new management and much cheaper price plans
--Denver Post
https://www.denverpost.com/2018/05/17/photobucket-image-hosting-plans/
A whole bunch of photos should be restored to the forum now!
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Whether one is into this news story or not, I just have to say, wasn't it refreshing
to see news stories where you saw people smiling and happy? Something uplifting.
Let's have more of it!
Yes I totally agree. I was slightly interested before but actually loved it throughout and felt very cheered by it all. The day was glorious, the setting sublime and everyone had a great time. I was impressed by the dignity and self possession of her mother. That can't have been easy for her but she did very well indeed.
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I was impressed by the dignity and self possession of her mother. That can't have been easy for her but she did very well indeed.
I agree. That was visible even in short news clips.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-birmingham-44251401
So many beautiful people there this w/e.
I think this is the right place to post it ? Any way.....what a wonderful way to
cheer us all up ! :D
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Were you there? I couldn’t go to the Exeter one a couple of weeks ago, but that’s on a much smaller scale anyway...
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^^^^
Yes....I was there Sara ...on the sidelines !
Great day. :D
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Ok, they fired Roseanne for good reason, but I'm sure the left will let this go...and I hate a double standard.
I have no love for 45 or any of his family, and dislike a lot about Ivanka (like her sitting in on cabinet meetings when she has absolutely no business being there, and her clothing line being made in china, among other things) but this was totally unnecessary.
Samantha Bee Called Ivanka Trump a "Feckless C*nt" Last Night — Did She Go Too Far?
On last night's episode of Full Frontal with Samantha Bee, the fast-talking host ran a segment about the ongoing controversy of missing migrant children at the southern border of the United States. She ended the piece by pivoting to President Donald Trump's daughter, Ivanka Trump, and wound up creating a scandal of her own.
https://www.cosmopolitan.com/politics/a20975647/sam-bee-ivanka-trump/ (https://www.cosmopolitan.com/politics/a20975647/sam-bee-ivanka-trump/)
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Ok, they fired Roseanne for good reason, but I'm sure the left will let this go...and I hate a double standard.
I have no love for 45 or any of his family, and dislike a lot about Ivanka (like her sitting in on cabinet meetings when she has absolutely no business being there, and her clothing line being made in china, among other things) but this was totally unnecessary.
Samantha Bee Called Ivanka Trump a "Feckless C*nt" Last Night — Did She Go Too Far?
On last night's episode of Full Frontal with Samantha Bee, the fast-talking host ran a segment about the ongoing controversy of missing migrant children at the southern border of the United States. She ended the piece by pivoting to President Donald Trump's daughter, Ivanka Trump, and wound up creating a scandal of her own.
https://www.cosmopolitan.com/politics/a20975647/sam-bee-ivanka-trump/ (https://www.cosmopolitan.com/politics/a20975647/sam-bee-ivanka-trump/)
I hadn't heard about that, but I agree with you, it was totally unnecessary.
I agree with you about a double standard, too.
I guess, unlike Roseanne, she won't be fired.
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Once again 45 is acting like a 16 year old girl who only wants to be liked. What are we getting out of this? Seems like NK is on the scoreboard and we are getting shut out. Now the spy is allowed to go to the WH and meet with 45? 45 doesn't care what happens, as long as he gets a Nobel...pathetic sucking up to NK.
https://www.cnn.com/2018/05/30/politics/kim-yong-chol-new-york/index.html (https://www.cnn.com/2018/05/30/politics/kim-yong-chol-new-york/index.html)
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5/2/17
South Koreans were taken aback by President Trump when he referred to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un as a "pretty smart cookie."
4/25/18
President Donald Trump said Tuesday that North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un "has really been very open and I think very honorable based on what we are seeing" as the two gear up for an anticipated face-to-face meeting in the coming weeks.
5/24/18
On Thursday, North Korea reacted strongly to Mr Pence’s comments, calling him a “dummy” for comparing North Korea to Libya.
Human Rights Watch
North Korea is one of the most repressive authoritarian states in the world. In his sixth year in power, Kim Jong-un—the third leader of the dynastic Kim family and head of the ruling Workers’ Party of Korea (WPK) who exercises almost total political control—intensified repressive measures; tightened domestic restrictions on travel and unauthorized cross-border travel with China; and punished North Koreans for contacting the outside world. The government continued to generate fearful obedience from citizens by means of threatened and actual execution, detention, and forced labor under harsh, sometimes fatal, conditions.
The North Korean government restricts all basic civil and political liberties for its citizens, including freedom of expression, religion and conscience, assembly and association. It prohibits any organized political opposition, independent media and civil society, and free trade unions. Lack of an independent judiciary, arbitrary arrest and punishment of crimes, torture in custody, forced labor, and executions maintain fear and control.
North Korea discriminates against individuals and their families on political grounds in key areas such as employment, residence, and schooling by applying songbun, a socio-political classification system grouping people into “loyal,” “wavering,” or “hostile” classes. Pervasive corruption enables some room to maneuver around the strictures of the songbun system, and some people who bribe government officials can receive permission, pursue market activities, or travel domestically or abroad.
https://www.hrw.org/world-report/2018/country-chapters/north-korea (https://www.hrw.org/world-report/2018/country-chapters/north-korea)
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I hadn't heard about that, but I agree with you, it was totally unnecessary.
I agree with you about a double standard, too.
I guess, unlike Roseanne, she won't be fired.
I really can't (but I can) believe what I'm hearing on CNN. Brian somebody said the difference between Roseanne's and Bee's comments: "Roseanne's statement was racist, Bee's statement was hateful".
Wait, what?!?
So "hateful" speech is ok?
One of my favorite quotes from the Big Chill: "Ever tried to go a week without a rationalization?"
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I've never seen Samantha Bee's show, so I don't know if this incident is out of character,
but I did notice she just apologized saying, "she crossed a line." Roseanne's apology blamed
ambien.
I'm guessing it's the word Bee used that's causing the problem. Because if she used a different
word this wouldn't be in the news.
In the news this week we've been finding out the Trump administration is separating children from
their mothers in horrible and gut-wrenching fashion. It's mean spirited. It's worse than that. It's
horrific in many cases. If anyone wants to delve into the current situation just google something
like: "separating immigrant children from their mothers."
So, Samantha Bee pointed out that in the midst of all this news this week, Ivanka posts a lovely
photo of her and her child together, which isn't the first time any Trump has been tone-deaf on
anything. And she called her out as being basically an "irresponsible asshole."
Only she didn't use those two words. She used the word that a dictionary source has this to say about it:
"There are many words used to refer to people in sexual terms. However, to call a person a [****], especially
a woman, is one of the most hateful and powerful examples of verbal abuse in the English language."
For the record, the dictionary definition of "feckless" is: lacking initiative or strength of character; irresponsible.
Also: useless, worthless, incompetent, inept, good-for-nothing, ne'er-do-well; lazy, idle, slothful, indolent, and
shiftless; informal: no-good, no-account."
A double standard? Not in my opinion. Roseanne's tweet (which, if one knows anything about her tweet history,
which I've read about in the last couple days) isn't exactly out of the blue. She's been tweeting racist things for
a long time before and spreading right-wing conspiracy theories.
Although Samantha Bee used vulgar language, she was pointing out the tone deaf hypocrisies of the current administration.
Roseanne was just being racist and then hiding behind the "it was just a joke." When I first heard about her tweet, I didn't
think she was joking, frankly. but ts's are always using the "it's just a joke" phrase to excuse bad behavior. How many times
was it used to explain Trump's offensive propositions? "Oh, he wasn't serious. He was just making a joke." Now some of those
jokes are administration policies.
I am not sure why someone who is tweeting racist remarks while someone else is using vulgar language to
highlight a tone-deaf member of an administration whose policies are directly opposite of the picture that was
tweeted out, is a double standard.
If I'd wanted to make the same point Samantha Bee did, I wouldn't have used that word. Maybe she thought that
being a woman, she could use it, but now her intent has been lost.
A black journalist has commented:
"If you think Samantha Bee's vulgarity is equivalent to racism then you're either ignorant, maliciously dishonest, or a racist yourself."
The longer Trump is in office and the Republicans in power with no consequences to their policies, actions behaviors and
everything else, the more people are going to lash out in usually inappropriate ways. Many already do, myself included, in
the privacy of my own space.
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I really can't (but I can) believe what I'm hearing on CNN. Brian somebody said the difference between Roseanne's and Bee's comments: "Roseanne's statement was racist, Bee's statement was hateful".
You're gonna hear a lot of things.
The word Bee used is considered hateful, but the intent of the whole thing was to highlight what the
Trump administration is doing to families and how tone deaf Ivanka is to all of it, even though she gets
to sit in on policy meetings. Let's not forget this! TO dwell on what word someone used is to excuse what's
going on.
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what ever happened to "when they go low, you go high"? Bee went too low for a laugh. She apologized and will be back on next week, with which I disagree.
I didn't at all equate her statement with racism, I called it unnecessary...also a cheap shot...she set it up as her talking to IT ad "mother to mother"...way to go, mom...
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You're gonna hear a lot of things.
The word Bee used is considered hateful, but the intent of the whole thing was to highlight what the
Trump administration is doing to families and how tone deaf Ivanka is to all of it, even though she gets
to sit in on policy meetings. Let's not forget this! TO dwell on what word someone used is to excuse what's
going on.
"Tone deaf"............you've been reading lefty articles again! That's all they can talk about, how "tone deaf" she was...look, they're all idiots, but let's at least agree that Bee is an idiot too... albeit a lucky one who gets to keep her job.
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I didn't at all equate her statement with racism, I called it unnecessary.
I agree, she should've chosen a different word.
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I didn't at all equate her statement with racism, I called it unnecessary...also a cheap shot...she set it up as her talking to IT ad "mother to mother"...way to go, mom...
I agree Bee's comment wasn't racist, but I still think she shouldn't be allowed to get off scot-free for making it.
Why should she be allowed to get away with such vulgarity? Because what she said wasn't racist?
I don't buy that.
I am not equating vulgarity with racism, but I still don't think she should be allowed a pass for it. But I will give her this much: She didn't try to shift the blame somewhere else.
When they go low and you go high, you get kicked someplace painful.
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what ever happened to "when they go low, you go high"?
When they go low won.
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Right, and she'll be back on tv next week
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another example of the stupidity of 45's WH, and how he is always unfair, unthinking, and reactionary. If you're gonna slam Bee, you gotta slam Roseanne, especially since her comment was more offensive.
White House says Samantha Bee's attack on Ivanka Trump was 'vile and vicious'
https://www.cnn.com/2018/05/31/politics/samantha-bee-ivanka-trump/index.html (https://www.cnn.com/2018/05/31/politics/samantha-bee-ivanka-trump/index.html)
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"Tone deaf"............you've been reading lefty articles again! That's all they can talk about, how "tone deaf" she was...look, they're all idiots, but let's at least agree that Bee is an idiot too... albeit a lucky one who gets to keep her job.
I agree that Bee was an idiot, if you want to use that word, for using the c-word, because it's turned her whole point
into something else and no one is talking about the administration's policy that provoked this show segment. And,
actually, I haven't been reading any articles about this except to see what Bee said, in what context, and the reactions
to it. What articles have you been reading and exactly why are you so upset about this? Are you saying that Ivanka
being tone deaf in the midst of the administration's ripping families apart isn't true?
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ok, can we just be fair about stuff? If 45 did this it's wrong. If it happened when BO was president, it's wrong. Haven't seen this covered on CNN...
Those photos of immigrant children “caged” by the US? They’re from 2014
Several 2014 photos of detained immigrant children resurfaced on Twitter over the weekend and went viral.
Former Obama administration officials tried to explain the context behind the photos, which appeared to show migrant kids locked up in cages.
The former Obama speechwriter Jon Favreau had shared the images on Twitter, mistakenly believing they were taken during Donald Trump's presidency.
The former officials doubled down on their criticisms of Trump's immigration policies, and said the 2014 photos showed unaccompanied children the government had been attempting to place with family members.
Several former Obama administration officials took to social media and news outlets on Tuesday to explain a gallery of years-old photos that showed immigrant children sleeping in shoddy conditions at a government-run holding facility in Arizona.
The images, which were first published by the Associated Press in 2014, resurfaced over the weekend for reasons that remain unclear, and quickly prompted viral outrage on Twitter. One particularly disturbing image showed two children sleeping on mattresses on the floor inside what appeared to be a cage.
A number of prominent liberals — and even a former Obama administration official — shared the photos in outrage, mistakenly believing they depicted the Trump administration's treatment of immigrant children who were forcibly separated from their parents.
Jon Favreau, who worked as a speechwriter for former President Barack Obama, tweeted, "This is happening right now, and the only debate that matters is how we force our government to get these kids back to their families as fast as humanly possible."
Favreau said Tuesday he later deleted the tweet after social media users pointed out that the photos were taken during the Obama administration. But by that point, critics had already rushed to accuse him of concealing Obama's own harsh immigration tactics while condemning Trump's.
(https://amp.businessinsider.com/images/5b0dbccf1ae66230008b4fec-960-623.jpg)
http://www.businessinsider.com/migrant-children-in-cages-2014-photos-explained-2018-5 (http://www.businessinsider.com/migrant-children-in-cages-2014-photos-explained-2018-5)
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Right, and she'll be back on tv next week
And Trump will still be in office.
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And Trump will still be in office.
Till 2025, if he lives that long.
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^^^
You have a choice what to believe.
So I believe what I'd like to happen.
The images, which were first published by the Associated Press in 2014, resurfaced over the weekend for reasons that remain unclear
I think we all know WHY they surfaced.
ok, can we just be fair about stuff? If 45 did this it's wrong. If it happened when BO was president, it's wrong. Haven't seen this covered on CNN...
Yes, can we? This was brought up two days ago on MSNBC. Because the current Trump policy, that he's trying to blame on the Democrats,
was under completely different circumstances when it occurred under Obama's presidency. So let's be serious.
Don't you recall in 2014 when the news was documenting hundreds, or was it thousands, of children being sent to the U.S.
on their own by their parents to gain access to the United States and the Obama administration was trying to figure out a
policy to deal with this?
Those photos of immigrant children “caged” by the US? They’re from 2014
We all know we have a lot of immigration problems because the Congress won't take responsibility and DO something about it.
Immigration had no way to deal with the volumes of people that arrived and had to d what they could do at the time. Blame
congress for still not dealing with the immigration issue.
From the article:
Trump's administration does have a new policy to separate children from their parents.
The Trump administration's policy of separating families at the border is different from the Obama administration's handling of
the 2014 influx of unaccompanied children. "This policy is new, cruel, and unprecedented. It was not an Obama policy. It was not a Bush policy. It was not a Clinton policy. That is a fact. And that is what all of us — Democrats and Republicans — should want changed as soon as humanly possible."
If anyone's seriously interested in what's going on right now, just search:
Trump's administration does have a new policy to separate children from their parents
and read articles about it and how it's gotten to this point.
And here's a New Yorker article I did read a bit ago:
How the Trump Administration Got Comfortable Separating Immigrant Kids from Their Parents
by Jonathan Blitzer
May 30, 2018
From the last paragraph:
“What you’re seeing now is the President’s frustration with the fact that the immigration numbers are back up,” the person told me.
“The only tools the Administration has now, in the absence of legislation, is to make life miserable for people.”
___
As I said, Congress's fault: "In the absence of legislation..."
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another example of the stupidity of 45's WH, and how he is always unfair, unthinking, and reactionary. If you're gonna slam Bee, you gotta slam Roseanne, especially since her comment was more offensive.
White House says Samantha Bee's attack on Ivanka Trump was 'vile and vicious'
https://www.cnn.com/2018/05/31/politics/samantha-bee-ivanka-trump/index.html (https://www.cnn.com/2018/05/31/politics/samantha-bee-ivanka-trump/index.html)
No irony there at all, lol!
I love Samantha Bee but I was taken aback when I heard her say that. Mind you, in a delicious sort of way.
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May I throw my opinion as a foreigner on this?
I'm sorry Sam Bee used that word, I watched her programm and was shocked by it, and we are not so delicate about those things here in Europe. I'm sorry because the message went lost by this stupid choice of a word. I don't think Ivanka's picture is just a candid, naïf one, but that it is a really meditated way to send a message, a racist one. When people are starting to be aware of what's happening to the families being separated on the border, she posts this image, which is a wet dream for a white supremacist. The message seems clear to me, "this is the kind of familiy you should be worrying about, forget the dark ones". This woman who has a job in the WH without any kind of political experience, who is using his position there to promote and sell his products, this woman who smiled like a Barbie doll when there were people being shot a couple of meters away from her. I have no respect for her.
That being said, Sam Bee made a mistake with her word choice, but I totally get her frustation and rage. And, even thinking that she made a mistake, I don't think you can compare her discourse with Roseanne's racist rant.
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I'm sorry because the message went lost by this stupid choice of a word.
That's a very good point.
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May I throw my opinion as a foreigner on this?
I agree with everything you say.
It didn't occur to me that her photo posting was anything but being really oblivious to what's going on.
If it was purposeful, these people are really in the realm of evil.
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If Samantha Bee's apology was from herself, and not TBS infkuenced, what she should have
said is that she apologizes for the use of the word and name calling IT, but that she doesn't
apologize for the message she was trying to get across.
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It didn't occur to me that her photo posting was anything but being really oblivious to what's going on.
If it was purposeful, these people are really in the realm of evil.
Well, I obviously don't know it, but the timing and the fact that these people don't do anything without it having a meaning is what brings me to think that. And that she never before looked so white as in that picture.
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If Samantha Bee's apology was from herself, and not TBS infkuenced, what she should have
said is that she apologizes for the use of the word and name calling IT, but that she doesn't
apologize for the message she was trying to get across.
I agree, but it is too late, she f*** it up with her word choice. :(
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Sally Field took to Twitter to give her two cents about Samantha Bee's use of the slang word
for the female anatomy on Thursday with a very specific critique. “I like Samantha Bee a lot,
but she is flat wrong to call Ivanka a ****,” Field wrote. “****s are powerful, beautiful,
nurturing and honest.”
According to Field, Trump just doesn’t embody the right qualities to be called that term.
___
Does anyone on this forum use Twitter? Just curious.
-
I have a Twitter account, but I rarely use it.
I have a big mouth, so I can't fit expressions into 140 characters or less.
:laugh:
-
Sally Field took to Twitter to give her two cents about Samantha Bee's use of the slang word
for the female anatomy on Thursday with a very specific critique. “I like Samantha Bee a lot,
but she is flat wrong to call Ivanka a ****,” Field wrote. “****s are powerful, beautiful,
nurturing and honest.”
According to Field, Trump just doesn’t embody the right qualities to be called that term.
___
Does anyone on this forum use Twitter? Just curious.
That is ridiculous! All the c***s I know are dishonest, and not at all nurturing - and I'm sure IT's is the same. I think SF just wants to be liked...
(https://media.giphy.com/media/xmQh8NQ78y8QU/giphy.gif)
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Does anyone on this forum use Twitter? Just curious.
I have one, but I very seldom post a tweet. I mainly use it to keep up with what people have to say who I follow there. Every once in awhile I'll retweet something.
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Ditto, though I usually only look at it if someone calls my attention to something posted there.
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he/NK won't even pay for his hotel room? Why should the US or Singapore pay? He's already winning...
WaPo: US determining who will pay for North Korea leader's hotel room
Washington (CNN)As preparations are underway for a US-North Korea summit, US officials are trying to solve the logistical issue of who will pay for North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's housing, according to a new report.
A week after abruptly scrapping the summit with Kim, President Donald Trump announced Friday that the historic talks were back on for June 12 in Singapore.
With its economy weakened from tough sanctions, Pyongyang is requiring that another country pay for Kim and his delegation's hotel bill, The Washington Post reported Friday.
According to the Post, Kim is demanding to stay at the luxury, five-star Fullerton hotel, where a presidential suite costs more than $6,000 a night.
White House and State Department officials declined to comment to the Post on the advance team planning details.
Citing two people familiar with the talks, the Post reported that the US is open to covering the costs, but is considering asking the host country, Singapore, to foot the bill.
https://www.cnn.com/2018/06/02/politics/north-korea-summit-planning-kim-jong-un-hotel-room/index.html (https://www.cnn.com/2018/06/02/politics/north-korea-summit-planning-kim-jong-un-hotel-room/index.html)
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I hadn't heard that. Can you imagine if this was in the news when Obama was President. The R's would
be foaming at the mouth in outrage. What is the usual protocol for something like this? I don't know.
Do you guys know that when Trump flies off to Mar-a-Lago every so often to play golf at his own club on his
own golf course, the Secret Service has to pay rent for the golf carts they ride around on to follow him around?
Money that goes into his own pocket? That's our tax dollars at work.
-
Do you guys know that when Trump flies off to Mar-a-Lago every so often to play golf at his own club on his
own golf course, the Secret Service has to pay rent for the golf carts they ride around on to follow him around?
Money that goes into his own pocket? That's our tax dollars at work.
I've heard that. Anybody know what the deal is for the Secret Service's lodging? Do they have to pay for that, too?
Good article in they May 28 New Yorker about why our ambassador to Panama quit.
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Very interesting story in this morning's Metro newspaper. Somebody is actually keeping a tally of how many lies per day the Orange One is telling. Supposedly (because I have no way of validating the claim) in the first 100 days of the term, it was 4.9 per day. By May 1 of this year, it was up to 9 per day.
-
So, the Supreme Court had a ruling about baking cakes for same-sex weddings and sided with the baker
in this instance because they thought the Colorado civil rights commission disregarded the baker's position
and were hostile toward him.
It's a ruling no one will be satisfied with because it doesn't really answer the basic questions the case brings up.
The court was trying to appease both sides of the issue.
I feel good about Ruth Bader Ginsberg's line in her dissent from the decision where she writes:
"When a couple contacts a bakery for a wedding cake, the product they are seeking is a cake celebrating
their wedding -- not a cake celebrating heterosexual weddings or same-sex weddings -- and that is the
service (the couple) were denied."
In that regard, I have to ask...what if someone, let's say me, contracts this baker to make a wedding cake,
but I never disclose who it was for, even though I know it's for a gay couple. If the baker asks what kind of
top I wanted for the cake, I could say that I don't want one. Do I have to disclose who the wedding cake is for?
Why would I have to or should I have to?
What if you went to this baker and ordered two of the exact same cake designs and one was for a same-sex
wedding and one was for a straight couple? The exact same cake. How could you justify "that baking a specific
cake (as opposed to something over the counter) for a particular occasion is a form of artistic expression, and
that if he used his talents in that way he would be participating in a specific event that his religious forbids him
to take part in?"
In this case the court reiterated in clear terms that "gay persons and gay couples cannot be treated as social outcasts
or as inferior in dignity and worth." And it highlighted the fact that "while ...religious and philosophical objections are
protected, it is a general rule that such objections do not allow business owners and other actors in the economy and
in society to deny protected persons equal access to goods and services under a neutral and generally applicable public
accommodations law."
I submit that the baker IS treating gay couples marriages as inferior in dignity and worth.
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"gay persons and gay couples cannot be treated as social outcasts or as inferior in dignity and worth." And it highlighted the fact that "while ...religious and philosophical objections are protected, it is a general rule that such objections do not allow business owners and other actors in the economy and
in society to deny protected persons equal access to goods and services under a neutral and generally applicable public accommodations law."
I'm no lawyer, but this seems totally incompatible with what the Suprem Court ruled, specially in a laic country.
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^^^
That's what the court was supposedly trying to convey in the ruling. The ruling is so narrow, though, as to basically only apply to this one particular case. Which opens the door for more cases like this.
To me, the thing about these cases concerning someone's "sincerely held religious beliefs" is:
1.) How do you know someone's actions are based on that. Who says?
2.) Which religion? Some religions believe things that others do not.
3.) Isn't it interesting that this religious liberty concern seems to come up when it has to do with an LGBT issue?
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Obviously President Trump doesn’t know the words to God Bless America. He largely fakes his way through the National Anthem as well. Hopefully he won’t even try America the Beautiful.
I hope someone has the courage to tell him that the hand over the heart is appropriate only for the National Anthem and the Pledge of Allegiance. I’m afraid he’ll do it for Auld Lang Syne next New Year.
~~~fia
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Meanwhile in Spain little steps in the righ direction. The new Secretary of Interior is an openly gay man, judge and fighter for LGTBIQ rights :)
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^^^
That's what the court was supposedly trying to convey in the ruling. The ruling is so narrow, though, as to basically only apply to this one particular case. Which opens the door for more cases like this.
I knew this case existed but did not follow it, so bear that in mind concerning my cynical questions:
Did these guys know what they would be dealing with before they started?
Were they purposely looking to create a test case (and did that backfire)?
Was there no one in the sexual minority community from whom they could have gotten a cake and kept the money in the community?
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^^^
That's what the court was supposedly trying to convey in the ruling. The ruling is so narrow, though, as to basically only apply to this one particular case. Which opens the door for more cases like this.
To me, the thing about these cases concerning someone's "sincerely held religious beliefs" is:
1.) How do you know someone's actions are based on that. Who says?
2.) Which religion? Some religions believe things that others do not.
3.) Isn't it interesting that this religious liberty concern seems to come up when it has to do with an LGBT issue?
It did also during slavery and the Civil Rights era, trying to promote the one and oppose the other. But that idea can no longer pass Constitutional muster. May the same happen one day with people who are bigoted against gay people.
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what's worse than an idiotic moron? Oh yeah, an idiotic moron who is also president...
Exclusive: Trump invokes War of 1812 in testy call with Trudeau over tariffs
CNN)President Donald Trump and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had a testy phone call on May 25 over new tariffs imposed by the Trump administration targeting steel and aluminum imports coming from Canada, including one moment during the conversation in which Trump made an erroneous historical reference, sources familiar with the discussion told CNN.
According to the sources, Trudeau pressed Trump on how he could justify the tariffs as a "national security" issue. In response, Trump quipped to Trudeau, "Didn't you guys burn down the White House?" referring to the War of 1812.
The problem with Trump's comments to Trudeau is that British troops burned down the White House during the War of 1812. Historians note the British attack on Washington was in retaliation for the American attack on York, Ontario, in territory that eventually became Canada, which was then a British colony.
https://www.cnn.com/2018/06/06/politics/war-of-1812-donald-trump-justin-trudeau-tariff/index.html (https://www.cnn.com/2018/06/06/politics/war-of-1812-donald-trump-justin-trudeau-tariff/index.html)
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Last year (May), when I was in Toronto, I was given a tour of the York Barracks by a guy dressed as a British soldier of 1812. York was the original name for Toronto. I must admit I was very amused to learn they had burnt down the White House as a reprisal for the attack on York. We were not taught much Canadian history in Australian schools. In my weekly email to my friends back home I wrote " Perhaps they do not only need a wall on the Mexican border now."
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Sam Bee talked yesterday about using THAT word: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cPAqgjqSDos
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I knew this case existed but did not follow it, so bear that in mind concerning my cynical questions:
Did these guys know what they would be dealing with before they started?
Were they purposely looking to create a test case (and did that backfire)?
Was there no one in the sexual minority community from whom they could have gotten a cake and kept the money in the community?
On the "did it backfire" question...the ruling is more like the Bush v. Gore ruling. It only really applies to this particular baker.
I don't know the answers to those questions, Jeff, but if I knew a baker's position on this I certainly wouldn't trust them
to make a cake for me, especially if they were forced to. Who knows what secret ingredients they might decide to include.
An article I read about this said that this baker has also refused to make certain kinds of cakes for Halloween and other
occasions. I wonder about bakers like these. I mean, if these guys had said, okay, if you won't make a cake, we'd like to
order some cupcakes or cookies to celebrate our day. Just like these regular ones you have here. Would he say, knowing
what they wanted them for, that they couldn't? Even though these wouldn't have anyting to do with his "artistry".
And as I said above, why aren't these bakers concerned about other things that might be at odds with their religious beliefs?
If you are gay and hear that someone is refusing service to gay people, it feels exactly the same as it would if you were being
singled out as black, or Latin, or Jewish or Muslim, or anything like that. And if you are any of those AND gay...
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what's worse than an idiotic moron? Oh yeah, an idiotic moron who is also president...
8)
The problem with Trump's comments to Trudeau is that British troops burned down the White House during the War of 1812.
I'd like to say to CNN that the problem with his comments is that he made them in the first place.
Even if what he said was accurate, that was over 200 years ago and doesn't apply now.
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Perhaps they do not only need a wall on the Mexican border now."
Don't give them ideas!
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It did also during slavery and the Civil Rights era, trying to promote the one and oppose the other. But that idea can no longer pass Constitutional muster. May the same happen one day with people who are bigoted against gay people.
Amen.
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Sam Bee talked yesterday about using THAT word: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cPAqgjqSDos
I see where she's coming from. I don't catch her show, like many things nowadays,
we see clips of things here and there which may not accurately reflect a day to day
or week to week viewing.
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I've been watching Bill Maher's Real Time show each week most of the year. He usually interviews a guest after his monologue, then they have a panel of people talk about things that happened during the week. The program and audience is skewed to the left, as you might expect, but there are many Republicans and/or conservatives who've offered up their opinions each week. The show is basically done for laughs, though, with many comedic segments.
This past week his interview segment was with Bernie Sanders, who's in Los Angeles to protest with workers at Disneyland about having a union.
It occurred to me that during the interview, from Maher's questions and from that night's audience reaction, that Bernie's fans are very similar to Trump supporters. Bernie has his talking points, just like Trump does. (Though admittedly they're based on policy ideas more than anything Trump spouts.) But it occurred to me that Bernie's supporters don't see his flaws. They have a good deal of grievances still about his candidacy against Hillary Clinton and are blind to Bernie's faults. (And may I say, Bernie is NOT a Democrat. Whether he registered as one during the campaign, I don't know, but he is NOT a registered Democrat now.)
What I'm afraid of is that Sanders is going to run for the Presidency again. If he got the nomination, the Democrats lose again. There is some feeling in the Democratic party that if only he had been the nominee he would've won against Trump. People fail to see that Sanders was never really tested fully in that campaign. The Clinton campaign treated him at arms length and never went after him as they might have, all the while Bernie was tearing down much of what she said. The Republicans never brought out their playbook against Sanders, they didn't have to, they just let it go, concentrating on Hillary. After the 2016 campaign, some reporters who had somehow read the opposition research the Republican party had, which they described as voluminous, said Trump would have wiped the floor with Bernie if he'd somehow gotten the nomination. I can readily see that. But as with Trump, a lot of Bernie supporters have stars in their eyes. Bernie would only be a troublemaker if he decides to run again. Of that, I have zero doubt.
I read an article recently and here's some lines from it:
Trump himself seems hard to oppose without in some way mimicking him. Take the high road and you risk genteel irrelevance. Go down to Trump’s level and you find yourself wrestling with a brawler whose indecency eventually defines you as well. (In some ways, the dynamics of the GOP primaries continue to this day.) And so the opposition party has found not a single spokesperson who can counter him in any compelling way, and, more to the point, it is constantly in danger of becoming simply a mirror image of the Trump right: based primarily on racial and gender identity, defined by rage, bent on revenge, and empowered by moral certainty. I don’t think there is a way out of this cycle of tribalism in the foreseeable future, given Trump’s inexhaustible capacity to fuel it every minute of the day. Radicalization is a dynamic process. It can occur rapidly. In the end, it will consume all of us — until some kind of catastrophe wakes us from this fraught and intensifying nightmare.
So, will the Democrats find someone "who can counter him in any compelling way?" It's not Bernie Sanders. The Democrats feeling of "moral certainty" isn't going to counter someone who is immoral and whose supporters don't care if he is or not.
Troubling. But no reason to accept it and not try to change it, fix it, make it better...etcetera.
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Don't give them ideas!
If I were Trudeau I'd give some thought to building a wall on Canada's southern border. ...
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On the "did it backfire" question...the ruling is more like the Bush v. Gore ruling. It only really applies to this particular baker.
Thanks, Lyle. I goofed in my phrasing. What I was wondering about was whether they were trying for a universal ruling, like the marriage ruling, and, by "backfired," they got only a ruling on their own specific case.
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I would guess so, Jeff, because it's reported that "neither side" was very happy with the ruling.
Though I d not know if this case was intentionally brought by the defendants for this reason, or
that they just decided to when it happened and it was picked up as a test case afterwards.
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Sadly, Trumpism has come to Canada. Remember Rob Ford, that wacky crack smoking Mayor of Toronto? His brother Doug, an unwavering fan of your orange POS, was just elected Premier of Ontario:
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi176.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fw197%2Foilgun%2Fdoug-ford-01_zps3qstemsz.jpg&hash=17ed084984f3a445d5808e122fc7ee48eb0d5ca4)
I'm so glad I moved to Quebec.
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I’m very torn about my feelings about Anthony Bourdain’s suicide, and I guess Kate Spade, too. Everyone is trashing Val Kilmer for his reaction, he said Bourdain was selfish to do it and I agree with him, mostly. I will not watch the "tribute" to Bourdain that CNN will run tonight - he did not have to kill himself and will get no sympathy from me.
They both must have been living in such crushing misery, but…they, of all people, had the resources to get any help they needed – doctors, shrinks, therapists, priests, Buddhist monks. They weren’t young, lost, drug-ridden souls, and they weren’t stupid. Why did they refuse to talk to anyone about it? Because it would ruin their careers? Their suicides ruined lives. That's the definition of selfish.
I cannot believe that they didn’t think of the devastating pain and horrendous guilt their suicides would bring to their families, especially their children. By ridding themselves of their pain, they bestowed it on those they claimed to have loved, and who surely loved them. That’s the definition of selfish.
I’ve had some pretty dark days, and have been to a shrink more than once, I’m not embarrassed to say. The questions with no answers are - what were they thinking? How could they knowingly destroy the lives of so many who loved them? I hope they didn't leave any fake letters behind, professing their love for their families, what an insult that would be.
I'm sure I'll be the only one who feels this way, if the internet is any gauge, and I don't care. They were cowards, and selfish, and their families will pay for it.
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I’m very torn about my feelings about Anthony Bourdain’s suicide, and I guess Kate Spade, too. Everyone is trashing Val Kilmer for his reaction, he said Bourdain was selfish to do it and I agree with him, mostly. I will not watch the "tribute" to Bourdain that CNN will run tonight - he did not have to kill himself and will get no sympathy from me.
They both must have been living in such crushing misery, but…they, of all people, had the resources to get any help they needed – doctors, shrinks, therapists, priests, Buddhist monks. They weren’t young, lost, drug-ridden souls, and they weren’t stupid. Why did they refuse to talk to anyone about it? Because it would ruin their careers? Their suicides ruined lives. That's the definition of selfish.
I cannot believe that they didn’t think of the devastating pain and horrendous guilt their suicides would bring to their families, especially their children. By ridding themselves of their pain, they bestowed it on those they claimed to have loved, and who surely loved them. That’s the definition of selfish.
I’ve had some pretty dark days, and have been to a shrink more than once, I’m not embarrassed to say. The questions with no answers are - what were they thinking? How could they knowingly destroy the lives of so many who loved them? I hope they didn't leave any fake letters behind, professing their love for their families, what an insult that would be.
I'm sure I'll be the only one who feels this way, if the internet is any gauge, and I don't care. They were cowards, and selfish, and their families will pay for it.
Sadly, you are not the only one lacking empathy:
Reporter Condemns CNN's Anthony Bourdain For Committing Suicide
https://www.dailywire.com/news/31642/reporter-condemns-cnns-anthony-bourdain-committing-ryan-saavedra
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;)
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I'm sure I'll be the only one who feels this way, if the internet is any gauge, and I don't care. They were cowards, and selfish, and their families will pay for it.
You are not the only one. It's something I have experienced around me five times. Only one of them was a close friend, but I have seen all five families destroyed. It's so conflicting, on the one side you are mad at them for picking up this terrible way out from their problems, on the other side you are mad at yourself for not having been able to see it coming and try to help them.
And specially in these kind of cases, adult, healthy and wealthy people it's just infuriating, they are condemning their families and friends to live with their deaths on their conscience. It's so selfish.
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I don’t think anyone can truly assess another person’s thoughts and emotions. I had a bout of severe depression many years ago when, if I couldn’t be better, all I wanted was to be dead. No,mat that stage I knew I couldn’t do it to my family, but I yearned for the seemingly endless years to be past before I could die. And I know that there are several stages of worse beyond that. I would not judge.
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You are not the only one. It's something I have experienced around me five times. Only one of them was a close friend, but I have seen all five families destroyed. It's so conflicting, on the one side you are mad at them for picking up this terrible way out from their problems, on the other side you are mad at yourself for not having been able to see it coming and try to help them.
And specially in these kind of cases, adult, healthy and wealthy people it's just infuriating, they are condemning their families and friends to live with their deaths on their conscience. It's so selfish.
Being mad at yourself is one of the ways the pain is transferred from them to you. If they hid their problems, and left you (or anyone, not "you" specifically) to try to figure out how you could have done more, why you didn't see it, what did you miss, why weren't you there for them - it's just so cruel. It's as if those left behind are guilty of not reading their mind. It's the ultimate in not taking responsibility for themselves, and leaving it all on someone else.
Bourdain had so many great qualities, and he has silenced the voice that he gave to so many causes...
from wiki
Bourdain advocated for communicating the value of traditional or "peasant" foods, including all of the varietal bits and unused animal parts not usually eaten by affluent, 21st-century U.S. citizens. He also championed the quality of freshly prepared street food in other countries—especially developing countries—compared to fast food chains in the U.S.
He championed industrious Spanish-speaking immigrants—from Mexico, Ecuador, etc.—who are cooks and chefs in many U.S. restaurants, including upscale restaurants, regardless of cuisine. He considered them talented chefs and invaluable cooks, underpaid and unrecognized even though they have become the backbone of the U.S. restaurant industry.
In 2017, Bourdain became a vocal advocate against sexual harassment in restaurants and Hollywood, particularly following his partner Asia Argento's sexual abuse allegations against Harvey Weinstein. Bourdain accused Hollywood director Quentin Tarantino of "complicity" in the Weinstein sex scandal.
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I don’t think anyone can truly assess another person’s thoughts and emotions. I had a bout of severe depression many years ago when, if I couldn’t be better, all I wanted was to be dead. No,mat that stage I knew I couldn’t do it to my family, but I yearned for the seemingly endless years to be past before I could die. And I know that there are several stages of worse beyond that. I would not judge.
That's true, Sara, no one can know the true heart and mind of another. It's the mystery of suicide, the why...the how could they...
I was very young when my daughter died, and perhaps that resiliency allowed me to rebound and not sink into total, irreparable despair at the time. As I’ve gotten older, the loss seems much sharper, I feel it much more intensely now and in unexpected ways and I’m sad a lot of the time. Being older brings out all the questions...what would she would look like, what would she have done with her life...unanswerable questions go on and on. I guess it’s worse now because I know how precious life is, but I did have a time when I thought that dying would be preferable to living. I can’t think that I am stronger than Bourdain, but I guess that’s where the “judgement” comes in: I lived/live through hell, and sought help and ways to deal with it, why couldn’t you? Obviously, that’s unfair…but so is life.
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That’s something I just can’t imagine, Nancy. In fact I’m afraid to even try to imagine. :-*
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I'm sure I'll be the only one who feels this way, if the internet is any gauge, and I don't care. They were cowards, and selfish, and their families will pay for it.
No, you're not. Sometimes thing that we're told shouldn't be said need to be said. I especially agree with you about the effect on their families.
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Hard to understand much of anything these days.
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Sadly, Trumpism has come to Canada. Remember Rob Ford, that wacky crack smoking Mayor of Toronto? His brother Doug, an unwavering fan of your orange POS, was just elected Premier of Ontario:
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi176.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fw197%2Foilgun%2Fdoug-ford-01_zps3qstemsz.jpg&hash=17ed084984f3a445d5808e122fc7ee48eb0d5ca4)
I'm so glad I moved to Quebec.
WTF is wrong with people?
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Yes he was, Elena, and the state that Puerto Rico is in is a testament to the horrible leadership in Washington DC. It is just beyond my comprehension that a person such as Pumpkinhead is the president.
(The above quote is from another thread, but the topic goes here.)
Absolutely...and what does a singular person do to cope with it?
It's overwhelming. Dispiriting. Unfathomable. Tedious. (Got a thesaurus?)
As I posted awhile ago:
Trump himself seems hard to oppose without in some way mimicking him. Take the high road and you risk genteel irrelevance. Go down to Trump’s level and you find yourself wrestling with a brawler whose indecency eventually defines you as well. (In some ways, the dynamics of the GOP primaries continue to this day.) And so the opposition party has found not a single spokesperson who can counter him in any compelling way,
When I think of all this the only thing I can think of to keep repeating, at least to myself,
is what the Civil Rights movement did over the years of their biggest travails: "Eyes on the prize."
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Love this ad! (just 30 seconds long)
https://youtu.be/cc9ovvth3sY
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Love this ad! (just 30 seconds long)
https://youtu.be/cc9ovvth3sY
I love this, Fritz!! How wonderful!
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I love it!
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kim kardashian and now that freak rodman - at a nuclear arms negotiation...we have got to get this asshole out of the white house
https://action.needtoimpeach.com/act?sc=ad_gg_lba_us_impeach-.-.-.-60s-20171020&utm_source=gg&utm_medium=ad&utm_campaign=lba&utm_content=us_impeach-.-.-.-60s-20171020&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI8r77_Y7J2wIVT7jACh1XrgkIEAAYASAAEgJqoPD_BwE (https://action.needtoimpeach.com/act?sc=ad_gg_lba_us_impeach-.-.-.-60s-20171020&utm_source=gg&utm_medium=ad&utm_campaign=lba&utm_content=us_impeach-.-.-.-60s-20171020&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI8r77_Y7J2wIVT7jACh1XrgkIEAAYASAAEgJqoPD_BwE)
Dennis Rodman traveling to Singapore for North Korea summit
Washington (CNN)Former NBA star Dennis Rodman is traveling to Singapore for the upcoming summit between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
Rodman's agent, Darren Prince, confirmed the trip.
"He is willing to offer his support for his friends, President Trump and Marshall Kim Jong Un," Prince said.
The NBA Hall-of-Famer also posted the announcement on Instagram Friday morning.
"Thanks to my loyal sponsors from @potcoin and my team at @princemarketinggroup , I will be flying to Singapore for the historical Summit. I'll give whatever support is needed to my friends, President Trump and Marshall Kim Jong Un," he wrote.
In a statement, Rodman praised Trump.
"To all Americans and the rest of the world I'm honored to call President Trump a friend. He's one of the best negotiators of all time and I'm looking forward to him adding to his historic success at the Singapore Summit," Rodman said.
eta before I get slammed: I know kk did a good thing, but still...it's just celebrity apprentice shit in the oval office
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Love this ad! (just 30 seconds long)
https://youtu.be/cc9ovvth3sY
Advice to anyone who watches this video...do NOT read the comments.
It'll only make you feel like you're covered in sewage.
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eta before I get slammed: I know kk did a good thing, but still...it's just celebrity apprentice shit in the oval office
Got no arguments from me, just agreement, on your whole post.
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Advice to anyone who watches this video...do NOT read the comments.
It'll only make you feel like you're covered in sewage.
Too late! Ignore them, just ignore them ommmmmm...
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Too late! Ignore them, just ignore them ommmmmm...
I tend NOT to even go to read the comments on a video or article such as this, as I know that the majority of them will be negative, homophobic, and downright hareful. I don't need a bunch of people's opinions to color how I feel about what I like when I see or read something.
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I've been trying to remember which Catch-22 character Trump reminds me the most of. Now I do.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milo_Minderbinder
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45 thinks this is bad, wait until he's alienated all of our allies...I guess then he'll try to have the relationship he wants with Putin.
Trump's top economic aide on Trudeau: 'It was a betrayal'
Washington (CNN)President Donald Trump on Saturday accused Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of making "false statements" and said that the US will not endorse a G7 communique.
"Based on Justin's false statements at his news conference, and the fact that Canada is charging massive Tariffs to our U.S. farmers, workers and companies, I have instructed our U.S. Reps not to endorse the Communique as we look at Tariffs on automobiles flooding the U.S. Market!," the President tweeted on Saturday.
In a second tweet, President Trump said, "PM Justin Trudeau of Canada acted so meek and mild during our @G7 meetings only to give a news conference after I left saying that, 'US Tariffs were kind of insulting' and he 'will not be pushed around.' Very dishonest & weak. Our Tariffs are in response to his of 270% on dairy!"
Shortly after Trudeau said that he was "happy to announce that we have released a joint communique by all seven countries" indicating that the US had signed on, Trump announced the US would reverse its decision and not sign on to the statement after all. The group of seven nations that make up the G7 are Canada, France, the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, Japan and Italy.
(https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/660/cpsprodpb/121F2/production/_101962247_mediaitem101962246.jpg)
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-44430000 (https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-44430000)
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WHAT CANADIANS THINK OF
WHEN THEY HEAR THE WORD
"LOONIE."
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/e/ef/Canadian_Dollar_-_reverse.png/220px-Canadian_Dollar_-_reverse.png)
WHAT AMERICANS THINK OF
WHEN THEY HEAR THE WORD
"LOONIE."
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fcdn2.dailytrend.mx%2Fmedia%2Fbi%2Fstyles%2Fgallerie%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F2016%2F11%2Fdonald-trump-elecciones-2.jpg&hash=3a88e5706aba0a2cecf4a0e7190d6bfe2582dc14)
*And all sane people worldwide.
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I guess you've all heard about Robert DeNiro's comments at the Tonys last night?
It was more an outburst, an existential cry from the realm of sanity and the frustration
of all those who feel an impotency to counter it in any meaningful way. This must be
what it was like for those that saw the Nazi leader rise and were frustrated to no end
that others were just seeming to normalize it and even more supporting the insanity.
The sentiment is certainly welcomed. One feels less alone. But I don't think he should
have done that in that setting. The reason is something I've shared twice in the last
week:
"Go down to Trump’s level and you find yourself wrestling with a brawler whose indecency eventually defines you as well."
It's the "When they go low, we go high," idea, except the problem with this is that so many don't care about Trump's lowness. They make a complete blind exception to him. So "going high" equates to: "Take the high road and you risk genteel irrelevance."
I can't think of anyone that's been able to effectively penetrate the Trump onslaught to good effect. The most notable gains have come from those who ignore him, but fight for their particular cause, without using him as bait.
Anyone who has tried to fight this "fire with fire" has ended up losing, most notably Marco Rubio. The problem is that for whatever reason, Trump's supporters, and now the Republican party itself, make an exception for Trump. Those that act like him to fight back get the standard moral treatment and are looked upon unfavorably. How many of us liked Romney during the campaign season when he called out Trump in no uncertain terms. Then, afterwards, he's backpedaled several times, even meeting with him for a cabinet position that Trump used to demean him. Now he's running for Senator and doing the same thing. Which is it Mitt?
The news media likes to keep reporting anything and everything the President says or tweets. It riles people up. They get ratings out of it, but it's not helpful. What they should do is JUST report on what he "does" and not what he says. Concentrate on that. But fat chance of that happening.
I hope our candidate for Governor of California this year, Gavin Newsom, doesn't use Trump all through the campaign against his Republican opponent. It's just going to stoke Republicans to come out and vote, which could hamper some down ballot Congressional races that Democrats want to flip. By all accounts, political observers don't think the Republican has a chance in hell to win anyway. So why not just ignore him? The Republican will want to try and stir things up by being provocative, like Trump, he already has, so let's see a campaign of ignoring that kind of person and see how that might work. Especially when the race seems assured. Maybe there'll be some lesson in it for Democrats.
-
WHAT CANADIANS THINK OF
WHEN THEY HEAR THE WORD
"LOONIE."
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/e/ef/Canadian_Dollar_-_reverse.png/220px-Canadian_Dollar_-_reverse.png)
WHAT AMERICANS THINK OF
WHEN THEY HEAR THE WORD
"LOONIE."
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fcdn2.dailytrend.mx%2Fmedia%2Fbi%2Fstyles%2Fgallerie%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F2016%2F11%2Fdonald-trump-elecciones-2.jpg&hash=3a88e5706aba0a2cecf4a0e7190d6bfe2582dc14)
*And all sane people worldwide.
ABSOLUTELY CORRECT!!!
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There was one of the news stories on 60 Minutes last night that highlighted Brad Parscale, the digital director of Trump's campaign, who played a key role in the president's election. He posted up to 10,000 ads a day on Facebook, and used Facebook employees to teach him how to embed these ads onto FB. This is how Pumkinhead got elected.
He has already been appointed PH reelection campaign manager for 2020.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/facebook-embeds-russia-and-the-trump-campaigns-secret-weapon-60-minutes/
Facebook offered the same "services" to Hillary Clinton's campaign, and they turned it down.
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Unfortunately, T's base will condemn the Democrats for going low even if it's the same way that they do it themselves. They have declared themselves immune to hypocrisy. A frightening consequence of purely tribal politics.
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Hm.... :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:
https://twitter.com/adamcbest/status/1005825231041323008?s=21
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Hm.... :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:
https://twitter.com/adamcbest/status/1005825231041323008?s=21
OH WOW!! I LOVE this Uli!!!
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(https://scontent-frt3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/35069595_1081192878696807_592425150037622784_n.png?_nc_cat=0&_nc_eui2=AeEg-eeUXR6kgmArF33UggQp-4reK9FwxuB2IYImjACgERUz4ukc5XQalhQzFIYgo13srbInIxJn2sYSxSy1cc45gj2yGsEq2SilJHASVzC_LQ&oh=9fd9adc8415f97c6912bdfed78a19363&oe=5B76D9E1)
For helping the refugees today - those who couldn't land in Italy.
:(
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It's so strange feeling proud again of being Spanish...
I hope they arrive soon, on the news they said they only had food for today and that there are one hundred children on the ship.
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It's a tragedy. And the whole world is watching, doing nothing. Or looking forward to the foot worldcup! >:(
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Couldn't agree more, we know nothing about what's happening in the Mediterranean See, and what's even worse, nobody seems to care.
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I guess this a little bit behind by now, but I got a kick out of how a writer in this morning's paper described the Singapore summit:
"A 71-year-old infantile egomaniac meeting a 36-year-old infantile egomaniac, and they will discuss the size of their rockets."
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^^^
I was watching Late Night with Seth Meyers on the West Coast last night and all the networks
broke in during that hour to cover this travesty. So many people, both in positions of importance,
career people who know about what they speak, and also knowledgeable reporters in their fields
like Richard Engel and Andrea Mitchell, were all disgusted by the imagery, like the U.S. & N. Korean
flags entwined together, and of our country elevating Kim to world leader status, signing a piece of
paper that means nothing, and our supreme embarrassment not even bringing up anything like Kim's
vicious human rights violations. It's all so patently transparent Kim is playing Trump and Trump acting
like a contestant on the bachelor. I wonder if he'll get a rose?
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(https://image.cagle.com/211694/1155/211694.png)
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:P :P :P
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(https://scontent-frt3-2.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/35301225_810664425806649_7763618601197633536_n.jpg?_nc_cat=0&_nc_eui2=AeF1wnX78TcDc6bPDr38sHFBk7wxETGkcqv5WDOI6coq1vnC-7DMK9j7hNZq7BMzuT2qJvVShr1stAH5SaW5JZloGE8veg_3LR5E442Uku6LMA&oh=ea80acb8cc9b4f248992f4d1099dccbd&oe=5BB55D28)
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:laugh:
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!!
;)
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Thanks a lot, Norway, just what we needed >:( >:( >:(
President Trump Nominated for Nobel Peace Prize by Norwegian Lawmakers
U.S. President Donald Trump was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize for his work in reaching an agreement to work toward de-nuclearization of the Korean peninsula.
The U.S leader was nominated by two members of Norway’s governing Progress Party, according to state broadcaster NRK. The deadline for this year’s prize passed in January, so this nomination would make him eligible for next year. It is unclear whether he was nominated for this year’s prize.
http://fortune.com/2018/06/13/trump-nobel-peace-prize/ (http://fortune.com/2018/06/13/trump-nobel-peace-prize/)
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Oh Lord.
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Please tell me that's a joke...
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(https://scontent-frt3-2.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/35230130_1956975811000458_7175738454272114688_n.jpg?_nc_cat=0&_nc_eui2=AeF9dI0aSGuD3okYTLgQqIyj_K9zmq0uGIvTMljz_48D4A4_pArjRRJhMWEGOGLbaBOMX95-71GzH96GNEEa0SCv4eFQDjIcz6p9VajklcQCGQ&oh=a3d84469f624b330cf0bc4f9dce504f5&oe=5B788D7C)
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President Trump Nominated for Nobel Peace Prize by Norwegian Lawmakers
Oh Lord.
Please tell me that's a joke...
:o I always thought Norwegians were sensible people. :(
If this isn't Fake News, somebody's getting paid off.
-
Maybe it's just The Onion, let's not lose hope.
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Maybe it's just The Onion, let's not lose hope.
That was my first hope, too, but I just clicked on the link, and it does not appear to be The Onion.
Of course, I know what The Onion is, but I've never been to the site, so perhaps I'm not the best judge.
OTOH, I just checked CNN and couldn't find anything there. I might have expected something like that would be front-page news.
https://www.cnn.com/ (https://www.cnn.com/)
But, I also found this:
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/politics/trump-nobel-peace-prize-north-korea-kim-jong-un-norway-progress-party-a8397796.html (https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/politics/trump-nobel-peace-prize-north-korea-kim-jong-un-norway-progress-party-a8397796.html)
I Googled "Trump Nobel Prize," and it seemed to lead to quite a few legitimate sources.
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not a joke...well, it is, but it's on us
Two Norwegian politicians nominate Trump for Nobel Peace Prize
Nomination comes after historic meeting with North Korean leader.
By GABRIELA GALINDO 6/14/18, 1:30 PM CET Updated 6/14/18, 5:07 PM CET
Donald Trump, who on Tuesday became the first sitting U.S. president to meet with a North Korean leader, has been nominated as a candidate for the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize.
https://www.politico.eu/article/donald-trump-nobel-peace-prize-two-norwegian-politicians-nominate/ (https://www.politico.eu/article/donald-trump-nobel-peace-prize-two-norwegian-politicians-nominate/)
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From the Huff Post...funny, never thought of Norway as having rednecks...
Far-Right Norwegian Politicians Nominate Trump For Nobel Peace Prize
The two lawmakers praised him for the North Korea summit.
Two far-right Norwegian politicians have nominated President Donald Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize, lauding his efforts to denuclearize North Korea.
Christian Tybring-Gjedde and Per-Willy Amundsen belong to Norway’s right-leaning Progressive Party, which favors small government and low taxes, and they hold anti-immigration and anti-Muslim views.
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/trump-nobel-peace-prize-nomination_us_5b213c0ee4b09d7a3d79809d (https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/trump-nobel-peace-prize-nomination_us_5b213c0ee4b09d7a3d79809d)
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From the Huff Post...funny, never thought of Norway as having rednecks...
Remember Utøya, there's bad people everywhere, even in Norway...
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Reading about this here I was first appalled, or worse, so I had to look into the process a bit further.
I'm so tired of being outraged lately, and the Trump cultists like to fuel their opposition with anything
that drives them nuts, so...
Read this link and you'll feel a little better:
Nomination and Selection of Nobel Prizes
https://www.nobelprize.org/nomination/peace/
It's a process. Anyone can be nominated by authorized nominators. (As we've seen today--ANYONE.)
There are 330 candidates for the Nobel Peace Prize for 2018.
330 is the second highest number of candidates ever.
The record of 376 candidates was set in 2016.
So Trump would be in a group of a few hundred nominees next year. After nominations close at the end of January
there's a selection process to determine the final list voted upon. I have to assume these people will know what
they are doing.
I'm not sure how the following relates to us knowing Trump got nominated:
From the statutes of the Nobel Foundation:
Proposals received for the award of a prize, and investigations and opinions concerning the award of a prize, may not be divulged. A prize-awarding body may, however, after due consideration in each individual case, permit access to material which formed the basis for the evaluation and decision concerning a prize, for purposes of research in intellectual history. Such permission may not, however, be granted until at least 50 years have elapsed after the date on which the decision in question was made.
In any case, let us not give our opponents any reason to enjoy our
heads exploding over this. That seems to be one of their primary
joys in supporting Trump. That it makes their opposition crazy.
I did note on this website that former Nobel Peace Prize Winners are allowed
to nominate. I do wish Barack Obama would offer up a considered nomination.
I also think the Nobel people should reword their process. Since anyone can be nominated, they should,
like the Oscars, call this period "being submitted for nomination" because they whittle down the choices.
It's not like the first round really means anything other than you're in the mix of choices.
Of course, the reason this news item bothers me is that an ordinary President would
be humble about this news. They might offer up they don't even think it's deserved.
The current mouthpiece will bask in his perceived adulation, talk about it at every turn,
demean the Prize in doing so, and get his cultists to use it as a weapon.
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I think he's sorry he can't march his enemies (or anyone he doesn't like) into Fed Ex Field and have them shot w/anti aircraft guns...
Trump: My People Should ‘Sit Up in Attention’ Like Kim Jong-un’s Staff
President Trump’s meeting has rekindled his decades-long admiration for dictators. The Washington Post reports that Trump privately expressed admiration for the friendly treatment Kim Jong-un gets from North Korean state television. “At one point, after watching North Korean television, which is entirely state-run, the president talked about how positive the female North Korean news anchor was toward Kim,” the Post notes.
In his public remarks, Trump insisted North Koreans “love” their dictator, as shown by the displays of “fervor” — which they must perform on pain of arrest. He likewise praised Kim’s rule for being “tough,” one of Trump’s favorite compliments. “Anybody that takes over a situation like he did at 26 years of age and is able to run it and run it tough,” Trump said. “I don’t say he was nice or say anything about it. He ran it, few people at that age — you could take one out of 10,000 could not do it.”
Speaking this morning with Fox & Friends, his own version of North Korean television (love this) , Trump explained why he would like to bring Kim Jong-un to the White House: “He’s the head of the country, and I mean he’s the strong head. He speaks and his people sit up in attention. I want my people to do the same.”
http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2018/06/trump-my-people-should-sit-up-in-attention-like-kims.html (http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2018/06/trump-my-people-should-sit-up-in-attention-like-kims.html)
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The man is so clueless and his supporters are, too.
What goes around comes around. I'd just like to tell him that he's being treated
exactly the way he treated President Obama.
Our only hope for any change at this point is the election this fall. I can't imagine
the depression that will ensue if things do not. Ya gotta have hope.
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So...today the President tweeted, went on Fox & Friends and also chatted with the Press about
a dozen subjects going on this week. The day will come when a Democrat will be president. And if
any Republican has anything critical to say of that president, anything at all, this news conference
alone could be held up as proof that they may say nothing.
And then there's this: He praised Mr. Kim, brushing aside questions about the repressive regime and
gulags in North Korea. "Hey, he is the head of a country, and I mean he is the strong head. Don’t let
anyone think anything different. He speaks and his people sit up at attention. I want my people to do
the same."
Go ahead, read it again.
If you're not chilled, you're numb.
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I hope the GOP is embarrassed in the future when it's pointed out to them that their President is envious of a North Korean dictator and wants to emulate him. In all ways.
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Ya gotta have hope.
My hope gave up about a year ago, when I realized NO ONE is going to do a damn thing about him, despite the myriads of things he has done that are against the law, when any run of the mill person would be sitting in prison right now.
So, no I don't gotta have hope. And I don't.
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Sanford disagreed with 45 and he lost. His followers are sheep, it's just a gigantic cult...
U.S. Representative Mark Sanford, a vocal critic of President Donald Trump, lost a Republican congressional primary in South Carolina on Tuesday, after Trump urged voters to punish Sanford's disloyalty by tossing him from office.
A few hours before polls closed, Trump tweeted that Sanford was "nothing but trouble" and "very unhelpful to me." He backed Sanford's pro-Trump challenger, state legislator Katie Arrington, for November's congressional elections.
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/06/13/republican-sanford-loses-in-south-carolina-after-trump-urges-his-ouster.html (https://www.cnbc.com/2018/06/13/republican-sanford-loses-in-south-carolina-after-trump-urges-his-ouster.html)
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Only the most rabid of Republicans voted in the primary. I realize that it is South Carolina, but I'm hoping for a miracle of repudiation in the general election.
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It's a bit embarrassing, butI haven't really understood what's chosen in the midterm elections. It's the congress, isn't it? And the presidential is only for the president?
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Congress and senate seats are up for grabs in the mid-terms, the dems will try to take over but with reps afraid of 45, they may retain control.
I had to look this up...
Major cities which are holding mayoral elections in 2018 include:
Newark, New Jersey: Incumbent mayor Ras J. Baraka was re-elected to a second term with 77.05% of the vote.
Phoenix, Arizona: Thelda Williams is the incumbent and acting mayor after Greg Stanton chose to resign on May 29, 2018, to seek election for the United States Congress.
San Francisco, California (special): London Breed was elected to succeed the deceased mayor Ed Lee.
Washington, D.C.: Incumbent Muriel Bowser (D) is running for reelection.
Nashville, Tennessee: Acting Mayor David Briley won election with 54.47%, avoiding a runoff.
Louisville, Kentucky
and there are some gubernatorial elections in some states, but not sure which ones...
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But can the president overrule the congress? In Spain the president (or prime minister, actually) is elected by the congress and cannot overrule congress' decissions. There's not president figure like yours, the head of state is the king (yes, I know *eyeroll*) but he only has a symbolic status and no power whatsoever.
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Every two years all members of the House of Representatives are up for election, as well as one-third of the Senate (whose terms last six years). So every even-numbered year there is an election for Congress, and every other one of these elections (the ones that occur during leap years), the President is up for reelection.
Local office elections can occur just about any time, but most also occur in November of even-numbered years, with some exceptions. Virginia, for example, as well as some other states, has elections on odd-numbered years (we just elected a new governor last November), and the legislatures are also up for election in those years.
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The President can veto a bill passed by Congress, and the Congress can override the veto by a majority of two-thirds of each house.
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Thank you, Fritz! It's a bit more complicated than here, but it's a much bigger country, it's probably very difficult to coordinate all elections.
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Definitely. There's really no such thing as a national election, not even for the President, but rather a coordination of 51 elections (including DC), with that many different sets of laws governing them.
It also takes place over 6 time zones, which also makes things difficult. Some people think that people on the West Coast hearing of results in eastern states, that this knowledge tends to suppress the vote there in the West, especially if the election isn't all that close.
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^^^
I wonder if any study of that has ever been done. I know there's "anecdotal" evidence.
To me it's just an eye roll. You're gonna vote or you're not. There's other things on the ballot.
Some of that is changing, too, because of early voting. One doesn't have to have an absentee ballot
ONLY if you're out of town. Anyone can get one if you "want" one. Plus, Oregon is all vote by mail now,
so hearing results on election day from the east coast wouldn't matter there.
(It's always been interesting to me that the three states that flipped giving the election to
his deficiency, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin...all of those states had no early voting.)
Frankly, I like to vote at the precinct. I really don't trust mail in ballots. In Oregon, do they have a way
that you can verify your vote was received?
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I like to vote at the precinct too, a lot more fun. One of the precinct election officials is a neighbor, we socialize with her and her husband a lot.
A study would be interesting, the expression has been around for quite a long time, especially after the results started being televised. I can remember watching the Kennedy election back in 1960, it was quite fascinating. The previous one in 1956 for Eisenhower didn't have constant coverage, just brief summaries between the shows. People depended on newspaper accounts the next day back then.
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...and there are some gubernatorial elections in some states, but not sure which ones...
I looked it up and there are elections for Governor in 36 states!
Most of the 12 that are not having elections this year are in the
mid-South and North West.
Governors serve 4 year terms, except in Vermont and New Hampshire, where the term is only 2 years.
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Fritz, the TV pundits think Tim Kaine is a sure thing to win his Senate seat in Virginia.
Do you think that's the case? His opponent is a piece of work, but who can discount
anything lately.
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Frankly, I like to vote at the precinct. I really don't trust mail in ballots. In Oregon, do they have a way
that you can verify your vote was received?
This is such a good point. I live in Germany but vote in Spain and every time I send the letter with the vote I have the feeling I am sending it into outer space. There's no way to verify that your letter arrived and that someone put it in the ballot. We have been protesting for years, because the exterior vote is mostly left and the conservative government has been making it more and more complicated in order to discourage people from voting, or even worse, there was the suspect that the consulates were boycotting particularly lefty areas.
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Fritz,
The TV pundits think Tim Kaine is a sure thing to win his Senate seat in Virginia.
Do you think that's the case? His opponent is a piece of work, but who can discount
anything lately.
With such an opponent who is not (so far) getting support from the Senate Republican Election Committee, I think that Tim Kaine's election chances are pretty good, but that leaves no room for complacency. Who knows what dirty tricks the GOP has in mind to pull. And it wouldn't surprise me if the Senate Republicans eventually come around to supporting Stewart's candidacy, for the "good" of the party and for party unity. But I am feeling pretty good about Kaine. I've liked him for a long time, even before he was our governor.
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Good to know.
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Look what I get to vote on this year.
A billionaire with money to waste has gotten a ballot initiative to qualify for the next election, to separate California into three states.
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/63/Cal3_map.svg/220px-Cal3_map.svg.png)
Anyone with sense in their head knows that this will never happen. It's actually been tried before. Not once. Not ten times. Not even a hundred times. There have been at least 220 efforts to hack California up into smaller states, with at least five just since 2000.
This billionaire actually tried to get a proposal on the ballot in 2016 to break the state up into six separate states. This time he had the law proposal written so that it changes a statute, instead of a constitutional provision, so it required a lot less signatures to get on the ballot. Second, it is written so that the state does not have to give consent, it's written
so that the consent of the people is implied if it passes, so it would go directly to Congress which is required to approve such a thing.
As far as I can research, nearly all of the "break California up" proposals are started by Republicans and usually businessmen. It's so contradictory when you think that Conservatives are always railing against big government, less government is better, or no government, and yet instead of one Governor they think three would be better? Instead of two Senators they'd like to have 4 more? It makes no sense.
If it passed I guess I might be living in Lo-Cal. :D
Or Medi-Cal.
One of the most complicated things in California that would cause the most trouble ever
if this really happened would be the hugely intricate and labyrinthine laws regarding the
water rights in this state. I can't imagine.
And just like another so-called bilillionaire you might know, he has his own college: Draper University.
The State Republican party at their recent convention even said NO to this.
The only poll that was done about this was asked once before it was confirmed as a ballot proposition.
72% said NO.
18% said YES.
10% were undecided or just don't like to answer polls.
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This is such a good point. I live in Germany but vote in Spain and every time I send the letter with the vote I have the feeling I am sending it into outer space. There's no way to verify that your letter arrived and that someone put it in the ballot. We have been protesting for years, because the exterior vote is mostly left and the conservative government has been making it more and more complicated in order to discourage people from voting, or even worse, there was the suspect that the consulates were boycotting particularly lefty areas.
Conservatives always keep saying they have the people on their side, but they are always doing things
to suppress the vote. I guess their meaning of "people" is limited.
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"People" meaning only those who think like them.
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Congress and senate seats are up for grabs in the mid-terms, the dems will try to take over but with reps afraid of 45, they may retain control.
I had to look this up...
Major cities which are holding mayoral elections in 2018 include:
Newark, New Jersey: Incumbent mayor Ras J. Baraka was re-elected to a second term with 77.05% of the vote.
Phoenix, Arizona: Thelda Williams is the incumbent and acting mayor after Greg Stanton chose to resign on May 29, 2018, to seek election for the United States Congress.
San Francisco, California (special): London Breed was elected to succeed the deceased mayor Ed Lee.
Washington, D.C.: Incumbent Muriel Bowser (D) is running for reelection.
Nashville, Tennessee: Acting Mayor David Briley won election with 54.47%, avoiding a runoff.
Louisville, Kentucky
and there are some gubernatorial elections in some states, but not sure which ones...
We are having a gubernatorial election in New Mexico this year. I am hoping that a democrat will be elected after 8 years of a female republican. Susana Martinez supported Pumkinhead until he dissed her at the governors meeting after he was elected. Did she really think he would support her, being a woman and Hispanic?
The woman who just won the Democratic primary here is Michelle Lujan Grisham, (who is a 12th generation New Mexican) who is the representative of the 1st District in NM, which includes several counties, including Albuquerque. She is the hope of getting a Democrat in the Governor's office.
Debra Haaland won the Democratic primary for the 1st district in NM. She is a full blooded American Indian, and if she wins, would be the first American Indian to serve as a Representative in DC.
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That's fun, my second surname is Lujan, but with an x (like Mejico/Mexico)
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That's fun, my second surname is Lujan, but with an x (like Mejico/Mexico)
Lujan is a very common name in New Mexico, kinda like Smith or Jones in the rest of the US.
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That's strange, because it is not so common in Spain. Maybe all my great great grandparents emigrated to New Mexico.
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That's strange, because it is not so common in Spain. Maybe all my great great grandparents emigrated to New Mexico.
That might be a possibility!! ;)
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Not earth-shattering news but nice nevertheless: the first royal gay wedding. The Queen’s cousin Ivan Mountbatten will marry his longtime partner, with the affectionate participation of his ex-wife.
https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2018/06/16/gay-royal-wedding-first-ever/ (https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2018/06/16/gay-royal-wedding-first-ever/)
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Finally, the Aquarius is in Valencia:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/jun/17/migrant-rescue-ship-aquarius-to-dock-in-spain-after-rough-week-at-sea
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Not earth-shattering news but nice nevertheless
In the dictionary defintion of "earth shattering" (that I just looked up) it fits!
adj.
very important, momentous, or traumatic.
First ever! So pretty earth-shattering to me!
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Oh, is it English English? :)
They sound a really nice family. And the wedding will be only about 20 miles from here. Haven’t had my invitation though!
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Don't worry, it'll probably arrive tomorrow :D
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You make me feel much better, Elena!
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^^^
We were talking only the other night...about how much the "Royal Family" has changed over just the last 10 years...but there are still a lot of restrictions.
Wonder what the Royals will be like in another 10 years from now?
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A quote from the former King Farouk of Egypt (1948):
"The whole world is in revolt. Soon there will be only five Kings left – the King of England, the King of Spades, the King of Clubs, the King of Hearts, and the King of Diamonds."
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Well he was rather wrong. 70 years later there are 7 kings(or Queens) in Europe plus a ruling duke and 2 ruling princes. In the Muslim world there are 9 kings or sultans. There are 4 kings (including emperor- Japan) in Asia plus 2 kings in Africa and one in the Pacific.
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Sara, you have gay royalty, we have royals in jail! :laugh:
The Spanish king's brother in law just entered prison!
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:o
I have to say I don't think I've ever heard of the about-to-be-married one, but am happy for him!
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King Farouk wasn't exactly known for his forecasting proclivities!
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Well he was rather wrong. 70 years later there are 7 kings(or Queens) in Europe plus a ruling duke and 2 ruling princes. In the Muslim world there are 9 kings or sultans. There are 4 kings (including emperor- Japan) in Asia plus 2 kings in Africa and one in the Pacific.
In the U.S. we have Queen Latifah.
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Who would probably be a better President than 45, my guess!! I just can't understand the voter apathy in this country!! It's always sad to read the voter counts after an election, and it doesn't seem to matter which LEVEL of Gov't we are voting in, or out!! Yet everyone will complain, voters or not........some commentators and people in the KNOW, say the mid-terms will bring out more voters than the 2016 Presidential Election did, we'll see soon enough!! One can HOPE anyway!! :D
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Hope.
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In the U.S. we have Queen Latifah.
;D Love it!
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In the U.S. we have Queen Latifah.
In the U.S. we have lots of queens.
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To quote Mrs Naugatuck the English maid in the TV series Maude,
"What's all the fuss about? Just because a man's homosexual? We think quite highly of them in England. Our government's full of them. The only one we're positive isn't a queen is the Queen!"
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How do you spell "hypocrisy"?
The U.S. withdraws from the U.N. Human Rights Council, accusing other members of "appalling disrespect for the most basic rights," according to Nikki Haley, while 45 is taking children from their parents and locking them up in cages like animals. (And, of course, blaming it on the Democrats because nothing is ever 45's fault.)
Will no one rid us of these people?
(And I don't mean the children.)
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Heydrich would be so proud.
I doubt there's a single person in the Trump administration able to spell "hypocrisy".
You know what? I was mad at Sam Bee for her choice of words for Ivanka, now I thing she was being benevolent. The perfect blond role model for moms has yet to say something about this, but maybe she just supports it. So long it's not her own, she doesn't seem to give a s*** about children. At least poor children.
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I was gratified to learn that Rosalynn Carter, Hillary Clinton, Laura Bush, and Michelle Obama have all condemned the policy. I give no credence to what Mrs. 45 said. (And Mrs. Bush is a Republican.)
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THEY WANT THIS.
I saw an extensive piece yesterday on how the administration wants this controversy. They're actively
courting it. They're enjoying the fact that it's causing a stir and somehow think this is beneficial to them.
A reporter covering the White House actually said "they're in a pretty gleeful mood."
How abhorrent does it have to get?
More than one place online says that the followng editorial cartoon got the cartoonist fired.
(Trust but verify.)
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/De88OJWWAAEXb4f.jpg)
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(https://www.mercurynews.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/9A79509A-ACA5-44A7-8935-A324CF66D79C.jpg?w=620)
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(https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-XACbAR4nsN4/WylN88b0MHI/AAAAAAABzNs/D4sQstKNlXAhDhDl43WqTN1Paasosc_3QCLcBGAs/s640/2%2Bmatt%2Bwuerker.jpg)
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(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Feditorialcartoonists.com%2Fcartoons%2FRogerR%2F2018%2FRogerR20180619_low.jpg&hash=93248f3dc99375e1e925b237d3a3808a76e50022)
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(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.theweek.com%2Fsites%2Fdefault%2Ffiles%2F20%2520Luckovich_0.jpg&hash=b3f3a57aa987aad5c28a6188ab9e65f2af059c2f)
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This is what he's trying to do...get Congress to pay for this wall,
in exchange for not separating children from parents. Something
he didn't have to do in the first place...so NO WAY.
(https://www.mercurynews.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/immigtoon03.jpg?w=620)
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(https://www.sltrib.com/resizer/B3QVzw86uS26bf8Fqife48NBeus=/0x600/smart/filters:quality(86)/arc-anglerfish-arc2-prod-sltrib.s3.amazonaws.com/public/XURIZ4MRI5ATXMXOCXBDP7QKZE.jpg)
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(https://www.mercurynews.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/immigtoon01.jpg?w=620)
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The problem with this administration and the people who support it is that their support is based on
a while lot of nonsense that they are somehow being taken advantage of, that people are taking things
away from them that they are entitled to, that they support a man who has broken every rule in the book
and a lot of laws besides and suffers NO consequences, but they support what's happening on the border
because, as one man put it yesterday (Carl Bier, a Trump voter from Arizona): "I am behind the President
all the way. These people that we have coming across the border illegally are breaking the rules, I have no
feelings for them at all," he said.
And these people claim to be religious as well as righteous.
The ability to see yourself in all of humanity is a characteristic of a spiritual relationship.
It's the ability to celebrate and honor in others that place where we are all one.
I do not see any of that in these people.
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Lack of empathy is a characteristic of psychopaths. It really is something to be worried about.
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Meanwhile down here the whole country is excited. The following has just been announced at 7am our time.
"Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has entered hospital to give birth to her first baby.
Ms Ardern's partner Clarke Gayford has accompanied her to Auckland City Hospital.
The Prime Minister's office confirmed the news in a statement today.
Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters is now Acting Prime Minister."
https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/new-zealand/jacinda-ardern-enters-auckland-hospital-give-birth-her-first-baby
That last sentence is the only bit I am not happy about but it is unavoidable.
It is nice to live where nearly everyone loves our political leader (and not because we are forced to as in North Korea). The baby was due last Sunday so we have all been waiting.
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Thank you, Brian! Raise your glass for prime ministers having babies!
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THEY WANT THIS.
I saw an extensive piece yesterday on how the administration wants this controversy. They're actively
courting it. They're enjoying the fact that it's causing a stir and somehow think this is beneficial to them.
A reporter covering the White House actually said "they're in a pretty gleeful mood."
How abhorrent does it have to get?
More than one place online says that the followng editorial cartoon got the cartoonist fired.
(Trust but verify.)
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/De88OJWWAAEXb4f.jpg)
Great! Swiped for Facebook!
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The local news just reported that Pumpkinhead has ordered an end to the policy of separating children from families who enter the US illegally.
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But, families can be kept incarcerated together for only 20 days, so there will be an uproar again soon enough when the separations start again.
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New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and partner Clarke Gayford have announced the birth of their first child, a baby girl.
The pair announced the news on Ms Ardern's Instagram just after 6pm this evening.
So happy to announce our little girl has finally arrived! Everyone healthy and happy.
7.3lb, 4.45pm.
Huge thanks to all involved, what a team.
6:18 PM - Jun 21, 2018
In a statement, her office said: "The Prime Minister's Office can confirm that Jacinda Ardern has given birth to a healthy baby girl.
"The baby was born at 4.45pm Tuesday June 21 2018 at Auckland Public Hospital. She weighs 3.31 kgs.
"The child is the first for Jacinda Ardern and her partner Clarke Gayford."
Ms Ardern said: "I’m sure we’re going through all of the emotions new parents go through, but at the same time feeling so grateful for all the kindness and best wishes from so many people. Thank you."
Ms Ardern's office also confirmed the trio would spend the night together and would not be appearing in public until tomorrow, at the earliest.
photo link
https://twitter.com/NZClarke/status/1009681920379183104/photo/1?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.tvnz.co.nz%2Fone-news%2Fnew-zealand%2Flive-its-girl-jacinda-ardern-and-clarke-gayford-announce-birth-their-first-child
He is so handsome ;D
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Very nice news!
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I thought this was a rather interesting contrast to Trump's inhumane cruelty. A suspected illegal immigrant arrested in the U.K. who hadn't eaten for days was taken to a fast food outlet by the police who bought him food. I expect someone can find a Biblical quote to cover that act of compassion...maybe Sessions could apply himself to it. Or maybe not.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/06/20/police-officers-share-bag-chips-hungry-illegal-immigrant-arresting/
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I thought this was a rather interesting contrast to Trump's inhumane cruelty. A suspected illegal immigrant arrested in the U.K. who hadn't eaten for days was taken to a fast food outlet by the police who bought him food. I expect someone can find a Biblical quote to cover that act of compassion...maybe Sessions could apply himself to it. Or maybe not.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/06/20/police-officers-share-bag-chips-hungry-illegal-immigrant-arresting/
Well, here's two:
"Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me." Matthew 25:40.
"Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so unto them." Matthew 7:12.
(King James Version, the one I have closest to hand at the moment.)
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Thank you...very apt. ;)
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WTF is wrong with these people?
(https://timedotcom.files.wordpress.com/2018/06/melania-trump-zara-jacket-immigration-detention.jpg)
So, Melania is as stupid as her husband. But we knew that already, didn't we? She married him after all.
When people were focused on the intent of this the 1st Lady's press person said, "there was no intent. No hidden message.
It's just a jacket."
Right. And if you believe that...
All sane Republicans in the news are called "Former Congressman" or whatever office they used to hold,
or else they aren't running again. But at least they say something...
Some words from a former Congressman, David Jolly:
Melania Trump’s decision to wear a green army-style jacket with the saying “I really don’t care” painted across it as she went to visit some of the 2,000 children her husband ordered to be taken from their parents and locked in cages has led to a lot of speculation.
What is it does she not care about and who is she asking whether they care? Her husband has said it was a message aimed at the media, while her spokesperson said there was no message. People were generally too bewildered by the taunt to get angry.
David Jolly, a Republican former congressman from Florida, was irate about the jacket.
He said it’s time for the media and others to stop treating Melania Trump with kid gloves.
“This was an unforgivable moment for the first lady and the first family,” he said. “Not just because of what happened in the initial moment where, ‘Wow, did she wear this?’ There was intrigue. And, frankly, I was one who dismissed it the first time we saw it, as she was departing.”
Then Melania Trump wore it upon her return—despite sweltering heat.
“To wear it on her again affirms that this was a political message, This was not a fashion statement. This was a political message where she said ‘I don’t care.'” he said. “She was going to the border, where her husband had ripped families apart and wearing a jacket that said ‘I don’t care.’ …she does not deserve latitude on this because she doubled-down after questions were asked.”
On their trip back from her appearance in Texas getting off the plane she doubled down and wore it again.
_____
Remember during the campaign Trump said Melania was going to hold a press conference and all the questions about her
working in the U.S. illegally would be answered. Of course this never happened.
Melania's an illegal immigrant herself.
I am so tired of these people.
(https://www.sltrib.com/resizer/B3QVzw86uS26bf8Fqife48NBeus=/0x600/smart/filters:quality(86)/arc-anglerfish-arc2-prod-sltrib.s3.amazonaws.com/public/XURIZ4MRI5ATXMXOCXBDP7QKZE.jpg)
Of course, Trump supporters all enjoy the show and think Melania was deliberately trolling anyone who isn't a Trump supporter.
Just like that above political cartoon notes. Do you see the a-holes at these Trump rallies. They're all trolls. They like that Trump
bothers people, as he should to any sane person, and his supporters are really the ones who don't care. The Republican party's become
a party of internet trolls.
If Joe McCarthy were alive today, and he were confronted, as the real McCarthy was, with the question “Have you no sense of decency, sir? At long last, have you left no sense of decency?” he would have simply replied “LOL, are you triggered yet, snowflake, I identify as an attack helicopter #TrumpTrain #MAGA #ListOf57Communists” and his idiot fans on Twitter would have cheered.
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“Just a jacket” - unbelievable.
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(https://www.rawstory.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/melania_jacket-800x430.jpg)
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:P
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I couldn't believe it when I saw that jacket.
I've tried to give Melania a pass in the past, but doing that with everything that's going on......*shakes head*
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Watch Laura Ingraham's Soul Leave Her Body As She Describes Border Facilities as 'Summer Camps'
...But as the Fox power players returned to their broadcast chairs for Monday night primetime, what we got was even uglier than expected. Leading the way was Laura Ingraham, who responded to reports on the severe trauma children were experiencing as they were torn from their parents' arms by suggesting they were getting a free ride to Camp Winnepesaukee.
Laura Ingraham Faces Ad Boycott On Her Show After ‘Summer Camp’ Comment
https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/a21613336/laura-ingraham-fox-news-summer-camps/ (https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/a21613336/laura-ingraham-fox-news-summer-camps/)
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A REALLY THOUGHT PROVOKING ARTICLE.
I only hope this is the case.
This Nation Is Beginning to Realize the Full Extent of What It Did to Itself in November 2016
The country's head is clearing. The spell of the reality show presidency* is wearing off.
Optimism may be illusory, but it’s all we have at this point, so, when it stirs, anywhere, it’s worthy of nurture and support. Over the past week, ever since the administration*’s crimes against humanity along the southern border were revealed, there became an edge to the political opposition that has not been there through all the marches and the rhetoric that have attended this government since the president* was inaugurated. Up until now, all of the #Resistance has contained a barely acknowledged undercurrent of futility. It was not that the opposition was empty. It was that it generally broke like a wave on a seawall when it collided with the immutable fact that the president*’s party controlled every lever of political power at the federal level, as well as a great number of them out in the states, too.
The week just passed has changed the calculations. The images from the border, and the White House’s fatheaded trolling of the situation, seems to have shaken up everyone in Washington to the point at which alliances are more fluid than they have been since January of 2017. There seems little doubt that the Republicans in the House of Representatives are riven with ideological chaos, struck numb by the basic conundrum of modern conservatism: When your whole political identity is defined by the proposition that government is not the solution, but, rather, the problem, you don’t know how to operate it when fortune and gerrymandering hand you the wheel.
https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/a21775485/migrant-child-crisis-trump-presidency/
I love how the author puts an asterisk every time any form of the word 'President' appears in the article.
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Hope.
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Great article. I don't know if I see it yet in the people who support the president*.
And, yes, it seems like we should all do that, now. Put an asterisk after the word.
It's a small, but very noticeable, act of resistance.
Having a two-party system isn't necessarily a bad thing. The excesses of one party eventually
get checked by the other, with the caveat: if the playing field is fair. The current Republican party
has been going off the rails little by little since Reagan and his team started to court the right wing
evangelicals that even Barry Goldwater warned of getting involved in the party. I don't even think
Reagan, who famously ran on his "Government is not the solution to our problem; government is the
problem" slogan meant that he didn't believe in having a government, as the party took that line and
began running on it as "government is evil." In fact, Reagan's actual line was "In this present crisis,
government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem." The party ignored the
"present crisis" part and made it permanent.
So I was glad to read this line in the article because it addresses that:
When your whole political identity is defined by the proposition that government is not the solution,
but, rather, the problem, you don’t know how to operate it when fortune and gerrymandering hand
you the wheel.
For years I've been saying, "Why would you want to vote for people that profess to hate the very thing
they're running to be a part of?
I hope the sentiments expressed in this article are arising. Maybe it's a D-Day moment for
the country, but I still see a Battle of the Bulge on the horizon.
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Last night on Stephen Colbert, Seth Rogen talked about his run-in with Paul Ryan.
Watch it here if you don't want spoilers:
https://www.cbs.com/shows/the-late-show-with-stephen-colbert/video/879E04DA-3082-452D-197F-2A4AD48DF099/paul-ryan-asked-seth-rogen-for-a-photo/
Or you could probably find it on youtube.
Or a synopsis:
"Accepting an invitation from Mitt Romney to speak about his work on behalf of Alzheimer’s research, Rogen told Colbert how at the event he was blindsided by a pair of enthusiastic young fans—and their glad-handing dad, Paul Ryan. Asked for a picture by the House Speaker, Rogen said his response was a hearty, “No way, man!,” adding, “Furthermore, I hate what you’re doing to the country at this moment and I count the days ’til you no longer have one iota of the power that you currently have.” His Canadian politeness warring with his political conscience left Rogen feeling a little guilty on behalf of Ryan’s kids, but, as he explained, “It’s not their fault, but they should probably learn that if they like a movie or a song, the person who made that probably doesn’t like their dad that much.”
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^^^LOL! The best part is actually him calling Mitt Romney "Mittens" and saying the Mooch is in the clear when it comes to getting Alzheimer's.
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I am really curious as to what Ryan's reaction was when Seth Rogan refused to take a picture with him.
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Watch Laura Ingraham's Soul Leave Her Body As She Describes Border Facilities as 'Summer Camps'
I didn't realize she had one in the first place.
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I am really curious as to what Ryan's reaction was when Seth Rogan refused to take a picture with him.
I wonder, too.
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Ha! So Sarah Sanders "urged greater civility" after she was ejected from that restaurant. That's a quote from a newspaper article, not a direct quote from her. Nevertheless, what does her boss do? Turns around and calls Maxine Waters "an extremely low IQ person." That's real civility for you. ...
Some "Hollywood actor publicly urged people to kidnap" her children? Maybe then she'd understand what it's been like for undocumented immigrant parents on the border.
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"Some Hollywood actor..."
You mean Trump?
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So, Jeff Sessions is in Los Angeles this morning speaking to some group at the Biltmore Hotel.
LA Visit by US Atty. Gen. Jeff Sessions Sparks Downtown Protest, Arrests
25 arrested, including clergy, amid Jeff Sessions appearance in DTLA
http://abc7.com/politics/25-arrested-including-clergy-amid-jeff-sessions-protest-in-dtla/3657364/
And this is disgusting:
See Jeff Sessions Joke About Separating Families
Attorney General Jeff Sessions made a joke about separating immigrant children from their parents during prepared remarks in Los Angeles.
https://www.cnn.com/videos/politics/2018/06/27/sessions-jokes-separating-immigrant-children-sot-newday-vpx.cnn
And the political Supreme Court with interloper Neil Gorsuch ruled:
The Supreme Court dealt labor unions a sharp defeat Wednesday, ruling that teachers, police officers and other public employees cannot be forced to pay dues or fees to support their unions. By a 5-4 vote, the justices overturned a 41-year-old precedent and ruled that the 1st Amendment protects these employees from being required to support a private group whose views may differ from theirs.
And I just heard that Justice Anthony Kennedy is going to resign.
It just keeps getting worse.
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the stupidity of people never fails to amaze me. Do they really need a DON'T HAND-FEED THE SHARKS sign?
(CNN)A woman was yanked from a boat when a shark she was hand-feeding bit into her finger and hauled her into waters off the northwestern coast of Australia.
Melissa Brunning was standing on the stern of a yacht, feeding fish to a group of tawny nurse sharks, when one sank its teeth into her finger and dragged her overboard.
Mobile phone video footage of the incident shows her screaming as she fell into the water.
"It happened so quickly. All I could really focus on was the fact that my finger is gone. He'd clamped on it and it felt like it was shredding off the bone," she said.
The attack occurred while the 34-year-old woman from Perth was on holiday in Dugong Bay, a remote spot known for its sharks and saltwater crocodiles.
https://www.cnn.com/2018/07/02/australia/shark-pulls-woman-overboard-intl/index.html (https://www.cnn.com/2018/07/02/australia/shark-pulls-woman-overboard-intl/index.html)
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Man accused of plotting terror attack on July 4th parade in Cleveland
(CNN)A Cleveland man was arrested after allegedly making plans for a terrorist attack on the city's downtown July 4th parade with an undercover agent, authorities said Monday morning.
Demetrius Nathaniel Pitts, who used the name Abdur Raheem Rafeeq on Facebook, was taken into custody Sunday and has been charged with attempting to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization, Stephen Anthony of the FBI said in a news conference.
Pitts came under FBI surveillance in 2017 after he went on social media to express a hatred of the United States and a desire to join the terrorist group al Qaeda, Anthony said. Pitts is a US citizen and was radicalized in the United States, Anthony said. Court records say he's 48.
Pitts met an undercover agent in June, said an affidavit provided by the FBI, and the two began discussing his desire to join al Qaeda and potential acts of terror.
"What would hit them in the core?" Pitts asked in a secretly recorded conversation on June 22, according to the affidavit. "Blow up in the, have a bomb to blow up at the 4th of July parade."
https://www.cnn.com/2018/07/02/us/man-accused-of-plotting-attack-on-july-4-parade-in-cleveland/index.html (https://www.cnn.com/2018/07/02/us/man-accused-of-plotting-attack-on-july-4-parade-in-cleveland/index.html)
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the stupidity of people never fails to amaze me. Do they really need a DON'T HAND-FEED THE SHARKS sign?
(CNN)A woman was yanked from a boat when a shark she was hand-feeding bit into her finger and hauled her into waters off the northwestern coast of Australia.
Melissa Brunning was standing on the stern of a yacht, feeding fish to a group of tawny nurse sharks, when one sank its teeth into her finger and dragged her overboard.
Mobile phone video footage of the incident shows her screaming as she fell into the water.
"It happened so quickly. All I could really focus on was the fact that my finger is gone. He'd clamped on it and it felt like it was shredding off the bone," she said.
The attack occurred while the 34-year-old woman from Perth was on holiday in Dugong Bay, a remote spot known for its sharks and saltwater crocodiles.
https://www.cnn.com/2018/07/02/australia/shark-pulls-woman-overboard-intl/index.html (https://www.cnn.com/2018/07/02/australia/shark-pulls-woman-overboard-intl/index.html)
I swear, I think people get stupider by the day. ::)
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A ‘Trump Baby’ blimp will fly over the UK parliament during the president’s visit
A blimp shaped like an angry, orange, baby Donald Trump will fly over the U.K. parliament during his visit.
Permission has been granted by the Mayor of London after he initially refused.
Organizers behind raised money to manufacture and inflate it by carrying out a crowdfunding campaign.
(https://i.pinimg.com/564x/a6/c7/5f/a6c75f8e3621bb7effc6084ea99970e7.jpg)
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/07/05/trump-baby-blimp-will-fly-over-the-uk-parliament-during-the-presiden.html (https://www.cnbc.com/2018/07/05/trump-baby-blimp-will-fly-over-the-uk-parliament-during-the-presiden.html)
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:laugh:
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^^^
I saw that on the news and good for Britain.
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the stupidity of people never fails to amaze me.
I swear, I think people get stupider by the day. ::)
Speaking of stupid people: DOUBLING DOWN ON STUPID...
Workers in this Town May Become Victims of Trump's
Trade War, But They're Behind Him 'No Matter What'
http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-missouri-town-tariff-20180705-story.html#nt=tertiarynavbar
Some quotes from the article:
Jimmie Coffer, a machine programmer at the nation’s largest nail-making plant, voted for Donald Trump partly because he was confident he would bring manufacturing jobs back to America. So the 39-year-old factory worker was shocked last month when 60 of his co-workers were laid off after the Trump administration imposed a 25% tariff on the steel his company imports from Mexico. Now, as his bosses cut back hours and warn they may have to let 200 more workers go in the coming weeks, he worries he may lose his job as a result of the president’s policies.
But Coffer is still gung-ho about Trump. “I support him 100%,” he said last week. “In fact, I’d like to shake his hand. He’s doing a great job.”
“Most workers are behind Trump, no matter what,” said Diane Brogdon, 53, a machine operator who has worked for the company for 12 years.
Trump won 79% of the vote here in Butler County and, while many were surprised to discover the tariffs are hurting their town, they still believe Trump is on the right track and firmly support his goal of pouring life back into dilapidated manufacturing communities — even if they end up losers.
“It’s just one big mess,” said Brogdon, who fears she may struggle to keep the large, brick home she bought just a few months ago. “He’s looking at the big picture, and I understand that. But he’s got to stop and look at the small towns around here that are really going to get hurt.” Asked whether she would rethink her support for Trump if she lost her job at the nail plant, Brogdon said probably not. The tariffs ultimately would be good for the nation — even if it left her unemployed. “Overall, he’s done good,” she said. “I’m not going to be selfish just because of me.”
Some locals theorize the company’s Mexican owners [since 2012] have long planned to relocate south of the border and are using the tariffs as an excuse to finally leave. (Company officials do not rule out relocating to Mexico — where they could buy steel and export the finished nails back to the U.S. without tariffs — but insist they are committed to remaining in Poplar Bluff.) “This has nothing to do with tariffs — or Trump,” Mark Orton. “It’s smoke and mirrors. This Mexican company is just trying to blame Trump.” His client, a red-headed factory worker who declined to give his name, blamed politicians and newspapers for “banging on” Trump.
(https://i.redd.it/ehhl17zek4b01.jpg)
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I noticed something over this holiday period that surprised me.
I was visiting my father for the Fourth of July holiday. I was born and raised in a county that is conservative and rock-ribbed Republican. The county also has a large population of Christians who consider themselves Evangelicals.
What surprised me was that there were quite a few letters to the editor in the local newspaper whose writers were attacking 45 on religious grounds. One writer listed about two dozen things that 45 has said or done and contrasted each one with something Jesus is said to have said or done.
I was surprised because given the conservative nature of the county's population, I expected to see letters supporting 45, not attacking him.
So in the county where I was raised at least some Evangelicals are not supporting 45.
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Don't forget he DID say this:
(https://www.alternet.org/sites/default/files/image-20161116-13512-11gxp2i.jpg)
I don't want to be one to support Trump, but in this case, he's right about Fake News.
This quote has be reported to be in People magazine in 1998. Researchers have gone through People magazine archives for multiple years, and no one can find any interview by Donald where he says this.
https://www.rgj.com/story/news/2015/12/10/fact-check-did-trump-say-98-republicans-dumb/77099822/
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He's avoiding London during the visit.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/jul/06/donald-trump-to-avoid-london-during-uk-visit
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Hope the baby follows him.
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Fritz is right, the baby is mobile, I hope it moves to wherever he is!
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I don't want to be one to support Trump, but in this case, he's right about Fake News.
This quote has be reported to be in People magazine in 1998. Researchers have gone through People magazine archives for multiple years, and no one can find any interview by Donald where he says this.
https://www.rgj.com/story/news/2015/12/10/fact-check-did-trump-say-98-republicans-dumb/77099822/
Chuck, first, I would say that there's a lot of misinformation on the internet, but the "NEWS" he talks about being fake is from reputable news sources, so that's a difference one should take note of.
In any case, thank you for your post because I now remember finding that out during the 2016 election that this People Magazine quote had never been verified and I did not use it then and if I'd have remembered I wouldn't have done so a couple days ago.
Not wanting to spread anything that's false, I went back and deleted my post about that, so thanks for reminding me.
And I was just thinking, heh, even though he didn't say it or it can't be verified, I agree with that sentiment about current Republican voters!
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He's avoiding London during the visit.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/jul/06/donald-trump-to-avoid-london-during-uk-visit
Donald Trump to almost entirely avoid London during UK visit
Meetings with Theresa May and the Queen to be held away from protests in capital
I would hope that they can find the area(s) they will be meeting and the protests can go there.
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Fritz is right, the baby is mobile, I hope it moves to wherever he is!
And when Britain is through with it, I wish they'd donate it to some place in Washington, D.C. that could fly it permanently where Trump could see it from the White House.
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It would be hilarious if it floated wherever he was visiting the Queen, and he refused to see her if it meant his seeing the baby! Unlikely, I know, but it would be a scream!
She really has enough of a sense of humor that she'd go along with it! Her advisors, that would be another matter entirely.
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And when Britain is through with it, I wish they'd donate it to some place in Washington, D.C. that could fly it permanently where Trump could see it from the White House.
I don't know that they would donate it, but I wonder if any any Americans would be inspired to make one of their own.
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While I was visiting my dad, I read a syndicated newspaper column (regrettably, I don't remember by whom) where the author contended that attacks on 45 are driving the "Never Hillary" voters, who held their noses and voted for 45, into defending 45. He had numbers that seemed to back him up.
The trouble with his advice that the Democrats should take the high road is that if you try to take the high road with someone like 45, you just get kicked in the b*lls, and all you get out of it is sore b*lls.
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Years ago someone wrote about a study on this thread that was delving into the minds of conservatives and liberals and the study showed that once a conservative believed something, that even if confronted with the belief being false with factual evidence (that they were absolutely wrong, in other words) conservatives would tend to double down on their belief and discard the evidence.
Sounds just like what you read. Like I recently wrote about those workers who are losing their jobs because of Trump's tariff policies, but they're still doubling down on supporting him. Doubling down on stupid. I happened to see these actual people on the news the following night and I wanted to scream at them.
The old adage "Repeat something loud enough and long enough and it becomes true" is another phrase for Fox News.
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I don't know that they would donate it, but I wonder if any any Americans would be inspired to make one of their own.
Apparently it will be going on a world tour.
http://thehill.com/homenews/news/395975-trump-baby-blimp-to-go-on-world-tour
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It would be hilarious if it floated wherever he was visiting the Queen, and he refused to see her if it meant his seeing the baby! Unlikely, I know, but it would be a scream!
She really has enough of a sense of humor that she'd go along with it! Her advisors, that would be another matter entirely.
Well said Fritz. I love it. ;D
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Apparently it will be going on a world tour.
http://thehill.com/homenews/news/395975-trump-baby-blimp-to-go-on-world-tour
LOL It'll be his nemesis. Everywhere he goes it'll be waiting. ;D
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The situation will be changing by the minute in the attempted rescue of the Thai boys.
Thailand cave rescue: Mission to save boys under way http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-44755452 (http://Thailand cave rescue: Mission to save boys under way http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-44755452)
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North Korea pans 'gangster-like mindset' of US as Pompeo signals 'progress' in talks
(CNN)North Korea slammed what it called the United States' "gangster-like mindset" in denuclearization talks just hours after US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo described the high-level negotiations as "productive" and insisted progress was made.
"We had many hours of productive conversations," Pompeo told reporters Saturday in Pyongyang before boarding a flight to Tokyo. "These are complicated issues, but we've made progress on almost all the central issues. Some places, a great deal of progress. Other places, there's still more work to be done."
North Korea, however, poured cold water on the talks, saying the "attitude" of the US was "regrettable" and not in the spirit of the June 12 summit in Singapore between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
"We expected the US to bring constructive measures to build confidence in accordance with the spirit of the US-NK Summit," the statement carried by state-run news agency KCNA said, according to a CNN translation of the Korean version of the statement. "However, the attitude of the US in the first high-level talks held on the 6th and 7th were indeed regrettable."
The statement added, according to an English-language version of the statement released by KCNA: "The US is fatally mistaken if it went to the extent of regarding that the (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) would be compelled to accept, out of its patience, the demands reflecting its gangster-like mindset."
https://www.cnn.com/2018/07/07/politics/mike-pompeo-north-korea-nuclear-talks/index.html (https://www.cnn.com/2018/07/07/politics/mike-pompeo-north-korea-nuclear-talks/index.html)
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I think I believe what NK reported...sad that I don't trust anyone in our government these days...
Mike Pompeo dismisses North Korea's 'gangster' comments, says talks are going well
(CNN)US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo dismissed North Korea's accusation of a "gangster-like mindset" in denuclearization talks, saying the two nations had productive conversations that will continue in the days ahead.
Pompeo brushed aside the comments Sunday, saying "if those requests were gangster-like, the world is a gangster," [what does that even mean??] and noting that the UN Security Council has been clear on what North Korea needs to achieve.
He spoke in Tokyo with his Japanese and South Korean counterparts after two days of talks in Pyongyang.
While his talks with North Korean officials were conducted in good faith and they reaffirmed their commitment to abandoning nuclear weapons, he said, the US sanctions against the nation will remain in place.
"We had detailed, substantive conversations about the next steps toward a fully verified and complete denuclearization," he said.
Hours earlier Saturday, North Korea slammed what it called the US' "gangster-like mindset" during the talks, according to a report by state media. The accusation came after Pompeo visited Pyongyang and declared that the talks were productive.
"People are going to make stray comments after meetings," he said of North Korea's assertion. "If I paid attention to what the press said, I'd go nuts. I am determined to achieve the commitment that President Trump made, and I'm counting on chairman Kim to be determined to follow through on the commitment that he made."
https://www.cnn.com/2018/07/08/politics/mike-pompeo-north-korea-response/index.html (https://www.cnn.com/2018/07/08/politics/mike-pompeo-north-korea-response/index.html)
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The situation will be changing by the minute in the attempted rescue of the Thai boys.
Thailand cave rescue: Mission to save boys under way http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-44755452 (http://Thailand cave rescue: Mission to save boys under way http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-44755452)
No kidding, it is changing by the minute - for the good...
Thai cave rescue underway
Breaking: Rescue team member saw at least three boys evacuated from cave
From CNN's Kocha Olarn & Jo Shelley
A member of the rescue team stationed at the entrance of the cave witnessed at least three boys evacuated out of the Thailand cave Sunday, as authorities race against time to free the boys and their soccer coach who have been underground for more than two weeks.
https://www.cnn.com/asia/live-news/thai-cave-rescue-live-intl/index.html (https://www.cnn.com/asia/live-news/thai-cave-rescue-live-intl/index.html)
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That's great news about the boys! I hope they get them all out safely!!
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Torrential rains kill at least 81 in western Japan
Kiyoshi Takenaka, Issei Kato
The death toll from torrential rain and landslides in western Japan rose to 81 people on Sunday, with dozens still missing after more than 2,000, temporarily stranded in the city of Kurashiki, were rescued.
Evacuation orders were in place for nearly 2 million people and landslide warnings were issued in many prefectures. In hard-hit western Japan, emergency services and military personnel used helicopters and boats to rescue people from swollen rivers and buildings, including a hospital.
Scores of staff and patients, some still in their pajamas, were rescued from the isolated Mabi Memorial Hospital in boats rowed by members of Japan’s Self Defense Forces.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-weather-japan/torrential-rains-kill-at-least-81-in-western-japan-idUSKBN1JY01H
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Yes, hoping for continued success with the rescue.
The world is being run by kleptocrats at the moment.
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He's avoiding London during the visit.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/jul/06/donald-trump-to-avoid-london-during-uk-visit
(https://cdn.someecards.com/posts/donald-trump-london-baby-balloon-0GZ.png)
(https://i.imgflip.com/1llf2k.jpg)
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Apparently it will be going on a world tour.
http://thehill.com/homenews/news/395975-trump-baby-blimp-to-go-on-world-tour
Leo Murray, who is organizing the balloon protest, told NBC News last month that Trump “has a tremendously fragile ego so ridicule is an effective form of protest." "So we want to make sure he knows that all of the World is looking down on him and laughing at him,” Murray said.
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Regardless of who 45 appoints tonight, Jeffrey Toobin, writing in the July 9 & 16 issue of The New Yorker, is very pessimistic about the future under the new makeup of the SCOTUS. Apparently we will soon be seeing signs that read "No dogs or Gays" on religious grounds (I mean Gays, not dogs).
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This is an appointment to the Supreme Court and 45 has to make it like an episode of The Apprentice and call
for a special episode during prime time so it looks like he's doing something and gets all the glory for it. And
the networks will all jump in like it's an event of some sort. It's all show business now...for self-aggrandizement.
As this all goes on it becomes more and more bitter.
I read that Toobin piece in the New Yorker. Pretty dismal reading. Most everything is nowadays. All of the things
he talks about that the Supreme Court could reverse are things that MAJORITIES of Americans do not want to be
reversed. So who is representing whom here? Conservatives are always talking about FREEDOM. An individuals
FREEDOM. They shout it continuously. But their FREEDOMS they so continuously shout about aren't for everyone.
It's what they want FOR you. They want to take away other people's FREEDOM if they don't happen to like it.
And there is so much conservatives don't like. The business class hates restrictions because they don't have the
FREEDOM to bilk everyone out of their money and pollute the earth in the process. I was going to continue, but
the times are just too damn depressing. How does one keep a sense of hope, of optimism, of fair play, of sanity
when things seem so oppressive and unchangeable in the moment.
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Years ago someone wrote about a study on this thread that was delving into the minds of conservatives and liberals and the study showed that once a conservative believed something, that even if confronted with the belief being false with factual evidence (that they were absolutely wrong, in other words) conservatives would tend to double down on their belief and discard the evidence.
Sounds just like what you read. Like I recently wrote about those workers who are losing their jobs because of Trump's tariff policies, but they're still doubling down on supporting him. Doubling down on stupid. I happened to see these actual people on the news the following night and I wanted to scream at them.
The old adage "Repeat something loud enough and long enough and it becomes true" is another phrase for Fox News.
If the facts don't fit the theory, dispose of the facts. ...
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Like a whole lot of other people, I have watched the cave rescue drama for two weeks. Today they got the 8th boy out, and tomorrow they should get the rest. I will tell you, I have had nightmares about the ordeal, and I'm sure that those boys will have them the rest of their lives. PTSD will only be the start.
I wondered how the coach decided to take the boys into the cave in the first place, so I did some Googling. Much to my surprise (none of the news media mentioned this) the caves are a famous local landmark and tourist attraction, and contain major Buddhist sculpture inside. It's almost surreal. At any rate, I will pass along the link.
https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g297932-d2641086-Reviews-Tham_Khao_Luang_Cave-Phetchaburi_Phetchaburi_Province.html#photos;aggregationId=101&albumid=101&filter=7&ff=313992931 (https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g297932-d2641086-Reviews-Tham_Khao_Luang_Cave-Phetchaburi_Phetchaburi_Province.html#photos;aggregationId=101&albumid=101&filter=7&ff=313992931)
I would add two things:
God bless the rescuers
God help the boys
~~~fia
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It would be hilarious to see what the Religious Right will do. I expect they'll support Kavanaugh without ever having admitted to supporting anyone else, much like the residents of Oceania being informed that they were now fighting Eastasia rather than Eurasia. They've always been fighting whichever enemy the Party designates at the moment.
http://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/jags-phillip-jauregui-barrett-is-gods-anointed-kavanaugh-a-usurper-out-to-steal-gods-scotus-seat/
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All 12 boys and the soccer coach have been freed from the cave!
__
I cannot imagine what they've been through. People go nuts in airports when they
have to remain there in one location waiting for planes or weather to clear. And they
could leave! Imagine being in an underground cave for so long, the first days not even
knowing if anyone would find them and really nothing to do or...unimaginable.
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It would be hilarious to see what the Religious Right will do. I expect they'll support Kavanaugh without ever having admitted to supporting anyone else, much like the residents of Oceania being informed that they were now fighting Eastasia rather than Eurasia. They've always been fighting whichever enemy the Party designates at the moment.
http://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/jags-phillip-jauregui-barrett-is-gods-anointed-kavanaugh-a-usurper-out-to-steal-gods-scotus-seat/
They support the abominable Trump because "sometimes God chooses a flawed person to deliver his message."
That's the go to line for anything they at first don't like and then acquiesce to. And, really, if that is what they believe,
what the heck is the message that God was sending through this flawed person?
It's so disheartening to know there are so many stupid people and that they don't mind that they are
and revel in it.
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They support the abominable Trump because "sometimes God chooses a flawed person to deliver his message."
That's the go to line for anything they at first don't like and then acquiesce to. And, really, if that is what they believe,
what the heck is the message that God was sending through this flawed person?
I think they would say that message is pretty clear: Guns are good, gay rights are bad, reproductive choice is bad.
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I posted this in Fan Fair yesterday, but it got lost.
Tab Hunter, iconic 1950s actor, dead at 86
(CNN)Tab Hunter, who rose to fame as a Hollywood heartthrob in the 1950s, died Sunday at Cottage Hospital in Santa Barbara, California, Allan Glaser, his partner of 35 years, confirmed to CNN.
He was 86.
Glaser said the cause of death was a blood clot that caused cardiac arrest.
"We were walking home and he collapsed in my arms in our front yard," Glaser said. "He said he couldn't breathe, so I called 911, and we went to the hospital."
https://www.cnn.com/2018/07/09/entertainment/tab-hunter-dead/index.html (https://www.cnn.com/2018/07/09/entertainment/tab-hunter-dead/index.html)
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Today was his birthday.
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His poor partner...
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I read about this as well. It is so sad, and we had just been talking about him and his partner and the documentary. I think it was quite sudden. I wonder if they will still do the movie they're talking about?
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From what I heard on the radio, it was very sudden/unexpected. He died like a day before his birthday.
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"We were walking home and he collapsed in my arms in our front yard," Glaser said. "He said he couldn't breathe, so I called 911, and we went to the hospital."
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couldn't breathe.....makes me think of a blood clot on his lung.
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https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/09/obituaries/tab-hunter-86-1950s-hollywood-heartthrob-is-dead.html (https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/09/obituaries/tab-hunter-86-1950s-hollywood-heartthrob-is-dead.html)
According to the Times, his spouse says it was a blood clot in his leg that traveled to his lung.
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OK, seriously, I never thought I'd ever have anything good to say about 45 or Mrs. 45, but I do think that yellow gown Mrs. 45 wore to Blenheim Palace was stunning. Just beautiful.
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A friend posted part of the London anti-Trump demonstrations taken from her office window just now.
(https://i.imgur.com/Q1jYRUu_d.jpg?maxwidth=640&shape=thumb&fidelity=medium)
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A friend posted part of the London anti-Trump demonstrations taken from her office window just now.
(https://i.imgur.com/Q1jYRUu_d.jpg?maxwidth=640&shape=thumb&fidelity=medium)
I wish whoever is pouring would dump some hot tea--some very hot tea--right in 45's lap.
How many heads of governments has he insulted? There's Justin Trudeau, and now Theresa May ("she didn't listen"--as if the Prime Minister of Great Britain was a naughty child who didn't do what she was told). I'm pretty sure Emanual Macron is on that list, and I think Angela Merkel is on it, too. And they're our allies.
There is also "Little Rocket Man."
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But NEVER Putin. Never the one who controls the only thing T cares about, his money.
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I want to see the baby 45 in his diaper, flying over Parliament! Good crowd, though...
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Do you think Trump will talk about this with Putin when they have their date on Monday:
US Grand Jury Indicts 12 Russian Spies (by name) in 2016 Election Hacking
Thomson Reuters
July 13, 2018 1:00PM
https://www.article/news/2018/07/13/us-grand-jury-indicts-12-russian-spies-in-2016-election-hacking/23481528/ (https://www.aol.com/article/news/2018/07/13/us-grand-jury-indicts-12-russian-spies-in-2016-election-hacking/23481528/)
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Meanwhile, Trump says the 20-foot-tall angry baby blimp flying in London makes him feel 'unwelcome'.
I didn't even notice the baby has a phone to tweet on until I saw this photo.
(https://s.blogcdn.com/slideshows/images/slides/737/586/1/S7375861/slug/l/usa-trump-britain-1.jpg)
But does Donnie even contemplate for one second, why there are mass protests against him in Britain today?
Does he consider even one tiny reason people might dislike him? No, he never contemplates or considers.
What an embarrassment for the United States to have our friends in Britain protesting against our President.
Thank you for doing so, but it's an absolute disgrace that the need is there.
I saw one woman with a sign that said Love America, Hate Trump.
The first part is hard right now, the second is a no-brainer!
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"Trump's visit spurred other activists to create their own political displays. One artist carved "Fuck Trump" into
a crop circle that was reportedly visible on Trump's flight path to British Prime Minister Theresa May's country estate."
The first word was written in the Russian language.
(https://o.aolcdn.com/images/dims3/GLOB/crop/479x314+121+0/resize/1028x675!/format/jpg/quality/85/http%3A%2F%2Fo.aolcdn.com%2Fhss%2Fstorage%2Fmidas%2F2fde27422ef803f3a65b2258fe0d2069%2F206521194%2Fcropcircle.jpeg)
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This is what Trump is concerned with on his trip:
"On Thursday, reports began surfacing from the president* that Trump was supposedly looking at making some big changes
to the new Air Force Ones. He thinks the color scheme isn't exciting enough, the reports stated."
And it doesn't say TRUMP across the front, I suppose. He probably saw a photo of the military jet that Eisenhower used,
and briefly Kennedy. It was painted orange:
(https://admin.govexec.com/media/gbc/docs/pdfs_edit/4_af1_jfk_(1).jpg)
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Strzok Treatment
Then there was this complete government meltdown in Congress yesterday: the Strzok hearing.
From Peter Strozk's opening statment at the hearing yesterday,
which can be read in full at the link below.
"I understand we are living in a political era in which insults and insinuation often drown out honesty and integrity. But the honest truth is that Russian interference in our elections constitutes a serious attack on our democracy. Most disturbingly, it has been wildly successful — sowing discord in our nation and shaking faith in our institutions.
I have the utmost respect for Congress’s oversight role, but I truly believe that today’s hearing is just another victory notch in Putin’s belt and another milestone in our enemies’ campaign to tear America apart.
As someone who loves this country and cherishes its ideals, it is profoundly painful to watch and even worse to play a part in."
And then the Republicans heads exploded.
https://www.vox.com/2018/7/12/17564266/read-fbi-peter-strzok-congress-testimony-full-text-trump-russia
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I'm afraid he's gonna want a parade like the one he got yesterday at Blenheim castle.
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fd2pggiv3o55wnc.cloudfront.net%2Foann%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2018%2F07%2F2018-07-13T062423Z_1_LYNXMPEE6C0CF_RTROPTP_0_USA-TRUMP-BRITAIN_1.jpg&hash=9604eb781834aed45236b3047d451d0460285248)
And everyone on CNN is saying he must cancel the meeting w/putin (have to get a name/number for him), after...
July 13, 2018
659
WASHINGTON — Rod J. Rosenstein, the deputy attorney general, on Friday announced new charges against 12 Russian intelligence officers accused of hacking the Democratic National Committee, the Clinton presidential campaign and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. The charges came just a few days before President Trump is expected to meet with President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia in Helsinki, Finland.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/13/us/politics/mueller-indictment-russian-intelligence-hacking.html (https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/13/us/politics/mueller-indictment-russian-intelligence-hacking.html)
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I can't believe he's gone abroad and made the comments he's made about Germany and Theresa May, insinuating that she's not a good Prime Minister.
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A friend posted part of the London anti-Trump demonstrations taken from her office window just now.
(https://i.imgur.com/Q1jYRUu_d.jpg?maxwidth=640&shape=thumb&fidelity=medium)
More than at his inauguration.
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I can't believe he's gone abroad and made the comments he's made about Germany and Theresa May, insinuating that she's not a good Prime Minister.
It's just getting more and more surreal. Now he gave an incredible off the cuff interview to a horrible rag called The Sun which defies belief. Then denied he'd said any of it despite it being recorded. Fake news apparently. God alone knows what he said to the Queen.
https://inews.co.uk/news/politics/donald-trump-the-sun-theresa-may-fake-news/
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/trump-uk-visit-live-updates-protests-brexit-theresa-may-queen-london-windsor-castle-chequers-a8445226.html
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If I'm not mistaken, someone here asked why the Queen would even agree to meet with Trump.
One of the news programs mentioned last night that "the Queen doesn't get to choose what heads
of state she meets", that it's up to the PM. Is this true? Not only that, the boorish a-hole was fifteen
minutes late, leaving everyone, especially the 92 year old Queen, standing out in the hot afternoon.
He's a stable genius, though, as you may have heard. Which means he knows all about shoveling shite.
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A friend posted part of the London anti-Trump demonstrations taken from her office window just now.
(https://i.imgur.com/Q1jYRUu_d.jpg?maxwidth=640&shape=thumb&fidelity=medium)
__________________________________________
More than at his inauguration.
Currently, the approval rating for the president* in Britain is 11%.
And the Trump supporters "go to idiot" on Fox news (Sean Hannity)
called all of the president's* protesters "angry liberal socialist freeloaders."
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Yes the Queen must be above politics and she could not refuse to meet with Trump. However she has had to "entertain" some evil African dictators in the pas, Idi Amin comes to mind, so guess she can cope.
What was shown on our news was Trump standing in the front of the Queen before inspecting the guards. She had to step around from behind him and I am sure she is not use to that. For him to do that to any woman let alone the Queen shows him to be below contempt. He has absolutely no manners.
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I think I saw that same clip, but read it a different way - the Queen was trying to show him where to walk and he just didn't get it. She tried a couple times to gesture and indicate where he should go but he was too stupid to figure it out.
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didn't go over well...
London (CNN)The British public does not appear amused with President Donald Trump walking in front of Queen Elizabeth II on Friday, with one royal commentator describing the awkward stroll as reminiscent of "wandering up and down a golf course."
Trump ruffled feathers on social media after momentarily walking in front of the Queen during a reviewing of the troops at Windsor Castle.
In the encounter, Elizabeth appears to gesture Trump forward before he walks ahead and promptly puts on the brakes -- forcing the monarch to do an awkward sidestep around him.
But while Trump raised eyebrows by walking in front of the Queen -- he didn't technically break royal protocol, according to royal commentator Richard Fitzwilliams.
That said, Trump still looked like he "might as well have been wandering up and down a golf course," Fitzwilliams told CNN.
Fitzwilliams said the confusion "gave the impression of dis-coordination," adding, "It proves he (Trump) doesn't bother to rehearse, because the thinks he doesn't need to."
On social media, the reaction was incredulous. "Did Donald Trump just WALK IN FRONT OF THE QUEEN?!?!?!" Halla Mohieddeen wrote on Twitter. T. Dorje posted, "Good grief. Queen Elizabeth pointed to the ground to show Trump where to walk and yet he still stepped and walked in front of her."
https://twitter.com/twitter/statuses/1017839318646345728 (https://twitter.com/twitter/statuses/1017839318646345728)
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I can't figure out everyone's surprise or comments. The man is a mysoginistic cretin and doesn't know his orange ass from a hole in the ground.
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I think I saw that same clip, but read it a different way - the Queen was trying to show him where to walk and he just didn't get it. She tried a couple times to gesture and indicate where he should go but he was too stupid to figure it out.
The protocol is that the Queen, when inspecting troops with a visiting president, always walks on the side nearest to the lines of soldiers and always slightly in front. He must have had this dinned into him before the visit but just ignored it. She did try to indicate to him what to do but gave up and walked on the wrong side with him in front part of the time.
To keep any 92 year old, never mind a monarch, standing in the hot sun waiting for him is appalling. I can never ever remember anything like this happening before.
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the article said he didn't "technically" break protocol (he just technically acted like an ass), and you just know he didn't ask for any assistance on how to behave properly, because he already knows everything.
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the article said he didn't "technically" break protocol (he just technically acted like an ass), and you just know he didn't ask for any assistance on how to behave properly, because he already knows everything.
It's just a lack of respect and common sense. He should've known better.
If he had been at Trump tower, conducting official business with others, and someone crossed in front of him during the proceedings, taking the attention away from him and being a distraction, he wouldn't appreciate it at all. That's basically what he did to the queen at those moments.
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the article said he didn't "technically" break protocol (he just technically acted like an ass), and you just know he didn't ask for any assistance on how to behave properly, because he already knows everything.
The protocol rules are voluntary but almost nobody ignores them so they are observed. Most people would have known instinctively how to behave. Everyone who meets the Queen has to be briefed beforehand, no exceptions, so he would have been told. If he's too arrogant to take any notice then what can you do?
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5952671/Trump-breaks-protocol-Royal-visit-twice-failing-bow-walking-Queen.html
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Since 45 elbowed his way to the front of a group photo last year, I'm not at all surprised that he would disrespect the Queen. It's about what I would have expected of him.
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To keep any 92 year old, never mind a monarch, standing in the hot sun waiting for him is appalling. I can never ever remember anything like this happening before.
Every single thing this man has done has never been done before, and people do absolutely nothing about it. His followers go around blindly and pronounce he can do no wrong , and those who could do something about it have no balls.
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I have no problems with them not bowing, they are the leader and spouse of a different country and not one of her subjects so I would not expect them to bow, perhaps a brief nod of the head, in respect to her age. The Brits often have problems with Australian Prime ministers, some of whom have not done more than that. One of the Australian Prime Ministers got lots of stick when he put his arm behind her back as he directed her along a path. However, while not correct protocol, he was being quite natural in assisting an older lady. Trump is my vintage but seems not to have learnt any of the manners we were taught when young. I find it very difficult not to always step back and let a lady go first especially through a door which was a problem when I was in a profession (school librarian) where most were women and I was often the only male in the meeting.
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I actually got choked up at work today listening to that asshole kiss putin’s ass in front of all those reporters and the world, and trash the US. I can only think that he wants to be just like him…able to kill journalists and get away with it, take over countries by force, poison people he doesn’t like.
And I’ll never understand his base…I assume that they’re totally uninformed, and they’re more interested in rallies and hats than in what that asshole is doing to our country. It will never be the same.
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(CNN)Confronted with a true alpha male in Russian President Vladimir Putin, President Donald Trump -- who likes to talk tough -- turned into a fawning beta in Helsinki, Finland, abandoning American interests in favor of appeasing the man who allegedly attacked the integrity of the 2016 presidential election.
Though Vice President Mike Pence praised the President's performance, saying Trump "stands without apology as the leader of the free world," his analysis could not have been further from the truth.
It was, as Sen. John McCain observed, "one of the most disgraceful performances by an American president in memory." McCain added that, "No prior president has ever abased himself more abjectly before a tyrant."
Unique as it was for a president to show such weakness, Trump's display of cowardice was wholly consistent with a man who believed his military high school was equal to true service in the armed forces and who declared his sexual experiences during the HIV/AIDS crisis tantamount to duty in the Vietnam War.
Anyone who expects anything different hasn't been paying attention to how Trump behaves when face-to-face with strong individuals. He likes to talk a big game, but when he's dealing with anyone he deems of importance, he's prone to appeasement and capitulation.
https://www.cnn.com/2018/07/16/opinions/donald-trump-profile-cowardice-russia-dantonio/index.html (https://www.cnn.com/2018/07/16/opinions/donald-trump-profile-cowardice-russia-dantonio/index.html)
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Even on Fox, Trump’s Helsinki Performance Was ‘Ridiculous’ and ‘Surreal’
The president found no safe harbor on his favorite network after his controversial press conference with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The day started with Fox and Friends’ Brian Kilmeade taking issue with Trump’s pre-meeting tweet, which read: “Our relationship with Russia has NEVER been worse thanks to many years of U.S. foolishness and stupidity and now, the Rigged Witch Hunt!”
“That’s by far the most ridiculous tweet of late,” Kilmeade said in response. “That is insulting to past administrations—he can’t be saying that going into the Russian summit.”
“Trump is unable to see past himself,” tweeted Brit Hume, a senior political analyst on the network.
“There is an avalanche of you-know-what rolling downhill at warp speed toward @realDonaldTrump over this summit. Republicans - even the DNI are throwing bucketsful at him,” tweeted Fox’s chief White House correspondent John Roberts.
Fox & Friends Weekend host Abby Huntsman, who is the daughter of Russian Ambassador Jon Huntsman, tweeted, “No negotiation is worth throwing your own people and country under the bus.”
Host Neil Cavuto called Trump’s press conference “disgusting.”
Trish Regan, his co-host, appeared flustered, similar to Cooper’s appearance. “He should have defended us,” Regan said. “He should have defended his own intelligence community.”
She tweeted that it was a “horrible performance” and “unpatriotic.” Retired Army General Jack Keane, a Fox national-security analyst, told Regan it was “stunning and disappointing.”
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2018/07/trump-fox-news-putin/565346/ (https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2018/07/trump-fox-news-putin/565346/)
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this would be hilarious if it wasn't so incredibly sad.
Putin offered to help with the Russia investigation. Don't expect Mueller to take him up on it
"What he did is an incredible offer. He offered to have the people working on the case come and work with their investigators with respect to the 12 people. I think that’s an incredible offer."
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^^^
Yes...all of the above. Such a disgrace and so worrisome.
And the republicans fiddle.
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(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DiQu1WtVAAAF7Z6.jpg:large)
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American journalists have shown more bravery and honesty in questioning Putin about
the Russian attack on American sovereignty than the President of the United States.
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Do any of you think that T. actually understands what he's dealing with in Putin? Do you think that he has a clue about what he's up against? I'm just interested to know.
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Do any of you think that T. actually understands what he's dealing with in Putin? Do you think that he has a clue about what he's up against? I'm just interested to know.
I think that asshole wants to be just like putin. I think that asshole wants to be liked - as I've always said, his personality is that of a 16 year old girl. He has no more insight into what putin is like than he knows what it's like to not be able to afford health care. And worse than that, he doesn't care, as long as putin likes him.
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(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DiQu1WtVAAAF7Z6.jpg:large)
This is the picture I was looking for, thanks Lyle.
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American journalists have shown more bravery and honesty in questioning Putin about
the Russian attack on American sovereignty than the President of the United States.
Exactly. You could tell watching him yesterday that he was totally smitten by being in the same room with putin. He's in love. He groveled (1 l or 2 in groveled?), crawled on his belly, licked putin's boots. It was more than embarrassing to watch. I used to refer to him as "45", now, to me, he is "that asshole". Maybe i'll abbreviate to TA.
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And I’ll never understand his base…I assume that they’re totally uninformed, and they’re more interested in rallies and hats than in what that asshole is doing to our country. It will never be the same.
Oh, they're informed. They just don't give a shit. And they like it because they've been convinced that they've been disenfranchised by liberal elites, and what he does goes against all the liberal pieties.
I'd like to have some hope that the Helsinki performance will begin to make a difference with them, but I don't. I guess he thinks Putin is "a very good person."
What can you possibly say about people who willingly go forward to their own doom? They're living in an alternate universe.
Of course he wants to be a tyrant. He wants to run the country as if it were an episode of "The Apprentice."
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A number of years ago I was visiting a friend who insisted that we watch the movie Idiocracy. It was rather painful to watch, but I'm glad he made me see it. And I never dreamed at the time that it would be so prophetic.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Idiocracy
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Do any of you think that T. actually understands what he's dealing with in Putin? Do you think that he has a clue about what he's up against? I'm just interested to know.
(https://dondosha.files.wordpress.com/2017/11/wp-image-646546121.png)
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A number of years ago I was visiting a friend who insisted that we watch the movie Idiocracy. It was rather painful to watch, but I'm glad he made me see it. And I never dreamed at the time that it would be so prophetic.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Idiocracy
I may have to check this out.
(Was filmed in Austin, TX.)
___
On the occasion that I read some comment after an article that makes me want to scream, I don't post any argument for or against any more, I just post something that Richchan posted on this thread the day after the 2016 election.
I post:
Trump's election was foretold several decades ago...
"As democracy is perfected, the office of president represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. On some great and glorious day, the plain folks of the land will reach their heart's desire at last and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron."
--H.L. Mencken
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Rasmussen Reports is considered by some to be right-leaning, but if this is even close to true percentages, it's pretty scary.
Tuesday, July 17, 2018
The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Tuesday shows that 46% of Likely U.S. Voters approve of President Trump’s job performance. Fifty-three percent (53%) disapprove.
The latest figures include 33% who Strongly Approve of the way the president is performing and 44% who Strongly Disapprove. This gives him a Presidential Approval Index rating of -11. (see trends).
http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/current_events/politics/prez_track_jul17 (http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/current_events/politics/prez_track_jul17)
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(https://dondosha.files.wordpress.com/2017/11/wp-image-646546121.png)
Got it loud and clear. Thank you.
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I think that asshole wants to be just like putin. I think that asshole wants to be liked - as I've always said, his personality is that of a 16 year old girl. He has no more insight into what putin is like than he knows what it's like to not be able to afford health care. And worse than that, he doesn't care, as long as putin likes him.
Sad but so true.
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he's STILL lying...he meant to say wouldn't, but he said would instead? yeah, ok...
Updated at 5:18 p.m. ET
A day after his much-criticized news conference with Russian President Vladimir Putin, President Trump attempted some damage control Tuesday, saying "I accept" the findings of the U.S. intelligence community that Russia interfered in the 2016 presidential campaign.
But he again repeated his claim that there was no collusion between his presidential campaign and Russia and suggested that others may have interfered in the election.
During his news conference along side Putin in Helsinki on Monday, Trump stated he didn't see "any reason" why Russia was responsible for hacking the 2016 election, as U.S. intelligence agencies have found.
The president also said Monday that Putin's denials of interference were "extremely strong and powerful."
Before a meeting with GOP lawmakers on Tuesday, Trump told reporters that he misspoke in Helsinki and that when he said he saw no reason why it "would" be Russia that interfered, he meant to say he saw no reason why it "wouldn't."
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love this
'Putin's poodle:' Newspapers around the world react to Trump-Putin meeting
(https://i.pinimg.com/originals/4a/f7/c1/4af7c1d4d95be5901ea63a19239c1cb7.jpg)
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(https://i.pinimg.com/originals/9b/99/dd/9b99dd9204275bb7c51969db4768a010.jpg)
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Dana Bash from CNN said ta looked like he was making a hostage tape when he was reading his "explanation" :laugh:
What's not so funny is that he embellished his written statement:
But diverting from his typewritten notes, the President added: "It could be other people also. A lot of people out there."
Come to think of it, that's true...there are a lot of people out there.
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he's STILL lying...he meant to say wouldn't, but he said would instead? yeah, ok...
Updated at 5:18 p.m. ET
A day after his much-criticized news conference with Russian President Vladimir Putin, President Trump attempted some damage control Tuesday, saying "I accept" the findings of the U.S. intelligence community that Russia interfered in the 2016 presidential campaign.
But he again repeated his claim that there was no collusion between his presidential campaign and Russia and suggested that others may have interfered in the election.
During his news conference along side Putin in Helsinki on Monday, Trump stated he didn't see "any reason" why Russia was responsible for hacking the 2016 election, as U.S. intelligence agencies have found.
The president also said Monday that Putin's denials of interference were "extremely strong and powerful."
Before a meeting with GOP lawmakers on Tuesday, Trump told reporters that he misspoke in Helsinki and that when he said he saw no reason why it "would" be Russia that interfered, he meant to say he saw no reason why it "wouldn't."
Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight.
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A comment in today's George Will article: Forget kneeling during the anthem, nothing is more unpatriotic than genuflecting before Putin.
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"So many people at the higher ends of intelligence loved my press conference performance in Helsinki," Trump tweeted Wednesday morning.
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I love (NOT) the fact that he has to keep reminding people of his intelligence. I wonder why that is?
HE'S A MORON!!!
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Media: Lying
Comey: Lying
Obama: Lying
Clinton: Lying
Stormy: Lying
Strozk: Lying
Mueller: Lying
Judges: Lying
19 Sexual assault accusers: Lying
Climate change scientists: Lying
17 Intelligence agencies: Lying
Putin: “He means it, I believe him”
~ @realDonaldTrump
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Noticed this pin on former Watergate prosecutor Jill Wine Banks last night:
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DiWoDGtUEAAmZ-x.jpg)
As Seth Myers would say, "Now for a closer look."
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DiWfvjWVQAEgSkq.jpg)
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i want one
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the only way i want this killer in my country is under arrest for war crimes.
Trump wants Putin to visit Washington, DC, in the fall
The White House said discussions are underway.
Jul 19, 2018, 6:20pm EDT
Days after US President Donald Trump sparked bipartisan outrage for how he handled his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Finland, Trump has decided to do it all over again in Washington, DC.
On Thursday, White House press secretary Sarah Sanders tweeted that Trump had asked National Security Adviser John Bolton to invite Putin to visit Washington in the fall. She also noted that both countries’ security council staff members were in contact.
This invitation seems to be a sign that Trump is keeping to his goal to get along with Russia and work closely with Putin on — well, something that has yet to be clarified.
https://www.vox.com/2018/7/19/17593080/trump-putin-white-house-second-meeting (https://www.vox.com/2018/7/19/17593080/trump-putin-white-house-second-meeting)
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let's see...ta invited putin to DC in the fall...maybe to coincide with this $12 million dollar show of force. Let's see, what else could the US do with $12m?
Wednesday, July 18, 2018 02:38PM
WASHINGTON -- President Donald Trump's upcoming military parade is expected to cost $12 million, a U.S. official told ABC News. That official warned that the $12 million figure is a preliminary estimate that could change depending on the size and scope of the event.
The parade is set to take place on Saturday, Nov. 10, 2018, in Washington
http://abc7news.com/politics/trumps-military-parade-could-cost-$12-million-official/3783554/ (http://abc7news.com/politics/trumps-military-parade-could-cost-$12-million-official/3783554/)
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CNN is trying to rationalize ta's relationship with putin. How can they be so stupid? Maybe they just need air time for chris cuomo's new show...ta isn't "missing" anything about putin...he just doesn't care.
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(https://static.boredpanda.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/putin-trump-helsinki-meeting-funny-reactions-fb11.png)
Meanwhile, who is Putin warning?
Putin Warns 'Certain Forces' in US Trying to Undermine Relationship with Russia
https://www./europe/putin-trump-summit/index.html (https://www.cnn.com/2018/07/19/europe/putin-trump-summit-success-intl/index.html)
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Remember that famous song from "Damn Yankees?"
Whatever Putin wants...
Putin gets
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fliber.post-gazette.com%2Fimage%2F2018%2F07%2F16%2F1140x_q90_a10-7_ctc%2Ffinland-trump-putin-summit-9.jpg&hash=547a7727ca8645c2fcb3061904ad16aad40485e6)
And little man bitter Putin wants you
Make up your mind to have...
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fdata.junkee.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2018%2F07%2Ftrumpo.jpg&hash=370b99e6749c5f3679b7fda41f53a5ea09a4d434)
"...no regrets"
Recline yourself...
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.readingthepictures.org%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2017%2F03%2FTiny-Trump-Putin-Lap-600x614.jpg&hash=7a971dcea512c840b434ccdc66f57ebdc944e20a)
...resign yourself(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Dh9dH86XcAEq1PH.jpg)
(https://i.pinimg.com/originals/a8/fb/79/a8fb79f79c602d62b3ad6737bd59f885.jpg)you're through...
I always get what I aim for
(https://progressivefrontier.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/trump-putin-russia-election-hillary-mueller-678x381.jpg)
And your heart and soul is what I came for
(https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Bob_Skiles/post/Is_Trump_a_Putin_puppet/attachment/59d625506cda7b8083a214e7/AS%3A460746770391040%401486861998592/image/trump-putin-puppet.jpg)
What ever Putin wants...(https://i.ytimg.com/vi/JOOkc8sAJ2Q/maxresdefault.jpg)
Putin gets
(https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/320/0*HtP5dCLWcIu7sSRM.jpg)
Take off your coat...(https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/2000/1*YQ8dh1Q-b7oDctLll3Buiw.png)
Don't you know you can't win
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fcoolnesscomplex.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2017%2F01%2Flandscape-1450461032-putin-index.jpg&hash=7f1f5ddde4123a17919298de8b9e97c894e0fc3f)
(you'll never never win)
You're no exception to the rule
(https://thenewstalkers.com/upimg/image/upimg_file/29617/512)
I'm irresistible you fool
(https://news.rambler.ru/img/2017/02/20134444.112525.1591.jpg)
Give in
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.bubbleofdelusions.com%2Fimages%2Ftrump-kissing-putin.jpg&hash=17773e1434adcbfc2a82a86f984c7b0969d4955b)
g i v e i n
(https://cdn.cnn.com/cnnnext/dam/assets/180719070509-trump-putin-time-magazine-073018-exlarge-169.jpg)
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Way too true. And the Religious and other Right are too dense or too calculating to see it.
-
Remember that famous song from "Damn Yankees?"
Whatever Putin wants...
Putin gets
Damn, Lyle! Thanks for taking the time to put all that together. And I love the pic of Obama staring that bastard down, totally opposite of ta.
-
Putin must think back on those days, and then think how easy he has it now.
-
Hoping he gets his comeuppance somehow. Both of them.
-
I keep hoping.
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H
VOTE
P
E
One of president* Tr☭mp's tweets this morning.
Donald J. Tr☭mp
(@realDonaldTr☭mp)
Inconceivable that the government would
break into a lawyer’s office (early in
the morning) - almost unheard of. Even
more inconceivable that a lawyer would
tape a client - totally unheard of & perhaps
illegal. The good news is that your favorite
President did nothing wrong!
Let's parse this out:
Inconceivable that the government would
break into a lawyer’s office (early in
the morning) - almost unheard of.
I'd agree it would be inconceivable. IF they broke in. They didn't break in. They had a search warrant.
Based on everything we know about Tr☭mp, too, I'm surprised he finds anything inconceivable. And
law enforcement often carries out duties like this in the early morning to catch their targets unaware.
The president* always mentions things that "are unheard of" or asks "did you know that" or similar.
He doesn't realize that just because he's uninformed that everyone else is not.
Even more inconceivable that a lawyer would
tape a client - totally unheard of & perhaps
illegal.
Not totally unheard of. Maybe by Tr☭mp, but there's so many things he's never heard of.
As for being illegal? The president’s* complaint about being recorded is immaterial, since
New York is a “one-party consent” state, meaning that only one member of a conversation
must consent to a recording to clear the legal threshold.
The good news is that your favorite
President did nothing wrong!
Now this is absolutely true. My favorite President did not do anything wrong.
(Although, I have stated many times before that on hindsight every President
one likes isn't as spotless as we might have thought they were and every one
we disliked isn't as bad. Though I amend that in the case of the current one.
I'll find him worse. There is a book out titled: It's Even Worse Than You Think.")
-
:-* Lyle
Tr☭mp
-
Not news, but since Trump is the current topic....
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ax7pRMDPXhw
-
We had a doozy of a protest against Pence here in Philadelphia yesterday afternoon. Pence spoke at the Republican bastion the Union League, which is about a block and a half south of City Hall. Streets in the neighborhood were blocked off. The street in front of the Union League was packed solid, including a bunch of "Handmaids."
(I had to detour around all this to get home. ::) )
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If this doesn't send shivers down your spine.
Donald Tr☭mp in front of a crowd in Kansas City yesterday:
“Just remember: What you’re seeing and
what you’re reading is not what’s happening.”
George Orwell, from his novel 1984:
“The party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes
and ears. It was their final, most essential command.”
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I've been especially leery of him when he said during the convention that he alone could fix what's wrong with the country. So authoritarian to totalitarian. This is a natural extension of that statement.
-
I so agree, Fritz. That was the most chilling of all statements in his speech.
"I alone can fix it." And the "I" is Donald Tr☭mp? Who knew we had so
many--what's the right word--stupid?--ignorant?--deplorable?--gullible?--
hypocritical?--moronic?--selfish?--people in this country?
Time after time now you see reports of people that voted for Trump getting
stepped on by his policies...costing them money...losing jobs...harming their
livelihoods, and all these people STILL support him because they believe he
is fighting for them...that he just doesn't have the right information...and other
blind reasoning.
For example, check this out:
http://www.msnbc.com/morning-joe/watch/trump-criticizes-nbc-news-report-and-reporter-reacts-1284976195563?v=b
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He would have jailed her if he could...or had her shot...
The White House took retaliatory action against Kaitlan Collins, a White House reporter for CNN, after Collins asked President Trump questions at an Oval Office photo op on Wednesday.
CNN, rival networks, and the White House Correspondents Association all spoke out against the administration's action.
On Wednesday afternoon Collins was representing all the television networks as the "pool reporter" in the room during a meeting between Trump and Jean-Claude Juncker, the president of the European Commission.
As is customary, Collins lobbed a few questions at the president. She asked about Vladimir Putin and Michael Cohen. Trump did not answer the questions.
Later in the afternoon, the White House surprised the press corps by announcing a press availability with Trump and Juncker in the Rose Garden. It was said to be open to all press, not just the small pool.
A few minutes later, Collins was asked to come to Bill Shine's office. Shine, a former co-president of Fox News, is the new deputy chief of staff for communications. Shine and press secretary Sarah Sanders met Collins there.
"They said 'You are dis-invited from the press availability in the Rose Garden today,'" Collins said. "They said that the questions I asked were inappropriate for that venue. And they said I was shouting."
A video clip of the exchange shows that Collins was speaking the same way journalists in the press pool usually speak.
Collins said she reacted by saying, "You're banning me from an event because you didn't like the questions I asked."
Collins said Shine and Sanders asserted that "we're not banning your network. Your photographers can still come. Your producers can still come. But you are not invited to the Rose Garden today."
https://money.cnn.com/2018/07/25/media/white-house-kaitlan-collins-press-pool/index.html (https://money.cnn.com/2018/07/25/media/white-house-kaitlan-collins-press-pool/index.html)
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Astonishingly, even Fox objects to this high-handedness.
http://thehill.com/media/398901-fox-news-comes-out-in-support-of-cnn-after-white-house-bans-reporter
-
Astonishingly, even Fox objects to this high-handedness.
Since Fox is 45's publicity machine, that is astonishing.
-
For some amusement, watch Seth Meyers "faux" Press Conference with Sarah Sanders
from a day ago.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TN-ukAyUlog
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Over lunch today, I read that 45's star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame was vandalized--again--on Wednesday. Anybody want to start a Go Fund Me page to raise the bail money for the guy who did it?
-
The one who destroyed it first has already pledged bail money for this person.
https://nypost.com/2018/07/25/man-who-destroyed-trumps-hollywood-star-in-2016-to-bail-out-new-vandal/
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This is brilliant:
"A Very Stable Genius"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k-LTRwZb35A
It's a parody of a Gilbert & Sullivan song.
;D
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This is brilliant:
"A Very Stable Genius"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k-LTRwZb35A
It's a parody of a Gilbert & Sullivan song.
;D
I love it!!!
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Glad you agree!
I noticed this person has done a whole slew of these kinds of videos the past year, or more. I don't want to overdose on them, but I'm going to check some more of them out on occasion.
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I LOVE them, Lyle. Most times it is so hard to take all this bullshit we get daily, that I love the break when people post this stuff. Makes one feel like we are not alone in our opinions of him.
-
Exactly!
-
TimKarr on Twitter: "Russian soldiers guard the remnants of Trump’s Hollywood Walk of Fame Star, which was destroyed earlier this week. +1 for political street theater. (ht Michael Madill)……
(https://i.pinimg.com/564x/d1/dc/15/d1dc1590254ccb233b82ba7afa232508.jpg)
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^^I love that!
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I hadn't heard about that!
Great!
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Clever protest. ;)
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The city keeps paying to repair that star which costs quite a bit. I wish they'd just remove it
for the duration. When it became an issue while he was running for office, I was surprised he
even had a star on Hollywood Blvd. When you think about it, why? Because he was host of
The Apprentice? Producer of beauty pageants? That's it? Of course he has one. That's his
personality. I'm sure it wasn't one of those grass roots deals where fans and others campaigned
and raised the money to do it. I'm sure Trump sought it out and wanted it. Me me me.
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The Common Thread in California's Wildfires: Heat Like the State Has Never Seen
by Rong-Gong Lin II and Ruben Vives
Jul 31, 2018
http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-fires-heat-20180731-story.html
Firefighters are battling 17 wildfires across the state, which have consumed more than 200,000 acres combined in terrain stretching from Southern California to the Oregon border. The northern Sacramento Valley was well on its way to recording the hottest July on record when the Carr fire swept into town Thursday.
It was 113 degrees, and months of above-average temperatures had left the land bone-dry and ready to explode and within a few hours it did.
California is facing extreme heat, the likes of which it has never seen in the modern historical record.
“The temperatures have just been almost inexorably warmer all the time,” said UCLA climate scientist Daniel Swain, and fires “burn more intensely if the fuels are extremely dry.”
Hot, dry conditions and aridity of vegetation are translating to increased wildfire risk worldwide, said John Abatzoglou, associate professor of geography at the University of Idaho.
Making matters worse, nighttime temperatures generally are not dropping as low as they once did, meaning the chance of a blaze weakening overnight is reduced. California’s average summer minimum temperature was at a record high last year, 5.4 degrees higher from the first year on record in 1895.
As the Carr fire rapidly expanded, the Redding area was experiencing record-tying temperatures. In Southern California in October and November — in the middle of a punishing spate of wildfires — the average temperature was the hottest in more than 120 years of record keeping. San Francisco hit its all-time heat record in September, with a downtown reading of 106; in July, all-time temperature records shattered throughout Southern California, with Burbank hitting 114 and Van Nuys 117. Redding’s temperature of 113 on Thursday wasn’t unheard of for that time of year, but Swain said it was the accumulation of intense heat over the previous weeks and months that added to the problem.
According to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, the state’s wildfire season is now 78 days longer (that's close to three months) than it was more than a generation ago.
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After a week in So Calif, I can attest the whole area is a tinderbox waiting to ignite!! Very DRY, with a ton of dead vegetation all around!!
-
What is QAnon?
If you really want to know how deranged a lot of Trump supporters are,
watch this video from All In with Chris Hayes.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tuv1MAS1xfY
-
What is QAnon?
I saw a report on these people yesterday.
To this has the Internet and social media brought us.
-
Exactly.
-
Like a natural disaster, social media has brought out the best and worst in people.
-
Like a natural disaster, social media has brought out the best and worst in people.
very true
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Hmmmm...change "white" to "black" and do you think she'd be working at the NYT? I know a double standard when I see it...
Sarah Jeong: NY Times stands by 'racist tweets' reporter
The New York Times has defended a new member of its editorial board who wrote inflammatory tweets about white people.
The newspaper's announcement that it was hiring Sarah Jeong met an outpouring of online criticism after her old posts were unearthed.
In a statement, the Times said that Ms Jeong regrets her remarks and she had been responding to online abuse.
The Times this year fired a new writer after old tweets that caused offence emerged.
Quinn Norton was let go only hours after the newspaper announced her hire in February.
Ms Norton had retweeted a slur about African-Americans, had posted homophobic remarks and said she had befriended neo-Nazis.
Ms Jeong wrote in one tweet from July 2014: "Oh man it's kind of sick how much joy I get out of being cruel to old white men."
One online critic posted a selection of Ms Jeong's other tweets, which contain obscenities.
"Are white people genetically predisposed to burn faster in the sun, thus logically being only fit to live underground like groveling goblins," she said in December 2014.
The South Korea-born journalist, who was raised in the US, also used the hashtag "#CancelWhitePeople" and complained about "white people marking up the internet with their opinions like dogs pissing on fire hydrants".
She attended Harvard Law School and has previously written for the Atlantic, Motherboard, the Washington Post and the New York Times Magazine.
In a statement on Thursday, the newspaper's corporate communications team said Ms Jeong's "journalism and the fact that she is a young Asian woman have made her the subject of frequent online harassment.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-45052534 (https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-45052534)
-
^^^
I read your post and this is the first I heard of this. It's disturbing. So I decided to google her name and see why the NYT made the decision it did and what other info was out there. Thank you for your post because, after and hour of reading some things, I am way more enlightened about alot of things going on.
There's much discussion, but this article I found talks about a lot of things that I didn't know about. It makes me wonder if other people do. It's rather long, but it's informative and should be read in regards to this if one wants to have a perspective on this. Lots of things are happening in this country...
Here's a couple paragraphs from the article that make me side with the NYT on this, but, and my decision is based on the entire article which should be read, and not on just these paragraphs.
[Jeong] is an outspoken progressive and feminist, making her an obvious target for the right-wing internet mobs that have been especially active of late, launching organized smear campaigns against left-leaning celebrities by weaponizing their old jokes and tweets. The most high-profile recent example of this is Guardians of the Galaxy director James Gunn, who was fired by Disney after a concerted push to dredge up and circulate several of Gunn’s old tweets. Many of the tweets contained jokes about topics like rape and pedophilia — but they were also several years old, purposely taken out of context, and pointedly curated and misrepresented to paint a very specific picture of Gunn with the express goal of getting him fired.
A similar thing happened to Jeong, and the resulting fray became something of a test for the New York Times, as well as a test of the power of alt-right internet mobs. In this case, the mob lost — which might be a sign that one of the alt-right’s signature trolling tactics is losing its effectiveness. But it’s also a cautionary tale that in this new era of social media deep-diving, no one’s past is safe from scrutiny.
I kept wanting to post more and more paragraphs, because this really shows what people are faced with in these times, both employees and employers, especially because of social media. It also should force US to find news sources we can trust and try to stay away from passing news headlines we might see whenever we jump from internet page to internet page. Headlines are meant to grab you and sway you.
None of us really have the time to keep track of all the offenses being brought up nowadays and finding trusted news sources is work, not a past time. I'd heard about the director of Guardians of the Galaxy being fired by Disney. I didn't know anything else than a snippet about it. Disney immediately fires him and now I see that it was without much context to its decision and was intentionally started by alt-right trolls to get him fired. Did you know that if you knew anything about it at all? So, in this instance, I find the New York Times taking an admirable stand against this type of thing. Just in one day yesterday I've been hearing and reading so much about the state of this country that it can make you want to check out. But that's the point. They want you to be so overwhelmed by it all that you give up. They don't want you to know things in context, They just want you to believe what they want you to believe.
I had a similar, but minor thing, in the context of what some people go through, experience like this on this forum in 2008 when I posted something on the current events thread about accusations against Hillary Clinton. I was an Obama supporter and a particular poster at that time took offense to my post and started writing about me attacking Clinton unfairly and saying a whole lot of things that totally were unwarranted, largely because they took my post out of context. But this person took every opportunity to keep bringing it up over the months and I had to waste time every so often to call this person out on it. What if you don't defend yourself? You lose. It's tiring, though. I can't imagine what it's like to have an onset of who knows how many trolls in concerted efforts to attack you online. What does one do? Who wants to have to defend yourself against such tactics endlessly?
So don't give up. Start by reading this article and find out some background about what's happening that you may not know about. Don't make your mind up about any of it from just the paragraphs I quoted. It's more complicated, nuanced, subtle than that.
The “Controversy” Over Journalist Sarah Jeong Joining the New York Times, Explained
In standing by its decision to hire the well-known tech journalist, the Times shut down a major bullying tactic of the alt-right.
By Aja Romano
https://www.vox.com/2018/8/3/17644704/sarah-jeong-new-york-times-tweets-backlash-racism
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I read some of their explanation...some of her tweets were "counter-trolling"...ok, so she was lashing out at critics...
"I engaged in what I thought of at the time as counter-trolling," she said. "While it was intended as satire, I deeply regret that I mimicked the language of my harassers."
But some of her statements were just her opinions about whites, not in response to anyone.
#CancelWhitePeople" and complained about "dumbass f******g white people marking up the internet with their opinions like dogs pissing on fire hydrants". That is her opinion, it's not aimed at anyone who was trolling her.
I don't feel any better about her after reading the Vox piece.
Your statement: What if you don't defend yourself? You lose. (hope it wasn't me 8)) But I don't buy it, especially after watching Don Lemon last night. He said he constantly gets harassing comments on twitter and he ignores them, because you can't win against someone like that...
guess we'll disagree about this one...
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Your statement: What if you don't defend yourself? You lose. (hope it wasn't me 8))
No it was not, you and I are honest with each other even if we take it to PM's!
However, you do realize that you are siding with the alt-right trolls and their campaign to get
liberals--journalists, celebrities etc. FIRED. By these tactics.
I have engaged with some people in comment sections of articles and gotten so infuriated with their idiocy that I've written things back to them I wish I hadn't. And these statements could be used against me by these trolls if I was up for a position at the NYT. So is it her personal opinions or just back trolling? (Although I really try to stay away from commenting on articles and even reading the comments, when I did, in some instances if you are allowed to edit your comments, I've gone back and done that. Also: some people get their jollies trying to be outrageous and may not even believe the stuff they're writing, they just like the trolling game. One time years ago with someone who was being particularly idiotic in the comment section of an article, I purposely kept answering them and, because you could go back and edit your comments on this site, I went back and changed all of my replies in response to what he was saying so that it made him look like a complete looney. But, yes, it's a waste of time, time consuming and better to stay off comment sections. But if one is engaged with these trolls online you can easily stoop to their level and then they shout gotcha.
#CancelWhitePeople" and complained about "dumbass f******g white people marking up the internet with their opinions like dogs pissing on fire hydrants". That is her opinion, it's not aimed at anyone who was trolling her.
Again, this article wrote about taking these things out of the context in which they appeared. Where does it say anywhere these are her real opinions? I really don't think that the NYT would have hired her or kept her if htey thought that. In fact, that article talks about the differences between her situation and the person they did fire earlier this year (Quinn something) whose statements that got them in trouble were deemed to actually be their real opinions. So, if they took that into account for one, I doubt they ignored it for the other. (I don't know if Quinn is male or female.)
As for Don Lemon's remark's, his job is not the same is Jeong's, who is "a tech culture journalist with a broad range of expertise, known for everything from authoring a book on systemic online harassment to reporting on major internet case law."
-
No it was not, you and I are honest with each other even if we take it to PM's!
Looks like we're gonna have to take this to PM's! We are not gonna agree on this one.
However, you do realize that you are siding with the alt-right trolls and their campaign to get
liberals--journalists, celebrities etc. FIRED. By these tactics.
Totally don't agree with your premise, that I'm siding w/the alt right...and I'm pretty insulted ;)
I have engaged with some people in comment sections of articles and gotten so infuriated with their idiocy that I've written things back to them I wish I hadn't. And these statements could be used against me by these trolls if I was up for a position at the NYT. So is it her personal opinions or just back trolling?
As I said, some of her tweets are aimed at comments she received from trolls and even though it's probably not smart practice for someone who wants a job in legit journalism, she responded in kind. But even if that's what she was doing, she can't be excused for her remarks. Again, replace white with black and tell me you'd still make your case. #cancelwhitepeople? Srsly? If a white journalist tweeted #cancelblackpeople in response to being trolled, what do you think would happen?
As for Don Lemon's remark's, his job is not the same is Jeong's, who is "a tech culture journalist with a broad range of expertise, known for everything from authoring a book on systemic online harassment to reporting on major internet case law."
What difference does it make what his job is? He doesn't respond in kind to racist tweets, with racist tweets of his own. She does seem to be an authority on systemic online harassment, though...
-
I think you are summarizing this into something black and white when it's more complicated than that.
For example, you wrote:
What difference does it make what his [Don Lemon's] job is? He doesn't respond in kind to racist tweets, with racist tweets of his own.
Jeong wrote a book on systemic online harassment. I'm assuming someone who did that would have to engage with people on the internet in ways most of us do not.
Regardless, the NYT explicitly stated that it doesn't condone her past tweets, but also made it clear that it understood the context in which they were made.
Still, I could see someone going through all of somebody's posts on this forum and pulling out extracts and opinions and all sort of things that out of context that would make someone seem like a cretin. That's what a lot of these right wing groups are doing on the internet. Bullying in numbers to overwhelm the masses so they're confused and feel helpless to do anything about it. The NYT evaluated the situation before just reacting to something and made their decision about it. That is a good thing, IMO.
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I seriously can't believe you are defending this type of speech, Lyle. But I will remember, so when someone on the right does it, i'll remind you, and you can research and post about how they're wrong. But to me left, right doesn't even come into it.
So since we're never going to change our minds, let's drop it, ok.
-
I guess he couldn't resist when it was 45...
(CNN)It all started on a quiet Friday night, when CNN re-aired Don Lemon's interview with LeBron James.
The interview focused on James' contributions to his hometown of Akron, Ohio, including a new public school for at-risk third- and fourth-graders there. But the two men also discussed politics. James told Lemon that President Donald Trump has used athletics and athletes to divide the country.
"I can't sit back and say nothing," James said.
The President was watching. Shortly before midnight, he tweeted: "Lebron James was just interviewed by the dumbest man on television, Don Lemon. He made Lebron look smart, which isn't easy to do."
Now Lemon and Jordan have both responded, while James has shrugged off the insult. And most curious of all, first lady Melania Trump weighed in, siding with James over her husband.
It seems Trump's late-night tweet has led to another disagreement between the President and his wife.
How? Well, in their responses to the President's tweet, CNN and Lemon both invoked the first lady's #BeBest initiative, which aims to support kindness and respect.
"Who's the real dummy? A man who puts kids in classrooms or one who puts kids in cages? #BeBest," Lemon tweeted Saturday morning.
The first lady's office was asked by news organizations for comment. Instead of ignoring the requests or mirroring the President's attack against the NBA star, the first lady's spokeswoman, Stephanie Grisham, praised James and his charitable work in a statement provided to CNN.
"It looks like LeBron James is working to do good things on behalf of our next generation and just as she always has, the First Lady encourages everyone to have an open dialogue about issues facing children today," Grisham said. "As you know, Mrs. Trump has traveled the country and world talking to children about their well-being, healthy living, and the importance of responsible online behavior with her Be Best initiative."
Grisham added that the first lady would be open to visiting James' "I Promise" school.
https://www.cnn.com/2018/08/04/politics/trump-lebron-james-tweet/index.html (https://www.cnn.com/2018/08/04/politics/trump-lebron-james-tweet/index.html)
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You might want to drop it, but I'm not after you accuse me of "defending this type of speech."
That you also say, "since neither of us are ever going to change our minds"...well, I did change
my mind after I did some further reading, so I was open to it.
I seriously can't believe you are defending this type of speech.
All I've been trying to say is that I understand why the NYT did what it did.
You apparently don't.
Again: "the NYT explicitly stated that it doesn't condone her past tweets, but also made it clear that it understood the context in which they were made."
As you read in the article, it also points out another NYT hire this very year who was in a similar situation, but they actually did fire that person because the context in which their offenses were brought to light was something not understandable or acceptable.
That doesn't mean I condone her past tweets any more than you do or the NYT does. I always think of that movie Quiz Show, the story of Charles Van Doren, a highly respected academic, writer, and editor, who suddenly was on the cover of Time magazine known as a cheater. How did it happen? The movie shows how little by little, day by day, some innocent or innocuous things you've done lead you down a path to which trouble looms and you wonder where was the point you were in over your head? The man was basically coerced into believing that what the producer's of this game show were doing was the way things were done. He took the bait, little by little. But, he chose to do it in the end, and the film shows how many of us can go too far in something we shouldn't because of the situations we find ourselves in and what the consequences might be. The public was outraged, as they should've been, about this deception, but they eventually took it out on the game show producers by avoiding there product for a long time. ONe can only wonder the treatment Van Doren would've gotten had the media been like it is now, but he was hired at Encyclopedia Britannica in 1959, becoming a vice president and writing and editing many books before retiring in 1982. He has continued to live a quiet life as a writer and teacher. He is still around!
A few MLB Players have been raked over the coals last month for tweets just as offensive, but they are not being fired, but no one is condoning those players tweets, either.
Obviously you think the NYT is wrong and her tweets, regardless of anything else, are a deal breaker.
But I will remember, so when someone on the right does it, i'll remind you, and you can research and post about how they're wrong. But to me left, right doesn't even come into it.
So why do you think I have a motive to excuse this person based on political ideology? You posted something I had not heard about and reading that was quite offensive enough for me to delve into why the NYT would hire and keep someone who's spouted out such things as she did. So I researched it. I had no motive to find supporting evidence to excuse anything based on someone being on the left or right.
I probably would never even have heard about this at all in any way shape or form if you hadn't brought it up. I doubt I ever have or will read any articles from this person. But more than ever you have to take news stories in some kind of context or all you are doing is using them to support your own viewpoints.
So bottom line is that I understand the NYT's reasoning for keeping her as a hire. Just as I understand the reasoning why the Milwaukee Brewers and Atlanta Braves aren't jettisoning their players who have come under fire for racist, misogynist and homophobic tweets last month. Do I defend any of this type of speech? NO. I guess it just depends if people finding out about these things want to heed the advice of an old Indian proverb that says, "don't judge anyone until you've walked a mile in their moccasins."
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at least it didn't come to PM's!
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CNN media reporter Brian Stelter on Sunday aired a clip of a C-SPAN caller threatening to shoot him and fellow CNN anchor Don Lemon.
The caller, identified as “Don,” accused Stelter and Lemon of “calling Trump supporters all racists,” a claim Stelter immediately refuted.
“They don’t even know these Americans out here and they are calling us racists because we voted for Trump?” Don said in the call on Friday. “Come on. Give me a break. They started the war. I see them, I’m going to shoot them.”
Before airing the clip, Stelter noted that his colleagues and reporters at other networks get similar or worse threats, and noted that such calls and emails are “coming in more often.”
“I’m not asking for sympathy, I don’t think I’m in extreme danger, I know some of my colleagues get much worse threats than I do,” Stelter said. “CNN has a great security team and we know how to handle this stuff.”
Stelter also aired a clip of MSNBC’s Katy Tur saying that she and a couple of her female colleagues had received emails saying, “I hope you get raped and killed.”
“And in case you want to argue that this has nothing to do with the president, the most recent note I got ended with ‘MAGA,’ ” Tur said, referring to the acronym for Trump's "Make America Great Again" campaign slogan.
http://thehill.com/homenews/media/400465-cnns-brian-stelter-airs-clip-of-c-span-caller-threatening-to-shoot-him-and-don (http://thehill.com/homenews/media/400465-cnns-brian-stelter-airs-clip-of-c-span-caller-threatening-to-shoot-him-and-don)
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^^^
Trump Tweet on Sunday:
The Fake News hates me saying that they are the Enemy of the People only
because they know it’s TRUE. I am providing a great service by explaining
this to the American People. They purposely cause great division & distrust.
They can also cause War! They are very dangerous & sick!
Meanwhile, in other headlines
A President of the United States actually said this:
Trump Accuses California of Causing Wildfires By ‘Diverting’ Water To Pacific
Pardon me?
Sacha Baron Cohen Trolls Joe Arpaio Into Saying He’d Take A Blow Job From Trump
at least it didn't come to PM's!
We were spared! :D
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Trump Tweet on Sunday:
The Fake News hates me saying that they are the Enemy of the People only
because they know it’s TRUE. I am providing a great service by explaining
this to the American People. They purposely cause great division & distrust.
They can also cause War! They are very dangerous & sick!
And the truly terrifying thing is how many people believe this crap. I can hear the jackboots marching now. ...
A President of the United States actually said this:
Trump Accuses California of Causing Wildfires By ‘Diverting’ Water To Pacific
The man is truly insane. Why will nobody deal with him?
Sacha Baron Cohen Trolls Joe Arpaio Into Saying He’d Take A Blow Job From Trump
I might have expected that to be the other way 'round.
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The man is truly insane. Why will nobody deal with him?
There was an interesting panel on CNN this weekend, Carl Bernstein among them. He said the 45 admin is worse than Nixon and Watergate, because back then, the R's knew what Nixon did/was doing was wrong and wouldn't stand for it. Today's R's know what 45 is doing is wrong, but are too chicken shit to stand up and say so....Bernstein said it nicer than that...
https://www.businessinsider.com/the-trump-presidency-is-worse-than-watergate-veteran-journalist-carl-bernstein-2018-8 (https://www.businessinsider.com/the-trump-presidency-is-worse-than-watergate-veteran-journalist-carl-bernstein-2018-8)
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I guess not even Joe Welch could do anything with this miserable excuse for a human being currently occupying the Oval Office.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_N._Welch (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_N._Welch)
(Welch played the judge in the Otto Preminger film Anatomy of a Murder. Who knew? Certainly I didn't.)
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West Hollywood City Council Unanimously Votes To Remove Trump's Walk Of Fame Star
The West Hollywood City Council unanimously voted to remove President Donald Trump’s star from the Hollywood Walk of Fame, ABC News reports.
The five-member council approved the measure Monday after the star was vandalized multiple times since Trump’s election victory in 2016.
The council will now send a formal letter to Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, the Los Angeles City Council, and the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce calling for the star to be removed.
The Chamber of Commerce will have the final say since they are the administrators of the Walk of Fame.
https://latest.com/2018/08/west-hollywood-city-council-unanimously-votes-to-remove-trumps-walk-of-fame-star/
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Not that West Hollywood has anything to say about this sidewalk within the Los Angeles city limits, but I suppose T could hire armed guards to watch over the welfare of the star. And we could enjoy the guards being mocked mercilessly.
If T says it's the city's responsibility to keep it unharmed, the city could note that his administration wants the ACLU to clean up after the mess he made of not documenting children separated from their parents at the border. It would be fitting that the city refrain from protecting the precious star.
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OH, FOR FUCK'S SAKE! America you are drunk, go home and fuck off.
EPA is now allowing asbestos back into manufacturing
https://archpaper.com/2018/08/epa-asbestos-manufacturing/
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OK, I didn't make a note of the actual figures but I read last night that a significant portion (68%?--might be wrong about the exact number) of 45 supporters believe he should be able to shut down news media that "behave badly." They agree that the (mainstream) media is the enemy of the people.
They also agree that Freedom of the Press is a Good Thing--I guess as long as the press kisses 45's ass.
These are probably the same people who hated Obamacare but were in favor of the Affordable Care Act,.
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^^^That sounds about right.
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Trump's walk of fame star...
During the 2016 campaign when I found out about this "star" my first reaction was:
"WTF...why does he even have one? I mean really...for what? Being a host on The
Apprentice?"
The Walk of Fame says that Trump was awarded the star originally for his "producing" of beauty pageants. That's even worse! However, it was awarded during the time of the TV show's greatest popularity and for a season that was filmed in Los Angeles. One of the rules for getting a star is that you have to agree to show up for the ceremony. Several people have turned down getting one for that very reason. Paul Newman and Julia Roberts among them. Trump would never miss a chance for self-aggrandizement. It wouldn't surprise me that Trump alone begged for one and NBC-Universal paid for it for him. Not that there aren't many names on the Walk of Fame that would make you roll your eyes (I'd name a couple, but no one can top Trump's) and you'd also roll your eyes in wonderment at those who do not have one, like Lily Tomlin, for example.
By the way...Trump supporters are always railing against Hollywood and the stars spouting their opinions they disagree with and what a moral cesspool it is etc. etc. and they have not a second of insight that they're supporting someone OF Hollywood who surpasses each and every one of their usual complaints.
Here's a bit from an L.A. Times article about WeHo City's predilection for political statements:
Mayor D’Amico said that given precedent, he doesn’t expect the resolution to spur immediate action by the city or the Chamber of Commerce. But he hopes it will, at the very least, spark dialogue around who qualifies for the Walk of Fame. He pointed to the national movement to remove Confederate statues, and universities stripping names from buildings originally dedicated to those with sordid pasts. “I see this as a nudge in the right direction,” D’Amico said.
Councilwoman Lindsey Horvath noted that the West Hollywood City Council has a long history of passing politically oriented resolutions. West Hollywood was the first city to formally oppose apartheid in South Africa in the 1980s, and has taken positions against traveling to cities and states that enact anti-LGBTQ legislation. “These issues may be beyond our borders,” Horvath said, “But they are certainly within our values.”
http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-trump-star-removal-20180807-story.html
The Walk of Fame has never removed a star and will not remove this one, but maybe they should pay closer attention to who gets one in the future.
As the mayor in the quote above says, "...he hopes it will, at the very least, spark dialogue around who qualifies for the Walk of Fame."
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By the way...Trump supporters are always railing against Hollywood and the stars spouting their opinions they disagree with and what a moral cesspool it is etc. etc. and they have not a second of insight that they're supporting someone OF Hollywood who surpasses each and every one of their usual complaints.
Well, that group certainly includes some (if not a lot) of the most un-self-aware people on God's green earth.
Think about those people who have lost their jobs because of his tariffs, and they still think his economic policies are good for the country.
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OH, FOR FUCK'S SAKE! America you are drunk, go home and fuck off.
EPA is now allowing asbestos back into manufacturing
https://archpaper.com/2018/08/epa-asbestos-manufacturing/
Well this explains everything. Russia is the only country exporting asbestos to the US:
‘Approved by Donald Trump’: Asbestos sold by Russian company is branded with the president’s face
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/business/wp/2018/07/11/approved-by-donald-trump-asbestos-sold-by-russian-company-is-branded-with-the-presidents-face/?sw_bypass=true&utm_term=.552c6635cccc
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Multiple Trump stars appear!
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/trumps-walk-fame-star-multiplies-hollywood-1133678
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Well this explains everything. Russia is the only country exporting asbestos to the US:
‘Approved by Donald Trump’: Asbestos sold by Russian company is branded with the president’s face
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/business/wp/2018/07/11/approved-by-donald-trump-asbestos-sold-by-russian-company-is-branded-with-the-presidents-face/?sw_bypass=true&utm_term=.552c6635cccc
(https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/8f44e4b5f6e93c8f6c296339a8c5d7991732b6597f58595ad65d63c9c8bd45ea.jpg)
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LOL! Especially because i was eating some chips right now.
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A scary interview with a German historian.
https://www.alternet.org/expert-nazi-germany-explains-how-average-citizens-enabled-hitler-just-trump-ordinary-people-will-do
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OK, not exactly a hot topic, but something I've been wondering about (maybe I'm the only one here who didn't already know this).
I've been wondering for some time if the odious Sarah Huckabee Sanders is any relation to Mike Huckabee. She is. She's his daughter.
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The apple doesn't fall far from the tree, indeed.
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A scary interview with a German historian.
https://www.alternet.org/expert-nazi-germany-explains-how-average-citizens-enabled-hitler-just-trump-ordinary-people-will-do
I read this. Ugh!
This is from a piece I've quoted before, that was written in 2016 way before the election when some were
just out of their minds that people would compare Trump to Hitler. I mean, who could be worse than Hitler...
"But what I think is a more dire truth to the Hitler-Trump comparison is how he could actually come to power. When Hitler was elected it was not the case that an entire country yelled “Sieg Heil” with fanfares and right arms in the air. Instead, a lot of sane, reasonable and non-fanatic people thought “he cannot be taken seriously,” or “he will never win,” or “he is crazy but he does have a point,” or “maybe he will at least bring a change,” to, ultimately, “let’s give him a try, he can’t make matters worse anyhow.” The rest is history. My fear is that a lot of Americans think the same way about Trump, underestimating the danger he poses and the actual shot at the presidency he has."
And also this, from an article in May 2016 in the NYT:
A Sanders supporter, Victor Vizcarra, said he would much prefer Mr. Trump to Mrs. Clinton. Though he said he disagreed with some of Mr. Trump's policies, Mr. Vizcarra said he had watched "The Apprentice" and expected that a Trump presidency would be more exciting than a "boring" Clinton administration. "A dark side of me wants to see what would happen if Trump is in," said Mr. Vizcarra, who works in information technology. "There is going to be some kind of change, and even if it's like a Nazi-type change. People are so drama-filled. They want to see stuff like that happen. It's like reality TV. You don't just want to see everybody be happy with each other. You want to see someone fighting with somebody."
It took me quite awhile...a really long time, in fact...to understand, to "get" Trump supporters and how they could ever have voted for this cretin. But it was there in that above paragraph all along. It's "the show." They like the show. That's entertainment.
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They like the show because - like all shows, however frightening - they think it will not affect them or anyone they hold dear. They just might be in for a rude awakening, if worst comes to worst.
Part of the show to them unfortunately seems to be a sort of gloating enjoyment of how Trump opponents get so shocked and saddened by his policies, actions and statements.
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A lot of people thought about Joe McCarthy the same way, enjoying the lying ways he plagued his and their enemies, not caring the real pain and suffering he caused. And he wasn't even President, just a junior Senator, who was fully backed by, who else? The Republican Party. Even before it was taken over by Dixiecrats.
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Part of the show to them unfortunately seems to be a sort of gloating enjoyment of how Trump opponents get so shocked and saddened by his policies, actions and statements.
I agree.
And, oh, I know it's NYT style, but in my opinion, to refer to a former Senator and Secretary of State as "Mrs. Clinton," as if she were a stay-at-home housewife from New Rochelle with no identity apart from her husband, is disrespectful. The Times needs to get out of the 19th century.
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Gillian,
Fritz
&
Jeff...
All three of you are, of course, absolutely spot on.
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This evening I was watching BBC World News America while I was washing up after dinner. A commentator reported that 29% of Republicans agree with 45 that the press is the enemy of the people. This is not yet affecting big papers like the New York Times or the Washington Post, but people are threatening the editors and reporters of small, home-town papers with guns. (The tragedy in Maryland comes to mind.) The commentator said (I'm paraphrasing because I can't remember his exact words) these are people who cover school boards and town councils, and high school sports, and so forth. For two summers while I was in college, I was one of those people.
This is when it came to me that Hitler had armbands with swastikas on them. 45 has red baseball caps with MAGA on them.
Some days (this is one of them) I'm sorry my dad sold his .30-.06. Some day I might need it. I'm sure it's only a matter of time before the rhetoric turns against sexual minorities, and we'll see violence against gays, lesbians, and all other sexual minorities the likes of which this country has never seen. I just hope I'm dead before they start bringing in the cattle cars.
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I wanted to say how sad I am about the death of Aretha. Her voice was incredible and she's part of the soundtrack of my life. She will be sadly missed. What a woman.
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I wanted to say how sad I am about the death of Aretha. Her voice was incredible and she's part of the soundtrack of my life. She will be sadly missed. What a woman.
She certainly will be missed. One of the great voices of our time.
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Amen.
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And I might add, at least a national treasure if not a universal treasure.
This morning the Today show did a very nice tribute with film from her many visits to the show. In one she was teaching Al Roker how to make rainbow trout almondine. :)
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Rudy Giuliani on Mueller Probe: ‘Truth Isn’t Truth’
Rudy Giuliani railed against the “wild, crazy, unorthodox” Russia investigation on Sunday and said investigators have no reason to interview President Trump.
In an interview on NBC News’ Meet the Press, Giuliani said investigators looking into possible collusion and obstruction of justice by Trump should already have all the answers they need to wrap up the investigation because the president has publicly asserted his “true belief that he did nothing wrong.”
“I’m not going to be rushed into having him testify so that he gets trapped into perjury,” Giuliani said. He went on to dispute the idea that Trump should testify if he’s got nothing to hide.
“When you tell me that, you know, he should testify because he’s going to tell the truth so he shouldn’t worry. Well that’s so silly because it’s somebody’s version of the truth, not the truth,” Giuliani said.
Told by NBC host Chuck Todd that “truth is truth,” Giuliani quickly retorted, “No, it isn’t truth. Truth isn’t truth.”
Todd answered: “Truth isn’t truth?”
Giuliani: “No, no.”
Todd said: “This is going to become a bad meme.“
https://www.politico.com/story/2018/08/19/giuliani-truth-todd-trump-788161 (https://www.politico.com/story/2018/08/19/giuliani-truth-todd-trump-788161)
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(https://fivethirtyeight.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/thompson-deveaux-indictments.png?w=575)
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(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.theweek.com%2Fsites%2Fdefault%2Ffiles%2Fstyles%2Flarge%2Fpublic%2F15_09_16_9_16-beeler-cagle_0.jpg%3Fitok%3DMQoY-BBc&hash=7279129f5f12d4dfc9240997f735dbfdbf287d9e)
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“I’m not going to be rushed into having him testify so that he gets trapped into perjury,” Giuliani said.
There's something wrong with that statement, "gets trapped into perjury," but I can't quite put my finger on it right now. :(
Told by NBC host Chuck Todd that “truth is truth,” Giuliani quickly retorted, “No, it isn’t truth. Truth isn’t truth.”
Didn't we already know that about this administration? In any case, I guess Big Brother is gearing up.
Todd answered: “Truth isn’t truth?”
Giuliani: “No, no.”
"Pilate said, 'What is truth?'"
Todd said: “This is going to become a bad meme.“
It probably has already.
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Remember when conservatives were the enemy of moral relativism? At least officially.
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It could be Trump’s worst day, ever: Manafort guilty on eight counts
By Jennifer Rubin
The handwriting was on the wall — or rather, on a note from the Paul Manafort jury to U.S. District Judge T.S. Ellis at approximately 11 a.m. inquiring what the jury should do if it could not reach a decision on “a single count.” When the verdict finally came in, the jury was hung on 10 counts but convicted on the remaining eight counts relating to tax and bank fraud.
President Trump, even while the unsequestered jury was out, had expressed outrage over Manafort’s trial. He’s a”good man,” Trump said of the man now convicted of swindling millions of dollars from the Treasury and committing multiple counts of bank fraud. Intermittently, Trump would declare that the trial had nothing to do with him and that Manafort was only with the campaign for a short time. “Paul Manafort came into the campaign very late and was with us for a short period of time,” he tweeted on June 3 (one of a batch of four tweets that day) regarding the man who ran Trump’s campaign for four critical months, including during the Republican National Convention.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/opinions/wp/2018/08/21/it-could-be-trumps-worst-day-ever-manafort-guilty-on-eight-counts/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.803caf13a87c
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Cohen says he paid hush money at candidate Trump’s direction
By JOSH GERSTEIN, LAURA NAHMIAS and JOSH MEYER
Michael Cohen, Donald Trump’s combative former personal lawyer, on Tuesday implicated the president in hush money payments he said were designed to sway the election, as part of a plea deal he struck with federal prosecutors on fraud charges.
Cohen, who once stated he would take a bullet for Trump, flipped on his former boss in a dramatic courtroom appearance that went down just as news emerged that former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort had been found guilty in his own fraud trial.
“I participated in the conduct for the purposes of influencing the election” Cohen said about his payments to adult-film actress Stormy Daniels and ex-Playboy model Karen McDougal, two women who claimed to have had affairs with Trump in the past. Trump denies the claims.
The statement came as Cohen formally entered his plea at a Manhattan federal court, in which he admitted guilt to a slate of eight tax evasion, financial fraud and campaign finance charges.
https://www.politico.com/story/2018/08/21/michael-cohen-strikes-plea-deal-with-prosecutors-790646
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President Trump, even while the unsequestered jury was out, had expressed outrage over Manafort’s trial. He’s a”good man,” Trump said of the man now convicted of swindling millions of dollars from the Treasury and committing multiple counts of bank fraud.
Imagine that. A good man, just like the White Supremacists in Charlottesville last Year.
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Imagine that. A good man, just like the White Supremacists in Charlottesville last Year.
These types of people definitely meet pumkin head's criteria of 'good people' as they are exactly like him.....crooks and liars.
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Meanwhile, more of his good people:
On any other day this would be a front page scandal. There are so many in the P.T. years that
this is relegated to just another news story.
Duncan Hunter, a Republican Congressman from the San Diego area, whom I recall over the years because he was always being quoted about his anti-gay stances (excuses) on marriage equality, among other things, and the second congressmen to publicly support P.T.'s run for the presidency:
Republican Congressman Duncan Hunter Indicted
Republican congressman Duncan Hunter and his wife have been
indicted by the U.S. Department of Justice for allegedly using
campaign money for their own personal expenses, including trips
to Italy and Hawaii, and dental work and falsifying campaign finance
records to hide the crimes. Hunter was one of the first Congressmen
to openly support Donald Trump's campaign for the Presidency.
Someone quoted saying this yesterday:
Paul Manafort, Michael Cohen, and Duncan Hunter walk into a prison.
Hey, that's not the beginning of a joke. That's just the past 2 hours of
news.
the second congressmen to publicly support P.T.'s run for the presidency:
By the way, the very first congressman to do so was Rep. Chris Collins of New York, who was just recently
charged with the Federal crimes of insider trading, bank fraud and stock manipulation in which he profited
and was caught in a photo on the White House lawn doing it on the phone.
Yes, P.T. knows all the best people and they surely flock together.
The First 2 Congressmen To Endorse Trump Have Been Indicted
Reps. Chris Collins (R-N.Y.) and Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.) are now in hot water
over insider trading and campaign finance violations.
https://www.politicspost.com/entry/trump-duncan-hunter-chris-collins-indictments_us_5b7caf60e4b07295150dd6cb (https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/trump-duncan-hunter-chris-collins-indictments_us_5b7caf60e4b07295150dd6cb)
-
Republican Congressman Duncan Hunter Indicted
Republican congressman Duncan Hunter and his wife have been
indicted by the U.S. Department of Justice for allegedly using
campaign money for their own personal expenses, including trips
to Italy and Hawaii, and dental work and falsifying campaign finance
records to hide the crimes.
:laugh: OK, that's not funny--except that it is. :D
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^^^
I was going to comment on that, but didn't for some reason.
Yes, it is amusing. Dental work is so expensive you have to
violate campaign finance laws to pay for it!
(https://i.rmbl.ws/s8/1/V/i/h/O/VihOa.qR4e.1-small-Rep.-Duncan-Hunter-and-wife.jpg)
Reporter: "This is Congressman Hunter showing what he'll look like if he can't use his campaign funds to pay for his dentures."
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Be Best, indeed...
Conservative Scholar Suggests Trump Reflect on His Oath of Office after This Morning's Manafort Tweet
President Trump’s Wednesday morning tweet praising Paul Manafort for refusing to “break” under pressure
from federal prosecutors brought criticism, and not just from the left. Adam White is a research fellow at the
conservative Hoover Institution and also is the director of the Center for the Study of the Administrative State
at George Mason University Antonin Scalia Law School.
He writes: The President has a constitutional obligation to "take care that the laws be faithfully executed."
This morning, the President issued a statement praising his former campaign manager, a convicted tax felon,
for "brave[ly]" refusing to "break" for a federal prosecutor. President Trump swore an oath to "faithfully execute
the office of President of the United States" and, "to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the
Constitution of the United States." He should reflect on that more often.
____________
Most of us say DUH to Adam White's reply. I'd like to point out this one short phrase from P.T.'s oath of office:
"to the best of my ability".
The voters have to take responsibility, too. Common sense told anyone who was paying attention that
D.T. hasn't the slightest ability to be President. A failed businessman only good at self-promotion, and
self-aggrandizement, self-anything... He had no political experience. Never ran for office or elected to
anything. Unfamiliar with how government works. Is a misogynist and racist, clear to see. Shall I go on?
Asking Trump as President, to perform those duties to the best of his ability is like having an auto-mechanic
go onstage at the American Ballet Theatre without any preparation and dance the lead role in Swan Lake to
"the best of his ability." P.T. has no ability for this job to be best at.
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Trump? Reflect? Bwahahahah!!!
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The voters have to take responsibility, too. Common sense told anyone who was paying attention that
D.T. hasn't the slightest ability to be President. A failed businessman only good at self-promotion, and
self-aggrandizement, self-anything... He had no political experience. Never ran for office or elected to
anything. Unfamiliar with how government works. Is a misogynist and racist, clear to see. Shall I go on?
I agree with you, Lyle, but (pardon my language) his base doesn't give two shits about this. Last evening BBC World News America ran a segment where the reporter spoke with members of a socially conservative Evangelical congregation in eastern Tennessee. All these people care about is that he is not a member of the East or West Coast elites whom they perceive as looking down on them. The reporter mentioned that once upon a time, Trump's moral failings would have disqualified him for the Presidency in the eyes of Evangelicals, but I'm only loosely paraphrasing one guy who said he'd rather have a serial adulterer as President than someone who supports gay marriage. They want someone who will appoint Conservative justices to the Supreme Court. I don't recall if the reporter brought up the point that Trump is also a pathological liar, but they forgive him his sins because "everyone needs forgiveness." Theologically speaking they have a point, but you have to have a moral compass to know you have sinned to ask for forgiveness, and Trump clearly has none. And they still don't give two shits. They perceive that he supports their conservative social agenda, so they don't give a damn about his lack of experience, etc.
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I agree that they don't care...these people are the worst kind of people -- religious moral hypocrites.
They are anything but moral and almost totally selfish.
All these people care about is that he is not a member of the East or West Coast elites whom they perceive as looking down on them.
These people should "reflect" on why they feel this way and why it might be so.
What they don't accurately perceive, either, is that Trump is out for Trump and he couldn't care less about these people.
He'll throw them under the Access Hollywood bus quicker than the next tweet if he wants to.
But besides these people there are some folks out there that are not this particular constituency and hopefully can be
enlightened enough to change. After all, the Evangelicals should know the verse "the meek shall inherit the earth" and
in the context of the bible verse which this quote is from, the meaning of meek is not what most think it is, but rather
it means "teachable." It means people who are willing to learn, experience, adapt...they will inherit the earth. Not these
evangelicals who are rigid and unmovable to the point of breaking. Those who fear any variance from their rigid strictures.
These people don't want religious freedom for all, they want the antonym of that, religious strictures.
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Trump? Reflect? Bwahahahah!!!
It is my informed opinion that Trump has no reflection.
"Nothing to see here."
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It is my informed opinion that Trump has no reflection.
Of course. He has no soul.
Anybody who's ever seen a vampire movie knows that. ;D
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;D ;D ;D
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National Enquirer publisher David Pecker granted immunity
By Veronica Stracqualursi, Erica Orden and Kara Scannell
David Pecker, the head of the company that publishes the National Enquirer, was granted immunity in the federal investigation into President Donald Trump's former attorney Michael Cohen in exchange for providing information on hush money deals, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Pecker, the CEO of American Media Inc., told federal prosecutors that Trump had knowledge of Cohen's payments to women who had alleged sexual encounters with him, sources familiar with the matter told CNN. Pecker also provided investigators with details about payments Cohen made to the women, the sources said.
Representatives for American Media Inc. did not respond to a request for comment.
Cohen pleaded guilty Tuesday to eight criminal counts, including tax fraud, false statements to a bank and campaign finance violations.
In court Tuesday, Cohen said, "I and the CEO of a media company, at the request of the candidate, worked together" to squelch stories, effectively implicating Trump himself.
https://www.cnn.com/2018/08/23/politics/david-pecker-immunity-cohen/index.html
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A tweet: “Mr. Pecker does not appreciate all the childish jokes about his name.” - AMI spokesperson Fanny Goblincock
-
I think they are hilarious!! :laugh:
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The spokesperson name is right up there with Pecker's. ;D
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A tweet: “Mr. Pecker does not appreciate all the childish jokes about his name.” - AMI spokesperson Fanny Goblincock
:laugh: :laugh: :laugh: You're really not making this up????
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In court Tuesday, Cohen said, "I and the CEO of a media company, at the request of the candidate, worked together" to squelch stories, effectively implicating Trump himself.
Seriously, I remember reading a story in The New Yorker quite some time ago, possibly even before the election, about some bigshot connected to the supermarket tabloids using his company to support Trump.
I don't recall the name Pecker, however.
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:laugh: :laugh: :laugh: You're really not making this up????
It was a tweet, but I suspect that the name is made up.
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LOL!
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As much as any sane person hates P.T. and his corrupt administration and party,
someone last night on a show was saying...and maybe they were just looking for
anything positive...
They were saying that what we have now is an erratic president in a time where there
isn't a crisis in the country. (At least one that wasn't caused by the president*.) The
economy is fine by the measured means and nothing is requiring the president's*
attention, like the Deepwater Horizon problem that Obama was dealing with or
things like that which would reuire the president's* full attention and making choices
about such things. They were imagining what it would be like if the country was in a
real crisis mode and he had to make decisions about really problematic things.
Well, now that I wrote that I say, so what, it's still really bad.
-
Hugs to Hawaii!
(https://cbsnews2.cbsistatic.com/hub/i/r/2018/08/22/c40575ac-2ffa-4025-8bae-78a9aa281b76/crop/635x237+0+13/resize/620x/9a1d0b99b356fe103e3e0e856ae89ffd/lane.png)
Iniki: September, 1992
Dot: August, 1959
I find there is something oddly calm and appealing about this current system's name: Hurricane Lane.
-
As much as any sane person hates P.T. and his corrupt administration and party,
someone last night on a show was saying...and maybe they were just looking for
anything positive...
They were saying that what we have now is an erratic president in a time where there
isn't a crisis in the country. (At least one that wasn't caused by the president*.) The
economy is fine by the measured means and nothing is requiring the president's*
attention, like the Deepwater Horizon problem that Obama was dealing with or
things like that which would reuire the president's* full attention and making choices
about such things. They were imagining what it would be like if the country was in a
real crisis mode and he had to make decisions about really problematic things.
Well, now that I wrote that I say, so what, it's still really bad.
Yes, it is, but now that person said it, I hate to think what might have happened if That Man had been President in 1861 (think of all those "very fine people" who wanted to preserve slavery and destroy the Union), 1933, or 1941.
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A tweet: “Mr. Pecker does not appreciate all the childish jokes about his name.” - AMI spokesperson Fanny Goblincock
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fgifimage.net%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2018%2F04%2Flaughing-hysterically-animated-gif-8.gif&hash=b910e1b0f429ccd45a9799c3830e9301d4a48dec)
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Apparently this Pecker story is just the tip.
-
Apparently this Pecker story is just the tip.
Of the story or Pecker.......?
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Of the iceberg and Pecker, I suppose!
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Heard on the evening news:
John McCain has decided to cease treatment for his brain cancer.
One can presume it's only a matter of days, now. May he have a painless and quiet end to his journey.
He and I are not of the same party, and I may not have agreed with some of his positions, but the man is a true American hero and I've always felt a man of great integrity. (I will avert my eyes from his Presidential campaign.)
I will be deeply, deeply saddened when I learn that he has passed.
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Heard on the evening news:
John McCain has decided to cease treatment for his brain cancer.
One can presume it's only a matter of days, now. May he have a painless and quiet end to his journey.
He and I are not of the same party, and I may not have agreed with some of his positions, but the man is a true American hero and I've always felt a man of great integrity. (I will avert my eyes from his Presidential campaign.)
I will be deeply, deeply saddened when I learn that he has passed.
And he doesn't want 45 at his funeral.
-
Seriously, I remember reading a story in The New Yorker quite some time ago, possibly even before the election, about some bigshot connected to the supermarket tabloids using his company to support Trump.
Headline of the day:
Donald Trump Has a Pecker Problem.
-
Of the iceberg and Pecker, I suppose!
That's cold.
-
Release the hounds...
(https://worldxnews.info/wp-content/uploads/c47dcad1abf329d3ee254bb18c11df3f.jpg)
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Love it!!!!!!
-
I love the added touch that he's lost a shoe.
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So...Trump gave an interview to Ainsley Earhardt of Fox & Friends on TRUMP-TV a couple days ago.
If you want to see how astoundingly clueless this man is check out this article:
The 36 Most Outrageous Lines in Donald Trump's Fox News Interview
https://www.cnn.com/2018/08/23/politics/donald-trump-fox-news/index.html
It's not that we don't already know this man is, well, to quote several of his staffers and administration officials themselves,
a "moron" and an "idiot", but when I read things like this I keep thinking of all those people who support him. How can they
read things like this and not get a clue. Jeff often writes the answer is "that they don't care," but I have to keep wondering,
what will it take for them to do so?
With all of the things swirling around this corrupt administration, the interviewer brings up the subject of impeachment.
And this completely self-aware man answers:
"I don't know how you can impeach somebody who's done a great job."
Trump also warns that if you do impeach him "everybody will become poor."
The interviewer asks him what letter grade he'd give himself.
You must know what his reply was.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EEedFHxSVSI
This really tells you everything you need to know about him. Seriously.
Does anyone ever sit back and try to imagine the day when this man doesn't cross our thoughts at all? Not even once?
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(https://rlv.zcache.com/trump_free_america_trucker_hat-re75cac4797f9480aa8cb60aba5a59758_eahw0_8byvr_307.jpg)
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It's a start...
Fox News' Neil Cavuto shreds Donald Trump: 'The problem is you'
Aug 25th 2018 8:46AM
Fox News host Neil Cavuto issued one of his searing monologues on Thursday, criticizing President Donald Trump for focusing on the stock market’s positive performance while creating “a moral bust.”
″You are so darned focused on promoting a financial boom that you fail to see that you are the one creating this moral bust,” Cavuto said. “And we could all be the poorer for it.”
Cavuto was responding to Trump’s claim in a Fox News interview this week that the stock market would crash if he were impeached.
“You don’t prevent a constitutional crisis by threatening a financial one,” Cavuto said. “But, Mr. President, you guarantee both when your very actions and words create that crisis or make people think that you’re hiding one.”
The Fox News host then listed some of the president’s most “worrisome and tiresome” lies, calling out Trump for changing his story on controversies ranging from “hush money” payments to women who said they had affairs with him to his knowledge of a 2016 Trump Tower meeting with a Kremlin-linked lawyer in hopes of gathering damaging information on Hillary Clinton.
“You are right to say that some are out to get you,” Cavuto said to Trump. ”But oftentimes, Mr. President, the problem is you: what you say, and how you keep changing what you say.”
https://www.aol.com/article/entertainment/2018/08/25/fox-news-neil-cavuto-shreds-donald-trump-the-problem-is-you/23509246/ (https://www.aol.com/article/entertainment/2018/08/25/fox-news-neil-cavuto-shreds-donald-trump-the-problem-is-you/23509246/)
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It's not that we don't already know this man is, well, to quote several of his staffers and administration officials themselves,
a "moron" and an "idiot", but when I read things like this I keep thinking of all those people who support him. How can they
read things like this and not get a clue. Jeff often writes the answer is "that they don't care," but I have to keep wondering,
what will it take for them to do so?
Nothing. If they don't care that he's costing them their livelihoods or that he sells out the U.S. to Putin, nothing will make them care.
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I TOTALLY agree with Jeff. There is NOTHING this man will do that will dissuade his followers in believing in him. This has been proven time and time and time again. DT has even stated this.
This is what frustrates me so much.
-
Me, too, Linda (and Jeff), but I have to believe there is something that will cause these people to gain a glimmer of insight. At least enough to make them stay home and not vote.
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It's a start...
Fox News' Neil Cavuto shreds Donald Trump: 'The problem is you'
Aug 25th 2018 8:46AM
Fox News host Neil Cavuto issued one of his searing monologues on Thursday, criticizing President Donald Trump for focusing on the stock market’s positive performance while creating “a moral bust.”
″You are so darned focused on promoting a financial boom that you fail to see that you are the one creating this moral bust,” Cavuto said. “And we could all be the poorer for it.”
Cavuto was responding to Trump’s claim in a Fox News interview this week that the stock market would crash if he were impeached.
“You don’t prevent a constitutional crisis by threatening a financial one,” Cavuto said. “But, Mr. President, you guarantee both when your very actions and words create that crisis or make people think that you’re hiding one.”
The Fox News host then listed some of the president’s most “worrisome and tiresome” lies, calling out Trump for changing his story on controversies ranging from “hush money” payments to women who said they had affairs with him to his knowledge of a 2016 Trump Tower meeting with a Kremlin-linked lawyer in hopes of gathering damaging information on Hillary Clinton.
“You are right to say that some are out to get you,” Cavuto said to Trump. ”But oftentimes, Mr. President, the problem is you: what you say, and how you keep changing what you say.”
https://www.aol.com/article/entertainment/2018/08/25/fox-news-neil-cavuto-shreds-donald-trump-the-problem-is-you/23509246/ (https://www.aol.com/article/entertainment/2018/08/25/fox-news-neil-cavuto-shreds-donald-trump-the-problem-is-you/23509246/)
If the base hears it more and more from FOX, they might start to believe it.
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I TOTALLY agree with Jeff. There is NOTHING this man will do that will dissuade his followers in believing in him. This has been proven time and time and time again. DT has even stated this.
Yup. Even if he shot someone in the middle of Fifth Avenue. (If that's not hubris, it'll do till hubris gets here.)
Me, too, Linda (and Jeff), but I have to believe there is something that will cause these people to gain a glimmer of insight. At least enough to make them stay home and not vote.
If the base hears it more and more from FOX, they might start to believe it.
I'm afraid it's too late, even if Fox News started pounding it into their heads on a daily basis. It's a cult of the person, and they've all drunk the Kool-Aid.
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That was fast. RIP John McCain
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Amen.
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We all are saying the same thing. That really was fast. There will never be another like him.
May he rest in peace. Peace to his family.
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Wow. I knew it wouldn't be long, but it was faster than I expected.
RIP and condolences to his family.
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I didn't expect it would be that fast, either.
Rest in peace, John McCain. Your leaving is a great loss to the nation.
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CNN is doing interviews with people who knew and worked with Senator McCain. It started yesterday after his death was announced, and is continuing today. I've heard a lot of great stories about him, apparently he had a great sense of humor, and the way his peers are talking about him is touching. One man said (paraphrasing)working on George W Bush's staff was like working with the royal navy, working with McCain was like working with the Pirates of the Caribbean.
I hope 45 is suffering greatly today, since the only reference to him has been that McCain specified that he didn't want him at his funeral. GW Bush and Obama will speak.
Of all the words describing Sen McCain today: hero, patriot, served his country, honorable, character, courage, integrity...I can't think of one that could also be attributed to 45.
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OMAROSA!
Another Randy Rainbow Song Parody (Oklahoma!)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Bv_BWUmWN4
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Another mass shooting. :( This one in Jacksonville, FL.
-
He is bereft of character. I don't know how anyone with an ounce of humanity could work for him. 45's eulogy could be stated in 1 sentence: he loved money and he loved himself.
Trump rejected plans for a White House statement praising McCain
By Josh Dawsey
White House reporter
August 26 at 8:05 PM
President Trump nixed issuing a statement that praised the heroism and life of Sen. John McCain, telling senior aides he preferred to issue a tweet before posting one Saturday night that did not include any kind words for the late Arizona Republican.
Press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders, Chief of Staff John F. Kelly and other White House aides advocated for an official statement that gave the decorated Vietnam War POW plaudits for his military and Senate service and called him a “hero,” according to current and former White House aides, who requested anonymity to discuss sensitive internal deliberations. The original statement was drafted before McCain died Saturday, and Sanders and others edited a final version this weekend that was ready for the president, the aides said.
But Trump told aides he wanted to post a brief tweet instead, and the statement praising McCain’s life was not released.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-rejected-plans-for-a-white-house-statement-praising-mccain/2018/ (https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-rejected-plans-for-a-white-house-statement-praising-mccain/2018/)
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Jonathan Capehart
Verified account
@CapehartJ
No bar is low enough ——> Trump rejected plans for a White House statement praising McCain
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DlkHUAAVAAA6UPp.jpg)
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I saw a clip of a McCain interview after losing to Obama...he said after the election he slept like a baby: sleep 2 hours, wake up and cry, sleep 2 hours...
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He is bereft of character. I don't know how anyone with an ounce of humanity could work for him. 45's eulogy could be stated in 1 sentence: he loved money and he loved himself.
Trump rejected plans for a White House statement praising McCain
By Josh Dawsey
White House reporter
August 26 at 8:05 PM
President Trump nixed issuing a statement that praised the heroism and life of Sen. John McCain, telling senior aides he preferred to issue a tweet before posting one Saturday night that did not include any kind words for the late Arizona Republican.
Press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders, Chief of Staff John F. Kelly and other White House aides advocated for an official statement that gave the decorated Vietnam War POW plaudits for his military and Senate service and called him a “hero,” according to current and former White House aides, who requested anonymity to discuss sensitive internal deliberations. The original statement was drafted before McCain died Saturday, and Sanders and others edited a final version this weekend that was ready for the president, the aides said.
But Trump told aides he wanted to post a brief tweet instead, and the statement praising McCain’s life was not released.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-rejected-plans-for-a-white-house-statement-praising-mccain/2018/ (https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-rejected-plans-for-a-white-house-statement-praising-mccain/2018/)
Did anyone expect any different from this A**hole?
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Hello Ultimate Brokeback Forum members.
Back in May of 2016 we placed posts on the forum, and did a story in TDS, which discussed the forum financial status,
and asked any members who wanted to assist with the forum finances, to make a donation to help keep the forum online.
We received enough in donations to keep the forum online from May of 2016 to October of 2018. This kept us from having to ask for donations
for a period of over two years! A thread has been created to post the forum's financial activity, and you can see that thread here:
http://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/index.php?topic=49206.0
We are nearing October of 2018, so we need to once again ask members who are able to, and who would like to, to please make a donation to
help defray the cost of running the forum. On a piece of good news, the price of running the forum dropped from the original quote of $33.99
to $18.99 in May of 2017, almost cutting the price in half.
For members within the United States that want to donate, you can do it one of two ways. You can send it to me directly via PayPal.
The user ID you would search for to send funds would be CellarDweller115@Yahoo.com. If you are not comfortable with this, you can
"snail mail" a check to me. Just send me a PM, and I can give you my street address to mail the check to.
Regarding members who are outside of the US and want to donate, you would have to use the PayPal option. If you were to mail me a physical check,
the amount of fees and the exchange rate would basically eat up your donation. The only other option would be to wire the funds, but again,
banks charge fees for wires, and it would make no sense financially for you to wire funds. The fees may actually be more than your donation!
Please remember that donations are not required for membership to this site, so if you are unable to make a donation, please don't worry about that.
Any donations that we receive will be kept confidential.
New donations will show up as deposits on the account activity at the start of September. I will be holding off putting any donations in the account until then,
so the account history will end as it is for August, and all new activity will show up in the new month.
Thanks for any help you can give us!!!
-
I hate that bitch on CNN in the morning. I realize CNN has their own agenda, which makes me distrust them but not as much as I distrust Fox, but they shouldn't have an agenda - but she had John Sununu (R) on to remember John McCain and she proceeded to try to "exploit" (his word) the interview by bringing up 45's lack of character and taste when he hadn't released the statement about McCain's service to his country.
And she just wouldn't let it go, she kept pushing back, saying it wasn't the fault of the press (true), but he didn't come on the show to talk about that. He came on to talk about McCain and his memories of him. But when he would try, she would keep making statements in a very smug, smarmy way that it wasn't the press's fault yada yada yada. She wouldn't let him speak.
I think it's because CNN (I can't comment on other channels because I can't watch them, but I"m sure they're all alike) is unable to focus on more than one story at a time. They're very narrow that way.
Yesterday when the shooting was reported in Fla, they moved right off McCain and tried to monopolize the story until they realized nobody knew anything. They had an eyewitness on the phone, who was still shook up and couldn't answer anything...then it turned out it wasn't as sensational as they had hoped (only a few dead so not worth their time), so they moved back to covering McCain.
The press is hurting themselves, and trying to say that they are above the fray, when they clearly are not...but by doing that, and by savagely refusing to drop their agenda and be more middle-of-the-road, I am starting to mistrust them...taking just what I need (the facts) and mostly ignoring their elitist, high-handed way of presentation
Or maybe it's just that bitch on CNN...
oh and another thing: "opinion" is not the same as "news". All the cable news shows are really just op/ed pieces with guests...
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He is bereft of character. I don't know how anyone with an ounce of humanity could work for him. 45's eulogy could be stated in 1 sentence: he loved money and he loved himself.
Trump rejected plans for a White House statement praising McCain
This is his kindergarten playground payback for McCain saying he didn't want him at his funeral.
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and flags at the WH are now flying at full staff, another dig.
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The Today show ran a clip this morning that I don't remember having seen before (though I probably did).
I need to paraphrase a bit, but McCain's comment was, "What does it say about America" if we use torture?
That was--and is--my sentiment, exactly.
And that comment came from a man who really knew torture.
I'm sorry, but thinking about McCain this morning still makes me want to cry.
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I know what you mean. For me, part of it is because there is no one who can take his place, to continue and fight like he did...so many in public service have been disgraced by sex or money scandals...resigned ( National Security Advisor Michael Flynn, White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus, White House Communications Director Anthony Scaramucci, and Secretary of Health and Human Services Tom Price, EPA head Pruitt) or arrested or jailed...I hope the people left who still have the drive to "serve their country", not just collect a check or get on TV, rethink the way they can rise above, maybe McCain will inspire them...
nah...
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I know what you mean. For me, part of it is because there is no one who can take his place, to continue and fight like he did...so many in public service have been disgraced by sex or money scandals...resigned ( National Security Advisor Michael Flynn, White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus, White House Communications Director Anthony Scaramucci, and Secretary of Health and Human Services Tom Price, EPA head Pruitt) or arrested or jailed...I hope the people left who still have the drive to "serve their country", not just collect a check or get on TV, rethink the way they can rise above, maybe McCain will inspire them...
nah...
Exactly.
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Well, and his fellow Arizona Senator Jeff Flake, who has done things like Senator McCain has, is retiring.
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Dealing with this incessant atrocity day by day...it helps to laugh...
Hot off the presses - just published (downloaded?) a couple hours ago
IF YOU EVER GOT IMPEACHED - A Randy Rainbow Song Parody
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sWTiFcl9OhU
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The leader of the American Legion states in the story below "I strongly urge you to make an appropriate presidential proclamation noting Senator McCain’s death and legacy of service to our nation" but since 45 is SUCH an UNpresidential, one-dimensional, hollow, soulless, piece of poor white trash, that won't happen. At least they lowered the flag again.
Ups and downs: W.H. returns flag to half staff to honor McCain after raising it earlier
by Geoff Bennett and Adam Edelman / Aug.27.2018 / 8:28 AM ET / Updated 12:20 PM ET
(https://media4.s-nbcnews.com/j/newscms/2018_35/2545216/180827-white-house-flag-mappropriate presidential proclamation noting Senator McCain’s death and legacy of service to our nationccain-njs-0830_3c453df2741434f93f8433b83649ffa9.fit-2000w.jpg)
The White House lowered its flag to half-staff — again — to honor Sen. John McCain, following demands from veterans groups and lawmakers who were furious over the administration's decision to prematurely re-raise it after the death of the Arizona Republican.
The flag was spotted at half-mast Monday afternoon, just hours after it had been raised back to full-mast — even though past presidents had kept the flag lowered for longer after the deaths of other sitting senators.
The White House had lowered the flag Saturday night after McCain died, and kept it lowered on Sunday, only to raise it to full staff by Monday morning.
That decision prompted Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., to write a letter in which said they wanted flags on all government buildings to be at half staff until McCain's funeral and asked the Department of Defense of help in doing so, Schumer's spokesman tweeted. A Defense Department official told NBC News that the agency had received the letter.
The leader of the American Legion, a prominent veterans group, had also penned a letter to Trump urging him to lower the White House flag to half-staff through McCain's interment.
"On the behalf of The American Legion's two million wartime veterans, I strongly urge you to make an appropriate presidential proclamation noting Senator McCain’s death and legacy of service to our nation, and that our nation’s flag be half-staffed" through his interment, Denise Rohan, the group's national commander, wrote.
Past presidents kept the White House flags lowered for longer periods to honor the passing of other sitting senators.
For example, after the death of Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-Mass., on Aug. 25, 2009, President Barack Obama issued a proclamation ordering flags be flown at half-staff for four full days.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/white-house/w-h-flag-back-full-staff-after-mccain-s-death-n904061 (https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/white-house/w-h-flag-back-full-staff-after-mccain-s-death-n904061)
(https://media4.s-nbcnews.com/j/newscms/2018_35/2545216/180827-white-house-flag-mccain-njs-0830_3c453df2741434f93f8433b83649ffa9.fit-2000w.jpg)
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only took him until 4pm. Heartfelt and sincere, I'm sure.
Trump releases statement on McCain
BY BRETT SAMUELS - 08/27/18 04:08 PM EDT
"Despite our differences on policy and politics, I respect Senator John McCain’s service to our country and, in his honor, have signed a proclamation to fly the flag of the United States at half-staff until the day of his interment," Trump said in a statement.
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only took him until 4pm. Heartfelt and sincere, I'm sure.
Trump releases statement on McCain
BY BRETT SAMUELS - 08/27/18 04:08 PM EDT
"Despite our differences on policy and politics, I respect Senator John McCain’s service to our country and, in his honor, have signed a proclamation to fly the flag of the United States at half-staff until the day of his interment," Trump said in a statement.
He probably threw a tantrum before he did it, lying on the floor of the Oval Office, drumming his heels.
-
yeah, I can see that...
-
It's good to know that shaming him can produce results. Good to know for future situations.
I hope the country can avoid a real crisis in the coming years. I'm reminded of Stalin after Hitler attacked, it took him nearly a month of denying reality and dawdling before he finally took action.
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Dealing with this incessant atrocity day by day...it helps to laugh...
Hot off the presses - just published (downloaded?) a couple hours ago
IF YOU EVER GOT IMPEACHED - A Randy Rainbow Song Parody
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sWTiFcl9OhU
I needed that laugh, thanks!
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I'm not surprise with the way he has handled this, it's always about him.
As much as I can't stand Trump, that anchor on CNN had no business making the interview about him. She should've let the person she was interviewing have their time to talk about John McCain.
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A comment in a WaPo article about McCain's funeral arrangements:
Oh! Donnie is SO jealous of John McCain!
He wishes this was HIS funeral!
And so do we.
Also about the readings:
I assume the reading from the gospel will not involve the two Corinthians.
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I've watched and listened to hours of the coverage of John McCain's memorial this week. I missed some of the speeches this morning, I would like to have heard his daughter speak, but I did hear Henry Kissinger, President Bush and President Obama.
Listening to the coverage and interviews throughout the week, to the elegance of the tributes, the carefully chosen and thoughtful words of the speeches, and the off-the-cuff remembrances of his friends and colleagues, made me remember how true leaders express themselves...without hate or false praise or childish phrases like "really really great" or "really really terrible", simply because the speaker can't think of any other word than "really".
I miss that. I miss that high level of leadership, that high level of oratory that makes 45's "tweetstorms" of infantile insults and petty bickering all the more repulsive and embarrassing.
With all the faults and all the things I disagreed about with past presidents, they represented the US with a level of sophistication and class, and didn't insult friends or enemies with the taunts of a 6 year old.
I don't know how much Senator McCain's funeral cost, but I don't begrudge a penny...unlike the cost of the military parade 45 wanted, so he could try to show he had a bigger dick without taking his pants off in public.
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this clip from The View on July 28 kind of takes the bite out of Meghan McCain's dig at 45 today, when she got so emotional:
"The America of John McCain has no need to be made great again, because America was always great," she said, a not-so-veiled reference to Trump's 2016 campaign slogan. The line was received with loud and sustained applause in the cathedral.
It's about 25 seconds in, "I call her crooked Hillary."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6bdPYmERYwU (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6bdPYmERYwU)
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I've watched and listened to hours of the coverage of John McCain's memorial this week. I missed some of the speeches this morning, I would like to have heard his daughter speak, but I did hear Henry Kissinger, President Bush and President Obama.
Listening to the coverage and interviews throughout the week, to the elegance of the tributes, the carefully chosen and thoughtful words of the speeches, and the off-the-cuff remembrances of his friends and colleagues, made me remember how true leaders express themselves...without hate or false praise or childish phrases like "really really great" or "really really terrible", simply because the speaker can't think of any other word than "really".
I miss that. I miss that high level of leadership, that high level of oratory that makes 45's "tweetstorms" of infantile insults and petty bickering all the more repulsive and embarrassing.
With all the faults and all the things I disagreed about with past presidents, they represented the US with a level of sophistication and class, and didn't insult friends or enemies with the taunts of a 6 year old.
I don't know how much Senator McCain's funeral cost, but I don't begrudge a penny...unlike the cost of the military parade 45 wanted, so he could try to show he had a bigger dick without taking his pants off in public.
Amen.
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A comment by my friend Gary Cottle about T's reaction to the recent funeral, among other things: "I don't think even his supporters care for him. They like the mess, the pain and the frustration he causes, but they don't like him. It's like a bond between bullies." Spot on.
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Who's next, 45?
Netanyahu warmly welcomes Philippines' Duterte to Israel
http://www.foxnews.com/world/2018/09/03/netanyahu-warmly-welcomes-philippines-duterte-to-israel.html (http://www.foxnews.com/world/2018/09/03/netanyahu-warmly-welcomes-philippines-duterte-to-israel.html)
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Who's next, 45?
Netanyahu warmly welcomes Philippines' Duterte to Israel
http://www.foxnews.com/world/2018/09/03/netanyahu-warmly-welcomes-philippines-duterte-to-israel.html (http://www.foxnews.com/world/2018/09/03/netanyahu-warmly-welcomes-philippines-duterte-to-israel.html)
Like attracts like.
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Comment (or better yet, shut up) because two alleged (yeah, right) criminals were indicted? No, he criticizes the AG for indicting them.
Trump blasts Sessions over indictments of two of his earliest congressional supporters
(CNN)President Donald Trump on Monday blasted his Attorney General Jeff Sessions and lamented the indictments of two lawmakers who were his earliest supporters in Congress during the 2016 election, suggesting they should not have been charged because they are Republicans.
A decision by the Justice Department to hold off on prosecuting two Republican congressmen up for re-election in order to help them win would have been highly unethical and a blatantly politically motivated violation of the department's nonpartisan mission. The comment on Monday was the latest indication that Trump, who ran on a pledge to "drain the swamp," believes his political allies should be immune from prosecution, regardless of the evidence stacked against them.
https://www.cnn.com/2018/09/03/politics/donald-trump-jeff-sessions-justice-department/index.html (https://www.cnn.com/2018/09/03/politics/donald-trump-jeff-sessions-justice-department/index.html)
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I thought this guy might be a real threat to Cruz in Texas, but looks like he's got his own problems...fact checks at link.
Beto O’Rourke’s ‘Reality Check’
A widely-shared Facebook meme offers allegations made against a rising Democratic politician in Texas.
Democratic congressman Beto O’Rourke of Texas came to national prominence in 2018 through his high-profile campaign to unseat incumbent Republican U.S. senator Ted Cruz. During the course of his campaign, the Democratic candidate has been confronted with various claims and allegations about himself and his family. One such meme, entitled “‘Beto’ Reality Check,” was shared widely on Facebook in August 2018:
(https://us-east-1.tchyn.io/snopes-production/uploads/2018/08/40102041_2193825680861282_5823499603495878656_n.jpg)
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/beto-orourke-reality-check/ (https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/beto-orourke-reality-check/)
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^^^I hope he wins!
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi176.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fw197%2Foilgun%2Fbeto-o-rourke-01_zpsxkyttiai.jpeg&hash=bcc9639e0e25ed87a4bb560e9f49ef293249e5f1)
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I thought this guy might be a real threat to Cruz in Texas, but looks like he's got his own problems...fact checks at link.
Beto O’Rourke’s ‘Reality Check’
A widely-shared Facebook meme offers allegations made against a rising Democratic politician in Texas.
Democratic congressman Beto O’Rourke of Texas came to national prominence in 2018 through his high-profile campaign to unseat incumbent Republican U.S. senator Ted Cruz. During the course of his campaign, the Democratic candidate has been confronted with various claims and allegations about himself and his family. One such meme, entitled “‘Beto’ Reality Check,” was shared widely on Facebook in August 2018:
(https://us-east-1.tchyn.io/snopes-production/uploads/2018/08/40102041_2193825680861282_5823499603495878656_n.jpg)
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/beto-orourke-reality-check/ (https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/beto-orourke-reality-check/)
https://me.me/i/only-in-texas-can-a-latino-immigrant-pass-himself-off-20940033
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^^^I hope he wins!
using 45's method of picking winners?
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Already pre-ordered my copy...for some reason I believe Woodward more than I believe the WH.
I quoted Fox's coverage and of course they say everyone denies they said what they said...
(https://www.gannett-cdn.com/presto/2018/09/04/USAT/35e13cb0-2912-45e8-ab31-5bbcb5a00abc-AP_Fall_Books.jpg?width=534&height=712&fit=bounds&auto=webp)
According to The Post, the book alleges that Defense Secretary Jim Mattis told associates of the president that he had the understanding of “a fifth- or sixth-grader.” After Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad launched a chemical attack on Syrians in April 2017, Trump is said to have demanded Mattis launch an assassination attempt.
“Let’s f---ing kill him! Let’s go in. Let’s kill the f---ing lot of them,” Trump reportedly said. But Mattis told an aide: “We’re not going to do any of that. We’re going to be much more measured.”
Former White House chief economic adviser Gary Cohn, meanwhile, is alleged to have stolen a letter from Trump’s desk that would have withdrawn the U.S. from a trade agreement with South Korea. Cohn is reported to have said that he did it to protect national security and that Trump didn't notice that it was missing.
White House Chief of Staff John Kelly is reported to have frequently lost his temper, and described Trump as “an idiot.”
“It’s pointless to try to convince him of anything. He’s gone off the rails. We’re in Crazytown,” Kelly said, according to Woodward. “I don’t even know why any of us are here. This is the worst job I’ve ever had.”
On Tuesday, Kelly said that the account was false.
“The idea I ever called the President an idiot is not true," he said in a statement. "As I stated back in May and still firmly stand behind: 'I spend more time with the President than anyone else, and we have an incredibly candid and strong relationship. He always knows where I stand, and he and I both know this story is total BS. I'm committed to the President, his agenda, and our country. This is another pathetic attempt to smear people close to President Trump and distract from the administration’s many successes."
Former Trump attorney John Dowd, meanwhile, denied claims that he held a practice session of a potential interview with Special Counsel Robert Mueller, called Trump a liar, and told Trump he could end up in an "orange jumpsuit" if he interviewed with Mueller.
He also said Woodward's book appears to be "the most recent in an endless cycle of accusations and misrepresentations based on anonymous statements from unknown malcontents."
Trump is reported not to have held back from criticism of members of his Cabinet. He allegedly called Attorney General Jeff Sessions a “traitor” for recusing himself from overseeing the Russia probe.
“This guy is mentally retarded. He’s this dumb Southerner. … He couldn’t even be a one-person country lawyer down in Alabama,” Trump reportedly said.
Trump was not interviewed for the book, despite what Woodward said were repeated attempts to contact him. Trump called Woodward in August and told him that his staff hadn’t informed him of the request and expressed concern that the book would be “inaccurate.”
“So I have another bad book coming out,” Trump says, according to a tape of that conversation published by The Post. “Big deal."
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2018/09/04/white-house-fires-back-at-woodward-book-detailing-infighting-insults-administrative-coup-detat.html (http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2018/09/04/white-house-fires-back-at-woodward-book-detailing-infighting-insults-administrative-coup-detat.html)
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Already pre-ordered my copy...for some reason I believe Woodward more than I believe the WH.
Me. too.
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using 45's method of picking winners?
You would actually prefer Ted Cruz?!
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(https://us-east-1.tchyn.io/snopes-production/uploads/2018/08/40102041_2193825680861282_5823499603495878656_n.jpg)
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/beto-orourke-reality-check/ (https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/beto-orourke-reality-check/)
Someone must tell me: Since when are ANY Republicans or Cruz supporters, or Cruz himself, concerned about any of these kinds of things? Far from it. They are reveling in people and voting for those who do these things and worse tenfold.
So memo to all those people: STFU. You have no moral authority to judge anyone right now.
As for changing his name solely to appeal to Latino voters, Beto must have known he was running for Senate back in kindergarten:
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DXtYS4zUQAEpplL.jpg)
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Cruz is getting all prissy because Beto has been known to use the f-word in his discourse. I can't imagine that Texans would share his reticence about it, and it makes Cruz look strangely, er, unmanly.
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Holy crap...but Jeffrey Toobin brought up a good point: who did this guy (or woman) think they were gonna be working for? 45 never pretended to be anyone he wasn't, he was always loud, obnoxious, simple-minded, thin-skinned, mercurial, uninformed, unwilling to take advice...it couldn't have been a surprise. Why don't they just quit? They're not going to make a difference.
I Am Part of the Resistance Inside the Trump Administration
I work for the president but like-minded colleagues and I have vowed to thwart parts of his agenda and his worst inclinations.
Sept. 5, 2018
The Times today is taking the rare step of publishing an anonymous Op-Ed essay. We have done so at the request of the author, a senior official in the Trump administration whose identity is known to us and whose job would be jeopardized by its disclosure. We believe publishing this essay anonymously is the only way to deliver an important perspective to our readers. We invite you to submit a question about the essay or our vetting process here.
President Trump is facing a test to his presidency unlike any faced by a modern American leader.
It’s not just that the special counsel looms large. Or that the country is bitterly divided over Mr. Trump’s leadership. Or even that his party might well lose the House to an opposition hellbent on his downfall.
The dilemma — which he does not fully grasp — is that many of the senior officials in his own administration are working diligently from within to frustrate parts of his agenda and his worst inclinations.
I would know. I am one of them.
To be clear, ours is not the popular “resistance” of the left. We want the administration to succeed and think that many of its policies have already made America safer and more prosperous.
But we believe our first duty is to this country, and the president continues to act in a manner that is detrimental to the health of our republic.
That is why many Trump appointees have vowed to do what we can to preserve our democratic institutions while thwarting Mr. Trump’s more misguided impulses until he is out of office.
The root of the problem is the president’s amorality. Anyone who works with him knows he is not moored to any discernible first principles that guide his decision making.
Although he was elected as a Republican, the president shows little affinity for ideals long espoused by conservatives: free minds, free markets and free people. At best, he has invoked these ideals in scripted settings. At worst, he has attacked them outright.
In addition to his mass-marketing of the notion that the press is the “enemy of the people,” President Trump’s impulses are generally anti-trade and anti-democratic.
Don’t get me wrong. There are bright spots that the near-ceaseless negative coverage of the administration fails to capture: effective deregulation, historic tax reform, a more robust military and more.
But these successes have come despite — not because of — the president’s leadership style, which is impetuous, adversarial, petty and ineffective.
From the White House to executive branch departments and agencies, senior officials will privately admit their daily disbelief at the commander in chief’s comments and actions. Most are working to insulate their operations from his whims.
Meetings with him veer off topic and off the rails, he engages in repetitive rants, and his impulsiveness results in half-baked, ill-informed and occasionally reckless decisions that have to be walked back.
“There is literally no telling whether he might change his mind from one minute to the next,” a top official complained to me recently, exasperated by an Oval Office meeting at which the president flip-flopped on a major policy decision he’d made only a week earlier.
The erratic behavior would be more concerning if it weren’t for unsung heroes in and around the White House. Some of his aides have been cast as villains by the media. But in private, they have gone to great lengths to keep bad decisions contained to the West Wing, though they are clearly not always successful.
It may be cold comfort in this chaotic era, but Americans should know that there are adults in the room. We fully recognize what is happening. And we are trying to do what’s right even when Donald Trump won’t.
The result is a two-track presidency.
Take foreign policy: In public and in private, President Trump shows a preference for autocrats and dictators, such as President Vladimir Putin of Russia and North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong-un, and displays little genuine appreciation for the ties that bind us to allied, like-minded nations.
Astute observers have noted, though, that the rest of the administration is operating on another track, one where countries like Russia are called out for meddling and punished accordingly, and where allies around the world are engaged as peers rather than ridiculed as rivals.
On Russia, for instance, the president was reluctant to expel so many of Mr. Putin’s spies as punishment for the poisoning of a former Russian spy in Britain. He complained for weeks about senior staff members letting him get boxed into further confrontation with Russia, and he expressed frustration that the United States continued to impose sanctions on the country for its malign behavior. But his national security team knew better — such actions had to be taken, to hold Moscow accountable.
This isn’t the work of the so-called deep state. It’s the work of the steady state.
Given the instability many witnessed, there were early whispers within the cabinet of invoking the 25th Amendment, which would start a complex process for removing the president. But no one wanted to precipitate a constitutional crisis. So we will do what we can to steer the administration in the right direction until — one way or another — it’s over.
The bigger concern is not what Mr. Trump has done to the presidency but rather what we as a nation have allowed him to do to us. We have sunk low with him and allowed our discourse to be stripped of civility.
Senator John McCain put it best in his farewell letter. All Americans should heed his words and break free of the tribalism trap, with the high aim of uniting through our shared values and love of this great nation.
We may no longer have Senator McCain. But we will always have his example — a lodestar for restoring honor to public life and our national dialogue. Mr. Trump may fear such honorable men, but we should revere them.
There is a quiet resistance within the administration of people choosing to put country first. But the real difference will be made by everyday citizens rising above politics, reaching across the aisle and resolving to shed the labels in favor of a single one: Americans.
The writer is a senior official in the Trump administration.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/05/opinion/trump-white-house-anonymous-resistance.html (https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/05/opinion/trump-white-house-anonymous-resistance.html)
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"Mr. President! The scary calls are coming...FROM INSIDE THE WHITE HOUSE!!!"
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Possible suspects:
Most obvious - General Kelly
Most hilarious - Mike Pence
Most nefarious - Jared Kushner
Most humorous - Sarah Sanders
Most humiliating - Ivanka Trump
Most unlikely - General Mattis
Most dumbfounding - Donald Trump (but unlikely, since he can't write so many words)
Most spy-like - Vladimir Putin (yes, he is a senior White House Official; senior to Donald)
Most satisfying - Melania Trump
Most uneducated - Betsy DeVos
Most angry Southerner - Jeff Sessions
Most mercurial - Steve Mnuchin
Most double-cross - Kellyanne Conway
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"Mr. President! The scary calls are coming...FROM INSIDE THE WHITE HOUSE!!!"
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.kellyhills.com%2Fblog%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2017%2F01%2Fcallinsidehouse-e1485623283372.png&hash=b6ca9ede1a4c9b337bd5e7d24dc5a323b4ae5391)
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Holy crap...but Jeffrey Toobin brought up a good point: who did this guy (or woman) think they were gonna be working for? 45 never pretended to be anyone he wasn't, he was always loud, obnoxious, simple-minded, thin-skinned, mercurial, uninformed, unwilling to take advice...it couldn't have been a surprise. Why don't they just quit? They're not going to make a difference.
If what this letter says is going on is true, I think I might be more afraid of what might happen if they do quit.
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Well, I hope that the US Military has the good sense to treat him like a certain German leader in the bunker, in which he moved phantom armies around and thought he was winning until shortly before the end.
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Meanwhile...
(https://i.imgur.com/WWIEuWw.png)
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Burt Reynolds just passed away. He was 82 and died of cardiac arrest.
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I love him. What's wrong with him?
Cory Booker
Domestic policy
Abortion
Booker opposes overturning Roe v. Wade.[130]
Affirmative action
When asked if affirmative action in university admissions should be based on class or race or banned completely, Booker said both race and class should be considered and cited the 2003 US Supreme Court ruling, Grutter v. Bollinger.[122]
Budget
When Cory Booker became Mayor of Newark, New Jersey in 2006, he was facing a $180 million budget crisis. When he left his office in 2013, he left the city with a balanced budget for the first time in a decade, twice as much affordable housing, two new hotels, a spate of made-over parks, a new residential tower, two (possibly three) new office towers, $150 million educational complex in the heart of Newark’s downtown, and Newark having a larger population than when he entered office.[139] He managed to balance the budget by raising taxes 20%, laying off hundreds of cops,[140] cutting spending,[141] and working with private sector-led urban development from wealthy investors.[142]
Booker supports smart spending and investment now with long-term deficit reduction efforts to ensure economic prosperity.[143]
Civil liberties
He has called for amending the Patriot Act and said he was "troubled" by the revelations of the scope of the National Security Agency’s secret spy programs, but has shied away from specifics.[130] He voted for the USA Freedom Act[144] which re-authorized certain provisions of the Patriot Act in modified form.
Climate change
Booker believes climate change is man-made and supports cap-and-trade or carbon tax approach in dealing with greenhouse gas emissions.[130]
Confederate monuments
In August 2017, Booker announced his plan to create a bill ordering the removal of Confederate monuments and memorials from the Capitol Building after Labor Day of that year.[145]
Education
Booker sits on the board of advisers of the political action committee Democrats for Education Reform,[146] was on the board of Alliance for School Choice until 2008, co-founded the Excellent Education For Everyone, a board member of the Black Alliance for Educational Options,[147] and has spoken favorably of StudentsFirst.[148] He is an advocate of education reform and privatization of education; supporting things such as charter schools, school vouchers, and merit pay for teachers.[149] In September 2010, with the support of Governor Chris Christie, Booker obtained a $100 million pledge from Facebook Inc. founder Mark Zuckerberg to Newark Public Schools.[150]
Gun rights
Booker has routinely defended the right of law-abiding citizens right to own legal fire arms and blames most shootings on criminals with illegal guns.[151] He voted to prohibit people on terror watch lists from buying guns.[152]
Booker has called the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act imperfect, said it needs to be improved, and wants to control health care costs.[130] He opposes cutting Medicare, he supports expanding the program,[153] and he supports transitioning to a medicare for all style single-payer healthcare system.[154]
In September 2017, Booker joined Bernie Sanders and 14 other co-sponsors in submitting a single-payer health care plan to congress called the "Medicare for All" bill. The plan also covers vision and dental care, not currently covered by Medicare.[132]
mmigration
Booker supports the passage of the DREAM Act.[141]
LGBT rights
Booker is a strong outspoken advocate of same-sex marriage[141] and claimed New Jersey’s civil union law was not only bigoted, but also discriminated against New Jersey’s same-sex couples who were denied 1,100 federal rights, privileges and benefits afforded to married couples.[155] After Governor Chris Christie vetoed a bill legalizing same-sex marriage in New Jersey and said the issue of same-sex marriage should be left to a public referendum of the people of New Jersey, Booker criticized him and said that civil rights are guaranteed by the US Constitution and should not be allowed on the ballot.[156] As Newark Mayor, Booker refused to perform any marriage ceremonies until same-sex couples were legally allowed to marry in New Jersey.[157] On October 21, 2013, 12:01 am, the date when same-sex marriage became legal in New Jersey, Booker began performing same-sex and opposite-sex marriages in New Jersey.[158]
In November 2013, Booker co-sponsored and voted for the Employment Non-Discrimination Act.[101] In January 2014, he co-sponsored the Respect for Marriage Act.[159]
Minimum wage
Booker supports an increase of the minimum wage to $15 an hour. Speaking to Newark airport workers in May 2017 he said, "It is un-American to be in this country, to work a full-time job and still live in poverty. That is unacceptable. The minimum wage working at a lot of these contract companies only affords them about $22,000 a year ... You cannot live and raise a family on $22,000 a year. You can't afford housing, you can't afford child care and since your company isn't helping you with retirement, you can't save for retirement."[160]
Free market
"Booker championed “enterprise zones,” a free-market approach to solving urban blight credited to the late Jack Kemp, a hard-core supply-sider and occasional Republican presidential contender who helped raise money for Booker’s first mayoral campaign."[125]
Besides social media advances, Booker wants to see the rest of the tech sector reach its fullest potential, and to do that, he thinks the U.S. government needs to ease up on regulations. “We’re not moving at the speed of innovation due to regulations,” he said, adding that because of this, key industries are leaving the U.S. to work on projects in other countries where the rules aren’t as strict. For example, the Federal Aviation Administration has hindered drone innovation to the point where drone companies are leaving the U.S. to test and build in Europe. “We’re being left behind on everything from next-generation nuclear energy to driverless cars and biologics,” Booker said, “and we cannot get left behind.”[161]
Social security
While running for Senate, Booker said he opposed raising the retirement age for social security except for people in their 20s or younger. Booker later tweeted that he opposed all cuts to Social Security and would expand the program.[153]
Taxes
As mayor of Newark, New Jersey, Booker raised taxes by 20 percent but now seeks to cut municipal taxes.[140] He supports taxes on carbon emissions,[130] corporate tax reform,[119] and tax incentives.[141] He endorsed Governor Chris Christie's property tax agenda.[162]
War on Drugs
Booker has condemned the War on Drugs, calling it a "tremendous failure", and criticizing the Obama administration for not honoring state drug laws. He has also expressed support for medical marijuana research,[128] decriminalizing marijuana, ending mandatory minimum sentences for non-violent drug offenders, increasing funding for prisoner re-entry programs, and bringing an end to for-profit, private prisons.[163]
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Cory Booker for President.
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I hope...
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there's more to this story...jilted lover? How did she get in? And she must have immediately seen that it wasn't her place...so sad and senseless (unless she did it on purpose), glad they're getting a warrant.
Dallas police seeking warrant for officer after man's fatal shooting
Updated 4:20 PM ET, Fri September 7, 2018
CNN)Dallas police are in the process of obtaining a warrant on manslaughter charges against a police officer who shot and killed a man after entering an apartment she mistakenly thought was her own, police Chief Ulysha Renee Hall said Friday.
The shooting took place Thursday night at the South Side Flats. The patrol officer, described as a female Caucasian, has not been identified, but her name will be released when she is formally charged, Hall told reporters.
The slain man was identified as Botham Shem Jean, 26.
"Right now there are more questions than answers," Hall said. Her initial remarks at a news conference were also posted on the Dallas police blog.
"A female Dallas police officer returned to what she believed to be her apartment <do you know your apartment number? Did your key fit the door?> after her shift ended -- she was still in uniform when she encountered Mr. Jean inside the apartment," Hall said.
The chief said it isn't clear what "the interaction was between her and the victim. Then at some point she fired her weapon striking the victim."
The officer called 911 and officers "responded in about four minutes," Hall said. Rescue crews transported Jean to a hospital, where he later died.
"At the very early stages of this investigation -- initial indications were that they were what we consider circumstances of an officer-involved shooting. However, as we continued this investigation it became clear that we were dealing with what appears to be a much different and very unique situation."
Hall -- who didn't provide details on that situation -- said police aren't handling the case under the department's usual officer-involved shooting protocol.
"A blood sample was drawn to test for drugs and alcohol, we are in the process of obtaining a warrant, and we have also invited the Texas Rangers to conduct an independent investigation," she said, referring to the state law enforcement agency.
Jean, a native of St Lucia, was listed on LinkedIn as a risk assurance experienced associate at PricewaterhouseCoopers. He earned a bachelor's degree at Harding University in Arkansas.
"This is a terrible tragedy," Jean's employer said. "We are simply heartbroken to hear of his death."
Jean described himself on LinkedIn as a "young professional, engaged in developing a career built upon integrity, dedication and relationships, leveraging useful technologies to gain an understanding of and add value in a range (of) industries, striving towards leadership in my career, my community and society."
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I saw an quick interview with the neighbor who lived next door to the slain man. He said Mr. Jean had a big red doormat outside his door, so how could the cop have mistaken it for her own apartment?
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I don't get this at all.
If the apartment door was unlocked, she could've gone into the wrong apartment. True story, my mom has actually gotten into the wrong car twice. Both times she was a passenger, got out to pick up coffee, and wasn't paying attention and opened a door on an incorrect car, and scared the person sitting behind the wheel.
Regarding the apartments, unless they were decorated 100% exactly the same way, you could just easily look around and see you were in the wrong one.
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I saw an quick interview with the neighbor who lived next door to the slain man. He said Mr. Jean had a big red doormat outside his door, so how could the cop have mistaken it for her own apartment?
Yeah, there's something fishy going on here. How can you not know it's not your own place unless you're drunk?
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Well, there is certainly MORE to the 'story'...and bless the Dallas Police Force, they handed this one off to the Texas Rangers!! LOL...will Dallas ever live down that bungled JFK affair? What would history tell us if Lee Harvey Oswald had LIVED?? We'll never know........hopefully the TR will give us the whole story.........time will tell. ;)
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At a couple friends' place last night, after watching a short news program, I happened to ask, "Why doesn't anyone at one of these Trump rallies say or do anything to rebut the inanities he says. Why doesn't any non-Republicans go to these things and try to thwart any of this by a hout out or just anything really? One of my friends said that Trump only visits the deepest of red state areas that maybe there aren't many people for such a thing.
I guess last night something along these lines at Trump's rally show in Montana did finally happen with the a person who's gone viral as "the plaid shirt guy."
(https://cdn.cnn.com/cnnnext/dam/assets/180907225949-plaid-shirt-guy-t1-flip.jpg)
Apparently this guy behind Trump was reacting to him in ways the authoritarian regime didn't like
so they made him leave. If you google "plaid shirt guy" you can find a whole lot of different articles and videos.
Here's a CNN story and interview with "PSG" about it:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CFnF3jAvpTw
ALL IN with Chris Hayes segment:
https://www.aol.com/video/channel/nbc-megahub/5b933016fcd67b015caabf46/
A more comical take, but true sentiments: Just Smile & Clap please, like a mindless zombie:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b6qZlCjzcgE
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this is not gonna end well. I guess the best the family can hope for is a big lawsuit, which I'm sure they'd forego in return for an arrest and conviction.
(http://Texas Rangers postpone charges against cop who fatally shot man at apartment she thought was her own)
The Texas Rangers have postponed seeking a warrant on manslaughter charges against a Dallas police officer who shot and killed a man, Dallas police said Saturday in a news release.
In a statement Saturday, the police department said the Texas Rangers took over the investigation to "eliminate the appearance of any potential bias" and "they made the decision to postpone pursuing a warrant until they could follow up on information that they received from the interview with the officer. ...
https://www.cnn.com/2018/09/08/us/dallas-police-shooting/index.html (https://www.cnn.com/2018/09/08/us/dallas-police-shooting/index.html)
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she should not have a gun
DALLAS – The Latest on a deadly shooting involving an off-duty Dallas police officer (all times local):
9:20 p.m.
Court documents show that the Dallas police officer involved in the fatal shooting of a black man earlier this week also shot a man during a confrontation in 2017.
An affidavit says that officer Amber Guyger shot and wounded Uvaldo Perez on May 12, 2017, after a struggle that resulted in Perez taking her Taser.
Police named Guyger Saturday as the off-duty officer who shot and killed Botham Jean Thursday night after she says that she mistakenly went to the wrong apartment and encountered him.
The Texas Rangers are investigating and an attorney for Jean's family has called on the authorities to arrest Guyger. Dallas police say the state police have requested more time to investigate.
In the 2017 confrontation, the affidavit says Guyger was one of two officers called to help another officer. Guyger was trying to assist, when a struggle began with Perez. Guyger fired her Taser at Perez, who then took her Taser from her. Guyger pulled her gun and fired, wounding Perez in the abdomen.
Guyger was not charged in the 2017 shooting.
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Savannah Guthrie interviewed Bob Woodward on the Today show this morning. At one point she said that we all know that 45 always calls anything unfavorable to him "fake news." This is not news. I mention it here only because I can't think I've heard anybody actually say that on TV. I'm sure someone must have; I just never heard anyone say it until this morning.
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Miss America Contestant Uses Introduction to Call Out State Water Crisis
The 2018 Miss America pageant may have eliminated the swimsuit competition, but there was plenty to talk about on Sunday night when contestant Miss Michigan, Emily Sioma, used the pageant stage as a way to highlight the dire Flint water crisis.
Upon getting her brief moment to introduce herself, Sioma called out the lack of clean drinking water for her home state: “From the state with 84% of the United States’ fresh water but none for its residents to drink, I am Miss Michigan, Emily Sioma.”
http://time.com/5391830/miss-america-flint/
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Miss America contestant says President Trump has "caused a lot of division"
A contestant in the Miss America pageant says President Trump "has caused a lot of division" in the nation. Madeline Collins, Miss West Virginia, was asked an onstage question Friday night about what she feels is the most serious issue facing the nation.
"Donald Trump is the biggest issue our country faces," she said. "Unfortunately he has caused a lot of division in our country."
The interview responses were limited to 20 seconds and Collins did not go into additional detail. The Miss America Organization rejected a request from The Associated Press to make Collins available for an interview after Friday night's competition had ended.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/miss-america-contestant-madeline-collins-miss-west-virginia-says-president-trump-has-caused-a-lot-of-division/ (https://www.cbsnews.com/news/miss-america-contestant-madeline-collins-miss-west-virginia-says-president-trump-has-caused-a-lot-of-division/)
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The Miss America Organization rejected a request from The Associated Press to make Collins available for an interview after Friday night's competition had ended.
Are they owned by the organisation?! The moment someone tries to make out of this something different to a meat contest they are silenced. I just can't understand how beauty contests are still a thing in these times.
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(With apologies to William Faulkner, a paraphrase of a passage in Intruder in the Dust by Douglas Harper):
For every American boy fourteen years old, not once but every time he can't quell it from rising in his mind, it's still not yet nine o'clock on that September morning in 2001, the planes have not yet taxied, the towers still stand in the golden dawn, and as the safe world awakens, heedless of the horror to come, fathers hurry to catch the train to their offices in the sky, briefcases in hand, kissing children, and it's all in the balance, it hasn't happened yet, it hasn't even begun yet, it not only hasn't begun yet but there is still time for it not to begin in those cockpits and time to avert the evil behind the blank eyes of Atta and Al-Shehhi and Hanjour as they walk purposefully through the airports saying nothing, yielding no clue of a life of hatred gathering to a head, yet it's going to begin, we all know that, we have come too far with too much at stake and that moment doesn't need even a fourteen-year-old boy to think: This time. Maybe this time, someone alert at the luggage check will notice something out of order, someone in the bowels of the FBI will fit the scattered clues together at the last minute, with all this much to lose and all this much to save: the Twin Towers, the Pentagon, the future, the lives of the brave and average men and women on the airliners about to rise ...
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Are they owned by the organisation?! The moment someone tries to make out of this something different to a meat contest they are silenced. I just can't understand how beauty contests are still a thing in these times.
I used to watch the Miss America event every year when I was growing up, when the yearly broadcast was one of the highest rated specials of the year. As a gay person, I certainly wasn't watching it in the context of a "meat contest."
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Same here, it was a family event to watch it.
We were especially pleased that two Mississippi women won it two years back-to-back. They were like neighbors.
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I don't know, we never watched at home. I am sorry, but I hate judging a woman by her looks, my girl likes to watch that Heidi Klum s***, "Germany's Next Top Model" and my stomach cramps eveytime I see her watching those girls be told to smile and lose weight and move graciously. I can't, really.
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As I said, I wasn't really interested in that aspect of it. I liked the idea of all the contestants representing different states and how they'd personally be so proud to represent where they were from. I mostly remember the talent competitions (some of them were strange) and the couple minutes they had to answer a question they pulled out of a hat. The show was like a slice of Americana with a history dating back to the early part of the 20th century.
I don't know how old your child is, but if very young you could not let her watch that show, or at least talk about the concerns you have for her watching it.
I guess I don't have a problem with these contests, as long as the women can make their own choices about participating. What I hate are those that involve children and their parents who put them into them. That seems just mind boggling. I once saw a documentary called "Chippendiddies" where these people got really young boys involved in parroting the Chippendales guys. My reaction after seeing it was that these people were so naive that they didn't know what they were doing, or else they were pedophiles. It was just, as I said before, mind boggling.
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I once saw a documentary called "Chippendiddies" where these people got really young boys involved in parroting the Chippendales guys. My reaction after seeing it was that these people were so naive that they didn't know what they were doing, or else they were pedophiles. It was just, as I said before, mind boggling.
Not to say nauseating. ...
Maybe I missed something here, but I was under the impression that the Miss America officials were trying to get away from at least some of the meat-market aspect by eliminating the swimsuit competition. In that respect I think their hearts were in the right place. Beyond that strictly limited aspect, I'm really not equipped to comment.
We always had it on TV at home when I was a kid. It was a Big Deal back then.
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I don't know how old your child is, but if very young you could not let her watch that show, or at least talk about the concerns you have for her watching it.
She is 14, try to stop her watching! We have talked about it and she understands and I think shares somehow my opinion about it, but "everyone is watching!". You know how it goes.
I totally agree on the children beauty contests, it's just not okay.
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I totally agree on the children beauty contests, it's just not okay.
They are creepy and disgusting.
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when I was a teenager we used to watch Miss America and answer the questions for them and make fun of their answers, and just the whole thing in general.
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The hurricane (Florence) was expected. Anything that comes out of Washington is more of the same.
The news that flabbergasted me yesterday was all those fires and houses exploding without warning
north of Boston. in Andover, N. Andover and Lawrence. I cannot imagine. Random houses catching
fire all around. Everyone has to be evacuated. Get out of town! So, even when this problem eventually
is fixed, who is going to feel safe right away and how long will it take to get over? They basically have
shut off the gas and the electricity to three towns and told everyone to get out in one afternoon. WIthout
a hint of warning. And...there hasn't been an exact cause for what happened yet, just vague notions it
was something to do with an over-pressurized high pressure gas main.
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I read this article...the beginning of it:
Storm Surge from Florence Prompts Hundreds of Water Rescues in New Bern, North Carolina
Emergency responders have reported an influx of calls from residents
pleading to be rescued from the rapidly rising floodwaters.
Am I wrong? Hasn't it been on the news that even I get here in CA that
they told all of the people who reside on the coast to LEAVE? Because,
you know, a hirricane and storm surge was coming?
Or did they think it was fake news?
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No, you're not wrong. I don't wish anyone any harm, but they should be charged for the services of the rescue teams.
eta: unless they couldn't leave for a real reason, like physical or financial...but if they just wanted to try to "ride out the storm"...yeah, they should pay...
They probably voted for 45.
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I was listening to 101.1 WCBS on the way to work, and the DJs were saying that rescue workers are getting calls for help from people who refused to leave their houses, and how angry they (the DJs) were about that, that the rescue workers now have to risk their lives because someone was too arrogant to leave their home.
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I don't think this guy wanted to stay, maybe he just couldn't get out...
(https://i.pinimg.com/originals/df/e0/8e/dfe08eb31ca7b988151efda2ad20f5aa.jpg)
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Well, those who are offered a way to get out but refuse or even scoff at the chance, then call later on and demand to be rescued, they should be required to be charged something for it.
There are a number of people who have been doing that.
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I was trying to put myself in the position of someone who would have to do that.
Hope I would be able to accept the situation and leave in the face of it. I can't
imagine all the things you have to maybe take care of first.
For some reason I just thought of the Titanic movie when a lot of people were
refusing to leave their rooms. At least at first. I guess you don't want to accept
that what you perceive as your safe place is not safe.
It's not anything you'd wish anyone to have to deal with and I hope they all get
through it. Maybe some people don't think it's such a danger because all the major
news networks think they have to send reporters down to those places and have
them standing in the middle of it.
A news site's question of the day: "People are asking why reporters are put in these
dangerous conditions in the first place, especially when they’re telling people to stay
out of it."
Exactly.
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Cajun Navy races to the Carolinas; citizen rescuers pull people from rising waters
By Emily Wax-Thibodeaux
September 14 at 12:34 PM
Working through the night on little sleep and lots of Mountain Dew and adrenaline, Taylor Fontenot, the Texas captain of an-all volunteer group known as America’s Cajun Navy, headed right into Hurricane Florence’s wrath. As the storm headed toward land Thursday night into Friday morning, Fontenot and his group say, they helped to rescue more than 150 people, including terrified parents, their sleepy toddlers and scores of elderly trapped in attics, as water moved higher and higher inside their homes.
“Man, last night was insane,” Fontenot said from the riverfront city of New Bern, N.C., where he was working alongside police and firefighters to save people from storm surge and flooding.
Todd Terrell, head of the United Cajun Navy, said those who did not heed pleas to evacuate got trapped in their homes or tried to leave too late. He said rescuers used air mattresses to float people to safety because the storm’s gusts were toppling rescue boats.
“We aren’t here for a boat ride and a beer. We know this place is about to get hammered,” said Terrell, who is known as “Mr. Cajun Navy” and is a survivor of Hurricane Katrina. “We know we’re here because your house will be destroyed or your dog will be dead. And we’ll be looking for your loved ones.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/cajun-navy-races-to-the-carolinas-citizen-rescuers-pull-people-from-rising-waters/2018/09/14/46623928-b763-11e8-a2c5-3187f427e253_story.html?utm_term=.3b9757c8999f (https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/cajun-navy-races-to-the-carolinas-citizen-rescuers-pull-people-from-rising-waters/2018/09/14/46623928-b763-11e8-a2c5-3187f427e253_story.html?utm_term=.3b9757c8999f)
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Bless the Cajun Navy.
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WOW!!! Way cool!!
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Manafort is to Trump what the iceberg was to the Titanic...
(not mine)
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Manafort is to Trump what the iceberg was to the Titanic...
(not mine)
We hope.
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what is WRONG with people?
Health alert issued after strawberries contaminated with needles in Australia
By Mitchell McCluskey and Susannah Cullinane
Updated 5:28 AM ET, Sun September 16, 2018
(CNN)An Australian state is offering a reward for information after several people reported finding sewing needles or pins in strawberries.
The government of Queensland has offered $100,000 Australian dollars (about $71,510) to anyone with information that leads to the arrest and conviction of the person responsible for the strawberry contamination.
"Whoever is behind this is not just putting families at risk across Queensland and the rest of Australia -- they are putting an entire industry at risk," Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said in a statement,.
https://www.cnn.com/2018/09/16/australia/australia-needles-strawberries/index.html (https://www.cnn.com/2018/09/16/australia/australia-needles-strawberries/index.html)
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sick
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No. No. Nononononono
"Medicare for all would save the American people a very large amount of money," she said. Will it save $40 trillion??
Ocasio-Cortez defends $40 trillion price tag for progressive proposals
Maegan Vazquez
By Maegan Vazquez, CNN
Updated 12:11 PM ET, Sun September 16, 2018
Washington (CNN)Progressive Democrat Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Sunday defended what could accrue to a $40 trillion price tag for progressive policy programs, including Medicare for all, over the next 10 years, citing the success in some European countries that have similarly developed health care models.
CNN "State of the Union" anchor Jake Tapper asked where that estimated $40 trillion -- which would include the costs for Medicare for all, jobs guarantees, student loan forgiveness, free college programs, paid family leave, and Social Security expansion -- would come from. Medicare for all would be the costliest initiative, coming in at about $32 trillion, according to the Mercatus Center, a free market-oriented think tank at George Mason University, as well as an earlier study by the Urban Institute's Health Policy Center.
Ocasio-Cortez, who is running for a congressional seat in New York, referred to the publicly funded health care systems in Western Europe and Canada, calling such programs "generational investments" toward the future of a country.
"Medicare for all would save the American people a very large amount of money," she said. "What we see as well is that these systems are not just pie in the sky. Many of them are accomplished by every modern, civilized democracy in the Western world," she said. "The United Kingdom has a form of single-payer health care -- Canada, France, Germany. What we need to realize that these investments are better and they are good for our future."
But asked again where that $40 trillion would come from, aside from her proposed increase in taxes on the wealthy and corporate taxes, which she has said would raise $2 trillion over the next 10 years, Ocasio-Cortez said the taxpayer-funded programs would free people up to increase economic activity in other areas, adding that the Medicare for all program is part of "a broader agenda."
"We do know and acknowledge that there are political realities," she added. "They don't always happen with the wave of a wand, but we can work to make these things happen."
https://www.cnn.com/2018/09/16/politics/alexandria-ocasio-cortez-40-trillion-cnntv/index.html (https://www.cnn.com/2018/09/16/politics/alexandria-ocasio-cortez-40-trillion-cnntv/index.html)
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This is what's right with people
With Florence's death and destruction came acts of bravery and selflessness
By Ray Sanchez, CNN
Updated 11:14 AM ET, Sun September 16, 2018
(CNN)The death and destruction wrought by Tropical Storm Florence has been punctuated with stories of bravery, generosity and resilience.
The massive storm's relentless rains continue to pound parts of the Carolinas, leaving at least eight people dead, wiping out electricity to 1 million customers and trapping residents in flooded homes.
But the wrath of the storm that crashed ashore Friday in North Carolina as a Category 1 hurricane has been met with equally powerful acts of kindness, mercy and hope.
There have been harrowing rescues, neighbors coming to the aid of neighbors, strangers donating money and opening their homes and numerous other acts of selflessness in the darkest moment.
Stories at the link...
https://www.cnn.com/2018/09/15/us/hurricane-florence-rescues/index.html (https://www.cnn.com/2018/09/15/us/hurricane-florence-rescues/index.html)
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As one of 435 house races, why was she (Cortez) being interviewed on CNN?
Call me cynical, but ratings? She stirs the pot. THe news likes people who
push others buttons.
___
After 8 years of Republicans looking at every single penny spent during the Obama
administration and demanding that everything spent must be paid for and then the
last two years completely abandoning that when it benefited themselves, I would tell
them all to talk to the hand.
___
How experienced in politics is this woman? She was 10 years old when 9/11 occurred.
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Ratings is right...she was on because there aren't enough casualties in North Carolina...CNN is turning into the cable National Enquirer
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I read this article...the beginning of it:
Storm Surge from Florence Prompts Hundreds of Water Rescues in New Bern, North Carolina
Emergency responders have reported an influx of calls from residents
pleading to be rescued from the rapidly rising floodwaters.
Am I wrong? Hasn't it been on the news that even I get here in CA that
they told all of the people who reside on the coast to LEAVE? Because,
you know, a hirricane and storm surge was coming?
Or did they think it was fake news?
I brought this up a few days ago, so when I saw this article I read it to understand more.
'Why Didn’t You Evacuate?': Expert Explains Why Fleeing Florence’s Wrath Wasn’t a Privilege Everyone Could Afford
https://www.accuweather.com/en/weather-news/why-didnt-they-evacuate/70006078 (https://www.accuweather.com/en/weather-news/why-didnt-they-evacuate-hundreds-of-residents-in-the-carolinas-stay-behind-during-florence/70006078)
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After 8 years of Republicans looking at every single penny spent during the Obama
administration and demanding that everything spent must be paid for and then the
last two years completely abandoning that when it benefited themselves, I would tell
them all to talk to the hand.
Of course they always conveniently (for them) forget that when Bill Clinton left office, the country had money in the bank. Then along came a Republican who spent it all.
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Hello Ultimate Brokeback Forum members.
Near the end of August I put up posts about accepting donations to keep the Ultimate Brokeback Forum online.
The last of the donations have come in, and the total will be released in the latest edition of The Daily Sheet
in the lead story.
Please see The Daily Sheet when it is posted for 9/18/18 for the update on our collection of donations.
Thanks!
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Today is International Talk Like a Pirate Day.
Aaargh!
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Today is International Talk Like a Pirate Day.
Aaargh!
To err is human. To arr is seriously pirate.
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;D
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To err is human. To arr is seriously pirate.
Heh!
Q: How do you become a pirate?
A: You can't become a pirate, you just arr.
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;D ;D
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Not to rain on the parade of the pirate talkers, but it's believed pirates didn't talk the way we think they did. At least that's what I heard on the radio on the way to work today. I decided to do a quick google search, and found a site that confirmed what the radio DJs said.
:laugh:
Apparently there's not a lot of written records from pirates, and it's believed that pirates spoke exactly the same as English-speaking merchant sailors of the time, since large numbers in both groups tended to be from riverfront neighborhoods around London.
Many of the phrases that most people think of as pirate speech today can actually be traced back to the 1950s Disney movie Treasure Island, starring Robert Newton as fictional pirate Long John Silver.
"Newton's performance—full of 'arrs,' 'shiver me timbers,' and references to landlubbers—not only stole the show, it permanently shaped pop culture's vision of how pirates looked, acted, and spoke," Woodard said.
"Afterwards, Newtonesque pirates were everywhere, from Captain Hook to Captain McCallister of the Simpsons series."
https://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2012/09/120919-talk-like-a-pirate-day-news-history/
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Walking the plank is apparently also fictional.
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Not to rain on the parade of the pirate talkers, but it's believed pirates didn't talk the way we think they did.
PIRATE POOPER!!
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They did that in the usual manner too.
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PIRATE POOPER!!
Every pirate has a pooper.......somehow, that's just wrong.
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Yes, it kinda misses the point, doesn't it. ;D
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Many of the phrases that most people think of as pirate speech today can actually be traced back to the 1950s Disney movie Treasure Island, starring Robert Newton as fictional pirate Long John Silver.
"Newton's performance—full of 'arrs,' 'shiver me timbers,' and references to landlubbers—not only stole the show, it permanently shaped pop culture's vision of how pirates looked, acted, and spoke," Woodard said.
"Afterwards, Newtonesque pirates were everywhere, from Captain Hook to Captain McCallister of the Simpsons series."
That's the common pirate lore. Earlier today I found an old HuffPost article that claimed it went as far back as a 1934 film version of Treasure Island, where Lionel Barrymore supposedly said "Aaargh!" Barrymore wasn't playing Long John Silver, and Robert Newton certainly "popularized" it.
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Walking the plank is apparently also fictional.
I've never seen the original play version of Peter Pan, but don't they walk the plank in that?
And I wonder how the pirates were portrayed in the stage version which was written in 1904.
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Yes, they portray it in that play/movie, but pirates were not known for being squeamish about executing people by any means convenient.
It was occasionally done, but not exclusively by pirates.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walking_the_plank
The whole idea was that one couldn't be accused of murder by forcing someone to walk the plank, since no one could be charged for an actual killing.
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So, what's the opinion in here? Do you think the Women coming forward with nasty commentary about Kavanaugh will soon derail his nomination, or the Senate vote?
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Now with a fourth person coming forward, he might realize that he would be damaged goods on the SC even to his fellow justices, and might withdraw his nomination on his own, since T nor the GOP would do it.
He might be having increasing difficulty even getting all of the Republican votes by now.
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The way things have played out the last two-three years I'm not betting on anything.
The one thing I do agree with--when the constitution first put forth unlimited term appointments to the Supreme Court,
they didn't envision that now someone could get on the court and be there for 50 years. Someone suggested it be
changed to 18-20 year appointments. Good luck with changing the constitution, but I'd be in favor of that. If it were
in effect in 1991, Thomas would've been off the court already for 6-7 years.
I have my own reasons why I've never really been in favor of term limits, but when you see the news clips of
Orrin Hatch and Chuck Grassley from the Anita Hill hearings in 1991, and they have learned absolutely nothing
in the last 27 years and are, in fact, acting worse...then...I'm inclined to favor them.
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Now with a fourth person coming forward, he might realize that he would be damaged goods on the SC even to his fellow justices, and might withdraw his nomination on his own, since T nor the GOP would do it.
He might be having increasing difficulty even getting all of the Republican votes by now.
His ego won't let him withdraw. Plus that would be a round about way of admitting guilt. Another R putting himself before the good of the country.
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I only heard there were two women. THere are four now?
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I heard about two, too. CNN didn't mention any more so far...
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They spoke about a third one, I think.
No political or legal position should be for life, society changes, circunstances change, the laws need to evolve. I don't see the sense in being chained to decisions made decades (or centuries) ago in a world completely different to the one we live in now.
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They spoke about a third one, I think.
No political or legal position should be for life, society changes, circunstances change, the laws need to evolve. I don't see the sense in being chained to decisions made decades (or centuries) ago in a world completely different to the one we live in now.
Perhaps not, but if you go that route, you open doors that we might prefer to remain closed, such as women's right to choose, or same-sex marriage. And the Court does have the power to overturn previous decisions. If I recall, Brown v. Board of Education overturned Plessy v. Fergusson (my memory, and my spelling, might be off here).
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I don't know those cases, I know next to nothing about the American legal system, only what I catch on the news. But I do really believe that there has to be a way to change things that just shouldn't be anymore. I'm thinking for instance about the privileges of the Catholic Church in Spain, or even the existence of the monarchy. There should be some basic unmovable principles, for instance "all persons are created equal", but some things were fixed in times that were completely different! Like the right to carry arms, for instance, like the king being the head of state, just because of being born into that family. Aren't all persons created equal?
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I guess different countries have different issues.
Roe v. Wade legalized abortion in the U.S.; socially conservative Evangelicals would love to see that decision overturned. Ditto the decision legalizing same-sex marriage. The Supreme Court has the power to do that.
Plessy v. Fergusson legalized separate facilities for Blacks and Whites. (Thus, we had things like separate water fountains for Blacks and Whites; and restaurants, hotels, and so forth, could discriminate against Blacks. Singers could be refused service in night clubs where they performed.) The facilities were supposed to be equal, but separate. Of course, they were not equal.
Brown v. Board of Education overturned Plessy and established the principle that "separate" was by nature unequal.
I hope I've got my legal history correct, but if I haven't, correction will be most welcome!
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Thank you, Jeff. It's obvious I don't want to see those things changed, but I think all of them would be protected by "all persons are equal", or should be. Roe v. Wade is more complicated, I firmly believe in the right of women to decide themselves over their bodies.
Germany just recently finally legalised marriage equality, in Spain it's been legal for a while now and now it would be unthinkable to take it back, the society has simply evolved, I don't remember the exact numbers, but the last statistics about it said around 80% of Spanish people aprove it. I don't know where I want to go with this, I guess I am just trying to say that government should reflect society, and not the other way. I have the feeling, as an external viewer, that the majority of the American society is not represented by its governors at the time.
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this made my day
UN audience literally bursts out laughing at Trump’s speech
They didn’t take the president’s bragging very seriously.
One of President Trump’s favorite attacks on his political opponents is to say that the world is “laughing” at the United States. But on Tuesday, during Trump’s speech to the United Nations General Assembly, the assembled world notables literally laughed at him.
The audience erupted in laughter early, when Trump bragged about his accomplishments as president. “In two years, we have accomplished more than almost any administration in the history of our country,” he said.
Trump makes this sort of grandiose claim all the time, typically to friendly audiences at home. But the UN audience is less willing to indulge him, and at least a few members of the audience audibly giggled at this truly ridiculous claim. This flustered Trump, who smiled and said “so true” in response to the laughter. That bred even more laughter, though it was hard to tell at whose expense.
The president paused again, and smiled somewhat uncomfortably. “Didn’t expect that reaction, but that’s okay,” he said:
https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2018/9/25/17900980/un-trump-laughed-at (https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2018/9/25/17900980/un-trump-laughed-at)
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Good.
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I think he'll request video to see who laughed and stay up late tonight planning their retribution.
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Though now he's claiming that he wanted the laugh. Judging by his initial reaction, he only came upon this reasoning later on.
http://www.joemygod.com/2018/09/25/trump-i-meant-for-the-united-nations-to-laugh-at-me/
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Our senator.
https://twitter.com/timkaine/status/1044605847857491968?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1044605847857491968&ref_url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.joemygod.com%2F2018%2F09%2F25%2Ftrump-i-meant-for-the-united-nations-to-laugh-at-me%2F
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this made my day
UN audience literally bursts out laughing at Trump’s speech
They didn’t take the president’s bragging very seriously.
Made mine, too. Thanks!
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I don't have details or a link, but I heard on evening TV news that Bill Cosby is going to the slammer.
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I stole this from the link to twitter you posted, Fritz
(https://i.pinimg.com/564x/93/0c/47/930c4715efe08d6a0e3cd96d3f8f8554.jpg)
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I don't have details or a link, but I heard on evening TV news that Bill Cosby is going to the slammer.
yep, 3-10
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I stole this from the link to twitter you posted, Fritz
This reminds me, has anyone ever heard Mark Hamill reading Trump Tweets as
"the clown Prince of Crime" aka The Joker? Mark Hamill did the voice for an animated
Joker and one day he read a Trump tweet as the joker and now he does it frequently.
It's very amusing, but sadly right on. Trump's tweets are exactly like a Joker monologue.
I looked quickly for an example. Here's a youtube of two actors on Stephen Colbert doing their
movie role characters as Trump Tweets and in the middle section is Hamill reading a couple as
his Joker character (he was not on Colbert's show).
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There is this brilliant video of Andy Serkis (aka Gollum) reading Trump's tweets, it starts at 3:40.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=64mWOoj68qo
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Doesn't anyone realize that the joke of the Senate of the US is going to chew up and spit out Dr. Ford, and then go about their merry way and pass Kavanaugh to be the next Supreme Court Justice, and NO ONE is going to do a damn thing about it?
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the men wimped out and hired a woman to do their dirty work
Senate Judiciary Committee Republicans have hired a female attorney to question the woman accusing Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexual assault during a highly-anticipated hearing on Thursday, according to Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah).
...all 11 male GOP senators on the Senate Judiciary Committee (there are no women) are expected to give their allotted time to an outside female lawyer, Rachel Mitchell, who has been hired to do their questioning.
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I stole this from the link to twitter you posted, Fritz
(https://i.pinimg.com/564x/93/0c/47/930c4715efe08d6a0e3cd96d3f8f8554.jpg)
The West Wing has been a regular Clown Car.
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Doesn't anyone realize that the joke of the Senate of the US is going to chew up and spit out Dr. Ford, and then go about their merry way and pass Kavanaugh to be the next Supreme Court Justice, and NO ONE is going to do a damn thing about it?
I don't want to be as certain as you are, Linda, but fear it is true.
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If you want to read something that will at least make you feel a little better, read this
article:
Well, I Think We Found Our Supreme Court Justice Today...
https://www.forbes.com/sites/victorlipman/2018/09/27/#2e2fe6e03fc6 (https://www.forbes.com/sites/victorlipman/2018/09/27/well-i-think-we-found-our-supreme-court-justice-today/#2e2fe6e03fc6)
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So, did any of you watch any of the hearings or catch news stories about it?
I have not liked Kavanaugh from the beginning, first because of his previous statements, words
and actions concerning Roe v. Wade (abortion), LGBT matters, Citizen's United, his ideas about
Presidential powers and several other things.
Then, the first thing he said when he was nominated is that No one has ever done such due diligence
in searching for a Supreme Court nominee as Pres. Trump*. I couldn't find the exact quote to copy,
but that is the first thing he said and it's a lie. Trump picked his name off a list that was provided to
him by right wing donors and judicial hacks.
Then in his confirmation hearings we find him lying again, this time about not using stolen information
provided to him. The information was stolen from Democratic offices and he denies knowing that any
of this information was stolen, even though the subject headings in his own emails was: SPYING.
There are other instances, but right from the start I wouldn't support him. Then over the past few weeks
we could all witness what kind of a "judicial temperament" he would exhibit on the court. And, for the record:
According to the American Bar Association, judicial temperament means that a judge exhibits "compassion, decisiveness, open-mindedness, sensitivity, courtesy, patience, freedom from bias and commitment to equal justice."
If you were watching, you saw none of that. What you saw was belligerence, testiness, argumentativeness, a
sense of entitlement, a person playing the victim, a person blaming others for his own failures. He is simply angry
that anyone dare accuse him of anything. How dare you accuse me?
From an article: "One of the potential knocks against Kavanaugh was that, before he was a judge, he was a Republican political operative — a high-ranking official in the George W. Bush White House, in fact. That always cut against the idea that he would be your average fair-minded judge, just reviewing the facts and applying the law. Everything Kavanaugh said Thursday will only confirm such doubts."
Just this line from his opening statement yesterday was disqualifying:
This whole two-week effort has been a calculated and orchestrated political hit, fueled with apparent pent-up anger about President Trump and the 2016 election. Fear that has been unfairly stoked about my judicial record. Revenge on behalf of the Clintons. and millions of dollars in money from outside left-wing opposition groups.
Did the ABA say "freedom from bias." (The ABA said yesterday that this nomination process should slow down and
the proceed with more fact finding, which the R's I'm sure won't listen to.)
Two articles that are of interest if one wants some further perspective:
Brett Kavanaugh Just Got Remarkably Angry — and Political — for a Supreme Court Nominee
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2018/09/27/brett-kavanaugh-just-got-remarkably-angry-political-supreme-court-nominee/?utm_term=.b0cebc63bb13
For Supreme Court, Kavanaugh Marks Partisan Turning Point
https://www.cnn.com/2018/09/28/politics/supreme-court-partisanship-kavanaugh/index.html
For some humor about the situation, here's a new Randy Rainbow video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gG0-6Ntx7w&t=1s
And in an hour the Senate Judiciary Committee is going to vote on sending
the nomination to the full Senate for a vote. 11R - 10D along partisan lines?
Will Jeff Flake have some backbone? All I've got to say about it to both Dems
and Reps: "Really? You can't do better than this?"
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Flake has apparently nothing that could be called a backbone:
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/sep/28/jeff-flake-the-man-who-may-hold-brett-kavanaugh-future-in-his-hands
I am not a crier, but hearing that woman really affected me.
It does not affect me, but I have been following it. It's a shame, I only hope women remember this in the next election.
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Doesn't anyone realize that the joke of the Senate of the US is going to chew up and spit out Dr. Ford, and then go about their merry way and pass Kavanaugh to be the next Supreme Court Justice, and NO ONE is going to do a damn thing about it?
I don't want to be as certain as you are, Linda, but fear it is true.
I caught part of something on this morning's news where a reporter was doing a "person on the street" type of story, and a woman said she didn't even know why they were bothering because in the end Mitch McConnell [on whom someone should drop a house--JW] was going to get his way in the end, anyway.
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The Republicans don't like it much when the shoe's on the other foot, do they?
When Obama was in the White House they just pulled the same sort of shit that they're now crying foul about.
Seriously, what did they expect would happen with Kavanaugh after Gorsuch, and after McConnell wouldn't even allow Obama's candidate to be considered?
Frankly, even though I'm a registered Democrat, I'm sick and tired of both sides playing this hypocritical bullshit game.
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Frankly, even though I'm a registered Democrat, I'm sick and tired of both sides playing this hypocritical bullshit game.
Exactly. The object of the game is to cause the other side to lose at any cost.
What I despise about this vote in particular, especially after watching Professor Ford yesterday, is that senators believed her but will vote him in anyway...they believe her, but are afraid of the political repercussions in their districts...they believe her but they don't care enough about a criminal act committed against a young girl.
And can you imagine what the talking heads and social media would be calling her if she had acted like he did yesterday? He was attacking senators, ranting and crying like a lunatic. Another of the many double standards. And of course, he was only speaking to one person.
Another thing that bothers me immensely were the references to conspiracies, that the hearings were "a calculated, coordinated political hit", and that the women who came forward did so for "revenge on behalf of the Clintons". Will he possibly be able to set aside his own agenda? Well, I guess that's what's wrong with the whole thing anyway, they all vote on party lines.
The man who testified yesterday sounded not like a Supreme Court justice, but rather like yet another Republican member on the Senate Judiciary Committee, engaging in not only verbal combat with Democratic senators, but also—quite remarkably—seeming to threaten potential retribution: “And as we all know,” he said, “in the United States political system of the early 2000s, what goes around comes around.”
http://fortune.com/2018/09/28/brett-kavanaugh-senate-vote/ (http://fortune.com/2018/09/28/brett-kavanaugh-senate-vote/)
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Exactly. The object of the game is to cause the other side to lose at any cost.
Can you say "pissing contest"? I guess the Orange One isn't the only one in Washington who acts like a Fourth Grader.
Another thing that bothers me immensely were the references to conspiracies, that the hearings were "a calculated, coordinated political hit", and that the women who came forward did so for "revenge on behalf of the Clintons". Will he possibly be able to set aside his own agenda? Well, I guess that's what's wrong with the whole thing anyway, they all vote on party lines.
I believe Professor Ford, and the notion that this is for "revenge on behalf of the Clintons" is bullshit. BUT: It gives me no pleasure to say this, but the depths to which our politics have sunk have turned me into a sort of conspiracy theorist, or at least someone very suspicious of anything done by either side. I repeat that it gives me no pleasure to say this, but I'm suspicious of the timing of this. Just because Professor Ford is telling the truth, and Kavanaugh did exactly what she said (and I believe her), doesn't mean this isn't being brought up now for some political purpose, Diane Feinstein notwithstanding.
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Well as much as I hate to say it, a few of the Democrats are playing the same dirty pool the Republicans are, I would assume to delay this nomination till the midterm elections. The Republicans have been running roughshod over the American people for a couple of years now, so maybe the only way to fight them is with their own tactics, whether we like it or not.
I am tired of the lying rhetoric and wish for some progressive action.
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Just this line from [Kavanaugh’s] opening statement yesterday was disqualifying:
This whole two-week effort has been a calculated and orchestrated political hit, fueled with apparent pent-up anger about President Trump and the 2016 election, fear that has been unfairly stoked about my judicial record, revenge on behalf of the Clintons and millions of dollars in money from outside left-wing opposition groups.
The idea of a “calculated and orchestrated political hit” collapses when Ford stated that she’d first talked of Kavanaugh’s assault she saw “press reports stating that Brett Kavanaugh was on the “short list of potential Supreme Court nominees,” after which, on July 6, she called her congressional representative and let her receptionist know that someone on the President’s shortlist had attacked her. She also sent a message to The Washington Post’s confidential tip line. She did not use her name, but provided the names of Brett Kavanaugh and Mark Judge, stating that Kavanaugh had assaulted her in the 1980s in Maryland.
She continues in her opening speech: “On July 9, 2018, I received a call from the office of Congresswoman Anna Eshoo after Mr. Kavanaugh had become the nominee. I met with her staff on July 11 and with her on July 13, describing the assault and discussing my fear about coming forward.
Later, we discussed the possibility of sending a letter to Ranking Member Feinstein, who is one of my state’s Senators, describing what occurred. My understanding is that Representative Eshoo’s office delivered a copy of my letter to Senator Feinstein’s office on July 30, 2018. The letter included my name, but requested that the letter be kept confidential ... In a letter on August 31, 2018, Senator Feinstein wrote that she would not share the letter without my consent.”
It was not until September 2018 that Dr Ford decided to “speak out publicly to The Washington Post” and described the details of the assault to a journalist who had “responded to the anonymous tip” in July, and whom she now trusted. Her story was then published on September 16.
So, her story was relayed to Senator Feinstein only when she saw Kavanaugh’s name on the short list of potential nominees, and was not made public until after he had been nominated for the Supreme Court position, when Dr Ford herself decided to make it public.
As Senator Feinstein honoured Dr Ford’s request that her letter be kept confidential until she gave her consent, it’s hard to see how the matter could be described as a “calculated and orchestrated political hit.”
http://time.com/5408380/christine-blasey-ford-opening-remarks-transcript/
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So many good points you all are making.
Then over the past few weeks we could all witness what kind of a "judicial temperament" he would exhibit on the court. And, for the record: According to the American Bar Association, judicial temperament means that a judge exhibits "compassion, decisiveness, open-mindedness, sensitivity, courtesy, patience, freedom from bias and commitment to equal justice."
From an article: "One of the potential knocks against Kavanaugh was that, before he was a judge, he was a Republican political operative — a high-ranking official in the George W. Bush White House, in fact. That always cut against the idea that he would be your average fair-minded judge, just reviewing the facts and applying the law. Everything Kavanaugh said Thursday will only confirm such doubts."
Even without Dr. Ford's revelations, the above is why this person should never have been selected as a nominee for the Supreme Court. He's been a "Republican political operative" for years. He had his hand in working for Kenneth Starr’s independent counsel probe of President Bill Clinton two decades ago. He was there 4 years. While Starr had spokespeople, “he also had attorneys like Kavanaugh contact people who might have information to come to the office and offer to guide the press about the work of the office.” If there was nothing illegal about this, why did he do it off the record?
In Lindsay Graham's meltdown he angrily kept referring to Kavanaugh's rating from the American Bar Association as the high standard that was being trashed. So I had to laugh when the same American Bar Association came out with their statement after the hearings that the allegations should have an FBI investigation. Something Graham was railing against.
THe Republicans are just furious because they aren't getting a free pass to blatantly confirm an avowed partisan political operative to a seat on the court that rightfully shouldn't be available now because of what McConnell did with the Garland nomination.
I agree with what Linda said:
The Republicans have been running roughshod over the American people for a couple of years now, so maybe the only way to fight them is with their own tactics, whether we like it or not.
It's always touchy to compare something to the atrocities of Nazi Germany, but this line reminded me of a brutal scene in Schindler's List. A Nazi person in charge of having Jewish prisoners working on a building the Nazi's want constructed encounters a Jewish female person who is telling the person in charge that what he is telling them to do is not the best way to go about it. The Nazi person doesn't want to be told what to do even though the argument from the Jewish person is sound and sincere. Perhaps she just feels that her knowlwedge and co-operation will be a key to her getting along with her captors. But he just wants her to go away. She keeps trying to reason with the guy. He finally just takes out his gun and shoots her in the head.
There has to be a point when these bullies/the side that's running roughshod over everyone is stood up to. Even if it's not ideal.
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I don't understand putting your party and political beliefs above your values as a human being.
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I don't understand putting your party and political beliefs above your values as a human being.
I don't understand it either. I think it's terrible, and it's a sin and a shame that our politics have sunk that low. And both sides are guilty of it.
But I've said this before with regrets, and I say it again with regrets: If you try to take the high road with the party or persons currently in power, all you get is kicked in the balls.
Sometimes dead martyrs aren't much use.
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To use my analogy from Schindler's List, the Jewish woman with high moral values gets shot in the head.
What do you do when you're dealing with those who just don't care about your values and act accordingly?
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Latest News: KAVANAUGH VOTE DELAYED—FBI LAUNCHES SUPPLEMENTARY INVESTIGATION
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r9nZlGHHdyc
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But I've said this before with regrets, and I say it again with regrets: If you try to take the high road with the party or persons currently in power, all you get is kicked in the balls.
Sometimes dead martyrs aren't much use.
EXACTLY!!
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Latest News: KAVANAUGH VOTE DELAYED—FBI LAUNCHES SUPPLEMENTARY INVESTIGATION
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r9nZlGHHdyc
OH WOW! What a compelling story. I did not know a criminal investigation could come from someone lying under oath. Well, maybe I did, but this could have really really important consequences. I do wish more men would come forward because in this story it is a proven fact what Republicans think of women. Of course, we already know this fact from numerous situations in the past.
Those two women who stopped Flake are my heroes.
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They were exceedingly brave indeed.
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Latest News: KAVANAUGH VOTE DELAYED—FBI LAUNCHES SUPPLEMENTARY INVESTIGATION
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r9nZlGHHdyc
What was the substance of this video, it's no longer on youtube for some reason?
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It was The Last Word on MSNBC. It is 42 minutes long, the whole show. They are using a lot of CNN video. I have no clue why it is no longer available, as it is still up on YT.
They first show a video of 2 women confronting Jeff Flake on the Senate elevator before he goes into the vote. CNN is the only camera there. It starts after the ad.
https://www-m.cnn.com/2018/09/28/politics/jeff-flake-protesters-kavanaugh-vote/index.html?r=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2F
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Then the next video shows is Flake leaving the committee meeting and gesturing to Coons (who is a Democrat but a very good friend of Flake) to go to a side room to discuss the vote. Coons had just finished talking to the committee a few moments before this.
Once again after the ad.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/video/politics/flake-spotted-leaving-hearing-with-coons-and-klobuchar/2018/09/28/78d72eaa-c33d-11e8-9451-e878f96be19b_video.html?utm_term=.1eac7e83a602
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The reporter on the show was pointing out the leader of the committee didn't call for the vote at 1:30 pm like he said he was.
Then the next video is of Flake not giving a yea vote and calling for week long FBI investigation.
https://www.google.com/amp/amp.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/national/article219188545.html
Flake mentioned in a separate interview that the "Senate is coming apart at the seams".
https://www.google.com/amp/www.foxnews.com/politics/2018/09/29/flake-defends-call-for-kavanaugh-delay-were-coming-apart-at-seams.amp.html
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The original video was long and was the whole show, Lyle. I tried to recreate the main points. There was a bunch of more info, including interviewing two of Kavanaugh's friends (women) who said he lied when he said he didn't drink in excess in college.
They were also roommates of the woman who accused Kavanaugh of waving his cock at her face at one of the Yale parties. The two women could not corroborate this story, however, as they were not at that party. They came forward because of his lying about his excess drinking.
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In Kavanaugh's testimony he says he got into Yale "through busting his tail by hard work", and had no connections, when in reality he got in as a legacy student because his grandfather graduated from Yale.
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I hope this helps, Lyle, and I'll keep looking for the original video.
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Many Yale students who are in the law school say they have not heard so many lies in one sitting, except for the President.
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I hope this helps, Lyle, and I'll keep looking for the original video.
The video is still up on YT, Lyle. Not sure why the original video doesn't work.
https://youtu.be/YyrdBrIKZVU
Hopefully this link will work for awhile
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"I'm usually an optimistic guy...I'm a "keg half full" kinda guy."
Kavanaugh Hearing Cold Open - SNL
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VRJecfRxbr8 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VRJecfRxbr8)
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The video is still up on YT, Lyle. Not sure why the original video doesn't work.
https://youtu.be/YyrdBrIKZVU
Hopefully this link will work for awhile
My apologies for not getting back sooner, and I thank you, Linda, for your summary of events contained in my link to the YouTube MSNBC broadcast. The following summarises issues it contained. (Apologies also for repeating some of the things you posted.)
Senator Jeff Flake had announced how he was going to vote, but had been confronted by two sexual assault victims in the Senate elevator prior to doing so, something which other members of the Judiciary Commitee were unaware.
It was after Democrat Senator Coons spoke about the need for an FBI investigation that Jeff Flake passed his opportunity to speak and left the chamber, indicating that Coons should leave with him. They were absent for 15 minutes, and on his return he said, @14.10:
“I’ve been speaking with a number of people on the other side; we’ve had conversations ongoing for a while with regard to making sure that we do due diligence here, and I think it would be proper to delay the floor vote for up to, but not more than, one week in order to let the FBI to do an investigation limited in time and scope to the current allegations that are there, and limited in time to no more than one week. I will advance the bill to the floor with that understanding.”
Senators Susan Collins and Lisa Mukowski quickly tweeted that they, too, wanted an FBI investigation.
Chairman Mitch McConnell then knew that the Republican deal was completely undone.
Not long after that the President ordered the FBI investigation.#
College associates who knew Brett Kavanaugh during his college years have now come forward to say that his testimony at his hearing about his drinking was not true, that he was a heavy drinker and very belligerent when drunk, that it was not credible for him to say that he had no memory lapses in the nights that he drank to excess, and that by trying to paint himself as some sort of choirboy he’s gone to far—“You can’t lie your way onto the Supreme Court.”
O’Donnell interviews two of these witnesses to Kavanaugh’s behaviour @ 37.27—42.50.
The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell on MSNBC. September 28
# To counter some incorrect news reports that the investigation was being restricted, Trump later stated that the FBI had free rein to “do whatever they had to do.”
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Senator Jeff Flake calls for delay in Kavanaugh floor vote
This CNN clip is a more thorough record of events surrounding Senator Flake’s proposal than broadcast by MSNBC.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gOTVWuUDggM
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Thanks for all of your posts for further explaining that, Linda and Paul!
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You are more than welcome, Lyle, and thanks for a more thorough explanation, Paul.
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I've been reading the profile of Sarah Huckabee Sanders in the Sept. 24 New Yorker, and I love it that apparently she has been given the one-finger salute at Costco (she shops at Costco?), and in a D.C. coffee shop, a woman asked her, "How does it feel to be so good at your job--considering that you lie for a living?" :laugh:
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:laugh: :laugh: :laugh:
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he is such a freak
President Donald Trump on Kim Jong Un: 'We fell in love' over 'beautiful letters'
Published 11:13 a.m. ET Sept. 30, 2018 |
President Donald Trump said he and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un "fell in love" because of Kim's "beautiful letters," but another top Pyongyang official warned that denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula won't happen unless the U.S. backs up its warm words with action.
Trump, speaking at a rally in West Virginia on Saturday night, said both leaders took tough positions at their June summit.
"I was really tough and so was he, and we went back and forth," Trump told an adoring crowd of thousands at Wesbanco Arena in Wheeling. "And then we fell in love, OK? No, really, he wrote me beautiful letters, and they’re great letters. We fell in love.”
North Korea's foreign minister, however, suggested the bloom may be off the rose. Ri Yong-ho, speaking to the U.N. General Assembly in New York on Saturday, said his country won't dismantle its nuclear weapons program seeing "trust-building" measures from the U.S.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2018/09/30/trump-north-koreas-kim-love-beautiful-letters/1478834002/ (https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2018/09/30/trump-north-koreas-kim-love-beautiful-letters/1478834002/)
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Kim knows that T is a sucker for flattery, and writes accordingly.
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I know this is a more serious thread, but I saw these two pics on Facebook, and they fit the current topic, so I had to post them.
Hope no one minds!
(https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1964/44323971174_2fc348b071_b.jpg)
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(https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1979/44323971134_de40633bbb_b.jpg)
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;D
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You are more than welcome, Lyle, and thanks for a more thorough explanation, Paul.
Both you and Lyle are more than welcome, Linda. Glad I was able to help. :)
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White House Broadens Scope Of Kavanaugh Probe [?]
The FBI investigation was originally described by the White House last Friday as being “a supplemental investigation to update Judge Kavanaugh’s file. As the Senate has requested, this update must be limited in scope and completed in less than one week.”
Several news outlets reported over the weekend that the probe ... was being tightly controlled by the White House counsel’s office in coordination with Republicans in the Senate.
Federal investigators were reportedly restricted to interviewing only four witnesses: Mark Judge; Leland Keyser, a high school friend of Dr. Blasey’s who attended the party at which the alleged sexual assault occurred; Patrick J. Smyth, another party guest; and Deborah Ramirez, Brett Kavanaugh’s Yale accuser.
The witness list did not extend to high school and college classmates who said that Judge Kavanaugh drank heavily, including some who said he went beyond typical consumption.
However, the Trump administration, in a move that appears to have come as a result of direct pressure applied by Republican moderates and nearly unanimous criticism from the Democrats in the Senate, reversed course yesterday.
The FBI is now tasked with undertaking “a very comprehensive investigation,” and “is now authorized to interview any witnesses it deems necessary in its probe of the sexual misconduct allegations against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh.”
Trump added, among other things, that the FBI “should do what [it has] to do to get the answer, and that he “would be okay with the FBI interviewing Kavanaugh, and it would be fine with him if the FBI talked to Julie Swetnick.” (Who was excluded from the original witness list.)
To date, the following people have either been interviewed already, or are being currently interviewed:
Mark Judge, Leland Keyser, Deborah Ramirez, Patrick Smyth—and possibly Chad Ludington (a former Yale classmate of Kavanaugh), although reports are unclear.
However, a number of potential witnesses have said that they’d reached out to the FBI but were unable to contact bureau officials.
I’ve tried to keep this post simple, but the actual scope of the investigation is currently ambiguous...
Some sources:
https://www.huffingtonpost.com.au/entry/brett-kavanaugh-investigation-ford_us_5bb27219e4b0c7575968298e
https://edition.cnn.com/2018/10/02/politics/donald-trump-mitch-mcconnell-brett-kavanaugh-chris-coons-jeff-flake/index.html
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/sep/30/fbi-investigation-brett-kavanaugh-julie-swetnick-kellyanne-conway
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/29/us/politics/kavanaugh-fbi-inquiry.html?action=click&module=Top%20Stories&pgtype=Homepage
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/white-house-authorizes-broader-fbi-interviews-in-kavanaugh-review/
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When my alarm went off this morning, the radio hosts were talking about motorcades and Air Force One. I thought perhaps someone had died, say, George H. W. Bush, but it's worse. Pumpkin Head will be here in Philadelphia today.
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I know this is a more serious thread, but I saw these two pics on Facebook, and they fit the current topic, so I had to post them.
Hope no one minds!
(https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1964/44323971174_2fc348b071_b.jpg)
:laugh: :laugh: :laugh:
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When my alarm went off this morning, the radio hosts were talking about motorcades and Air Force One. I thought perhaps someone had died, say, George H. W. Bush, but it's worse. Pumpkin Head will be here in Philadelphia today.
Herzliches Beileid.
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Herzliches Beileid.
:laugh:
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Pumpkin Head will be here in Philadelphia today.
Whatever for?
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I know this is a more serious thread, but I saw these two pics on Facebook, and they fit the current topic, so I had to post them.
Hope no one minds!
Not at all, humor often sharpens the focus of serious topics. And as a bonus you get to smile or laugh!
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he is such a freak
President Donald Trump on Kim Jong Un: 'We fell in love' over 'beautiful letters'
Published 11:13 a.m. ET Sept. 30, 2018 |
"I was really tough and so was he, and we went back and forth," Trump told an adoring crowd of thousands at Wesbanco Arena in Wheeling, WV.
Adoring crowds... It makes one shudder.
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Pumpkin Head will be here in Philadelphia today.
Whatever for?
What else? To address a rally of Pumpkin Head Admirers.
Actually, he will be ranting and raving at a convention of the National Electrical Contractors Association.
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Trump says it's 'a very scary time for young men in America'
yeah, it's a very scary time for black men who get shot in the back by cops, as they are running away. It's a scary time for minorities who get higher jail time for "crack cocaine" than whites get for cocaine. It's a scary time in America for gay men and women who get beat up every day.
Oh wait, that's not what 45 is talking about? It's scary in America for privileged white men because false sexual assault allegations are rampant? (only between 2% and 10% of all reports are estimated to be false https://qz.com/980766/the-truth-about-false-rape-accusations/ (https://qz.com/980766/the-truth-about-false-rape-accusations/)). As a CNN talking head said, is it because they're afraid women are lurking in the shadows hoping to accuse someone of rape? Is it a new phenomenon?
Washington Tue October 2, 2018
(CNN)President Donald Trump on Tuesday said he believes the reaction to the allegations of sexual assault and other misconduct against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh makes it "a very scary time for young men in America."
"It is a very scary time for young men in America, where you can be guilty of something you may not be guilty of," Trump said. "This is a very, very -- this is a very difficult time. What's happening here has much more to do than even the appointment of a Supreme Court justice."
https://www.cnn.com/2018/10/02/politics/trump-scary-time-for-young-men-metoo/index.html (https://www.cnn.com/2018/10/02/politics/trump-scary-time-for-young-men-metoo/index.html)
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Donald Trump Jr. Lashes Out At Jeffrey Toobin; Twitter Users Lash Back
Donald Trump Jr. is lashing out at Jeffrey Toobin after the CNN legal analyst called comments the president’s son made about the plight of white males “such garbage.”
On Monday, Trump said that he’s more afraid for his sons right now than for his daughters.
“I’ve got boys, and I’ve got girls. When I see what’s going on right now, it’s scary,” Trump told DailyMailTV. “People who are real victims of these things,” he added, are diminished “when it is so obviously political in cases like this.”
Toobin wasn’t impressed and mocked Trump mercilessly on Monday.
“Every night I cry myself to sleep over the fate of white men in America. White men have no power, white men — I mean, it’s such garbage,” Toobin said, pointing out his belief that “if you sexually assault someone in high school, your life should be ruined.”
He added, “All this whining about the poor plight of white men is ridiculous.”
That last comment got one white guy whining: Trump.
He wrote on Twitter on Tuesday, “It’s scumbags like @JeffreyToobin, who don’t believe in the presumption of innocence that cause me to worry for my sons.”
kathy
@1proudliberal
Replying to @DonaldJTrumpJr and 2 others
You once suggested in a 2013 interview on the “Opie and Anthony Show”, that women who can’t handle workplace sexual harassment should become kindergarten teachers. Perhaps you should teach your sons to not sexually assault women, like your dad did. #truth #cnn💕
1:36 PM - Oct 2, 2018
cindy
@cindygold298
Replying to @1proudliberal and 3 others
Maybe teaching your sons to actually respect is a great place to start! Otherwise if the shoe fits wear it! Seems like @JeffreyToobin got it right & touched a nerve! Respect for women would actually start with respecting their mother! Repeating the mistakes of your own father!
1:53 PM - Oct 2, 2018
Cindy B 🐞
@Cjbaum0317
Replying to @DonaldJTrumpJr and 2 others
Does “Lock her up” sound like presumption of innocence? Doesn’t everyone deserve that?
1:29 PM - Oct 2, 2018
405
Bobby 🎸♑
@bnd5ever
Replying to @DonaldJTrumpJr and 2 others
Didn't your father post an ad in the NT Times saying the Central Park 5 were guilty without knowing the facts and it turned out they were all innocent? 😂
1:46 PM - Oct 2, 2018
96
WTF is wrong with people?
@cmckenzie0762
Replying to @DonaldJTrumpJr and 2 others
He doesn’t care that you’re worried about your sons, he cares that you worry about them more than you worry about your daughters. Thinking that they are in more danger, is the very definition of fucking stupid. You’re an idiot, and you prove it every day.
1:42 PM - Oct 2, 2018
392
CrazyCrow
@crazy_crow13
Replying to @DonaldJTrumpJr and 2 others
And what of your girls? Are you at all concerned they may encounter someone who does to them what BK is accused of? Or just worried about the boys being held accountable for their behaviors? I know you trumps aren't big on accountability...
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^^^
I hadn't heard about that. Thanks for the posting.
I was hearing about this last night:
Trump Engaged in Suspect Tax Schemes
as He Reaped Riches From His Father
The president has long sold himself as a self-made billionaire, but a Times investigation
found that he received at least $413 million in today’s dollars from his father’s real estate
empire, much of it through illegal tax dodges in the 1990s.
By DAVID BARSTOW, SUSANNE CRAIG and RUSS BUETTNER
Oct. 2, 2018
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/10/02/us/politics/donald-trump-tax-schemes-fred-trump.html
This New York Times piece is long and extensive, one of the longest the New York Times has
ever published, showing just how cretinous this whole family is. Of course, Trump's reaction
to it is:
Trump Dismisses New York Times Story on ‘Dubious Tax Schemes’ as Both a ‘Hit Piece’ and ‘Boring’
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-dubious-tax-schemes/b1ed-1d2d65b86d0c_story.html (https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-dismisses-new-york-times-story-on-dubious-tax-schemes-as-both-a-hit-piece-and-boring/2018/10/03/c373bfe6-c6f3-11e8-b1ed-1d2d65b86d0c_story.html?utm_term=.02c76dca9ecf)
I'd have to agree. It IS a hit piece. And a damn good one. Depending on your situation, it's the worst or best kind of hit piece. Factual and true.
And, I must add, is anyone surprised by any of this?
Will anything come of it? Will the Trumps have to pay any price for it?
If they do that's the good thing and the bad thing is that if Trump were not in office he'd be
continuing his merry ways without any scrutiny or oversight, showing that the rich get away
with as much as they can without any repercussions.
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Oh yeah, the world has always been a scary scary place for white hetero men *huge eyeroll*
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Not only are his remarks detestable, just as despicable are the laughs and cheers from the crowd...especially the women and young boys and girls. Appalling, disheartening, horrifying etc etc...
Trump mocks Christine Blasey Ford's testimony, tells people to 'think of your son'
By Allie Malloy, Kate Sullivan and Jeff Zeleny, CNN
Updated 7:47 AM ET, Wed October 3, 2018
CNN)President Donald Trump for the first time directly mocked Christine Blasey Ford's testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee by casting doubt on her testimony during a campaign rally.
Before the crowd Tuesday night in Southaven, Mississippi, Trump imitated Ford during her testimony, mocking her for not knowing the answers to questions such as how she had gotten to the high school party where she says Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her.
"I had one beer. Well, do you think it was -- nope, it was one beer," Trump said, mimicking Ford's testimony last week to the Senate Judiciary Committee.
"How did you get home? I don't remember. How'd you get there? I don't remember. Where is the place? I don't remember. How many years ago was it? I don't know."
Trump's comments were met with laughter and applause from the crowd.
"I don't know. I don't know," the President continued. "What neighborhood was it in? I don't know. Where's the house? I don't know. Upstairs, downstairs -- where was it? I don't know -- but I had one beer. That's the only thing I remember."
Trump's mocking remarks come amid a protracted and heated confirmation process for Kavanaugh. The FBI is conducting a supplemental background investigation into the nominee after he and Ford testified Thursday before the Judiciary Committee about her allegation that Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her when they were in high school. Kavanaugh vehemently denies the accusation.
Trump had previously been conciliatory toward Ford, calling her a "good witness" earlier on Tuesday and on Monday saying he respected her position very much.
"With all of that you cannot say that we've done anything but be respectful, and I do. I respect her position very much. I respect her position very much," Trump said to reporters on Monday.
The President said Tuesday night that Kavanaugh's "life is in tatters. A man's life is shattered. His wife is shattered, his daughters. ... "
During the 2016 campaign, at least 15 women accused Trump of misbehavior ranging from sexual harassment and sexual assault to lewd behavior around women. They came forward in the wake of a 2005 "Access Hollywood" tape that was released in October 2016, in which he is caught saying on a hot mic: "And when you're a star, they let you do it. You can do anything ... Grab them by the p****. You can do anything."
The White House -- through press secretary Sarah Sanders and others -- has dismissed all the allegations against him as old news that had been litigated during the campaign.
Trump, while making his case that Kavanaugh deserves a spot on the Supreme Court, told the rally crowd in Mississippi, "I don't even know him. I met him for the first time a few weeks ago. I don't even know him. So it's not like, 'Oh, gee, I want to protect my friend.' "
He called Democrats who are against Kavanaugh "evil people" who want to "destroy people."
He reiterated his earlier claims Tuesday that nowadays you are "guilty until proven innocent," and stepped up his line of argument that men are under attack in America, without mentioning survivors of sexual assault.
"Think of your son. Think of your husband," Trump told the rally, noting he has had "many false allegations" against him.
He launched into a hypothetical riff about a young man who got a job at IBM or General Motors but is falsely accused of sexual assault. "What do I do, Mom? What do I do, Mom?" Trump said, role-playing a conversation between a son and mother.
"It's a damn sad situation, OK? And we better start as a country getting smart and getting tough."
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Not only are his remarks detestable, just as despicable are the laughs and cheers from the crowd...especially the women and young boys and girls. Appalling, disheartening, horrifying etc etc...
These people at these things just go for the show. It's like those WWF fake wrestling matches so many seem to
enjoy. It's performance and they just like the show. What's "Appalling, disheartening, horrifying etc etc." is that
this show has real world consequences. They either don't get it or don't care. But don't tell them that. They've dug
in their heels and will go down with the ship. Has anything deterred them from supporting this cretin? If you read
comment sections they all say "Trump gets results" without any specificity. If I'm in a mood to answer any of these
people I just write, "Yes he does get results, bad results."
Remember in the days before the internet and all social media, when we just didn't know how many really stupid
people there are out there? We could live in the idea that they could be persuaded or educated and they'd keep
their insanity to themselves?
He launched into a hypothetical riff about a young man who got a job at IBM or General Motors but is falsely accused of sexual assault. "What do I do, Mom? What do I do, Mom?" Trump said, role-playing a conversation between a son and mother.
Stephen Colbert performs a monologue from Donald Trump's new one-man show, 'Downfall of the Fictional American Man.'
Stephen Colbert does his own version of Trump's riff:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7GOR9_xiGu8
If you want to skip the first part of the monologue the above starts at 3:00 minutes.
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These people at these things just go for the show. It's like those WWF fake wrestling matches so many seem to
enjoy. It's performance and they just like the show.
I wouldn't phrase it like that, Lyle. To me, phrasing it that way suggests that they don't really believe his shit, that they go home and shake their heads and say, "That Trump. Isn't he hilarious?" But I'm certain they really do believe it (and that's what terrifies me). I think these people are there because they're True Believers. It's a cult, and they'll believe anything the Fuhrer Leader will tell them.
What's "Appalling, disheartening, horrifying etc etc." is that this show has real world consequences. They either don't get it or don't care.
Probably both, but I'm certain at least that they don't care.
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I do say they don't believe a lot of what he says, because you can find him and the Republicans on
both sides of an issue saying anything nowadays, showing the hypocrisy of it all.
So, you could say on the one hand they believe what he says because he ends up saying everything
at some point. That's why I say it's more about the show than believing what he says. What was that
line Trump supporters kept saying during the campaign...don't listen to what Trump says...what was
the next part...?
Anyway, Psychology Today had this to say about the subject:
Essentially, the loyalty of Trump supporters may in part be explained by America’s addiction with entertainment and reality TV. To some, it doesn’t matter what Trump actually says because he’s so amusing to watch. With Donald, you are always left wondering what outrageous thing he is going to say or do next. He keeps us on the edge of our seat, and for that reason, Trump supporters will forgive anything he says. They are happy as long as they are kept entertained. Of course these explanations do not apply to all Trump supporters. In fact, some are likely intelligent people who know better, but are supporting Trump to be rebellious or to introduce chaos into the system. They may have such distaste for the establishment that their support for Trump is a symbolic middle finger directed at Washington. In that case they don't care what he says, just that he disrupts.
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Psychology Today may say what it pleases. I'm not convinced. After 2016 I no longer have any faith in the American people.
Have you tried to have a conversation with a Trumpite lately?
I certainly don't trust "intelligent people who know better, but are supporting Trump to be rebellious or to introduce chaos into the system." If these people are actually called upon to do what he says, they're not going to stop and say, "Wait a minute." They're not going to say, "It was just entertainment. We don't really believe it." They'll follow through, rather than make themselves look foolish. It will create its own momentum. People who are losing their jobs but still say they support him are not there for the entertainment.
(If you respond, and I don't respond to your response, it will be because I will be away from computer/Inernet access this weekend, not because I'm ignoring you.)
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Psychology Today may say what it pleases. I'm not convinced. After 2016 I no longer have any faith in the American people.
Have you tried to have a conversation with a Trumpite lately?
I certainly don't trust "intelligent people who know better, but are supporting Trump to be rebellious or to introduce chaos into the system." If these people are actually called upon to do what he says, they're not going to stop and say, "Wait a minute." They're not going to say, "It was just entertainment. We don't really believe it." They'll follow through, rather than make themselves look foolish. It will create its own momentum. People who are losing their jobs but still say they support him are not there for the entertainment.
(If you respond, and I don't respond to your response, it will be because I will be away from computer/Inernet access this weekend, not because I'm ignoring you.)
Which is EXACTLY why the Republicans support him. They don't want to look like fools. But I have news for them......
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I guess we're all too disgusted to talk about yesterday.
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I know I am. What was even the purpose of the machinations of last week? It was another slap in the face. I am done. And now we are fu**ing stuck with this asshole.
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I know I am. What was even the purpose of the machinations of last week? It was another slap in the face. I am done. And now we are fu**ing stuck with this asshole.
We got the result I expected all along. I even had a laugh at how quickly he was sworn in. What did they think was going to happen? Somehow someone was going to take it back?
I just looked at the machinations as giving the Republicans a taste of their own medicine. (They didn't much like it, did they?) At least the Democrats didn't just roll over and play dead.
I feel sorry for Dr. Ford, that she got caught up in all this shit.
And I am very, very disappointed in Susan Collins. I used to think she was one of the good ones.
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We got the result I expected all along. I even had a laugh at how quickly he was sworn in. What did they think was going to happen? Somehow someone was going to take it back?
I just looked at the machinations as giving the Republicans a taste of their own medicine. (They didn't much like it, did they?) At least the Democrats didn't just roll over and play dead.
I feel sorry for Dr. Ford, that she got caught up in all this shit.
And I am very, very disappointed in Susan Collins. I used to think she was one of the good ones.
Minutes after Sen. Susan Collins announced her support for Brett Kavanaugh, the site to fund her opponent was so overwhelmed that it crashed.
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/minutes-senator-collins-announced-her-205616100.html
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I saw that story, and apparently the funds collected now top $3.5 million.
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“I was…wondering whether I would just be jumping in front of a train that was headed to where it was headed anyway
and that I would just be personally annihilated.” --Christine Blasey Ford
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https://news.sky.com/story/westminster-attack-inquests-top-met-officer-stayed-in-car-as-carnage-unfolded-11521289
This is where the name of "Coward" fits completely. So far as I can understand this
cowardly act has only just come to light in the inquiry/inquest about the appalling
events that occur ed on Westminster Bridge some months ago.
The young Police Officer that was guarding the gate way in to the Houses of Parliament....got stabbed to death while this bast--d sat inside his locked limo car
and watched it all unfold. He said "I had nothing to defend myself (meaning I suppose a stab vest or any weapon). News for you Mr Mackey ...neither had the Officer who did his utmost to stop the terrorist getting into The Parliament Buildings.
I believe Mr Mackey retires in December.
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Tune in to the 45 Show, featuring one of the most prominent people in the manufacturing world, kanye west - what a joke. First thing they could both do would be to bring their own manufacturing from overseas...
Adidas manufactures West's Yeezy sneakers line (one style sells for $2250) in their factories in China.
Kanye West Expected to Visit Trump at the White House
By Maggie Haberman
Oct. 8, 2018
President Trump and his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, are expected to meet with the musician Kanye West on Thursday at the White House, two people familiar with the plans said.
Mr. West, who has faced a backlash over his vocal support of the president, will meet first with Mr. Kushner and then have lunch with the president, the two people said.
Mr. Kushner, who serves as a senior adviser to Mr. Trump, has been focused on overhauling the criminal justice system, and one person briefed on the meeting said that Mr. West wanted to discuss the availability of job opportunities for former convicts. He also hopes to discuss with Mr. Trump how to increase the number of manufacturing jobs in the Chicago area, where Mr. West grew up and recently said he planned to return, according to the person briefed on the meeting.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/08/us/politics/trump-kanye-west-meeting.html (https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/08/us/politics/trump-kanye-west-meeting.html)
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Stacey Abrams Wins Democratic Primary For Georgia Governor
If elected, the former party leader in the state legislature would be the nation’s first black female governor.
Stacey Abrams won the Democratic nomination for governor of Georgia on Tuesday, delivering a victory for the national liberal groups and elected officials who backed her historic bid.
If elected in November, the 44-year-old Abrams would be Georgia’s first woman governor and the nation’s first black woman at the helm of a state. She previously served 10 years in the Georgia House, and for much of that time was her party’s leader in the chamber.
A great story in the Huffington Post:
https://www.huffingtonpost.com.au/entry/stacey-abrams-wins-democratic-nomination-for-governor_us_5b045d41e4b003dc7e471586
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^^^
I like her...I've seen her a couple times on news programs.
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With close races in Florida and Georgia in less than a month, I'm wondering
if the hurricane will cause voting issues. Reports say some of these places
might not get their power restored for weeks. When your life is disrupted in
so major a way, will people care about voting? I mean, I would, but that's me.
If turnout is affected, it's going to help the Republicans. When do the Dems
get a break lately about anything?
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OK, I sympathize with people who have lost their homes, their livelihoods, and whatever because of Hurricane Michael.
But. ...
Last evening I saw a woman interviewed on TV news, and she said that all her family had was the clothes on their backs.
Assuming she meant that literally, I said to myself, "Wait. You had plenty of warning that you were going to have to leave. You couldn't at least have packed a few changes of clothes for everyone in your family?"
Everyone, no exceptions, should have a plan for evacuation. It could be because of a hurricane, fire, flood, whatever. It doesn't matter. At the very least, make a list of things to take and keep it someplace where you're not going to lose it or forget about it. And don't forget to include any important papers (insurance policies, birth certificates, passports, etc.). And don't forget the charger for your phone.
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So, Fox News aka the Trump Network, has dutifully aired every single one of the bloviator's rallies since he started doing them. What on earth could ever persuade them not to? Ratings, apparently. Since each one of these things is exactly the same, apparently people are starting to turn them off and Fox News's ratings were diminishing. So they stayed with regular programming the last two times saying they'd go to them if there was some breaking news in them. Of course, there was no breaking news in them. The bloviator in chief was not happy about this. I mean, that's all he's interested in. Self adulation and aggrandizement. And his network wouldn't even show the latest rallies? That's probably why he called in to some of the Fox News shows at night to chat. Had to get some kind of limelight for himself.
It is a continual embarrassment to watch how Trump has emboldened people to display their inner idiocy.
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No comments on the Saudi mess? I doubt Trump and Co will do anything substantial against the Saudi's........at least Trump hasn't said he believes their denials yet......I'm sure that's coming soon though.......... ;D
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"Trump and first lady Melania passed out bottles of water at an aid center in Lynn Haven, a city of about 18,500 people near Panama City in northwestern Florida. ..."
What? No paper towels?
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Stephen Miller's 3rd Grade Teacher Calls Him ‘A Strange Dude’ Who Ate Glue
Donald Trump's senior political adviser once shared a lot of similarities with Pig Pen from “Peanuts,” his former teacher said.
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi412.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fpp201%2Frasalgethi_photo%2Fpigpen_zpsbrdqspi2.png&hash=c880a7ca684b02f4968cb7abc8659ae63f956a85) (http://s412.photobucket.com/user/rasalgethi_photo/media/pigpen_zpsbrdqspi2.png.html)
EDITOR’S NOTE: This story originally centered on the comments from Miller’s third-grade teacher. A public figure’s behavior when they were a child is not by itself newsworthy, and we regret treating it as such. The story has been updated throughout to focus on the teacher’s suspension.
Full article here: https://www.huffingtonpost.com.au/entry/stephen-miller-3rd-grade-teacher_us_5bbe815de4b0b27cf47a54b9
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The Duke and Duchess of Sussex visit north-western NSW on their first official Royal Visit to Australia.
The country visit to the rural centre of Dubbo comes after their tour of Sydney, where they visited the Opera House and Taronga Zoo the day before. The remainder of their historic first international tour together will then take them to New Zealand, Fiji and Tonga over 16 days.
The royal couple spent the day touring the farming town, which is suffering its worst drought since records began in 1900—and their visit brought some much needed rain.
As Prince Harry began an afternoon speech to a crowd of thousands of people at a community barbeque at Victoria Park, the heavens opened.
When the Mayor offered his umbrella, Harry joked: “It's all right, I've got my wife,” to laughter from the crowd as Meghan stepped in with her own umbrella to shield him from the torrential rain.
The prince then delivered an inspiring speech dedicated to Australia’s struggling drought-stricken farmers.
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi412.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fpp201%2Frasalgethi_photo%2FNews%25202018%2FHarryampMeghan_zpsnkon5pms.png&hash=1c80dc3133825bc9af8c1e1492296cfa86e14705) (http://s412.photobucket.com/user/rasalgethi_photo/media/News%202018/HarryampMeghan_zpsnkon5pms.png.html)
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-10-17/prince-harry-and-meghan-markle-dubbo-visit/10385412
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Trump refuses to give his wife Melania a spot underneath his umbrella.
In a quick conversation with the press en route to hurricane-affected Florida and Georgia, the President, 72, waxed lyrical about how well wife Melania, 48, did on a recent 60 Minutes interview.
“She did a great job on television the other night,” he said. “And I didn’t do so bad either. But she did a great job on television.”
As he said this, the First Lady hovered behind him getting drenched in the rain.
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi412.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fpp201%2Frasalgethi_photo%2FNews%25202018%2Fhttp_prod.static9.net.au___media_Network_Images_2018_10_17_11_29_umbrella1_zpsriopxtcs.jpg&hash=a691e9e6fd9ba8c2f3badc46d8537c17716c8dc1) (http://s412.photobucket.com/user/rasalgethi_photo/media/News%202018/http_prod.static9.net.au___media_Network_Images_2018_10_17_11_29_umbrella1_zpsriopxtcs.jpg.html)
Newsworthy by contrast.
https://honey.nine.com.au/2018/10/17/11/17/trump-melania-umbrella
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Donald Trump holds an umbrella over himself as he, Melania and Barron board Air Force One
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi412.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fpp201%2Frasalgethi_photo%2FNews%25202018%2F482CAC8300000578-5273011-image-a-4_1516065555661-tile_zpskkoyhsne.jpg&hash=49d8b0bebd8149a0122f2fe5539a1440fa079069) (http://s412.photobucket.com/user/rasalgethi_photo/media/News%202018/482CAC8300000578-5273011-image-a-4_1516065555661-tile_zpskkoyhsne.jpg.html)
And again...
https://foodandeverythingelsetoo.com/donald-trump-holds-an-umbrella-over-himself-as-he-melania-and-barron-board-air-force-one/
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From what I heard on morning TV news today, it seems it's now high times in Canada.
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So it seems, Jeff!! Instead of trying to keep track of where it was legal, not we have to keep track of where it's NOT!! Well, some people do anyway....... ;D ;D ;D
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Stephen Miller's 3rd Grade Teacher Calls Him ‘A Strange Dude’ Who Ate Glue
EDITOR’S NOTE: This story originally centered on the comments from Miller’s third-grade teacher. A public figure’s behavior when they were a child is not by itself newsworthy, and we regret treating it as such. The story has been updated throughout to focus on the teacher’s suspension.
The article says: the [school] district was worried about Fiske’s “release of student information, including allegations that the release may not have complied with applicable laws and district policies.”
I'd really like to know what these "laws & policies" are. I mean, if the teacher had said he was well-behaved and got good grades...would she be suspended?
What she said isn't anything that his classmates couldn't have said as well. Teachers aren't allowed to say anything about former students? And with everything that passes for news these days, Huffington Post has to apologize for it? It isn't lies after all, sheesh!
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Sorry, I have not the faintest idea who Stephen Miller is, but as a retired teacher I do think it is unprofessional to talk to media about one's students. I know many do say good things about people in the news who they taught and no-one takes much notice but it is still not right. And aged 72, what is she doing still teaching? I am 74 and have not entered a classroom for 9 years. I think she just wanted to see herself on media, too common these days.
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The article says: the [school] district was worried about Fiske’s “release of student information, including allegations that the release may not have complied with applicable laws and district policies.”
I'd really like to know what these "laws & policies" are. I mean, if the teacher had said he was well-behaved and got good grades...would she be suspended?
What she said isn't anything that his classmates couldn't have said as well. Teachers aren't allowed to say anything about former students? And with everything that passes for news these days, Huffington Post has to apologize for it? It isn't lies after all, sheesh!
Nikki Fiske, Miller’s teacher at Franklin Elementary School in Santa Monica in 1993, told The Hollywood Reporter (https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/stephen-millers-third-grade-teacher-tells-all-1150549) on 10 October that she was worried only about his behaviour when he was a 3rd grade student, not his academic progress, about which she says he “was OK,” although she “could never read his handwriting.”
The next day Gail Pinsker, the spokeswoman for the school district, told the LA Times (http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-teacher-suspended-stephen-miller-20181011-story.html) the district was worried about Fiske’s “release of student information, including allegations that the release may not have complied with applicable laws and district policies.” She also said that “we are seeing more in support of her and the 1st Amendment than negative,” and that “current and former parents of students in her classroom “are overwhelmingly in support of her.”
It seems, in my opinion, that what Fiske said about Miller doesn’t contravene The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), the Federal US law that protects the privacy of student education records, as his teacher wasn’t talking about his school records.
In fact, she also said that while she wrote all her concerns about Miller in his school record at the end of the year, “when the school principal had a conference with Stephen's parents, the parents were horrified. So the principal took some white-out and blanked out all [her] comments.”
FERPA gives parents certain rights with respect to their children’s education records, and contains these two salient points:
1. Parents or eligible students [i.e. over eighteen] have the right to request that a school correct records which they believe to be inaccurate or misleading. If the school decides not to amend the record, the parent or eligible student then has the right to a formal hearing. After the hearing, if the school still decides not to amend the record, the parent or eligible student has the right to place a statement with the record setting forth his or her view about the contested information.
and
2. Schools must have written permission from the parent or eligible student in order to release any information from a student's education record.
It’s clear that Nikki Fiske’s comments about Miller were removed from his “student record” at the request of his parents and, as that’s the case, Gail Pinsker’s concern about the “release of student information” is unfounded. It’s also clear that her worries about what Fiske said “may not have complied with applicable laws and district policies” are also baseless.
Miller’s teacher was simply stating her personal recollections about his behaviour twenty-five years earlier, a point she makes a number of times in her comments to The Hollywood Reporter.
That she’s been placed on “paid home suspension” while, according to Pinsker, the district decides what to do, is curious, to say the least, Lyle, and seems to be an over-reaction to what is basically a “storm in a tea cup.”
Here’s what she told The Hollywood Reporter, where the story first appeared:
“I can still picture him sitting in my classroom. Do you remember that character in Peanuts, the one called Pig Pen, with the dust cloud and crumbs flying all around him? That was Stephen Miller at 8.
I was always trying to get him to clean up his desk—he always had stuff mashed up in there. He was a strange dude. I remember he would take a bottle of glue—we didn't have glue sticks in those days—and he would pour the glue on his arm, let it dry, peel it off and then eat it. I remember being concerned about him—not academically. He was OK with that, though I could never read his handwriting. But he had such strange personal habits. He was a loner and isolated and off by himself all the time.
At the end of the year, I wrote all my concerns—and I had a lot of them—in his school record. When the school principal had a conference with Stephen's parents, the parents were horrified. So the principal took some white-out and blanked out all my comments. I wish I could remember what I wrote, but this was 25 years ago. I've taught a lot of third-graders since then. Of course, Stephen wasn't political then—it wasn't until later that he started to make waves.”
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As usual Pumpkin Head is making it all about him. This morning I saw a film clip of him urging his cult followers to make the Mid-terms all about him, to pretend that he's on the ballot.
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and seems to be an over-reaction to what is basically a “storm in a tea cup."
Thanks, Paul, this whole thing does seem over-blown. What is actually the case is that this teacher was perceptive enough to have real concerns when he was a child and the parents didn't want to hear it, so the school officials whited them out of the record. Maybe if they'd taken heed (parents & school officials) this guy wouldn't be such a cretin today, with his voice in the ear of the cretin-in-chief.
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As usual Pumpkin Head is making it all about him. This morning I saw a film clip of him urging his cult followers to make the Mid-terms all about him, to pretend that he's on the ballot.
Well, maybe he's on to something. He didn't get more votes in his own election and there's no electoral college this time around.
Lot's of voter suppression tactics by the Republicans going on, though.
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Outrage After Elderly Black Voters In Georgia Were Forced Off Bus Taking Them To Polling Place
A group of Black senior citizens in rural Georgia were excited to take part in the state’s early voting period on Monday. A voting organization called Black Voters Matter organized for a bus to take the senior center residents to the polls; however, before the bus pulled away, a county administrator ordered elderly Black voters off the bus, an act the organizers believe was voter suppression.
But once they were on the bus, Black Voters Matter co-founder Cliff Albright announced that they’d have to get off. According to Leisure Center’s staff, someone called county officials and complained that the bus should not be taking voters to the polls, reported Think Progress.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Tuesday reported that a Jefferson County clerk said officials considered the bus tour “political activity,” which is barred at county-sponsored events. The senior center is a county-run facility.
LaTosha Brown, Black Voters Matter’s other co-founder, said there was nothing illegal about the group’s activity and the organization doesn’t endorse any particular candidate. She called it a clear-cut case of “voter intimidation.”
“This is voter suppression, Southern style,” said Brown. “I’m very upset. I’m angry. I’m frustrated. I’ve got a lot of emotions right now.”
Bonnie Wells, the clerk for the Jefferson County Commission, denied allegations of voter suppression. Wells also told ThinkProgress her office didn’t receive any calls complaining about Black Voters Matter’s activity.
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Typical.
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Well, maybe he's on to something. He didn't get more votes in his own election and there's no electoral college this time around.
Lot's of voter suppression tactics by the Republicans going on, though.
But the voting districts remain as gerrymandered as last election. More people have to vote, despite officials' efforts to keep them from it.
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Lesbian and Independent Dr Kerryn Phelps has won the by-election in the previously blue ribbon conservative seat of Wentworth in Sydney. The previous member was the previous Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull. He was voted out by his own party, resigned from parliament and created the by-election. There was a 20% swing against the government. It means the conservative government has lost its majority in parliament although Phelps has said she will not bring down the government unless a major scandal. There are now 6 independents on the cross benches and they would all have to vote with the opposition to block legislation. Australia has to have a general election in the first half of next year. On present polling there could be a change in government.
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And now we've had yet another mass shooting. :(
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German chancellor Merkel, as a consequence of yesterday's election results, seems to be ready to give up the presidency of her party.
What she SHOULD give up immediately, is her position as head of government.
At least, it's an encouraging start.
Enough is enough.
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^^^
I thought people liked Merkel.
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^^^
I thought people liked Merkel.
Me, too. I know someone who used to refer to her as "our Angie," but maybe times have changed. Haven't people been mad at her over immigration? As I understand it, right-wing parties are on the rise in Europe.
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Seeing what is winning elections in other countries I had started to see her as the lesser evil. It was her politics on immigration what made her sympathic to me, even if I could not be further away from her ideology.
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But hey, even after living more than 15 years in Germany I am not allowed to chose the government that controls my life, so I guess nobody gives a flying * about my opinion.
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Me, too. I know someone who used to refer to her as "our Angie," but maybe times have changed. Haven't people been mad at her over immigration? As I understand it, right-wing parties are on the rise in Europe.
Of course, I've also read of her being compared unfavorably to a housewife from Swabia.
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Seeing what is winning elections in other countries I had started to see her as the lesser evil. It was her politics on immigration what made her sympathic to me, even if I could not be further away from her ideology.
From what I read, I tend to agree. Who are the alternatives? Hopefully not more to the right.
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Right wing parties are indeed rising, and not only in Europe, looked what happened in Brasil. In Germany the AFD is certainly rising, but not to the extent of getting too powerful, because no other party will chose to govern with them... yet. That said, being a foreigner in Germany is starting to feel a bit worrying, even if I don't look too "foreign". I can't imagine what muslims or black people are going through in some small places, specially in East Germany.
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But hey, even after living more than 15 years in Germany I am not allowed to chose the government that controls my life, so I guess nobody gives a flying * about my opinion.
Is it hard to gain German citizenship? I have a friend (ex-student, Australian) who has lived in Munich since the 1980's and still does not have German citizenship. I stayed with him in Munich in 2008 but not on more recent trips as I was embarrassed he gave me his bed and slept on the divan. Anyway, I met up with him in Sydney at Easter and was surprised he told me he is thinking of returning to Australia as he is now nearly 60 and will not have much of an age pension in Germany despite having worked there almost all his life.
He was very interested in my situation in NZ. Permanent residents here have the right to vote (and must register). Then they can become citizens after 5 years. I moved here in 2010 and voted in 2011, became a citizen in 2016. I also gained a full aged pension on arrival despite never having worked here but that is only for an Australian, other migrants need to wait 10 years. My Australian age pension is paid to the NZ Government but (due to assets test) it is not much more than half what NZ give me.
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I could apply to it, but Germany doesn't recognise double nationality, so I should give up the Spanish one. Not that I am very attached to it anyway, but it's a long and complicated process and honestly, I don't feel German at all. The frustration is because I thought it only logica that EU citizens should vote in their place of residence. I can vote for city council in Germany, but not for central government. It's absurd, if you ask me.
German pensions are relatively high, higher as in Spain at any rate. Many Germans retire in Spain with their German pension. It does not mattr much to me anyway, as a freelance I have never paid for a pension fonds and I will be poor as a church mouse when (if!) I retire.
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In Australia pension funds are compulsory. When it started being compulsory in the 1990's it was 4% from employer and 4% from employee, Now I think it is 11% each. As a teacher, I had it all my life and once, I paid off my house, I was putting in 20% so now I can travel for 2 months every year. Am fairly sure Rodney (my Munich friend) is also freelance working (TV editing or similar) so guess that is why he does not have much. NZ does not have compulsory super but as I said , everyone over 65 receives the government pension.
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Australia use to not recognise dual nationality but it does now. I would have happily given it up but my sister would have disowned me :D
I only use my Australian passport when entering and leaving Australia. Am a proud Kiwi everywhere else.
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Talking about Merkel yesterday, some left paper seems to share my feelings about her:
(https://scontent-frt3-2.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/45000662_10216847415073564_4496020088129847296_n.jpg?_nc_cat=110&_nc_ht=scontent-frt3-2.xx&oh=b7c51bca1316380cda9309ce5c90aabf&oe=5C409FC8)
"And at the end we will indeed miss her"
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It wouldn't surprise me in the least.
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When will US companies learn that china is not the benign "friend" that they seem to think they are. The company I work for just lost 9 systems (average $3m each) that were in process for Fujian, and another 3 that were in finished goods waiting to ship..millions of dollars in revenue lost.
It will also affect jobs, as all the material on order for Fujian now has to be canceled, that means less work for the machine shops, etc, and some of our suppliers are already laying off workers. I worry about my job, as well.
I don't know how long this ban will last; 45 already tried it with zte but they're back up and running.
oh, and those islands in the South China Sea - resorts, right? >:(
US strikes at the heart of China's tech ambitions with chipmaker ban
The United States just delivered a sharp blow to China's lofty tech ambitions.
Its move to target a state-owned Chinese chipmaker over national security concerns goes to the heart of the clash between the two economic superpowers over technology and trade. It also exposes China's lack of successful homegrown semiconductor companies as one of the biggest vulnerabilities in the country's bid to become a global tech powerhouse.
The US Commerce Department on Monday announced that it is restricting American companies from selling crucial software and technology to Fujian Jinhua Integrated Circuit Co., saying it "poses a significant risk of becoming involved in activities that are contrary to the national security interests of the United States."
The ban could bring the chipmaker, which relies on foreign tech, to its knees. A similar US move against Chinese telecommunications equipment maker ZTE (ZTCOF) in April brought its factories to a standstill for months.
https://www.cnn.com/2018/10/30/tech/trade-war-fujian-jinhua/index.html (https://www.cnn.com/2018/10/30/tech/trade-war-fujian-jinhua/index.html)
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So...how's everyone feeling about the election(s) tomorrow?
This is how I'm feeling:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FEnoN6XeV9k
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Hoping for the best.
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Personally, the outcomes are pretty certain for my voting tomorrow. For example:
Gavin Newsom will become Governor.
Adam Schiff (28th district) will still be my Congressman.
Dianne Feinstein will still be Senator.
Did you know that Antonio Sabato Jr. is running for a congressional seat in the 26th district?
That's a district north of Malibu and east of Simi Valley. He's a full on Trump supporter and
seemingly a conspiracy theorist. But, hey, he won the Rep. primary.
Hoping that by the time the polls close in Californa (11pm eastern) that the house has already been taken over by
the Democrats! If not, here's some other California races that couild provide the seats or, better yet, be icing on the
cake:
Eric Swalwell (D) - An active critic of Donald Trump and his Rep. enablers, should solidly win re-election. (15th District)
21st District - shows likely R for popular Congressman David Valadao, even though Hillary Clinton won the district by 55%.
David Nunes (R) 22nd district - It would be great to get this a-hole out of office (you have heard of him, right?) but this solid red district
will probably stay that way, thought the solid GOP was downgraded to Likely GOP. We can hope, can't we?
25th District - Incumbent Steve Knight (R) is in trouble. Current polls have this a Toss Up between him and DEM Katie Hill.
39th District - no incumbents. Is currently leaning DEM, but not a done deal. Recent history has been GOP.
45th District - DEM Katie Porter is slightly favored over GOP incumbent Mimi Walters. Fingers crossed.
Dana Rohrbacher - he's been in the house for 30 years. 48th District. He won only 30% of the GOP vote in the primary this
year in sign of weakness. His challenger, Harley Rouda, has turned this one into a Toss-Up. (Surely you've
heard of Rohrbacher at some point over the years. Very anti-gay (people shouldn't have to rent apartments
or sell houses to gay people), he also loves term limits, even though he's been there 30 years. He also says
climate change is a hoax. Would love to see this guy fall.
49th District - Outgoing Rep. Darrell Issa (ugh!) barely survived in 2016 and retired rather than run again this year. Democrats
won a majority of the vote in the primary and appear primed to flip the seat. Lean DEM.
Duncan Hunter - 50th district. San Diego area. Virulently anti-gay. He was one of the first politicians to endorse Trump for President
and last August Hunter was indicted on charges of using his campaign account as a personal slush fund (he pleaded
not guilty and denies the allegations). A trial is forthcoming. Of course, this has lessened the solid GOP district to
only "Leaning GOP," but it would be so nice to dump this guy.
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If one is interested, Politico has a great site for information:
https://www.politico.com/election-results/2018/
Election Results 2018: Live Midterm Map by State & Analysis
You can look up your own individual state and every district and statewide election result with the most updated information.
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Just got the counts in from early and absentee voting in NM. The last mid term elections, only 250,708 voted. 2018 mid term elections early and absentee voting counts are 430,796, close to double. I hope this bodes well.
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If one is interested, Politico has a great site for information:
https://www.politico.com/election-results/2018/
Election Results 2018: Live Midterm Map by State & Analysis
You can look up your own individual state and every district and statewide election result with the most updated information.
This is a GREAT site for elections, Lyt. Thanks for finding it and posting it. It is so detailed!
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I wish you the best for election day today!
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Yes, thinking very much of America.
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I wish you the best for election day today!
Yes, thinking very much of America.
Thank you. As for myself, I have no hope. The barbarians breached the gates two years ago and have been looting and pillaging ever since.
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Thank you all, hoping for the best.
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This is a GREAT site for elections, thanks for finding it and posting it. It is so detailed!
I thought so, too, and am glad I found it!
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Just got the counts in from early and absentee voting in NM. The last mid term elections, only 250,708 voted. 2018 mid term elections early and absentee voting counts are 430,796, close to double. I hope this bodes well.
As for myself, I have no hope. The barbarians breached the gates two years ago and have been looting and pillaging ever since.
No one trusts the polls after two years ago.
This is what worries me. The current state of elections is rigged for Republicans.
All things being considered, if you add up all the votes going to Democrats or Republicans for House seats,
because of how the Republicans have gerrymandered (rigged) their states congressional districts, the
Democrats need to get 11% more votes than Republicans just to get a 4 seat majority in the House.
(https://1lme911nv0cg3ned26127983-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/Dem-forecast-e1522084743813.png)
Video story here:
https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow/watch/democratic-gains-require-overcoming-extreme-gop-gerrymandering-1362870339992?v=raila&
aka How to steal an election...
(https://slideplayer.com/slide/14056289/86/images/9/Gerrymandering+%28drawing+the+lines+to+suit+special+interest%29.jpg)
The Democrats get more, or near equal, votes in each of these states, but look how that translates to house seats:
(https://republicansexposed.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/republican-gerrymandering1.jpg)
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The only thing left to do is HOPE. Or PRAY. Any other suggestions?
(https://i.ytimg.com/vi/WabhoBZb_rg/hqdefault.jpg)
Last night, Jimmy Kimmel went through a whole host of topics important to Americans
that shows on all these major issues, Americans are not really divided on what they want.
He says, "Now if you just go and vote for candidates that believe the same things, we'll be fine."
So why don't Republican voters DO that?
You can watch the segment here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WabhoBZb_rg
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Wonderful news! ;D
Democrats take the House, Republicans hold the Senate
Democrats seized control of the House while Republicans fortified their hold on the Senate as voters stormed the polls Tuesday to render the first electoral judgment on the tumultuous presidency of Donald Trump.
Riding a wave of discontent that drew hordes of first-time voters, Democratic House candidates surged to victory in blue, red and purple states alike — from New York to Oklahoma, New Jersey to Colorado, Florida to Minnesota and Texas.
The party had claimed the 23 seats Democrats needed to seize control of the chamber even before results came in from California, which had half a dozen contests considered too close to call.
While votes were tallied in her home state, Democratic House leader Nancy Pelosi, the front-runner to reclaim the speaker’s gavel she surrendered in 2011, took the stage at a Washington victory party to proclaim “a new day in America.”
The San Francisco lawmaker said Tuesday’s election was about “restoring the Constitution’s checks and balances to the Trump administration,” but she also reached out to the president and Republicans. “We will strive for bipartisanship with fairness for all sides,” Pelosi said, finding common ground where possible but standing “our ground where we can’t.”
Trump, who watched the election results from the family quarters of the White House, called Pelosi to congratulate her on Tuesday’s victory.
http://www.latimes.com/politics/la-na-pol-midterm-election-20181106-story.html
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Democrats now officially gain the 218 seats needed to gain control of the House, giving them the power to investigate President Trump and block much of his governing agenda.
With a surge of fresh new candidates and an outpouring of voter enthusiasm the Democrats have the majority for the first time in almost a decade, breaking the Republicans monopoly on power in Washington and setting the stage for a multitude of investigations of President Donald Trump that could engulf his administration over the next two years.
Trump’s unchecked hold on power has come to an abrupt end, and if his predecessors are any guide, it won’t return any time soon. There will be no more Trump tax cuts for big businesses, and no slashing Trump cuts to social security or healthcare.
It is no coincidence that among the Democrats who won the House there are significantly more women than the old Republican majority. They will be led by the first female speaker (Nancy Pelosi) taking control of half of Congress for the second time – which counts as two historic achievements.
Almost immediately, they plan on passing legislation laying out many of the positions they've been running on, from fixing Obamacare to rolling back some of the Republican tax cuts.
In tandem with those policy moves, Democrats are also expected to get very busy:
• Reclaiming the duty of the House Intelligence Committee to conduct rigorous oversight of the Trump administration, hopefully including initiating impeachment proceedings of the president and subpoening his tax records. (Ending two years of the Republican party’s determined refusal to conduct any meaningful oversight of his administration.)
• Investigating allegations that the Trump Organization has been a haven for money laundering and allegations of ethical lapses of Cabinet officials (e.g. Scott Pruitt).
• Undertaking investigations into the scandalous loss of thousands of American lives in Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria. Republicans successfully blocked any serious inquiries into the hundreds of millions of dollars in contracts for disaster relief that could have saved so many lives.
• Undertaking serious scrutiny, backed by subpoena power, of Russian interference in the 2016 election, collusion with the Trump campaign and business ties with the Trump Organization.
Then there’s the issue of “emoluments” to consider, as well as the roles of Trump’s family members.
It’s also pleasing to see, that seven women (all Democrats), so far, have made historic firsts by being elected to the House of Representatives:
Ayanna Pressley (Massachusetts), first black woman
Ilhan Omar (Minnesota) and Rashida Tlaib (Michigan), first Muslim Americans
Sylvia Garcia (Texas) and Veronica Escobar (Texas) first Latinas
Sharice Davids (Kansas), openly gay, and Debra Holland (New Mexico), first Native Americans
Democratic women making history as Governors, so far:
Janet Milne (Maine) and Michelle Lujan Grisham (New Mexico), first Democratic Latina.
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This is what worries me. The current state of elections is rigged for Republicans.
All things being considered, if you add up all the votes going to Democrats or Republicans for House seats,
because of how the Republicans have gerrymandered (rigged) their states congressional districts, the
Democrats need to get 11% more votes than Republicans just to get a 4 seat majority in the House.
They didn't get away with it in Pennsylvania. The state supreme court ruled the Republican redistricting illegal, and IIRC, SCOTUS refused to hear an appeal.
(My district in Philadelphia is so solidly Democrat that the Republicans didn't even bother fielding candidates for Congress and the State House.)
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[Nancy Pelosi] said Tuesday’s election was about “restoring the Constitution’s checks and balances to the Trump administration.”
I heard some talking head on TV this morning say something about "gridlock in Washington," and I thought to myself, "For once, I'm okay with that." I wanted a Democrat-controlled House to tell Punkin' Head and the odious Mitch McConnell, "Thus far and no farther."
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Personally, the outcomes are pretty certain for my voting tomorrow. For example:
RESULTS:
Gavin Newsom will become Governor. WON 59% - 41%
Adam Schiff (28th district) will still be my Congressman. WON 76% - 24%!
Dianne Feinstein will still be Senator. WON 54% - 46% (her opponent, FYI, was also a Democrat)
Did you know that Antonio Sabato Jr. is running for a congressional seat in the 26th district?
That's a district north of Malibu and east of Simi Valley. He's a full on Trump supporter and
seemingly a conspiracy theorist. But, hey, he won the Rep. primary. He LOST, 59% - 41%.
Hoping that by the time the polls close in California (11pm eastern) that the house has already been taken over by
the Democrats! (That happened!) If not, here's some other California races that could provide the seats or,
better yet, be icing on the cake:
Eric Swalwell (D) - An active critic of Donald Trump and his Rep. enablers, should solidly win re-election. (15th District) WON -- 70% - 30%
21st District - shows likely R for popular Congressman David Valadao, even though Hillary Clinton won the district by 55%. Valadao did win 54% - 46%.
David Nunes (R) 22nd district - It would be great to get this a-hole out of office (you have heard of him, right?) but this solid red district
will probably stay that way, thought the solid GOP was downgraded to Likely GOP. We can hope, can't we?
Nunes did win even though his winning margin was down 24% (!) from the last election. The district is
just too red to over come even someone like Nunes!
25th District - Incumbent Steve Knight (R) is in trouble. Current polls have this a Toss Up between him and DEM Katie Hill.
NOT CALLED YET. Hill is ahead by 51% - 49%, however, about 4,111. Waiting on absentee ballot count.
39th District - no incumbents. Is currently leaning DEM, but not a done deal. Recent history has been GOP.
Not called yet, waiting on absentee ballots, but will likely go GOP 51% - 49%.
45th District - DEM Katie Porter is slightly favored over GOP incumbent Mimi Walters. Fingers crossed.
NOPE. Walters Won, 52% - 48%. (Officially not called yet because of absentee count.)
Dana Rohrbacher - he's been in the house for 30 years. 48th District. He won only 30% of the GOP vote in the primary this
year in sign of weakness. His challenger, Harley Rouda, has turned this one into a Toss-Up. (Surely you've
heard of Rohrbacher at some point over the years. Very anti-gay (people shouldn't have to rent apartments
or sell houses to gay people), he also loves term limits, even though he's been there 30 years. He also says
climate change is a hoax. Would love to see this guy fall.
Democrat Harley Rouda is leading Rohrbacher by 2,682 votes (51% - 49%), but absentee count still to be decided.
49th District - Outgoing Rep. Darrell Issa (ugh!) barely survived in 2016 and retired rather than run again this year. Democrats
won a majority of the vote in the primary and appear primed to flip the seat. Lean DEM.
So far it's 53% - 48% for the Democrat. For some reason only 67% of the vote is counted so far with absentee to come after that.
Duncan Hunter - 50th district. San Diego area. Virulently anti-gay. He was one of the first politicians to endorse Trump for President
and last August Hunter was indicted on charges of using his campaign account as a personal slush fund (he pleaded
not guilty and denies the allegations). A trial is forthcoming. Of course, this has lessened the solid GOP district to
only "Leaning GOP," but it would be so nice to dump this guy.
Appears Hunter will WIN, though not officially called yet.
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Hope.
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--Obviously happy that the Democrats took control of at least one branch or Congress, the House.
--Really disappointed that Beto O'Rourke, Stacey Abrams and Andrew Gillum did not succeed, and it was even more agonizing
because they came so close. (Abrams is waiting to see if the rest of the votes to be counted may lead to a run-off.) These three
candidates were a breath of fresh air and positive and were running against the worst the Republicans could offer.
--Very happy to see Scott Walker defeated in Wisconsin.
--What's with all the Republican Governors in Blue States? Massachusetts, Connecticut, Maryland, Vermont, New Hampshire...?
Some history making results:
--New Mexico’s Michelle Lujan Grisham, a Democrat, will become the second-ever Hispanic female governor and the first from her party.
--Colorado Democrat Jared Polis become the first openly gay man to ever be elected governor in the U.S.
Overall, I don't feel particularly happy, enthused or confident as a whole about the results...because it feels as though nothing really
is going to change. Here's a summary I found that rings true to me...
Lately, Americans have looked for concise ways to name what ails us. “Divided” and “partisan” seem to be the words we land upon most often. Given that these are our adjectives of choice, it seems odd that anyone would expect a single night to provide some kind of clear answer about the mood and direction of the country. And yet that seems to be what many wanted out of the midterms this year. They didn’t get it.
If anything, the 2018 midterm elections were without a cohesive narrative. There was no overwhelming blue wave that served as a sharp rebuke to President Trump or the Republican party. The Democrats are projected to take control of the House of Representatives by a healthy seat margin, but the Senate remains under Republican control. Governors mansions in a number of states will change into Democratic hands, but in a number of high-profile contests, the party fell short. A record number of women are headed to Congress, but several high-profile women were voted out of office. There was no single, stunning takeaway to grant us clarity about where the nation is headed.
Instead, the election was an accurate reflection of where the country stands: existentially muddled, politically divided and historically engaged with its politics.
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--Very happy to see Scott Walker defeated in Wisconsin.
I forgot about his race. I'm glad, too.
--Colorado Democrat Jared Polis become the first openly gay man to ever be elected governor in the U.S.
OK, so, then I didn't mishear what I thought I heard.
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From our news
"University of Otago politics professor Robert Patman said Mr Trump had attacked international organisations such as the United Nations and World Trade Organisation which were crucial to the prosperity of small countries like New Zealand.
The hope would be with greater scrutiny from the house, those attacks may diminish.
''Although he doesn't play by rules, he may feel more constrained and resist from undermining institutions which are important for maintaining our trade and diplomatic interests in the world.''
Some would have expected the Democrats to claw back more power, Prof Patman said.
''It seems as if the Democrats have had quite a lot of opportunities with Mr Trump in the White House.
''My main criticism of the Democrats is they seem to be leaderless.''
There was a high turnout yesterday, partly due to millennials voting in higher numbers.
Mr Trump's success could largely be attributed to a strong economy, his ''zero tolerance'' immigration policy and shrewd manner, Prof Patman said.
However, with control of the house, the Democrats may place more scrutiny on the president.
''What we could expect is a lot more political fire being directed at the White House.''
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From what I read (and I apologize if this has been posted before) a record number of 100 women have been elected to the House.
Two of those women were Native Americans, also a first.
Two more of those women are Muslim, also a first.
;D
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Just got some very happy news from the election. The State of New Mexico has only 3 Congressional districts. The first district (where I live) elected one of the Native American woman to the House, the third district (northern NM) reelected their Democratic representative, and the second district (southern NM) was a hotly contested contest between two women. The Republican Yvette Harrel is an avid Trump supporter, and the Democratic Xochitl Torres Small is a real fighter for everyone. As of last night they declared Harrell the winner with 2000 more votes.
The thing is they were not able to get the 8000 absentee ballots counted last night. They worked on them all day and have now declared Xochitl Torres Small the winner with 3000 more votes over Harrell.
YAY! I am very very happy.
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That is good news. Our National News USA reporter was in New Mexico yesterday and they showed those 2 women debating (I guess old footage). Later the reporter was in Nevada.
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Yes, it has been a very heated and nasty race. Even a lot of the Republicans didn't want to vote for Harrell.
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So it's happened again! Another mass shooting. This one in a Country and Western bar in Thousand Oaks, California.
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Dems gained 2 more House seats! We'll take what we can get!!
Another mass shooting........awaiting Trump's response to this one.
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Another mass shooting........awaiting Trump's response to this one.
His prayers will go out, but, oh, if they'd had an armed guard in the bar. ...
His usual bullshit, I'd bet.
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His prayers will go out, but, oh, if they'd had an armed guard in the bar. ...
I was going to say they did have an armed guard at the place, but I don't know for a fact he was armed.
They were calling him a security guard. He was one of the first people shot.
I was flipping back and forth between the 11:30 p.m. late night shows, Kimmel, Colbert and Fallon and one by
one they all switched to the breaking news of this shooting. It was a place called Borderline Bar & Grill and is
described as: A western-style bar with spacious dance floor used for theme nights such as country, salsa & swing.
Last night was College Country Night, which means that 18-21 year olds were allowed entry. (Drinking age in CA is
21.) Cal State Lutheran is a nearby college. Since it was breaking news I became hypnotized as I watched it all unfold.
All of a sudden I noticed it was after 3am. Thousand Oaks is a community between Oxnard and Ventura. It's regularly
cited in surveys as one of the safest cities in America. Not only are a couple colleges in the area, but there are two
military bases nearby at the coast. Last night I heard anywhere from 200-400 people were in there at the time. Many
threw barstools through windows to escape, meaning lots of people weren't all stuck in an enclosed space and news
reporters were interviewing them shortly thereafter, which was surreal and terrifying. Many injured were transporting
themselves to a hospital. As I was watching this while it was happening, I haven't checked the details of what is known
now. Some of those people who were interviewed said they were at that concert in Las Vegas a year ago when that
shooting occurred. Unreal.
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Just got some very happy news from the election. The State of New Mexico has only 3 Congressional districts. The first district (where I live) elected one of the Native American woman to the House, the third district (northern NM) reelected their Democratic representative, and the second district (southern NM) was a hotly contested contest between two women. The Republican Yvette Harrel is an avid Trump supporter, and the Democratic Xochitl Torres Small is a real fighter for everyone. As of last night they declared Harrell the winner with 2000 more votes.
The thing is they were not able to get the 8000 absentee ballots counted last night. They worked on them all day and have now declared Xochitl Torres Small the winner with 3000 more votes over Harrell.
YAY! I am very very happy.
I heard about this unexpected flip of the Congressional seat las tonight, Linda. I was wondering which one of the three
was your representative! Was the re-elected representative (northern NM) also a woman?
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From what I read (and I apologize if this has been posted before) a record number of 100 women have been elected to the House.
I love this! In my experience, the more female politicians the better!
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I was going to say they did have an armed guard at the place, but I don't know for a fact he was armed.
They were calling him a security guard. He was one of the first people shot.
My usual hangout has a head of security, a retired police officer. He hires the doormen and serves as one himself. They are not armed.
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Even our police are not regularly armed, any guns are in the locked boot (trunk?) of their cars. No wonder we find the whole situation unbelievable.
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I forgot to post this yesterday...it's already 3pm on the East Coast, but...
Nationwide Protests Declared for Today at 5PM After Jeff Sessions Fired
"Trump thought that by waiting until after the polls closed on Election Day, our voices would be silent. He was wrong."
Several organizations have announced coordinated protests to take place in cities and communities nationwide on Thursday, November 8th at 5 PM (local time) in the wake of President Donald Trump's firing of Attorney General Jeff Sessions. Right after Trump forced Sessions to resign, the White House announced that Matthew Whitaker—a DOJ official who has shown open hostility to the probe by Special Counsel Robert Mueller—would now serve as acting AG and be put in charge of the ongoing investigation.
"Trump just put someone who has openly trashed Special Counsel Robert Mueller's Russia investigation in charge of it," Robert Weissman, president of Public Citizen, one of the advocacy groups behind the rapid-response demonstrations, explained in an emergency email Wednesday evening. "Trump thought that by waiting until after the polls closed on Election Day, our voices would be silent. He was wrong."
Many organizations are sponsoring the protests including Indivisible, MoveOn.org, Common Dreams and March for Truth.
I'll be out there.
Find one near you:
https://www.trumpisnotabovethelaw.org/event/mueller-firing-rapid-response/search/
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I heard about this unexpected flip of the Congressional seat las tonight, Linda. I was wondering which one of the three
was your representative! Was the re-elected representative (northern NM) also a woman?
No it is a man, and is in the third district. He is the Democratic incumbent. I am in the first district, and the woman who was elected is one of the two Native American women elected to the House. So we have two women and a man as our representatives, and a new Democratic woman Governor.
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Yay!
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An apparent terrorist has set a car on fire in a shopping street in the centre of Melbourne, assaulted police who responded to the fire, stabbed three civilians, one of them fatally, attacked two police with a knife until another policeman shot him in the chest. The attacker died in hospital.
The police say the attacker is known to Victorian and Federal police and intelligence agencies, but are withholding his identity until tomorrow. Counter Terrorist agencies are investigating.
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Trump isn't paying a visit and respects to the US WW1 soldiers at the Cemetery outside of Paris because of the WEATHER??? Christ on a Cracker!! That was one of the MAIN reasons for his trip there. It's Veteran's Day tomorrow...............honestly, I do believe Trump is extremely jealous of Macron, much like he is of Trudeau as well......now there are 2 World Leaders who LOOK and ACT like Leaders of the Free World.....plus they are BOTH slightly better looking than our President!! ;D ;D ;D LOL.....and Trudeau is TALLER than Trump too.... :o
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That was one of the MAIN reasons for his trip there.
Well, you know, he got several deferments to get out of going to Vietnam because his feet hurt.
Actually, the Kremlin has reported that Trump's main reason to go is because he's meeting up with Putin there.
True.
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/white-house/trump-putin--paris (https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/white-house/the-mysterious-on-again-off-again-trump-putin-meeting-in-paris)
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He could have ridden a golf cart there.
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I'm so sorry to see this. Devastating and frightening
At least 9 dead as fires spread at both ends of California
By Nicole Chavez and Dakin Andone, CNN
Updated 2:17 PM ET, Sat November 10, 2018
(CNN)In a matter of days, a Northern California fire has become the most destructive in the state's modern history, killing at least nine people and wiping out much of an entire town.
A quarter of a million people have been forced from their homes statewide as the Camp Fire in the north and two other major fires -- Woolsey and Hill -- in Southern California burned this weekend.
Evacuees trapped in traffic abandoned their cars and ran with their children in tow as the Camp Fire quickly closed in on Northern California's Butte County.
Malibu mansions burned to the ground in Southern California, while another fast-growing brush fire left employees at the Los Angeles Zoo racing to protect animals from smoke.
In Thousand Oaks, a community mourning this week's mass shooting, a recreation center where survivors grieved was filled with people fleeing the fire.
https://www.cnn.com/2018/11/10/us/california-wildfires-camp-woolsey-hill/index.html (https://www.cnn.com/2018/11/10/us/california-wildfires-camp-woolsey-hill/index.html)
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^^^
It's very sad. I've never seen such brutal no holds barred fast moving fires...engulfing homes in a gulp...moving faster
than the wind that's propelling them...trees throwing off gobs of burning material like molotov cocktails to one building
after another...people trying to evacuate and there's so many fires they don't know which way to go...the ENTIRE city
of Malibu told to get out...evacuate...the 91 year old Paramount Ranch in Agoura where so many films and tv series
have been shot leveled in an instant...the sound of the devil Santa Ana winds as they whistle through the canyons
like crazed ghosts, spitting fire at the drought parched landscape...the amazing firefighters battling the enormous and
overwhelming situation gets a heartless tweet from the climate change denier President telling them it's their own fault
for forest mismanagement as he threatens to pull federal funding...the International Association of Fire Fighters takes
precious time out to call his comments about massive wildfires burning throughout California as cruelly "irresponsible,
reckless and insulting"...Headlines: California Wildfires Multiply as Incendiary President Tweets Inflammatory Remarks...
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"the amazing firefighters battling the enormous and
overwhelming situation gets a heartless tweet from the climate change denier President telling them it's their own fault
for forest mismanagement as he threatens to pull federal funding"
This was on our news first thing when I woke up this morning and we had all the devastating footage of the fires on last night's news.
I know it insults you but I just cannot understand how a nation could elect such a cretin as its leader.
And we also saw footage of the mother of the guy (bouncer?) who escaped the Las Vegas shooting but was killed in the night club. Her words "I do not want you to send me your prayers" had me near to tears. I no longer believe in a God who answers prayers and think the world would be much better off without any religion.
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"the amazing firefighters battling the enormous and
overwhelming situation gets a heartless tweet from the climate change denier President telling them it's their own fault
for forest mismanagement as he threatens to pull federal funding"
This was on our news first thing when I woke up this morning and we had all the devastating footage of the fires on last night's news.
I know it insults you but I just cannot understand how a nation could elect such a cretin as its leader. I do not know who I hate most, Putin or Trump.
And we also saw footage of the mother of the guy (bouncer?) who escaped the Las Vegas shooting but was killed in the night club. Her words "I do not want you to send me your prayers" had me near to tears. I no longer believe in a God who answers prayers and think the world would be much better off without any religion.
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I know it insults you but I just cannot understand how a nation could elect such a cretin as its leader.
You mean you know Trump insults us or did you mean saying what you wrote does?
I don't understand how this nation could elect such a cretin, either. It makes no sense.
The same states that pushed him over the edge, just elected Democrats as Governors.
But in the 2016 case our electoral college system was rigged toward it. Clinton received three million more votes.
The electors who actually vote and decide the outcome and were intended as a check on who "the people"
voted for, did not serve as a check at all, they rubber stamped it.
When people say, and they often do, they don't know how this nation could've elected this person, I have to
point out that the nation also elected President Obama twice...so does that give us any hope?
In the two years he's been in office, the president* hasn't had any outside crisis to deal with, either. THANKFULLY.
Everything that's been negative is of his own doing. Imagine if some real crisis occurs he has to deal with? Can
you imagine if he was elected in 2008 with the financial collapse? Good news bad news.
When he's finally OUT this country is going to have such a hangover. Trump is like the iceberg that's hit the Titanic
and the Republicans and his supporters are currently just arranging deck chairs.
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Yesterday was Armistice Day here so there are articles in our newspaper. One from academics at our university is long but very concerning.
https://www.odt.co.nz/lifestyle/magazine/prospects-peace
Some extracts (my bold)
World War 1 saw important and terrifying new technologies, such as tanks and machine-guns. But the military tactics the leaders pursued were locked into 19th-century thinking, Prof Patman says.
"It shows the mismatch between the way they thought the world was and how it actually was.''
The same disconnect was reflected in diplomacy after the war ended.
Partisan, naive and protectionist policies led, almost inevitably, to a fresh world war just two decades later.
One hundred years on, "we are seeing comparable developments'', Prof Patman warns.
"We have a group of decision-makers - Putin, Trump, the Brexit leadership in Britain - who really are quite nostalgic in their political vision.
"We have some politicians or demagogues who are talking about turning the clock back, running the world by sovereign states again, as if globalisation has not happened.''
Partisan, naive and protectionist policies are once again on offer. Their disconnect with the contemporary world is striking, he says.
...
US President Woodrow Wilson helped negotiate the peace treaty. But his determination that Germany should be treated magnanimously fell on deaf European ears, especially those of French president Georges Clemenceau, who wanted revenge. Then, perhaps suffering brain damage caused by a bout of the deadly Spanish Flu, Wilson capitulated to demands for harsh punishment.
....
President Wilson had taken a leading role in the establishment of the League. He wanted it to be an international organisation that would help ensure "political independence and territorial integrity to great and small states alike''.
But the President's own Senate blocked the US joining the League, denying the organisation one of its most powerful potential players.
.....
Television, air travel, the internet ... it has all turned the world into a global village.
"It has made it a lot easier to manage international communications.
"Given all that, it's not surprising we've managed to hold on to peace, even if only by a thread at times.''
......
The US blocks any moves to bring peace in the Middle East that they believe would undermine the interests of their ally, Israel.
The UN Security Council is dysfunctional, he concludes.
All states now face problems that can only be solved internationally. But the UN is a creature of the post-World War 2 era. And some world leaders, such as US President Donald Trump, are also harking back to a long-gone, pre-globalisation world.
Pessimism is growing.
Radical change never seems realistic until it happens, he responds.
The end of apartheid in South Africa did not seem likely until it came about. The same with Trump and Brexit.
It could go either way, he admits.
"We are going to have a turbulent period ahead.
"Is it realistic that we go in this positive direction where we set up systems that drive towards co-operation and social cohesion, and away from violence and armed conflict? Yes, I think it is realistic.
"Is it realistic that we go down another road of populism and back to dictators and highly militarised societies? I think, yes, that's also realistic.
"The challenge for us all is to ... decide, which would I prefer?''
End quotes
Both World Wars came to an end due to the entry of the USA on the side of Democracy but, in both cases, it could have been too late. The forces of isolationism in the USA could have prevailed.
On a forum like this, most if not all are aware of the rest of the world but, in my visits to the USA, I have met many who are woefully ignorant and regard anyone from outside the USA as being unfortunate and deprived. Some have asked me. on almost first meeting, do I want help to get a Green card and were amazed when I told them I like to visit but would never want to live in the USA. This is encouraged by your media sources where it is almost impossible to find news from the rest of the world.
Having willingly moved from Australia (which suffers from some of the same attitudes but not to the same degree as the USA), to New Zealand, it is great to be proud of my little but beautiful country and some of its achievements yet be well aware that we are small and relatively unimportant on the world stage and need globalism and world trade to continue to advance.
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In the two years he's been in office, the president* hasn't had any outside crisis to deal with, either. THANKFULLY.
Everything that's been negative is of his own doing. Imagine if some real crisis occurs he has to deal with? Can
you imagine if he was elected in 2008 with the financial collapse? Good news bad news.
That is my fear, that something terrible happens while he is in charge. He won't know what to do, and he won't care that he doesn't know. He'll say it's someone else's fault, and he'll continue to harass whoever he chooses as scapegoat.
If he was prez in 2008, everything would have been someone else's fault. He wouldn't spend a second trying to understand what happened, he would just criticize and complain and point fingers.
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Minutes ago I saw a headline that indicated the death toll in the California fires is now up to 25, with 110 people unaccounted for. :(
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terrible, I can't imagine how terrifying it must be near the fire, and it's impacting the Bay Area.
Sunday, November 11, 2018 08:15PM,
SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- Wildfire smoke from the Camp Fire in Butte County continues to blanket the Bay Area with unhealthy air today and the haze is expected to linger through Tuesday, air quality officials said.
The hazardous smoke has created unhealthy conditions for much of the region over the past two days, although there were pockets of moderate conditions this morning, said Lisa Fasano, spokeswoman for the Bay Area Air Quality District.
STAY INDOORS AND LIMIT YOUR EXPOSURE: "There's really no areas in the Bay Area that are healthy to breathe air."
The district's air quality map at baaqmd.gov, updated every hour, showed much of the region in "unhealthy" red on Saturday. Today, however, the map shows a mix of the the unhealthy red zones, "unhealthy for sensitive groups" in orange and others in "moderate" yellow.
https://abc7news.com/weather/camp-fire-smoke-blankets-bay-area-with-unhealthy-air-for-another-day/4669690/ (https://abc7news.com/weather/camp-fire-smoke-blankets-bay-area-with-unhealthy-air-for-another-day/4669690/)
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"unhealthy for sensitive groups"
Remember what I said about "that" once?
___
I was invited to an outdoor wedding at a person's home yesterday. (For someone I'm an acquaintance with, but
don't know all that well.) On Saturday the air was filled with smoky air, and I was hoping it wouldn't be that way
yesterday. The wind decided to cooperate and went away for the day and so that didn't occur. It was a very nice
day.
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Just read this on Instagram.
Democrat Kyrsten Sinema Wins Senate Race to Become Arizona’s First Female Senator
https://www.thedailybeast.com/democrat-kyrsten-sinema-wins-senate-race-to-become-arizonas-first-female-senator
Sinema will be the first out bisexual person elected to the Senate, was a vocal opponent of state ballot initiatives that would ban same-sex marriage under the Arizona constitution.
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Yay!
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I had not been aware of this, Fritz, so this has come as a pleasant surprise.
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TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — The Latest on Florida’s election recount:
Federal judge lets Florida voters fix ballot signature
A federal judge is giving thousands of Florida voters until this weekend to fix their ballots if they haven’t been counted due to mismatched signatures.
U.S. District Judge Mark Walker ruled early Thursday that current Florida law on mail-in ballots places a substantial burden on voters. The ruling comes as Florida is wrapping up a recount in three statewide races.
Walker did not go along with a request from Democrats to count all ballots with mismatched signatures. Instead he ordered that local election officials give voters until 5 p.m. on Saturday to correct the problem so that their ballots can be counted.
State officials testified in court that nearly 4,000 ballots have already been rejected because local canvassing boards decided the signature that was mailed-in doesn’t match the signature on file.
https://apnews.com/39153d5dc9ca42bfadf2867c476ec17c
It’s great that Walker acknowledged that Florida’s signatures law causes problems, but how will voters whose postal ballots were invalidated, because their signatures didn't match those on file with the state, know that their ballots were rejected?
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It’s great that Walker acknowledged that Florida’s signatures law causes problems, but how will voters whose postal ballots were invalidated, because their signatures didn't match those on file with the state, know that their ballots were rejected?
I had heard that the voter can go online to some website and check if their ballot had been accepted or not.
What's next? Sending in a photo showing oneself signing said ballot?
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If anyone's interested, a few updates on close Congressional races (in California) I spotlighted last week.
New info underlined.
RESULTS:
21st District - shows likely R for popular Congressman David Valadao, even though Hillary Clinton won the district by 55%. Valadao did win 54% - 46%.
IT ENDED UP MUCH CLOSER, though Valadao did win 51% - 49%, by 2,000 votes.
39th District - no incumbents. Is currently leaning DEM, but not a done deal. Recent history has been GOP.
Not called yet, waiting on absentee ballots, but will likely go GOP 51% - 49%.
THIS RACE IS STILL NOT CALLED
50% Young Kim GOP 99,501
50% Gil Cisneros Dem 99,381
A difference of 120 votes.
45th District - DEM Katie Porter is slightly favored over GOP incumbent Mimi Walters. Fingers crossed.
NOPE. Walters Won, 52% - 48%. (Officially not called yet because of absentee count.)
NOT SO FAST: As the mail-in votes are counted, Katie Porter is ahead a week later by around 2,000 votes!
It still is not called yet. Of course, Walters is saying that the Democrats are manufacturing votes.
Yes...if manufacturing means COUNTING them.
Dana Rohrbacher - he's been in the house for 30 years. 48th District. He won only 30% of the GOP vote in the primary this
year in sign of weakness. His challenger, Harley Rouda, has turned this one into a Toss-Up. (Surely you've
heard of Rohrbacher at some point over the years. Very anti-gay (people shouldn't have to rent apartments
or sell houses to gay people), he also loves term limits, even though he's been there 30 years. He also says
climate change is a hoax. Would love to see this guy fall.
Democrat Harley Rouda is leading Rohrbacher by 2,682 votes (51% - 49%), but absentee count still to be decided.
THIS RACE WAS OFFICIALLY CALLED FOR ROUDA YESTERDAY!
49th District - Outgoing Rep. Darrell Issa (ugh!) barely survived in 2016 and retired rather than run again this year. Democrats
won a majority of the vote in the primary and appear primed to flip the seat. Lean DEM.
So far it's 53% - 48% for the Democrat. For some reason only 67% of the vote is counted so far with absentee to come after that.
THIS REPUBLICAN DISTRICT WAS OFFICIALLY CALLED FOR THE DEMOCRAT BY A HUGE MARGIN, 55% - 45%!
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A shame Nunes won, he's the GOP Congressman still standing that I would have most liked see defeated. Well, him and Steve King in IA.
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I had heard that the voter can go online to some website and check if their ballot had been accepted or not.
Yes, voters can track the progress of vote-by-mail ballots to see the date the ballot was sent, the date it was received back by the Supervisor of Elections Office, and see confirmation that the ballot was tabulated, or not.
What’s confusing is that if the voter’s signature doesn’t match State records the voter will be sent a “Vote-by-Mail Ballot Cure Affidavit,” which must be completed and physically in the Supervisor of Elections Office, with the required identification enclosed, no later than 5:00 pm on the Monday prior to Election Day. The Affidavit and identification are reviewed by the Canvassing Board, and a decision is made as to whether the ballot is valid.
However, postal ballots are valid if physically in the SOE Office no later than 7:00 pm on Election Day (and the signature on the ballot envelope’s Voter’s Certificate matches the signature on file in voter records).
But if a voter’s signatures don’t match, and a Vote-by-Mail Ballot Cure Affidavit is sent, it has to be returned, either in person, by mail, fax or email, before Election Day.
Interesting. ;D
It appears that voters must include a signed Voter’s Certificate when they submit a vote-by-mail ballot, but if it doesn’t match the signature in their voter registration record, the ballot won’t be counted. It’s unclear whether the Certificate is printed on the back of the envelope in which the ballot is returned or a separate document inside, but it seems that, to preserve voter anonymity at all times, the ballot is in another envelope inside the addressed one.
Presumably the outer envelope is discarded once the signatures match, and the ballot is then opened and recorded, with no indication whose vote it was. Once this happens there’s no way the voter’s intention will be known, only that they’d voted.
But if the signatures don’t match it’s unknown whether both the addressed envelope, and the ballot inside, were discarded. If they were kept and the voter received and returned a Cure Certificate on time, it shouldn’t be a problem.
None of this accounts for the alleged 4,000 mail ballots which weren’t counted, nor whether more than 4,000 voters checked their ballot status online, only to find they’d been validated.
What's next? Sending in a photo showing oneself signing said ballot?
Florida law requires voters to present a picture ID with signature. Acceptable forms of ID are:
• Florida driver's license (quickest ID to process)
• Florida identification card issued by the Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles (quickest ID to process)
• United States passport
• Debit or credit card
• Military identification
• Student identification
• Retirement center identification
• Neighborhood Association identification
• Public Assistance identification
• Veteran Health Identification card issued by the United States Department of Veterans Affairs
• License to carry a concealed weapon or firearm issued pursuant to s. 790.06
• Employee identification card issued by any branch, department, agency, or entity of the Federal Government, the state, a county, or a municipality
ID required and checked at the polls is used solely to confirm the voter’s identity, not to verify the voter’s ID number or address. The photograph on the ID is compared to the person standing before the Election Day Worker and the signature on the ID is compared to the signature on record.
If the voter’s picture ID does not contain a signature, an additional document with signature may be used.
https://www.browardsoe.org/Voter-Information/Voter-ID-Requirements
Very simple. :laugh:
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I heard this morning that the number of people unaccounted for in the California fires is up to 600. :(
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^^^
Yes, it's horrendous news. This is the area of the Camp Fire, north of Sacramento.
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If anyone's interested, a few updates on close Congressional races (in California) I spotlighted last week.
New info underlined.
RESULTS:
39th District - no incumbents. Is currently leaning DEM, but not a done deal. Recent history has been GOP.
Not called yet, waiting on absentee ballots, but will likely go GOP 51% - 49%.
THIS RACE IS STILL NOT CALLED
50% Young Kim GOP 99,501
50% Gil Cisneros Dem 99,381
A difference of 120 votes.
As of this morning's new vote totals, over 8,000 more votes have been added and the Democrat has pulled ahead!
50.2% Gil Cisneros Dem 104,003
49.8% Young Kim GOP 103,062
A difference of 941 votes! (The race is still not officially called.)
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Hope.
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A comment in THE HILL a few days ago, when Jared Golden won his seat in Maine after a close election:
I like this long drawn out blue wave much better than having it done in one night. It's more like water boarding for the GOP. Which they were fond of if I recall...
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Love it, Fritz!!!
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Good news, Lyle:
House win part of major realignment in Southern California
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Democrat Gil Cisneros captured a Republican-held U.S. House seat in Southern California on Saturday, capping a Democratic rout in which the party picked up six congressional seats in the state.
In what had been the last undecided House contest in California, Cisneros beat Republican Young Kim for the state’s 39th District seat. The Cisneros victory cements a stunning political realignment that will leave a vast stretch of the Los Angeles metropolitan area under Democratic control in the House.
With Kim’s defeat, four Republican-held House districts all or partly in Orange County, California, a one-time nationally known GOP stronghold southeast of Los Angeles, will have shifted in one election to the Democratic column. The change means that the county — Richard Nixon’s birthplace and site of his presidential library — will only have Democrats representing its residents in Washington next year.
Democrats also recently picked up the last Republican-held House seat anchored in Los Angeles County, when Democrat Katie Hill ousted Republican Rep. Steve Knight.
With other gains — Republicans also lost a seat in the agricultural Central Valley — Democrats will hold a 45-8 edge in California U.S. House seats next year.
Source: https://apnews.com/ffa22c0bbe6941308dbcd97f934218fb
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Here’s more about this wonderful result:
Orange County goes blue, as Democrats complete historic sweep of its seven congressional seats
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi412.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fpp201%2Frasalgethi_photo%2FNews%25202018%2FOrange%2520County_zpsrsphidm7.png&hash=6446c8073bd8b93e1a2b14a65ef384302e376cd0) (http://s412.photobucket.com/user/rasalgethi_photo/media/News%202018/Orange%20County_zpsrsphidm7.png.html)
Gil Cisneros defeated Republican Young Kim on Saturday in the last of Orange County’s undecided House races, giving Democrats a clean sweep of the state’s six most fiercely fought congressional contests and marking an epochal shift in a region long synonymous with political conservatism.
With Cisneros’ victory, Democrats will constitute the entirety of Orange County’s seven-member congressional delegation, the first time since the 1930s that the birthplace of Richard Nixon, home of John Wayne and spiritual center of the Republican Party will have no GOP representative in the House.
“Sitting back in the 1960s, I would never have believed this would happen,” said Stuart K. Spencer, a party strategist who spent more than half a century ushering Republicans, including President Reagan, into office. But noting the extensive demographic and political changes that have taken place — especially over the last two decades — “it’s pretty understandable,” Spencer said.
Cisneros’ victory, after more than a week of counting mail-in and other outstanding ballots, will give Democrats 45 of the state’s 53 House seats and mark a new low for the flailing Republican Party, which dominated the state and its politics for much of California’s history.
The result also caps a highly successful Democratic midterm election. The loss of the GOP’s last four Orange County seats and two more farther north raises to 38 the number Democrats have gained nationwide, more than enough to seize control of the House when lawmakers are sworn into office in January. ...
There are still areas where hard-right politics can be mainstream, in cities like Yorba Linda — Nixon’s birthplace — San Clemente and Mission Viejo. But dislike for Trump hastened the rising countywide Democratic tide, and party strategists seized the moment.
“If Hillary Clinton would have won in 2016, these seats would still be Republican,” said UC Irvine politics professor Matthew Beckmann, noting the virtual certainty of the party in the White House losing seats in a president’s first midterm election.
Which raises a question: Will Orange County stay Democratic blue, or at least a more competitive shade of purple?
“It’s going to take a couple more election cycles before we know,” Spencer, the longtime GOP strategist, said. “But it’s a sign to me that things are going south for Republicans and if they don’t change the way they do things, they’re going to go even further south.”
Either way, he said, “This election is one hell of a wake-up call for the Republican Party in California.”
Full report here: http://www.latimes.com/politics/la-me-pol-orange-county-gop-house-20181117-story.html
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The GOP destroyed itself for California years ago under Pete Wilson, and the reverberations are still being felt.
Schwarzenegger was a sort of last gasp, but he wasn't exactly a mainstream Republican.
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Yowza! Thanks Paul! I did not hear it was official yesterday!
You're right about Pete Wilson, Fritz, he really alienated a lot of people.
And the only reason we had Schwarzenegger is because Darrell Issa, a very right wing Republican,
saw that the previous election for Governor, won by Democrat Gray Davis, had such a low voter turnout
that you wouldn't need a whole lot of signatures to get a RECALL on the ballot, so he funded one, thinking
he'd be a shoo-in to be elected his replacement if the RECALL passed. Then it got on the ballot and so many
Republicans registered to be the replacement Governor, including Schwarzenegger who saw his chance and
ran with it, that he ended up as the Governor and Issa was a distinct also ran, and he's responsible for funding
the recall petitions in the first place. Without him, no recall.
It's fitting that Issa's Congressional seat turned Democrat this time. After Trump got in, his constituents daily
bombarded his offices and literally got him to announce early on that he wasn't going to run again this time.
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Now for Nunes.
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Absolutely.
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I watched the last parts of this, which included audio tapes of Jim Jones...the similarities between what he said and what 45 says at his rallys is uncanny and more than frightening.... I wish I could remember some direct quotes...
they're replaying it...but i don't think i could watch it twice...
https://www.sundancetv.com/shows/jonestown-terror-in-the-jungle (https://www.sundancetv.com/shows/jonestown-terror-in-the-jungle)
‘Jonestown: Terror in the Jungle’: See First Trailer for Shocking Docuseries
Sundance’s two-night, four-part investigation, co-produced by Leonardo DiCaprio, premieres on 40th anniversary of cult massacre4
On the 40th anniversary of the tragedy in Guyana, SundanceTV's Leonardo DiCaprio-produced documentary takes a four-hour look at the horrors of Jonestown and its painful aftermath.
So many books, documentaries and scripted projects have been dedicated to the harrowing story of what transpired in rural Guyana in 1978 that it isn't always clear how much of SundanceTV's Jonestown: Terror in the Jungle is meant to be new or revelatory. Certainly the 40th anniversary of the tragedy has spawned a slew of new retrospectives, some no doubt featuring similar information and similar interviews.
Having watched more than a couple of previous investigations of Jonestown, Jim Jones and Peoples Temple over the years, I'm at least prepared to call Terror in the Jungle one of the best of the genre. The interviews are candid, within the subjects' ability to be so, and the period footage is unsettling. And once director Shan Nicholson's four-hour series reaches the jungle terror of its title, it's a gripping spiral into nightmare that's hard to look away from.
Boasting Leonardo DiCaprio's Appian Way among its big-name producers and using executive producer Jeff Guinn's The Road to Jonestown: Jim Jones and the Peoples Temple as a basis, Terror in the Jungle begins with a predictable in medias res opening of news coverage from 1978 and the shock and horror that greeted reports of over 900 Americans, including a California congressman, being killed or committing suicide at a religious compound in South America. From there, the two-night documentary travels back to trace Jones' rise from small-town Indiana preacher to progressive San Francisco religious and political celebrity to dangerous and overbearing zealot and sociopath.
Nicholson, who previously directed ID's probing docu-series Sugar Town, embraces the longform opportunity here and takes a methodical approach that doesn't get the series to Guyana until well into its second hour and doesn't get to the bedlam of the notorious tragedy until well into the third. That extra breathing room is necessary so that your perception of Jones isn't just that of a sweaty, megalomaniac in face-obscuring sunglasses goading his followers into consuming Kool-Aid (which the documentary makes very clear was actually a knockoff, Flavor Aid). It's also important that you get the voices and memories of what led the survivors to Peoples Temple in the first place, so that they aren't just sad, brainwashed dupes.
When it comes to interview subjects, Nicholson's concentration is on depth rather than breadth, which is to say that certain parts and perspectives in the story are quite thin and rely very heavily on Guinn to narrate or fill in gaps, especially when it comes to viewing what happened from the outside.
A lone childhood friend offers only surface color and a San Francisco reporter whose skeptical and then cautionary reporting on Peoples Temple contributed to the move to Guyana adds little more. Both give the impression of being overly rehearsed in their scant remembrances. Providing more haunting immediacy is Jackie Speier, who accompanied Congressman Leo Ryan and his team to Jonestown with the most heart-wrenching of results.
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/review/jonestown-terror-jungle-review-1162298 (https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/review/jonestown-terror-jungle-review-1162298)
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So T didn't follow the lead of the rest of the congregation and recite the Creed or prayers at the funeral today.
Surely the explanation is that he's far too modest to pray to himself.
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Either that, or it would have been too obvious saying the Lord's Prayer backwards.
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Tell you what, over these past few days, I've come to feel ashamed of the nasty things I said about George H.W. Bush when he was campaigning for President.
Time and again, I've heard and read people comment about the civility of the man, a part of his character about which I knew nothing. In an article in this morning's newspaper, I came across this: "[Bush] has been remembered as representing an earlier era of civility in American politics. ...]" I'm afraid he may really be the last of his kind, left over from the days when people could disagree over policy (even strenuously), but they didn't have to be nasty to and about each other (nobody suggested locking up an opponent). (I felt much the same way about John McCain; he and Joe Biden no doubt disagreed a great deal over policy, but my understanding is that they were really good friends.)
I can't remember the quotation exactly, but I read that a woman who had paid respects at the Capitol wondered what things would be like today if the current President had 41's character.
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sad
Penny Marshall, who played feisty Laverne in 'Laverne & Shirley' before directing movies, dies at 75
(CNN)Actress Penny Marshall, who found fame in TV's "Laverne & Shirley" before going on to direct such beloved films as "Big" and "A League of Their Own," has died. She was 75.
Marshall died peacefully in her Hollywood Hills home on Monday night due to complications from diabetes, said Michelle Bega, a spokeswoman for the family.
"Our family is heartbroken over the passing of Penny Marshall," the Marshall family said in a statement.
Marshall, whose real name was Carole Marshall, grew up in the Bronx. Her brother was famed producer and director Garry Marshall, who directed a string of hit movies including "Pretty Woman" and "The Princess Diaries" and died in 2016.
Describing her upbringing, Marshall, who wrote a memoir titled "My Mother Was Nuts," once said, "you had to form a sense of humor or else you'd kill yourself."
(https://www.latimes.com/resizer/4YQ_IZuzyjEufeSqTCFx8swvM78=/1400x0/www.trbimg.com/img-5c193c56/turbine/la-1545157713-ff54jxb1bg-snap-image)
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This is ridiculous. Makes me want to boycott israel. And I had no idea 26 states have an idiotic law like this. She was fired from Pflugerville school district, about 5 miles from me.
TEACHER SUES TEXAS AFTER BEING FIRED FOR REFUSING TO SIGN PRO-ISRAEL CONTRACT
A children's speech pathologist lost her job for declining to sign a document requiring she refuse to boycott Israel, according to a lawsuit filed against the Texas attorney general and a school district on Sunday.
Bahia Amawi, who had worked at the school district for nine years, was given a new contract in September. The document required her to affirm "that she does not currently boycott Israel and will not boycott Israel during the term of the contract." When she declined to sign, she "was forced to terminate her contractual relationship with the school district."
https://www.newsweek.com/teacher-fired-refusing-sign-pro-israel-document-1262083 (https://www.newsweek.com/teacher-fired-refusing-sign-pro-israel-document-1262083)
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This is ridiculous. Makes me want to boycott israel. And I had no idea 26 states have an idiotic law like this. She was fired from Pflugerville school district, about 5 miles from me.
Really. What the bloody hell does support for Israel (or lack thereof) have to do with her job in a public school district?
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How come nobody is comparing Punkin' Head to Warren Harding? Another crook who got elected President. ... and died in office. ...
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Really. What the bloody hell does support for Israel (or lack thereof) have to do with her job in a public school district?
I tried to do some research on this and found a good article. The whole thing is worth reading but I copied and highlighted from the last 2 paragraphs, sums it up pretty well.
Why Should My Newspaper Pledge Not to Boycott Israel?
By Alan Leveritt, Publisher, Arkansas Times
JANUARY 3, 2019 | 1:00 PM
This law is a rabbit hole our country does not need to go down. Since when do American citizens have to pledge to act in the interest of a foreign power in order to do business with their own government? Since when does the state of Arkansas punish its own taxpayers in an effort to assist a foreign government with its domestic policy?
As an American, I say it is none of their damn business what political beliefs we hold. We’ll see them in court.
https://www.aclu.org/blog/free-speech/freedom-press/why-should-my-newspaper-pledge-not-boycott-israel (https://www.aclu.org/blog/free-speech/freedom-press/why-should-my-newspaper-pledge-not-boycott-israel)
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CNN is out of control, they're as bad as Fox, unfair and unbalanced. so equal rights for Palestinians = destruction of Israel?
SENATORS WORKING TO SLIP ISRAEL ANTI-BOYCOTT LAW THROUGH IN LAME DUCK
December 4 2018, 11:18 a.m
The measure, known as the Israel Anti-Boycott Act, was shelved earlier amid concerns about the infringement of free speech, after civil liberties groups argued that the original version would have allowed criminal penalties for Americans who participate in a political boycott of Israel. Some of the more aggressive elements of the provision have been removed under pressure, but the American Civil Liberties Union, which spearheaded the initial opposition to the bill, is still strongly opposed.
Temple University professor Marc Lamont Hill was fired last week as a CNN political contributor for a speech he gave at the U.N. calling for equal rights for Palestinians living within Israel or territory controlled by Israeli forces. Critics charged that the speech called for the “destruction of Israel,” though it did not.
https://theintercept.com/2018/12/04/israel-anti-boycott-act-lame-duck/ (https://theintercept.com/2018/12/04/israel-anti-boycott-act-lame-duck/)
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Commons handed Theresa May her Brexit deal on a plate.
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Nancy Pelosi just pulled a major power move on Donald Trump's State of the Union
Sometimes the best power moves in politics are conveyed in the most mundane language.
"Sadly, given the security concerns and unless government re-opens this week, I suggest we work together to determine another suitable date after government has re-opened for this address or for you to consider delivering your State of the Union address in writing to the Congress on January 29," wrote Speaker Nancy Pelosi to President Donald Trump on Wednesday.
Continued below
https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2019/01/16/politics/nancy-pelosi-state-of-the-union-donald-trump/index.html
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As a mother of 5, she knows what to do with a toddler with a temper tantrum. Take away his TV privileges.
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;D
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As Speaker, I guess she can disinvite him from the House, can't she?
Probably wouldn't be a good political move, though.
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I have a new idol in the political world, the speaker of the UK parliament.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=oc4nakOcGbs
Maybe HE would be able to control Trump.
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As a mother of 5, she knows what to do with a toddler with a temper tantrum. Take away his TV privileges.
Good one, Fritz! Perfect.
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As Speaker, I guess she can disinvite him from the House, can't she?
Probably wouldn't be a good political move, though.
Yes, the House and the Senate both have to vote to invite him into the Chambers to give the SOTU address. The article stated as much. Some people say it is a good idea, some not.
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Due to her early days in cutthroat Baltimore politics, she has a way of decapitating a political enemy using a velvet sword, and it's over before the other person realizes it.
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I have a new idol in the political world, the speaker of the UK parliament.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=oc4nakOcGbs
Maybe HE would be able to control Trump.
Isn't he great ??
I watch "Today in Parliament" just to see him !!!!
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Nancy Pelosi just pulled a major power move on Donald Trump's State of the Union
Sometimes the best power moves in politics are conveyed in the most mundane language.
"Sadly, given the security concerns and unless government re-opens this week, I suggest we work together to determine another suitable date after government has re-opened for this address or for you to consider delivering your State of the Union address in writing to the Congress on January 29," wrote Speaker Nancy Pelosi to President Donald Trump on Wednesday.
Continued below
https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2019/01/16/politics/nancy-pelosi-state-of-the-union-donald-trump/index.html
As a mother of 5, she knows what to do with a toddler with a temper tantrum. Take away his TV privileges.
As Speaker, I guess she can disinvite him from the House, can't she?
Probably wouldn't be a good political move, though.
Trump has responded with a move of his own.
Trump takes swipe at Pelosi, postpones her trip abroad
BY KATHRYN WATSON - UPDATED ON: JANUARY 17, 2019 / 5:23 PM
President Trump appeared to retaliate against Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi Thursday after she asked him to postpone his State of the Union address — and hard.
In a publicly released letter, Mr. Trump told the new House speaker he is postponing her trip to Brussels, Egypt and Afghanistan "due to the shutdown." A White House official told CBS News that Pelosi and other members of Congress were scheduled to leave for the trip shortly after 3 p.m.
CBS News correspondent Ed O'Keefe reports Pelosi and her staff were preparing to load buses that would take them to Andrews Base for the trip. Pelosi was scheduled to take U.S. military transportation, which Mr. Trump has the ability to halt, a senior White House official told CBS News. Mr. Trump said Pelosi could still use commercial transportation for the trip.
Pelosi had written to the president on Wednesday asking him to delay his State of the Union address, as the ongoing government shutdown would mean federal law enforcement officers would be working the event without pay. Mr. Trump did not specifically respond to Pelosi's State of the Union address request in his letter — but the point was clear.
"Due to the shutdown, I am sorry to inform you that your trip to Brussels, Egypt, and Afghanistan has been postponed," Mr. Trump wrote. "We will reschedule this seven-day excursion when the shutdown is over. In light of the 800,000 great American workers not receiving pay, I am sure that you would agree that postponing this public relations event is totally appropriate."
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-cancels-pelosi-trip-president-writes-letter-postponing-speakers-overseas-trip/
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She might send him a thank-you note about how it's right that no government official leave town until the government is back in full operation. ;D
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CBS News correspondent Ed O'Keefe reports Pelosi and her staff were preparing to load buses that would take them to Andrews Base for the trip. Pelosi was scheduled to take U.S. military transportation, which Mr. Trump has the ability to halt, a senior White House official told CBS News. Mr. Trump said Pelosi could still use commercial transportation for the trip.
I think I heard this morning that Melania took a government plane to Florida, but I won't swear that I heard that accurately.
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^^^
You did hear right. It was the same plane Pelosi and others were to take (for Government business) so
Trump aborted that and let Melania take it to Maralago for her vacation. At the people's expense.
SInce 9/11, the Speaker of the House, second in line to the Presidency*, is required to take Government
transportation. So Trump's line about Speaker Pelosi taking domestic transportation if she wanted to is
bogus, but also by laying this out to the public, he jeopardized everyone's safety. The details of those
trips are supposed to remain secret.
*People mostly say third in line to the Presidency, but #1 IS the President, so it's really second in line.
Stating the obvious: What a petty vindictive a-hole we have in the White House.
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Way too true.
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^^^
You did hear right. It was the same plane Pelosi and others were to take (for Government business) so
Trump aborted that and let Melania take it to Maralago for her vacation. At the people's expense.
Thanks for the confirmation, Lyle.
*People mostly say third in line to the Presidency, but #1 IS the President, so it's really second in line.
Best as I can quickly determine today, the current succession is Vice President Mike Pence, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senate President Pro Tempore Chuck Grassley, and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. It would then go on down through the Cabinet. (I haven't looked up the order or succession after Pompeo; does it depend on the order in which the department was created?)
Stating the obvious: What a petty vindictive a-hole we have in the White House.
By now nothing the Fake President does should boggle my mind, and yet it still does. :(
I wonder what all those people who thought he would settle down and act like a President once he was in office think now?
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Counting the money they made since the beginning of the current regime?
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I wonder what all those people who thought he would settle down and act like a President once he was in office think now?
Counting the money they made since the beginning of the current regime?
No. My father is one of them, and I know what he thinks: He regrets like hell that he voted for the Fake President.
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I hope your father is only one of many regretting their vote and you get rid of that clown real soon. He looks more and more like a real menace to all of us.
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I hope your father is only one of many regretting their vote and you get rid of that clown real soon. He looks more and more like a real menace to all of us.
He is.
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Evidently no one cared for Trump's latest offer on ending the Shutdown........LORD!! What happened to The Art of the Deal? :P :laugh:
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The emperor has no clothes.
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I've always compared this presidency to that story. Unfortunately, I'm still waiting for that
singular child to call him out which makes his supporters see what everyone else does.
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^^^
But it won't be one of these kids...
(https://postmediacanoe.files.wordpress.com/2019/01/indigenous-march.jpg)
Kentucky Catholic High School Students in 'MAGA' Hats
Mock Native American After D.C. Rally Yesterday
https://www.apnews.com/90c35b0e3b1f41abbcb28eef7cf4bd9a
In a sign of hope:
In a joint statement , the Roman Catholic Diocese of Covington and Covington Catholic High School apologized
and said they are investigating and will take “appropriate action, up to and including expulsion.”
Trump probably invited them in for hamberders.
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That smugness is incredibly irritating.
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What happened to The Art of the Deal? :P :laugh:
That was a fake, just like everything else about him.
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That smugness is incredibly irritating.
Ohhh he so needs a good slap...
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It is wonderful to be so proud of the leader of one's nation
https://www.odt.co.nz/news/national/ardern-no-greater-threat-climate-change
“What greater threat to our wellbeing is there than the current threat of climate change,” Ardern told the audience.
‘You don’t have to cede power by acting on climate change. There’s nothing to fear about your individual political status. This is about being on the right side of history'.”
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^^^
Here here!
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I saw a segment last night where a historian was ranking the Senate Majority leaders
for the last 100 years. (This position was introduced in 1920.) To my delight, he said
that no question, the worst one is Mitch McConnell. Not to my delight: He's still there.
I utterly loathe that man.
Loathe: feel intense dislike or disgust for.
"he loathed him on sight"
synonyms: hate, detest, abhor, despise, abominate, dislike greatly, execrate.
^^^
All of those.
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He is quite execrable.
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Somebody should drop a house on him.
The House of Representatives might do.
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Finally:
Roger Stone Indicted
Mueller Shows Link Between Trump Campaign and WikiLeaks
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/25/us/politics/roger-stone-trump-mueller.html
Roger Stone is as big a ___________ as Mitch McConnell.
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And so the government's reopened temporarily to divert attention from this?
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And so the government's reopened temporarily to divert attention from this?
I hadn't heard this, but just checked Google. Yup, the government is open again.
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Everyone, BACK TO PAID WORK, for 21 days!! ;D ;D ;D
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Yup.....temporary, but at least it's a start.
and according to what I saw online, the employees will get back pay.
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In a nutshell:
(https://i412.photobucket.com/albums/pp201/rasalgethi_photo/News%202019/TitanicTwitter_zpso3tn7prr.png) (https://s412.photobucket.com/user/rasalgethi_photo/media/News%202019/TitanicTwitter_zpso3tn7prr.png.html)
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/donald-trump-climate-change_us_5c4fdf3de4b00906b26c9a2b
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execrable
in French, this is one of my favourite words
it sounds exactly right for what it's supposed to mean:
"exécraaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaable"
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Finally:
Roger Stone Indicted
Mueller Shows Link Between Trump Campaign and WikiLeaks
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/25/us/politics/roger-stone-trump-mueller.html
Roger Stone is as big a ___________ as Mitch McConnell.
And so the government's reopened temporarily to divert attention from this?
I've seen more than one commentator say the Fake President "blinked," but, of course, in his Bizarre World it's Nancy Pelosi who blinked.
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Yup.....temporary, but at least it's a start.
and according to what I saw online, the employees will get back pay.
They will, but I saw an interview with one government employee who said that last time there was a shutdown, it took months before the money came through.
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I've seen more than one commentator say the Fake President "blinked," but, of course, in his Bizarre World it's Nancy Pelosi who blinked.
Monty Python would understand.
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They would make an hilarious sketch about it: Nobody expected the Pelosi Inquisition!
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Since you're in the thick of it, Fritz, I wanted to know what you think about what's going on with Governor Northam?
I was watching news programs when this story broke on Friday night. What bothers me about the current political climate
when things like this happen, like any of the #MeToo accusations, or the Kevin Hart incident of past homophobic remarks
and/or tweets in light of his being chosen to host the Oscars, is the all too quick and immediate rush to pounce on a person
and eliminate them from the face of the earth and ignore any of the decent things they've accomplished.
Of course, I'm not advocating for one thing or another to happen here. I'm just pointing out what disturbs me nowadays
when things like this happen. When the nation looks from one thing to another to find offense about something. Human beings
make bad judgments all the time. (Look how many people voted for Trump. Should they should all lose their voting privileges?
Don't answer that.)
Doing something in the past is not the same thing as doing it now, but it seems like people want to erase people in the present
whose past comes to light, whether or not they're the same person. Smoking was once looked upon as a a part of every day life.
When it became unacceptable Disney was even considering erasing all of Cruella DeVil's smoking in 101 Dalmatians. (And she
was the villain!) When the 20th Anniversary Edition of E.T. came out Spielberg digitally altered guns in one scene that were
around the kids and made them into walkie-talkies.
Altering things from the past does not induce learning in the present.
Anyway, opinions welcome!
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Since day before yesterday he apologized for appearing in the photo and yesterday he said it wasn't him, I'd say he's pretty much toast. Justin Fairfax will be a good governor.
I'm still astonished that the local GOP didn't pounce on the photo years ago, when he was running. Virginia governors still can't succeed themselves, so he's pretty much a lame duck anyway.
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Since you're in the thick of it, Fritz, I wanted to know what you think about what's going on with Governor Northam?
I was watching news programs when this story broke on Friday night. What bothers me about the current political climate
when things like this happen, like any of the #MeToo accusations, or the Kevin Hart incident of past homophobic remarks
and/or tweets in light of his being chosen to host the Oscars, is the all too quick and immediate rush to pounce on a person
and eliminate them from the face of the earth and ignore any of the decent things they've accomplished.
Of course, I'm not advocating for one thing or another to happen here. I'm just pointing out what disturbs me nowadays
when things like this happen. When the nation looks from one thing to another to find offense about something. Human beings
make bad judgments all the time. (Look how many people voted for Trump. Should they should all lose their voting privileges?
Don't answer that.)
Doing something in the past is not the same thing as doing it now, but it seems like people want to erase people in the present
whose past comes to light, whether or not they're the same person. Smoking was once looked upon as a a part of every day life.
When it became unacceptable Disney was even considering erasing all of Cruella DeVil's smoking in 101 Dalmatians. (And she
was the villain!) When the 20th Anniversary Edition of E.T. came out Spielberg digitally altered guns in one scene that were
around the kids and made them into walkie-talkies.
Altering things from the past does not induce learning in the present.
Anyway, opinions welcome!
I agree with you, Lyle.
In Northam's case, he has admitted he wore blackface as part of a Michael Jackson costume (at least, I think that's what I heard), and at the time he was in medical school and old enough to know better, though he claims it's not him in that particular photo. But I am sick and tired of hearing about people's (read: men's) lives (or at least their reputations) being ruined because of something stupid they did 30 or 40 years ago, especially when it only happened once or twice (to the best of our knowledge), that is, there wasn't a pattern of behavior that continued on for years.
I mean, how many of us didn't do something really stupid when we were in high school or college that we now regret?
Of course I'm not excusing sexual harassment, molestation, rape, "the casting couch," or ruining a woman's life or career or reputation because she refused to have sex with you, no matter when it happened. But some of these incidents that I've heard about appear to amount to little more than telling a joke that someone found offensive 30 years ago. And for something like that you're going to ruin someone now? I'm sorry, but to someone complaining now about something that happened in the distant past, I'd say, "Get a life."
(Yes, I know Kevin Hart's tweets didn't happen 30 or 40 years ago.)
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Anybody gonna watch the Fake President's fake State of the Union address?
Incidentally, over the weekend I read something that apparently I missed when it happened. I refer to Speaker Pelosi remarking, "I'm a mother of five, a grandmother of nine. I know a temper tantrum when I see one." I couldn't stop laughing when I read that.
You go, girl. I know a lot of people hate her, but I think quite possibly in her the Fake President has met his match.
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Definitely not. I wish there would be some kind of signal when Stacey Abrams were about to speak, so as to hear her whole speech while not hearing a single phoneme of T's. The latter will be summarized ad infinitum the next day anyway.
The fact that Governor Northam said it was him, then said it wasn't, doesn't go over too well with voters here in the Commonwealth.
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Yes, by all accounts his press conference was a shambles.
"It's me."
"It's not me!"
Wouldn't you remember that you did something like this and if you don't what does that say?
I dressed up like a nun once in college and there's a photo of it. Would that get me into trouble?
In Northam's case, he has admitted he wore blackface as part of a Michael Jackson costume (at least, I think that's what I heard),
And isn't it interesting that Michael Jackson was always trying to be white?
I guess there's a new documentary about him at Sundance and the family is very unhappy about it and Jackson's fan base
is said to be going to protest against the film there, if this hasn't happened already. Michael Jackson is one person who has
always been given the benefit of the doubt. Because of my own interactions with him when he would visit our chain of video
stores here, which I've briefly written about before on this forum at some point, I believe the allegations against him to be
accurate. I wonder how his troubles would've played in the current political climate?
Oh no, not Lucy, too!
(https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0731/5067/products/il_fullxfull.858454638_fh5q_large.jpg)
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Virginia governors still can't succeed themselves, so he's pretty much a lame duck anyway.
What does this mean Fritz? Does it mean you can only run once and not get re-elected? Or that once you're out of office you can't run again
another time? Like Jerry Brown did.
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Yes, he can serve two or more terms as long as they're not back to back. Virginia is one of the few states left that do not permit governors to succeed themselves.
I remember back when Louisiana used to be that way.
He's already a lame duck in the sense that the most he can do is attract or deter votes in the mid-terms, which are this year. Virginia is one year behind national elections in this respect.
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I guess there's a new documentary about him at Sundance and the family is very unhappy about it
I've seen news reports about that. His mother called it a lynching.
and Jackson's fan base is said to be going to protest against the film there, if this hasn't happened already. Michael Jackson is one person who has
always been given the benefit of the doubt.
Not by me. I've always suspected that he was guilty as sin.
Because of my own interactions with him when he would visit our chain of video
stores here, which I've briefly written about before on this forum at some point, I believe the allegations against him to be
accurate. I wonder how his troubles would've played in the current political climate?
Thanks, Lyle.
Oh no, not Lucy, too!
(https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0731/5067/products/il_fullxfull.858454638_fh5q_large.jpg)
Aw, c'mon! "Chocolate face" ain't the same thing! :laugh:
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With the Jackson family it's not entirely about Michael's reputation...it's the money well.
But to call it a lynching is just first class hyperbole. Bill Cosby's lawyers tried the same thing.
Ever since Clarence Thomas said he was the subject of a high-tech lynching during his hearing,
that gets trotted out every once in awhile. It is not equivalent and demeans those who actually
were subject to that horror.
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Yes, he can serve two or more terms as long as they're not back to back. Virginia is one of the few states left that do not permit governors to succeed themselves.
Do you like this system?
Also, if Northam resigns, would the Lt. Governor be able to run again in three years?
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Do you like this system?
Also, if Northam resigns, would the Lt. Governor be able to run again in three years?
I'm pretty neutral toward it, neither here nor there. Since it's past the halfway mark (the next gubernatorial election is in 2021 here), I'm pretty sure that Fairfax could run for a full term, but I'm not positive.
Northam was LG under McAuliffe, so as long as the party stays in power and is successful, it's not uncommon for an LG to succeed the governor. Though since the elections are separate, it's possible to have the two offices in different parties, it's happened a number of times in the recent past. In such situations, the governor has to be ready to rush back to the Commonwealth to take over from the acting governor, in case of an emergency or such.
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Yep. Don't know where they're getting three years, unless they consider that the next gubernatorial inauguration will be in 2022.
Virginia’s governors are limited to one-term, but should Fairfax become governor to fill the final three years of Northam’s term, he could then run for election and potentially serve seven years. Herring said in December he plans to run for governor in 2021 and on Saturday called for Northam to resign.
https://www.richmond.com/news/virginia/government-politics/general-assembly/lt-gov-justin-fairfax-who-could-become-governor-we-re/article_48f38b43-194f-5ef7-b139-40bf3b8cdce7.html
Herring is the current Attorney-General.
All the statewide offices are held by Democrats, though both houses of the legislature are still narrowly in GOP hands.
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I like Fairfax, he'll make a fine governor.
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Albert Finney, five-time Oscar nominee, dead at 82
Albert Finney, the Oscar-nominated British actor best known for his roles in "Annie," "Erin Brockovich" and "Tom Jones," has died after a short illness, according to representatives of his family.
"Albert Finney, aged 82, passed away peacefully after a short illness with those closest to him by his side. The family request privacy at this sad time," reads a statement.
https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2019/02/08/entertainment/albert-finney-dead-scli-intl-gbr/index.html
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I POSTED THIS IN ITS ENTIRETY BECAUSE IT IS SO WELL WRITTEN AND SO ACCURATE.
An opt-ed from a conservative writer: Jennifer Rubin
THE WASHINGTON POST
Trumpet paints himself into another corner
President Trump operates in the moment, where every encounter necessitates that he be perceived as the winner. Insofar as his words have no relation to action and his aversion to facts is so strong, he will say practically anything to get himself out of a jam. Hence, we saw him claim ownership of the shutdown because in that moment, facing adversaries and performing in front of the cameras, he thought that might help him look like a tough guy.
Sometimes Trump’s outbursts are spontaneous and others planned, but they are invariably ill-conceived. He operates in a world of mobster rhetoric and movie-style dialogue in which words only have to sound tough. Logic is immaterial; thinking through the consequences of his threats is unimaginable.
So it was at Tuesday’s State of the Union, when Trump uttered this bizarre statement:
An economic miracle is taking place in the United States, and the only thing that can stop it are foolish wars, politics or ridiculous partisan investigations. If there is going to be peace and legislation, there cannot be war and investigation. It just does not work that way. We must be united at home to defeat our adversaries abroad.
As a preliminary matter, the economy and investigations are unrelated — unless the latter turn up evidence of massive misconduct, fraud or criminality that might temporarily upset the markets. But that, of course, isn’t a reason not to investigate where circumstances warrant. Markets recover, while Trump’s presidency might not in such a situation.
Moreover, how is Trump’s scenario supposed to work? Congress passes a bipartisan infrastructure bill and, what, Trump won’t sign it while the House investigates potentially unconstitutional emoluments? Congress passes a wholly popular drug cost-reduction bill and Trump vetoes it because Congress is investigating his inhumane family-separations policy?
Trump’s threat is an empty one, and one that serves to highlight his inability to stop investigations rather than his ability to withstand them — or confidence they won’t amount to anything. As Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) put it during an appearance on CNN on Wednesday morning, "He’s got something to hide. Because if he had nothing to hide, he’d just shrug his shoulders and let these investigations go forward. He’s afraid of them.”
On Wednesday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) admonished him for making a threat in the House. Once more, she got the better of him.
Democrats know Trump’s bluff is absurd, and his congressional allies know it, too. Only the lowest of his low-information base thrills to the sound of his words.
Ultimately, as is so often the case (with the wall and shutdown, most especially), Trump’s own supporters will be disappointed. Like Scarlett O’Hara, Trump perhaps thinks he’ll worry about that another day. For the brief satisfaction of spitting out a nonsensical soundbite, Trump sets himself up for embarrassment and disappointment.
In many ways, that is the story of his presidency. A man entirely ignorant about policy and governance playacts his way through his presidency, using language that dense people think is smart and ignorant people imagine sounds erudite. The problem for Trump remains — reality.
Today and tomorrow and for many days afterward, special counsel Robert S. Mueller III and House investigators will call witnesses, gather evidence and probe wrongdoing. If the facts and the law are on their side, Trump and his cronies will be powerless to stop them and will by one means or another be held accountable. All the hollers of “Witch hunt!” didn’t save Paul Manafort from conviction on eight counts or spare Michael Cohen from a jail sentence.
Trump and a cynical media might think that “nothing matters” and that Trump’s words are without consequence. His right-wing media bubble that fills his brain during hours of “executive time” will tell him comforting lies and reassure him that he is “winning.” However, the midterms, sinking approval ratings, more than 30 indictments and the inevitable progress of the Mueller investigation should remove all doubt that reality matters. It's Trump's words that don't.
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Bingo. Rubin has really come around since back when she was a kneejerk supporter of W and any Republican, and a similar opponent of Obama.
Sow, reap.
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(https://www.thoughtco.com/thmb/ASh0ex79Wg7gmyV_5BZip7MeRiQ=/800x646/filters:no_upscale():max_bytes(150000):strip_icc()/Trump-Duct-Tape-Cartoon-58b8fdb83df78c353c5be347.jpg)
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(https://www.thoughtco.com/thmb/ASh0ex79Wg7gmyV_5BZip7MeRiQ=/800x646/filters:no_upscale():max_bytes(150000):strip_icc()/Trump-Duct-Tape-Cartoon-58b8fdb83df78c353c5be347.jpg)
You know, I think what he would utter being taped up like this would make more sense than what comes out of his open mouth!?
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I like Fairfax, he'll make a fine governor.
Fritz, are you rethinking this post now?! ;D
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Fritz, are you rethinking this post now?! ;D
We'll see how things turn out.
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Patricia Nell Warren died 2/9/19 at age 83.
Patricia Nell Warren (born June 15, 1936 died February 9, 2019) was an American novelist, poet and journalist. Her first novel, The Front Runner, was the first work of contemporary gay fiction to make the New York Times Best Seller list.
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You know, I think what he would utter being taped up like this would make more sense than what comes out of his open mouth!?
Imagine what would happen to his hair when you rip the tape off *shudders*
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You know, I think what he would utter being taped up like this would make more sense than what comes out of his open mouth!?
Speaking of what comes out of his mouth... :o
(https://image.cagle.com/208222/750/208222.png)
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"Dozens of Trump supporters form ‘human wall’ at southern border"
Dozens!
That'll show 'em.
https://thehill.com/latino/429431-dozens-of-trump-supporters-form-human-wall-at-southern-border?fbclid=IwAR04tY49lyVT21URM2_PCdew9lnBlVOZ073ioWP2VKg9_HtU1qqANn2r0hc
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^^^
I was reading a study done about the history of immigration and border walls.
Until the first fence was built in 1990, Mexican workers could circulate freely across the border, coming to harvest crops during the summer and then returning home in the winter. They crossed with a goal of bettering their lives south of the border. The 1980's had more total crossings than the 1990's, but because as many people left each year as arrived, the total number of unauthorized immigrants remained roughly constant at about 3 million. The true measure of of a barrier’s efficacy should be not the gross flow but the net flow, taking into account both entries and exits.
Increased enforcement in the 1990's raised the cost to migrants to cross the border, which obviously prevented some migrants from crossing at the margin. In fact, the cost of a single border crossing exploded from $500 in 1995 to $3,000 in 2009. Increasing the price of illegal activity is law enforcement’s main measurement of success. But this strategy backfired.
The increased costs and risks disincentivized people from returning home. In 1996, just as the secondary fencing was going up in San Diego, a majority of new unauthorized entrants left within one year, according to a study by the University of Pennsylvania sociologist Douglas Massey. By 2009-with three times as many agents, 650 miles of barriers, and constant surveillance along the border-an illegal immigrant’s likelihood of leaving within one year had dropped to a statistically insignificant level. Border security had essentially trapped them in.
The illegal population grew in tandem with the increases in smuggling prices, which in turn paralleled the growth in the number of border officers. This process continued from 1990 to 2007, when the housing collapse finally set Mexican migration into reverse.
Massey calculates that as of 2009, 5.3 million fewer immigrants would have been residing in the United States illegally had enforcement remained at the same levels as in the 1980's. He argues that a large guest worker program, similar to the one that the United States last had in the early 1960's, would reduce not just border crossings but the population of immigrants living in this country.
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Our immigration and border policy is being run by people like it was an episode of F-Troop.
(https://d1466nnw0ex81e.cloudfront.net/n_iv/600/776705.jpg)
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The old law of unintended consequences.
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^^^
I was reading a study done about the history of immigration and border walls.
Until the first fence was built in 1990, Mexican workers could circulate freely across the border, coming to harvest crops during the summer and then returning home in the winter. They crossed with a goal of bettering their lives south of the border. The 1980's had more total crossings than the 1990's, but because as many people left each year as arrived, the total number of unauthorized immigrants remained roughly constant at about 3 million. The true measure of of a barrier’s efficacy should be not the gross flow but the net flow, taking into account both entries and exits.
Increased enforcement in the 1990's raised the cost to migrants to cross the border, which obviously prevented some migrants from crossing at the margin. In fact, the cost of a single border crossing exploded from $500 in 1995 to $3,000 in 2009. Increasing the price of illegal activity is law enforcement’s main measurement of success. But this strategy backfired.
The increased costs and risks disincentivized people from returning home. In 1996, just as the secondary fencing was going up in San Diego, a majority of new unauthorized entrants left within one year, according to a study by the University of Pennsylvania sociologist Douglas Massey. By 2009-with three times as many agents, 650 miles of barriers, and constant surveillance along the border-an illegal immigrant’s likelihood of leaving within one year had dropped to a statistically insignificant level. Border security had essentially trapped them in.
The illegal population grew in tandem with the increases in smuggling prices, which in turn paralleled the growth in the number of border officers. This process continued from 1990 to 2007, when the housing collapse finally set Mexican migration into reverse.
Massey calculates that as of 2009, 5.3 million fewer immigrants would have been residing in the United States illegally had enforcement remained at the same levels as in the 1980's. He argues that a large guest worker program, similar to the one that the United States last had in the early 1960's, would reduce not just border crossings but the population of immigrants living in this country.
This is really interesting, Lyle. And when you see it black on white it is so obvious. Not the same but somehow related: The first weeks after the Berlin Wall fell down thousands of east Germans visited the west but didn't stay, they just wanted to have a glimpse and then go back home. I guess if you risk your life trying to reach the other side, the moment you're there there's no way to get you back, if only because of not having to go through it again.
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Just heard a promo for the program The 1A on WAMU tomorrow, Dave Cullen will be interviewed about Parkland. The program will start at 10 AM Eastern. I think that the program will be archived for listening later at this following link.
https://the1a.org/shows/2019-02-13/parkland
You can listen to the live feed here
https://wamu.org/
mod:
The archive for the program should be here in the following days:
https://the1a.org/podcast
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There was an article by him on The Guardian this week:
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/feb/10/columbine-parkland-gun-crime-dave-cullen
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I guess a very famous border wall in China didn't work, did it?
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It wasn't stealthy enough. You could see it.
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Judge voids Paul Manafort plea deal, says he 'intentionally' lied to the FBI, special counsel and grand jury
By Katelyn Polantz, CNN - Updated 7:20 PM ET, Wed February 13, 2019
Paul Manafort "intentionally" lied to special counsel Robert Mueller's office, breaking the plea agreement that made him the star cooperator in the Russia probe, a federal judge found on Wednesday.
Manafort "made multiple false statements to the FBI, the OSC and the grand jury concerning matters that were material to the investigation," including his contacts with his Russian associate during the campaign and later, Judge Amy Berman Jackson wrote on Wednesday.
Jackson's ruling is another stunning turn in Mueller's efforts to uncover Russian interference in the 2016 election, as the first man the special counsel indicted then pursued as a potential cooperator for a year sees the end of any benefits he tried to gain through a guilty plea.
Manafort was convicted of various financial crimes in August, and then cut the deal to plead guilty to two charges of conspiracy and witness tampering in September.
https://www.cnn.com/2019/02/13/politics/paul-manafort-robert-mueller/index.html
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It couldn't have happened to a more deserving guy.
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Well, I guess we have a state of emergency.
"Calling Dr. Bombay, calling Dr. Bombay! Emergency! Emergency! Come right away!"
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All the major network and cable news outlets carried Trump’s Rose Garden announcement live. But as the president’s rambling speech wore on, CBS cut away and returned to its regularly scheduled programming — which, on the East Coast, was “The Price Is Right.” :P :laugh: :o ;D ;)
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Unusually appropriate.
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Well, I guess he's now played to/satisfied his base, even if ultimately he doesn't get away with it.
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LOL@ Dr. Bombay!
___
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.cartoonistgroup.com%2Fproperties%2Fluckovich%2Fart_images%2Fcg5c343db3c189c.jpg&hash=0ec43077dda7bf8bc8a5e206b69c8a80c5b7543b)
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^^^^^^^ Definitely the truth!!
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So that story about the Empire star is unraveling now? Why would ANYONE make up such a thing?! I guess we'll see soon enough....... ;D
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yeah, that was a great idea...
Police sources: New evidence suggests Jussie Smollett orchestrated attack
Chicago (CNN)Two law enforcement sources with knowledge of the investigation tell CNN that Chicago Police believe actor Jussie Smollet paid two men to orchestrate an assault on him that he reported late last month.
The men, who are brothers, were arrested Wednesday but released without charges Friday after Chicago police cited the discovery of "new evidence."
The sources told CNN the two men are now cooperating fully with law enforcement.
Smollett told authorities he was attacked early January 29 by two men who were "yelling out racial and homophobic slurs." He said one attacker put a rope around his neck and poured an unknown chemical substance on him.
The sources told CNN there are records that show the two brothers purchased the rope found around Smollett's neck at an Ace Hardware store in Chicago.
CNN's attempts Saturday to reach both Smollett's representative and attorney were unsuccessful.
Smollett identifies as gay and since 2015 has played the gay character of Jamal on the Fox TV drama "Empire."
https://www.cnn.com/2019/02/16/entertainment/jussie-smollett-attack/index.html (https://www.cnn.com/2019/02/16/entertainment/jussie-smollett-attack/index.html)
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I was just reading this story. Geez, what reasons would he have for this?
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but then there's this
Reports of Jussie Smollett Faking Attack Denounced by Fox, Chicago PD
The Chicago Police Department is investigating whether out actor Jussie Smollett conspired with two men to fake an attack on him in the early hours of January 29, according to Chicago's ABC and CBS affiliates and TMZ, but Chicago PD blasted the reports.
Detectives are speaking to the two individuals photographed walking in the area of downtown Chicago near where the incident took place, according to TMZ. Smollett told police he was attacked by two men who hurled racist and antigay slurs at him, screamed "MAGA," beat him, poured an unknown liquid on his body, and hung a rope around his neck.
Responding to rampant internet rumors, Smollett recently denied he faked the attack. But multiple sources told ABC7 that Smollett staged the beating because was upset he was being written off of Fox's Empire, which films in Chicago. Smollett reported that a threatening letter directed towards him was sent to Empire's production office a week before the attack.
"The idea that Jussie Smollet has been, or would be, written off of Empire is patently ridiculous," a Fox spokesperson tells The Advocate. "He remains a core player on this very successful series and we continue to stand behind him."
Police on Wednesday allegedly raided the homes of the two men captured on camera, and ABC7 says at least one of them worked on Empire; TMZ says both men worked on the show. The two men were "picked up" by police at O'Hare International Airport on Wednesday evening for questioning; neither has been arrested or faces charges. TMZ identified the men as Nigerians and said they flew to the African nation the day of the attack; the police allegedly followed their movements and were waiting at O'Hare when they returned to Chicago.
But the Chicago Police Department disputes this reporting.
"Media reports [about] the Empire incident being a hoax are unconfirmed by case detectives," the Chicago Police Department said in a statement. "Supt Eddie Johnson has contacted @ABC7Chicago to state on the record that we have no evidence to support their reporting and their supposed CPD sources are uninformed and inaccurate."
ABC7 also reports Smollett didn't appear for a Thursday interview with Chicago detectives, but Smollett's representatives disputed this to The Advocate, saying he was never scheduled to speak with police today.
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I was just reading this story. Geez, what reasons would he have for this?
the justification was that he was pissed because he was fired or written off the show, but not sure if that happened.
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Jussie Smollett hires Michael Cohen’s criminal defense lawyer
By Sara Dorn February 16, 2019
Jussie Smollett has hired Michael Cohen’s criminal defense lawyer, the attorney confirmed this week, amid the deepening mystery of the “Empire” actor’s claim that he was the victim of a hate attack.
“Yes, at the moment, I am,” Michael Monico, a former federal prosecutor in Illinois’ Northern District, told WGN’s “The Roe Conn Show” on Thursday.
Monico did not say how long he’s been representing Smollett, or in what capacity.
Cohen, President Trump’s former personal attorney, hired Monico to his defense team last month to represent him as he faces federal charges that he violated campaign finance laws and lied to Congress.
The openly gay actor claims he was ambushed in on Jan. 29 as he was walking home through Chicago’s Streeterville neighborhood. He says his masked assailants tied a noose around his neck, poured bleach on him and yelled homophobic slurs and “MAGA country!”
https://pagesix.com/2019/02/16/jussie-smollett-hires-michael-cohens-criminal-defense-lawyer/
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great move, Cohen's doing 3-6
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This story just gets stranger by the day, maybe the Russians are behind it all now......LOL!! :o ;D ;)
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I sure hope that solid evidence can be found in this case one way or another. I'd hate to think that Jussie Smollett orchestrated an attack on himself. What would that prove? As Chuck wrote, "What reasons would he have for this?"
One thing (denied by the Empire spokespeople) that keeps being reported as a reason is: "Multiple sources told ABC7 Eyewitness News in Chicago that police are investigating whether Smollett and the two men staged the attack allegedly because Smollett was being written off of 'Empire.'"
This makes absolutely no sense. I'm getting written off a series I'm on. How do I handle it? How about I get a couple guys to stage an attack on me. Not just an attack, but it'll involve putting bleach on me, beating, slurs shouted at me and even a noose being put around my neck.
That'll show 'em.
Today the reports are that police have evidence these two Nigerian brothers purchased the rope at an ACE Hardware store. So what does this mean?
We know that these brothers have lived in Chicago quite awhile and one of them has appeared in some capacity on Empire. If Jussie Smollett had planned an attack on himself, why would he choose these people?
Maybe these particular "Nigerians" have an issue with gay people. Google Nigeria + homosexuality. The whole country has a problem with it.
As it stands now, there is doubt. The worst of all situations because the firmer people become entrenched in one side or another, even the truth won't alter their beliefs.
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I was just reading this story. Geez, what reasons would he have for this?
Publicity.
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Surely there's a better story to make up than this one.......
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When you guys heard this story, how was it presented? People come to news differently and most of us usually just hear some kind of headline first that may give us an impression that's not really accurate. After all, the news wants you to tune in.
I heard it early on and believed it to be true. I even posted about it in the "Is Society as Really Accepting as It Claims" thread. That was three weeks ago! In Los Angeles you hear about attacks every night on the news, whether here or from around the country, and there is always some security camera or dashboard camera or cell phone footage that accompanies the story. When I was reading about it the next day I heard more details--it took place in the early a.m. hours, it was a frigid temperature, he was attacked, had bleach poured on him, homophobic slurs were shouted at him and a rope put around his neck...then it was stated his attackers said "This is MAGA country."
This is when some "huh?" moment set in to me. There was just too many things here. As though one of these wouldn't be horrific enough there were several and then there's a MAGA reference. In Chicago? I don't know, I didn't dwell on it I was sure there would be some video corroboration somehow. There hasn't been.
The right wing (Fox News et al) is jumping on all of the politicians who came out with immediate statements of support for Smollett and what happened to him. They have practically verified the opposite, though nothing is verified at the moment. I have to laugh at them for their hypocrisy of believing something without all the facts verified. Unlike the conservatives, many of us don't expect people to lie about important things. (Climate change anyone?) And unlike the conservatives who will believe things even though they have facts to support them wrong, when the facts become clear, you can change your support of something.
In any case, I would hope that "publicity" was not a reason for making up a misguided scenario. A scenario that has not played out either way yet. As I wrote in another post: "I sure hope that solid evidence can be found in this case one way or another. [...] As it stands now, there is doubt. The worst of all situations because the firmer people become entrenched in one side or another, even the truth won't alter their beliefs."
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"Here is the truth. The real truth, the thing we must be most afraid of is the destructive power of absolute beliefs -- that we can know anything conclusively, absolutely -- whether we are compelled to it by anger, fear, righteousness, injustice, indignation. As soon as you have ossified that belief, as soon as you start believing in the absolute, you stop believing in human beings, as mad and tragic as they are...in all their complexity, their otherness, their intractable reality... The only commitment any of us can have is to other people."
--from a monologue in "Network"
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I never had a "huh?" moment...there's so much evil in the world, I just thought it was another news story. The MAGA thing didn't throw me, because he has nitwit supporters all over.
The thing that is making me lean toward the story of it being a false claim is that they didn't arrest the men, and now Smollett won't go back to answer more questions. The outcome will be interesting.
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I never had a "huh?" moment...there's so much evil in the world, I just thought it was another news story. The MAGA thing didn't throw me, because he has nitwit supporters all over.
The thing that is making me lean toward the story of it being a false claim is that they didn't arrest the men, and now Smollett won't go back to answer more questions. The outcome will be interesting.
This story gets more convoluted every day. I think I heard this morning that they have been arrested again? Or they're (still) claiming he put them up to it? And he's refusing to talk to police?
I only pay half attention to these things. I have enough to do to manage my own life. And I don't watch Empire.
And do I have this correct? Thanks to Rudy Giuliani we now know that truth isn't truth anymore?
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Jussie Smollett attack: Brothers claim 'Empire' actor staged attack after threatening letter, source says
Updated 2 hrs 34 mins ago
CHICAGO -- Two brothers told police that "Empire" actor Jussie Smollett staged an attack on himself because he was upset a threatening letter he received a week prior did not get enough attention, a law enforcement official briefed on the investigation told ABC News on Monday.
Detectives are actively investigating the allegation, but have not confirmed it to be true, the official said.
Chicago police said this weekend that they are "eager" to re-interview Smollett after releasing the two brothers, who were initially identified as persons of interest in the alleged Jan. 29 attack in Chicago's Streeterville neighborhood. A spokeswoman for Smollett said his attorneys are talking to police.
The brothers, who are not considered suspects in the attack, also told police that they were paid to stage the attack, the official said.
"We are not racist. We are not homophobic and we are not anti-Trump. We were born and raised in Chicago and are American citizens," the brothers said in a statement.
https://6abc.com/brothers-claim-jussie-smollett-staged-attack-after-threatening-letter-source-says/5144861/ (https://6abc.com/brothers-claim-jussie-smollett-staged-attack-after-threatening-letter-source-says/5144861/)
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How can their apology be taken as sincere when it's clear somebody thought this was ok?
'Suicide isn't fashion': Burberry apologizes for hoodie with noose around the neck
(https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRGq8XUsHXnUPiLjpOJBaruLRc1kgz7p2F7U6MGMb9qAkFs7O2auLeC45nwfSgSQYe54DTLq5E)
https://www.cnn.com/style/article/burberry-noose-hoodie-scli-gbr-intl/index.html (https://www.cnn.com/style/article/burberry-noose-hoodie-scli-gbr-intl/index.html)
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^^^
It's fake noose.
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From article:
The brothers, who are not considered suspects in the attack, also told police that they were paid to stage the attack, the official said.
"We are not racist. We are not homophobic and we are not anti-Trump. We were born and raised in Chicago and are American citizens," the brothers said in a statement.
But we thought it would be a good idea to go along with this idea? Are "we also stupid?"
I guess so re: "We are 'not' anti-Trump."
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Currently:
Chicago police have named “Empire” actor Jussie Smollett as a suspect in a criminal investigation, three weeks after he reported he was the victim of a hate crime. Detectives are presenting evidence to a grand jury, which is expected to determine whether to indict Smollett on a charge of filing a false police report.
“Jussie Smollett is now officially classified as a suspect in a criminal investigation by #ChicagoPolice for filing a false police report (Class 4 felony),” spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said on Twitter. “Detectives are currently presenting evidence before a Cook County Grand Jury.” If convicted, Smollett could face one to three years in prison. Federal authorities are also investigating a purported threat letter that was sent to Smollett at the “Empire” studio prior to the alleged attack.
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The PLOT thickens, and kinda 'sickens' me as well, if true.........it would just be a SAD CASE all around, IMHO, you understand? ;D
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Jussie Smollett arrested and faces a felony charge for allegedly filing false police report
By Faith Karimi and Brad Parks, CNN
Updated 7:48 AM ET, Thu February 21, 2019
(CNN)More than three weeks after he alleged that he was the victim of a hate crime, actor Jussie Smollett has been arrested on suspicion of filing a false report about it, Chicago police said Thursday morning.
The "Empire" star was taken into custody around 5 a.m. CT, police said, ahead of a 1:30 p.m. bail hearing.
https://www.cnn.com/2019/02/21/entertainment/jussie-smollett-thursday/index.html (https://www.cnn.com/2019/02/21/entertainment/jussie-smollett-thursday/index.html)
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I used to like Don Lemon, but he's been going off the deep end the last year or so. i think that he's so consumed with hating 45 that he can't focus on anything else.
In this clip, he's saying Smollett has lost in the court of public opinion because of his PR people, who had him go on the morning shows to talk about the incident. What? He's losing because he (allegedly, but it looks more and more likely) set up a vile and disturbing fake attack that certainly doesn't do the LBGT community any good when it comes to reporting hate crimes. The irony is that the suspected reason is that law enforcement didn't take seriously his report of a hate letter he got, and now they're investigating whether he sent it to himself.
Lemon also mentioned that it's a political story. I disagree with that 100%, but again, 45 pushes his buttons so he can't see anything but that.
https://www.cnn.com/videos/us/2019/02/21/jussie-smollett-lemon-court-of-public-opinion-ctn-bts-vpx.cnn (https://www.cnn.com/videos/us/2019/02/21/jussie-smollett-lemon-court-of-public-opinion-ctn-bts-vpx.cnn)
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Australian Rat Declared Extinct Due To Man-Made Climate Change
The Australian government has confirmed the extinction of a small rodent native to a tiny spit of sand in the northernmost part of the Great Barrier Reef―the first known mammal lost to human-caused climate change.
Bramble Cay melomys lived on the coral island of Bramble Cay, located in the Torres Strait between Queensland and Papua New Guinea.
The Government of Queensland initially declared the species extinct [#1] in a 2016 report, and Australian Environment Minister Melissa Price confirmed the die-off in a press release this week [#2]. The whiskered rat has been officially reclassified from “endangered” to “extinct.”
(https://i412.photobucket.com/albums/pp201/rasalgethi_photo/News%202019/Bramble%20Cay%20melomys_zps0gadabei.png) (https://s412.photobucket.com/user/rasalgethi_photo/media/News%202019/Bramble%20Cay%20melomys_zps0gadabei.png.html)
It is estimated that several hundred Melomys rubicola roamed the island in the late 1970s, according to the 2016 report co-authored by researchers at the University of Queensland. By the late 1990s, the population had fallen to below 100 individuals. The last reported sighting was by a fisherman in 2009.
The 2016 report concluded that the “key factor responsible for the extirpation of this population was almost certainly ocean inundation,” which resulted in “dramatic habitat loss and perhaps also direct mortality of individuals.” Sea levels around the world have risen by an average 8 inches since the beginning of the 20th century, and are forecast to rise by as many as four additional feet by 2100, according to NASA [#3]. Thousands of low-lying atolls in the Pacific and Indian oceans could be left uninhabitable by the mid-century, a recent study found [#4].
“The extinction of the Bramble Cay melomys is just the first of what will be countless species lost to climate change if we don’t get our pollution under control,” Noah Greenwald, endangered species director at the Center for Biological Diversity, said in an email Wednesday. “We’re already seeing declines in polar bears and many coral species around the world, and it’s only going to get worse without swift action.”
A dire report late last year from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the leading United Nations consortium of researchers studying anthropogenic climate change, makes clear that limiting future warming could prevent scores of species from going extinct in the coming decades.
“The Bramble Cay melomys was a little brown rat,” Tim Beshara, federal policy director at The Wilderness Society in Australia, said in a press release [#5].
“But it was our little brown rat and it was our responsibility to make sure it persisted. And we failed.”
#1. https://environment.des.qld.gov.au/wildlife/threatened-species/documents/bramble-cay-melomys-survey-report.pdf
#2. https://www.environment.gov.au/minister/price/media-releases/mr20190218a.html
#3. https://www.nasa.gov/goddard/risingseas
#4. http://advances.sciencemag.org/content/4/4/eaap9741
#5. https://twitter.com/Tim_Beshara/status/1097656761446584320
https://www.huffingtonpost.com.au/entry/australia-rat-extinction-climate-change_n_5c6dca24e4b0e37a1ed47b1c
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Well, it's over. Chicago police press conference say Smollett sent the hate letter to himself, and orchestrated the hate crime. He paid $3500 to the two brothers for a publicity stunt because he was "dissatisfied with his salary".
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Smollett wanted the "beating" to be caught on a city camera, but it wasn't pointed in that specific direction. He also paid for the hoax with a check. He obviously doesn't watch Law and Order...you never pay with a way that is traceable.
The Chicago police are pissed.
To quote Bugs Bunny "what a maroon".
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There's protectionism coming out from the black commentators. Van Jones "We still don't know everything".
Yes. We. do.
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Van Jones: "We haven't heard his voice."
We haven't???? Seen the GMA interview? This is wrong. Say it's wrong. He was wrong.
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One commentator even brought up the sick Coast Guard white nationalist and tried to tie it to this. That is bullshit. Don't try to smooth this over.
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Van Jones: I believe in atonement and forgiveness. The level of pain that he must have been in..................
are you fucking kidding me?
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:(
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I feel the same, Lyle. It's sad that he felt he had no other recourse. But he's still guilty.
eta: I changed my mind. I'm not sad. He did it out of greed. He's an asshole and I hope he gets jail time. He had a GREAT job, and everything that goes with it. Greed. That's it.
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I know. I don't get why someone would do this, especially the excuse being "he was dissatisfied with his salary."
How does that translate to sending yourself a hate letter and staging an attack. By the way, the brothers who
agreed to do this for money should be charged with something, too, as they helped perpetrate the false attack.
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Too soon? Guess not...
(https://i.pinimg.com/originals/da/02/7b/da027b2abca8e373c3007de8bddabe8c.jpg)
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(https://i.pinimg.com/originals/ad/39/31/ad39311e03b5325563c970b41c4e6a09.jpg)
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Van Jones: I believe in atonement and forgiveness. The level of pain that he must have been in..................
are you fucking kidding me?
He wanted more money, plain and simple. Now he is going to jail, has lost his career, and mostly his reputation. Greed really does make people do really STUPID things. Was it worth it? NO! And I agree Nancy, this does the reporting of hate crimes no good.
And that's all I am going to say about it, as I believe there are more important things to report on at the top of the newscasts than a greedy, big headed, not very well known actor.
I am not complaining about your reports, Nancy, but with everything else bad that is so more important in the world to report about, the media has blown this so out of proportion.
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Agree, and the Chicago police superintendent told the press off a little bit, saying that they made it such a big deal out of it. But such is life in America when it comes to "stars". Good or bad, news about them will top headline news over any amount of murder or other crime.
And let's not forget that he went on the morning talk shows to talk about how he remembered them beating him and all the gory details. And telling young gay people to "fight back". He was trying to be a hero when he knew all along that he was just a shallow, money-grubbing ass. What would have happened if the 2 men had been found guilty? They would have gone to jail for a long time. Smollett is just a petty (and stupid: paid them w/a check :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:) criminal.
I hope the late night heads take this story on, but I don't think they have the balls.
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So true, Nancy. I get tired of it, but I am just muting the sound when they get to talking about it, just like I do when pumpkin head is talking (I'm not sure what you call coming out of his mouth talking, maybe gibberish) or they are reporting about him.
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Well I know that Colbert has not spoken of it. There is entirely too much stuff to cover on pumpkin head.
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Peter Tork of the Monkees is Dead at the Age of 77
https://pagesix.com/2019/02/21/peter-tork-of-the-monkees-dead-at-77/?utm_source=zergnet.com&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=zergnet_3822667
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I had heard he was having health issues. He was able to minimally participate in
the new Monkees Christmas album that was recorded and produced last year and
released last fall.
The Monkees were a huge part of my growing up. I had all their albums, watched the TV series,
collected the gum cards etc. I even had an official Monkees shirt, the double-breasted colorful
button ones they often wore on the series. Though the one I had, avocado green, was not one
of the colors they ever wore on the show. They usually wore the blue or red one. I still have it!
I was able to see one of their 20th Anniversary (1986) reunion concerts at the Greek Theatre.
Michael Nesmith didn't participate in most of that tour, but I also got to see all of them get a
star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, July 10, 1989. Even the Monkeemobile was there!
(https://i1.wp.com/yourmileagemayvary.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/HWOF.jpg)
Sad. Nice memories.
Hey, hey...
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(CNN)The producers behind Fox's "Empire" have decided to remove actor Jussie Smollett's character from the final two episodes of the current season following his arrest this week.
The decision, producers said, was made to "avoid further disruption on set."
"The events of the past few weeks have been incredibly emotional for all of us," the statement said. "Jussie has been an important member of our 'Empire' family for the past five years and we care about him deeply. While these allegations are very disturbing, we are placing our trust in the legal system as the process plays out."
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if you pay for sex, even though it's a stupid law, that's a crime, right? So they denied that he committed a crime...the OJ defense.
New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft accused of soliciting sex, police say
By Jason Hanna and Tina Burnside, CNN
Updated 1:01 PM ET, Fri February 22, 2019
(CNN)New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft is being charged with two counts of soliciting someone to commit prostitution, stemming from a raid in a day spa in Florida, police said Friday.
Kraft was picked up as part of a sting that has been going on for months, and his charges relate specifically to "two different visits" to the Orchids of Asia Day Spa in the Florida city of Jupiter, Police Chief Daniel Kerr said at a news conference.
"Charges have been filed, but he has not been arrested," Jupiter police spokeswoman Kristin Rightler said.
The NFL team on Friday denied that Kraft had committed a crime.
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if you pay for sex, even though it's a stupid law, that's a crime, right? So they denied that he committed a crime...the OJ defense.
Maybe the condom won't fit. ...
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:D
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Maybe the condom won't fit. ...
It took me a second, Jeff! :laugh: :laugh:
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Came across an interesting comment in a WaPo article from yesterday.
"Morality is never easy even though the word itself is abused and twisted by the right-wing to make doing the wrong thing more palatable."
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/02/22/mark-harriss-son-irony-trumpism/?fbclid=IwAR13SO-SZhNvjK7gx_ATpHJU4RmDZMH3a8zmPZLPeUx7dIMiqJBv8BT37tI&utm_term=.115ae628064b
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So very good, Fritz.
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He wanted more money, plain and simple. Now he is going to jail, has lost his career, and mostly his reputation. Greed really does make people do really STUPID things. Was it worth it? NO! And I agree Nancy, this does the reporting of hate crimes no good.
... I believe there are more important things to report on at the top of the newscasts than a greedy, big headed, not very well known actor.
Yes indeed, Linda
... with everything else bad that is so more important in the world to report about, the media has blown this so out of proportion.
I guess disproportionate reporting of events depends on which media outlets are involved.
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Meanwhile, to maintain a sense of proportion, or just to keep things in perspective ...
Hayabusa 2 Successfully Collects Sample From Asteroid Ryugu
In a history-making mission that could provide clues to the origin of the solar system, the Japanese probe Hayabusa 2 had an eventful landing on Thursday at 11.30pm GMT, some 186 million miles from Earth.
The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) sent a long-awaited command, and the probe landed on the surface of the speeding type C asteroid Ryugu, shot it with a pellet to scoop up surface material, then blasted back to its orbiting position.
According to JAXA, Hayabusa 2 made it to the surface as intended. As soon as it made contact, the probe fired off a 5-gram “bullet” composed of the high-density metal tantalum at more than 300 meters per second. The impact created a cloud of dust and rock fragments, some of which fell into the collection tube. JAXA confirmed that Hayabusa 2 then returned to its orbiting position 20 km above the asteroid.
(https://i412.photobucket.com/albums/pp201/rasalgethi_photo/News%202019/Ryugu_Hayabusa2_1024_zps19fij7h6.jpg) (https://s412.photobucket.com/user/rasalgethi_photo/media/News%202019/Ryugu_Hayabusa2_1024_zps19fij7h6.jpg.html)
Asteroid Ryugu from Hayabusa 2
The image above, taken from 6 km above the asteroid, shows surface structures unknown before the spacecraft’s arrival, including rock fields and craters.
Ryugu belongs to a family of space rocks that are the most primitive building blocks of the solar system. “This is the material that didn’t get swept up into planets, it got left behind,” said John Bridges, a professor of planetary science at the University of Leicester. “The reason we want to study it is that this is what material was like at year zero.”
Similar material falls to Earth as meteorites, but it is battered and burned as it tears through the atmosphere and quickly becomes contaminated when it thumps into the ground. The asteroid material from Hayabusa 2 will show scientists what meteorite material is like before it plunges to Earth.
Studying Ryugu (Asteroid 162173) could provide information not only about the asteroid’s surface and interior, but about what materials were available in the early Solar System for the development of life. Asteroids like Ryugu are interesting for several reasons, perhaps foremost because they are near the Earth and might, one day in the far future, pose an impact threat. But as it is thought to be composed of mostly nickel and iron, Ryugu is also interesting because it may be possible to send future spacecraft there to be mined, thus providing humanity with a new source of valuable metals.
Hayabusa 2 still has another tantalum bullet in the chamber with Ryugu’s name on it. JAXA hasn’t offered specifics on when it will be used, but a subsurface sampling is currently scheduled for April of this year.
The surface of Ryugu has been exposed to solar radiation for billions of years, so material inside the asteroid may have a different composition. To get at it, Hayabusa 2 is going to have to blast a crater.
To do that, the probe will deploy the Small Carry-on Impactor (SCI) device then retreat to a safe distance on the other side of the asteroid. The SCI carries an HMX shaped explosive charge that will accelerate a 5.5 pound (2.5 kilograms) copper impactor into the surface. The probe will then wait about two weeks for the particulates to settle before descending into the newly formed crater to collect a sample.
JAXA hopes to get as much as 100 milligrams of material from Ryugu over the course of the mission. How much is collected won’t be known until the probe returns to its landing site in Woomera in late 2020, after a journey of more than three billion miles.
https://www.extremetech.com/extreme/286238-hayabusa-2-successfully-collects-sample-from-asteroid-ryugu
https://www.theverge.com/2019/2/21/18234782/jaxa-hayabusa-2-ryugu-asteroid-sample-return-mission
https://phys.org/news/2005-11-japanese-probe-asteroid-apparently-samples.html
https://phys.org/news/2010-07-hayabusa-hint.html
http://www.isas.jaxa.jp/en/missions/spacecraft/current/hayabusa2.html
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2019/feb/22/japans-hayabusa-2-successfully-touches-down-on-ryugu-asteroid
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Meanwhile, to maintain a sense of proportion, or just to keep things in perspective ...
Hayabusa 2 Successfully Collects Sample From Asteroid Ryugu
In a history-making mission that could provide clues to the origin of the solar system, the Japanese probe Hayabusa 2 had an eventful landing on Thursday at 11.30pm GMT, some 186 million miles from Earth.
The only way you could get a majority of people to pay attention to this is if Beyonce pimped it.........and then it would only be to see when her new video would be released........
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Richard E Grant and Glenn Close get late Oscars boosts with Independent Spirit Awards
The actors, hoping for glory at Sunday night’s Oscars, took top honours at the alternative ceremony, which gave Best Film to Barry Jenkins’s If Beale Street Could Talk.
A late surge in momentum for Richard E Grant ahead of Sunday night’s Oscars peaked on Saturday with victory at the 34th Film Independent Spirit Awards.
The Oscar-nominated actor received the Best Supporting Male award for his role as Jack Hock in the story of celebrity biography Lee Israel, played by Melissa McCarthy, in Can You Ever Forgive Me?
Grant, also nominated for Best Supporting Actor at the upcoming Oscars ceremony, hugged actress Glenn Close when she presented him with the award at the ceremony in Santa Monica.
(https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7816/33322421838_2f966dfb8d_z.jpg)
The actor, 61, said he was “absolutely astonished and emotional” to have won in a category also containing Paul Castillo for We The Animals, Adam Driver for BlacKkKlansman, Josh Hamilton for Eighth Grade and John David Washington for Monsters And Men.
Grant told the audience he was third choice for the part of Jack Hock, a hard-drinking friend to Melissa McCarthy’s literary forger, behind Sam Rockwell and Chris O’Dowd, and that his casting was “arbitrary and it’s luck.”
Hock is diagnosed with HIV in Can You Ever Forgive Me?, and Grant said the role was an “homage” to men “wiped out by that disease.” Grant dedicated his award to a number of actors during his heartfelt speech, and said his portrayal of Hock was inspired by Scottish actor and star of Chariots of Fire Ian Charleson, a family friend of Grant’s who died aged 40 in 1990 after being diagnosed with AIDS.
It was not Can You Ever Forgive Me?’s only win of the night, with Nicole Holofcener and Jeff Whitty taking out the Best Screenplay award.
Glenn Close received the Best Actress award for her role in The Wife. Close, who has never won an Oscar, has also been Nominated in the Best Actress category at the Oscars for her performance in The Wife, about which she said she was still surprised.
“I mean, it’s a very quiet performance,” she noted. “It’s a very internal performance. And the fact that something that’s so internal had such resonance with people, I still can conjure up how I felt when we first showed it at Toronto and I was astounded by the power that this movie had with the audience. And I’ve never lost that feeling of astonishment.”
https://www.theguardian.com/film/2019/feb/24/oscars-richard-e-grant-glenn-close-spirit-awards
https://apnews.com/f61e02e484b04c8a99adc8c0adb2b5a5
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-6738309/Independent-Spirit-Awards-2019-Richard-E-Grant-breaks-tears-wins.html
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Richard E Grant and Glenn Close get late Oscars boosts with Independent Spirit Awards
The actors, hoping for glory at Sunday night’s Oscars, took top honours at the alternative ceremony, which gave Best Film to Barry Jenkins’s If Beale Street Could Talk.
A late surge in momentum for Richard E Grant ahead of Sunday night’s Oscars peaked on Saturday with victory at the 34th Film Independent Spirit Awards.
The Oscar-nominated actor received the Best Supporting Male award for his role as Jack Hock in the story of celebrity biography Lee Israel, played by Melissa McCarthy, in Can You Ever Forgive Me?
Grant, also nominated for Best Supporting Actor at the upcoming Oscars ceremony, hugged actress Glenn Close when she presented him with the award at the ceremony in Santa Monica.
(https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7816/33322421838_2f966dfb8d_z.jpg)
The actor, 61, said he was “absolutely astonished and emotional” to have won in a category also containing Paul Castillo for We The Animals, Adam Driver for BlacKkKlansman, Josh Hamilton for Eighth Grade and John David Washington for Monsters And Men.
Grant told the audience he was third choice for the part of Jack Hock, a hard-drinking friend to Melissa McCarthy’s literary forger, behind Sam Rockwell and Chris O’Dowd, and that his casting was “arbitrary and it’s luck.”
Hock is diagnosed with HIV in Can You Ever Forgive Me?, and Grant said the role was an “homage” to men “wiped out by that disease.” Grant dedicated his award to a number of actors during his heartfelt speech, and said his portrayal of Hock was inspired by Scottish actor and star of Chariots of Fire Ian Charleson, a family friend of Grant’s who died aged 40 in 1990 after being diagnosed with AIDS.
It was not Can You Ever Forgive Me?’s only win of the night, with Nicole Holofcener and Jeff Whitty taking out the Best Screenplay award.
Glenn Close received the Best Actress award for her role in The Wife. Close, who has never won an Oscar, has also been Nominated in the Best Actress category at the Oscars for her performance in The Wife, about which she said she was still surprised.
“I mean, it’s a very quiet performance,” she noted. “It’s a very internal performance. And the fact that something that’s so internal had such resonance with people, I still can conjure up how I felt when we first showed it at Toronto and I was astounded by the power that this movie had with the audience. And I’ve never lost that feeling of astonishment.”
https://www.theguardian.com/film/2019/feb/24/oscars-richard-e-grant-glenn-close-spirit-awards
https://apnews.com/f61e02e484b04c8a99adc8c0adb2b5a5
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-6738309/Independent-Spirit-Awards-2019-Richard-E-Grant-breaks-tears-wins.html
I love Richard E Grant. Such a lovely down to earth bloke. Not up his own
ass at all. Go Richard ! :-*
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I love Richard E Grant. Such a lovely down to earth bloke. Not up his own
ass at all. Go Richard ! :-*
I totally agree, BlueAmber, been impressed ever since I saw him in Withnail & I and then, later, in Gosford Park.
Memorable as Jack Hock, and he had a real connection with Melissa McCarthy in their scenes together.
A true gentleman, and a fine actor.
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Cardinal George Pell guilty of sexually abusing choirboys
Pell was convicted last year of sexually abusing two choirboys in 1996 when he was Archbishop of Melbourne.
Details of the trial could not be made public as a suppressions order, prohibited any reporting of the case in Australia, including any website accessible within Australia, was put in place by the Victorian County Court to avoid potentially influencing jurors in another trial on separate sexual offences involving two boys in the state’s regional city of Ballarat, Pell’s home town, in the 1970s.
Prosecutors have now decided not to proceed with the second trial, and the suppression order has been lifted.
Australia’s most senior Catholic cleric, the Vatican’s treasurer and the third most powerful man in the Catholic Church, Pell now faces the prospect of prison time. His five-week trial ended last December, when a jury found Pell guilty of sexual penetration of a child under 16, as well as four counts of committing an indecent act with, or in the presence, of a child.
In December 1996, fresh from presiding over his first Sunday mass in Melbourne’s imposing St Patrick's Cathedral, the newly-installed Archbishop of Melbourne sexually molested a thirteen-year old choirboy in the priest’s sacristy. Exposed and pleasuring himself while still dressed in his ornate ceremonial robes, he then indecently assaulted the boy’s 13-year-old friend.
He will be remanded in custody after a plea hearing on Wednesday, before he is sentenced in two weeks’ time.
(https://i412.photobucket.com/albums/pp201/rasalgethi_photo/News%202019/Pell_leaves_County_Court_c_zpsiqtux66a.jpg)
Pell leaving the County Court today
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-02-26/george-pell-guilty-child-abuse-how-it-happened/10847786
https://indaily.com.au/news/2019/02/26/pells-dark-past-finally-exposed/
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Cardinal George Pell guilty of sexually abusing choirboys
Pell was convicted last year of sexually abusing two choirboys in 1996 when he was Archbishop of Melbourne.
This is headline news here in New Zealand as well as all over the Australian news. Although not a Catholic, I taught in Catholic schools in Sydney for over 25 years. Pell only moved from Melbourne to Sydney in 2001 towards the end of my teaching time. I know he was generally disliked, he was a cold fish and, of course, I intensely disliked him after he refused to give communion to a group wearing rainbow sashes.
Much as I disliked him, I cannot understand how any intelligent person could have done what he has been found guilty of doing, so openly at the back (robing room) of the cathedral. He had just been ordained archbishop and power must have gone to his head literally.
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Wrong head.
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This is headline news here in New Zealand as well as all over the Australian news.
It’s also being reported on news sites in many other countries, Brian; in the UK, Ireland, the US, Canada, plus
Nordic: Denmark, Finland, Greenland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden;
Europe: Albania, Austria, Estonia, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Romania, Spain, Switzerland;
Central & South America: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Venezuela;
Africa: Egypt, Kenya, Libya, Morocco, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, South Africa, Zambia, Zimbabwe;
Asia: Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Phillipines, Singapore, South Korea, Vietnam;
Middle East: Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine, Syria, Qatar.
I’ve probably missed a few, but this Australian event is clearly global news.
Although not a Catholic, I taught in Catholic schools in Sydney for over 25 years. Pell only moved from Melbourne to Sydney in 2001 towards the end of my teaching time. I know he was generally disliked, he was a cold fish and, of course, I intensely disliked him after he refused to give communion to a group wearing rainbow sashes.
Well, it looks as if the chickens have at last come home to roost.
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It opened the news here in Spain, Paul. We clearly have lots to learn from this, we are still waiting to see one of these swines judged.
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Thanks, Elena.
It's also all over YouTube, too, and now I see that I missed Poland and Italy from my Europe list.
In Australia just about every regional online newspaper, and not just those in the capitals, is running the story, too.
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Cardinal George Pell guilty of sexually abusing choirboys
What a dreadful man, what a dreadful affair.
May it "serve" as an example for similar cases - severe punishment without pity or further hypocrisy.
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I belong to a United Methodist Church, and I guess the deciding Body isn't going to allow certain people to be ordained nor would certain people be allowed to marry in one of their Churches!! Me, oh My, not a good day to be a 'United' Methodist..........sad... :(
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George Pell spends first night behind bars after having his bail revoked in the Victorian County Court
Cardinal George Pell has now been remanded in protective custody at a pre-sentencing hearing after a jury found him guilty on five charges of sexual abuse of two choirboys when he was Archbishop of Melbourne in the late 1990s.
The bail Pell had been granted after his conviction in December last year was revoked at a pre-sentence plea hearing Wednesday, at which the court was told his crimes carried maximum jail terms of 10 years each.
He is being held at the Melbourne Assessment Prison in West Melbourne, a few blocks from the County Court.
(https://i412.photobucket.com/albums/pp201/rasalgethi_photo/News%202019/presentencinghearing_zpsrbecswqp.jpg)
Pell arrives at the County Court for Pre-sentencing Hearing
Prosecutor Mark Gibson SC told Chief Judge Peter Kidd at the hearing that Pell’s offending involved two vulnerable boys and should be classed as serious. “These acts … were, in our submission, humiliating and degrading towards each boy and gave rise to distress in each boy,” he said.
“There has been a breach of trust in this case in the sense that Cardinal Pell was the driving force and in charge of this cathedral and these two choristers were a cog in the cathedral wheel ... in Sunday masses.” Mr Gibson said Pell had displayed a “degree of callous indifference” by continuing his attack on the boys despite their protests.
"It was a brazen contact, it was forceful ... and he had self-evidently reoffended against [his victim] which makes it more serious, and the offence warrants immediate imprisonment," Mr Gibson said. He also submitted that, as Pell had no taken responsibility for his offending, he could be given no discount for showing remorse.
Pell’s defence barrister, Robert Richter QC, said that Pell's offending was at the low end of the scale and had no aggravating features. “There was no pre-planning. There was no use of an implement. The offending was very short. This is no more than a plain, vanilla, sexual penetration case, where the child is not volunteering or actively participating.”
But Judge Kidd hit back, saying that he viewed it as a “serious example of this kind of offending,” and that the objective fact was that it was a “forcible, blatant attack on two boys. I see this as callous, brazen offending … He had in his mind a sense of impunity. How else did he think he could get away with it?”
“He exploited two vulnerable boys and there was an element of force … the way he grabbed the boys’ heads, [and continued] in the face of verbal and physical protest. There was an element of brutality to this assault, it was an attack," Judge Kidd said.
Mr Richter argued that Pell had not breached the boys’ trust as he had not been entrusted with their care.
But Judge Kidd responded that the boys had been entrusted to the care of the church, “and the person who stood at the top of that was your client. It occurred while the children had been entrusted to the church for a church activity and he had access to the boys because of his role at the top of the church.”
Mr Richter disputed that, and said the boys were in the care of the adults supervising the choir.
“Nobody who takes their children to the church entrusts their children to the clerics, no matter what their rank is," Mr Richter said. “He wasn't abusing his position as archbishop, according to the verdict … he’s abusing his position as an elder male against two younger children. They put themselves in a place where they shouldn’t have been and they were naughty for drinking the sacrificial wine," he said.
Judge Kidd responded that it was completely irrelevant the boys were doing something wrong.
Lawyers acting for Pell said in a statement that he continued to maintain his innocence “despite the unprecedented media coverage.” They also said Pell had not applied for bail because he believed it was “appropriate for him to await sentencing,” and an appeal against the conviction had already been lodged.
At the end of the hearing, Judge Kidd revoked Pell’s bail and he was remanded into protective custody pending sentencing.
Australia's top-ranking Catholic has maintained his innocence, and won't pursue his appeal until after his sentence is handed down on March 13.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-02-27/george-pell-returns-to-court-for-presentencing-hearing/10851152
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-02-27/george-pell-spends-first-night-in-jail-after-bail-revoked/10852940
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I belong to a United Methodist Church, and I guess the deciding Body isn't going to allow certain people to be ordained nor would certain people be allowed to marry in one of their Churches!! Me, oh My, not a good day to be a 'United' Methodist..........sad... :(
The Methodists haven't caught up yet? Episcopalians do. There is even a liturgy for it. I attended such a wedding at my own church. The rector (himself openly gay) was thrilled that he could now record same-sex marriages in the parish marriage register.
I think Lutherans permit it, too, but at the discretion of the pastor and/or the congregation. At least, I remember our pastor joking that someone asked him what he would do if someone asked him to perform a same-sex marriage, and he said he didn't know because no one had asked him to.
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This was a decision by the World Body of UMC, so even though the US and Europe UMC's would have supported a more open ONE CHURCH view, other Countries couldn't support that change, evidently, and want to stay with the now-modified Traditional Church view. It's sad, for sure, and may cause splits in many local churches. We'll see.
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This was a decision by the World Body of UMC, so even though the US and Europe UMC's would have supported a more open ONE CHURCH view, other Countries couldn't support that change, evidently, and want to stay with the now-modified Traditional Church view. It's sad, for sure, and may cause splits in many local churches. We'll see.
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Luke Perry Hospitalized After Suffering a 'Massive Stroke,' According to Reports
Suzy Byrne - Editor, Yahoo Entertainment - February 28, 2019
Luke Perry is hospitalized after suffering a “massive stroke,” according to reports.
TMZ and The Blast say that paramedics were called to the Riverdale actor’s home in Sherman Oaks, Calif., on Wednesday at 9:40 a.m. to treat someone suffering a stroke. Perry, who soared to stardom in the ’90s on Beverly Hills, 90210, was transported to the hospital.
A spokesperson for the star, 52, tells Yahoo, “Mr. Perry is currently under observation at the hospital,” but provided no further details.
On Thursday afternoon, TMZ reported that a Perry family source said the star had been put in a medically induced coma. However, Perry’s rep said that is untrue. The website now reports that Perry is “sedated.”
https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/luke-perry-hospitalized-suffering-massive-stroke-according-reports-161004214.html
(https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7868/32300699337_0cf3fdfb34_b.jpg)
^^^^^^^ ^^^^^^^
Luke Perry - Riverdale Luke Perry - Beverly Hills, 90210
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Hickenlooper?? WTH?? Americans only elect Presidents with shorter names!! :P :laugh: ;D
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President Buttegieg would be nice.
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President Buttegieg would be nice.
I've seen him interviewed twice. Once by Chris Hayes on MSNBC and once on Stephen Colbert.
He is very knowledgeable and knows how to answer the tough questions which impressed me.
He is no joke, though he is unknown and quite young. He's got more experience than the
current occupant of the W.H. and was an officer in the military. He's also very appealing.
You can find those interviews on youtube along with several others that I just discovered.
His candidacy would be historic as he would be the youngest President ever (Sanders would
be the oldest) and he'd be the first "openly" (?) gay President. Would the country elect a
gay President this time around? He'd sure be an appealing V.P. candidate as well. (He's
also married.) He's also serious about this.
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Hickenlooper?? WTH?? Americans only elect Presidents with shorter names!! :P :laugh: ;D
Like Eisenhower. ;D
How about the Buttegieg/Hickenlooper ticket?
So, are the Democrats going to blow this election by having so many people wanting different candidates
that they end up running the wrong one.
I mean, who decides what candidates move to the top? It's a couple states with the least population.
Iowa and New Hampshire. There are more people in the valley out here that vote than the entire
populations of these states. Most of the candidates will be eliminated in these first two.
Doesn't anyone think this is ridiculous to have all these people running and talked about for a whole
year before any primaries will take place. There will be another Super Bowl and Oscars (they're earlier
next year) before the first primary takes place.
And if you aren't tired of all these people before that even happens you will be before the election in sixteen months.
Announced campaigns
Sen. Cory Booker
Former Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Julián Castro
Former Maryland Rep. John Delaney
Rep. Tulsi Gabbard
Sen. Kamala Harris
Former Gov. John Hickenlooper
Gov. Jay Inslee
Sen. Amy Klobuchar
Sen. Bernie Sanders
Sen. Elizabeth Warren
Spiritual author Marianne Williamson
Businessman Andrew Yang
South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg
Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand
Considering a run
Sen. Michael Bennet
Former Vice President Joe Biden
Former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg
Sen. Sherrod Brown
Montana Gov. Steve Bullock
New York Mayor Bill de Blasio
Former Secretary of State John Kerry
Former Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe
Sen. Jeff Merkley
Rep. Seth Moulton
Former Rep. Beto O'Rourke
Rep. Tim Ryan
Rep. Eric Swalwell
Dropped out or decided not to
Former congressional candidate Richard Ojeda
Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti (was considering it but decided not to at this time)
Former Attorney General Eric Holder (took himself out of consideration on March 4, 2019)
There's certainly a wide array of choices. Something for everyone. Specifically everyone,
which won't be a good barometer of choosing the best offering, in my opinion.
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I heard an interview with him in Pod Save America (Ilove those guys) and he seems like a really intelligent, eloquent and sincere man, I really like him. You can listen to it here:
https://crooked.com/podcast/2020-pete-buttigieg-on-freedom-and-farting-cows/
So refreshing compared to the actual state of things!
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And his father was a professor at Notre Dame.
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I also like the Pod Save America guys. They are so smart and when you think of the cretin who is actually the President
and the posse in Congress that has gulped down the Kool-Aid, it is so disheartening. It feels like the country is in quicksand.
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The home version:
(https://www.geekyhobbies.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/Quicksand-Box-1.jpg)
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Luke Perry is hospitalized after suffering a “massive stroke,” according to reports.
He didn't make it. :(
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He didn't make it. :(
I know....I heard about it at work this afternoon. How sad. He was only 52.
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:'(
He was part of my youth, and had now became part of my girl's teenage years through Riverdale.
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Nancy Pelosi on impeaching the Fake President: "He's just not worth it." Ba-da-bing!
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LOL!! The Dems know it would take forever, and probably backfire on them as well. Plus, they wouldn't have enough Repubs to make it stick.........sad state of affairs in DC, as always anymore........ ;)
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Nancy Pelosi on impeaching the Fake President: "He's just not worth it." Ba-da-bing!
LOL!! The Dems know it would take forever, and probably backfire on them as well. Plus, they wouldn't have enough Repubs to make it stick.........sad state of affairs in DC, as always anymore........ ;)
She's afraid of it splitting the country. As if it isn't split already. ...
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Still, T probably finds the idea that he's not worth impeaching rather galling.
Great!
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(https://www.francetvinfo.fr/image/75nav49dy-52cf/1200/450/17186903.jpg)
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The whole thing is a fiasco, a massive misjudgment by David Cameron who thought the referendum result would be overwhelmingly to remain and would stop the moans of the leavers. Unfortunately the ignorant xenophobes, who had no idea what they were voting for, were the ones who turned out in greater numbers to vote - though I don’t think they had any idea what they were voting for, and still don’t.
Obviously it’s got to happen now, but as far as I can see there is no good way of doing it. I’m unable to follow all these different votes. :(
Theresa May voted to remain, and I don’t think she should have taken on the job of pushing Brexit through, but no one else had any idea how to make this unworkable scenario work either.
On the other hand, DO NOT rely on the Daily Mail for a balanced opinion! :)
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On the other hand, DO NOT rely on the Daily Mail for a balanced opinion! :)
Certainly not. ;)
But the headlines (here at least) are spot on, and the May pic speaks more than a thousand words.
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Cardinal George Pell, Australia’s most senior Catholic, sentenced
Chief Judge Peter Kidd today sentenced Pell at the County Court of Victoria to six years imprisonment for the sexual abuse of two 13-year-old choirboys at St Patrick’s Cathedral, East Melbourne, in the late 1990s.
In December 2018 Pell was charged with five sexual offences in 1996 and 1997, one of Sexual Penetration of a Child under 16 years and four of committing an Indecent Act with or in the presence of a Child under 16 years.
The jury deliberated for almost five days before returning a unanimous verdict of guilty on all charges on 11 December.
At sentencing today, Judge Kidd said:
“On charge 1, being the indecent act against R, I convict and sentence you to two years and six months' imprisonment.
On charge 2, being the sexual penetration against J, I convict and sentence you to four years' imprisonment.
On charge 3, being the indecent act against J, where you touched his genitals, I convict and sentence you to two years and six months' imprisonment.
On charge 4, being the indecent act against J, where you touched your own genitals in the presence of J, I convict and sentence you to 15 months' imprisonment.
On charge 5, being the indecent act against J during the second episode, I convict and sentence you to 18 months' imprisonment.”
Total effective sentence
“I direct that the sentence of four years imposed on charge 2 is the base sentence.
I further direct that 12 months of the sentence imposed on charge 1, four months of the sentence imposed on charge 3, two months of the sentence imposed on charge 4 and six months of the sentence imposed on charge 5 are to be served cumulatively upon charge 2 and upon each other.
This means that I sentence you to a total effective sentence of six years' imprisonment.”
Upon his release Pell will be registered for life as a sex offender.
The full transcript of Chief Judge Peter Kidd’s sentencing remarks, with a warning that they contain details which may distress some readers, can be found here:
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-03-13/george-pells-full-sentencing,-as-issued-by-peter-kidd/10897650
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The Catholic Church has found something they can be outraged about.
On SNL this past Saturday, on the Weekend Update section of the show, Pete Davidson was addressing
the R. Kelly situation and he said:
“Before I continue, this guy is a monster and he should go to jail forever. But if you support the Catholic
Church, isn’t that like the same thing as being an R. Kelly fan? I don’t really see the difference, except for
one’s music is significantly better.”
Now the Catholic Church is demanding an apology from NBC and SNL and Pete Davidson and clutching their
pearls in horror over this. How dare anyone!
Excuse me, but it the Catholic Church had cleaned up their act years ago, né decades ago, they might have
a leg to stand on. But, no, save your pearl clutching Catholic church at this late date.
For years, fans of R. Kelly — as well as members of the music industry and a large part of the media — have looked
the other way with regard to the allegations against him. For decades, the “leaders” of the Catholic faith as well as
most of its flock have oftentimes looked the other way or remained silent in the face of unspeakable sexual assaults
perpetrated by their priests against mostly young boys and young men.
When I think back over the years about this it comes to mind there has always been a subtextual joke about Catholic priests and
young boys ever since I can remember and before I even knew what that was about really. Always. You'd hear snide comments
and knowing glances and tittering jokes about it. Ever hear the phrase, "there is truth in humor"? The 1993 play and subsequent
movie of Jeffrey is just one minuscule example. And still it's a problem not being adequately dealt with except for the church to feign
outrage over a joke about it. Your offense over this, Catholic Church, is because the joke rings true. DO something about it besides
feign horror over it.
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^^^
I may be more on a rant about this today than normal because this weekend I watched the 4 hour documentary
about Michael Jackson which follows the lives of two young boys, now men, who were molested by him for years.
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That's big from the Catholic Church, asking for an apology. Latest I heard from them they blamed the paedophiles among them on Satan! That surely comes in handy, to have a Satan to put the blame on for your own crimes.
I haven't seen the MJ documentary, but I don't think I will be ever anle to listen to his music again and enjoy it as I did. And it all happened in plain sight. How blinded can we be by fame.
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^^^
I may be more on a rant about this today than normal because this weekend I watched the 4 hour documentary
about Michael Jackson which follows the lives of two young boys, now men, who were molested by him for years.
Lyle....I have watched this too. Both episodes. Apart from the utter horror with what Jackson did to these (and or others)kids.....what did you make of their parents...
letting their little boys go with him all over the world for weeks at a time ? Crazy.... and completely round the the loop comes to my mind.
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Lyle....I have watched this too. Both episodes. Apart from the utter horror with what Jackson did to these (and or others)kids.....what did you make of their parents...
letting their little boys go with him all over the world for weeks at a time ? Crazy.... and completely round the the loop comes to my mind.
Was there money involved when these young men were children? To their parents, I mean. When these accusations first came out, I remember wondering what were their parents thinking? Were they willingly turning a blind eye to their sons sharing a bed with Michael Jackson? Even if he never laid a hand on those boys, that still strikes me as creepy.
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My little one is that age and I swear I can't imagine leaving him to live with an unknown man at all, let alone knowing that they sleep in the same bed. WTF were they thinking, even with no sexual abuse involved the thing is just plain weird.
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Now Beto is in the Dems nom race too! Get ready for Grassroots fundraising and small town/cities gatherings! LOL...unless he goes BIG, and that includes fundraising and large Metro areas, I don't think he'll survive.....but WHO KNOWS?? Part of this Country elected Trump! :o :o :o
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My beautiful peaceful country has been ruined
https://www.odt.co.nz/news/national/one-custody-reports-least-27-dead-chch
Bastard(s)
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Oh, Brian... :'(
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Shocking news, Brian. :(
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Just terrible.
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41 were killed in one mosque, 7 in another, 1 has since died in hospital so 49 in total. 20 are in hospital in a critical condition. They say 48 were taken to hospital with gunshot wounds.
The previous biggest massacre in NZ was near me, here in Dunedin when a madman went berserk in 1990. 13 were killed including the lone policeman sent to deal with him. I have often visited the memorial including just last February while hiking.
The say the main perpetrator (3 have been arrested) this time came from Australia and the car was registered to an address in Dunedin, that street has now been evacuated and cordoned off. He apparently at first planned to attack the mosque here in Dunedin but then chose the bigger one in Christchurch. (Dunedin population is 130,000 (Christchurch 375,000 and 300 km north).
One security analyst on TV said the security people here were focussed on muslim extremists and not white supremacists and one policemen told him they were just clowns.
Out regional turbo prop planes do not have security, you board them just like a bus. They have been cancelled out of Christchurch tonight and possible tomorrow. I fear that might change. Our police do not regularly carry guns.
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This is horrible.
A nightmare.
(Very few infos about it in the news here, I wonder why. In our radio broadcast earlier today, there were barely three-four sentences about it.)
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This is horrible.
A nightmare.
(Very few infos about it in the news here, I wonder why. In our radio broadcast earlier today, there were barely three-four sentences about it.)
Praying for your Country, Brian, this is horrid news, but all too common in our lives now.....sad! :'( :(
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Was there money involved when these young men were children? To their parents, I mean. When these accusations first came out, I remember wondering what were their parents thinking? Were they willingly turning a blind eye to their sons sharing a bed with Michael Jackson? Even if he never laid a hand on those boys, that still strikes me as creepy.
Celebrity is seductive. Answering that question involves a lot of steps that add up to "knowing on hindsight" but not while it was happening in many ways.
As for money being involved...MIchael Jackson offered the trappings of his wealth to the two boys and their families, paying for everything etc. and it wasn't mentioned, but when they were part of his tour there must've been a salary, though that wasn't discussed, but the two profiled in the documentary were not involved in the two famous public accusations (they weren't the accusers in those cases) that resulted in money paid to the families, those were different situations, discussed in the film.
Lyle....I have watched this too. Both episodes. Apart from the utter horror with what Jackson did to these (and or others)kids.....what did you make of their parents...
letting their little boys go with him all over the world for weeks at a time ? Crazy.... and completely round the the loop comes to my mind.
I think this documentary, if one watches the whole thing, shows how people can be fine with something at first and just not realize the entirety of the situation. Yes, until it's too late.
I liken it to the game show scandals of the late 1950's. The film Quiz Show shows how a very smart, sophisticated, college professor from a great family innocently decides to show off his knowledge on a game show. The end of the movie shows how he becomes disgraced because he was ultimately cheating, but the middle shows how that happened. He was a moral and ethical guy, but small decisions that seemed correct and innocent at the time and were encouraged by the game show producers who were telling him that's the way things were done and there was nothing wrong with it, were ultimately his downfall. Even though he'd questioned it himself in various ways.
It's like being in the ocean and feeling like you can go out further and further until suddenly you realize you shouldn't have.
When people ask, "How could you have done such and such," it usually comes from a place of knowing on hindsight. I don't know how many times I've seen shows like Oprah or Dr. Phil where the people involved in something that seems so obvious had no idea what was going on when it was happening.
It's like the scene in the 1997 film TItanic where the guy on the salvage vessel in the beginning is telling and showing Gloria Stuart, with computer animated graphics, what actually happened to the ship after hitting the iceberg. She softly replies something like, "Thank you for that fine forensic analysis Mr. Bodine," and then almost to herself, "Of course the experience of it was somewhat different."
I also have to point out...there are people who STILL believe that Michael Jackson is absolutely blameless.
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Praying for your Country, Brian, this is horrid news, but all too common in our lives now.....sad! :'( :(
Add my concern to everyone else, Brian. (((((( Brian ))))))
I want to comment, but something someone posted above conflicts with news I had heard, so I'd better hold off until more facts come forth.
But that doesn't always happen. That Vegas concert massacre that happened a year and a half ago is still mired
in conflict and mystery as to motives and how it was handled by authorities.
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Boeing 737 Max planes grounded world-wide
Has this affected any one? Guess what IS NOT getting much attention? Before the second airliner crash, Boeing had been working on a software fix for the possible problem that has been noted in these aircraft (similar problems with the two crashes have been reported before, but a crash didn't happen). This "software fix" (which sounds just awful in terms of an airplane problem that causes planes to crash) was in the works and should be ready quite soon, but HAD BEEN DELAYED FIVE WEEKS BECAUSE OF TRUMP'S GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN. In other words, if not for the shutdown, this second crash may not have happened.
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Someone should make clear to all and every republican hiding behind Trump that the people who died in that crash are on their consciences >:(
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Republican and conscience do not go together.
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... HAD BEEN DELAYED FIVE WEEKS BECAUSE OF TRUMP'S GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN. In other words, if not for the shutdown, this second crash may not have happened.
Gosh.
That's terrible.
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Republican and conscience do not go together.
!!
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Boeing 737 Max planes grounded world-wide
Has this affected any one? Guess what IS NOT getting much attention? Before the second airliner crash, Boeing had been working on a software fix for the possible problem that has been noted in these aircraft (similar problems with the two crashes have been reported before, but a crash didn't happen). This "software fix" (which sounds just awful in terms of an airplane problem that causes planes to crash) was in the works and should be ready quite soon, but HAD BEEN DELAYED FIVE WEEKS BECAUSE OF TRUMP'S GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN. In other words, if not for the shutdown, this second crash may not have happened.
They were saying on the national news tonight, Lyle, that the the Jack Screw in the nose of the plane, which is used to raise and lower the nose, was set in the dive position. This caused the plane to pitch up and down. This started happening right as the plane took off. This pitching is similar to the Lion air crash from October 2018, but happened later in the flight.
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^^^
Yes, I was just reading about this!
The significance for the crash is that when the jackscrew was found on the ground among the wreckage, its position indicated that the jet’s movable horizontal tail, also known as the stabilizer, was deflected in an unusual position. This information was provided by John Cox, chief executive of Safety Operating Systems and formerly the top safety official for the Air Line Pilots Association, who was privately briefed on this piece of evidence Thursday by someone familiar with the investigation findings.
The deflection of the tail, combined with the high speed the jet was traveling at according to satellite-based data, would have made it uncontrollable, Cox said.
Cox cautioned that there are several systems that in the course of normal flying could malfunction and deflect the tail, but because the preliminary investigation into the October crash of a Lion Air 737 MAX pointed to a new flight-control system on the MAX called MCAS (Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System), that system is now a prime suspect as potentially the cause of both tragedies. In this case, the jackscrew provides one more clue.
With the MCAS flight control system already implicated in the Lion Air crash, it’s now seen as the potential cause of both. Boeing’s software fix will make a series of changes, according to a summary provided to Larsen and other lawmakers during a private briefing Thursday. The company said it will change the MCAS software to give the system input from more than one AOA sensor. It will limit how much MCAS can move the horizontal tail in response to an erroneous AOA signal. And when activated, the system will kick in only for one cycle, rather than multiple times. Unless some other cause for the crashes emerges, 737 MAXs will remain grounded until that software patch is fully deployed and approved to have fixed the problem.
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Jack Screw
Isn't he a porn star?
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Paris today.
>:(
(https://scontent-frt3-2.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/54436067_10218499791434246_1071632204783681536_o.jpg?_nc_cat=104&_nc_ht=scontent-frt3-2.xx&oh=dab385e0897bef4c07825a9a9ca3c997&oe=5D23A1A5)
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Grrr.
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Four months now!!
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This is just terrible, Ingy.
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is there any sign of this stopping?
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We have no news other than the Christchurch massacre. On Friday night it was non-stop. On Saturday the news was extended to 2 hours and while tonight was just 1 hour, there was nothing else, no advertisement, no weather report. The only overseas news was showing rallies ln support in London and Greece and New York. Looking online it is much the same in Australia but probably not so intense. I decided to go to the Cathedral (only the 2nd time since Christmas, the other was the cathedral centenary celebration). I went for coffee in the mall afterwards and was served by a girl wearing a hijab so I told her how sorry I was. It was much the same for the Christchurch Earthquake 8 years ago but somehow an act of nature, while terrible is easier to take. The creature lived (when he was in NZ) less than 10km from my home. I have never been so glad that I took out NZ citizenship.
Today has probably been the most miserable birthday of my life, close to tears so much of it and still taking regular paracetamol and ibuprofen after my operation 10 days ago. I am thankful my sister and another lady arranged a surprise afternoon tea for me last Tuesday week, the afternoon before my op. She went home last Tuesday and is now on a cruise with her husband from Adelaide to Singapore.
The thing is these extremists do not realise the effect is the opposite to their intention. The country is closer together, 100's have gathered outside the Dunedin Mosque to show solidarity. The mounds of flowers are growing. My suburb has many refugees from Syria They are on our bus and we usually just ignored them, now we will be speaking, saying sorry and perhaps even hugging them.
I am so proud of our Prime Minister. An Australian columnist writes 'With steely calm, with inclusive language, seeking to unite rather than divide, she told the world, “To the people who did this: you may have chosen us, but we UTTERLY reject and condemn you.”
Ms Ardern is one out of the box, a leader for her times, ideally suited to guide her country through this catastrophe.'
Seeing her, wearing a black hijab, hugging the Muslim ladies is lovely. She even put Trump down in a polite way.
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is there any sign of this stopping?
No.
Human stupidity and desire for violence don't provide any boundaries.
Orgy of hatred.
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I’ve been thinking of you of course, Brian. And I didn’t know it was your birthday - not the best of days for it. I understand about reacting differently to a natural disaster, however horrific, compared to an act of despicable human malevolence.
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So sorry what's happening in your country, Brian, and heartened by the response of your fellow countrymen and by people all around the world.
And glad to hear that your operation was a success.
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And glad to hear that your operation was a success.
Yes, I celebrate the positive and the personal. Happy belated Birthday to you, Brian, and for your successful
operation! Nice to hear!
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This image seems to me to represent the state of the world we are in right now:
(https://storage.googleapis.com/afs-prod/media/media:2e437ebce9134a7ea2aa7eb1740f0660/2000.jpeg)
Tellingly, the image is devoid of people. I wanted to describe what I'm exactly trying to convey. But I cannot.
___
What can we do about all this? In the face of all the hatred, the violence, and the enabling digital technology, it is easy to feel helpless. And I do. Don't you? I see the events portrayed in New Zealand and then halfway around the world the destruction in Paris. So as a U.S. citizen my best thoughts now are "At least it wasn't here this time." That's the best I can do?
I mention the digital technology because: How can it be right for the atrocity in New Zealand to be filmed by the murderer using a go-pro and live-streamed across the world by social media companies? How can that be right? Who should be held accountable for that?”
An opinion writer offered: At the very least, the big tech enterprises—such as Facebook, Google, and Twitter—must redouble their efforts to monitor hate speech on their platforms, take it down rapidly, and ban the people and groups who are spreading it. But, at this stage, it is too dangerous to leave this task to the companies, which, ultimately, are motivated by the desire to maximize traffic on their platforms. It is time for some collective action, also."
Yeah, but what do we do as individuals?
I am of the opinion that most all violence is the result of fear. When people are afraid they are ripe for acting out. And social media brings these people together. Fear begets fear. And we have a President who embodies fear, promotes it, uses it as a weapon and all to satisfy his ego because of his own fear of inadequacy. If we went back in time and hugged baby Trump (or baby Hitler?) what difference would that make? If one is accustomed to an occasional hug you might begin to know.
Also, never vote for anyone who doesn't have a sense of humor.
Not too long ago I was visiting a couple friends who were watching MSNBC and somehow we got the idea to switch to Fox News for awhile and see what they were covering that evening. Regardless of what was being talked about, we started noticing a big difference. Everyone on Fox was doom and gloom. The sky is falling. "Why so serious?" There was a temperament of angst. You don't even have to have the sound on to notice it.
Humor requires some enlightenment. The old adage speaks to this: "There is truth in humor." It also requires a willingness to accept and evaluate new knowledge you may acquire. Learning. The bible quote "The meek shall inherit the earth," is often misinterpreted. One of the definitions of "meek" is teachable. In other words, people who are teachable, who can learn and grow, will inherit the earth. Not those who are mired in fear. Fearful people are not inclined to have a sense of humor.
Did you ever notice growing up, too, that some kids who become adept at using humor might other wise get picked on? They use it to diffuse situations where they might otherwise get harmed? You've never seen people who are laughing engaged in fighting have you?
Am I rambling?
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An Australian columnist writes 'With steely calm, with inclusive language, seeking to unite rather than divide, she told the world, “To the people who did this: you may have chosen us, but we UTTERLY reject and condemn you.”
Ms Ardern is one out of the box, a leader for her times, ideally suited to guide her country through this catastrophe.' Seeing her, wearing a black hijab, hugging the Muslim ladies is lovely. She even put Trump down in a polite way.
I thought her response to Trump was amazing, as is the part I bolded above.
I hope that NZ as a whole, and all those affected by this disaster, are able to start the healing process quickly.
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(((Brian))) Happy birthday, I am so happy to hear the OP went well.
I hope your country will be the same beautiful place faster than you think, I don't think it even stopped being it, because of people like you living in it. I saw mine going through the 11 March 2004 Madrid train bombings. It was devastating, and so close home, I have friends who take those trains every day. But the reaction of the people, the solidarity, the togetherness that grew from it was so moving.
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Such a terrible tragedy. :(
Meanwhile, I came in, in the middle of a news report this morning, and I understand the Fake President is again (still?) attacking John McCain? Attacking the dead? Jesus. ...
Damn Dems really need to deal with this used ass wipe in the Oval Office.
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Thanks Elena (? I get confused with screen names, but then I have now turned 75 so am allowed to be a bit confused :D ) I have visited the memorial in Madrid, stayed near the station in 2011.
Yes, the outpouring of Aroha (Love) is wonderful. Yesterday the Mosque was reopened and blessed by both Muslim and Maori ceremonies, so beautiful a combination and the boys from the main Christchurch High School went down and performed a haka
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-03-18/teens-perform-haka-to-show-respect-to-christchurch-victims/10912140
The haka is always spine tingling, it is not just for sports events.
There was an impromptu vigil in our city on Saturday night but the official one is planned for Thursday night and they are considering the location as the Octagon (our city 'square') will be too small. They had to move the one held in our capital, Wellington, on Sunday evening from the city square to a large sports ground. I will certainly attend ours.
The creature has sacked his government provided lawyer and wants to represent himself, probably so he can make a big statement. Hopefully the judge will restrict that.
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I emailed this to all overseas contacts on my list.
If you have a little under 15 minutes and can access the website, please watch our wonderful Prime Minister in her statement to parliament which followed an opening prayer by an Imam.
https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/new-zealand/full-statement-jacinda-ardern-addresses-parliament-christchurch-terror-attack?auto=6015466518001
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I have just returned from the Civic Vigil in the Stadium here in Dunedin. The papers are saying 15,000 there. Dunedin has a population of 130,000. It was long (2 hours) as everything was translated into Arabic and, as usual the welcome was in Maori and English then in Arabic.
15 minutes was taken up with the sunset call to prayer then all the Muslim people went to one corner of the stadium and prayed while the rest of us sat in silence. I could not help thinking how, if the perpetrator wanted to get rid or Muslims or create enmity between us, he has failed spectacularly. I have not heard the Muslim call to prayer since I was in Istanbul in 2002 and here it was in my home city. Aroha (love) was probably the most used word tonight.
When a Muslim speaker thanked Jacinda Arden, the stadium burst into applause.
At the end, of course, we sung the National Anthem, as always in Maori then the first verse in English. I am told there are 5 English verses, we sung the 2nd, so appropriate. My friend said she had not sung it since school days.
Men of every creed and race,
Gather here before Thy face,
Asking Thee to bless this place,
God defend our free land.
From dissension, envy, hate,
And corruption guard our state,
Make our country good and great,
God defend New Zealand.
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How heart-warming and beautiful, Brian.
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Wonderful.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RYdfQvZrakM
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Thanks
Considering it was written in the 1870's, very apt. It was written and first performed in Dunedin by Thomas Bracken. His grave is in our Northern Cemetery. At the time Dunedin was the largest city in NZ (Gold rush) now it is 6th largest. God Defend New Zealand did not become the National Anthem until 1977 and (unlike Australia) it is a 2nd National Anthem to God Save the Queen but, naturally, the most used. I believe there are only 2 countries (Denmark?) with 2 national anthems. The Maori words are not a direct translation but has the same general meaning. It has only been normal to sing it in Maori since the 1990's.
In my first year here, at a concert, an elderly lady behind me said to her friend "Ridiculous to sing it in Maori, we do not know the words" I turned and said "I am an Australian, and I think it is wonderful to sing it in Maori". It is hard but I have managed to learn most of the Maori words.
I look forward to singing it in the Sydney Anzac Day dawn service.
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Just some info on how 45's tariffs are affecting business...we're starting to see the trickle-down affects...our company has a lot of suppliers in china and the estimated cost after the tariffs went into effect is about $30,000,000. So far, one of our big suppliers is pulling out of china and moving to malaysia to side step the tariffs.
I don't know what 45 expected, but if he thinks companies will leave china to come back here, he's just wrong.
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another victim...I hate that in the story, CNN calls the murdering killer a "troubled teen".
Sydney Aiello, a survivor of the Parkland school shooting, dies by suicide
By Ray Sanchez and Dianne Gallagher, CNN
Updated 2:58 PM ET, Sat March 23, 2019
(CNN)Sydney Aiello, who survived the 2018 massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida, has died from suicide, people close to the family told CNN.
Her mother, Cara, told CNN affiliate WFOR that Aiello suffered from survivor's guilt after one of the deadliest mass shootings in modern US history and had recently been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder.
Aiello, a student at Florida Atlantic University, died Sunday. Her funeral was Friday in Davie, Florida.
https://www.cnn.com/2019/03/23/us/parkland-shooting-survivor-sydney-aiello-suicide/index.html (https://www.cnn.com/2019/03/23/us/parkland-shooting-survivor-sydney-aiello-suicide/index.html)
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Today:
(https://am14.akamaized.net/med/cnt/uploads/2019/03/smollett-via-cnn-screengrab-e1553618842721.jpg)
Discuss.
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^^^^^ And the Chicago Police Chief and the department are PISSED OFF!!
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There HAS to be more to this story than what we've heard!! GOOD LORD, it's like a Soap Opera now.....maybe that his next role?? :o :o :o
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^^^^^ And the Chicago Police Chief and the department are PISSED OFF!!
And then there's Mayor Rahm Emmanuel saying, "How dare him? How dare him?"
::)
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I wonder if they will see the light at some point and call for a new referendum...
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Everything seems possible these days. Insanity rules!
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Today's the decisive Brexit day - or is it not?
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Our hosters are moving this site to a new data centre on Sunday 31st and there may be an outage of a couple of hours between 3am - 11am GMT and 4am -noon for Europe.
Our current DC provider is moving to a new location.
Equinix is one of the most prestigious global colocation providers. We have had many requests by our loyal client base over the years to expand into foreign and domestic markets. By adding Equinix’s services to our offerings we can now do more for our clients., As with any quality data center Equinix offers N+1 power with multi utility feeds & generators, N+1 on all cooling system, along with the highest quality onsite security in the business, and so much more.
No IP will be changed. GC servers will take between 2-4 hours to be moved.
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https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2019/03/29/george-clooney-calls-dorchester-hotel-boycott-bruneis-lgbt-laws/
Really don't know what the people who stay at these lavish hotels will think...or
even be bothered about it all...but I'm with Mr Clooney on this...if ever I could afford stay in one of the establishments.
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Several weeks ago I heard that the 37 year old, married, openly gay mayor of South Bend, Indiana, Pete Buttigieg, was making a bid for the Presidency. My first thoughts were somewhat dismissive. Things like, "It sounds kinda gimmicky," "Mayors of big cities, much less smaller ones, don't usually make it to running," "the press is gonna make light of this," "37 is really young", "I wonder if he's really serious," and things like that.
I first saw him interviewed on a cable show for about ten minutes. The questions, I thought, for so EARLY in this process were really hard ball and I wondered if he was prepared for them. He was. He had answers for all of them, policy related or not. He was calm and prepared. He's likable. I actually was impressed. I saw him interviewed again and then I saw him on a late night show, Stephen Colbert, and he handled that really well, too. Ever since when I've seen him here and there on TV I have not wavered in my initial assessment.
So I began asking my friends if they'd heard of him, some had/some hadn't, and I said, all things being considered, I want to support him. And they were all like "You just want to support him because he's gay". So, I had to think about that, because it's really a dismissive statement, and not unlike what black people were confronted with when Obama was running, "You're just supporting him because he's black."
In a field of 20 people right now, give or take, any number of things could lead people to one candidate or another. And I like a lot of them running. So, I decided if anyone says that to me again, that I'm just supporting him because he's gay, I will just not dismiss that entirely ("No, I'm not!"), I will say, "Yes, that's one in a list of reasons."
I suppose because we have an uncouth, vile cretin in office right now that one thing that appeals to me is he has a real sense of decency about him. Maybe that comes from his military experience--he served in Afghanistan. A sense of decency is a big deal right now.
He was in Los Angeles on Friday to appear in the interview segment of Bill Maher's show Real Time, which I watch every week. Bill Maher introduced him as "a rising star in the Democratic party" and when he came out the audience gave him a standing ovation, something I don't recall an audience doing before. He gave another fine interview, shows he has a sense of humor* and that he really is doing the work of a Presidential campaign.**
*I have a rule that you NEVER vote for a candidate for any office that does not have a sense of humor. Just look at the current occupant of the White House. (Even Hillary has a sense of humor, though it's an odd one!) My motto: "If you vote for a candidate without a sense of humor, you're electing a joke."
**Not only is he doing the work of running, he is taking care of his current job as Mayor, doing what is required as told to Bill Maher in an answer to his question about just that.
Probably because his name looks problematic to pronounce, his constituents in Indiana just call him Mayor Pete.
Bill Maher said his name and asked if he was told correctly how to pronounce it and Mayor Pete said that was right.
So here's the Buttigieg pronunciation guide: Boot-edge-edge, accent on the "boot". Boot' - edge -edge. Pete Buttigieg.
I know that his poll numbers are probably low, but one of the two criteria the DNC is using to be allowed in the Primary Debates
is a certain threshold, a number of individual contributions to one's campaign that shows a broad area of interest. He has that
right now and will be in the debates.
Opinions welcome.
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I know that his poll numbers are probably low, but one of the two criteria the DNC is using to be allowed in the Primary Debates
is a certain threshold, a number of individual contributions to one's campaign that shows a broad area of interest. He has that
right now and will be in the debates.
I decided to look up the current polling numbers and found this March 28th article which is hugely encouraging.
It shows me that people who are finding out who Pete Buttigieg is, are liking him. And, really, when it comes down
to it, despite the two years of campaigning, don't people just really want to vote for someone they like?
If it was about other things people wouldn't have voted for the current WH occupant. His voters don't seem to care about
anything he does or says, they only say "They like him." Like him, hated her.
The article I just read:
Pete Buttigieg Just Got His Best National Poll So Far
Analysis by Harry Enten, CNN (He also writes for Five Thirty Eight)
March 28, 2019
https://www.cnn.com/2019/03/28/politics/pete-buttigieg-best-national-poll-so-far/index.html
A few lines from the article here and there:
--The Mayor Pete Buttigieg mini-boomlet has officially arrived.
--Buttigieg's standing lands him at fifth and tied with Sen. Elizabeth Warren. Buttigieg is ahead of both Sens. Cory Booker and Amy Klobuchar, who are each at 2%. In other words, the current mayor of South Bend, Indiana, is polling in the same area as a number of candidates who are regarded as having a legitimate chance of winning the Democratic nomination.
--Obviously, this poll is just one poll, but it is just the latest sign that the Buttigieg brand is rising among Democrats. Other polling (of varying quality) has also shown that Buttigieg is on the upswing.
--What makes Buttigieg's leap all the more remarkable is less than half of Democrats have even heard of him. (Get the word out!)
--A candidate's strength in the horserace primary polls is very highly correlated with how many voters hold a very favorable opinion of her or him. This means that Buttigieg could jump into the top tier of candidates when he becomes better known.
--All things considered: At the very least though, Buttigieg has had a very good March.
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I like Mayor Pete a lot! (and I find a better way to remember the pronunciation of his last name is Buddha-judge, although the last syllable is more like jidge)
Certainly his being gay is one of the reasons, as well as his Notre Dame connection (his parents were professors at the school, though he himself went to Valparaiso).
He was just given an award by the gay alumni group from ND, GALA-ND/SMC.
https://www.wndu.com/content/news/Mayor-Pete-Buttigieg-receives-LGBT-service-award-507899581.html?fbclid=IwAR0lorLxaYyMywjr3sqS4i-tOcVNBw62XKGsrylFQ64YtP5mfHuqp0WNFro
I'm looking forward to voting for him in the Virginia primary. At first I was wondering if he'd make it that far, but it seems increasingly likely that he will, and beyond.
mod: I had somewhere been told that he went to Valpo, but apparently he got his BA from Harvard.
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The clincher for me was when I found out that he learned Norwegian to be able to read a favorite author in the original. And talked in the language with a Norwegian reporter in Texas at SXSW earlier this month.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-47587540
That makes me swoon.
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Maltese name?
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Yes. His father was born in Malta.
He was born in South Bend IN where his parents were teaching.
His father's page on the faculty roster. Unfortunately, he passed away a few months ago.
https://english.nd.edu/people/faculty/emeritus/buttigieg/
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I like Mayor Pete a lot! (and I find a better way to remember the pronunciation of his last name is Buddha-judge, although the last syllable is more like jidge)
I like that, too, Fritz!
I did however find that on his website they are selling t-shirts like this, though...
(https://i.ebayimg.com/thumbs/images/g/-u4AAOSwZntcmsMy/s-l200.jpg)
...maybe don't want some voters (and they know who they are) thinking of other religions?
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I like him a lot, too. Not only because he's gay, even if that's a bonus point, but because every interview I watched with him he seems like an extremely educated, articulated man, with a huge knowledge and curiosity about the world and a bunch of really interesting proposals. I specially like his point of view about automatisation and the "old" industrial work. In plain words it's like there's no way to stop it, there's no way to go back to coal mining and such, we should stop lying about saving that and start thinking about how to create new jobs which are realistic for the future (clean energy and others). At least that's what I understood. And he is also not hesitant about ending the electoral college.
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Lotsa people giving Mayor Pete some Lovin' right now.....he moves up in the poll numbers, and recognition, the fangs will come out from the other side, or maybe just his competitors in the Dems race! :o
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Here's a link to Lawrence O'Donnell's interview with Pete Buttigieg last night. O'Donnell got his questions from Twitter followers as well as some of his own. The final question was one O'Donnell thought was important and that (he said) many other candidates had a hard time answering:
Why should I vote for you over the well qualified female candidates I'm inclined to support as a woman
choosing a president to make a difference for women and overall equality?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Re5OyMdtQE
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Exactly.
It's like the Republicans in the U.S.:
R's: Get rid of Obamacare.
Questioners: And replace it with what?
R's: Just get rid of Obamacare.
Questioners: And replace it with what?
R's: Just get rid of Obamacare.
And this has been going on since 2009.
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:) :) :)
House Democrats Finally Ask For Trump’s Tax Returns
House Ways and Means Committee chairman Richard Neal asked the IRS for six years of the president’s personal and business tax returns.
Democrats in Congress have finally asked the Treasury Department to hand over copies of President Donald Trump’s personal and business tax returns, fulfilling a promise they made last year. House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard Neal (D-Mass.) made the request Wednesday.
“It is critical to ensure the accountability of our government and elected officials,” Neal said. “To maintain trust in our democracy, the American people must be assured that their government is operating properly, as laws intend.”
In a letter#, Neal asked the Internal Revenue Service to provide six years of Trump’s personal and business returns. The documents could reveal details about how he makes money and how much tax he pays ― meaning they could expose conflicts of interest and possible tax dodging. His former personal lawyer Michael Cohen told Congress in February that Trump has used fraud to avoid paying taxes over the years.
...
Every year, the IRS automatically audits the president’s taxes. Neal said that Congress needed to see Trump’s returns in order to make sure the IRS is carrying out its audits effectively.
“It is necessary for the Committee to determine the scope of any such examination and whether it includes a review of underlying business activities required to be reported on the individual income tax return,” Neal’s letter said.
...
If Democrats do ultimately obtain Trump’s taxes, the documents will not necessarily become public. It would be up to the committee to hold a vote to release the information, which is what Republicans did during the Obama years. But Democrats will have to get the documents first.
Tax experts say there’s no precedent for the Treasury Department to refuse to comply with a tax information request. A court battle would be similarly unprecedented, and there’s no telling how long one might take.
# Copy here:
https://docs.google.com/viewerng/viewer?url=https://waysandmeans.house.gov/sites/democrats.waysandmeans.house.gov/files/documents/Neal%2520Letter%2520to%2520Rettig%2520(signed)%2520-%25202019.04.03.pdf
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/donald-trump-tax-returns-democrats_n_5c82c30fe4b08d5b78617dc9
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Tim Apple. Oranges. German Dad. Mental Health Experts Warn That Trump Is Losing It.
WASHINGTON ― President Donald Trump’s recent confusion with words and facts, including about his own father, could be signs of pre-dementia and deteriorating cognitive skills, mental health experts warn.
“The ‘Tim Apple’ episode a few weeks ago, his calling Venezuela a company, and then yesterday, confusing his grandfather’s birthplace with his father’s, mispronouncing ‘origins’ as ‘oranges’ and stating out of the blue, ‘I’m very normal,’” recited Bandy Lee, a professor of psychiatry at Yale University who has been waving red flags about Trump’s mental state for years. “There is no question he needs an examination.”
Large numbers of Americans who are not mental health professionals have also started to question Trump’s mental condition, including prominent critics like George Conway, the husband of top White House aide Kellyanne Conway. They’ve noted both the president’s actions and his televised speeches and public remarks, in which he is frequently incoherent and goes off on long, unrelated tangents.
On Tuesday night, during his speech at the National Republican Congressional Committee spring dinner, Trump, who was then in the middle of 90 minutes of rambling remarks, veered off on a two-minute, 22-second detour that touched on how wind turbines kill bald eagles and other birds, moved on to how North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un was not ready for a deal, came back to how people who use wind power can’t watch television if the wind doesn’t blow, and finished with former President Barack Obama playing golf in Hawaii:
Hillary wanted to put up wind. Wind. If you ― if you have a windmill anywhere near your house, congratulations: Your house just went down 75 percent in value. And they say the noise causes cancer. You tell me that one, OK? “Rrrrr, rrrrr” ― you know the thing that makes the ― it’s so noisy. And of course it’s like a graveyard for birds. If you love birds, you’d never want to walk under a windmill because it’s a very sad, sad sight. It’s like a cemetery. We put a little, we put a little statute for the poor birds. It’s true. You know in California, if you shoot a bald eagle, they put you in jail for five years. And yet the windmills wipe ’em all out. It’s true. They wipe ’em out. It’s terrible. And I told the other day at CPAC. Great people at CPAC. We had an incredible thing. I had nothing to do. It was early on a Saturday morning. I had just gotten back from dealing with Kim Jong Un. We had a walk. He wasn’t ready for a deal but that’s OK because we get along great. He wasn’t ready. I told him, you’re not ready for a deal. That’s the first time anybody has ever told him that and left. It never happened to him before. Nobody’s ever left. But I said you’re not ready for a deal, but we’ll make a deal. We have a good relationship. We have a good relationship. But I told a story about, at CPAC. The woman, she wants to watch television. And she says to her husband, “Is the wind television, darling. Darling, please tell the wind to blow.” No, wind’s not so good. And you know, you have no idea how expensive it is to make those things. They’re all made in China and Germany, but the way, just in case you’re ― we don’t make ’em here, essentially. We don’t make ’em here. And by the way, the carbon, and all those things flying up in the air, you know the carbon footprint? President Obama used to talk about the carbon footprint, and then he’d hop on Air Force One, a big 747 with very old engines, and he’d fly to Hawaii to play a round of golf. You tell me, the carbon footprint.
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/trump-mental-health-pre-dementia_n_5ca51ea2e4b0409b0ec32806
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Wouldn't that make him easier to control? I am starting to be scared not of Trump, but of the people keeping him there. Who knows what they are up to hiding behind the "stable genius"!
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This afternoon I had the depressing thought that we will never really be rid of the Fake President even after he leaves office. The sonofabitch's portrait will hang with the portraits of the Real Presidents. And he'll be entitled to a presidential library.
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Filled with coloring books.
And don't forget, it will have to have a reflecting cesspool.
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Filled with coloring books.
Of course, he doesn't have to color within the lines.
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It's like the Republicans in the U.S.:
R's: Get rid of Obamacare.
Questioners: And replace it with what?
R's: Just get rid of Obamacare.
Questioners: And replace it with what?
R's: Just get rid of Obamacare.
And this has been going on since 2009.
Yep.
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Filled with coloring books.
;D
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Of course, he doesn't have to color within the lines.
Good one!
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WASHINGTON ―
Large numbers of Americans who are not mental health professionals have also started to question Trump’s mental condition,
All I have to say is: "started" to question...? :o
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I guess claiming that his father was born in Germany may have been the last straw... Or maybe the "oringes"?
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:) :) :)
House Democrats Finally Ask For Trump’s Tax Returns
Tax experts say there’s no precedent for the Treasury Department to refuse to comply with a tax information request. A court battle would be similarly unprecedented, and there’s no telling how long one might take.
Last night on his program, Lawrence O'Donnell pointed out there is another obscure law that makes it a crime, punishable for up to 5 years in prison,
for the President to even contact the IRS commissioner to tell him not to release his tax returns. (My guess is he's already done that.)
The same crime pertains to the IRS commissioner himself if he does not report said infraction.
All explained here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2l5wezc1vT0
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^^^
In that segment, the former IRS commissioner interviewed here says the decision to hand over the tax returns might be decided by the Treasury Secretary, not the current IRS commissioner. Why would the law leave it up to Steve Mnuchin? Every time Trump breaks the law (like the emoluments clause) people point these things out and then nothing happens. There is no recourse, there are no penalties. Why is there never anything to be done about it? Trump is Rolo Tomassi aka "the guy who gets away with it."
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Oh no, I just discovered that Trump is going to be within a short radius of my whereabouts today. He's flying in this afternoon to attend a fundraiser at some health executive's place this evening. Cue traffic jams and protests, because the address has been divulged. Can you imagine throwing a fundraiser for this cretin? Just goes to show you that money does not equal intelligence. A lot of stupid people are rich. (I mean, this has never been news to me, but a lot of people seem to equate wealth with intelligence. By that reasoning, if a stupid person suddenly won the lottery, they'd suddenly be highly intelligent.)
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Run, Lyle, run!
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^^^^^^
Good idea!
(https://media.giphy.com/media/mVTm52JQHDlD2/giphy.gif)
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:laugh:
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Oh no, I just discovered that Trump is going to be within a short radius of my whereabouts today. He's flying in this afternoon to attend a fundraiser at some health executive's place this evening. Cue traffic jams and protests, because the address has been divulged. Can you imagine throwing a fundraiser for this cretin? Just goes to show you that money does not equal intelligence. A lot of stupid people are rich. (I mean, this has never been news to me, but a lot of people seem to equate wealth with intelligence. By that reasoning, if a stupid person suddenly won the lottery, they'd suddenly be highly intelligent.)
The people of Anatevka made that assumption, as in "If I Were a Rich Man" from Fiddler on the Roof.
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We just found out that the move we thought was going to happen on March 30th, didn't happen, and is now happening tonight.
Underlined text is modified to reflect the changes.
Our hosters are moving this site to a new data center on Friday, April 5th and there may be an outage of four of hours between 8:00pm - 4:00am PDT.
Our current DC provider is moving to a new location.
Equinix is one of the most prestigious global colocation providers. We have had many requests by our loyal client base over the years to expand into foreign and domestic markets. By adding Equinix’s services to our offerings we can now do more for our clients., As with any quality data center Equinix offers N+1 power with multi utility feeds & generators, N+1 on all cooling system, along with the highest quality onsite security in the business, and so much more.
No IP will be changed. GC servers will take between 2-4 hours to be moved.
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Japan’s Hayabusa2’s explosive projectile impacts asteroid Ryugu to create a deep crater.
Japan’s space agency successfully used its Hayabusa2 spacecraft to slam a 4.4lb baseball-sized copper ‘bomb’ at 1.2 miles per second onto the distant asteroid Ryugu.
The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) confirmed that Hayabusa2 was intact after it safely retreated in order to avoid the ensuing debris shooting up from the surface.
Once the dust and debris settle Hayabusa2 will return to the site to collect samples from underground that have not been exposed to the sun or space rays. Scientists hope the subterranean samples will be crucial to determine the history of the asteroid and our planet.
If successful, it would be the first time for a spacecraft to take such materials.
Hayabusa2 successfully touched down on the boulder-rich asteroid in February this year, when the spacecraft also collected some surface dust and small debris. The craft is scheduled to leave the asteroid at the end of 2019 and bring surface fragments and underground samples back to Earth in late 2020.
(https://oi412.photobucket.com/albums/pp201/rasalgethi_photo/News%202019/Hayabusa2%20drops%20explosive_zpspg4x2qjq.png)
Artist’s impression—Hayabusa2 releasing its explosive on Ryugu.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-6889253/Japan-space-probe-drops-explosive-asteroid-make-crater.html
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(Posted by our dear Axia/Sonja on FB - I love it.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p52Jycc5fOs
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(Posted by our dear Axia/Sonja on FB - I love it.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p52Jycc5fOs
;D
I am as embarrassed as as anyone by this appalling state of affairs and the inadequate government of my country. I did however vote ‘remain’.
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I'm always interested in what people from other countries think of our current President. I know some of you comment here, but what's the popular opinion of him elsewhere? When I was in Europe in 2004 people there had very STRONG negative opinions of George W Bush, and didn't hesitate to let you know!! :o :o :o
LOL....
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Believe me, Jonn. The opinions about Trump are just so strong, if not even more, and we are more than ready to tell you all about it. I think we are watching it all as if it was a real bad reality show, waiting for someone to finally cancel the show. And he sadly corroborates for many the stereotypes they always had about the US. His government has lost in two years all the good points earned by Obama in eight. But I have to say, meeting you all here, well that's the America I would love to have.
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It will take a long time for this country to regain the trust of the world, and so many in the base want others to hate this country, it's astonishing. Though they'll never admit to it, they're following Putin's directives to the letter, to a greater degree than Putin ever dreamed.
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I'm always interested in what people from other countries think of our current President. I know some of you comment here, but what's the popular opinion of him elsewhere? When I was in Europe in 2004 people there had very STRONG negative opinions of George W Bush, and didn't hesitate to let you know!! :o :o :o
LOL....
In the midst of all our woes I’ve several times heard it said, ”Well, at least we haven’t got Trump!”
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I thought GW Bush was terrible but he was a saint compared to Trump. I do feel sorry for Theresa May as I believe she voted to remain but guess she was a fool to take on organising the exit, guess she just wanted the position of PM.
My birth country, Australia, is not much better. They seem to get a new PM every 12 months or so and there will be elections in May. From what I am told the Leader of the Opposition who will probably be PM by the end of May is not a lot better than the current one, we shall see.
I hate to rub it in but we all love our PM in Aotearoa New Zealand and are so proud of how the world also seems to adore her. There are problems, she has a coalition of her party (Labour), New Zealand First (who I dislike and would never get my vote) and the Greens (my first choice), so has to control some opposing forces.
We do not have National elections until late 2020. There are local council elections this October. But, unlike USA, we only get much discussion about 6 to 8 weeks beforehand. The Australian elections will probably be called this weekend (perhaps next) and as I am going there for Easter I will probably be in the midst of it and be glad to return to sanity on April 28.
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In the midst of all our woes I’ve several times heard it said, ”Well, at least we haven’t got Trump!”
I'd like to see him have to deal with the House of Commons. That might be highly entertaining.
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;D
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He'd have collapsed long ago, he couldn't take real opposition.
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I’m posting this excellent Politico article because it’s going to be interesting to see whether the points it raises will arise during the forthcoming showdown between the House Judiciary Committee and those who oppose its access to the full unredacted Mueller Report. l’ve simplified the section after the preamble to emphasize the salient points mentioned by the writer.
The Forgotten Reason Congress Needs to See the Mueller Report
Legislators have a responsibility to police obstruction of justice, according to the Constitution.
News that Attorney General Bill Barr might have mischaracterized special counsel Robert Mueller’s final report on obstruction of justice by the president has increased calls for Barr to release the report to Congress. If Barr refuses to do so and House Judiciary Committee Chairman Rep. Jerry Nadler issues a subpoena, we may be in for a separation of powers showdown—and a central question will be the legal basis upon which Congress is entitled to see the fruits of Mueller’s investigation.
The argument for Congress’ obtaining Mueller’s full report on obstruction is typically based on its constitutional power to impeach: Since Congress alone has the power to take action against the president, if he has broken the law or abused his power—which is true if the Justice Department adheres to its policy of not indicting a sitting president, even if it is not settled law—Congress would by necessity need to see the evidence Mueller has gathered to determine if impeachment is warranted. If lawmakers weren’t able to see the report, then the president would effectively be immunized from accountability for wrongdoing while he is in office, putting him above the law.
This is a powerful argument in the battle that could ensue in the coming weeks. But it overlooks an additional constitutional basis that Congress has for reviewing the president’s conduct: Congress has a responsibility, rooted firmly in the Constitution, to safeguard the integrity of the justice system, including to prevent obstruction of justice. As such, Mueller’s findings are as much about whether President Donald Trump has stepped on Congress’ toes as it is about whether he broke the law.
Digest of the remainder of the article:
• In contesting a subpoena from Congress, the White House will likely make its favorite defense, which is that the president, legally speaking, can’t obstruct justice. This “unitary executive” theory rests on Article II of the Constitution, which gives the chief executive the power to “take care that the laws be faithfully executed.” According to this view, this language means the president alone is in charge of which cases to pursue in the justice system: If he decides to stop an investigation, that is his prerogative, and his reasons for doing so are beyond the purview of investigators, Congress and the courts.
• The problem with this defense is that it conflates enforcement of the laws—a power that resides in the executive branch—with the administration of justice, which is a constitutional responsibility that is shared by all three branches, including Congress.
• The idea of obstruction of justice has its origins in an 1819 case, in which the Supreme Court found that Congress however, could pass laws which are “necessary and proper” to execute the powers of the other two branches as well. As an example of the latter, the Supreme Court pointed out that Congress could pass laws to ensure the effective functioning of the courts. i.e. it made clear that Congress has the constitutional authority to ensure that the justice system can function without malevolent interference: This is exactly what obstruction of justice is about.
• As courts have observed in more recent cases, it makes sense that Congress would be entrusted with safeguarding the integrity of the judicial process. After all, Congress itself is responsible for creating all federal courts apart from the Supreme Court. Protecting the procedure through which cases are investigated, tried and adjudicated is what allows the judicial branch to function as a coequal branch—if defendants could derail cases, mislead investigators or lie to the court with impunity, courts would cease to have the ability to administer justice at all.
• If it’s Congress’ job to create rules that protect the courts’ ability to do their job, then it’s also Congress’ duty to get to the bottom of whether the president has tried to thwart those efforts.
• In short, while the president can decide what cases to pursue, it’s Congress’ job to protect how they move through our judicial system. In fact, understanding obstruction of justice as an expression of Congress’ constitutional power to safeguard the judicial process means that contrary to Barr’s assertions, the motive behind the obstruction matters—particularly when it comes to the president.
• If there is evidence, for example, that Trump tried to stop the Russia investigation to shield his own private conduct because it is illegal, politically damaging, or even merely embarrassing to him personally, then he has not only violated the U.S. legal code, but also his own constitutional duty to enforce the laws in good faith.
• It’s because the president holds such immense power that the crime of obstruction of justice not only applies to him, but applies especially to him: When he abuses that authority he is not only potentially breaking the law, he is encroaching on Congress’ constitutional interest in the administration of justice—which means Congress has a lens, independent of its impeachment power, through which to review his actions.
• The full details of Mueller’s report will reveal if Trump used his power to undermine the efforts of his coequal branches to uphold the rule of law—and Congress has every right to find out.
Full article here:
https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2019/04/09/congress-mueller-report-226580
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I did however vote ‘remain’.
Well done.
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Store withdraws chocolate ducklings over racism complaint
By Jack Guy, CNN
Updated 10:39 AM ET, Tue April 9, 2019
(https://i.pinimg.com/564x/ef/44/64/ef4464834c59d25882491def91581ee1.jpg)
(CNN)UK grocery chain Waitrose has apologized after being accused of racism over the names of three chocolate ducklings.
The "Waitrose Trio of Chocolate Easter Ducklings" contains a white, milk and dark chocolate version, which were named "Fluffy," "Crispy" and "Ugly" respectively.
A Twitter user questioned why Waitrose had chosen to call the darkest duckling "Ugly."
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Store withdraws chocolate ducklings over racism complaint
By Jack Guy, CNN
Updated 10:39 AM ET, Tue April 9, 2019
(https://i.pinimg.com/564x/ef/44/64/ef4464834c59d25882491def91581ee1.jpg)
(CNN)UK grocery chain Waitrose has apologized after being accused of racism over the names of three chocolate ducklings.
The "Waitrose Trio of Chocolate Easter Ducklings" contains a white, milk and dark chocolate version, which were named "Fluffy," "Crispy" and "Ugly" respectively.
A Twitter user questioned why Waitrose had chosen to call the darkest duckling "Ugly."
Didn't that Twitter user ever hear of The Ugly Duckling? Just wonderin'.
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doesn't anything else strike you as weird about this?
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doesn't anything else strike you as weird about this?
No. I guess I'm not seeing what you're seeing. The dark chocolate one looks more crispy to me; it looks like there might be something crunchy mixed in with the chocolate.
Beyond that I just see someone with too much time on his or her hands making a fuss for the sake of making a fuss.
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The whole thing is weird, but not sure what else is weird about it.
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The whole Brexit mess reminds me of this Durante song:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6lZSwZPnCHY
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A new one to me, but very apt!
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No. I guess I'm not seeing what you're seeing. The dark chocolate one looks more crispy to me; it looks like there might be something crunchy mixed in with the chocolate.
Beyond that I just see someone with too much time on his or her hands making a fuss for the sake of making a fuss.
I just found it more than absurdly ridiculous for anyone with half a brain to equate a chocolate Easter bunny with racism and more absurdly ridiculous that the store bought into their bullshit. that's all...
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I just found it more than absurdly ridiculous for anyone with half a brain to equate a chocolate Easter bunny with racism and more absurdly ridiculous that the store bought into their bullshit. that's all...
I agree.
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I just found it more than absurdly ridiculous for anyone with half a brain to equate a chocolate Easter bunny with racism and more absurdly ridiculous that the store bought into their bullshit. that's all...
I agree, Nancy. But Waitrose has a reputation for ethical values, fair trade, reliable sourcing of meat, and high quality generally, and I suppose they didn’t want it tarnishing their image!
On the whole it’s an excellent shop, and I go to my nearest one often.
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I don't think this Brexit thing is EVER going to happen!! LOL....May and the rest of the politicos will be dead and gone before this is done! IMHO, you understand? :o
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When I was staying in London (Chelsea) I walked the 10 to 15 minutes to Waitrose rather than use the Sainsbury right opposite my apartment. I was impressed. They even had free coffee although I never tried it, i guess it was just brewed coffee which I do not like.
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Nice to see an example, for once, of a positive outcome for nature and wildlife ...
Lost watercourse flows again in Somerset after more than 60 years
Restoration of unnamed tributary of River Chew offers new habitat for rare wildlife.
The half-kilometre tributary of the River Chew, which runs from the Mendip Hills down to the River Avon, was severed by a dam in 1956, when the valley was flooded to form the Chew Valley Lake reservoir to supply water to Bristol and Bath.
Downstream, the ecosystem withered into a dry ditch and died. An important ecological corridor was lost for aquatic creatures which had been using the route since the last ice age. Instead, an occasional spill from the reservoir was diverted into a concrete spillway, bypassing the old riverbed and destroying the central linking piece of the route’s ecological jigsaw.
The water has now been redirected as part of a restoration project by Bristol Water, with Bristol Avon Rivers Trust and other partners. The river’s revival has included dramatic re-engineering of reservoir overflows, redirecting water along its former path.
(https://oi412.photobucket.com/albums/pp201/rasalgethi_photo/News%202019/river-chew-tributary_zpsoianx8fx.jpg)
The restored route meanders through an abandoned 1950s poplar and alder plantation. Dense thickets of bramble and shady canopy have been opened up to encourage river wildlife, bringing in light and encouraging aquatic plants, and the channel has been reshaped with berms, riffles and pools so undesirable silt buildup is scoured out by the natural energy of a faster current, opening up fish and invertebrate spawning areas.
Vulnerable populations of water voles, eels, and white clawed crayfish should be able to weave their way upstream and recolonize the area. Fish likely to return include salmon, trout, chub, perch, bream, carp, pike, minnow and stickleback.
Otters, kingfishers, barn owls and rare bats already hunt close by. Spring forest floor flowers have reappeared on the river banks. Chattering green woodpeckers and orange-tip butterflies flash through fresh sunlight among primroses, wild garlic and bluebells.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/apr/12/lost-river-returns-somerset-70-years-after-dried-up
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Very nice.
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When I was staying in London (Chelsea) I walked the 10 to 15 minutes to Waitrose rather than use the Sainsbury right opposite my apartment. I was impressed. They even had free coffee although I never tried it, i guess it was just brewed coffee which I do not like.
You do have to have a Waitrose card and spend at least £10, but you also get a free newspaper.
Not sure what you mean by ‘brewed’. It’s freshly made in a machine with coffee beans, and is very good IMO!
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Nice to see an example, for once, of a positive outcome for nature and wildlife ...
Lost watercourse flows again in Somerset after more than 60 years
Restoration of unnamed tributary of River Chew offers new habitat for rare wildlife.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/apr/12/lost-river-returns-somerset-70-years-after-dried-up
This is a great story, Paul. I agree, nice to see a positive outcome for nature!
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Thank you, Chuck. :)
It’d be even better if it happened more often, especially after what happened here recently, with a million fish dying due to disastrous water management of our country’s major Murray-Darling River Basin.
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Mayor Pete announced, Tiger WINS the Masters, and Trump raises 30 million for his re-election? LORD!! I thought he was SELF-FUNDING everything? Whatever, we'll all be exhausted by the time we get to the voting booths!! :o
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Pete B.'s announcement speech was just beautiful. Something I could not have imagined even a few years ago.
Leaving out the political aspects, it made me think that's what most black people felt when Jesse Jackson became
a candidate or what women felt when Geraldine Ferraro was nominated for Vice-President.
It's about 40 minutes and there's numerous youtube postings.
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Whatever, we'll all be exhausted by the time we get to the voting booths!
I'm tired of it already.
As of this post there's only
567 days
13,619 hours
817,195 minutes
49,031,631 seconds
...to go...
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some people just don't have enough to worry about...too aggressive? WTF does that mean?
Putting American flags on police cars sparks backlash in Laguna Beach
A decision to affix an American flag graphic to the side of freshly painted Laguna Beach police cars is dividing residents, who are alternately praising the image as patriotic or panning it as too aggressive.
After hearing the criticism and acknowledging that the image they approved didn’t quite match the final results, officials agreed to reconsider their February decision to paint the Laguna Beach Police Department’s fleet of 11 squad cars. The City Council will take up the issue again at its Tuesday meeting.
“People are screaming that the American flag on a police car is somehow or another ... hurting people’s feelings who might be immigrants or visitors,” said Councilman Peter Blake. “People are actually ridiculous enough to bring up comments about our cop cars having American flags on them.”
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/putting-american-flags-on-police-cars-sparks-backlash-in-laguna-beach/ar-BBVUtnt (https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/putting-american-flags-on-police-cars-sparks-backlash-in-laguna-beach/ar-BBVUtnt)
(https://c-6rtwjumjzx7877x24nrl-x78-rx78s-htrx2efpfrfnejix2esjy.g01.msn.com/g00/3_c-6bbb.rx78s.htr_/c-6RTWJUMJZX77x24myyux78x3ax2fx2fnrl-x78-rx78s-htr.fpfrfneji.sjyx2fyjsfsyx2ffrux2fjsynydnix2fGGAZw7h.nrlx3fmx3d905x26bx3d244x26rx3d1x26vx3d15x26tx3dkx26qx3dkx26n65h.rfwpx3dnrflj_$/$/$/$/$)
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While I do agree it's much ado about nothing, given the political state of the US no, and the focus on immigration, I can understand why seeing a law enforcement vehicle with the flag of the country on it could cause others to feel intimidated.
Just out of curiosity, I went to Google and did an image search on the following police cars:
British police car, Italian police car, Ireland police car, Spanish police car, Finnish police car, Mexican police car, Swedish police car, Puerto Rico police car, Russian police car, Iraq police car, Iran police car, Australia police car, New Zealand police car, Ukraine police car, Brazil police car.
None of those cars had their country's flag or colors painted on them. The only exception is the one I bolded, the Spanish police car, and there was an exception to that. The police cars for town forces had no national colors on them. The car used by the Spanish National Police (to differentiate it) had a stripe that matched the Spanish flag.
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Maybe they could paint them pink:
(https://media.local10.com/photo/2016/09/29/Miami%20Beach%20Pink%20Patrol%20Car_1475175432909_8082314_ver1.0_1280_720.jpg)
I like this one:
(https://www.trbimg.com/img-5c563cb8/turbine/fl-ne-wilton-manors-rainbow-gay-police-car-20190201)
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Oh, are they the Fashion Police I'm always hearing about?
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^^^^
LMAO!
You know, in West Hollywood the police do NOT read us our Miranda Rights.
We're required to be read our Carmen Miranda Rights.
Granted, those vehicles were for special occasions. The flag symbol is usually used for "national" reasons, like border patrol officers maybe, and police forces are local, so not appropriate for that reason alone in my opinion.
I think Fox News aka Trump-TV goes around making these things into "stories", then attributing these stories to liberals, so they can rant and rave about it to their disciples.
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A huge fire in 12th century Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris - tragic.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/world-europe-47941749/notre-dame-fire-flames-have-broken-out-at-the-cathedral-in-paris (https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/world-europe-47941749/notre-dame-fire-flames-have-broken-out-at-the-cathedral-in-paris)
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Horrible.
(((((((((((( Notre Dame Cathedral :'( ))))))))))))
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:'(
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They are unable to use water helicopters as they have none in the city and don't allow helicopters over the city. It looks on CNN as if the fire department can't get close enough.
This is just horrible!! :'(
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They hace explained that they can't use water planes because they could tear down the whole structure and cause great damage to the firefighters. Apparently they are never used in cities because it's impossible to narrow the target and it can be very dangerous.
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Yes, but helicopters carry smaller buckets that can focus the water better. The planes have their bellies full of water and are used in wildfires and designed to cover big areas. Helicopters for smaller areas and buildings.
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There is a concern about the walls and if they would collapse.
If they would collapse inward, anyone inside the structure would be buried. If they collapse outward, they'll crush other buildings that are nearby.
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This is really interesting but sadly only in Spanish.
https://elpais.com/cultura/2019/04/15/actualidad/1555353080_565421.html?id_externo_rsoc=TW_CM
But you can see a picture of the beautiful cathedral from my hometown after a fire in 1966. They write the cathedral survived because they didn't use water to extinguish the fire, and that water should not be used because it can make the stones heavier and affect the structure. Back then they left the roof burn down and the wood burn down and the cathedral could be saved. Here it is now:
(https://i.blogs.es/640958/9032187065_5e6f1515d9_b/1366_2000.jpg)
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I didn't know helicopters could do that, Linda, I only knew the fire planes.
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According to CNN, the French government just replied to the inquiry about helicopters.
They said they have the capability, but the concern was the water being dumped onto the structure could cause the walls to collapse, so they opted not to use this tactic.
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^^^^
LMAO!
You know, in West Hollywood the police do NOT read us our Miranda Rights.
We're required to be read our Carmen Miranda Rights.
Granted, those vehicles were for special occasions. The flag symbol is usually used for "national" reasons, like border patrol officers maybe, and police forces are local, so not appropriate for that reason alone in my opinion.
I think Fox News aka Trump-TV goes around making these things into "stories", then attributing these stories to liberals, so they can rant and rave about it to their disciples.
lol lol Lyle! Carmen Miranda rights! :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:
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While I do agree it's much ado about nothing, given the political state of the US no, and the focus on immigration, I can understand why seeing a law enforcement vehicle with the flag of the country on it could cause others to feel intimidated.
I'm not intimidated by seeing an American flag on a cop car..........maybe I would if I was breaking the law.
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I'm not intimidated by seeing an American flag on a cop car..........maybe I would if I was breaking the law.
The first thing that popped into my head was "Police State."
If the city has a coat of arms or something like that, I think they would have been better advised to put that on their police vehicles.
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lol lol Lyle! Carmen Miranda rights! :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:
Thank you, Nancy! :-*
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Wow, the Mueller Report is non-news around here?
Perhaps it's because none of us are surprised?
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You knew it would happen: Candidate Pete Buttigieg was heckled by anti-gay protesters at a campaign rally Tuesday in Iowa, shouting about "Sodom & Gomorrah."
"The good news is, the condition of my soul is in the hands of God, but the Iowa caucuses are up to you," an unshaken Buttigieg responded, pointing at the crowd.
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Wow, the Mueller Report is non-news around here?
Perhaps it's because none of us are surprised?
sounds like this is from Fox News, but it's CNN...although the contributor is an R
Mueller's report looks bad for Obama
By Scott Jennings
Scott Jennings, a CNN contributor, is a former special assistant to President George W. Bush and former campaign adviser to Sen. Mitch McConnell.
Updated 1:06 PM ET, Fri April 19, 2019
(CNN)The partisan warfare over the Mueller report will rage, but one thing cannot be denied: Former President Barack Obama looks just plain bad. On his watch, the Russians meddled in our democracy while his administration did nothing about it.
The Mueller report flatly states that Russia began interfering in American democracy in 2014. Over the next couple of years, the effort blossomed into a robust attempt to interfere in our 2016 presidential election. The Obama administration knew this was going on and yet did nothing. In 2016, Obama's National Security Adviser Susan Rice told her staff to "stand down" and "knock it off" as they drew up plans to "strike back" against the Russians...
Why did Obama go soft on Russia? My opinion is that it was because he was singularly focused on the nuclear deal with Iran.
But the Mueller report makes it clear that the Russian interference failure was Obama's alone. He was the commander-in-chief when all of this happened. In 2010, he and Eric Holder, his Attorney General, declined to prosecute Julian Assange, who then went on to help Russia hack the Democratic National Committee's emails in 2016. He arguably chose to prioritize his relationship with Putin vis-à-vis Iran over pushing back against Russian election interference that had been going on for at least two years.
https://www.cnn.com/2019/04/19/opinions/mueller-report-obama-jennings/index.html (https://www.cnn.com/2019/04/19/opinions/mueller-report-obama-jennings/index.html)
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what an aspiration they had: to be serial killers.
Two 14-year-old girls drew up plans to kill 9 people, police say
(CNN)Two 14-year-old girls in Florida have been arrested after a teacher discovered their plans to kill nine people, sheriff's reports say.
The Highlands County School Board confirmed in a statement to CNN that two Avon Park Middle School students were taken into custody Wednesday for "a possible plan to harm others off campus," but declined to offer additional details, citing the ongoing investigation.
The girls were concerned that they could be arrested, the teacher told police, and one of them said, "I'm just going to tell them it's a prank if they call me or if they find it."
The teacher found the folder and a letter inside that mentioned "guns," the arrest reports said.
Inside were eight pieces of paper, the reports said. They contained written plans to obtain guns, kill nine people and remove and dispose of the bodies.
Each girl faces nine counts of conspiracy to commit murder and three counts of conspiracy to commit kidnapping, according to the sheriff's office reports.
https://www.cnn.com/2019/04/19/us/florida-middle-school-girls-murder-plot-trnd/index.html (https://www.cnn.com/2019/04/19/us/florida-middle-school-girls-murder-plot-trnd/index.html)
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very sad...I didn't realize there was a "New IRA"
Two teenagers arrested in the killing of journalist Lyra McKee
By Nic Robertson, Peter Taggart and Tara John, CNN
Updated 7:52 AM ET, Sat April 20, 2019
Londonderry/Derry, Northern Ireland (CNN)Northern Ireland police have arrested two teenagers in connection with the murder of 29-year-old investigative journalist Lyra McKee, authorities said Saturday.
The men, aged 18 and 19, were arrested under the terrorism act, the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) tweeted. They have been taken to a police station in central Belfast.
McKee, a prominent freelance journalist who wrote for publications including The Atlantic and Buzzfeed News, was killed in the Creggan area of Londonderry, also known as Derry, on Thursday night in what police described as a "terrorist incident."
McKee was standing close to a police vehicle when she was wounded by the shots fired by a single gunman. She died soon after from her injuries, assistant chief constable Mark Hamilton told reporters Friday.
Police said the shooting was carried out by dissident republicans, namely the New IRA.
https://www.cnn.com/2019/04/20/uk/lyra-mckee-two-men-arrested-gbr-intl/index.html (https://www.cnn.com/2019/04/20/uk/lyra-mckee-two-men-arrested-gbr-intl/index.html)
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Mueller's report looks bad for Obama
By Scott Jennings
Scott Jennings, a CNN contributor, is a former special assistant to President George W. Bush and former campaign adviser to Sen. Mitch McConnell.
Updated 1:06 PM ET, Fri April 19, 2019
What's that Bible quote: "seek, and ye shall find."
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Pete Buttigieg Cute Gay Moments
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XIznSbky-Aw
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Now we have Biden in the mix. Honestly, it's almost TOO MUCH all these Dems running at once, lots of TIME before the first primaries........ ;D
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Army veteran charged with plotting terror attacks in LA area
Updated 5:16 PM ET, Mon April 29, 2019
(CNN)A 26-year-old former US Army soldier who served in Afghanistan has been charged with plotting terror attacks in the Los Angeles area, the Justice Department said Monday.
Mark Steven Domingo allegedly sought to detonate improvised explosive devices containing nails this past weekend at a rally in Long Beach that was organized by a white nationalist group.
He was arrested Friday night after he took receipt of what he thought were pressure cooker bombs, US Attorney Nick Hanna announced at a press conference.
"Law enforcement was able to identify a man consumed with hate, and bent on mass murder and stop him before he was able to carry out his attack," Hanna said.
Domingo allegedly wanted to "seek retribution for attacks against Muslims" and also considered attacks on Jewish people, churches and law enforcement.
He is accused of targeting "Jews as they walked to synagogue, police officers, a military facility, and crowds at the Santa Monica Pier."
On March 2, DOJ says Domingo posted a video online professing his Muslim faith and wrote, "America needs another Vegas event," referring to the mass shooting in Las Vegas in October 2017 in which more than 50 people died.
https://www.cnn.com/2019/04/29/politics/terror-plot-thwarted-la/index.html (https://www.cnn.com/2019/04/29/politics/terror-plot-thwarted-la/index.html)
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https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2019/04/29/polish-artists-banana-eating-protest-culture-ministry-removes/
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So by publicizing it, they make it better known than otherwise. Smart government move.
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I wish Biden had stayed OUT of the race.......tooooooo much baggage with him, and TOO MUCH TIME in politics, sorry, just the way I feel....... ;D
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I'm feeling the same way, Jonn. Although I like Biden and would have no qualms about him
being elected, he just seems out of touch in ways that seem problematic in today's climate.
Will this marathon system ever change? I hope people remember it didn't always used to be this way.
Remember the current occupant of the W.H. set up his next run the day or day after he was sworn in.
(There was lots of swearing that day.) He's been campaigning ever since. Not much work going on.
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That's all he cares about, those rallies!! ;D
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^^^^^ That's because he is the center if attention and everyone is on his side at these. Makes me gag.....
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This is supposed to be the next TIME cover. Wow!
(https://scontent-iad3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/59551424_10103668900795247_9198883572147027968_n.jpg?_nc_cat=103&_nc_eui2=AeFhxrtk1rQlpSkYW_jkaHxSAOp97lcdQuf9TqGonTdft5lFlBfpAZoyMoGeEyvCzIAtMyCQH2mtdqBP2RBMOoX5Gh35yJ73iKXo_7JSHHaiqg&_nc_ht=scontent-iad3-1.xx&oh=d63c052695934ac19052e6b33f547b38&oe=5D6B397F)
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^^^
Where is there even a news stand I could get one of those at?
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My friend Rich said someone told him Pete Buttigieg is coming to The Abbey here
in West Hollywood for a two-hour fundraiser so we looked up info about it. Before
I did I mentioned it to another friend. He and his partner give quite a lot of money
to candidates all over the U.S. He said, well if you have to donate to get a ticket,
don't be surprised if only the TOP amount is available for a ticket. He said in his
experience they sell few tickets in the low amounts because they want all the rich
people's money. So, sure enough, that was the case.
THURSDAY, MAY 9TH, 2019
5PM – 7PM
Los Angeles, CA
Address available upon RSVP
Tickets:
Friend $25.00 each Sold out!
Supporter $50.00 each Sold out!
Advocate $100.00 each Sold out!
Champion $500.00 each Sold out!
Co-Host $1,000.00 each Available
It's frustrating during the campaign season where you see the candidates running
around Iowa, New Hampshire and then swing states, holding free rallies or talking
to everyone in their diners and living rooms and park benches, but when they come
to Los Angeles, if you want to see them you have to fork out the cash in large quantities.
Not that I want to say how LONG I've lived here, but I only recall ONE instance where
any candidate came out here and had a rally you could go to with no large fees, er,
donations attached. (Al Gore on Halloween night of 2000.)
I don't know how this event came to be in The Abbey, which is a gay nightclub/bar
in West Hollywood. Supposedly a couple city council members had a hand in it. I do
know that in 2008, way after the fact, I heard that there was something similar there
in the Primary season for Hillary Clinton.
I don't know, should I go over there and stalk the streets next Thursday, a week from
today, to see if I could get a glimpse of the man on the cover of Time magazine?
(Although I just noticed in that ticket section I copied it says "Address Available on RSVP"
so the location this is happening probably isn't even known to the general riff-raff. >:( )
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ANOTHER DEM in the race now, Sen Bennett from Colorado?? Know NOTHING about him!!
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It's not the fact there are so many candidates running that bothers me, it's the fact that
three small states have the most say in whittling down the field every time. The Iowa
caucuses and then the New Hampshire primary and then South Carolina primary.
All these places not only get to see all the candidates, they interact with them more than
anyplace else in the country it seems. Then their states all go vote for Trump.
And it's always the same with slight variations. Why do these regions have so much say in it?
I mean, the San Fernando Valley out here has more people than the populations of all but the
four largest cities in the United States.
The system's rigged! :)
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Here's a CNN Poll released this week of how people would vote between the incumbent and several
Democratic candidates as of now.
I deleted the rest of the post. It's too early. It doesn't matter.
(I'm trying not to pay much attention as I rant all the time about the process being too long. Yet. here I post.)
I'm conflicted. :-\
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Everyone is going to be conflicted from now until the 2020 Election, and maybe after that too!! Trump is LOVIN' on Putin again..........LORD!! when will that Love Affair end? And WHEN will the Repubs in the Senate TAKE NOTICE!!! :o :o :o
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I am so tired of the Dems in the house right now, too. They ask for something from the administration
and they don't get it. Then they say, "Okay, we'll give you another chance. Here's a new date." Then they
don't get it and they say, "If you don't give us what we asked for we're going to subpoena you." Etc. etc.
For effen sake, the administration said they are NOT going to cooperate. Stop the charade. Set ONE date.
If they don't do what you ask, then go right to subpoena. Stop playing this stupid game with them. Chris
Hayes on his show keeps asking Dem guests that bottom line question. "What are you gonna do?" and they
all answer it like wimps with their moral outrage and no action answers.
Take a lesson:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ALcqt6GMhM
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Neither party had one set of balls among them, and no apologies to the women. It's pathetic and it really pisses me off. One of the reasons I seldom post about politics, because it just makes me angry.
I've had people ask me that if I'm so angry about it, why don't I do something about it? I felt I did in the midterm elections, and soon realized the people I voted for have no balls either, and all the changes they promised were not worth the air they used to make them.
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It's easy to get extremely frustrated with Government because anything good that happens seems to occur at a glacial pace.
With all types of media nowadays in our face constantly we are always reminded of it, too. When I was in college in the 1970's
during all the Watergate stuff, you weren't constantly bombarded from the time you woke up until bedtime again with the
outrages of the day. Information was available at your own pace with newspapers or magazines or set times with short newscasts
in the evening or 11pm. In other words, if you wanted news you made time for it, it wasn't thrust in your face 24/7.
And the more information at hand constantly means our Presidential election races should be getting shorter in duration, not longer.
How are people supposed to sustain enthusiasm for neverending campaigns?
The two parties used to gather in the summer of an election year and pick the party's nominee to run for President. (If you ask me,
the primary system doesn't do any better at selecting nominees.) Then at some point parties thought a few primaries in selected states
would be a good idea to "see what person the average citizen might think a good choice to run." Around 1972 it became the standard to
run in primaries to accrue delegates who'd vote for you and now every state has some form of this. This system has either gotten us terrible
choices (G.W. Bush, McGovern, Jimmy Carter, Bob Dole, Dukakis) or it has provided a party duel between worthy opponents that anger half
the other supporters. The two parties don't even do it the same way. The Democratic party apportions the delegates by how many votes you
get, which makes it seem like a horse race long into the process. The Republicans give the winner ALL the state delegates, even if the winner
wins with percentages in the teens, like happened with Trump. He very well might not have been the nominee if they'd apportioned the delegates.
This whole system makes me angry and I often express it, and most people think it's not worth the time and energy because how is it
going to change?
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It's not the fact there are so many candidates running that bothers me, it's the fact that
three small states have the most say in whittling down the field every time. The Iowa
caucuses and then the New Hampshire primary and then South Carolina primary.
All these places not only get to see all the candidates, they interact with them more than
anyplace else in the country it seems. Then their states all go vote for Trump.
And it's always the same with slight variations. Why do these regions have so much say in it?
I mean, the San Fernando Valley out here has more people than the populations of all but the
four largest cities in the United States.
The system's rigged! :)
I sympathise with you, Lyle. We don’t have that problem here, but then Australia’s political system differs notably from that in the US.
Without going into too much detail, we don’t have anything like your presidential elections. Prime Ministers aren’t chosen during a Federal election, or by a small cohort of voters in selected sections of the country, but decided upon by the party with the largest popular vote. Voting is also compulsory for all eligible citizens in the six Australian states and twelve territories (two mainland and ten offshore, including one in Antarctica). Voting also occurs on the same Saturday across the country, to assist voter turnout.
However, there’s a possible solution to your concerns in this very thorough Politico article:
Want to Fix Presidential Elections? Here’s the Quickest Way.
Abolishing the Electoral College and creating a national popular vote are far-fetched ideas for now.
But there’s a more targeted way to reform American elections by 2020—starting with the swing states.
https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2019/05/04/electoral-college-reform-2020-226792
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I am so tired of the Dems in the house right now, too. They ask for something from the administration
and they don't get it. Then they say, "Okay, we'll give you another chance. Here's a new date." Then they
don't get it and they say, "If you don't give us what we asked for we're going to subpoena you." Etc. etc.
For effen sake, the administration said they are NOT going to cooperate. Stop the charade. Set ONE date.
If they don't do what you ask, then go right to subpoena. Stop playing this stupid game with them. Chris
Hayes on his show keeps asking Dem guests that bottom line question. "What are you gonna do?" and they
all answer it like wimps with their moral outrage and no action answers.
Take a lesson:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ALcqt6GMhM
I agree with you, Lyle—too much talk, not enough direct action.
There’s an excellent article on these issues (with the catchy subtitle, Democrats are repeating a mistake they should have learned in 2016) in Slate.
Here’s a couple of extracts:
[If] Democrats in the House seriously believe that the attorney general has covered up illegal activity and is refusing to accept congressional oversight, they should model seriousness. Which means that they should do something about it, beyond waiting for the problem to be voted away by large margins. ...
Elections matter, and getting out the vote in 2020 matters. But the Rule of Law still matters, and we shouldn’t abandon it because this small problem of Donald Trump might go away in 2020. The fact is that this problem might not go away in 2020, though by then, the argument that obstruction itself is an impeachable offense will have been lost to us. That’s all the more reason to fight for the rule of law today... (My emphases added.)
Full article here:
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2019/05/2020-election-approach-shouldnt-end-impeachment.html
ps Liked the video clip, but really wonder how the US would react to Sean Connery’s proposal, and a recurrence of 1963. ::)
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"Archie"? What on earth are they thinking?
Is the name more highly regarded in Britain than in the U.S.? I mean that question seriously, because I don't think it's particularly well thought of here in the U.S.
I don't mean to be disrespectful, but, honestly, when I think of an Archie, I think of the comic book character, or else someone who looks like Nigel Bruce and is not to be taken seriously.
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While Archie is one of the 20 most popular names for baby boys in Britain, it is not widely used for American children.
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"Archie"? What on earth are they thinking?
Is the name more highly regarded in Britain than in the U.S.? I mean that question seriously, because I don't think it's particularly well thought of here in the U.S.
I don't mean to be disrespectful, but, honestly, when I think of an Archie, I think of the comic book character, or else someone who looks like Nigel Bruce and is not to be taken seriously.
I can’t say I’m too bothered about it, but the choice of baby names did rub up against some of my prejudices :).
Archie used to have the sort of image you mentioned, Jeff, but it started to become much more popular in the early 2000s, I think thanks to a long-running BBC derail set in the Scottish Highlands. Beautiful scenery and a handsome hero, Archie, played by Alastair Mackenzie. It’s now very popular and obviously will become more so. I don’t mind the name, but I have a preference for using the full name officially and then shortening it. But then “Archibald”... Good old English name I know, and the “bald” means “bold”, but...!
And then why some random surname? Unless they are both ardent fans of HF! Or is it a smiling reference to “Harry’s son”?
Of course in spite of my grumbles I’m very happy for them both, and loved the photo of them all with the queen and Philip.
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I think I’m falling in love with Pete Buttigieg.:) Apart from his cute looks he just seems so NICE, and he speaks so reasonably and to the point.
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Archie used to have the sort of image you mentioned, Jeff, but it started to become much more popular in the early 2000s, I think thanks to a long-running BBC derail set in the Scottish Highlands. Beautiful scenery and a handsome hero, Archie, played by Alastair Mackenzie. It’s now very popular and obviously will become more so. I don’t mind the name, but I have a preference for using the full name officially and then shortening it. But then “Archibald”... Good old English name I know, and the “bald” means “bold”, but...!
I have the impression that something similar happened, or began to happen, here in the U.S., maybe 40 or 50 years ago, when I swear people began naming their babies--especially the boys--after characters in soap operas.
And then why some random surname? Unless they are both ardent fans of HF! Or is it a smiling reference to “Harry’s son”?
I heard that on American television this morning, but I'm not sure I credit it. I was only thinking, if the Queen gives him a title, will he be Prince Archie?
Of course in spite of my grumbles I’m very happy for them both, and loved the photo of them all with the queen and Philip.
In the film I saw, Harry was smiling so broadly I thought his face might break. :)
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I think I’m falling in love with Pete Buttigieg.:) Apart from his cute looks he just seems so NICE, and he speaks so reasonably and to the point.
It looks as if he was having that effect on a lot of people :) But some also criticize his lack of real political proposals. Anyway he would be such an improvement from what is living in the WH today!
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Of course in spite of my grumbles I’m very happy for them both, and loved the photo of them all with the queen and Philip.
I guess we will get use to it. I mean Prince Harry sounded strange when he was a baby. In fact I had to look it up and found his offical name is Henry. Cannot remember what was used at the wedding.
it is not likely to be Prince Archie, certainly not until Charles becomes King, if then. Apparently Archie is the 23rd most popular name for baby boys in NZ. I woud not know, if my friends discuss babies it is grandchildren or even great grandchildren ;D
And that photo is so lovely, the Queen looks so delighted. Our current affairs program put it up as the instagram of the day.
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While Archie is one of the 20 most popular names for baby boys in Britain, it is not widely used for American children.
Although Archie the comic strip character is currently also in the TV series Riverdale, I'd have to think that a good many
Americans associate the name with Archie Bunker.
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I think I’m falling in love with Pete Buttigieg.:) Apart from his cute looks he just seems so NICE, and he speaks so reasonably and to the point.
Where are you seeing him in Britain, Sara? That's good if he's getting attention elsewhere, too!
It looks as if he was having that effect on a lot of people :) But some also criticize his lack of real political proposals. Anyway he would be such an improvement from what is living in the WH today!
I don't get the criticism about "lack of real political proposals" in May of 2019, when the very first primary isn't until February. Unlike some of the announced candidates, Pete is doing well in polls where 60% of the people don't even know who he is yet. Don't you ant to get to know someone first? You don't go out on a first date and ask when you want to get married and if you want to have children, and how many, and how will you support them and such.
I know that a lot of the criticism about policy specifics is coming from Bernie Sanders supporters who are pouncing on every candidate. They play the victim card just like Republicans. You'll hear them say "the establishment and/or mass media is pushing him to somehow inhibit Bernie Sander's chances.
It's really annoying.
I find it really amusing in every election cycle that some are always saying they want to hear policy specifics from candidates. If they really do all they have to do in at least the last six election cycles is go on the candidates websites and read them before election day. They're all there.
And all the talk of "what will the candidates do for me" just sounds so selfish. Ever since I have been voting I hear political programs each election cycle that emphatically state that a President has very little actual control over the economy. They get too much credit when it's good and all the blame when it isn't, when most of the economic forces are out of their control. And yet, it influences people's votes. Also, no matter how many policy proposals one puts out, no one could reasonably expect most of them to ever see the light of day.
So if every candidate has all the policy proposals on day one, they get pulled apart and argued about in a month. Then what do you do the next year plus?
As an antidote to this idea, I read an article earlier this year, before I even knew who Pete Buttigieg was, and I use it often if I comment on a news article or in an email. I may even have posted it on the forum somewhere:
Political leadership, isn’t just a matter of ideology or policy. Campaigns tell stories, and in politics as in literature, style matters as much as plot. Roosevelt and Reagan, ideological opposites, both won by speaking in a way that gave Americans a sense of dignity and belonging and made them hopeful. They didn’t win by haranguing the public. They didn’t win by implying that anyone who disagreed must be either stupid or venal. They didn’t assemble majorities by degrading Americans into identity blocs. They didn’t force their party to pledge allegiance to the most extreme positions, or turn politics into a joyless exercise in orthodoxy. They hammered their opponents, but they did it with a smile. The choice between radical solutions and a unifying appeal is a false choice. If the Democrats end up with a hectoring, humorless, disdainful, divisive candidate who doesn’t speak to the whole country because he or she doesn’t have a vision for the country, then we’ll almost certainly enter the darkness of a second Trump term. If they choose a leader whose radicalism is hopeful and whose anger is generous, then we might just have a realignment.
Pete fits the positive aspects of this paragraph the last three months I've been aware of him.
And Bernie and his fervent supporters fit this: If the Democrats end up with a hectoring, humorless, disdainful, divisive candidate..." and also the part about "haranguing the public" and forcing people to "pledge allegiance to extreme positions."
By the way, Pete Buttigieg is supposed to be at a "meet & greet" fundraiser a couple blocks away from me at 5pm. (And three other places in L.A. today.) By the time I found out about it you could only get in if you had $1000. Sheesh. It's not even clear that the sponsor's address is where it's actually being held. Sure would like to get a glimpse of him, though, so I might walk around the block this evening.
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I don’t mind the name, but I have a preference for using the full name officially and then shortening it. But then “Archibald”... Good old English name I know, and the “bald” means “bold”, but...!
Although Archie the comic strip character is currently also in the TV series Riverdale, I'd have to think that a good many Americans associate the name with Archie Bunker.
It's so funny you both mentioned "Archibald" and Archie Bunker. When I heard the baby's name, I was immediately reminded of an episode of All in The Family, where both Archie and his son-in-law Michael were locked in the basement, and had gotten drunk together.
Archie is telling Michael stories of when he grew up during the depression, and that his father had lost his job. Archie needed new shoes, but the family couldn't afford them, and he ended up having to wear one shoe, and one boot, and the other kids started calling him "Shoe Bootie".
They would holler at him "Tootie Fruitie, here comes Shoe Bootie!"
He then says that later they all found out his first name was really Archibald, and then he wished they would go back to calling him "Shoe Bootie".
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Tell us if you get to see him, Lyle!
I also find the criticism unfair, because I have heard Pete made many interesting proposals about some issues and also some I don't agree with. It doesn't matter much anyway, because I can't vote for him, but if I could I think he would be my candidate, even if I lean more left on some aspects.
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Where are you seeing him in Britain, Sara? That's good if he's getting attention elsewhere, too!
I don't get the criticism about "lack of real political proposals" in May of 2019, when the very first primary isn't until February. Unlike some of the announced candidates, Pete is doing well in polls where 60% of the people don't even know who he is yet. Don't you ant to get to know someone first? You don't go out on a first date and ask when you want to get married and if you want to have children, and how many, and how will you support them and such.
I know that a lot of the criticism about policy specifics is coming from Bernie Sanders supporters who are pouncing on every candidate. They play the victim card just like Republicans. You'll hear them say "the establishment and/or mass media is pushing him to somehow inhibit Bernie Sander's chances.
It's really annoying.
I find it really amusing in every election cycle that some are always saying they want to hear policy specifics from candidates. If they really do all they have to do in at least the last six election cycles is go on the candidates websites and read them before election day. They're all there.
And all the talk of "what will the candidates do for me" just sounds so selfish. Ever since I have been voting I hear political programs each election cycle that emphatically state that a President has very little actual control over the economy. They get too much credit when it's good and all the blame when it isn't, when most of the economic forces are out of their control. And yet, it influences people's votes. Also, no matter how many policy proposals one puts out, no one could reasonably expect most of them to ever see the light of day.
So if every candidate has all the policy proposals on day one, they get pulled apart and argued about in a month. Then what do you do the next year plus?
As an antidote to this idea, I read an article earlier this year, before I even knew who Pete Buttigieg was, and I use it often if I comment on a news article or in an email. I may even have posted it on the forum somewhere:
Political leadership, isn’t just a matter of ideology or policy. Campaigns tell stories, and in politics as in literature, style matters as much as plot. Roosevelt and Reagan, ideological opposites, both won by speaking in a way that gave Americans a sense of dignity and belonging and made them hopeful. They didn’t win by haranguing the public. They didn’t win by implying that anyone who disagreed must be either stupid or venal. They didn’t assemble majorities by degrading Americans into identity blocs. They didn’t force their party to pledge allegiance to the most extreme positions, or turn politics into a joyless exercise in orthodoxy. They hammered their opponents, but they did it with a smile. The choice between radical solutions and a unifying appeal is a false choice. If the Democrats end up with a hectoring, humorless, disdainful, divisive candidate who doesn’t speak to the whole country because he or she doesn’t have a vision for the country, then we’ll almost certainly enter the darkness of a second Trump term. If they choose a leader whose radicalism is hopeful and whose anger is generous, then we might just have a realignment.
Pete fits the positive aspects of this paragraph the last three months I've been aware of him.
And Bernie and his fervent supporters fit this: If the Democrats end up with a hectoring, humorless, disdainful, divisive candidate..." and also the part about "haranguing the public" and forcing people to "pledge allegiance to extreme positions."
By the way, Pete Buttigieg is supposed to be at a "meet & greet" fundraiser a couple blocks away from me at 5pm. (And three other places in L.A. today.) By the time I found out about it you could only get in if you had $1000. Sheesh. It's not even clear that the sponsor's address is where it's actually being held. Sure would like to get a glimpse of him, though, so I might walk around the block this evening.
Lyle, what I had just seen came up on my YouTube, so not exactly British, I’m afraid. But I’m sure I have seen articles in the British press, though what with following up references here, Facebook etc, I’m not sure what was where! I’ll let you know if I see anything interesting.
My awareness of gay matters is not your average person’s - as I sometimes have to remind myself in conversation. ;D
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It's so funny you both mentioned "Archibald" and Archie Bunker. When I heard the baby's name, I was immediately reminded of an episode of All in The Family, where both Archie and his son-in-law Michael were locked in the basement, and had gotten drunk together.
Archie is telling Michael stories of when he grew up during the depression, and that his father had lost his job. Archie needed new shoes, but the family couldn't afford them, and he ended up having to wear one shoe, and one boot, and the other kids started calling him "Shoe Bootie".
They would holler at him "Tootie Fruitie, here comes Shoe Bootie!"
He then says that later they all found out his first name was really Archibald, and then he wished they would go back to calling him "Shoe Bootie".
I remember that episode, Chuck, even though it was 35+ years ago! They tried to make it funny, but the depression story was so sad to me...his Dad losing his job and then the kids picking on him...
I'm surprised I didn't think of All In The Family's Archie when I heard what they named the kid, that's a pretty famous Archie...I thought of the comic strip first.
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I'm not young, and I've only met one person named Archie in my Life.......I associate it with the Comic book character and the TV show, Archie Bunker from All in the Family.......I know it's usually a short version of Archibald too..........
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I'm surprised I didn't think of All In The Family's Archie when I heard what they named the kid, that's a pretty famous Archie...I thought of the comic strip first.
I didn't think of Archie Bunker, either. I wonder why that is? :(
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By the way, Pete Buttigieg is supposed to be at a "meet & greet" fundraiser a couple blocks away from me at 5pm. (And three other places in L.A. today.) By the time I found out about it you could only get in if you had $1000. Sheesh. It's not even clear that the sponsor's address is where it's actually being held. Sure would like to get a glimpse of him, though, so I might walk around the block this evening.
Tell us if you get to see him, Lyle!
So, I'd been out and about a lot yesterday and my feet/legs were bothering me and I wasn't in the mood to go stand around for a time and be disappointed, but when something is right nearby I keep saying to myself, just do it, you never know, and it's not out of your way, so I walked over to The Abbey and stood across the street from the location. There were news vans from the Los Angeles stations on the street. A dozen policemen from the Sheriff's station and just a few people, onlookers like me, around. It was nearing 5pm, so that's understandable and I got the sense that the town had no real idea this was happening and then I realized that I, myself, probably would not have known this was going on if someone hadn't told my friend Rich about it and he mentioned it to me, so...
I stood near one guy that I began chatting with and we wondered if Pete would be arriving by car and we'd get to see him go in or if there was a back entrance or even if he was already inside. There were two gates where the ticket holders were entering and being screened by security checkers.
This particular side street off Santa Monica Blvd. is very narrow at this point and in rush hour is often jammed with cars. Many people who were in the car lanes waiting for the light kept rolling down their windows and asking what was happening there. When I, or the guy I was talking to, answered, many didn't even know who Pete was. But many did, too.
So the best I was hoping for was to get a glimpse of Pete going into the venue near the appointed time of this event. The 5pm hour came and people were still getting checked in and a van pulled up, but it was the West Hollywood City Council members who got out of it.
About 5:25 I'd say we could hear introductory speakers talking about Pete. They had a decent sound system and the courtyard open space was conducive to being able to hear them pretty well, sans traffic noise.
So then I noticed two gentlemen across the street setting up a table on the sidewalk and I surmised that it was going to be Pete Buttigieg material, like campaign buttons, t-shirts, hats and the like and I decided to walk across the street and see. Sure enough, that's what it was. (Not uncommon that people selling things like that appear around campaign events.) I talked to the guy and he said he was connected to the campaign and traveled around with them from event to event and he'd be going to San Francisco tomorrow (today now). He talked about being in South Bend for the campaign kickoff and was quite enthusiastic about Pete, whereas many of these people are usually just interested in making the money. His name is Greg and I said I remember it by calling him ButtiGreg.
As I was checking my wallet to see if I'd brought any cash with me I happen to turn around and noticed that--The Abbey is a bar/nightclub where the event was happening. On the left side is an adjunct to The Abbey which is a bar and seating area which people can partake of drinks, watch video on monitors etc. while waiting to get into The Abbey proper. The Abbey usually has a cover charge to get in. This section is called The Chapel, or The Chapel at the Abbey. (Obviously if you don't want to pay a cover charge you could still go in and spend money there.)
By this time Pete had been introduced and began speaking which I could hear. I noticed that a few people had been walking into The Chapel area so I went inside, too. I noticed some people having drinks at the bar and in booths and watching the speech on video monitors which cover the wall. I started to as well. This adjacent area has a wrought iron gate area separating it from The Abbey. I walked over to it and looked into the Abbey and lo and behold, I could see Pete on the stage area giving his speech. I'm not good at estimating distance, but he was only 100 feet away. 200 at most.
So, why would I watch the monitors when he was right there! Success! I couldn't believe it and got a thrill. Pete spoke for 17-18 minutes and so I saw nearly all his speech in person! Sometimes just "being there" pays dividends! At the end of his speech, his husband Chasten came up on stage and they hugged.
Last line of his speech: “If anybody tells you whether they’re not sure if America is capable in these twisted and dark times of delivering or vindicating our hopes, tell them you saw at The Abbey in West Hollywood the top tier presidential candidate on his way to the White House, moments after his husband introduced him.”
I watched the news later on and all the stations who covered it said this was a meet & greet fundraiser that was sold out and all the tickets were $25. Not true, as my friend and I were going to buy a $25 ticket and go. There were also tickets at $50, $100, $250, $500 and $1000!
Afterwards I bought a couple campaign buttons, one of which is the current Time Magazine cover!
So, in this case my persistence was rewarded big time and I was quite ecstatic to witness some history in the making!
If anyone is interested, I found this Facebook link to our local ABC7 news that has Pete's entire 17-18 min. speech
from The Abbey posted there:
https://www.facebook.com/ABC7/videos/2318128774910792/
If not Facebook, here's a couple youtube videos:
ABC7: Pete Buttigieg at The Abbey in West Hollywood
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5cTqrhIyCcc
Intro and 1st half of speech:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qGWuah24Y58
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A strange sidebar to last night: While I was talking to the guy at the table selling the Pete B. campaign items someone came up behind me and asked something like what's being sold there. I turned around to see Dennis Rodman standing next to me. I answered campaign items for Pete and I shook his hand. Some others on the street started taking photos of him. When I was watching the news later in the evening there was news and surveillance video about Rodman participating in some shoplifting incident, which he denies. (?) And then they said Rodman was going to be traveling to visit his friend Kim Jung Il in North Korea in a couple months. It's a strange world.
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OF COURSE:
Trump went after Mayor Pete Buttigieg for the first time at a rally in Panama City Beach, Florida on Wednesday night, mocking the pronunciation chant used by Mayor Pete’s supporters.
Said Trump: “We got some real beauties. We got a choice between Sleepy Joe and Crazy Bernie. I’ll take any of them, let’s just pick somebody please and let’s start this thing.” “Pick somebody!” he demanded, looking into the crowd. “We have a young man, Butt-ig-ieg, boot-edge-edge, they say edge–edge,” said Trump.
“He’s got a great chance doesn’t he?” Trump asked dismissively. “He’ll be great. He’ll be great. Representing us against President Xi of China. I want to be in that room, I want to watch that one.”
On Thursday, of course, the media asked Pete what he thought about it. His response was just, well, perfect:
“You can’t get too worried about the name calling and the games he plays. I was thinking of a Chinese proverb that goes, when the wind changes, some people build walls and some people build windmills. You gotta recognize that we need something that is completely different from what is in this White House."
He went on to say:
"The negotiations that they (this administration) are conducting, whether it’s on trade or things like North Korea, are usually just a personal high-wire act with no safety net.”
______
In my opinion, Trump just raised Pete's profile quite a great deal.
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https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2019/05/04/electoral-college-reform-2020-226792
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2019/05/2020-election-approach-shouldnt-end-impeachment.html
Paul, thanks for these article links, I just got around to reading them and found them quite interesting.
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Yay! Geaux Lyle!
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Thanks, Fritz, hope your trip was dandy! Welcome back!
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It was very nice, thank you! And at the end of the month I'll be heading to Notre Dame for my 50 year class reunion! Can hardly believe it!
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Lyle, you live in a most amazing place!! Not ONE of those Dem candidates will be in Kansas, well, MAYBE Kansas City, and I doubt Trump will make a stop here either........it's a RED STATE, he needn't worry, it'll all be his......... :'( :"> ::) ??? ;)
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Paul, thanks for these article links, I just got around to reading them and found them quite interesting.
My pleasure, Lyle.
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Doris Day, Screen Legend And Animal Rights Activist, Dead At 97
Doris Day has died at age 97, her foundation said Monday.
The legendary actress died at her Carmel Valley, California, home surrounded by close friends. Day “had been in excellent physical health for her age, until recently contracting a serious case of pneumonia,” the foundation said in a statement to The Associated Press.
https://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/us_56670caee4b08e945ff101fe
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Lyle, thank you so much for your account, I am so happy that you got to watch his speech!
Now, if I saw Dennis Rodman behind me I think I would suffer a heart attack, you live in some fascinating place! :laugh:
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^^^
LOL!
I'm happy it worked out as well!
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Tim Conway, Star of The Carol Burnett Show, Dies at 85
https://people.com/tv/tim-conway-dies/
I am so sorry to hear this. He was one my most favorite comedian! :'(
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https://variety.com/2019/film/news/tim-conway-comedian-and-carol-burnett-show-star-dies-at-85-1203214644/
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Tim Conway, Star of The Carol Burnett Show, Dies at 85
https://people.com/tv/tim-conway-dies/
I am so sorry to hear this. He was one my most favorite comedian! :'(
There was nothing like him and Harvey Korman working together.
But I thought Carol Burnett was the star of The Carol Burnett Show. ... ::)
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I was watching Doris Day's last TV special from 1975 last night and one of the guests was Tim Conway. :(
The recent documentary I watched about Rose Marie conveys the info that Rose Marie discovered
Tim Conway and brought him to Hollywood.
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Australian male football (soccer) player Andy Brennan has come out as gay. He used to play for the A-league Newcastle Jets. He now plays for the semi-professional Green Gully team n Victoria. He says his family, friends, team-mates and coaches are all supportive.
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Australian male football (soccer) player Andy Brennan has come out as gay. He used to play for the A-league Newcastle Jets. He now plays for the semi-professional Green Gully team n Victoria. He says his family, friends, team-mates and coaches are all supportive.
Cool news! Congrats to Andy!!!
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/46942745995_9c81331c03_b.jpg)
I remember when Welsh player Gareth Thomas came out, it was big news as well.
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I can't believe it's 2019 and this 'coming out' thing is still news! Surely we have moved on from this in a least the developed, enlightened countries, no? Or does the 'straight' population require a person to declare they are NOT straight? :o :o :o
It's ok if a person 'feels' the need to tell the world, fine by me, if it makes them feel better, or liberated in some way. I dream of a world where this is no longer necessary. ;D
Just my opinion, people! ;)
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Unfortunately, there are still people like this one.
https://www.cnn.com/2019/04/14/sport/israel-folau-rugby-unrepentant-spt-intl/index.html
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I can't believe it's 2019 and this 'coming out' thing is still news! Surely we have moved on from this in a least the developed, enlightened countries, no? Or does the 'straight' population require a person to declare they are NOT straight? :o :o :o
It's ok if a person 'feels' the need to tell the world, fine by me, if it makes them feel better, or liberated in some way. I dream of a world where this is no longer necessary. ;D
Just my opinion, people! ;)
I see what you're getting at, Jonn, but you mention "enlightened countries." Does that currently include the U.S.?
A country with an orange cretin for President who tries to score points with his base by playing around with transgender
people's lives in the armed services, and a vice-president who believes in conversion therapy? Where Republicans are trying
to wipe out Roe v. Wade and pass religious liberty laws? In a great many parts of the country there are gay people growing
up who need to see a sports star come out or a man of faith running for President with his husband by his side. All those
things will inch us toward what your dream is: "a world where this is no longer necessary."
Personally, I still get satisfaction finding out things like this, as I await an MLB player to do so, too.
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Unfortunately, there are still people like this one.
https://www.cnn.com/2019/04/14/sport/israel-folau-rugby-unrepentant-spt-intl/index.html
I read a great reply to this yesterday
https://www.smh.com.au/national/i-ve-been-to-hell-already-israel-folau-thanks-to-people-like-you-20190515-p51ng4.html
Fortunately here in NZ, while the Folau debate has been covered, it has just been ridiculed on news items and discussion.
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Good.
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Lyle!! ;D ;)....I'm sure there are quite of few of MLB players today who are Gay, and probably their teammates know it as well. With the younger generations, I have found that most of them don't give a HOOT if someone, or a fellow player is Gay, they are MUCH more accepting of this fact than the OLDER generations are, IMHO, you understand?? ;D ;D ;D
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Taiwan legalizes same-sex marriage in a historic first for Asia
Landmark decision makes the self-ruled island the first place in Asia to pass gay marriage legislation.
Lawmakers’ vote comes almost two years after the island's Constitutional Court ruled that the existing law—which said marriage was between a man and a woman—was unconstitutional. The panel of judges gave the island’s parliament two years to amend or enact new laws.
On Friday—only a week off the two-year deadline—lawmakers in Taiwan’s Legislative Yuan passed a bill making same-sex marriage a reality. It will go into effect on May 24.
https://edition.cnn.com/2019/05/17/asia/taiwan-same-sex-marriage-intl/index.html
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That's really great news!
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Yes, good news - but I hadn’t realised that no other Asian country has it, though I suppose I should if I’d thought about it.
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Lyle!! ;D ;)....I'm sure there are quite of few of MLB players today who are Gay, and probably their teammates know it as well. With the younger generations, I have found that most of them don't give a HOOT if someone, or a fellow player is Gay, they are MUCH more accepting of this fact than the OLDER generations are, IMHO, you understand?? ;D ;D ;D
But it's not just their teammates that they have to take into consideration. It's also the fans.
If I were of a certain age and certain socio-politico-religious persuasion, I doubt I'd want my son idolizing an openly gay player. I would imagine this applies to any professional sport.
Maybe in future generations this won't be the case, but I don't think we're there yet.
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But it's not just their teammates that they have to take into consideration. It's also the fans.
If I were of a certain age and certain socio-politico-religious persuasion, I doubt I'd want my son idolizing an openly gay player. I would imagine this applies to any professional sport.
Maybe in future generations this won't be the case, but I don't think we're there yet.
Or Presidential candidate.
Pete Buttigieg has been heckled in Texas and followed around in Iowa by protesters demonizing him. (They also throw in that he's for killing babies because he's pro-choice.)
From a few different news sources: Interruptions at political events are common during the course of a campaign. But the anti-gay nature of the chants aimed at Buttigieg on Tuesday made the disruptions more personal. Buttigieg's protesters -- led by anti-abortion activist Randall Terry -- came from out of state to attack the presidential candidate. Terry said after the protest that he planned on attending as many Buttigieg events as possible.
The first disruption came in Fort Dodge, Iowa, where a man at the roughly 100-person event stood up and yelled, "We will not stop, he is misleading our children."
Randall Terry states, "He is the most dangerous man in America. People have never had a person like him to look up to. [Says who?] That's why he's dangerous. His most insidious impact is to normalize...to romanticize...even to beautify the evil deeds of child killing and sodomy. These are sins that cry to God for vengeance. And now they are applauded and glorified. Now CNN and other TV outlets are lionizing this man; meanwhile FOX TV and other outlets are discussing how Christians should just capitulate on the whole discussion of homosexual marriage."
"He is supporting baby-killing and is recruiting young people into homosexual bondage by his example, and trying to normalize what is an intrinsically evil behavior. Think of how many millions of children are seeing the news, or hearing about his 'sexuality' in school, and are asking questions about homosexuality...He is an agent of evil specifically because he is being used by 'the dark side' (the devil and his angels) to try to legitimize...and lionize...a depraved sexuality."
"And he does all this with a winsome smile, of course...which is why I call him 'The Handsome Face of Evil.'
___
At Buttigieg's campaign stops he has been greeted with shouts of "We will not stop, he is misleading our children."
I say: Yes, Christians are always bringing up "the children". They used it effectively in anti Prop-8 commercials in California.
Insidious commercials that would make your blood boil. They would use children, groups pf children, standing on corners all
over the state holding those yellow No on Prop 8 signs that said "Save the children."
I agree: Save them from these evangelical hypocrites who vote for people like the orange cretin.
___
How does Buttigieg handle these protesters? His crowds shout them down with support for Pete until the protesters are escorted away.
(Which Fox news says is preventing them from being able to express their right of freedom of speech. ??? ) After one problematic protester
was escorted away, Pete replied: "We, as people, are so dug in in such passionate ways. That gentleman believes that what he is doing is in
line with the will of the creator," he said. "I view it differently. We ought to be able to view it differently. The good news is, the condition of
my soul is in the hands of my creator, but the Iowa Caucuses are up to you," Buttigieg said.
Interviewed after one event he said: "Of course, I would prefer to have those kinds of debates in a respectful format, versus through interruption,
but a president is going to have to deal with tougher things than being interrupted in a speech. It is what it is. I get the sense that folks here believe
in respectful debate. We can have respectful debate all day. But ideally without interrupting one another."
A voter asked Chasten Buttigieg, the candidate's husband, about the hecklers after the event, too. "We are beyond divisiveness," he said. "That is
what we are out here to talk about."
Imagine being a young person in conservative red states and having these conflicting things thrown in your face: You see someone like yourself running
for President, who is respectful, kind and smart and a role model that your parents would be proud of, if only he didn't have that husband alongside him,
or the letter D. And you see people professing to be Christian calling him the most dangerous man on earth, being disrespectful, etc. Of course, these
same people used their religion and other prejudices against Obama's presidency.
It seems these right-wing Christians are against women, anyone of color, LGBT people, immigrants, a whole host of things. I used to give these people
the benefit of the doubt. They have their religious principles, regardless if I feel a lot of them are really misguided, but individuals steeped in any religious
dogma are hard to persuade. But, in the last election cycle when they came out to support a person who exemplifies NONE of the virtues they claim to admire
and respect and came up with the tortured reasoning of: "Sometimes God chooses a flawed person to deliver his message," well that's where I just got off the
bus. I had it. In other words: fuck you.
And if I ever answer a comment section now from these people railing against any democratic candidates much less a gay one, I just throw that back in their face:
"Sometimes God chooses a flawed person to deliver his message." (Not that I think they are flawed in any way comparable to the orange cretin.)
As for Buttigieg, I love the way he answers this kind of thing. The protesters want him to explode and be angry. That's why they do it. They want him to retort in
some context that would be seen as mean spirited and he has not taken the bait. How can anyone put up with it for two years?
But, I keep being reminded of that paragraph I've posted before that was written before the author was aware of anything like a Pete Buttigeig candidacy:
Political leadership, isn’t just a matter of ideology or policy. Campaigns tell stories, and in politics as in literature, style matters as much as plot. Roosevelt and Reagan, ideological opposites, they won by speaking in a way that gave Americans a sense of dignity and belonging and made them hopeful. They didn’t win by haranguing the public. They didn’t win by implying that anyone who disagreed must be either stupid or venal. They didn’t assemble majorities by degrading Americans into identity blocs. They didn’t force their party to pledge allegiance to the most extreme positions, or turn politics into a joyless exercise in orthodoxy. They hammered their opponents, but they did it with a smile.
The choice between radical solutions and a unifying appeal is a false choice. If the Democrats end up with a hectoring, humorless, disdainful, divisive candidate who doesn’t speak to the whole country because he or she doesn’t have a vision for the country, then we’ll almost certainly enter the darkness of a second Trump term. If they choose a leader whose radicalism is hopeful and whose anger is generous, then we might just have a realignment.
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By the way, this is Randall's Terry objectives, his words, in following Pete Buttigieg's campaign around:
The purpose of these demonstrations is twofold:
1.) To plead with Christians to stop supporting candidates that champion the slaughter of babies, depraved sexual behaviors, and lies to our children about gender identity.
2.) To call on Catholic and Evangelical clergy and media to break their silence, and to clearly tell their followers that to vote for these candidates is to sin against innocent blood.
Do I say, "Forgive them, oh Lord, for they know not what they do?"
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Do I say, "Forgive them, oh Lord, for they know not what they do?"
Amen.
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This evening BBC World News America had a segment on Grumpy Cat, who has died at the age of seven.
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Giant tortoise thought to be extinct for over 110 years found on the Galápagos island of Fernandina
Ecuador’s ministry of the environment has announced that an adult female Chelonoidis phantasticus was recently discovered by a joint expedition of the Galápagos National Park and the US-based Galápagos Conservancy.
(https://i412.photobucket.com/albums/pp201/rasalgethi_photo/News%202019/Chelonoidis%20phantasticus_zpsijvsasec.png)
Image courtesy of Galápagos National Park Directorate
The only previously known specimen of Chelonoidis phantasticus, commonly known as the Fernandina Island tortoise, was collected during the California Academy of Sciences expedition in April 1906, making this a truly monumental discovery.
“While thought to be extinct due to past volcanic eruptions and the frequent lava flows which cover the island, anecdotal observations indicate that there may indeed still be a very few left on the island,” the Galápagos Conservancy wrote on its website.
An assessment by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) published in 2017 listed the species as Critically Endangered and Possibly Extinct. Surveys of remote areas on Fernandina Island in 1964 “documented several large tortoise faeces” and some tortoise bite marks on cacti, while a 2009 airplane survey “yielded a possible unconfirmed sighting of a tortoise,” IUCN said. Faeces and footprints were also found in 2013.
The Chelonoidis phantasticus species is one of 15 known species of giant tortoises in the Galápagos, at least two of which have already vanished. The species is native to Fernandina Island, the youngest and third largest island in the Galápagos Archipeligo, a chain of 13 main islands and 7 small islets. While uninhabited, the island is home to cormorants, penguins, pelicans, sea lions and fur seals. It is one of 15 known species of giant tortoises in the Galápagos, at least two of which have already vanished.
Giant tortoises are believed to have arrived on the remote volcanic island chain about three to four million years ago, borne by ocean currents. With no natural predators, they spread across the islands and split into different species. Their numbers were decimated in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries by sailors who took advantage of their ability to endure long periods without food or water to use them as easily stored fresh meat on Pacific voyages.
Their numbers were also hit by invasive species such as rats, pigs and dogs, which eat their eggs, while other introduced domestic animals like goats destroyed their habitat.
Giant tortoises can live for 200 years and the recently discovered tortoise is probably more than 100 years old. Despite her advanced age, the tortoise still has plenty of time to help her species make a comeback, and researchers have taken the tortoise to a breeding centre for giant tortoises on Santa Cruz Island, where she will stay in a specially designed pen.
Geneticists at Yale University will evaluate a blood sample to confirm her genetic origin, and another trip to Fernandina is planned for later this year to search for additional tortoises. If more tortoises are located, they will be brought into captivity with this female in hopes that they may breed and young can be reared—eventually to be returned to their native island.
This isn’t the first time conservation and breeding efforts were made to bring a critically endangered population of Galápagos tortoises back to the islands. The Galápagos Conservancy has raised more than 7,000 tortoises in captivity that were then released into the wild, bringing them back from the brink of extinction. One species from Española Island was down to just 14 tortoises when breeding efforts began. Now, the population has reached over 1,000.
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Hope they can find a male for her - and that they might feel a common attraction!
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Hope they can find a male for her - and that they might feel a common attraction!
Some years ago my employer's "summer event" for the employees was a picnic at the Philadelphia Zoo. The zoo had two giant tortoises, one male, one female, and we were assured they were both over 100 years old. And they were clearly trying to mate outdoors in front of God and man and my fellow employees' kids. :D
I can just imagine. "Daddy, what are they doing?" ;D
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Yay!
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he's gonna get us all killed
Trump tweets threat at Iran: 'Never threaten the United States again!'
By Paul LeBlanc, CNN
Updated 6:19 PM ET, Sun May 19, 2019
Washington (CNN)President Donald Trump on Sunday ratcheted up his rhetoric toward Iran, warning that a fight with the United States would "be the official end of Iran."
"If Iran wants to fight, that will be the official end of Iran," Trump said in a tweet. "Never threaten the United States again!"
The tweet comes amid rising fears over a potential military conflict between the two countries as officials in Washington debate recent intelligence regarding whether Iran or the militias it supports are possibly planning to attack US assets or whether it is acting defensively in an attempt to deter US action.
https://www.cnn.com/2019/05/19/politics/trump-iran-threat-tweet/index.html (https://www.cnn.com/2019/05/19/politics/trump-iran-threat-tweet/index.html)
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Some years ago my employer's "summer event" for the employees was a picnic at the Philadelphia Zoo. The zoo had two giant tortoises, one male, one female, and we were assured they were both over 100 years old. And they were clearly trying to mate outdoors in front of God and man and my fellow employees' kids. :D
I can just imagine. "Daddy, what are they doing?" ;D
Jonathan and Josh were 8 and 5. We were driving in the country and a cow and a bull were getting it on in a field by the road.
Josh asked what they were doing, and Jonathan in his infinite wisdom said, "They're playing leap frog, stupid!!"
:laugh:
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That works!
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Rick and I thought so too!! ;D
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A great segment on 60 Minutes last night, about the RAINBOW Railroad:
Rainbow Railroad: The Organization Saving LGBT Citizens from Hostile Governments
For individuals in nations where being a part of the LGBT community threatens their freedom, safety and, sometimes, their lives, the Rainbow Railroad provides a way out.
You can see the segment on CBS' 60 Minutes website:
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/rainbow-railroad-the-organization-saving-lgbt-citizens-from-hostile-governments-60-minutes-2019-05-19/
I couldn't find it on youtube, at least not yet...
Way to go Canada.
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Jonathan and Josh were 8 and 5. We were driving in the country and a cow and a bull were getting it on in a field by the road.
Josh asked what they were doing, and Jonathan in his infinite wisdom said, "They're playing leap frog, stupid!!"
:laugh:
We saw lions getting at it in the zoo, but I guess sex education in school really works, because big girl, who was 8 or 9 at the time knew exactly what was happening. Education, taking the mistery out of life ;)
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And attitudes at home too of course, answering questions in a straightforward way, truthfully but at an age-appropriate level. (Which I’m sure you do, Elena!)
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There is a lot of kerfuffle going on at the moment in England about the introduction in September 2020 of compulsory lessons about relationships, to be taught at an appropriate level in all primary and secondary schools. In the early stages this will be about the different kinds of families that can exist, and acceptance of the differences that there may be between people. Parents will not be allowed to remove their children from these lessons (though of course they could always be ‘sick’). This will be different from sex education, which at the moment parents can refuse for their children, though there is pressure for this to change.
The original content of the relationship course was created by a deputy headmaster (who is gay) in the hope that it would have an effect on bullying. Apparently it is has been hugely successful in his school, and has been highly praised and used as the basis for the national curriculum. Unfortunately in some areas, including his own school, there has been vociferous opposition, from what seems to be a majority, but by no means only, of Muslim parents. Many people don’t even know what is actually being taught, but for some parents it is apparently enough that homosexuality is being mentioned and not condemned.
But I’m glad to say that the school, and the department of education, is holding firm. Everything I’ve seen about it looks excellent.
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A local gay association is organizing a workshop at big girl's school next June. It's for the 9th class, the kids are 14-16 years old. I think it's great that they do that, they also offer counseling to parents. The funny thing is that talking about it big girl said that it was good, but too late. That shocked me, because I remember being a total mess about my sexuality at that age! And nobody told us about sex to in school ever! Only to tell us that it was very, very bad and a sin, sex in general, imagine the position on homosexuality.
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...there has been vociferous opposition, from what seems to be a majority, but by no means only, of Muslim parents. Many people don’t even know what is actually being taught, but for some parents it is apparently enough that homosexuality is being mentioned and not condemned.
Muslim countries (but not exclusively) all have laws where gay people are subject to one of four circumstances:
1.) restricted freedom of expression and association/unenforced or forced penalties
2.) imprisonment
3.) life imprisonment
4.) execution
Which is why this organization I only just learned about is so worthy: The RAINBOW Railroad: For individuals in nations where being a part of the LGBT community threatens their freedom, safety and, sometimes, their lives, the Rainbow Railroad provides a way out.
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They sound great, Lyle. I am going to check if they have a web.
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They sound great, Lyle. I am going to check if they have a web.
https://www.rainbowrailroad.com/
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¡Gracias, Fritz!
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Hope they can find a male for her - and that they might feel a common attraction!
Fingers crossed that one is found on the next trip to Fernandina, Sara. If so, I suspect nature will take its course.
Tortoise courtship can be aggressive, but the female usually gives in eventually. The male circles the female, often nodding his head and biting at her legs and the edges of her carapace, which contains nerve endings sensitive to the slightest touch. I don’t know whether mutual attraction has anything to do with it, though ...
In the meantime, the good work continues apace:
Thirty Captive-Reared Tortoises Repatriated on San Cristóbal
Galápagos National Park rangers earlier this month repatriated 30 juvenile San Cristóbal giant tortoises (Chelonoidis chathamensis) from the island’s breeding centre to their natural habitat in the northeast portion of the island.
Chelonoidis chathamensis is the only species of giant tortoise known to occur on San Cristóbal Island, and the second time that a repatriation of this species has occurred since the breeding centre opened in 2002. The tortoises, which are between five and nine years of age, were born in captivity at the centre. Prior to their release, technicians and Park rangers evaluated their health status and fitted them with identification devices for subsequent monitoring.
(https://i412.photobucket.com/albums/pp201/rasalgethi_photo/News%202019/SanChristobal-Tortoises_zpsmtinhc3l.jpg)
The young tortoises were moved by boat—a two-hour ride—after which the rangers transported them on foot for five miles to an area suitable to their successful introduction into their natural habitat.
The species is listed as endangered because nearly 88% of the population have disappeared in the last 180 years. In the early 1970s the tortoises declined catastrophically from about 24,000 individuals to 500–700, for the same reasons that tortoises declined on Fernandina Island.
Nowadays, the population of C. chathamensis is growing thanks to the programme of the Galápagos National Park, in which young tortoises are raised in captivity and subsequently released into the wild. A census carried out three years ago estimated that the San Cristóbal giant tortoise population had grown to 6,700 individuals.
https://www.galapagos.org/newsroom/san-cristobal-repatriation-2019/
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Geaux torts!
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Geaux torts!
:) :) :), Fritz!
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Now for some family business.#
Critically endangered Australian snapping turtle makes a comeback
The release of 10 critically endangered turtles back into the only place they are found on Earth has helped to secure the species’ future.
New South Wales Environment Minister Matt Kean said it has provided a lifeline for the Bellinger River snapping turtle—one of the world's rarest turtle species—after a freak virus outbreak in 2015 wiped out over 90% of the population in three months.
“Before the disease outbreak, we estimate there were up to 4,500 of these freshwater turtles living in the Bellinger River on the New South Wales mid-north coast—the only place they're found on Earth,” Mr Kean said.
“About 20 virus-free turtles were able to be collected from the river for a captive breeding programme at Sydney’s Taronga Zoo in an effort to try to secure a future for this species and improve the environment for our future generations.”
(https://i412.photobucket.com/albums/pp201/rasalgethi_photo/News%202019/bellingen_river_turtle_zpshp9ysnq5.jpg)
One of the turtles released into the Bellinger River
In the first year of the captive breeding program, 22 healthy turtles hatched, with another 31 healthy turtles hatching last year. Environmental group Ozgreen confirmed that the return of nine of the ten turtles had been successful—a figure that has boosted the community’s confidence in the future for the species.
Ozgreen manages Riverwatch, a program that has been monitoring the health of various rivers, including the Bellingen, on a monthly basis, for two years.
While a cure has not yet been found for the virus that initially wiped out most of the turtles, Ozgreen co-founder Ms Lennox said, the next challenge is to rehabilitate the vegetation along the river's edge.
“That's the key to the success of restoring the river health and the return of the turtles,” she said. “Once we get that done I think we've secured the future of this river, which is probably the healthiest river on the east coast as it is, but we need to keep it that way.”
The program to help the Bellinger River Snapping Turtle is part of the NSW Government's $100 million Saving our Species Fund.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-05-23/rare-endangered-bellinger-river-turtles-returned-to-wild/11141358
# Turtles and tortoises are closely related. They are both reptiles from the same family (Testudines or Chelonian). The main difference between the two is that turtle is the name given to water-dwellers and tortoise is the name given to land-dwellers. ... A turtle’s shell is lighter and more streamlined than that of a tortoise.
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Geaux turtles!
Also, at least over here, turtle is the more general name. All tortoises are turtles, but not all turtles are tortoises.
We refer to box turtles as such because, even though they are terrestrial, they are descended from fresh-water turtles, and notably have slimmer legs than most tortoises whose ancestors have always been landbound.
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I have been occasionally using this H.L. Mencken quote here and there, for obvious reasons.
I've recently discovered that the one I've been using had a few words left out that make it
even more appropriate to the current occupant:
(https://www.snopes.com/tachyon/2013/08/mencken-1.jpg)
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He was quite a political prophet.
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I have been occasionally using this H.L. Mencken quote here and there, for obvious reasons.
I've recently discovered that the one I've been using had a few words left out that make it
even more appropriate to the current occupant.
Prescient indeed, Lyle.
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'Tis said a people get the government they deserve.
I would like to think better of the U.S., but when I think of the majority, I cannot quite bring myself to feel that way.
It still makes me want to barf when I reflect that someday Asshole's portrait will be hanging with those of the likes of FDR and Lincoln.
And there will be a presidential library paid for by my taxpayer dollars.
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'Tis said a people get the government they deserve.
Too true, Jeff.
No doubt his base would agree, unfortunately. ::)
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'Tis said a people get the government they deserve.
Too true, Jeff.
No doubt his base would agree, unfortunately. ::)
Yup. 'Fraid so. :(
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One of the Sunday morning political programs was interviewing people in a diner in Iowa and they were asking their opinions of the President. A woman said she thought he "was doing a marvelous job." (I wish these interviewers would then say something like "in what way?" I mean, for myself I'd say, "In what way you freakin' idiot?")
Another man made me immediately turn the channel when he said, "I think he's great. He's our Winston Churchill."
Give me a moment while I recover from that statement again. How could I ever have a conversation with someone like that?
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One of the Sunday morning political programs was interviewing people in a diner in Iowa and they were asking their opinions of the President. A woman said she thought he "was doing a marvelous job."
I'd skip the freakin' idiot part because it would be unproductive, but it would be interesting to try to get her to explain why she thinks he's "doing a marvelous job." I wouldn't be surprised if all she could do was parrot Asshole's lies and false platitudes. She would never accept it as true if someone were to show her a list of even a few of his lies with an explanation as to why they are lies. I'd like to know what she thinks of Assholes' slander of John McCain, too.
These people only believe when they hear what they want to hear, which is something that supports what they already believe. Anything else is the liberal media slandering Asshole. As Rudi Guliani said, "Truth is no longer truth" (or something like that).
Another man made me immediately turn the channel when he said, "I think he's great. He's our Winston Churchill."
This is why I have no hope for my country. "I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just."--Thomas Jefferson
How could I ever have a conversation with someone like that?
Neither of us could.
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I'd skip the freakin' idiot part because it would be unproductive, but it would be interesting to try to get her to explain why she thinks he's "doing a marvelous job."
Yeah, I didn't mean I'd really say that, but it's what I'd be thinking. But you said what I was getting at. I'd really like them to say why they think what they think and if it would just be repetition of what he says or what Fox news says.
I wouldn't be surprised if all she could do was parrot Asshole's lies and false platitudes. She would never accept it as true if someone were to show her a list of even a few of his lies with an explanation as to why they are lies.
For some reason, the conservative mind likes to "believe" but not necessarily question. Think of the religious right. We believe (such and such) so nothing to the contrary is tolerated (true). I mean, when I watch the news I don't always agree with things people say. Even those I like. Sometimes I question it. It's not automatic adherence. It does seem Fox News viewers in the main do, though. They hear it. Believe it. Repeat it.
I remember once on the current events thread citing an article about the things people with liberal and conservative bents believe and it said that studies showed that if a conservative believes something, they will believe it even if it is proved wrong to them. Not only that, they will double down on believing the falsehood.
In a similar mode, the Michigan Republican Congressman, Justin Amash, who read the Mueller Report and then came out last weekend supporting the call to impeach the President, had a town hall to answer questions from his constituents. In the town hall, one of them said they didn't know the President had done anything wrong regarding the Muller report. They hadn't heard anything about that before!
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Speaking of Amash:
Today Amash took aim at Attorney General William Barr for allegedly misleading the public about Special Counsel Robert Mueller's findings and pushing a "false narrative" that the Trump campaign was improperly spied on during the 2016 election.
But Rand Paul, another a-hole said this:
"The origins of the Russia investigation I see an abuse of power from Comey, Clapper, Brennan, from all these guys," Paul said. "I think they took this great power we entrusted with them to spy on foreigners and they directed it against Americans for partisan reasons. So, I think this has to be investigated and I think it’s wrong for any Republican to think, 'Oh gosh, this is a legitimate investigation.' I think it’s a very partisan investigation."
Amash replied: "I haven't changed, I’m who I said I was. I’m a principled, constitutional conservative who has stayed consistent regardless of whether we have President Obama in office or President Trump," Amash said at a town hall event Tuesday.
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I say, Rand Paul's statement is complete idiiocy, or dare I say "partisan" in it's intent itself. He absolutely knows that IF any such investigation was partisan (and he means against the Trump campaign) that it would have been reported to the public, just as Comey actually did report the findings about Clinton. Think about that. This is how we know it was NOT partisan and for a member of the Senate to try and create the notion of partisanship in our intelligence agencies is harmful and the utmost of dispicability. I'm sick of Rand Pauluting politics for his own political gain.
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In the town hall, one of them said they didn't know the President had done anything wrong regarding the Muller report. They hadn't heard anything about that before!
I looked up more about this and found a good article about it:
Republicans’ Successful Campaign to Protect Trump from Mueller’s Report, In One Quote
Rep. Justin Amash’s constituent captures the state of partisanship around Trump
By Tara Golshan / May 30 / Vox
Part of the article:
The constituents of Michigan Republican Rep. Justin Amash — the sole Republican lawmaker to call for impeachment of President Donald Trump, criticizing his own party in the process — proved his point in a town hall this week. Amash didn’t have to just defend his call to begin impeachment proceedings against the president when facing voters in Grand Rapids for the first time since he made that call in a viral tweet thread earlier this month; he also had to explain why he was talking about it in the first place.
Core to Amash’s conclusions from special counsel Robert Mueller’s report on Russian interference in the 2016 election is that his Republican colleagues in Congress, blinded by partisanship, have abdicated their responsibility to hold Trump accountable. Instead, they’ve sowed distrust in the FBI and in Mueller’s investigation, and deemed it political suicide to question Trump in any way. The success of this Republican campaign, reflected in conservative media coverage, to protect Trump was best captured by Amash’s own constituent Cathy Garnaat, a Republican, who, at the Town Hall, said to Amash, “I was surprised to hear there was anything negative in the Mueller report at all about President Trump.”
“I hadn’t heard that before,” she told NBC after the Tuesday town hall. “I’ve mainly listened to conservative news and I hadn’t heard anything negative about that report and President Trump has been exonerated.”
That comment alone cements that Amash, in becoming the first and only Republican to call for impeachment, is fighting against an entire machine — from the elected leaders to sympathetic media outlets.
Article continues:
https://www.vox.com/2019/5/30/18646048/republican-protect-trump-mueller-report-amash
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P.S.: Is anyone else having trouble with the Spell Check button?
Not working for me today. I click it. Empty white screen comes up.
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I remember once on the current events thread citing an article about the things people with liberal and conservative bents believe and it said that studies showed that if a conservative believes something, they will believe it even if it is proved wrong to them. Not only that, they will double down on believing the falsehood.
I didn't read it there, but I have no doubt of its accuracy.
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Core to Amash’s conclusions from special counsel Robert Mueller’s report on Russian interference in the 2016 election is that his Republican colleagues in Congress, blinded by partisanship, have abdicated their responsibility to hold Trump accountable. Instead, they’ve sowed distrust in the FBI and in Mueller’s investigation, and deemed it political suicide to question Trump in any way. The success of this Republican campaign, reflected in conservative media coverage, to protect Trump was best captured by Amash’s own constituent Cathy Garnaat, a Republican, who, at the Town Hall, said to Amash, “I was surprised to hear there was anything negative in the Mueller report at all about President Trump.”
For them it could be. One can only hope. Except, of course, as you wrote, their constituents will "double down on believing the falsehood."
That comment alone cements that Amash, in becoming the first and only Republican to call for impeachment, is fighting against an entire machine — from the elected leaders to sympathetic media outlets.
Some weeks ago there was a New Yorker article about Asshole's cozy relationship with Fox News--his personal Public Relations Bureau.
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I believe I read that article, Jeff. It's a bad situation when a good portion of the country only watches Fox News and, not only that, it's the only news station available to many of them!
_______
The news out here in Hollywood is that a lot of companies that film movies in these states that are passing the draconian abortion laws (they film a lot in Alabama and Louisiana for instance) are now making plans NOT to film there and pull out of already planned productions. Good. It's about time some punishment goes along with the pain.
When it comes to having a job or not having one? Hmmm...am I pro-choice (+$) or anti-choice (-$)?
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I always have a difficult time with this, and I know I'll be wildly unpopular here for this, won't be the first time. I think women should have the choice, and that the government shouldn't be able to dictate this decision...but I also think it's taking a life, and I can't reconcile the two in my mind.
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My way out of thoughts like that, Nancy, is that I leave it up to those who have to make that decision for themselves.
It's between them and whatever else concerns them: their family, their religious beliefs, their situation, mental health
professionals, etc. Whatever they need to make that decision for themselves. For some it's easy. It's NO. It's YES. Not
so for others.
But why do people think they have a say in this, other than whom it involves? If you belong to or believe in a religion
that says NO to abortion, then that's for you. If you don't, keep your nose out of other people's business. If you think
someone is wrong to have an abortion and you believe in God, then let it be between God and the person it involves
and STAY OUT OF IT.
Why do these right wing Christians think they can impose their beliefs on everyone else by law? Like they want to deny
marriage equality to gay people. What happened to the religious tenant "do not judge others lest you be judged?" There
is no religious commandment that says you must MAKE people believe what you do. I don't get the religious right's fixation
of changing laws to suit their own personal beliefs. You know darn well that if anyone wants to impose something on them
they play the victim card and cry foul.
The religious right has become a contagion in the Republican party. Even Barry Goldwater, a symbol of far right thinking, advised
Republicans to tread lightly with them and he advised against it all the time. He even thought they were crackpots. They stick their
noses into everyone else's business and will elect insane a-holes, regardless of their professed religious morality, if they get their way.
I like Bill Clinton's line about abortion: Abortion should be legal, safe and rare.
Besides, the right's hypocritical when they call themselves pro-life. They sure want all these babies to be born, but they sure don't
want to take care of any of them if they need it, especially in foreign countries, especially if they aren't white and Christian, and
especially if they have to pay 1 cent for it.
I really despise these people, because that's the "lest 'you' be judged" part. They judge, I judge back.
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P.S.: Is anyone else having trouble with the Spell Check button?
Not working for me today. I click it. Empty white screen comes up.
So, no one is having this problem? I haven't ever had this problem since I've been on the forum over a decade ago.
The last two days, yes.
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Though it relates to 2014-2015, this story has been making the rounds of news organizations lately,
including major outlets like the NY and LA Times. Wonder why now?
Fritz, have you been noticing anything strange lately?
UFO's in Virginia Beach? Navy pilots report sightings near Oceana
‘Wow, What Is That?’ Navy Pilots Report Unexplained Flying Objects
May 26, 2019
WASHINGTON — The strange objects, one of them like a spinning top moving against the wind, appeared almost daily from the summer of 2014 to March 2015, high in the skies over the East Coast. Navy pilots reported to their superiors that the objects had no visible engine or infrared exhaust plumes, but that they could reach 30,000 feet and hypersonic speeds.
Pilots, part of the VFA-11 "Red Rippers" fighter squadron out of Naval Air Station Oceana, have begun speaking up about UFOs they claim to have seen from Virginia to Florida starting about five years ago.
“These things would be out there all day,” said Lt. Ryan Grades, an F/A-18 Super Horny pilot who has been with the Navy for 10 years, and who reported his sightings to the Pentagon and Congress. “Keeping an aircraft in the air requires a significant amount of energy. With the speeds we observed, 12 hours in the air is 11 hours longer than we’d expect.”
These experiences started in summer 2014, he told the Times, when the squadron was training off the USS Theodore Roosevelt. Objects, which the pilots would first ignore as false radar tracks, showed up from sea level to up to 30,000 feet, sometimes at hypersonic speeds, the Times reported.
Accoin told the newspaper he once set his plane to merge with the object. "He should have been able to see it with his helmet camera, but could not, even though his radar told him it was there," the Times wrote. The pilots assumed the objects were part of a drone program, but started to doubt that when one, that looked "like a sphere encasing a cube," nearly collided with a pilot one day off the coast of Virginia Beach.
The Pentagon first confirmed the existence of its recent Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program, which investigates UFO reports, in 2017 in response to a Times investigation.
That program, the Times reported, has also studied a 2004 incident in which two Navy jets encountered what pilots described as a giant white Tic Tac flying off the San Diego coast.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/26/us/politics/ufo-sightings-navy-pilots.html
https://pilotonline.com/news/military/local/article_aca37c50-821b-11e9-89c6-93f6f6739d95.html
Pilots, part of the VFA-11 "Red Rippers" fighter squadron out of Naval Air Station Oceana, have begun speaking up about UFOs they claim to have seen from Virginia to Florida...
Or...from Washington, D.C. to Miralago.
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The news out here in Hollywood is that a lot of companies that film movies in these states that are passing the draconian abortion laws (they film a lot in Alabama and Louisiana for instance) are now making plans NOT to film there and pull out of already planned productions. Good. It's about time some punishment goes along with the pain.
Georgia, too. That's why George Eads left MacGyver. It's filmed in Georgia, and he wanted to be closer to his daughter in L.A.
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I always have a difficult time with this, and I know I'll be wildly unpopular here for this, won't be the first time. I think women should have the choice, and that the government shouldn't be able to dictate this decision...but I also think it's taking a life, and I can't reconcile the two in my mind.
I agree with you there. Honestly, I guess I just avoid thinking about the taking a life/not taking a life question. I don't like the idea of abortion as a method of birth control. That's what contraceptives are for. And I think it's a real sin to prohibit it in cases of rape or incest. (I've hard lawmakers say the child is innocent. Sure enough, but they don't think what it will be like for that child when he finds out his uncle--or, worse, his grandpa--is actually his father, or that his daddy was a rapist.)
Sometimes I think maybe it should be prohibited after the quickening, but I guess the quickening is an individual thing that comes at different times for different pregnancies.
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So, no one is having this problem? I haven't ever had this problem since I've been on the forum over a decade ago.
The last two days, yes.
I just checked and I am having the same problem as well, Lyle. Sorry it took so long to check. I was in the ER for about 5 hours today.
I'll contact Neil and see if he can figure out what the issue is.
Thanks for the heads up.
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So, no one is having this problem? I haven't ever had this problem since I've been on the forum over a decade ago.
The last two days, yes.
I don’t use Spell Check as I prefer to manually correct words which the application underlines in red—they’re sometimes misspelt according to American English preferences (which I don’t change)—but yes, Lyle, when I just tested it the Spell Check button didn’t work.
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Geaux turtles!
Also, at least over here, turtle is the more general name. All tortoises are turtles, but not all turtles are tortoises.
Yes, that’s true. While the classification order used for these reptiles is Testudines (meaning turtles), it contains families of both turtles and tortoises.
For example, while the land dwelling tortoises of the Galápagos Islands are members of the order Testudines, they’re also classified as belonging to a family called Testudinidae (tortoises), with the specific genus Chelonoidis (i.e. giant tortoises of Galápagos), and species names (e.g. phantastica, chathemsis).
Similarly, in the US both the Desert Tortoise (Gopherus agassizii) and the Gopher Tortoise (Gopherus polyphemus), both belong to the Testudines order, to the family Testudinidae, and to the genus Gopheros, with their respective species (agassizii and polyphemus). Incidentally these are the only tortoises in the US which are not called turtles.
We refer to box turtles as such because, even though they are terrestrial, they are descended from fresh-water turtles, and notably have slimmer legs than most tortoises whose ancestors have always been land bound.
Australian usage differs in that the term “tortoise,” as it refers only to land dwellers (none of which are native to Australia), is avoided and use of the descriptor "freshwater turtle" for our primarily aquatic members of the Testudinae order not only avoids misleading use of the word "tortoise," but is also a useful distinction from Australian marine turtles.
The Bellinger River fresh water turtle, a subspecies of the Chelydae family (found only in Australia, New Guinea and parts of South America), is Myuchelys georgiou, whereas the North American common box turtle (order Testudines, with genus and species Terrapene carolina) belongs to the Emydidae family, which includes both aquatic and terrestrial forms, as does its four subspecies (Florida, Eastern, Gulf Coast and Three-toed).
The members of the following North American subspecies found in New York (eboracum novum) could be described as belonging to the semi-aquatic form of the genus Terrapene in the Emydidae family (but with anthropomorphic tendencies and a fondness for pizza and storm water drains):
(https://i412.photobucket.com/albums/pp201/rasalgethi_photo/News%202019/turtles_zpsfo6z2pcv.jpg)
Terrapene eboracum novum juvenis mutationem bellator.
Image is Royalty-free, downloadable on all devices.
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I just checked and I am having the same problem as well, Lyle. Sorry it took so long to check. I was in the ER for about 5 hours today.
I'll contact Neil and see if he can figure out what the issue is.
Thanks for the heads up.
No worries and Bless you, Linda. I'm going to check the diner and find
out more info about your ER appointment.
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Ain't it interesting that folks are having a problem with Spell Check when there was just an eight-way tie for winner of the National Spelling Bee? ;D
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Ain't it interesting that folks are having a problem with Spell Check when there was just an eight-way tie for winner of the National Spelling Bee? ;D
Oh, let's start a new conspiracy theory! :laugh:
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Eight way tie? How is that p-o-s-s-i-b-l-e?
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Eight way tie? How is that p-o-s-s-i-b-l-e?
That was even on our news last night.
I never noticed the spell check button. One reason I post little is that I carefully check spelling and grammar before posting and even then, am horrified at mistakes I make. Problem due to having spent nearly 40 years correcting student essays.
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^^^
That's why I've begun using it more regularly!
Plus the fact I tend to make (too?) long posts. :-\
P.S.: It is working today, the spell check.
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It's been fixed Lyle. Neil had to report it to our hoster and the hoster was finally able to get it to work.
We had a recent migration, so we think this is what caused the problem.
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No worries and Bless you, Linda. I'm going to check the diner and find
out more info about your ER appointment.
Thanks Lyle. ❤️
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Eight way tie? How is that p-o-s-s-i-b-l-e?
The final 8 kids all spelled the last 47 words presented by the judges, so the judges stated that there were no more difficult enough words from the dictionary to present, so they called it the 8 way tie. All the 8 kids will each receive the full sized trophy, and each a $50,000 scholarship.
A very expensive year for Scripps.
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^^^
That's pretty crazy! Based on looking at the finalists from the last few years,
were these kids all Asian! ;)
In other news, this headline kinda surprised me:
Music
May 31, 2019
Apple will shut down iTunes, ending the download era, report says
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^^^
That's pretty crazy! Based on looking at the finalists from the last few years,
were these kids all Asian! ;)
Of the 8, 6 were boys, 2 were girls. All the boys and one girl were India descent, and the other girl was Caucasian.
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The New Yorker Cover
This week's New Yorker magazine cover "The Shining" is a scream. A perfect play on these sycophants of The Donald!
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine
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^^^
Yes, thanks for that. They could do a cover like that every week with three different Republicans in it.
As for the spelling bee contestants:
Of the 8, 6 were boys, 2 were girls. All the boys and one girl were India descent, and the other girl was Caucasian.
I hope these kids ENJOY what they are doing and it isn't something in the realm of "pleasing the parents." Sometimes you watch children excelling in something, sports comes to mind, but where it's obvious they're good, but they're aren't enjoying it and you realize it's the parents who are enjoying it.
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The U.S. approval ratings for Presidents Obama and Trump projected on the Tower of London. Photo: Led by Donkeys via Twitter 6/3/19
(https://images.axios.com/NA4ev6Xtv_qMl7lW6LiSt7OGKqk=/2019/06/03/1559578357059.jpg)
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A USS John S. McCain baseball cap projected on London's Madame Tussaud's. Photo: Led by Donkeys via Twitter 6/3/19
/(https://images.axios.com/jm3PePIr8HnPyFZR3nUGM6jLAJA=/0x59:1600x959/1024x576/2019/06/03/1559578281418.jpg)/
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^^^
Love that the British people are expressing themselves so nicely.
Trump isn't going to ruin the 75th Anniversary commemorations of the D-Day landings on Thursday is he?
He's not going there is he? Why would he? It's not all about him. He probably heard someone say D-Day
and he thinks it means Donald Day.
___
Damn, I guess he is...
How Trump Will Ruin the 75th Anniversary of D-Day
by Paul Waldman / Washington Post
It’s on occasions such as the D-Day anniversary when we’re reminded just what we’re missing with Trump in the Oval Office. It might be challenging at this point for any president to bind us together, to tell us our history in a way that could make us feel even for a moment that we’re connected to one another. But it would never occur to Donald Trump to even try.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/how-trump-will-ruin-th-anniversary-d-day/ (https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/05/31/how-trump-will-ruin-th-anniversary-d-day/)
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I don't follow him so don't know his political views, I just know these posts are brilliant.
Led By Donkeys
@ByDonkeys
Follow Follow @ByDonkeys
Hey @realDonaldTrump, you just endorsed your Brexit buddy @BorisJohnson but he said some VERY NASTY things about you and he doesn’t want you to know. So we projected his words onto Big Ben. Watch with the SOUND ON #TrumpUKVisit
https://twitter.com/ByDonkeys/status/1135436716683272192 (https://twitter.com/ByDonkeys/status/1135436716683272192)
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this is the pic on his twitter feed
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DypqwrqWoAAtTiw.jpg)
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OMG
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:laugh:
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I LOVE it! Finally someone calling it like it is!
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The U.S. approval ratings for Presidents Obama and Trump projected on the Tower of London. Photo: Led by Donkeys via Twitter 6/3/19
(https://images.axios.com/NA4ev6Xtv_qMl7lW6LiSt7OGKqk=/2019/06/03/1559578357059.jpg)
I’m just amazed by the 21%. I’ve never met anyone in Britain who wasn’t sickened by him.
But I’m pretty sickened by the likes of Nigel Farage and Boris Johnson too, and most of the government in fact. Very depressed by my country.
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(((Sara)))
You are going through real hard times there, Sara. I hope it's over soon and that the people recovers some kinf of common sense, tight now it seems to be disappearing from the world... I guess that 21% are mainly brexiters :-X
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Thanks, Elena. I’m afraid I can’t see much hope for quite a long time, and having Trump over here making ill-considered, or not considered at all, remarks makes it all worse.
I really wish Trump wasn’t going to be in Europe for the D Day anniversary. I feel his presence taints the occasion.
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It really dishonours the memory of all those who lost their lives during D Day. We were in the Normandie two years ago, it's still so impressive, so solemn. This clown is the last thing I would like to see there.
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Thanks, Elena. I’m afraid I can’t see much hope for quite a long time, and having Trump over here making ill-considered, or not considered at all, remarks makes it all worse.
I really wish Trump wasn’t going to be in Europe for the D Day anniversary. I feel his presence taints the occasion.
His presence taints everything.
If we can look for a silver lining perhaps his presence can make people think about what...well...never mind, I actually can't think of a silver lining.
It really dishonours the memory of all those who lost their lives during D Day. We were in the Normandie two years ago, it's still so impressive, so solemn. This clown is the last thing I would like to see there.
I wish it wasn't one of those important milestone anniversary markers especially. 75th.
As USA Today writes:
D-Day 75th anniversary: Trump's disrespect for McCain and POW's makes a mockery of his D-Day 75th anniversary trip.
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Trump isn't going to ruin the 75th Anniversary commemorations of the D-Day landings on Thursday is he?
He's not going there is he? Why would he? It's not all about him. He probably heard someone say D-Day
and he thinks it means Donald Day.
Someone must've read my post!
(https://cloudinary.cagle.com/image/upload/w_600/cartoons/225947.png)
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It is so sad that it is so easy to make light of this sad clueless clown...
(https://www.sun-sentinel.com/resizer/VKkWmpmGiPAWIlYnYKKxTVWUlKk=/fit-in/800x600/top/filters:fill(black)/arc-anglerfish-arc2-prod-tronc.s3.amazonaws.com/public/PJD5KYABI5EFNEZGCYAGMF6W3Q.jpg)
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(https://cloudinary.cagle.com/image/upload/w_600/cartoons/225919.png)
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Meanwhile...
(https://www.nj.com/resizer/Soq6ukD8u0aExbiuM5v02eaAkdQ=/600x0/arc-anglerfish-arc2-prod-advancelocal.s3.amazonaws.com/public/IDJDKPRQPZBLTM4UAIOQ6MWROU.jpg)
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'Tis said a people get the government they deserve.
I would like to think better of the U.S., but when I think of the majority, I cannot quite bring myself to feel that way.
It still makes me want to barf when I reflect that someday Asshole's portrait will be hanging with those of the likes of FDR and Lincoln.
And there will be a presidential library paid for by my taxpayer dollars.
It will have to have a reflecting cesspool.
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Though it relates to 2014-2015, this story has been making the rounds of news organizations lately,
including major outlets like the NY and LA Times. Wonder why now?
Fritz, have you been noticing anything strange lately?
UFO's in Virginia Beach? Navy pilots report sightings near Oceana
‘Wow, What Is That?’ Navy Pilots Report Unexplained Flying Objects
May 26, 2019
WASHINGTON — The strange objects, one of them like a spinning top moving against the wind, appeared almost daily from the summer of 2014 to March 2015, high in the skies over the East Coast. Navy pilots reported to their superiors that the objects had no visible engine or infrared exhaust plumes, but that they could reach 30,000 feet and hypersonic speeds.
Pilots, part of the VFA-11 "Red Rippers" fighter squadron out of Naval Air Station Oceana, have begun speaking up about UFOs they claim to have seen from Virginia to Florida starting about five years ago.
“These things would be out there all day,” said Lt. Ryan Grades, an F/A-18 Super Horny pilot who has been with the Navy for 10 years, and who reported his sightings to the Pentagon and Congress. “Keeping an aircraft in the air requires a significant amount of energy. With the speeds we observed, 12 hours in the air is 11 hours longer than we’d expect.”
These experiences started in summer 2014, he told the Times, when the squadron was training off the USS Theodore Roosevelt. Objects, which the pilots would first ignore as false radar tracks, showed up from sea level to up to 30,000 feet, sometimes at hypersonic speeds, the Times reported.
Accoin told the newspaper he once set his plane to merge with the object. "He should have been able to see it with his helmet camera, but could not, even though his radar told him it was there," the Times wrote. The pilots assumed the objects were part of a drone program, but started to doubt that when one, that looked "like a sphere encasing a cube," nearly collided with a pilot one day off the coast of Virginia Beach.
The Pentagon first confirmed the existence of its recent Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program, which investigates UFO reports, in 2017 in response to a Times investigation.
That program, the Times reported, has also studied a 2004 incident in which two Navy jets encountered what pilots described as a giant white Tic Tac flying off the San Diego coast.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/26/us/politics/ufo-sightings-navy-pilots.html
https://pilotonline.com/news/military/local/article_aca37c50-821b-11e9-89c6-93f6f6739d95.html
Or...from Washington, D.C. to Miralago.
I've been out of state, just got back yesterday!
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You were out of state on a UFO?
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Not quite, in my car, in Indiana for my 50 year Reunion!
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Former cop Scot Peterson to remain jailed after his arrest in school shooting
By TONYA ALANEZ| SOUTH FLORIDA SUN SENTINEL |JUN 05, 2019 | 9:19 AM| PARKLAND
When every second counted, as students were screaming and dying in their classrooms, school security officer Scot Peterson hid rather than respond. His inaction resulted in his arrest Tuesday on charges of neglecting his duty.
Peterson stood alone in the Broward County Main Jail’s prisoner assembly room for his first court appearance Wednesday morning. He is charged with seven counts of child neglect with great bodily harm, three counts of culpable negligence and exposure to harm, and one count of perjury, records showed.
Broward Judge Jackie Powell set bonds totaling $102,000 with conditions that included surrendering his passport. His attorneys noted his passport was at his North Carolina home and argued Peterson should not be required to remain in jail while someone flies there to retrieve it. Powell denied the request.
The extraordinary case of a cop charged with failure to act could land Peterson in prison for up to 97 years — though some experts warn that the charges will be difficult to prove.
For taking cover rather than confronting the killer, Peterson has been branded a coward, nationally heckled and vilified.
“He should rot, that’s how I feel,” said Fred Guttenberg, whose 14-year-old daughter, Jaime, was on the third floor when she died. “My daughter was one of the last to be shot. My daughter absolutely could have been saved by him and she wasn’t.”
Jaime Guttenberg was shot in the spinal cord as she fled for her life.
“Had she had one more second she would have been saved,” Guttenberg said. “I hope they make his life as miserable as possible.”
Also on the third floor was geography teacher and cross-country coach Scott Beigel.
"If Scot Peterson had done his job my son would be alive today,” said Linda Schulman, Beigel’s mother. “One hundred percent had he done something, the active shooter would not have made it to the third floor, had he done his job, instead of standing outside like a coward.”
Peterson was arrested after an administrative discipline hearing at the sheriff’s office headquarters on Broward Boulevard in Fort Lauderdale.
https://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/fl-ne-scot-peterson-arrested-terminated-20190604-247rpiefs5abpjkv43jgdlayhi-story.html (https://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/fl-ne-scot-peterson-arrested-terminated-20190604-247rpiefs5abpjkv43jgdlayhi-story.html)
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Really? His name is Scott Peterson? (One t?)
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and can she also be arrested and charged with being stupid for thinking she was private messaging 45 on twitter?
A teacher just got fired for asking Trump to deport undocumented students
By Paul P. Murphy and Chuck Johnston, CNN
Updated 3:38 PM ET, Wed June 5, 2019
(CNN)A Texas high school teacher who thought she was private messaging anti-immigration tweets to President Donald Trump has been fired for asking the President to deport undocumented students
"[Fort Worth] ISD is loaded with illegal students from Mexico," Georgia Clark said in a series of tweets on May 17.
"I really do need a contact here in FW who should be actively investigating & removing illegals that are in the public school system."
https://www.cnn.com/2019/06/05/us/trump-teacher-fort-worth-anti-immigration-trnd/index.html (https://www.cnn.com/2019/06/05/us/trump-teacher-fort-worth-anti-immigration-trnd/index.html)
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Good Lord!
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the president of the United States, on a state visit to the UK, and facing so many foreign policy disasters it's hard to keep track, including:
Trump faces bipartisan pushback over arms sales to Saudi Arabia, UAE
Putin and Xi hail ‘unprecedented’ ties as US relations sour
Trump says he's still optimistic about a deal, North Korea warns its losing patience
is having a twitter war with Bette Midler. Shit like that, the most powerful man in the world (and that's scary right there) spending his time trading insults with a movie star...it makes my stomach hurt...There aren't enough eye-roll emojis in the world...
Donald J. Trump
Verified account
@realDonaldTrump
Follow Follow @realDonaldTrump
More
Washed up psycho @BetteMidler was forced to apologize for a statement she attributed to me that turned out to be totally fabricated by her in order to make “your great president” look really bad. She got caught, just like the Fake News Media gets caught. A sick scammer!
5:30 PM - 4 Jun 2019
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What?
Trump told Prince Charles the US has one of ‘cleanest climates’
By Lia Eustachewich June 5, 2019 | 8:29a
President Trump said he and Prince Charles gabbed for 90 minutes about climate change — and that the queen’s son did all the talking.
President Trump during an interview broadcast early Wednesday said that he appreciates Prince Charles's passion on climate change but dismissed the British royal's concerns on the topic, adding that the weather "changes both ways."
“What he really wants and what he feels warmly about is the future,” Trump added. “He wants to make sure future generations have climate that is good climate, as opposed to a disaster. And I agree.”
https://nypost.com/2019/06/05/trump-told-prince-charles-the-us-has-one-of-cleanest-climates/ (https://nypost.com/2019/06/05/trump-told-prince-charles-the-us-has-one-of-cleanest-climates/)
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He also said some really dumb/insensitive things to the Irish Prime Minister about having a border with Northern Ireland. No, really. He did that.
Verified account
@realDonaldTrump
Follow Follow @realDonaldTrump
More
Washed up psycho @BetteMidler was forced to apologize for a statement she attributed to me that turned out to be totally fabricated by her in order to make “your great president” look really bad. She got caught, just like the Fake News Media gets caught. A sick scammer!
5:30 PM - 4 Jun 2019
I guess the 75th Anniversary of D-Day is getting boring for the bore.
So I had to look up what she tweeted.
It was this:
Verified account
Bette Midler
(@BetteMidler)
I apologize; this quote turns out to be a fake from way back in ‘15-16. Don’t know how I missed it, but it sounds SO much like him that I believed it was true! Fact Check: Did Trump say in '98 Republicans are dumb? on.rgj.com/1Y5RE57 via @rgj
So...
#1) Bette M. didn't make it up, but she did retweet it. (Trump retweets fake things, too, like the doctored Nancy Pelosi video last week that made her seem drunk.)
#2.) At least Bette M. owned up to it. Trump has yet to apologize for the video re-tweet (and mind you there's dozens more examples like that from him).
#3.) I feel in good company, because about a year ago, I did the same thing here on this thread and Chuck brought the fact that I shouldn't have to my attention and so:
Part of my response then:
I went back and deleted my post about that, so thanks for reminding me, Chuck.
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(https://image.cagle.com/225968/750/225968.png)
I can't believe what I'm about to write about was 25 years ago!
On the 50th Anniversary of D-Day in 1994 I attended, with a friend from work, an AMPAS program at their Samuel Goldwyn Theater hosted by Bob Hope. A film historian showed how Hollywood depicted the events of WWII, with an emphasis on D-Day, using several various films and clips from them and some people reminisced about their experiences in Los Angeles and how they came to know of these events working in Hollywood. I remember that Robert Stack was one of the participants. Bob Hope talked about what it was like working that day at all of the radio stations in Hollywood, particularly along Vine Street, where everyone was following the news happening such a long ways away. Remember, while all this was going on these people had no idea what the outcome would be for a long time and many knew of those participating in the invasion, while servicemen on leave in Los Angeles were all called back to their bases and such while everything was being assessed.
Also, a soldier was present who had been involved in the D-Day event and he related some of his experiences. The man, in a wheelchair, happened to be pretty feeble and meandering, but Bob Hope helped him along when he began rambling, a bit incoherently.
Something I learned later on...actor Charles Durning served in Normandy on D-Day. I spoke to him once when they had a screening of The Sting at AMPAS, and I didn't really know if I should bring that up or not.
Glad to have gone to that AMPAS event and did I mention I cannot believe that was 25 years ago!
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a new cold war
(https://i.pinimg.com/564x/e6/2e/ea/e62eea793ca69b144b45168e4fa245b8.jpg)
China ratchets up anti-US rhetoric with old war films and travel alerts
By Steven Jiang, CNN
Updated 4:14 AM ET, Thu June 6, 2019
Beijing (CNN)China's latest message to its people: The United States is evil -- don't go there.
In recent days, the government has issued two new travel alerts for citizens heading to the US, while state media has ratcheted up its fiery anti-American rhetoric. It is latest indication of Beijing digging in for a prolonged trade war between the world's two largest economies.
The administration of US President Donald Trump raised tariffs from 10% to 25% on $200 billion worth of Chinese goods on May 10, and later threatened Chinese technology giant Huawei with a potential export ban.
In response, China increased tariffs on $60 billion worth of US goods last Saturday and has pledged to launch other "necessary countermeasures."
On Tuesday, China's Culture and Tourism Ministry warned its citizens of the risks of traveling to the US in an alert, citing frequent recent cases of "shooting, robbery and theft."
China's ruling Communist Party has launched a trade war propaganda campaign, with recent efforts -- delivered via state media -- focusing on US "trade bullying" and "hegemony." In one noteworthy article, published Tuesday in party mouthpiece the People's Daily, the US was labeled the "enemy of the world."
https://www.cnn.com/2019/06/05/asia/china-us-travel-trade-intl/index.html (https://www.cnn.com/2019/06/05/asia/china-us-travel-trade-intl/index.html)
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This is PRIDE weekend in Los Angeles/West Hollywood and the parade was today!
Good news fpr Pete Buttigieg on PRIDE day today, too.
The latest Iowa pollL June 2-5.
(https://media12.s-nbcnews.com/j/MSNBC/Components/Video/201906/n_witt_LarrySabato_190609_1920x1080.nbcnews-fp-1024-512.jpg)
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This is PRIDE weekend in Los Angeles/West Hollywood and the parade was today!
Philadelphia and Washington, too.
Good news fpr Pete Buttigieg on PRIDE day today, too.
I was out last night, as I do on Saturday nights, and in the bar there was a young man wearing one of those "But Edge Edge" t-shirts. I leaned over to him and said, "We love our Mayor Pete!"
He responded, "Oh, thank you! Nobody ever gets the shirt!" :laugh:
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White stork pair could become first of their species to breed in UK for 600 years
The birds’ habit of building huge nests and faithfully returning to them each year has seen them play an important role in history, culture and folklore across Europe. Although the occasional wild stork flies across Britain, the birds are believed not to have successfully bred there since 1416, though some believe wild storks fledged chicks as late as the English civil war.
(https://i412.photobucket.com/albums/pp201/rasalgethi_photo/News%202019/White_storks_zpsu98ripyt.jpg)
Male white stork joins his mate in their nest on top of an oak tree at Knepp estate
The enormous birds are brooding three eggs on the grounds of the rewilded Knepp Castle Estate in Sussex as part of a project to reintroduce the species to south-east England.
The decision to select the estate as a home for the storks is because the breeding of this particular species is rooted in the area’s history. In the Domesday Book the Saxon name for the nearby village of Storrington in West Sussex was originally ‘Estorchestone,’ or the homestead of the white storks, and the bird still features on the town’s crest.
The storks have been brought back in a collaboration between three private landowners in south-east England, the Cotswold Wildlife Park, the Roy Dennis Wildlife Foundation and the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust, an expert in restoring endangered bird species.
Storks with clipped wings from the Warsaw Zoo were introduced into a large, fox-proof, open-topped pen three years ago. Conservationists hoped these would attract passing wild storks, which has happened. But within weeks of being released into the pen one bird had defied its clipped wings to take flight and escape, and was subsequently spotted in Norfolk, Hampshire and Dorset.
One of the fears with the project was that British-reared birds would not be capable of flying to continental Europe and mixing with its wild populations, nor undertake the migration to spend the winter in sub-Saharan Africa. While the bird which escaped flew off to Brittany it later returned to its pen, showing that migration is possible—that the birds can go off to Europe and fly back to Britain.
Additional birds bred in captivity will be released over the next five years, with the aim of a self-sustaining wild population by 2030.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/may/22/white-storks-could-become-first-to-breed-in-wild-in-uk-for-centuries
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Finally, some piece of good news! That's wonderful, Paul.
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Very good.
And Pete G’s rise too!
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Thanks Elena, Sara—yes, it’s nice when the news isn’t always about “doom and gloom” in the world. :)
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The World’s Largest Bee Is Not Extinct
An expedition of conservationists have found a living Wallace’s Giant Bee on a remote Indonesian island.
It’s been 38 years since scientists last spotted the insect, a rare species found only in the North Molucca islands of Indonesia. With a wingspan of 2.5 inches and a body the size of a human thumb, it’s considered the world’s largest bee species.
(https://i412.photobucket.com/albums/pp201/rasalgethi_photo/News%202019/merlin_150965649_7ac0032c-f141-4b72-a729-1b810508c2cc-articleLarge_zpsjmtzuxuh.jpg)
Wallace’s Giant Bee (Megachile pluto), shown with a honey bee for scale.
The bee collects nectar to feed to its young, but doesn't produce honey like the European honeybee or some Australian natives, and can sting repeatedly as it doesn't die after the first sting.
Wallace’s Giant Bee is named after Alfred Russel Wallace, an English explorer and entomologist who worked with Charles Darwin to formulate the theory of evolution through natural selection. Wallace first discovered the bee on an expedition to Indonesia in 1859, describing the female as “a large black wasp-like insect with immense jaws like a stag beetle.” Though Wallace didn’t seem particularly interested in the bee—he devoted only a single line to it in his journal—it became something of an obsession among biologists.
Despite its conspicuous size, the bee remained elusive, and was feared to be extinct, with almost nothing known about the female’s secretive life cycle involving making nests of tree resin inside active arboreal termite mounds. The bee was not seen again until 122 years later, when several were observed in the wild in 1981 by American entomologist Adam C. Messer, who returned home with a handful of specimens that are now held in the American Museum of Natural History in New York, the Natural History Museum in London and other institutions.
But in January this year an international team of four conservationists from Australia, Canada and the US discovered a live specimen, and captured the first-ever photos and videos of Wallace’s Giant Bee.
Robin Moore, a conservation biologist with Global Wildlife Conservation, an Austin, Texas-based organization which runs a programme called The Search for Lost Species, said: “We know that [announcing this rediscovery] could seem like a big risk, given the demand, but the reality is that unscrupulous collectors already know that the bee is out there.”
Moore said it was vital that conservationists made the Indonesian government aware of the bee and took steps to protect the species and its habitat, which is threatened by massive deforestation for palm oil, which is rife thoughout Indonesia. “By making the bee a world-famous flagship for conservation we are confident that the species has a brighter future than if we just let it quietly be collected into oblivion,” he said.
Excited as they were to find the bee, expedition member Dr. Simon Robson, a biologist at the University of Sydney, and his team worry that the sighting may be a mixed blessing. Last year, an anonymous seller sold a previously unaccounted-for specimen to an unknown bidder on eBay for $9,100, highlighting the lack of protection afforded this rare species, whose size and rarity make it a target for collectors. “If you can get that much money for an insect, that encourages people to go and find them,” he said.
To help protect the bees, the team has agreed not to disclose the location of the specific island where they made their discovery.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/science/2019-02-22/bee-giant-wallaces-rediscovered-indonesia/10830224
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/21/science/giant-bee-wallace.html
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/feb/21/worlds-largest-bee-missing-for-38-years-found-in-indonesia
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Ok, I am not sure that's good news, Paul! :laugh: Sorry, I think if I found that thing in my house my first reaction would be to look for a grenade launcher.
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*gazing at my thumb* Which human’s thumb, I wonder? :D
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Ok, I am not sure that's good news, Paul! :laugh: Sorry, I think if I found that thing in my house my first reaction would be to look for a grenade launcher.
If it were April 1, I'd be inclined to class this with the Swiss Spaghetti Harvest, but I take it for real.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spaghetti-tree_hoax (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spaghetti-tree_hoax)
Sounds like a good premise for another horror film about bees.
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That reminds me of the Asian Hornet.
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.todayifoundout.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2014%2F06%2Fgiant-hornet.jpg&hash=4f54b631b4097511269c9edfda8f18635d1c168d)
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I prefer the Green Hornet.
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Philadelphia and Washington, too.
I was out last night, as I do on Saturday nights, and in the bar there was a young man wearing one of those "But Edge Edge" t-shirts. I leaned over to him and said, "We love our Mayor Pete!"
He responded, "Oh, thank you! Nobody ever gets the shirt!" :laugh:
That's why it's good he's wearing it! He can introduce people to Pete!
Also, didn't I hear something happened in Washington on Pride day...that turned out to be a false alarm...I forgot to look up what happened?
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So, I looked it up now:
Man Pulling BB Gun at Capital Pride Parade Triggered Panic: Police
A man pulled out a BB gun during an altercation during Saturday's Capital Pride Parade, causing widespread panic and mistaken reports of an active shooter, police say. Several people were hurt in the chaos as hundreds fled.
D.C Police Chief Peter Newsham confirmed to News4 that a shooting did not occur at the Dupont Circle festival on Saturday. A police report released Sunday shows that the confusion may have started when a man pulled out a BB gun.
About 7:20 p.m., nearly three hours into the parade, officers ran into Dupont as parade attendees fled, some shouting that there was a man with a gun. Some said that the man had fired.
According to a police incident report, Aftabjit Singh, 38, said he pulled out the fake gun to threaten an unknown person who was hitting his significant other. Singh will appear in court Monday on misdemeanor charges.
____________
https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/False-Report-of-Shooting-at-Capital-Pride-Parade-Triggers-Panic-511027152.html
This article has video of people fleeing and running in the streets.
About 7:20 p.m., nearly three hours into the parade...
They start their parade late in D.C. Ours starts at 11am.
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That reminds me of the Asian Hornet.
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.todayifoundout.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2014%2F06%2Fgiant-hornet.jpg&hash=4f54b631b4097511269c9edfda8f18635d1c168d)
NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE
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NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE
Not to drag the thread off topic, but you are right to "nope" about these things!
I've seen stories about them on TV, they are highly aggressive, and a swarm of just 30 can destroy a hive of 30,000 honeybees in just a few hours.
They are fast fliers and will fly longer distances to defend their nests or attack prey. Their venom is potent and can dissolve human flesh, and they will sting multiple times.
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I think I'll forego the pleasure.
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I guess thank you for the information? I will blame you for my nightmares, Chuck!
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So, I looked it up now:
Man Pulling BB Gun at Capital Pride Parade Triggered Panic: Police
A man pulled out a BB gun during an altercation during Saturday's Capital Pride Parade, causing widespread panic and mistaken reports of an active shooter, police say. Several people were hurt in the chaos as hundreds fled.
D.C Police Chief Peter Newsham confirmed to News4 that a shooting did not occur at the Dupont Circle festival on Saturday. A police report released Sunday shows that the confusion may have started when a man pulled out a BB gun.
About 7:20 p.m., nearly three hours into the parade, officers ran into Dupont as parade attendees fled, some shouting that there was a man with a gun. Some said that the man had fired.
According to a police incident report, Aftabjit Singh, 38, said he pulled out the fake gun to threaten an unknown person who was hitting his significant other. Singh will appear in court Monday on misdemeanor charges.
____________
https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/False-Report-of-Shooting-at-Capital-Pride-Parade-Triggers-Panic-511027152.html
This article has video of people fleeing and running in the streets.
They start their parade late in D.C. Ours starts at 11am.
Given the current administration, I'm not surprised there is an uptick in the violence at pride events. Makes me concerned about what may be waiting at NYC Pride, specifically since it's the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall riots.
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Their venom is potent and can dissolve human flesh.
:o
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(https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/wWMTNmlVHT8lekvHLSoHTNKzT82TsTebdw1FoB3RV575L2hSooj6WDGDgpaHld4vgz2yYFY=s850)
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Given the current administration, I'm not surprised there is an uptick in the violence at pride events. Makes me concerned about what may be waiting at NYC Pride, specifically since it's the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall riots.
Nothing happened around here all last weekend, except a spike in temperatures...the hottest of the year. I think they purposely block off roads
and cause so much traffic congestion so that it discourages people wanting to come here unless so inclined. :)
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Lyle, the June 3 New Yorker had a profile of Beto O'Rourke. Perhaps you've seen it?
Anyway, in the course of the article, the author, William Finnegan, wrote something that reminded me of things I believe you wrote here about why people go to see the Fake President.
Nobody, and I respectfully mean nobody, goes to Trump for the facts. They go for the entertainment, the fun, the inclusion, the angry release. Perhaps they agree with him, perhaps they don't. A Latino activist in El Paso told me that he had gone to hear O'Rourke that night, and was horrified to see his entire extended family, from both sides of the border, go to see Trump instead. He understood, though. You knew what Beto would say. You never knew what crazy shit Trump would say. People go for the transgression.
Unfortunately, those people who "go for the transgression" need to be persuaded to vote against the transgressor.
(In the William Shawn years, nobody, and I mean nobody, would have been allowed to say "crazy shit" in an article in The New Yorker.)
Finnegan also tells us that O'Rourke's birth name is Robert Francis O'Rourke. He got nicknamed Beto while he was still an infant, and that Beto is "the local shorthand for Roberto, Alberto, Humberto." I guess he got the nickname because his first name at birth is Robert, but that still doesn't teach me how to pronounce it.
At least I can say Butt-edge-edge.
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I haven't seen that, Jeff, but I'll check it out.
Yes, very similar to what I've been saying. Transgression is a good word. It's like people slowing down to see an accident or going to see race car shows. I mean, is there anything much more boring than cars driving around a racetrack for a couple hours...ah...but the promise of an accident could occur.
It's like how Pete Buttigieg describes Trump's appeal: "That's the nature of the grotesque. It's mesmerizing."
Perfect.
Finnegan also tells us that O'Rourke's birth name is Robert Francis O'Rourke. He got nicknamed Beto while he was still an infant, and that Beto is "the local shorthand for Roberto, Alberto, Humberto." I guess he got the nickname because his first name at birth is Robert, but that still doesn't teach me how to pronounce it.
I believe it is pronounced: bay-toe
At least I can say Butt-edge-edge.
Heh! His shirts say "Boot"-edge-edge. Maybe O'Rourke could have Bay-toe shirts!
Pete has been rising nicely in the latest polls. In the first couple caucus/primary states he's in a three way
tie with Sanders and Warren for second place! The New York TImes has an article today titled:
How Pete Buttigieg and Elizabeth Warren Cracked the Code of the 2020 Race
New York Times article:
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/13/us/politics/elizabeth-warren-pete-buttigieg-2020.html
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How Pete Buttigieg and Elizabeth Warren Cracked the Code of the 2020 Race
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/13/us/politics/elizabeth-warren-pete-buttigieg-2020.html
...or as Fox News put it: "Buttigieg and Warren on Crack." LOL!
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After eight years of Obama and the Republicans, headed by Mitch McConnell, refusing to do anything that Obama
put forward or the Democratic party, to the point of stealing a Supreme Court appointment, and now even refusing
to bring up legislation from the Democratic house, much less having a vote on any of it, this week Biden says he
thinks that when Trump is gone the Republicans will miraculously come to their senses and will want to work in a
bi-partisan manner.
They weren't doing that BEFORE Trump, so I can't believe he said that. Who could possibly believe it?
What made him think this? People would like to think Congress might work that way, but where's the
clues it might even remotely happen? McConnell keeps going around and making speeches calling
himself the Grim Reaper when it comes to any substantive policies sent to the Senate. McConnell is
more like the Grim Raper, raping the Democracy of all norms and bastardizing the way Government
works. I hate him more than the president.
By the way, have you heard? Secretary of Transportation, Elaine Chao, MCCONNELL'S WIFE, has, well
it makes me mad to talk about it any more, here's a couple headlines:
--House to Investigate Secretary Elaine Chao Corruption Allegations
--Chao Corruption Shocking Even for Scandal-Plagued Trump Cabinet
--Chao Streamlined Federal Grants for Husband Mitch McConnell
--Mitch McConnell Shrugs Off Questions of Preferential Treatment
--Ethics Expert on Mitch McConnell and Elaine Chao: "We are now a full-fledged banana republic"
--Chao Secured $78 million in Transportation Projects for Kentucky to Help Husband in Senate Re-Election Bid
--Mitch McConnell and Elaine Chao's Empire of Corruption: Is This What "Normal" Looks Like, Joe Biden?
Joe Biden thinks Republicans "know better." But Mitch McConnell's venality goes back well before Donald Trump
--A ‘Bridge’ to China, and Chao's Family’s Business, in the Trump Cabinet
--Three Sec. of Transportation ELaine Chao Scandals: 1.) DOING BIG, EXPENSIVE FAVORS FOR MITCH
2.) CONNECTIONS TO CHINESE CORPORATION 3.) FAILING TO DIVEST (Guess If McConnell or Trump Care)
--The “Little Ditty About Mitch and Elaine” Edition
--Oops: Elaine Chao Caught Pimping Her Family Business with China
(https://media.salon.com/2019/06/chao-mcconnell.jpg)
Don't you just want to punch them in their smug little rat faces?
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Sarah Huckabee Sanders is Out
White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders is leaving the White House after a tenure defined by lashing out at reporters for critical coverage of Donald Trump while standing by the president’s lies and falsehoods.
Trump confirmed Sanders’ departure in tweets on Thursday, saying the press secretary would be leaving her post by the end of the month and returning to her home state of Arkansas.
—and good riddance. ;D
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/sarah-huckabee-sanders-trump-out_n_5b225d19e4b09d7a3d7aa734
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Kellyanne Conway Should Be Removed From Federal Office, Ethics Agency Says
Senior White House aide Kellyanne Conway should be removed from federal service for repeatedly violating a law that prohibits government employees from engaging in political campaigns, the U.S. Office of Special Counsel said Thursday.
The White House adviser has violated the Hatch Act several times and shows “disregard for the law,” the watchdog group said.
The independent federal agency ― which is different from the Justice Department office once operated by Robert Mueller ― sent a report to President Donald Trump on Thursday outlining numerous occasions in which Conway violated the Hatch Act by disparaging Democratic presidential candidates while speaking in her official capacity on TV and in social media.
“Like with other presidential appointees, the President has the authority to discipline Ms. Conway for violating the Hatch Act,” the OSC said a statement. “Given that Ms. Conway is a repeat offender and has shown disregard for the law, OSC recommends that she be removed from federal service.”
—about time, too. >:(
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/kellyanne-conway-hatch-act-removed-federal-service_n_5d027337e4b0dc17ef05e5d7
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Ok, I am not sure that's good news, Paul! :laugh: Sorry, I think if I found that thing in my house my first reaction would be to look for a grenade launcher.
Not to worry Elena—the composite image released by the expedition is deceptive.
For a start, it not only exaggerates both insects’ sizes, but it also doesn’t include something by which to indicate the actual scale of the image (such as a ruler, a coin etc.), so it’s demonstration of their relative sizes is inaccurate.
While the giant bee is larger than a honey bee, it’s only about 3.8cm long, so a standard aerosol insecticide should do the trick.
(https://i.postimg.cc/NfkxYPsH/first-photo-of-megachile-pluto.jpg) (https://postimages.org/)
First-ever photo of a live Megachile pluto specimen
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And a hammer, just to be sure ;)
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Kellyanne Conway Should Be Removed From Federal Office, Ethics Agency Says
Senior White House aide Kellyanne Conway should be removed from federal service for repeatedly violating a law that prohibits government employees from engaging in political campaigns, the U.S. Office of Special Counsel said Thursday.
It's become clear that most of our norms, are not LAWS, and are dependent on people, particularly the President, doing the right thing. Our current White House occupant flouts every norm, has no shame, is out for himself and is getting away with everything. He is Rolo Tomassi "the guy who gets away with it." And, by extension, the people in his administration are also "getting away with it." And now defiantly so.
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi doesn't want to start an impeachment inquiry. A lot of people consider her a titan when it comes to knowing what she's doing in terms of policy and strategy. People give her the benefit of the doubt in that regard.
But I'm beginning to wonder. Not beginning, I have been wondering. If she has a plan WHAT IS IT? I don't see why the Democrats cannot just open an Impeachment Inquiry and then proceed with their fact finding under the umbrella of that committee. Because right now it seems like the Democrats don't know what they're doing. Individual committees are flailing in their attempts to interview anyone because the administration is stonewalling. So the media keeps asking Democrats what they're doing and they have very little to say because nothing is moving forward. The appearance is that the Democrats are being played. No one has any doubt if the Republicans were in the opposite position they'd have called for an Impeachment, much less an impeachment inquiry. If the Democrats aren't careful they're going to turn off enthusiasm amongst their own voters.
The reasoning is that the Republican senators won't vote to impeach the President if it gets to the Senate. The truth is that we don't know what would happen. At the very least the Republicans would have to actually cast a vote in stone which would have them APPROVING of this President. Not even having that vote lets them off the hook entirely. So, when you don't know what will happen, DO THE RIGHT THING. At least you'll be doing something because right now it seems nothing is happening.
Yesterday the President, after months of saying there was no collusion, came out in public and said he would absolutely collude with foreign powers if it helps him win again. Just WHEN is enough enough?
GET ON WITH IT.
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Trump officially begins his Presidential campaign today with a rally in Orlando, Florida.
The editors of the Orlando Sentinel decide to make endorsement for 2020 Election early.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/D9VtYU4WsAEsLGX.jpg)
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Orlando Sentinel editorial: Why we won’t endorse President Trump for reelection in 2020
by Orlando Sentinel Editorial Board
| Orlando Sentinel | Jun 18, 2019 |
Donald Trump was in Orlando to announce the kickoff of his re-election campaign on Tuesday.
We’ve already decided who will get our endorsement for president in 2020, or, at least, who we’re not endorsing: Trump.
Some readers will wonder how we could possibly eliminate a candidate so far before an election, and before knowing the identity of his opponent.
Because there’s no point pretending we would ever recommend that readers vote for Trump.
After 2½ years we’ve seen enough.
Enough of the chaos, the division, the schoolyard insults, the self-aggrandizement, the corruption, and especially the lies.
So many lies — from white lies to whoppers — told out of ignorance, laziness, recklessness, expediency or opportunity.
Trump’s capacity for lying isn’t the surprise here, though the frequency is.
It’s the tolerance so many Americans have for it.
There was a time when even a single lie — a phony college degree, a bogus work history — would doom a politician’s career.
Not so for Trump, who claimed in 2017 that he lost the popular vote because millions of people voted illegally (they didn’t). In 2018 he said North Korea was no longer a nuclear threat (it is). And in 2019 he said windmills cause cancer (they don’t). Just last week he claimed the media fabricated unfavorable results from his campaign’s internal polling (it didn’t).
According to a Washington Post database, the president has tallied more than 10,000 lies since he took office.
Trump’s successful assault on truth is the great casualty of this presidency, followed closely by his war on decency.
[...]
The nation must endure another 1½ years of Trump. But it needn’t suffer another four beyond that.
We can do better. We have to do better.
https://www.sun-sentinel.com/opinion/commentary/sentinel-not-endorsing-donald-trump-20190618-story.html (https://www.sun-sentinel.com/opinion/commentary/flop-com-sentinel-not-endorsing-donald-trump-2020-20190618-gtvcunrbfrgerb5h72cwbyoxn4-story.html)
Entire editorial is worth reading, though nothing in it is new to those who abhor the current occupant of the White House.
But it could be printed and handed to anyone else who might need persuading. If they still would support this cretin and
this Republican administration you could tell them, "Well then it's true: you are as stupid as they think you are."
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The trouble is, his base doesn't give a shit--or it only gives a shit about his appointment of conservative Supreme Court justices.
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The trouble is, his base doesn't give a shit--or it only gives a shit about his appointment of conservative Supreme Court justices.
I totally agree with you Jeff. One can talk to a Pumpkinhead supporter, and there is absolutely nothing one can say to convince them that he is not the second coming.
I used to go to lunch with the mother of one of Jonathan's friends, and she has gotten VERY political. We'll be at a restaurant and she'll talk very loudly how the communist state of NM (the mid term elections voted in a democratic governor and Congress) has ruined everything, and how Trump is going to make sure everything going to be right. She always does this very loudly. I refuse to get into political discussions with her due to being unable to reason with her and her reactions.
The last time we were together, a couple of months ago, I told her I won't have any political discussions with her, and haven't heard from her since. She knows where I stand.
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this is a good example of how his base sees him...
Trump voter's false claim surprises CNN reporter
https://www.cnn.com/videos/politics/2019/06/18/trump-voters-campaign-kickoff-florida-ebof-lavandera-pkg-vpx.cnn (https://www.cnn.com/videos/politics/2019/06/18/trump-voters-campaign-kickoff-florida-ebof-lavandera-pkg-vpx.cnn)
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^^^
From that link:
White trash Trumper Melody VIncent: "I am a Trumper. Trump has come in and stepped up when he didn't have to, for free, and saved our country."
Mike Peacock: "I love him because he's sarcastic, and I'm the same way."
The reason I don't like watching those segments is that the person asking the questions never has any follow ups to what he asks, so the people get to spout their idiocies free and clear.
Then there's this guy: "I don't think he's divisive, because you'd have to tell me what he lies about, first of all. I don't think he's lied about anything." The interviewer says: "You don't think Trump lies?" Response: "No."
What did I say in my post above?
"You (three quoted above) are as stupid as they think you are."
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I agree with Linda and Jeff that his base is off base with their support of Trump. It makes no sense. It's like a cult. Talking to Trump supporters is like talking to cult members. They see something no one else does. I'd hate to give up on anyone changing their minds and I'd probably argue with Trump supporters if I knew any.
I was trying to think of how to talk to a Trump supporter and get through to them in some way. It's probably like trying to get through to someone who thinks the earth is flat. I guess I'd try to stick to one point that is irrefutable and see where that went. From seeing his supporters talk, though, that could be difficult.
People see what they want to see.
I was on a bus a couple weeks ago and when it stopped, 6-8 people got on...they were dressed similar and had some ID badges on. They sat close to me. They were talking together in a group and I realized they were West Hollywood City employees who had gone out to lunch together and were going back to work. They were talking about an employee and how he had kept applying for new jobs within the department, but wasn't getting any of them, which seemed to be surprising to most of them. They wondered why. Then one woman said: "And I can't believe it...do you know that he's a Trumper?" When she said that I was rising to get off at the next stop and I said, "Maybe that's why he isn't getting any of those jobs." They all started laughing.
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Some time ago I read this:
How to Persuade a Trump Supporter to Reject and Resist Trumpism
A Do-It-Yourself Guide to Changing Minds Instead of Sending Your Sad Soliloquy or Smug Shouting Right into the Void
It takes 1/2 hour to read!
But even then it helped to think about how to do such a thing without dismissing it totally as a waste of time!
It's filled with ideas!
https://medium.com/everyvote/how-to-persuade-a-trump-supporter-to-reject-and-resist-trumpism-6cc4a7f1b45d
There's also this Atlantic article, but it's a couple years old now:
Trump Supporters on What Would Change Their Minds
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/01/trump-supporters-on-what-would-change-their-minds/511997/
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possible 45 supporters in Denver?
Parents brawl over a 13-year-old umpire's call at Little League game. Police say they're 'disgusted'
(CNN)Police are calling on parents to "grow up" after a fight broke out at a Little League baseball game near Denver, Colorado.
Parents and coaches were unhappy with a call made by the 13-year-old umpire during Saturday's game, according to the Lakewood Police Department. They then stormed the field and began punching each other as the 7-year-old players looked on.
"We were disgusted, quite frankly," Lakewood Police spokesman John Romero told HLN on Wednesday. "Baseball and 7-year-old kids, it's the parents that need to grow up here. That's the saddest part."
https://www.cnn.com/2019/06/19/us/parents-brawl-little-league-baseball-trnd/index.html (https://www.cnn.com/2019/06/19/us/parents-brawl-little-league-baseball-trnd/index.html)
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This is what scares the hell out of me...
Iran shoots down US drone
CNN-Updated 10:54 a.m. ET, June 20, 2019
3 min ago
The White House is holding a meeting to discuss Iran, but Trump is not expected to attend
30 min ago
Trump: "Iran made a very big mistake!"
President Trump just tweeted that "Iran made a very big mistake."
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(https://i.pinimg.com/originals/8c/8e/cd/8c8ecdfaadf4e4c709c4d3add580e190.jpg)
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^^^
From that link:
White trash Trumper Melody VIncent: "I am a Trumper. Trump has come in and stepped up when he didn't have to, for free, and saved our country."
Mike Peacock: "I love him because he's sarcastic, and I'm the same way."
The reason I don't like watching those segments is that the person asking the questions never has any follow ups to what he asks, so the people get to spout their idiocies free and clear.
Then there's this guy: "I don't think he's divisive, because you'd have to tell me what he lies about, first of all. I don't think he's lied about anything." The interviewer says: "You don't think Trump lies?" Response: "No."
A reporter for BBC World News America interviewed people after the Orlando kick-off event. One of the persons interviewed actually said that the Fake President is "a good Christian."
WHAT PLANET ARE THESE PEOPLE FROM?
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That post about the adults punching each other at a Little League game is just insane.
I'd ban those parents, but not their kids, from attending.
However, I did not know that 13 year olds were umpiring Little League Baseball games.
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I happened upon an article talking about a store in Arizona that sells nothing but Trump related things.
Diana Roche of Vail, Arizona, was up to spend a weekend in the town. She'd been to the store a half-dozen times since driving by and noticing the unmistakable Trump signs out front. She pulled into the parking lot, marked for "deplorables only," and felt at home. "This place is wonderful,” she said. “Where can you come to feel validated?”
Yes, Trump supporters feeling at home by being called deplorable. Never thought to question it, just embrace it.
"...you are as stupid as they think you are."
Here, in the Trumped Store, the general feeling is well known. Here, Trump calling Mexican immigrants rapists and murderers is not considered racist. “It’s actually the real stuff people say,” she said. “It’s honest and it’s real. He’s just not afraid to say it.”
Yeah, now we can display our racism openly. Yahoo!
"...you are as stupid as they think you are."
And, sure, the $8.5 trillion added to the deficit by President Barack Obama may have been a cause for worry, as it was for Bob Kern, 64. But, the trillion added to the deficit by Trump will be rectified through the trickle down of tax cuts. Yes, the toilet paper roll and the plastic “Fake News” button, which come loaded with eight and seven Trump phrases, respectively, are both made in China. And the T-shirts are made in Honduras, Nicaragua and Haiti, the latter of which Trump reportedly referred to as shit-hole countries, implying it was a toilet. But that’s for naysayers to point out — should they dare come in.
"...you are as stupid as they think you are."
Sometimes non-supporters come in...you can tell who they are...and they’ll toss out an insult as they head out the door, the owner said. “I can’t believe you support that man,” she offered by way of example.
So, if you don't support the same person you do it's an insult?
"...you are as stupid as they think you are."
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That post about the adults punching each other at a Little League game is just insane.
I'd ban those parents, but not their kids, from attending.
However, I did not know that 13 year olds were umpiring Little League Baseball games.
My son umpired games for the younger kids, he was 14. They have to know all the rules from the game. Also this is because they can't get enough adults to volunteer to umpire.
I used to keep the stats for the teams when my kids played. This is something that has to be kept manually in a book when it's official Little League games.
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I didn't know all that, Linda, thanks!
I'm afraid I was born with vision problems with my right eye and depth perception was a big problem,
hence sports were not something I gravitated to, though I liked watching them. Especially baseball,
heh, as you know from the sports thread.
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I saw a button on a campaign buttons site that I don't know what it means. It says:
Hindsight
2020
If you want to see a picture of it:
https://www.cafepress.com/+hindsight_2020_election_cam_35_button_100_pack,2015014187?pProductList=os&pClickTrack=1&pPosition=2
________
Edit: I searched it and it apparently is a Sanders campaign, or maybe just his supporters, meme that on hindsight you should've supported Sanders
in 2016, so support him now. (No, thank you.)
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I also like this one:
(https://encrypted-tbn3.gstatic.com/shopping?q=tbn:ANd9GcSfG36XkRw0JDfs5k3pE6ujw9duywcK8lEMuFDgcwkOvHM6i9nK-wYuL-wSpxxe95p6--zu9WGKig&usqp=CAc)
If you don't get it at first, you will.
86/45
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Of course, I already know who I'm voting for President:
(https://encrypted-tbn2.gstatic.com/shopping?q=tbn:ANd9GcQBCxndMQCGDFzByextz7WWju636EqvuiE8Uyci0IuukPb1yUkiVKVIhyNL7JaHDWuYKxY547c&usqp=CAE)
Vote Blue No Matter Who
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I also like this one:
(https://encrypted-tbn3.gstatic.com/shopping?q=tbn:ANd9GcSfG36XkRw0JDfs5k3pE6ujw9duywcK8lEMuFDgcwkOvHM6i9nK-wYuL-wSpxxe95p6--zu9WGKig&usqp=CAc)
If you don't get it at first, you will.
86/45
I got it immediately. I need to get one and wear it.
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I didn't know all that, Linda, thanks!
I'm afraid I was born with vision problems with my right eye and depth perception was a big problem,
hence sports were not something I gravitated to, though I liked watching them. Especially baseball,
heh, as you know from the sports thread.
The adult umpires for the Little League World Series are all volunteers, as well as all the groundskeepers, and the people who work the consessions and cook food and do cleanup for all the teams who participate in the Series who stay in the dorms.
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I'll have to pay more attention to that when the LLWS is happening again this year!
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I also like this one:
(https://encrypted-tbn3.gstatic.com/shopping?q=tbn:ANd9GcSfG36XkRw0JDfs5k3pE6ujw9duywcK8lEMuFDgcwkOvHM6i9nK-wYuL-wSpxxe95p6--zu9WGKig&usqp=CAc)
If you don't get it at first, you will.
86/45
I got it right away. ;D
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I'll have to pay more attention to that when the LLWS is happening again this year!
Thursday August 15 to Sunday August 25.
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Thursday August 15 to Sunday August 25.
My dad always watches when LLWS is on TV. :)
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My dad always watches when LLWS is on TV. :)
So do I. I watch it every year. It's one of my favorite things to watch.
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I also like this one:
(https://encrypted-tbn3.gstatic.com/shopping?q=tbn:ANd9GcSfG36XkRw0JDfs5k3pE6ujw9duywcK8lEMuFDgcwkOvHM6i9nK-wYuL-wSpxxe95p6--zu9WGKig&usqp=CAc)
If you don't get it at first, you will.
86/45
I don't get it, please someone explain it to me?
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To 86 something is a slang term, to get rid of or eliminate. And of course T is the 45th President. So you 86 45!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/86_(term) (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/86_(term))
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With all the talk of trying to start something with Iran, I thought I should post this:
(https://i.pinimg.com/originals/51/93/b6/5193b6da9431b1c9ea6aded363235e9e.jpg)
Give Pizza Chance
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Since it's PRIDE month, here's a political themed pin:
(https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/61DkXm-RrOL._AC_UL320_.jpg)
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(https://scontent-iad3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/64609968_10157226646458744_2501915705159450624_n.jpg?_nc_cat=100&_nc_eui2=AeFpz6AW6SU7QU_GxzO2p6Zu7nmz_VSGeaMbrTj4sUVFZ_wFiyQSNNaKqO9daWf-uWUtanJ0guC7_bD9Avu1kOJaAGypaOH1SyFksliG86bUkw&_nc_oc=AQm-aeCqRgo0ow4qEwOMS04fzWk__kvZhUtPT0lVLLvQHN59wWjxFV3wb_hayl7hL2U&_nc_ht=scontent-iad3-1.xx&oh=99f170ee7a597beb9fac95f1bbe94191&oe=5D8813EE)
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^^^
Exactly.
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(https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcT4szisTprQberDLjwHMINqv24oVUFYEKeGhD8y_qH_0d5qWIHy)
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Or...if you prefer:
(https://i0.wp.com/www.ifitshipitshere.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/mike-mitchell-anti-trump-art.gif)
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A lot in common.
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Love this one:
(https://encrypted-tbn1.gstatic.com/shopping?q=tbn:ANd9GcT0j92WG9k5OERVpDR6xvRe-U_UHsovNAbOC0B2w9Ss9gv849GKAXHb5dFqLnrv8qQXmx53D7I&usqp=CAE)
Resist gaslighting
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Love this one:
(https://encrypted-tbn1.gstatic.com/shopping?q=tbn:ANd9GcT0j92WG9k5OERVpDR6xvRe-U_UHsovNAbOC0B2w9Ss9gv849GKAXHb5dFqLnrv8qQXmx53D7I&usqp=CAE)
Resist gaslighting
I'll admit I don't get this one. I know the movie Gaslight, where Charles Boyer tries to convince Ingrid Bergman that she's insane--it's one of my favorite films--but I'm not getting the usage in a political context. Can someone please explain? Thanks!
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People are using it as an example of what Trump and the Republican Party and
Fox News is doing to the country.
Gaslighting is a form of psychological manipulation in which a person seeks to
sow seeds of doubt in a targeted individual or in members of a targeted group,
making them question their own memory, perception, and sanity.
A party whose members don't think Trump lies, feel climate change is a hoax,
the Russians are our friends, millions of illegal votes were cast, child molesters
are acceptable candidates for office and "sometimes God chooses a flawed person
to deliver his message."
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This headline actually shocked me this morning:
The Young are Regarded as the Most Tolerant Generation.
That's Why Results of this LGBTQ Survey are 'Alarming'
'Looming social crisis': The young are less accepting of LGBTQ people
Susan Miller, USA TODAY | June 24, 2019
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/06/24/lgbtq-acceptance-millennials-decline-glaad-survey/1503758001/
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People are using it as an example of what Trump and the Republican Party and
Fox News is doing to the country.
Gaslighting is a form of psychological manipulation in which a person seeks to
sow seeds of doubt in a targeted individual or in members of a targeted group,
making them question their own memory, perception, and sanity.
A party whose members don't think Trump lies, feel climate change is a hoax,
the Russians are our friends, millions of illegal votes were cast, child molesters
are acceptable candidates for office and "sometimes God chooses a flawed person
to deliver his message."
Thanks, Lyle.
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This headline actually shocked me this morning:
The Young are Regarded as the Most Tolerant Generation.
That's Why Results of this LGBTQ Survey are 'Alarming'
'Looming social crisis': The young are less accepting of LGBTQ people
Susan Miller, USA TODAY | June 24, 2019
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/06/24/lgbtq-acceptance-millennials-decline-glaad-survey/1503758001/
Just shows T has an effect even on those who should know better.
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(https://static1.squarespace.com/static/59de47fd8fd4d2037cba7e91/5a7f65e124a694ef1918b932/5c5079a1352f5366297c5cc6/1548778072496/1-24-19.jpg)
witches against trump
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I need that pin, or whatever it is. Love it. I have a similar witch tattooed.
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There are several variations of the pin on Etsy, if that helps!
https://www.etsy.com/listing/577483340/witches-against-trump-enamel-pin-resist
Including an off-shoot of that one that says: "Persist & Hex." :laugh:
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The state of things:
An article published Friday in a New York Magazine cover story credibly detailing
author E. Jean Carroll's accusation of Donald Trump raping her in a dressing room
at Bergdorf Goodman's in New York City has been met with: been there done that?
3 Current headlines:
Trump Accused of Rape, Major Media Yawns: Why Was E. Jean Carroll's Story Not Front Page News?
--Salon
Trump Accused of Rape in E. Jean Carroll's Memoir: Where's the Outcry?
--USA Today
Trump Sexual Assault Accusations by E. Jean Carroll Met With Shrugs
--NBC News
That NBC headline starts the article with: "Trump sexual assault accusations by E. Jean Carroll have been met with shrugs because they're so shockingly normal."
How ugly is that? Because 24 women (some sources have more or less) have publicly accused him of assault or worse, and he pays no price, a new accusation is met with silence and Trump repeating his stale insult:
"It never happened because she's not my type."
Except that if you look at the 24 women, she is his type.
"I've never even met the woman."
Except there's this photo of him meeting her.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/D9naq7vWwAIkgfW.jpg)
Rapist Trump, E. Jean Carroll, John Johnson and Ivana Trump
Then there's this from the article: (Smoking jacket?)
On the cover of New York magazine, Carroll is featured wearing the Donna Karan coatdress
that she said she had on when Trump attacked her. She said it has been hanging in the back
of her closet since that day and that she has never considered testing it for DNA evidence. She
said she has not had sex since the incident.
If I were this woman, I would not have brought up this jacket unless I had already tested it for
DNA evidence and there was evidence found. Because regardless what you might want, people
are going to want you to have it tested and if you don't, they'll say you're lying and if no evidence
is found, which is possible, people will say, even though no such thing can be garnered from such a
test, they will still say "you are lying and Trump is exonerated," even though there might very well
not be any DNA evidence on the coat even if it did happen.
Be nice if she were setting him up. But, as with the O.J. trial, people will believe what they want to
believe and repeat and plant seeds of doubt, calling the testing fake, or mishandled or any number of
other things.
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If I were this woman, I would not have brought up this jacket unless I had already tested it for
DNA evidence and there was evidence found. Because regardless what you might want, people
are going to want you to have it tested and if you don't, they'll say you're lying and if no evidence
is found, which is possible, people will say, even though no such thing can be garnered from such a
test, they will still say "you are lying and Trump is exonerated," even though there might very well
not be any DNA evidence on the coat even if it did happen.
She should have talked to Monica Lewinsky.
But NBC should be ashamed of itself for that use of the word normal. "Shockingly common" with regards to the actions of the Fake President, maybe, but sexual assault by anybody is not normal. It's deviant.
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This morning I saw my first TV commercial designed to scare people away from any single-payer/"Medicare for all" type of health care system. It's the same old scare tactic that we saw before the Affordable Care Act: People in countries with socialized medicine have to wait forever to see a doctor no matter how sick they are blah blah blah; the usual pack of Republican lies.
And what a surprise--Not! Tonight is the first debate among the Democratic Presidential hopefuls, including Joe Biden.
(There are so many of them that I think Biden participates tonight.)
-
Biden is in the lineup tomorrow night. There's ten each night.
By the way, unless you're really wealthy, people have to wait in long lines in THIS country to see doctors, too.
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But NBC should be ashamed of itself for that use of the word normal. "Shockingly common" with regards to the actions of the Fake President, maybe, but sexual assault by anybody is not normal. It's deviant.
I believe they were referring to the normality of the President being accused. Not that rape is normal. And, of course, the President's first thought to respond to this is to say "She's not my type." Does that mean if she was his type he'd rape her? The mind of someone, when accused of something so horrific, is to say: #1.) She's not my type. That's #1? This man is so horrible and his horribleness is creeping into the fabric of society. No, I did not assault that woman in the Motel 6, officer. I only go to the Ritz-Carlton.
I guess the President's first wife, whom he had three children with, who stated in court in a deposition that Trump had raped her...I guess she wasn't his type, either.
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Which of the 20 Presidential candidates debating the next two nights should wear this button?
(https://24hourwristbands.com/components/com_virtuemart/shop_image/product/2_1_2_Inch_Round_Custom_Buttons_5840a485299bd.png)
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I believe they were referring to the normality of the President being accused. Not that rape is normal.
I got that. I object to the use of normal in this context. To say that it was typical of him, for example, would have been a better choice of words, in my opinion.
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Okay, I just think using the word normal in that context is more shocking as it should be. That his supporters don't even care about it is even more shocking.
Lindsey Graham: "The president has denied it and that’s all I needed to hear.”
Imagine if all accused criminals were held to the same standard of evidence to which Lindsey Graham holds Republican presidents. The Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee – who leads oversight of the country's criminal justice system and the vetting of its federal judges – says he is willing to ignore allegations that the sitting President of the United States committed rape because "he's denied it."
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Did any of you watch Day 1 of the Democratic debate yesterday evening?
I had a previous engagement last night and was out. I was going to watch it when I got home, but I turned on the TV and watched the news and they showed so many clips of it that I began to think...WHY? I know I'm going to vote for whomever the nominee is, so why do I need to see it? The Colbert show later on was LIVE to take advantage of the immediacy of the debate and for an hour they just made fun of and skewered the entire thing. And, that, it seems to me, is how most people are going to see any of these debates, on the late night shows geared to making light of these things.
I was reading an article about political debates and they had a survey about what people remembered from past debates on television. The things people remembered were not anything about political positions and/or ideology. They were things like about how Nixon looked compared to JFK on TV. The sound going out for 20 minutes on a debate between Ford and Carter. George H. W. Bush looking at his watch during one debate. Reagan making a joke in response to both Carter and Mondale in separate debates. Stuff like that. And, of course, Trump's "show".
If I were the next Democratic nominee for President, I'd seriously consider saying, "I went back and watched the debates that Trump and Hillary Clinton engaged in, and I watched several of the Republican debates which Trump appeared in, and I don't see any point in engaging with someone who uses the debates as a performance space instead of seriously answering questions about the problems of our times." Etc.
I know that opponents will try to make this out to be cowardice on my part, but I don't think it's cowardice to walk away from, to just say no to, a person who's more interested in performing for an audience of admirers for his own self-aggrandizement, rather than seriously trying to solve the problems this country faces.
What do you think?
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Speaking of Democratic debates, here's a blast from the past, a button from thirty-five years ago.
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.oldpoliticals.com%2FItemImages%2F000013%2F13807a_lg.jpeg&hash=a5a4fc2515c85546b456a25705c4c5b7726dbdea)
What I don't remember is that George McGovern had tried again for the office, twelve years after his disastrous defeat in 1972. Gary Hart, of course, did well in 1984, but in 1988 got torpedoed for, clutch my pearls, something that seems so quaint by Trump standards. (A movie about this was out last year, The Front Runner, if anyone wants to see it.)
If the last person on that button's first name began with an "I" he would be: I. Askew?
But it was "R" for Reubin Askew, a Governor of Florida.
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If the last person on that button's first name began with an "I" he would be: I. Askew?
But it was "R" for Reubin Askew, a Governor of Florida.
Boooooo! ;D :laugh:
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So our SC now sides with the Repubs on districting!! Oh, MY, what have become?? >:D >:(
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Anyone watch the Dem debate last night?
Here's an Opinion Piece from today's New York Times:
Opinion
And Now, the Dream of a Harris-Buttigieg Ticket
Two new Democratic stars outshone Biden and Sanders on the debate stage.
by Frank Bruni Opinion Columnist
June 28, 2019
The big question going into Thursday night’s debate was whether Joe Biden, the clear front-runner in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination, would stumble. That turned out to be the wrong one. The right question was whether he had sufficient vigor in his stride.
And the answer came in watching Kamala Harris and Pete Buttigieg — two of the event’s standout performers — run articulate and impassioned circles around him.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/28/opinion/debate-harris-buttigieg-biden.html
© 2019 The New York Times Company
___________________
This article is even more impressive when you consider it's talking about a Presidential debate where one of the leading contenders is a member of the LGBT community and it's published on the exact 50th Anniversary of Stonewall! Breathtaking!
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Speaking of Joe Biden, I don't know if anything can be done, buit Republicans always seem to have
a knack for taking the Democrats camapign material and turning it into a joke. The Dems need to vet
the possibilities of their slogans and artwork as best they can. Or else do it in reverse, they don't seem
to try, do they?
Remember when the R's changed Gore / Lieberman into an industry when that campaign went on
another month, changing it to Sore . Loserman?
In any event: Here is Joe Biden's current campaign issue:
(https://www.picclickimg.com/d/l400/pict/113743296892_/4-Official-Joe-Biden-For-President-2020-Campaign.jpg)
(cont'd)
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Republicans have already changed it to:
(https://www.picclickimg.com/d/l400/pict/382972743077_/Donald-Trump-Biden-2020-campaign-pin-button-political.jpg)
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And Now, the Dream of a Harris-Buttigieg Ticket
Dream, indeed.
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Not only that, a lot of Democrats, at least online and the twittersphere, haven't liked the Biden design either.
Here's a whole article about it:
All of the Problems With Joe Biden’s Logo, According to the Haters
by Adam K. Raymond
http://nymag.com/intelligencer/2019/04/the-many-problems-with-bidens-logo-according-to-the-haters.html
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Dream, indeed.
I can't read your intent in that post, Jeff. Is it:
1.) You agree it would be a dream ticket?
2.) You're saying that as--a dream as in "no way this would happen?"
3.) Sarcastically?
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Frank Rich had a nice piece about the Debates and his opinion on
if the large field can now be whittled down. He writes:
I’ll take a minor risk and guess that as of this morning, the field has been winnowed by more than half.
We’re down from 20 to either seven (Biden, Sanders, Warren, Harris, Buttigieg, Castro, and Klobuchar)
or nine, if you hold out hope that the mellifluous but glib brothers Booker and Beto will start putting at
least as much effort into bold policy positions as they have into their pandering effusions of gringo Spanish.
He writes about the long exchange between Kamala Harris and Joe Biden, saying:
When Biden finally terminated that exchange [with Harris], it was with his version of Jeb Bush’s
"Please clap" debacle of 2016: “My time is up, I’m sorry.”
I didn't think of that, but--SNAP--what a clip ANY Democrat OR Republican can use in a campaign commercial: BIDEN: "My time is up. Sorry."
OUCH!
He had this paragraph about Pete:
I hunger to see Pete Buttigieg on a debate stage with Mike Pence. No Democratic politician
has ever been so skilled at tossing the Christian card right back at the likes of right-wing religious
hypocrites and homophobes. Buttigieg also implicitly took down Biden when he admitted to his own
failure in highly charged racial politics rather than denying his record. Did Biden take it in and learn
anything? I doubt it.
Oh, the link if you'd like to read it:
http://nymag.com/intelligencer/2019/06/frank-rich-democratic-debate-harris-biden.html
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And let's not forget today's Anniversary:
(https://lgbtqcolorado-org.exactdn.com/dev2018/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/stonewall50_web_1000px.jpg?strip=all&lossy=1&quality=80&w=1170&ssl=1)
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I can't read your intent in that post, Jeff. Is it:
1.) You agree it would be a dream ticket?
2.) You're saying that as--a dream as in "no way this would happen?"
3.) Sarcastically?
One and two, not three. Especially two. Mainly, two.
Then again, by "no way this would happen," do you mean, "no way the party would field that slate of candidates," or "no way would they win"? I can see the party nominating them, but no way do I see them winning.
A woman of color and a gay man? No way.
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Frank Rich: "I hunger to see Pete Buttigieg on a debate stage with Mike Pence. No Democratic politician
has ever been so skilled at tossing the Christian card right back at the likes of right-wing religious
hypocrites and homophobes."
I'd pay money to see that.
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A woman of color and a gay man? No way.
Would you add Latino, Jewish man, or oldest ever candidate to the list?
I've always liked the phrase, "I'll see it when I believe it."
Most people say "I'll believe it when I see it", but you have to be able to see something in reality for it to materialize.
So I'm not going to discount any notion I'd like to believe and see.
If this country could elect Obama and then a cretin like Trump, I believe anything is possible.
I remember in 2008 people were saying no one is going to elect a woman or a black man President.
I remember in 2008 you writing that you could believe Donald Trump getting elected. If you have a choice in what
to believe, believe what you'd like to see and not what you don't! :)
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Would you add Latino, Jewish man, or oldest ever candidate to the list?
If the Jewish man is Bernie Sanders, you betcha I'd add him to the list--more because he's Bernie Sanders than because he's Jewish. The other two not so much. I can envision a Jewish man being elected at some point--remember, once upon a time it was said this country would never elect a Roman Catholic, either--but I wouldn't bet on it in my lifetime.
I've always liked the phrase, "I'll see it when I believe it."
Most people say "I'll believe it when I see it", but you have to be able to see something in reality for it to materialize.
So I'm not going to discount any notion I'd like to believe and see.
At this time in this country? Good luck with that.
If this country could elect Obama and then a cretin like Trump, I believe anything is possible.
Katharine Hepburn has a wonderful line in The Lion in Winter: "In a world where carpenters rise from the dead, anything is possible."
I remember in 2008 people were saying no one is going to elect a woman or a black man President.
Well, they were half right that year.
I remember in 2008 you writing that you could believe Donald Trump getting elected.
Really? I wrote that? You've got a far better memory, or far better search skills, than I do. But I was right, wasn't I? And surely you don't think I wanted that to happen?
If you have a choice in what to believe, believe what you'd like to see and not what you don't! :)
That's fine, but it's not going to get Kamala Harris and Pete Buttigieg elected.
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To quote the Appple slogan: Think Diifferent.
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2F66.media.tumblr.com%2Fe355f31173c4f6e9a46c7ce5255d1b39%2Ftumblr_nib5mjO8Ej1rtbmh0o1_500.gif&hash=9c9621eaebe84853990f9388aaf95da688fbdc2c)
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I used to think different, Lyle, and I would like nothing better for Kamala Harris and Pete Buttigieg to get elected, but now after the debacle of the last election, and the current administration, I no longer think different.
The Republican party members are sheep and the Democratic party members have their heads stuck so far up their asses that they will never think forward enough to nominate this pair. IMHO
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Today I got home from work just in time to catch in interview with Ed Rendell on our local NBC affiliate.
Rendell was District Attorney of Philadelphia, then mayor the city (and a good one, too), and finally Governor of Pennsylvania. He supports Joe Biden and had some advice for him:
He said Biden should refuse to "litigate" (that was the word Rendall used) his past, but to point out that Barack Obama knew everything about his (Biden's) past and still made him his running mate and Vice President. Twice.
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On Real Time with Bill Maher last night, he decided it was time to eliminate ten of the Democratic candidates who participated in the debates this week. He said the rest of the panel could have veto rights to any of his choices if they wanted to. Here's who he eliminated:
John Hickenlooper, Michael Bennet, John Delaney, Tim Ryan, Kirsten Gillibrand, Eric Swalwell, Marianne Williamson, Andrew Yang, Beto O'Rourke, Bill de Blasio.
The only ones there was hesitation on eliminating was Beto O'Rourke by one of the panelists and the studio audience seemed to react to Kirsten Gillibrand being eliminated. (I feel Bill Maher may have eliminated Tulsi Gabbard instead of one of those but for the fact she was his opening interview guest last night.)
I don't mind any of those being eliminated. I do like Eric Swalwell, but he was NOT Eric Swalwell during that debate. He was trying too hard, interrupting and trying to score a point or two to the detriment of others. He also tried out a slogan that didn't seem organic to his personality, but forced, so back to the drawing board, Eric. Just be yourself. I also have liked listening to Andrew Yang and many of his ideas, but politics is not the right place for him. Anyway, we shall see what happens.
The remaining ten in alphabetical order: Who do you like?
Joe Biden, Cory Booker, Pete Buttigieg, Julian Castro, Tulsi Gabbard, Kamala Harris, Jay Inslee, Amy Klobuchar, Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren.
(https://cdn.britannica.com/s:300x300/34/73634-004-286625F3.jpg)
Pick a Winner
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On Real Time with Bill Maher last night, he decided it was time to eliminate ten of the Democratic candidates who participated in the debates this week. He said the rest of the panel could have veto rights to any of his choices if they wanted to. Here's who he eliminated:
John Hickenlooper, Michael Bennet, John Delaney, Tim Ryan, Kirsten Gillibrand, Eric Swalwell, Marianne Williamson, Andrew Yang, Beto O'Rourke, Bill de Blasio.
Sheesh. Six out of those ten I've never even heard of. The only names I recognize are Hickenlooper, Gillibrand, O'Rourke, and de Blasio.
Joe Biden, Cory Booker, Pete Buttigieg, Julian Castro, Tulsi Gabbard, Kamala Harris, Jay Inslee, Amy Klobuchar, Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren.
Biden, Booker, Buttigieg, and Warren.
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I wonder if Al Franken wasn't relegated to the back of the bus, if they even let him stay on the bus, if he would have thrown his hat in the ring? He's always known how to deal with bullies. He even had a book out over twenty years ago, before entering politics as a candidate, titled "Rush Limbaugh is a Big Fat Idiot and Other Observations." "It is satirically critical of 1990s right-wing political figures such as Pat Buchanan, Bob Dole, Phil Gramm, Newt Gingrich, and particularly radio host Rush Limbaugh."
I can see him destroying Trump in ways that Trump wouldn't even get. But, alas, people like Kirsten Gillibrand wanted him 86'd. (Reminds me, when Maher eliminated her as a possibility going forward he sarcastically said, "Kirsten Gillibrand meet Al Franken.")
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Of course, this idea has been a wonderful amusement for some time:
(https://pics.me.me/if-al-franken-and-jill-stein-run-together-right-now-11378001.png)
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A Canadian man was let go from his his employers, Brunswick News Media, who had never published
any of the cartoonist's Trump related offerings, but they let him go now when the following one went
viral online this weekend. He'd worked for them for 17 years and the company didn't say anything as
to why they let him go, but everyone else was reading between the lines. I think that it is a brilliant
commentary on actual recent events, and yes it is disturbing, but so is the Cretin-in-Chief.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/D-APaqAXYAAAnVy.jpg)
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/canadian-artist-fired-after-viral-trump-cartoon-n1025071
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It's Pride weekend for many cities this weekend. (Every weekend in June!)
This does not count as pride:
(https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/61rw-XgZ4CL._UX385_.jpg)
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Since Trump had another press conference this morning at the G20 summit and basically
gave his Helsinki performance again when asked if he discussed Russia's meddling in our
elections. ("Valdimir denies it, I don't know how many times you can ask someone to deny
something...") ...here's a button for he and Vlad to wear:
(https://rlv.zcache.com/trump_was_put_in_button-r9513d8d72546497aaec42650a05ea455_k94r8_307.jpg)
Trump Was Putin
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when are we going to wake up to china?
Hong Kong (CNN)China's far-reaching security network is targeting tourists, with border guards secretly installing a surveillance app onto the phones of visitors to Xinjiang,, according to a joint report by several major international media organizations.
If true, it would be the latest move to tighten surveillance in the heavily-repressed region, where the US State Department has estimated up to two million Muslim-majority Uyghurs are being held in detention camps.
There is a heavy police presence across Xinjiang and security cameras there are a common sight. From 2017, the Chinese government began to collect DNA and biometric data from millions of local residents.
The new joint investigation by organizations, including the Guardian and the New York Times, alleges the crackdown is now affecting visitors and tourists to the region. CNN has not been able to independently verify the report.
People whose phones had been confiscated said they were given no warning of or explanation for the app's installation.
Once installed, the app allegedly scans the device's text messages, call records, contacts, calendar entries and saved data for a list of more than 73,000 red-flag items, according to the reports.
The images and information considered noteworthy by the app include files linked to Islamic extremism, such as ISIS propaganda, and pictures of the Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama, according to the reports.
Even scanned pages of an Arabic dictionary are allegedly flagged by the app.
Xinjiang, the largest region in China with a comparatively small population of 22 million, is home to a variety of minority groups including the predominantly Muslim, Turkic-speaking Uyghurs.
In recent years, authorities have increasingly tightened security in the region in the name of cracking down on Islamic extremism.
But a CNN investigation in May found that people with no history of radicalization were being imprisoned in massive re-education camps.
Although China insists the centers are voluntary "vocational training centers," when CNN attempted to visit them security guards restricted access to the buildings themselves.
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^^^^ Well if our own people aren't going to wake up to the orange plague on US security, they sure as hell aren't going to care about this. >:(
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In related news, I saw a report on NBC a day or two ago this past week about cell-phone security all over the place.
Andif it's happening in the U.S., you can be sure it's happening e v e r y w h e r e . (I found the segment.)
Experts Warn Of Cyber Thieves Trying To Steal Your Data While Traveling | NBC Nightly News
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5dyeN6R6f6Q
If you watch this, tell me, how is the average person supposed to fight all this?
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when are we going to wake up to china?
[...]
If true, it would be the latest move to tighten surveillance in the heavily-repressed region, where the US State Department has estimated up to two million Muslim-majority Uyghurs are being held in detention camps.
That's an unbelievable number of people. (And I believe it.)
Fifteen of our United States have two million people or less:
36 New Mexico: 2,088,070
37 Nebraska: 1,920,076
38 West Virginia: 1,815,857
39 Idaho: 1,716,943
40 Hawaii: 1,427,538
41 New Hampshire: 1,342,795
42 Maine: 1,335,907
43 Rhode Island: 1,059,639
44 Montana: 1,050,493
45 Delaware: 961,939
46 South Dakota: 869,666
47 North Dakota: 755,393
48 Alaska: 739,795
49 Vermont: 623,657
50 Wyoming: 579,315
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By the way, when I looked up population statistics, you can't help but notice how
really unfair our electoral college is and also the representation of people in Congress.
California has approximately 40,000,000 people. That's 12% of the total U.S. population.
There are ELEVEN western states that reliably vote Republican in almost every Federal position.
These eleven states have 55 electoral votes and 22 Republican Senators.
The population of these ten states is: 25,242,013. 6.25% of total U.S. population.
California has 55 electoral votes and 2 Democrat Senators.
Population: 40,000,000.
So whose votes are worth more per person?
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Happy 4th from Los Angeles!
(https://media.timeout.com/images/101611175/630/472/image.jpg)
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Same to you, Lyle, from the People's Republic of Arlington! ;D
We're not setting foot in DC today.
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We're not setting foot in DC today.
:D
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You may have heard we had an earthquake
in Southern California around 10:30 a.m.
(https://thenypost.files.wordpress.com/2019/07/siesmograph-california-earthquake.jpg)
I was sitting at my computer at the desk and pretty quickly realized we were having a rolling style earthquake.
It went on longer than is normal, so much so I thought about getting under the desk if it kept going, which may
have meant it getting worse.
When it was over you wonder where it was, local or far away, you don't know.
It was 125 miles away from Los Angeles centered east of Bakersfield at Ridgecrest. The magnitude was
6.4 on the Richter scale and in L.A. was around the 4.0+ variety because of the distance away from here.
This means most of the area was just swinging and swaying. Depending where you were at the moment,
the ground underneath you and what you were doing, some people felt it and some didn't so much.
There will be much more damage etc. near the epicenter. The fortunate thing is that it's sparsely populated.
They say it's the largest earthquake in Southern California in 20 years. The Cal Tech seismologists say we've
been in a period of very low seismic activity the last couple decades. For example, in the previous ten years
before 1999 we had 10 earthquakes above a 6.1 in Southern California. That is the norm!
So, to celebrate the country's birth today, we had a birthday quake!
You are welcome for all of the cable news channels (even Fox!) focusing on this event here in California instead
of the orange cretin's political self-aggrandizement campaign rally.
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I'm sure the Religious Right is disappointed it didn't happen during Pride Month, so they'd have another excuse to rail against gay people.
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A birthday quake. I see what you did there. ;)
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I am VERY SHOCKED to hear from your president about the unfair advantage the Americans had over the noble Brits in 1775, taking over the airports like that. I mean, we didn’t stand a chance! ;Dm
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-trending-48880867 (https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-trending-48880867)
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(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/D-rnJWAWsAI4Yj9.jpg)
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LOL!
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I purposely stayed away from all that yesterday, but thanks for the laughs this morning!
_______
I read this:
Historians — at least the ones fact-checking the president on Twitter — were not impressed with the speech.
One likened the speech to “an angry grandpa reading a fifth grader’s book report on American military history.”
That's being way too generous if you ask me.
Can you imagine the documentary that will be made someday, just putting together the atrocities he has uttered?
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Or should I say miniseries?
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I am VERY SHOCKED to hear from your president about the unfair advantage the Americans had over the noble Brits in 1775, taking over the airports like that. I mean, we didn’t stand a chance! ;Dm
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-trending-48880867 (https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-trending-48880867)
:laugh:
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Proof that deplorables aren't just in red states or rural settings:
From L.A. Times letters section:
To the editor: There was nothing to criticize about Trump’s Fourth of July speech reviewing the military history of America. It was quite presidential. If not for his supposed case of bone spurs that exempted him from the military draft during the Vietnam War, Trump could have made it more personal by noting his own dedication to our armed forces by reviewing his service.
For those of us who did serve, it is good to hear the public reminded of what the American military has contributed to our country.
Charles M. Weisenberg, Beverly Hills
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You can fool some of the people all of the time.
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Sometimes I feel these lines from
John Adams in the 1776 musical:
"Is anybody there?"
"Does anybody care?"
"Does anybody see what I see?"
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"We beat the British because they had to connect through Atlanta."
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I'm sure they'll still show up if that loser calls 911...
Starbucks barista asks police officers to leave because customer 'did not feel safe,' police union claims
Published 11:14 a.m. ET July 6, 2019
A group of police officers were reportedly asked to move or leave a Starbucks coffee shop on the Fourth of July because a customer felt uncomfortable.
According to a tweet from the Tempe Officers Association, six Tempe Police Department officers were drinking coffee before their shift at the Starbucks near Scottsdale and McKellips roads when a barista told them a customer "did not feel safe" by their presence.
The barista allegedly asked the officers to move out of the customer's line of sight or to leave, the tweet states.
Reggie Borges, a spokesperson for Starbucks, said the company is still gathering details about the incident.
"We have a deep respect for the Tempe Police and their service to the community," he said. "We've reached out to the Tempe Police Department and Tempe Officers Association to better understand what happened and apologize. We want everyone in our stores to feel welcomed and the incident described is not indicative of what we want any of our customers to feel in our stores."
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/07/06/starbucks-barista-asks-police-officers-to-leave-cafe/1663885001/ (https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/07/06/starbucks-barista-asks-police-officers-to-leave-cafe/1663885001/)
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A sad state of affairs when a citizen feels unsafe when police are around.
The USA Today article says nothing about the "customer" who felt unsafe.
I'd like to know more about that.
I'll make up my own headline about that:
Bank Robber Feels Unsafe at Starbuck's, Asks Barista to Have Them Leave.
___
And because NOTHING is ever the orange cretin's fault:
Trump Faults Rain, Teleprompter for Flub About 'Airports' During American Revolution
USA Today
"Our Army manned the air, it rammed the ramparts, it took over the airports," Trump said of the fighting force created by the Continental Congress in 1775.
There was no air travel in 18th Century America. Trump, has always derided Democratic opponents like Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton for using teleprompters.
___________
At least Obama and Clinton used their minds along with the teleprompters.
By the way, USA today felt the need to write:
"There was no air travel in 18th Century America."
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"There was no air travel in 18th Century America."
T's base might well not realize that.
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I am not sure about NZ but in Australia it was well known that Macdonalds gave discounts to members of the police force to encourage their presence. I must admit I did not feel comfortable travelling in a train with police standing nearby. I always worried someone might grab their gun. I guess the clip would make that hard. Of course it is very unlikely that anyone else would have a hand gun on them in Australia or NZ. In NZ the police do not usually carry guns but in Australia they must wear them when in uniform. I had a boyfriend in the police force at one time and I asked him never to visit my home in uniform as I did not want a gun in the house. However asking any business to request police to leave is ridiculous and I am surprised the manager took any notice of the request.
However the incident where an Australian woman was shot dead by police in the USA was frontpage news in both Australia and NZ so, along with other news, we tend to think your police are gun happy.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/30/us/minneapolis-police-noor-verdict.html
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Same here, Brian. The problem with police shootings in the US seems to be totally related to too many guns around. Policemen in Europe don't need to be worried about people hiding guns, I am convinced that that's the reason we barely have such terrible episodes like they have in the States. And that's why I'm not particularly apprehensive when police is around... unless I am demonstrating.
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I hadn't seen this March 9th Time Magazine cover, but it still applies,
even though there are only 15 candidates peering in the window and
not 25 like there are now! (And two of those in this window ultimately
decided not to run, Bloomberg and Abrams.)
(https://i0.wp.com/obrienillustration.com/wp-content/uploads/Oval-Office-Dems-Cover.jpeg)
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I hadn't seen this March 9th Time Magazine cover, but it still applies,
even though there are only 15 candidates peering in the window and
not 25 like there are now! (And two of those in this window ultimately
decided not to run, Bloomberg and Abrams.)
(https://i0.wp.com/obrienillustration.com/wp-content/uploads/Oval-Office-Dems-Cover.jpeg)
Kind of fun to look at that and put names to the faces. :)
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Historical aquaculture site receives UN World Heritage protection for its Aboriginal cultural importance
Thousands of years ago a volcano in Victoria’s south-west erupted, forming a lava flow eight kilometres wide and 18 kilometres long. Over many generations an extraordinary freshwater aquaculture system was engineered in this landscape.
Located within the Country of the Gunditjmara, an Aboriginal nation in the southwest of Victoria, the Budj Bim Cultural Landscape includes the Budj Bim Volcano and Tae Rak (Lake Condah), as well as the Kurtonitj component (characterized by wetland swamps), and Tyrendarra (an area of rocky ridges and large marshes) in the south.
The volcanic lava flows, which connect these components, enabled the Gunditjmara to develop one of the largest and oldest aquaculture networks in the world. Composed of a complex system of channels, dams and weirs, they are used to contain floodwaters and create basins to trap, store and harvest the kooyang eel (Anguilla australis), which has provided the population with an economic and social base for six millennia.
The significance of that aquaculture system—created 6600 years ago and in continuous use ever since by the Gunditjmara people—has been recognised by the United Nations following a decades-long campaign by the local Gunditj Mirring Aboriginal Corporation.
(https://i.postimg.cc/nc9gFpLL/small-Budj-Bim-Cultural-Landscape-UNESCO-supplied.jpg) (https://postimages.org/)
The Budj Bim Cultural Landscape has been recognised for its sophisticated aquaculture system that manipulated water flows and ensured eels could be harvested throughout the year. It also highlighted indigenous peoples’ commitment to agriculture, farming and biodiversity.
Placing the area on the United Nations heritage list will challenge the common perception that Australia’s first people were nomadic hunter-gatherers. Instead, the site shows a far more complex Aboriginal economy and lifestyle where people actively intervened in and managed the productivity of the country.
This is the first Australian World Heritage site to be listed exclusively for its Aboriginal cultural values, and the first time an indigenous-led application has been submitted and succeeded globally, hopefully setting a precedent internationally for other groups to follow.
https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1577
https://www.theage.com.au/politics/victoria/budj-bim-aboriginal-site-in-western-victoria-added-to-world-heritage-list-20190706-p524sa.html
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2019/jul/07/budj-bim-indigenous-eel-trap-site-added-to-world-heritage-list
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As much as I hate to say this, I'm afraid the Fake President was correct when he told those Representatives that they came from a country whose government is "a complete and total catastrophe." Three out of the four of them were born right here in the United States.
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Bravo, Jeff!
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As much as I hate to say this, I'm afraid the Fake President was correct when he told those Representatives that they came from a country whose government is "a complete and total catastrophe." Three out of the four of them were born right here in the United States.
Bravo, Jeff!
Thank you, Lyle. That was the first thing I thought of when I heard the quote. ;D
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^^^
The nightly talk shows have mostly been off in reruns the last two weeks. Stephen Colbert last night came back and just lambasted the President. At one point he showed a clip of the President when he was talking about the 4 Congresswomen mentioned above, talking about them being unhappy and complaining.
Trump (concluding): "But if you're not happy you can leave."
Colbert: Oh shut up. (audience cheers) I'm sorry, my mom told me not to say that. My mom told me not to say that. But, come on! Nobody complains about America more than you do. You cranky old nut lid. Everything in your life has been handed to you on a silver platter and yet, you, every other word out of your mouth is a tantrum that would get a toddler dragged out of a ball pit. You complain about everything. You don't like Bette Midler. Who doesn't like Bette Midler? The Divine Miss M. The wind beneath our wings. If someone is leaving this country it should be you. (audience cheers) And, if you're looking for a new home, might I suggest that you go to hell. (STANDING OVATION.)
The GOP Reacts (And Doesn't) To Trump's Racist Tweets
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FEfJvjh_S60
I have noticed lately, not just me, but people around me and people I don't know, are all just feeling, well, just overwhelmed with the news, particularly and obviously about Trump and his administration and the Republican party who is licking his a-hole. People are really beginning to seemingly come to a boiling point. The orange cretin is ratcheting up his idiocy and attacks and I fear we're coming to some kind of boiling point. It's only going to get worse as the election campaign comes more and more into focus.
After I watched Colbert I took a step back and thought about it. Can you imagine at any other time when a network talk show host would come out and show a clip of any president and then say "Oh shut up." And later suggest he "go to hell." And yet it feels so right. Maybe because these shows have been off for the last two weeks, but they do provide a release for what a lot of people are feeling.
That "I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore," feelings.
The other night as I was watching some news program about the gargoyle in the White House the reporter started by saying, "There are 495 days left in the Trump administration..." and I felt so overwhelmed with futility. Each second of this administration feels like a root canal and 495 days more sounds like a millennium. And even now because of the inattention to other countries meddling in our elections and the flagrant stupidity of so many voters, who can be sure that will be the end of it? A friend of mine who is from Illinois has been telling me about arguing with some relatives of his who are posting this insane right wing trash online and he's been calling them out on it because he says "I'm not putting up with their stupidity any more."
And I was reading something in the L.A. Times and noticed some Letters to the Editor talking about the piece written about Trump's July 4th speech and I noticed a letter from someone in my city, West Hollywood. This woman wrote:
It is true that Trump is not a good speaker. The point is, my talent is feeling the wonder of a good and kind heart — and Trump has a great heart. He may not be a good speaker, but he loves America.
Elaine Vanoff, West Hollywood
How do you have any hope when you read things like that?
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I am no fan of Pennsylvania's Republican Senator Pat Toomey, but even he said that the citizenship of the Squad is as good as his own.
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A friend of mine who is from Illinois has been telling me about arguing with some relatives of his who are posting this insane right wing trash online and he's been calling them out on it because he says "I'm not putting up with their stupidity any more."
And I was reading something in the L.A. Times and noticed some Letters to the Editor talking about the piece written about Trump's July 4th speech and I noticed a letter from someone in my city, West Hollywood. This woman wrote:
It is true that Trump is not a good speaker. The point is, my talent is feeling the wonder of a good and kind heart — and Trump has a great heart. He may not be a good speaker, but he loves America.
Elaine Vanoff, West Hollywood
How do you have any hope when you read things like that?
You know I don't. I hope your friend in Illinois feels better for calling out his ignorant relatives that way, but I'm afraid making him feel better is about all the good it's going to do. Those people have Teflon suits. Nothing he says will have any effect on them, and they'll just go on voting for the Cretin-in-Chief.
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Since it's the anniversary of the moon landing on Friday, I'd like to know if any of you have any memories of that and share them here.
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Lindsay Graham is the absolute worst kind of politician. I never cared for this guy or any of his positions, I've always thought he was smarmy, but many thought of him as a politician who had firm convictions and stood up with his own integrity intact, but it's been coming to the forefront more and more that he is a political weasel, bent on the worst kind of political tract: being a moral hypocrite and subjugating himself to this administration.
After Trump's racist tweet and then Graham's supportive unhinged tirade yesterday, and you may remember Graham's unhinged tirade during the Kavanaugh hearing, CNN (Chris Cuomo) had this to say: "What happened to Senator Lindsay Graham? You know, he once called this President "a race baiting xenophobic religious bigot." Look it up. But now this. The Senator swallows every serving. He does nothing but affix himself to the presidential posterior and that comes with an odor. And it will remain."
People are catching on. I personally think Trump has a list of Lindsay Graham's hustler hires and is blackmailing him with it.
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"Since it's the anniversary of the moon landing on Friday, I'd like to know if any of you have any memories of that and share them here.'
I remember, I was 25 and it was my 4th year as a teacher. Classes were suspended, many children who had portable TVs at home were driven home by teachers to get them so that every classroom could have a TV. How different from today, no computers nor cellphones. I checked my diary, it was Monday 21st here so I guess Sunday in the USA. I know there was a lot about, and a film made later on how, because of the position of the moon at the time, the signals came back through the satellite dish at Parkes in western NSW.
We have items on our news every night at the moment and they said the computer power used was less than we have in our smart phones today.
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Since it's the anniversary of the moon landing on Friday, I'd like to know if any of you have any memories of that and share them here.
I've done some quick research either to confirm or disprove my memories. My source was Wikipedia and other sources to help me work out the date and the times. The Wikipedia article gives times in UTC, so it took some calculating to come up with times that were not stated in military form and were also in Eastern Daylight Time, which was local time for me.
I had turned 11 in May of that year. My memory was that the landing was a Sunday, because my parents and I were visiting my maternal grandparents, which we often did on Sundays, and that we were still at my grandparents' house when the Eagle landed.
These memories are apparently correct. July 20, 1969, was a Sunday. If I have done the math correctly, apparently the Eagle landed at 4:17 p.m. EDT. We would have stayed at my grandparents' home to have "supper" before we returned home.
My memory also is that the day of the landing was the first time in my life that I was permitted to stay up after midnight to watch Neil Armstrong set foot on the moon. I may have been allowed to stay up that night, but, again if I have done the math correctly, Armstrong first set foot on the lunar surface at around 11 p.m. EDT. So apparently my memory there is not quite correct.
If I've got the math wrong, please correct it!
Maybe it's age, but I choked up when I read the text of the plaque left behind on the moon: "Here men from the planet Earth first set foot upon the Moon. July 1969 A.D. We came in peace for all mankind."
For some reason that is striking me as something like a promise not kept.
(The text should have read "July A.D. 1969.")
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I was between college and grad school, staying at my parents' place in New Orleans. A friend from college who was doing some summer school work at Tulane was visiting us and stayed over that night. So we saw (or more accurately, heard, and watched the simulations of) the landing on the moon that Sunday afternoon. I remember that my friend and I could hardly contain ourselves, we both stood up at the same time just before the landing, we just couldn't remain sitting down. When they said "the Eagle has landed", we both looked at each other for the longest time and grinned!
We watched the moonwalk that evening, Central Daylight Time, The picture was awful, but just realizing that it was coming all the way from the moon was exciting and compensated for it!
I think we both had trouble getting to sleep Saturday and Sunday nights.
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Thanks Fritz & Jeff!
When you look back at some of the coverage of this event, and when you see what the world was like at that time, it seems even more improbable now that this happened in 1969 than it did at the time.
I was in my hometown of Remsen, NY, that summer and my sister was supposed to have had her baby in mid-June, but that didn't happen. Day after day and then week after week went by and we wondered if she was ever going to have it. We were all more interested in that than the moon landing, heh! And what would it be? A boy or girl? Seems so ancient that you didn't know if a woman was going to have a boy or a girl. Seems to have taken some of the excitement out of having a child now, don't you think? That's probably why having a "reveal" is so popular and become a replacement for that excitement.
In any case, my sister finally went into labor and then to the hospital. On the early evening of July 19th, while we were watching some coverage of the moon mission on television, the husband called us to say that my sister was doing well and that Jennifer had been born! (My father was actually trying to get my sister to name her Raquel if it was a girl! LOL!) I was 14 then and I was kind of stunned to realize, I guess because it's the 50th Anniversary of the event this year, that at that time my parents were 47 and 42. Only 47 and 42.
The moon walk the next night, July 20th, was anti-climactic. :laugh:
We watched the moonwalk that evening, Central Daylight Time, The picture was awful, but just realizing that it was coming all the way from the moon was exciting and compensated for it!
Exactly, heh!
So many things were happening that summer. The Stonewall riots, Chappaquiddick, Manson, Woodstock... The movie of the summer was Easy Rider. (Which I still have never seen!) My family took a rare trip...to Washington D.C.!
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Something you may not know. The Hollywood Walk of Fame has this star:
(https://www.toptenz.net/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/spacemen-stars.jpg)
Well, it's not a star, it's a moon! And there are 4 of them!
According to the Walk of Fame website:
On the four sidewalk corners at the intersection of Hollywood and Vine, four similar commemorative dedications mark the Apollo XI Mission within moon-like circular plaques. Each plaque contains the names of Commander Neil A. Armstrong, Lunar Module Pilot Edwin E. Aldrin Jr., Command Module Pilot Michael Collins – the astronauts who were aboard the spaceflight that landed the first two people who walked on the Moon. The circular plaques include the date of the first Moon landing 7/20/69, and name of the mission Apollo XI. On the plaques, the moons are in silver and grey terrazzo circles rimmed in brass on a square pink terrazzo background, with the television emblem inlaid at the top of each circle.
“The telecast from the moon was the single most-important live TV broadcast ever!” said Ana Martinez, Producer of the Hollywood Walk of Fame. “The bronze markers were set in all four corners of the intersection within the terrazzo sidewalks to represent their reach to the four corners of the world,” Martinez said.
In looking up information, I found a discrepancy. The Official Walk of Fame website (HERE (http://www.walkoffame.com/special-apollo-xi)) says the star ceremony was held July 20, 1973. This Los Angeles Times article (HERE (http://projects.latimes.com/hollywood/star-walk/apollo-landing/)) seems to indicate it was January 14, 1993. The Walk of Fame website does have a star ceremony listed for Michael Collins, one of the astronauts of Apollo 11 on the 1993 date. (?) But they have no separate entries for Armstrong or Aldrin? I'm confused.
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One thing I learned that really surprised me (and was personally meaningful when I read it) is that Buzz Aldrin very quietly took Communion once they landed. He was an elder in a Presbyterian church, and his pastor provided him with the necessities to take with him.
The church still has the chalice Aldrin used.
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I didn’t know that, Jeff. Rather moving.
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We were living in a basement flat in London, fairly recently married, and I remember when the first excitement was over going out into the shared garden and looking up at the sky. It was probably about 11pm by then. And also looking at the lit windows all around and thinking how so many people all over the world were sharing this experience.
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We were living in a basement flat in London, fairly recently married, and I remember when the first excitement was over going out into the shared garden and looking up at the sky. It was probably about 11pm by then. And also looking at the lit windows all around and thinking how so many people all over the world were sharing this experience.
Wasn't that something? The world surely never saw the like before, and I'm doubtful it will ever see the like again.
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If you click today's "Google" icon on their search page there's a lovely 4+ minute animated homage
to the moon landing, narrated by Astronaut Mike Collins.
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I cannot stop laughing (which will probably annoy my coworkers all afternoon). In the "Talk of the Town" section of the July 22 New Yorker there is an article, titled "Dissent by Doily," that describes something called the Tiny Pricks Project, which involves stitching Trumpisms on napkins, handkerchiefs, seat cushions, and so forth. :laugh:
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Thanks Fritz & Jeff!
And Brian, too! Sorry Brian, for some reason I missed your post when I clicked on the new posts link yesterday!
And Sara, too! Yes, looking at the moon back then gave it extra meaning and very thought provoking! Where I am the moon has been spectacularly big and beautiful and bright the last few days and I've been enjoying it each evening!
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And Brian, too! Sorry Brian, for some reason I missed your post when I clicked on the new posts link yesterday!
And Sara, too! Yes, looking at the moon back then gave it extra meaning and very thought provoking! Where I am the moon has been spectacularly big and beautiful and bright the last few days and I've been enjoying it each evening!
It was full moon on Tuesday. Unfortunately most evenings recently the weather here has been bad. Spectacularly bad. ...
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I have just learnt something. In 1969, I was living in Sydney (I had been to NZ in 1966/67 and was raising money to take another class group in 1969/70).
I guess due to time differences the moon walk was more important to us, being during our daytime when, as I mentioned classes were suspended and we watched live as the pictures were beamed to the States via the Satellite dish at Parkes 300 km west of Sydney. There was no satellite connection with New Zealand so tapes were flown from Sydney to Auckland by an Airforce bomber, rushed to the studio with police escort and, for the first time, images wee sent direct to cities in the South Island. How things have changed.
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It was full moon on Tuesday. Unfortunately most evenings recently the weather here has been bad. Spectacularly bad. ...
Last evening, when I took my trash down to the trash room, I happened to look out the window next to the trash room. The moon was up, but it was a pale orange in color. I guess that had something to do with the humidity in the air.
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^^^
Yes, Jeff, the moon here most of the week was like that. Because yesterday was the anniversary I specifically went out to look at it later in the evening and discovered we had a marine layer move in and so it wasn't visible!
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So, how do you Brits feel about having your own version of Trump as PM?
WTF's going on in the world?
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^^^
The silence is telling!
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True - I can’t bear to talk about it! Was going to post but couldn’t.
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True - I can’t bear to talk about it! Was going to post but couldn’t.
Exactly how I feel about pumpkin head, Sara. One has a sense of dread and a sense of hopelessness that one is powerless to do any thing about what is happening.
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Exactly how I feel about pumpkin head, Sara. One has a sense of dread and a sense of hopelessness that one is powerless to do any thing about what is happening.
That’s so right, Linda. And PH’s reaction to Boris’s leadership is one of the worst things about it.
But I can’t at the moment see any viable opposition to him. :(
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That’s so right, Linda. And PH’s reaction to Boris’s leadership is one of the worst things about it.
But I can’t at the moment see any viable opposition to him. :(
That's what is so sad and upsetting, Sara. I would never in a million years believe that I would say that I have no hope for the future, but this is how I feel most of the time.
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George Orwell had a crystal ball.
He was a fattish but active man of paralyzing stupidity, a mass of imbecile enthusiasms--one of those completely unquestioning, devoted drudges on whom, more even than on the thought police, the stability of the Party depended.
George Orwell - 1984
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Exactly how I feel about pumpkin head, Sara. One has a sense of dread and a sense of hopelessness that one is powerless to do any thing about what is happening.
(https://i.postimg.cc/JznG9S1k/twins.jpg) (https://postimages.org/)
https://www.comicsands.com/lena-headey-donald-trump-boris-johnson-the-shining-2639327597.html
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^^^^^ Perfect, Paul. This expresses it perfectly!
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I hear the Fake President got heckled today when he was at Jamestown, Virginia, to commemorate the 400th anniversary of the beginnings of representative government on what became U.S. soil.
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California
Trump’s Tax Returns Required Under New California Primary Election Law
by John Myers / SACRAMENTO BUREAU CHIEF
Wed. July 31 '19 / Los Angeles Times
President Trump will be ineligible for California’s primary ballot next year unless he discloses his tax returns under a state law signed by Governor Gavin Newsom that takes effect immediately, an unprecedented mandate that is almost certain to spark a high-profile court fight and might encourage other states to adopt their own unconventional rules for presidential candidates.
https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2019-07-30/trump-tax-returns-california-ballot-gavin-newsom-law
Interesting discussion of this on The Damage Report:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N6pMVo22-5M
By the way, this law would also deprive Joe Biden of appearing on the ballot as it stands now. The law requires five years of tax records to be produced. At present, Biden has released three years.
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(https://scontent-frt3-2.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/67412287_2975475192493649_3991881005928546304_n.jpg?_nc_cat=101&_nc_oc=AQn4x9F-SGf2wK3SjxguoYQBSgcAaCjb0ColdgyXZtXeWx4o00Mn2fUM6dEk_sCzPJc&_nc_ht=scontent-frt3-2.xx&oh=0d9eca1f3e801550a5fb26147f916b33&oe=5DE1962D)
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^^^
Love it!
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(https://scontent-frt3-2.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/67412287_2975475192493649_3991881005928546304_n.jpg?_nc_cat=101&_nc_oc=AQn4x9F-SGf2wK3SjxguoYQBSgcAaCjb0ColdgyXZtXeWx4o00Mn2fUM6dEk_sCzPJc&_nc_ht=scontent-frt3-2.xx&oh=0d9eca1f3e801550a5fb26147f916b33&oe=5DE1962D)
That is the BEST response ever to the MAGA slogan that's been done, IMO!
Thanks for bringing it to my attention. I want one of those!
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(https://i.redd.it/uxog85vx7id31.jpg)
My sentiment:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QYOA_ciyS6c
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Three mass shootings in a week and two of them within 13 hours of each other.
I noticed this headline about the Dayton shooting and it said:
Dayton police stopped shooter in under 1 minute | USA TODAY
Under a minute and still look at the carnage. Almost every single mass shooter
uses those automatic rifles and Congress nor anyone will do anything about it.
It needs to be national. California has restrictions on them, but the Gilroy shooter
just went to Nevada and got one.
And the orange cretin's excuse is always: mental illness. (Yeah. His.)
And this headline:
El Paso witness: "A kid ran into store to warn us of shooter and no one paid attention."
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And the orange cretin's excuse is always: mental illness. (Yeah. His.)
State Rep. Candice Keller blamed mass shootings on 'drag queen advocates,' 'homosexual marriage,' open borders and even former president Barack Obama.
Pumpkin head tweet:
The Media has a big responsibility to life and safety in our Country. Fake News has contributed greatly to the anger and rage that has built up over many years. News coverage has got to start being fair, balanced and unbiased, or these terrible problems will only get worse!
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Linda, how far away are you from El Paso?
I agree with one of those three statements Trump tweeted:
"Fake News has contributed greatly to the anger and rage that has built up over many years."
But the they want you to believe the fake news is not from Trump, Fox News and the Republican Party.
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LOL!
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.prosebeforehos.com%2Fwordpress%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2013%2F05%2Fmonopoly-old-game.jpg&hash=6bbb79a38d823fa628036e6a5f93fdfd5082e417)
(https://quotescover.com/wp-content/uploads/I-think-its-wrong-that__quotes-by-Steven-Wright-17-612x612.png)
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Linda, how far away are you from El Paso?
It's about 4 hours away, Lyle.
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Thanks, Linda...
__________________
Anyone like Google's new image search layout?
Since one has no choice I guess I'll get used to it, but at the moment I find it an annoying pain in the neck.
Another instance where I'm reminded of a long ago monologue from Lily Tomlin about the things she worries about:
"I worry that the person who thought up Muzak might be thinking up something else."
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"I worry that the person who thought up Muzak might be thinking up something else."
:laugh:
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(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/D0TZB9zWsAUzhoI.jpg)
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Anyone like Google's new image search layout?
Since one has no choice I guess I'll get used to it, but at the moment I find it an annoying pain in the neck.
I don't understand. Since you mentioned it, I just gave it a try; I did an image search for my current hearthrob Ryan Guzman. I didn't see anything different except for buttons (is that the correct term for them?) at the top of the screen that you could use to focus your search (or so it seemed, anyway; I only tried clicking on one of them).
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^^^
Jeff, here's a short article about it:
https://searchengineland.com/google-image-search-launches-new-image-preview-box-320326
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(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.bluejersey.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2018%2F10%2F44874533_10156664030689323_6781027979062411264_o.jpg&hash=ed7cda9cbd3a51802c23d4354a26262203f62bac)
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Jeff, here's a short article about it:
https://searchengineland.com/google-image-search-launches-new-image-preview-box-320326
Thanks. I didn't take it to the next step of actually clicking on an image. I just did a search for images.
Edit to add: I just tried clicking on an image, and the new version of the preview box opened. Maybe I need to work with it a little more, but for the only image searching I do, my first impression is that I like it, or, at least, don't see any reason to dislike it.
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This is something my friend Rich sent me. It works for him, but not me: does it work for anyone here?
https://www.instagram.com/p/B0zhlVDAF_p/?igshid=10qtqe77nlsmp
It is captioned: "Here's the never before seen coming out video that pete buttigieg filmed after coming home from Afghanistan."
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Jeffrey Epstein, accused sex trafficker, is dead by apparent suicide, found in his Manhattan jail cell
By Tom Winter, Jonathan Dienst and Nicole Acevedo
Jeffrey Epstein, the millionaire financier and accused sex trafficker, is dead by apparent suicide, according to three officials familiar with the matter.
The officials told NBC News that Epstein was found at 7:30 a.m. ET at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York, a federal jail in Manhattan, and that he apparently hanged himself.
Epstein, 66, who was being held on federal sex trafficking charges, was transported Saturday morning from the jail to a hospital in Lower Manhattan. Upon arrival, he was in cardiac arrest, people familiar with the matter say.
His death comes a little over two weeks after Epstein, had been found injured and in a fetal position in his cell. He was semiconscious with marks on his neck. Two sources told NBC News in July that Epstein was on suicide watch.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/jeffrey-epstein-found-dead-nyc-jail-n1041081
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Or maybe T had him wiped out.
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Actually, there is already a conspiracy theory that it was the Clintons who had him murdered, as Bill was linked to him from what I've seen online.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/conspiracy-theories-erupt-after-jeffrey-epsteins-death
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Actually, there is already a conspiracy theory that it was the Clintons who had him murdered, as Bill was linked to him from what I've seen online.
Like they had Vince Foster murdered. ...
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And weren't the Clintons running a child-sex ring out of a pizzeria?
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And weren't the Clintons running a child-sex ring out of a pizzeria?
In the basement of a building without one. Presumably they used a different dimension.
Oh well, the base believes that Obama was born in Kenya while his mother was in Hawaii. That's a helluva quantum tube that the stork used.
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I see Punkin' Head is pushing the Clinton conspiracy thing. You ask me, somebody oughta look at Punkin' Head for a reason for having Epstein killed. I bet it wouldn't be too hard to find one.
Surely you can indict a sitting President for conspiracy to commit murder, can't you?
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I see Punkin' Head is pushing the Clinton conspiracy thing. You ask me, somebody oughta look at Punkin' Head for a reason for having Epstein killed. I bet it wouldn't be too hard to find one.
Surely you can indict a sitting President for conspiracy to commit murder, can't you?
Please. The Republicans in office and his base would turn it in his favor.
"He did away with a criminal involved in the sex-traffic scene. He saved us the time and expense of a trial and jail time."
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"He did away with a criminal involved in the sex-traffic scene. He saved us the time and expense of a trial and jail time."
Actually, yesterday I did hear that someone has accused Pumpkin Head of being responsible.
I would not in the least bit be surprised. Epstein probably had something on Pumpkin Head that would have come out at trial as Epstein did his best to save his own skin.
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that's not very old :(
Peter Fonda, star of 'Easy Rider,' dies at age 79
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that's not very old :(
Peter Fonda, star of 'Easy Rider,' dies at age 79
I hadn't thought of him in years. Do you know I gave never seen Easy Rider?
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if the US tried to do this we'd be vilified, why do we insist on calling these countries allies? Oh I forgot, power and money...selling our soul...and you can't blame this one on 45 alone, he's last in a long line of soul-sellers.
Saudi judge denies mom custody for being too Western
The Lead
American Bethany Vierra lives in Saudi Arabia where she was denied custody of her Saudi Arabian daughter Zaina by a judge for fear of exposing the child to Western culture.Source: CNN
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(https://i.pinimg.com/originals/97/f8/12/97f812e2eebb70211f96fd3a0880d2d6.jpg)
(https://i.pinimg.com/originals/cb/e5/e8/cbe5e8edbec26668fbb5d6f3521f747e.jpg)
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...and you can't blame this one on 45 alone
I can blame him for not speaking up against it, though. Have you noticed the democratic uprisings from the people in Hong Kong, too? All the orange cretin says about that is that he believes Xi will take care of it. Any other U.S. leader would be supporting the ideals of the protesters etc. It's hardly even a blip on the news here!
(https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/images/ic/720x405/p07d8zw3.jpg)
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The crowds are enormous.
(https://static01.nyt.com/images/2019/08/07/world/07hkg-catchup1/merlin_156179673_b19d1f09-e476-479a-bbfe-a9f1edfae1b9-articleLarge.jpg)
They're so huge the trump campaign will start using them and saying they're crowds at his rallies.
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(https://s.wsj.net/public/resources/images/S1-CT088_melchi_M_20190616113316.jpg)
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I can blame him for not speaking up against it, though. Have you noticed the democratic uprisings from the people in Hong Kong, too? All the orange cretin says about that is that he believes Xi will take care of it. Any other U.S. leader would be supporting the ideals of the protesters etc. It's hardly even a blip on the news here!
(https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/images/ic/720x405/p07d8zw3.jpg)
no one speaks against it, Lyle. There's too much money to be made. I'm not defending 45, but I can't defend Obama about his part in the Saudi "friendship", either.
As for the protests in Hong Kong...china makes me fear for this world much more than 45 does. He's just an ignorant, loud-mouth narcissist who can't string two thoughts together, I just hope someone will be able to repair what he has so recklessly torn down, after he's out.
xi is a smart, cold, calculating, power-hungry despot, who wants to rule the world. And I'm afraid he has more than a chance of doing just that. South China Sea, no one talks about that either. Their space program...anyone heard of it? Have you ever looked at the list of everyday things that are banned in china?
The extradition bill that started the protests in Hong Kong has been shelved, but I don't think china will give up on it.
"Critics fear the bill will undermine the independence of Hong Kong's legal system and put Hong Kong citizens and foreign nationals at risk by allowing suspects to be sent to mainland China for trial."
He will start close to home and then move further and further...
In 5 years, I think US (and other countries) companies in china will be very sorry and pay very dearly for moving there to save a buck.
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banned in china
Which websites are blocked in China?
Here’s a list of the most popular websites which, at the moment, are blocked in China:
Social
Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Quora, Tumblr, Snapchat, Picasa, WordPress.com, Blogspot, Blogger, Flickr, SoundCloud, Google+, Google Hangouts, Hootsuite.
Apps
Google Play (this means that without a VPN you won’t be able to download any apps from Google Play), Whatsapp, Messenger, Viber, Telegram, Line, Periscope, KaKao Talk, Discord.
Search engines
Google (both Google.com and the majority of local versions like Google.com.hk, Google.fr, etcetera), Ask.com, Duck Duck Go, Yahoo, various foreign versions of Baidu.
Video Sharing
Youtube, Vimeo, Daily Motion, Nico Video.
Media
The New York Times, Finacial Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Economist, Bloomberg, Reuters, the Washington Post, South China Morning Post, The Independent, Daily Mail, LeMonde, L’Equipe, Google News, many pages of Wikipedia, Wikileaks.
Streaming Platforms
Netflix (no service, website accessible), Amazon Prime Video, Hulu (no service, website accessible), Twitch, BBC iPlayer, Spotify, SoundCloud, Pandora Radio.
Work tools
Google Drive, Google Docs, Gmail, Google Calendar (generally all Google services), Dropbox, ShutterStock, Slideshare, Slack, iStockPhotos, WayBackMachine, Scribd, Xing, Android, and many VPN sites.
Porn
Porn sites are almost all blocked; I don’t know of any exceptions.
https://www.saporedicina.com/english/list-of-blocked-websites-in-china/ (https://www.saporedicina.com/english/list-of-blocked-websites-in-china/)
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They're so huge the trump campaign will start using them and saying they're crowds at his rallies.
:laugh: :laugh: :laugh:
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It's hardly even a blip on the news here!
Not sure whether I am surprised or not. It is often first on our news every night and there have been demonstrations (on both sides), mainly in universities where we have a lot of Chinese students. Also in Australia. But then China takes almost 25% of New Zealand's exports (Australia 15%, USA 9.5%). 20% of our imports are from China, 12% from Australia and 10% from USA.
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I hear a lot about it on NPR news, and the BBC newscasts that they have on our public radio station.
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I'm not defending 45, but I can't defend Obama about his part in the Saudi "friendship", either.
Interesting British article from 2017:
Donald Trump and Barack Obama on the Arab World - How Do They Differ?
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/05/21/donald-trump-barack-obama-arab-world-do-differ/
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Don't know if I have this exactly right, or all the details, but...
The other night Trump had another of his rallies and there was a protester. Trump's usual routine is to stop talking and wait until the crowd shouts the protester down and/or security escorts them out. In this case Trump decided to mock the protester, or who he thought was the protester, so he called the guy overweight and whatever else derogatory he said...and the person he was talking about and pointing to was actually a Trump supporter. Later on Trump called this guy and the guy was interviewed later on the news and said he thinks "Trump is the best thing that's ever happened to this country."
And I repeat to all Trump supporters: "You guys are as stupid as they think you are."
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I hadn't thought of him in years. Do you know I gave never seen Easy Rider?
I haven't. either. It's been one of those movies that I keep saying, I want to see that some day. :(
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And I repeat to all Trump supporters: "You guys are as stupid as they think you are."
how many trump supporters do you think heard that?
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I haven't. either. It's been one of those movies that I keep saying, I want to see that some day. :(
I'll join in, I have never seen that film, either. It was the big summer hit back in 1969, fifty years ago...at a time I rarely got to see films in a theater. Later, I worked in the home video business for two decades and could have seen it at any time. I never thought about why, but I've never had an inclination to see it. It got Jack Nicholson his first Oscar nomination and a screenwriting nomination for Terry Southern, Peter Fonda and Dennis Hopper. (Which the latter two really shouldn't have gotten, but that's another story.)
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how many trump supporters do you think heard that?
I don't know; depends on how many of them read some of the comments I write at the end of a lot of online articles and videos. You can help spread the word to them if you want to.
But those supporters don't seem to care what anyone else thinks of them anyway, especially those that are using them for their own purposes. But maybe someday on hindsight they'll get a clue.
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Well, we bought Alaska from the Russians, why not Greenland from the Danes?
Oh, right. The Danes don't want to sell. ...
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Don't know if I have this exactly right, or all the details, but...
The other night Trump had another of his rallies and there was a protester. Trump's usual routine is to stop talking and wait until the crowd shouts the protester down and/or security escorts them out. In this case Trump decided to mock the protester, or who he thought was the protester, so he called the guy overweight and whatever else derogatory he said...and the person he was talking about and pointing to was actually a Trump supporter. Later on Trump called this guy and the guy was interviewed later on the news and said he thinks "Trump is the best thing that's ever happened to this country."
And I repeat to all Trump supporters: "You guys are as stupid as they think you are."
Brian Tyler Cohen explains it all:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2gH-lN7JDFw
This guy is a young man whose videos I've begun watching. It's like show & tell...he shows what happens and then tells the truth.
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Well, we bought Alaska from the Russians, why not Greenland from the Danes?
Oh, right. The Danes don't want to sell. ...
Yeah, but knowing pumpkin head's twisted thinking, if the US bought it and paid for it, orange face would think it belonged to him since he brokered the deal. Don't forget, "he's good at real estate deals....."
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I could imagine him thinking it being his own private fiefdom like Leopold II of Belgium did with the Belgian Congo.
With all the abuses that stemmed from that.
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Exactly, Fritz!
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Where does Trump get ideas like trying to buy Greenland? One position is that people
that know Trump is a mental case, prank him:
Stop Pranking Donald Trump With Ideas About Buying Greenland | Rachel Maddow | MSNBC
He is so _______ that it makes sense to me. Video link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mFZF0-Tqc48
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Is anyone surprised? After two weeks of saying he'd support some sort of ban:
"Trump Retreats on Background Checks, Says Mental Health is to Blame for Gun Violence."
One of the first things the Republican Congress did when the orange cretin was sworn in was to repeal a rule that made it harder for people with mental illness to buy a gun. The repeal was approved by the Republican-controlled House and Senate and was supported by the NRA.
https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/2/3/14496774/congress-guns-mental-illness
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Well, then pumpkin head won't be able to purchase a gun then.
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Where does Trump get ideas like trying to buy Greenland? One position is that people
that know Trump is a mental case, prank him:
Stop Pranking Donald Trump With Ideas About Buying Greenland | Rachel Maddow | MSNBC
He is so _______ that it makes sense to me. Video link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mFZF0-Tqc48
I don't feel the least bit sorry for him as Rachel Maddow does. Someone who is proported to be a leader doesn't know the difference between what is the truth and what someone suggests to him that is ridiculous, deserves to be made fun of. Especially him!
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Well, then pumpkin head won't be able to purchase a gun then.
Linda, they 'repealed' the Rule.....DT can buy a gun..........just sad! ???
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Where does Trump get ideas like trying to buy Greenland?
Well, I heard this morning that the Spoiled Brat is acting up yet again, refusing to go to Denmark because the Danes won't consider selling. I can just see him, arms crossed and lower lip stuck out: "If they won't sell then I won't go!" He'd probably stiff the Danes anyway, just like he stiffed the people who worked on his casinos.
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^^^
I don't feel the least bit sorry for him as Rachel Maddow does. Someone who is proported to be a leader doesn't know the difference between what is the truth and what someone suggests to him that is ridiculous, deserves to be made fun of. Especially him!
I see what you mean, but I think her larger point to the prankers is, if you want to prank him, do it so that it will actually in some way cause him to do some good, and not something frivolous like buying Greenland.
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I entered a contest:
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EBdp1suX4AsnqQw.jpg)
Help me manifest to be one of the chosen ones!
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Is anyone surprised? After two weeks of saying he'd support some sort of ban:
"Trump Retreats on Background Checks, Says Mental Health is to Blame for Gun Violence."
[...]
Another Brian Tyler Cohen video throwing shade at this story:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QkJ0K4cXMCI
I love this guy.
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I have seen ads -- before many youtube videos play (don't you hate that?) -- for this free paper you can subsribe to called The Epoch Times. If you've seen any of these you can't help but see it as right wing trolling and appealing to anyone who just thinks they aren't being told the truth and this can help you find out what's actually going on.
I've found out more about it:
Little Known Epoch Times Is Largest Pro-Trump Spender On Facebook | All In
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uchUFah2dBQ
Anti-China Group Hired GOP Strategist In Pro-Trump Shift | MSNBC
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-UKyPMOTagk
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(https://i.pinimg.com/originals/2e/17/ff/2e17ff710258ea1e7ce1286a7bec745b.jpg)
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Well, I heard this morning that the Spoiled Brat is acting up yet again, refusing to go to Denmark because the Danes won't consider selling. I can just see him, arms crossed and lower lip stuck out: "If they won't sell then I won't go!" He'd probably stiff the Danes anyway, just like he stiffed the people who worked on his casinos.
And now the biggest, rudest fourth grader on the playground is criticizing the Danish prime minister because she didn't answer him nicely.
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A woman answered him back! Shock horror! :o
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Now he's proclaiming he's "The King of Israel" and "The Chosen One."
And the R's remain in their deafening s i l e n c e . . .
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Now he's proclaiming he's "The King of Israel" and "The Chosen One."
And the R's remain in their deafening s i l e n c e . . .
Where's the lightning strike? Or the Fundamentalists finally abandoning him because that really is blasphemy?
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Where's the lightning strike? Or the Fundamentalists finally abandoning him because that really is blasphemy?
By now he could proclaim himself the Antichrist and they'd stick with him, they have nowhere else to go as a group, having been thoroughly corrupted and coopted.
And remember, Fundamentalists may proclaim themselves pro-Israel (out of convenience), but they remain deeply anti-Semitic.
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Yet he was elected President. We cannot CHANGE that fact. So, like it or not, we HAVE to reconcile that fact with whatever is going on now. If the Dems don't get SOMETHING/SOMEONE together before November 2020, we could end up with Trump again...........never say never.......... :o :o :o
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Yet he was elected President. We cannot CHANGE that fact. So, like it or not, we HAVE to reconcile that fact with whatever is going on now. If the Dems don't get SOMETHING/SOMEONE together before November 2020, we could end up with Trump again...........never say never.......... :o :o :o
Prepare for the worst, then you're never disappointed. Mark my words, we're in for another four years, unless something or someone takes him out.
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You two are sounding so pessimistic!
What does expecting the worst mean? According to a dictionary definition of idioms I looked up: "To be pessimistic means you believe evil outweighs the good and that bad things are more likely to happen. So pessimistic people are usually pretty negative. And kind of a bummer to be around."
I'm not assigning these traits to either of you, but I just think "expecting the worst" can't be WHAT YOU WANT. So expect what you want to happen. That's a positive energy. I personally don't want to expect the worst and then be satisfied (not disappointed) when it happens.
Positive energy can attract what you want. For example: This year the Dodgers expect to win games, even if it's the 9th inning and I think that expectation is having other teams feeling like it, too. The last two nights the Dodgers had no runs in the bottom of the 9th inning. They WON both games. If they had expected "the worst" I doubt they'd have won them. IMO. It's infectious.
As for an individual's attitude: If you have a choice to hope for the best or assume the worst, why choose the negative thoughts? At the very least it is more fun for yourself. And using the orange cretin as an example: look at all of the things in his life that he's gotten away with. He didn't accomplish this by thinking the worst. And oh how I hate to use him as an example.
Some people counter what I say with "I'm just being realistic." Realism is not an absolute. You make real what you want or what you let happen.
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I'm not assigning these traits to either of you, but I just think "expecting the worst" can't be WHAT YOU WANT. So expect what you want to happen. That's a positive energy. I personally don't want to expect the worst and then be satisfied (not disappointed) when it happens.
This is a total misunderstanding. Expecting the worst means you can be prepared to cope with it. It does not mean you are satisfied with it when or if it happens.
Do you really think I was "satisfied" that Punkin' Head won in '16? Of course not. I was disappointed, but unlike so many others, I wasn't sitting around stunned. Because I was expecting it, I was emotionally prepared to cope with that disaster when it happened.
Positive energy can attract what you want. For example: This year the Dodgers expect to win games, even if it's the 9th inning and I think that expectation is having other teams feeling like it, too. The last two nights the Dodgers had no runs in the bottom of the 9th inning. They WON both games. If they had expected "the worst" I doubt they'd have won them. IMO. It's infectious.
Didn't a certain Prof. Harold Hill come up with that around 1912? I think he called it "The Think System?"
As for an individual's attitude: If you have a choice to hope for the best or assume the worst, why choose the negative thoughts? At the very least it is more fun for yourself. And using the orange cretin as an example: look at all of the things in his life that he's gotten away with. He didn't accomplish this by thinking the worst. And oh how I hate to use him as an example.
He got away with them by being both brazen and brazenly immoral.
Some people counter what I say with "I'm just being realistic." Realism is not an absolute. You make real what you want or what you let happen.
Yes, it is realistic. Long ago I read that pessimistic and/or depressed people have a more realistic view of the world. I prefer to be a realist, thank you very much.
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Russian news channel Russia Today in southern hemisphere map mix-up
RT has apologised for apparently accidentally labelling New Zealand as “Japan” and Papua New Guinea as “South Korea” in an embarrassing southern hemisphere map.
The mistake came in a segment produced by their US bureau about potential new missile bases in “Japan, South Korea and Australia”. But in a large, erroneous graphic only Australia was correctly labelled.
... and I’m surprised their bureau even got that right. ::)
(https://i.postimg.cc/LsmFdgML/RT-Map.png) (https://postimages.org/)
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/aug/24/russia-today-puts-japan-on-the-map-where-new-zealand-should-be
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Not surprised. In 1997 while on a train trip from Chicago to San Francisco, I was talking to an elementary school teacher and told her I came from Australia. She asked me if it was near Alaska. I replied "only alphabetically". I have lived in New Zealand for nearly 10 years, never been to Japan, perhaps I should visit a travel agent and get a cheap trip.
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This is a total misunderstanding. Expecting the worst means you can be prepared to cope with it. It does not mean you are satisfied with it when or if it happens.
If you apply this reasoning to all aspects of your life then presumably, since if you would like something to be the case you don't spend your time preparing to cope with that, and that many of the things you don't want to happen don't, I'm saying you're going to waste a lot of time preparing yourself for negative things to happen that don't, which means spending a lot of time on negativity. Why dwell on things you don't want?
Do you really think I was "satisfied" that Punkin' Head won in '16? Of course not. I was disappointed, but unlike so many others, I wasn't sitting around stunned. Because I was expecting it, I was emotionally prepared to cope with that disaster when it happened.
Well, perhaps if you weren't expecting it and instead tried to go out and prepare for something you did want, like get some of those 44,292 Pennsylvanians, out of roughly 6 million, that gave PA to Trump, to vote for something more positive...
Do you always expect the person you vote for is going to lose?
Yes, it is realistic. Long ago I read that pessimistic and/or depressed people have a more realistic view of the world. I prefer to be a realist, thank you very much.
I'm not misreading that am I? You're saying you'd rather be pessimistic and/or depressed?
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If you apply this reasoning to all aspects of your life then presumably, since if you would like something to be the case you don't spend your time preparing to cope with that, and that many of the things you don't want to happen don't, I'm saying you're going to waste a lot of time preparing yourself for negative things to happen that don't, which means spending a lot of time on negativity. Why dwell on things you don't want?
I don't consider preparing oneself for a negative outcome a waste of time. I consider it wise. And who needs to prepare for a positive outcome? Maybe if you're in charge of organizing a victory parade or party, or something, I suppose.
Well, perhaps if you weren't expecting it and instead tried to go out and prepare for something you did want, like get some of those 44,292 Pennsylvanians, out of roughly 6 million, that gave PA to Trump, to vote for something more positive...
Now you're just being sarcastic. Like I could have done anything about that. ::) Remember, Pennsylvania is Philadelphia and Pittsburgh with Alabama (or some such state--I forget which one Carville actually mentioned) in between.
Do you always expect the person you vote for is going to lose?
No, I don't. but demographics enters into that, too.
I'm not misreading that am I? You're saying you'd rather be pessimistic and/or depressed?
That's my nature, anyway, but even if it weren't, better that than a Pollyanna. (I was going to write that last time, but then I deleted it because I was afraid I was being rude.)
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That's my nature, anyway, but even if it weren't, better that than a Pollyanna. (I was going to write that last time, but then I deleted it because I was afraid I was being rude.)
That's what we're arguing about in a nutshell. I don't see how being positive is worse than being negative. Therefore, I wouldn't think you were being rude if you said that.
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Thank you.
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Trump Reportedly Discussed Nuking Hurricanes Headed To The United States
“We drop a bomb inside the eye of the hurricane and it disrupts it. Why can’t we do that?” Trump asked security officials, Axios reports.
Axios reported Sunday that President Donald Trump suggested “multiple times” that Homeland and national security officials explore using nuclear bombs to stop hurricanes from striking the United States.
https://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/us_5d632362e4b02cc97c8fbf9b/amp?__twitter_impression=true
Words cannot express the utter stupidity of this Trumtard....... :o >:(
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There is so much that is stupid about this cretin that is known to all and in plain sight that anyone that supports him is just as stupid or, even worse, willfully ignorant.
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And surprise! When it gets bad press, even in the fake news media, he was just joking. What a magical transformation.
That way the base can console themselves, no one else is fooled.
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And surprise! When it gets bad press, even in the fake news media, he was just joking. What a magical transformation.
That way the base can console themselves, no one else is fooled.
Always his 'go to' plan when his ideas get criticized.
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(https://i.pinimg.com/originals/ba/34/9d/ba349dd408ea615565234081cfed80a9.gif)
(https://media.giphy.com/media/aE5BG6P181T4k/giphy.gif)
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^^^^^ We should be so lucky.......
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(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DYfZdrfV4AAbANh.jpg)
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^^^^^ Good point. Isn't he just a tad bit more intelligent than trumptard?
OK maybe not as Pence is a more rabid homophobe and make believe christian.
We're basically caught between moronic and stupidity, so we're damned either way. Of course going down the list of people who would inherit the presidency, it doesn't get any better, so we're damned no matter what. >:(
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Isn't Pelosi the number 3?
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Isn't Pelosi the number 3?
Yes, she is.
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We're basically caught between moronic and stupidity, so we're damned either way.
this reminds me of a quote from a Golden Girls episode, where Sophia is trying to stop a curse. The first step she must do is "kiss a fool".
Sophia: You think you've got problems? I have to kiss a fool to save Dorothy from the curse.
Blanche: So why don't you just kiss Rose and get it over with?
Sophia: Technically, Rose isn't a fool. She's a simpleton.
Blanche: What's the difference?
Sophia: How can I explain it? Fools read "Dear Abby". Simpletons read "Ann Landers". It's a fine line.
:laugh: :laugh: :laugh:
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The executive director of the Log Cabin Republicans has resigned over the organization's endorsement of Punkin' Head. At least somebody in that bizarre organization has some sense.
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The executive director of the Log Cabin Republicans has resigned over the organization's endorsement of Punkin' Head. At least somebody in that bizarre organization has some sense.
Yup, here's the story.
Log Cabin Republicans executive director latest to resign in protest
By S.E. Cupp Tue August 27, 2019
Jerri Ann Henry, the first woman to be named executive director of the Log Cabin Republicans, is resigning after less than a year in her post.
"This is a long time coming," Henry told CNN in an exclusive interview. "The history and legacy of this organization is so rich. I wish we were able to find a way forward, but I think leaving the organization is best for all of us."
The Washington Blade was first to report on Henry's resignation.
In a statement to CNN, Charles Moran, a spokesperson for the Log Cabin Republicans, said Henry resigned on Monday and thanked her for her service to the group. "The final date of her employment is undetermined at this time," Moran said in an email. "The Board's Executive Committee will proceed with an orderly transition to ensure nothing falls through the cracks. We thank her for her service to our organization and wish her well in the next chapter of her career."
Henry's resignation is the latest in a long line of defections over the past few months, including Robert Turner, Jordan Evans, Rachel Hoff, Jennifer Horn, Eli Lehrer, Rich Tafel and Sarah Longwell.
https://www.cnn.com/2019/08/27/politics/log-cabin-republicans-director-resigns/index.html
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If only:
(https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-H7tIeMsKOUk/XWZdzXi2_JI/AAAAAAACzC0/BzzmPVytqPkcU5q_tR_NQajdlLbbVkDaQCLcBGAs/s320/Kiss3.jpg)
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So true, Ingy.
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;)
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So let's go for something different (or is it?) in the news.
Disneyland has opened a new Star Wars themed attraction at it's park this summer called Galaxy's Edge. Of course it goes without saying it is very popular. All the photos of it I've seen have all the charm of one being plopped in the middle of the Gobi desert, but, hey, I've never understood the obsessive fascination of that franchise.
So they have something they sell there called, well, look at the photo first:
(https://www.ocregister.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/OCR-L-BEST-BUYS-GALAXYS-EDGE-14-JAG-1.jpg?w=525)
These are called "thermal detonator" Coke bottles. Apparently they are scaring the bejesus out of TSA employees and airline passengers and yesterday TSA has officially banned them from being brought in to airports.
Call me stupid for asking, but really Coke and Disney etc.? I know Star Wars is, in 1920's terms, the bee's knees, but in this day and age you want to promote your soda selections in bomb containers? Even if it is in a theme park? A theme park that now embraces non-Disney born product?
If you want to see a Star Wars nerd review the product (from May 30th) here's a youtube video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MgP_QWKkeLs
He says in the video they cost $3.99, but they sell for $4.99 as someone corrected in the comments. Plus tax, so $5.65.
So, great, we'll now have children all over the place playing with replica bombs!
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TSA Agent: "What do you have in your carry on?
Passenger: "A thermal detonator soda bottle."
(https://www.wdwinfo.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/swge-coke-diet-1-1.png)
TSA Agent: "Say what?"
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Randy Rainbow's week in review: LOL!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gW2SEpWWqXM
CNN Interviewed Randy Rainbow last week: (Did you know Randy Rainbow is his real name?)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2FPgdaJ1B6w
Did you know he was nominated for an Emmy this year:
Outstanding Short Form Variety Series
Billy On The Street
Carpool Karaoke: The Series
Gay Of Thrones
Honest Trailers
The Randy Rainbow Show
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Nobody is called Randy in Britain - unless they’re horny. ;D
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So, lots of people are called Randy then! ;D
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All this weekend we've been hearing that Trump's personal assistant, Madeleine Westerhout, who's been with him for a long time, was fired because she was saying things off the record in front of journalists in some venue while also having some drinks. Then it was reported the topic was Trump's family. Now there's some news about exactly what she said:
Madeleine apparently confessed that "she had a better relationship with the president than Tiffany or Ivanka Trump, Trump's daughters, and also that Trump didn't like being in pictures with Tiffany because he thought she was overweight and that he couldn't pick her out of a lineup." Daniel Lippman, Politico
CNN story about it:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Af22LORwO_w
And there isn't anyone that does not believe Trump didn't say that.
Someone in the comment section wrote: "Anne Hathaway is going to play her [Madeleine Westerhout] in the movie." :)
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I am very fearful for the people of the Bahamas. A Category 5 hurricane. ... :(
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^^^
Alabama should be worried, too, according to the tweeter in the W.H.!
_________
Trump Congratulates Poland on its Nazi Invasion Anniversary
by Aaron Blake
September 3 / Washington Post
President Trump is known to make the odd comment here and there about foreign nations, often because he doesn’t seem particularly versed in what’s happening in them. But even by his standards, this was quite a weekend.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/09/03/trump-congratulates-poland-its-nazi-invasion/
WHAT? Trump has standards? :o
______
I was watching a reporter trying to get an answer from Trump supporters about his constant lying.
They finally settled on: "Does it really matter?"
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British Judge Rejects LGBTQ Asylum Seeker for Lacking Gay “Demeanor”
https://www.metroweekly.com/2019/08/british-judge-rejects-lgbtq-asylum-seeker-for-lacking-gay-demeanor/
A British immigration judge rejected an asylum application from a gay man because he lacked a homosexual “demeanor,” according to the man’s lawyer.
[Maybe his drag name is Miss DeMeanor?]
The asylum seeker, who reportedly comes from a country where homosexuality is illegal, was attending a first-tier immigration tribunal in London. Court findings are typically not published, but the man’s lawyer, Rehana Popal, disclosed them to The Guardian. They reveal that the judge refused the man’s application after comparing him to a previous gay asylum applicant who “wore lipstick” and acted in an “effeminate” manner. According to Popal, the judge wrote that he had “seen [the claimant’s] demeanor,” but said that a previous gay applicant was more believably gay, noting that it was “not just that he wore lipstick and had an effeminate way of looking around the room and speaking but he is also a member of a gay community organisation.”
Popal said the judge’s comments were “from the 16th century” and based on “a stereotype embedded in prejudice.” “He has taken a stereotype, used it as a benchmark and compared my client to it,” Popal told the Guardian. “That is totally wrong." The judge also referred to the age difference between the claimant and his older male partner, whose application for asylum was approved by a different immigration judge the previous month. “I understand that on the gay scene younger men are highly valued,” the judge wrote in discussing their relationship.
There are guidelines that require decision-makers to “not stereotype the behavior or characteristics of gay or bisexual persons.”
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I was watching a reporter trying to get an answer from Trump supporters about his constant lying.
They finally settled on: "Does it really matter?"
Well, if I remember correctly, the Fake President's stooge Rudi Giuliani told Chuck Todd that truth isn't truth anymore, so that response doesn't really surprise me. It horrifies me, but it doesn't really surprise me.
God help the country if he loses in 2020. I mean, I don't trust all those people who drank the Fake President's Kool-Aid to accept the outcome.
(FYI Lyle, I'm envisioning Elizabeth Warren winning. That's what I want to happen.)
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;D
I like 5 of the candidates running, one of them being Elizabeth Warren...I just wonder if she isn't a bit too strident for the extra votes she'll need to win against him.
I use the definition of strident to make a point:
stri·dent
loud and harsh; grating.
"her voice had become increasingly sharp, almost strident"
synonyms: harsh, raucous, rough, grating, rasping, jarring, loud, stentorian, shrill, screeching, piercing,
More
unmelodious, unmusical, discordant, dissonant, unharmonious;
rarestridulous, stentorious
presenting a point of view, especially a controversial one, in an excessively and unpleasantly forceful way.
"public pronouncements on the crisis became less strident"
another term for sibilant.
having a shrill, irritating quality or character: a strident tone. Linguistics. Characterized acoustically by noise of relatively high intensity, as sibilants, labiodental and uvular fricatives, and most affricates.
Not that I've ever heard the word sibilants before, not to mention labiodental, uvular fricatives or affricates!
Uvular fricatives sounds like sex toys. Trump thinks Affricates are sh--hole countries.
I've quoted an article I read early this year before. A bit of it:
Election realignment depends on political leadership, which isn’t just a matter of ideology or policy. Campaigns tell stories, and in politics as in literature, style matters as much as plot. Roosevelt and Reagan, ideological opposites, both won by speaking in a way that gave Americans a sense of dignity and belonging and made them hopeful. They didn’t win by haranguing the public. They didn’t win by implying that anyone who disagreed must be either stupid or venal. They didn’t assemble majorities by degrading Americans into identity blocs. They didn’t force their party to pledge allegiance to the most extreme positions, or turn politics into a joyless exercise in orthodoxy. They hammered their opponents, but they did it with a smile. The choice between radical solutions and a unifying appeal is a false choice. If the Democrats end up with a hectoring, humorless, disdainful, divisive candidate who doesn’t speak to the whole country because he or she doesn’t have a vision for the country, then we’ll almost certainly enter the darkness of a second Trump term. If they choose a leader whose radicalism is hopeful and whose anger is generous, then we might just have a realignment.
My worry about Warren is that her style IS haranguing. Not that I don't think her targets need haranguing, but, for example, if you voted for Trump, even reluctantly, how is her haranguing him the way she does, which I like, but a voter who needs to change their mind...I don't see her style as conducive for people to change their votes. People really want to like the candidate they're voting for, even if its reluctantly.
I've mentioned before that a major quality in any candidate for office to me is having a sense of humor. I don't see either Warren or Bernie with a sense of humor. In the midst of very dark days in WWII there's a myriad of clips of FDR with a sense of humor. Many people, Tip O'Neill among them, though they'd always say they disagreed a lot with their policies, really liked Reagan and in large part because he had a sense of humor.
I think Biden has a sense of humor, but I am disturbed by his factual gaffes he's continued to make, even two really egregious ones this past few days. In one of them, he was trying to illustrate a point by telling a moving story about a time he was going to be giving a solider a medal for something the soldier didn't feel he deserved. According to all accounts though: "In the space of three minutes, Biden got the time period, the location, the heroic act, the type of medal, the military branch and the rank of the recipient wrong, as well as his own role in the ceremony."
Biden supporters are going to give him shelter and say, "Trump is worse," but this goes with the recent post I made about Trump supporters finally justifying the lies he says by saying, "Does it really matter?"
Do we really want a candidate in this climate who is saying things that aren't true, or making gaffes etc.? The Republicans will equate Trump and Biden's gaffes as equal, the way they did by making Trump and Clinton "equally bad candidates." A voter meme became they were equal in being bad candidates so why not choose either one, really. One is just as bad as the other. The truth is there is no way on earth that Trump and Clinton were equal as bad choices. Plus the assists in the matter by Russia.
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The next debate is coming up in a week: One Night Only!
(https://www.kxan.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/40/2019/08/7F547F90AC604ADA9F47A80F3963A588_4.jpg)
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Or this 1950's style design I saw that reminded me of Wonder Bread!
(https://media1.s-nbcnews.com/j/newscms/2019_35/2988376/190828-debate-candidates-collage-cs-313p_bce9d406acc809832e21b22781b88d01.fit-760w.jpg)
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FDR, Reagan, and Tip O'Neill never had to deal with Donald Trump, Russian meddling, or Twitter, and how do you define "generous anger"? I'm just saying; that's all.
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The article's line of a candidate whose "anger is generous" implies things like not turning other voters off, willing to listen to others and taking what they have to say into consideration without dismissing them; not ignoring anyone.
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The article's line of a candidate whose "anger is generous" implies things like not turning other voters off, willing to listen to others and taking what they have to say into consideration without dismissing them; not ignoring anyone.
That doesn't sound like anger to me, but let be, let be. Of course a candidate should listen to what others have to say, think about it, and don't ignore them.
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That doesn't sound like anger to me, but let be, let be.
So, I decided to look up the term and gain more insight on it. Two sources indicate that the phrase came from, or was inspired by, George Orwell.
I found a column from a British site, New Statesman, about someone and they write:
He is our leading exemplar of what Orwell described as “generous anger” - the ability to satirise hypocrisy and inefficiency while simultaneously recognising decency and wit.
And another article from The Atlantic which said:
In the debate about civility, about how to make strong and lively points without demonization, a phrase from Orwell seems useful to me. What worries me about the otherwise laudatory goal of greater civility [...] is that we do not lose either anger or the ability to channel that anger generously for the sake of the greater good. The difficult task is summoning the right amount of anger with the right amount of generosity of spirit. [...] I mean keeping our anger at failures and misdemeanors in public life constantly in terms of finding ways to make things better for all of us, including the objects of our criticism.
So it's a way of connecting with people, those who obviously agree with you, but also those that might not but in a way that they feel you have an interest in making things better and they are included, despite differences.
I suppose it's what I always heard growing up and was taught in school, but isn't so noticeable in these times...that both political parties and their members want the same things for people and pursue the same goals for the country, they just disagree about the means of achieving the goals.
To be clear, no one is saying this is an easy concept to achieve. The article I quoted in the first post only gives two examples of this from our political leaders in over 100 years, FDR and Reagan, and both of those times we had major political realignments. So generous anger sounds more like an oxymoron to most people. (I love oxymorons!)
Which one of the ten people in the above photos can best exemplify this on the campaign trail and rise above the media, internet and twittersphere noise that makes it even harder to be heard nowadays? The phrase that was used frequently, especially in the last decade, is "which candidate would you be most comfortable having a beer with." Which means all the talk of their policies and programs, while important, isn't as important to people as the notion of who you'd feel more comfortable with. Today that means in a 24/7 environment where you see a president all the time. Not like it was when I was growing up where these things weren't thrust into your face constantly. Now they're in your face on your cell phones, internet sites, televisions, emails, ad infinitum...in ways unimagined fifty years ago. Now a candidate is instantly reviewed by forces that try to sway your view of them and these forces are both legitimate and illegitimate. One has no time to think about anything without first being told what to think and that makes it even harder and often futile, but necessary nonetheless.
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I suppose it's what I always heard growing up and was taught in school, but isn't so noticeable in these times...that both political parties and their members want the same things for people and pursue the same goals for the country, they just disagree about the means of achieving the goals.
For some reason. this reminds me of the term "Rockefeller Republican."
Which one of the ten people in the above photos can best exemplify this on the campaign trail and rise above the media, internet and twittersphere noise that makes it even harder to be heard nowadays? The phrase that was used frequently, especially in the last decade, is "which candidate would you be most comfortable having a beer with." Which means all the talk of their policies and programs, while important, isn't as important to people as the notion of who you'd feel more comfortable with. Today that means in a 24/7 environment where you see a president all the time.
That would be Mayor Pete.
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(https://wp-media.patheos.com/blogs/sites/410/2019/09/PrideIceland1.png)
Vice President Pence was greeted by a series of rainbow flags this week as he arrived in Reykjavik to meet with President Guðni Jóhannesson of Iceland. Pence met with Jóhannesson at Hofdi House, across the street from the IT company Advania, which had lined its entrance with several rainbow flags, according to The Guardian. And a nearby office housing the headquarters for the Efling trade union swapped out the flags typically flying outside to display rainbow ones. “We just felt the need to celebrate diversity today and wanted to show that by flying the flags,” Ægir Már Þórisson, Advania’s director, told the news outlet Iceland Monitor.
Photos of Pence’s meeting with Jóhannesson show the president wearing a rainbow bracelet on his right hand, which was visible when he shook hands with Pence. Eliza Reid, Iceland’s first lady, also wore a rainbow bracelet for the occasion. Jóhannesson also wore the bracelet when he met with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
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Meanwhile, Trump has started a new White House "water-gate" with his Sharpie:
(https://cdn.uinterview.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/TrumpSharpieHurricaneDorian.jpg)
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More!
(https://media14.s-nbcnews.com/j/MSNBC/Components/Video/201909/n_mj_mememicro_190905_1920x1080.760;428;7;70;5.jpg)
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^^^^^^ These just get better and better, Lyle!!
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Over lunch today, I was reading my New Yorker, and I came across this sentence:
"Those who don't want to learn do not."
Made me think of the Fake President's base, those people who don't think it matters that the President of the United States lies like a dirty white shag carpet.
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Yeah, they think his lies are "owning the libs", whatever that's supposed to mean. They don't care what they're doing to themselves, as long as their perceived enemy is hurt at least a little.
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Yes, Jeff, "you can lead a horse to water..."
___
Fritz, some commentators often remark that the people they talk to who support Trump are most happy because it drives liberals nuts. (And, of course, they don't consider any conservatives who don't support Trump as conservatives any longer.)
Why do so many of these people blame everyone else for their hurt when it's the party they support that keeps them hurting. (As I've mentioned before, there is a several year old book now about exactly that, titled "What's the Matter with Kansas?" About how the Republican party has gotten their voters to vote for them and against their own interests.
"Owning the libs." I've heard that so frequently I decided to google the phrase and see what came up. Lots. There is a great article, though, that I just read. It's entertaining as well as informative and I recommend a read if one is so inclined. It was published a little over one year ago.
Owning the Libs
Conservatives love it earnestly, liberals love it ironically. How did we get here?
by Eve Peyser
July, 2018 / Rolling Stone Magazine
https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/own-the-libs-meaning-703845/
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With all the coverage of Trump not wanting to stop lying about his hurricane tweet and doubling down on stupid, things even pass by the news media and late night talk show hosts and comedians.
In this youtube video that I watched, and have actually seen several times before--the first part is a clip of a reporter asking about Trump's Sharpie doctored hurricane map and then his reply, which is at 0:39 seconds in this video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uK7UH6AEgkI
This time I noticed Trump said something that no one I know of picked up on previously, so I commented on the video:
DID ANYONE NOTICE right at the beginning Trump said, "The original path that most people thought it was going to be taking, as you know, was right through Florida, where on the right would've been Georgia, Alabama, etc."
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.soidergi.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2Fus%2Fthumb-us-map-outline-transparent-usa-outline-elegant-us-map-outline-transparent-usa-outline-best-vector-map-united-states.jpg&hash=056f0f2ba5a9e6b0826268c3937e3664773641f7)
Trump even altered the geography of the United States so that the hurricane path up the right side of Florida would include Alabama, which even on the map he's holding, is on the left...where the people of the country are currently heading.
There should be a humorous book published called "What If Obama Said That?" and a sequel "What if Obama Did That?" At the very least Fox would have ridiculed Obama ad infinitum (and still longer) if he'd made what would have been an innocent gaffe, a mis-spoken word, and yet even one of Trump's deteriorating brain statements is over-looked because there's such a blizzard of them that it's only a drop in the ocean...off the north of Texas, I'm guessing.
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Now we find out that:
NOAA Staff Warned in Sept. 1 Directive Against Contradicting Trump
In an agency wide directive sent Sept. 1 to National Weather Service personnel, hours after Trump asserted, with no evidence, that Alabama “would most likely be hit (much) harder than anticipated,” the staff was told to “only stick with official National Hurricane Center forecasts if questions arise from some national level social media posts which hit the news this afternoon.” They were also told not to “provide any opinion,” according to a copy of the email obtained by The Washington Post. A NOAA meteorologist who spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of retribution said the note, understood internally to be referring to Trump, came after the National Weather Service office in Birmingham contradicted Trump by tweeting Alabama would “NOT see any impacts from the hurricane.”
The Birmingham office only sent the tweet after receiving a flurry of phone calls from concerned residents following Trump’s message. NOAA sent a similar message warning scientists and meteorologists not to speak out on Sept. 4, after Trump showed a hurricane map from Aug. 29 modified with a hand-drawn, half-circle in black Sharpie around Alabama. “This is the first time I’ve felt pressure from above to not say what truly is the forecast,” the meteorologist said. “It’s hard for me to wrap my head around. One of the things we train on is to dispel inaccurate rumors and ultimately that is what was occurring — ultimately what the Alabama office did is provide a forecast with their tweet, that is what they get paid to do.” An NWS spokesperson said, “NWS leadership sent this guidance to field staff so they (and the entire agency) could maintain operational focus on Dorian and other severe weather hazards without distraction.”
Late Friday afternoon, NOAA officials further angered scientists within and beyond the agency by releasing a statement, attributed to an unnamed agency spokesperson, supporting Trump’s claims on Alabama and chastising the agency’s Birmingham meteorologists for speaking in absolutes. That statement set off a firestorm among scientists, who attacked NOAA officials for bending to Trump’s will.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/noaa-staff-warned/2019/09/07/12a52d1a_story.html (https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/noaa-staff-warned-in-sept-1-directive-against-contradicting-trump/2019/09/07/12a52d1a-d18f-11e9-87fa-8501a456c003_story.html)
ARE YOU KIDDING ME?
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attributed to an unnamed agency spokesperson
Are his initials DJT?
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SOME REACTIONS TO THE ABOVE STORY:
--Keith Seitter, executive director of the American Meteorological Society, said in a statement that “the criticism of the Birmingham forecast office is unwarranted; rather they should have been commended for their quick action based on science in clearly communicating the lack of threat to the citizens of Alabama.”
--One of the strongest reactions to the NOAA statement came from David Titley, an atmospheric scientist who served as the chief operating officer of NOAA under Obama. “Perhaps the darkest day ever for leadership. Don’t know how they will ever look their workforce in the eye again. Moral cowardice,” he tweeted.
--Others who weighed in on social media were also scathing in their response to NOAA’s decision to publicly defend Trump. “I have never been so embarrassed by NOAA. What they did is just disgusting,” Dan Sobien, president of the National Weather Service’s labor union, wrote on Twitter Friday. “Let me assure you the hard working employees of the NWS had nothing to do with the utterly disgusting and disingenuous tweet sent out by NOAA management tonight.”
--A popular television broadcast meteorologist in Birmingham also came to the defense of his city’s National Weather Service team. “The tweet from NWS Birmingham was spot on and accurate,” James Spann tweeted. “If they are coming after them, they might as well come after me. How in the world has it come to this?”
--On Saturday, the National Weather Service leadership seemingly tried to address the outcry in an all-hands letter to its employees to thank them for their hard work during the hurricane. The letter, obtained by The Washington Post, assured employees they were valued. “We want to assure you that we stand behind our entire workforce and the integrity of the forecast process, including the incredible scientific, technical and engineering skill you demonstrated for this event,” the NWS leadership wrote. “We saw first hand that our integrated forecast process works, and we continue to embrace and uphold the essential integrity of the entire forecast process as it was applied by ALL NWS offices to ensure public safety first and foremost.”
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In the meantime:
Laura Ingraham pulls VILE stunt on her Fox News show
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CLtDwL2kHbk
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The world as we know it is going to hell in a handbasket...............
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The world as we know it is going to hell in a handbasket...............
"Going?" I think we got there months ago. ...
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Government scientists blast Trump weather wars after NOAA defends his hurricane forecast
Following a week in which the president refused to back down on his inaccurate claim that Alabama could be hit hard by Dorian, and after first the president’s homeland security adviser and then the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) came to Trump’s defence, civil servants and past leaders of both organizations spent the days that followed denouncing the hurricane’s transformation into a political storm.
It’s not the first time a government agency has bent over to back up the president’s public statements, but it may be the first time the rank and file pushed back so publicly.
The uproar stemmed largely from an unattributed press statement released by NOAA on Friday evening in which it rebuked forecasters at the Birmingham outpost of the National Weather Service for declaring that, contrary to what the president had announced on Twitter, there were no major threats posed to the state at that time.
The latest brushback came on Monday, when the director of the National Weather Service offered a full-throated defence of his agency’s Birmingham outpost, leading a gathering of meteorologists in a standing ovation in support of the NWS staff at Birmingham. In a keynote address at the annual meeting of the National Weather Association he asserted that, contrary to what the Sept. 6 NOAA statement might have indicated, “the integrity of the forecast process was maintained by the Birmingham office and across the entire” weather service.
In a message to NOAA staff members, Inspector General Peggy E. Gustafson wrote that the episode had called “into question the NWS’s processes, scientific independence, and ability to communicate accurate and timely weather warnings and data to the nation in times of national emergency.”
The Inspector General's office has asked NOAA employees to preserve their communications relating to the Friday statement, according to the New York Times (https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/09/climate/hurricane-dorian-trump-tweet.html).
Meanwhile, the acting chief scientist of the NOAA is reportedly investigating whether the unsigned statement was a breach of ethics. “The content of this press release is very concerning as it compromises the ability of NOAA to convey life-saving information necessary to avoid substantial and specific danger to public health and safety," Craig McLean said in a Sunday email.
Trump has repeatedly doubled down on his claim during the controversy, including his presentation of an NOAA map which appeared to have been altered with a marker to show Alabama in Dorian’s path.
https://www.politico.com/story/2019/09/09/scientists-trump-noaa-hurricane-alabama-1487628
https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/460624-inspector-general-investigating-noaas-statement-backing-trump-on
But scientists and civil servants aren’t the only ones who are outraged...
(https://i.postimg.cc/m24F5sKd/JD-Turk-Alabama.png) (https://postimages.org/)
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I'd love to know what the guy holding the map with the purple tie was thinking.
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Thinking? Thinking? Someone in this administration is thinking?
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By the way, the New York Times has reported it was Secretary of Commerce Chief Wilbur Ross who threatened firings at NOAA after Trump’s Dorian tweets if they didn't, how shall we say, kiss Trump's ass.
You know, this guy...(https://static01.nyt.com/images/2019/09/09/science/09CLI-NOAA2/09CLI-NOAA2-articleLarge.jpg)...another one of those humorless trolls in the Trump orbit.
There are calls for him to resign. That won't happen. That would involve some sort of realization that one have integrity.
By the way, for all intents and purposes, NOAA should be under the auspices of the Department of the Interior and not the Department of Commerce. It is in the Commerce Dept. because when Richard Nixon was re-organizing certain cabinet departments, he was becoming less and less happy with his appointed Interior Secretary, Walter Hickel, so he put NOAA in the Commerce Dept. In 2012, Obama tried to put it where it belongs and, of course, the Republicans in Congress wouldn't do even something so simple as that if Obama wanted it.
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So John Bolton's out.
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Of the closet?
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POLITICO Magazine published an article yesterday about a congressional report written by Hillary Clinton and others during Watergate which became a centerpiece of the congressional push to drive the Republican president from office. But when Nixon resigned the memo was buried. The document then reappeared in the late 1990s, when it was used to bolster an eventually unsuccessful bid by Republicans to impeach President Bill Clinton.
After fading yet again from the public conscience the 45-year-old report has reappeared once more, to become a handbook which House Democratic lawmakers and aides say they are using to help determine whether they have the evidence on which to mount a full-scale impeachment effort against President Donald Trump.
Early in 1974, just before the climactic end of the Watergate scandal, a team of lawyers hired by the House Judiciary Committee hired a team of lawyers to work on a bipartisan staff effort to help determine whether to impeach Nixon. Over a couple of months, the team dug deep into constitutional and legal arcana scouring documents that dated to the country’s founding, as well as century-old newspaper clippings in the Library of Congress.
The resulting title of the report, “Constitutional Grounds for Presidential Impeachment” is 64 pages in length, and may elicit yawns. But what the team produced became a seminal 64-page road map with appendices that looks into what counts as an impeachable offence.
At the time, lawmakers needed guidance. They’d not had to think seriously about these issues for more than 100 years when Congress rebelled against President Andrew Johnson over his handling of reconstruction after the Civil War.
The staffers’ research broke ground by making an accessible argument that a president doesn’t have to commit a straight-up crime for Congress to consider the historic step of impeachment.
“The framers did not write a fixed standard. Instead, they adopted from English history a standard sufficiently general and flexible to meet future circumstances and events, the nature and character of which they could not foresee,” the House team wrote about the ill-defined constitutional working of “high crimes and misdemeanors.”
Their exhaustive report also included a whirlwind history lesson about how America’s founders had been well-versed in impeachment when they included the language in several clauses of the Constitution—the British Parliament had used the impeachment process as a check on royalty for more than 400 years, dating to the 14th century.
The full POLITICO article is here (https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2019/09/16/hillary-clinton-impeachment-memo-trump-228107), and includes a PDF of the 1974 Congressional Report (https://ia801902.us.archive.org/14/items/constitutional_grounds_for_presidential_impeachment_-_house_judiciary_comm_staff_report_february_1974/constitutional_grounds_for_presidential_impeachment_-_house_judiciary_comm_staff_report_february_1974.pdf), which I’ve read through with particular attention to the following sections:
Section II. C. The American Impeachment Cases:
• Exceeding The Powers of the Office in Derogation of Those of Another Branch of Government (page 18)
• Behaving in a Manner Grossly Incompatible with the Proper Function and Purpose of the Office (page 19)
• Employing the Power of the Office for an Improper Purpose or Personal Gain (page 20)
and
Section III, The Criminality Issue, which deals specifically with the phrase “high Crimes and Misdemeanors” (pages 22-25).
The POLITICO article also includes a link (https://archive.org/stream/WatergateHearingsBeforeTheHouseCommitteeOnTheJudiciary/Judiciary%20Committee%20Hearings-%20Impeachment%20of%20Richard%20M%20Nixon%2C%20President%20of%20the%20United%20States_djvu.txt) to the 128-page text version of the House Watergate Hearings on the Impeachment Inquiry of President Nixon (although other formats are available, one of which, a downloadable PDF (https://archive.org/stream/WatergateHearingsBeforeTheHouseCommitteeOnTheJudiciary/Judiciary%20Committee%20Hearings-%20Impeachment%20of%20Richard%20M%20Nixon%2C%20President%20of%20the%20United%20States#page/n2/mode/2up), is 530 pages long), and the similarities of Nixon’s listed examples of criminal behaviour with those of Trump on public record are indeed notable.
Finally, I note that while Congressional Republicans were in favour of impeaching Nixon, a Republican President, they’re not so regarding the current Republican incumbent of that office.
This is rather strange, as the sections of the 1974 report I've mentioned above are as applicable to Trump as they once were to Nixon—their headings alone indicate that to be the case.
Edited to insert the missing pronoun it, the direct object of the verb was, the past tense form of the verb be.
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Thanks for the links, Paul.
A couple things:
The document then reappeared in the late 1990's, when it was used to bolster an eventually unsuccessful bid by Republicans to impeach President Bill Clinton.
Bill Clinton was impeached. The House of Representatives did vote for impeachment. It then went to the Senate who decides on removal from office, where that did not happen.
Finally, I note that while Congressional Republicans were in favor of impeaching Nixon, a Republican President, they’re not so regarding the current Republican incumbent of that office.
This is rather strange, as the sections of the 1974 report I've mentioned above are as applicable to Trump as they once were to Nixon—their headings alone indicate that to be the case.
The current Republicans have lost their morality, if they ever had it. The instances of hypocrisy one can cite from how they behave when they're in power and how they behave when they're not, can fill volumes of an Encyclopedia of Hypocrisy. They are only interested in power, money and how they can keep them, everything (and everyone) else be damned.
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Bill Clinton was impeached. The House of Representatives did vote for impeachment. It then went to the Senate who decides on removal from office, where that did not happen.
Impeachment alone does not remove someone from office. Being impeached by the House is like being indicted by a grand jury for a crime. Being tried by the Senate is like being tried in a court of law. Being removed from office by vote of the Senate is like being convicted in a court.
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Thanks for the links, Paul.
My pleasure, Lyle—and thank you for noting my missing pronoun.
I’m not surprised I missed it, as my links were complex and time-consuming.
I’ll return the favour with a preposition. ;)
A couple of things:
Bill Clinton was impeached. The House of Representatives did vote for impeachment. It then went to the Senate who decides on removal from office, where that did not happen.
Yes. My reading was that while the House of Representatives voted for impeachment because Republicans were in the majority (228-206) only a simple majority was required; but in the Senate, where they also had a majority (55-45), a supermajority (“two thirds of the Members present,” as stated in the Constitution) was required to find Clinton guilty and remove him from office.
This simply wasn’t possible. Not only did all 45 Democrats vote Not Guilty on the two listed Articles of Impeachment, which meant there was already no way that Clinton would be convicted, but a small number of Republicans “crossed the aisle,” meaning that the Republican “bid” was even less successful than anticipated.
Perhaps, to remove any ambiguity, the POLITICO sentence could have been: “The document then reappeared in the late 1990s, when it was used to bolster an eventually unsuccessful bid by Republicans to convict President Bill Clinton.”
The current Republicans have lost their morality, if they ever had it. The instances of hypocrisy one can cite from how they behave when they're in power and how they behave when they're not, can fill volumes of an Encyclopedia of Hypocrisy. They are only interested in power, money and how they can keep them, everything (and everyone) else be damned.
Agreed. The Administration’s and Attorney General William Barr’s constant obstruction of the legitimate efforts of the House Committees of Judiciary, Oversight and Reform and Homeland Security (to name three) to lawfully obtain documents and witness testimony in accordance with their oversight responsibilities is beyond egregious and a flagrant mockery of the Constitution’s separation of powers.
The White House stonewalls, ignores subpoenas, sues and claims executive privilege regarding witnesses; and Barr, who appears to believe his office as Attorney General is an outpost of the White House, uses the Justice Department as a weapon for the President to wield against his Democrat opponents.
The Justice Department was intended to be a co-equal branch of government with the Executive and Legislative branches, rather than a minion of the Executive branch. It represents the United States, not a President, and Barr has no business putting his thumb on the scales for Trump in his fight against Congress.
E&EO
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Today is International Talk Like a Pirate Day. Aaaargh! ;D
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Talk_Like_a_Pirate_Day (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Talk_Like_a_Pirate_Day)
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Even in German!
http://talklikeapirate.com/wordpress/how-to/talk-like-a-german-pirate/
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My annual joke:
Q: "How do you become a pirate?"
A: "You don't become a pirate, you just aaaargh!"
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;D ;D ;D
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So, the Speaker of the House has now announced that the House will begin an impeachment inquiry.
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Yay, it's official! The way the conservatives try to spin everything as though their leader is a Saint is just disgusting.
(I'm lookin' at you Matt Gaetz. You phony soul-less gargoyle.)
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Sorry .....nothing to do with "impeachment"....just something that got me
rattled today.
The UK Tax payer footed a good chunk of Harry and Megan' wedding.
The UK Tax payer footed the WHOLE of the bill running into millions
for the re-furb of the *cottage* they now live in.
But NO we are not allowed to have a photo call to see Archie their first born.
He has been kept under wraps so tight ....I was beginning to wonder if he
really existed !
So off they trot to see Desmond Tutu...and there was Archie for all to see.
Parading him around for all who wanted to get a picture.
Bet he goes under wraps again when he comes back to the UK. God forbid
that the folk who paid and is paying their way of life should get a glimpse
of him before he starts school or even longer!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kPAyWgSCKUA
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The UK Tax payer footed a good chunk of Harry and Megan' wedding.
The UK Tax payer footed the WHOLE of the bill running into millions
for the re-furb of the *cottage* they now live in.
But NO we are not allowed to have a photo call to see Archie their first born.
He has been kept under wraps so tight ....I was beginning to wonder if he
really existed !
So off they trot to see Desmond Tutu...and there was Archie for all to see.
Parading him around for all who wanted to get a picture.
Bet he goes under wraps again when he comes back to the UK. God forbid
that the folk who paid and is paying their way of life should get a glimpse
of him before he starts school or even longer!!
That does kind of suck. :(
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Two videos showing what news people should have been doing right from the beginning of this administration.
Better late than never:
MSNBC’s Nicolle Wallace Cuts Into Trump Speech for the BEST Reason
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B85kZTzd_3Y
Matt Gaetz Accidentally Admits (because of a reporter's insistence)
That Trump Desperately Schooled GOP On Handling Ukraine Call
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zI4mgMPxhuA
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Impeachment is Making Trump Crazy
by Jon Healey/Deputy Editorial Page Editor
Los Angeles Times
I question this headline: "Making" him crazy?
https://www.latimes.com/opinion/2019-09-30/story/ (https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2019-09-30/trump-impeachment-schiff-treason-civil-war)
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Impeachment is Making Trump Crazy
I question this headline: "Making" him crazy?
That's the first thought that popped into my head, too.
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Bernie Sanders Suspends Campaign Events After Heart Surgery.
Remember in 2016 what the Republicans did to Hillary Clinton when she had a health issue one day?
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In their zeal to divide Democrats, they'll ignore this and keep pushing Bernie till closer to the nomination, then spring health issues about him, anything to cause disunity.
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So Trump is in trouble from the revelation that he asked a foreign country to investigate the Bidens.
Since this whistleblower revelation, more reports of him (or his minions) asking other countries to
do the same (Australia, Boris Johnson/Britain) and today he has a chat with reporters and:
"Ensnarled in an impeachment investigation over his request for Ukraine to investigate a chief political rival, President Donald Trump on Thursday called on another nation to probe former Vice President Joe Biden: China."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ZEnBJ4XHgc
(video is 27 seconds)
As Nancy Pelosi said a few days ago: "He doesn't even know he did anything wrong."
New Poll Proves Republicans Are Living In Trump’s Alternate Reality
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S0sX--JuyW0
40% of Republicans think that maybe, possibly, Trump talked about Biden in the Ukraine call.
30% do not think he did at all.
30% aren't really sure.
The thing is: TRUMP admitted this. He did it.
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As Nancy Pelosi said a few days ago: "He doesn't even know he did anything wrong."
He has never learned that the Presidency is not The Apprentice, and he never will. He isn't capable of learning it.
The Republicans have sold their souls to the Orange-Faced Great Satan, and they will drag this entire nation down into Hell with them.
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And the supporters are getting ever more desperate.
https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/mike-adams-via-infowars-impeachment-inquiry-against-trump-part-of-plan-to-genocide-human-race/
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I heard this morning that Madam Speaker has now stated that there is no question but that the Orange Satan has committed impeachable offenses.
But we must all never forget that impeachment is not removal from office.
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Yeah, the Republican Senate would never remove him even if he did indeed shoot someone on 5th Avenue (as long as it was a Democrat), because of their fear of the base.
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And in my opinion the inventor of Twitter has a lot to answer for. Talk about law of unintended consequences! Government by Tweet by a loud-mouth, pathologically lying bully. >:(
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Republicans have brought about the use of an old meme
for their own slimy purposes: Duck and cover.
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(https://i.pinimg.com/originals/7e/ac/7e/7eac7ec0a498f1d5dc562def3e7d5907.jpg)
https://www.cnn.com/videos/politics/2019/10/07/peach-trump-impeachment-moos-pkg-ebof-vpx.cnn (https://www.cnn.com/videos/politics/2019/10/07/peach-trump-impeachment-moos-pkg-ebof-vpx.cnn)
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(https://i.pinimg.com/originals/7e/ac/7e/7eac7ec0a498f1d5dc562def3e7d5907.jpg)
https://www.cnn.com/videos/politics/2019/10/07/peach-trump-impeachment-moos-pkg-ebof-vpx.cnn (https://www.cnn.com/videos/politics/2019/10/07/peach-trump-impeachment-moos-pkg-ebof-vpx.cnn)
What Elio did to a peach, somebody should do to Punkin'head.
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^^^
Just the idea of coming so close to him makes my stomach cramp!
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Back in the early 70's, my bumper sticker read, Help the President OUT!
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(https://i.redd.it/qvvar9n4thq31.png)
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No she didn't! :laugh:
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Lyle, shame on you...cheap shot, you should delete the post.
This is not a genuine tweet from Lewinsky.
Lewinsky is the former White House intern at the center of the impeachment investigation into U.S. President Bill Clinton after the two had sexual relations in the oval office. While Clinton would eventually be impeached on charges such as “making false and misleading statements to potential grand jury witnesses,” this fake tweet is commenting on a bluntly (and incorrectly) boiled-down version of Clinton’s impeachment.
This tweet does not appear on Lewinsky’s official Twitter timeline. We also searched a cached version of her page to see if the tweet had recently been deleted, but came up empty there, as well.
While we found a number of people sharing this message, they all did so by posting a text version of this message or by posting the above-displayed screenshot. We were unable to find any instances of a person retweeting the actual tweet link, nor any links to a genuine message that was recently deleted.
This tweet is also suspicious because the image indicates it was sent with “Twitter for Android.” Lewinksy’s tweets, however, are most often sent via iPhone.
This fake tweet appears to have been created by the @electorotting (notice watermark in upper right-hand corner of image), an Instagram page that frequently posts political memes and jokes. While the account occasionally shares genuine posts from political leaders (Sen. Lindsey Graham truly once posted on Twitter “If we nominate Trump, we will get destroyed … and we will deserve it”), the fake tweets shared by @electorotting all appear to be marked with the social media page’s watermark.
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/monica-lewinsky-trump-tweet/ (https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/monica-lewinsky-trump-tweet/)
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This is not a genuine tweet from Lewinsky.
[...]
This fake tweet appears to have been created by the @electorotting (notice watermark in upper right-hand corner of image), an Instagram page that frequently posts political memes and jokes.
[...]
I knew this was not real and never thought it was. I like it because it is just another thing
that in so many ways shows the hypocrisy of the Republican party. Most of the editorial
cartoons that I post have the same theme.
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Sunday afternoon we had our annual fall block party in the gayborhood. Some local supporters of Mayor Pete had a booth where they were handing out literature. They also had a life-size cardboard cutout of him. I asked the woman who handed me a flyer outlining his positions why they didn't let people have their picture taken with Flat Mayor Pete in exchange for a donation to his campaign. She smacked herself on the side of the head, as it to say, Why didn't we think of that?! :)
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"Nervous Nancy's unhinged meltdown!"
(https://i.postimg.cc/CM4wcV72/EHDOk-LJWo-AAZpf-F.jpg) (https://postimages.org/)
No, it's when the only woman in the room stands up to a commander in chief's barrage of insults, as the men on his right hang their heads in shame...
https://www.politico.com/news/2019/10/16/trump-nancy-pelosi-meeting-walkout-048909
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^^^
I just read that article...
White House Press Secretary Stephanie Grisham disputed the Democrats' portrayal of events,
tweeting that Trump was "measured & decisive" while Pelosi's decision to walk out was "baffling."
I know a press secretary has certain obligations to their boss and position, but really, Stephanie. Trump has never been measured & decisive about anything.
Just read this letter he wrote to Erdogan:
https://www.cnn.com/2019/10/16/politics/trump-erdogan-letter/index.html
Some news reporters actually thought this letter was a joke or hoax before Stephanie confirmed it was actually a letter Trump wrote. A few hours ago BBC reported that Erdogan "threw Trump's letter in the bin" which, I'm assuming means he threw it in the trash.
Must see reaction to all of this by Lawrence O'Donnell on The Last Word. Recommended.
Nancy Pelosi To President Donald Trump: 'All Roads With You Lead To Putin'
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EWOKJzhEPQ4
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This is the way I've thought about the Trump presidency from day one.
The jar of water represents the U.S. and what gets dropped into it is
Trump and his administration.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FPvcfmiuyIg
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What was it Nancy Pelosi once said about knowing a tantrum when she sees one? :D
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Must see reaction to all of this by Lawrence O'Donnell on The Last Word. Recommended.
Nancy Pelosi To President Donald Trump: 'All Roads With You Lead To Putin'
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EWOKJzhEPQ4
Brilliant. Thanks for the link, Lyle.
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I'm glad you watched it, Paul! You're welcome.
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Hillary has gone OFF THE RAILS now..........Brother......is SHE wanting to RUN again?? I have a 'friend' who has LONG been friends with the Clintons, since their early days in Arkansas. But me? I don't care for either of them! They can't tell the TRUTH to save their lives........it's sad, really, all that intelligence wasted on STOOPID tawdry stuff........... ;D....IMHO, you understand? Hillary always had toooooo much baggage to win the Top Prize.........
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^^^
I wasn't sure what you were referring to.
So I looked up some info and I guess it pertains to remarks she made in a podcast about an unnamed Democratic Presidential Candidate "being used by the Russians, who could be plotting a third party run to siphon votes from the eventual Democratic nominee."
The article I just read said, "Notably, Clinton never used Gabbard’s name. But Gabbard is the only female candidate in the Democratic primary who has been accused of having ties to Russia."
I dislike Gabbard intensely and I want to know about that. She's been accused of having Russian ties? What's that about?
Vox:
Some Democrats are wary of Gabbard’s surprising popularity in right-wing circles, concerned about her frequent mentions in Russian news media, and suspicious that Russian bots may have promoted Twitter hashtags supporting her.
Facts about those underlined portions are linked in the Vox article.
https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2019/10/19/20922122/hillary-clinton-tulsi-gabbard-election (https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2019/10/19/20922122/hillary-clinton-tulsi-gabbard-queen-warmongers-russia-2020-election)
The problem with any of this is that Hillary needs to stay out of this election cycle. It will only serve to heighten the divide and obfuscate the goals.
Jonn, I did laugh at your sentence "Hillary always had toooooo much baggage to win the Top Prize..." especially when I think of the baggage on the other side of the coin.
What concerns me about what you wrote is "Hillary has gone OFF THE RAILS now..." The two articles I read just described her remarks from the David Plouffe podcast. Since the idea of Russia interfering in our election in ways is supported by our intelligence agencies, why is talking about that off the rails? So what I infer is that this information was conveyed to you in a way that sounded like a right-wing site discounting it like something a crazy drunk Uncle would blurt out. Would this info have been better coming from some other source?
Since Hillary didn't even mention Gabbard or Jill Stein, who's also feeling defensive, are they doth protesting too much or using it for their own aggrandizement, seeing as how Gabbard has never polled over 1%. As a one commenter said directed toward Gabbard: "If the nesting doll fits."
But this is all distraction from what I totally mean, which is don't give these people fodder. And again: The problem with any of this is that Hillary needs to stay out of this election cycle. It will only serve to heighten the divide and obfuscate the goals.
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I guess what bothers me is that Hillary made the comments at all. How did they help? We have ENOUGH Dems in the race to keep things fragmented as it is right now. The 'thinning' of the candiates needs to happen before the Iowa thing! She didn't, or isn't, helping with that issue by public commentary, and just BEING in the public eye right now, like her Gutsy Women book tour with her daughter. Hillary is a polarizing figure, IMHO, whether with Repubs, or Independants. She needs to let others take the stage now. I've read several articles where some people believed she was just waiting to jump in the race! Please, NO, I think the general public is done with the Clintons as a whole. I know I was a LONG TIME ago........ ;D
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Jonn, I agree with the intent of your sentiments. Anyway, by now it's too late for her to enter several of the primaries because of time restrictions where you have to have already applied to be on the ballot and, also, even though you attribute her as a liar, I take her at her word she is not running.
I have no problem with her appearing in the venues she has appeared in to talk and make those comments. Clinton is someone who was affected by this Russian initiative to discredit her all throughout the campaign in 2016, so she has every right to warn people about what they're up to, IMO. Way back in the summer her campaign attributed a lot of the attacks against her to Russia and the news media thought they were over-reacting. I don't know how many of them were reporting the campaign was just saying those things as an attack against the Republicans. After the election: "Oh, yeah, the Russians were doing this."
This current thing really took off because of Tulsi Gabbard trying to (still) make a name for herself by using Clinton and the animosity toward her by Bernie supporters. I mean, she puts out a statement that: "...this campaign has now come down to me and you." (Umm, Tulsi, no it hasn't.) By the way, Clinton never said her name in that interview. As I quoted below, she said a Democratic Presidential Candidate is possibly "being used by the Russians, who could be plotting a third party run to siphon votes from the eventual Democratic nominee."
From that, Tulsi Gabbard gets offended and lashes out. Why? Hmmm...as another Democratic candidate said, "Well, if the nesting doll fits..." Other Democrats have already been wary of Gabbard's "surprising popularity in right-wing circles, concerned about her frequent mentions in Russian news media, and suspicious that Russian bots may have promoted Twitter hashtags supporting her." These things are documented in the Vox article I linked earlier. So, I say to people, don't get all worked up about Hillary Clinton, look at the big picture. These things are RED FLAGS. And "red" as in Communist." There's that saying, "I saw all the red flags but I though it was a party."
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It seems that Gabbard and Stein considered her to be referring to them. Shoe fits?
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It seems that Gabbard and Stein considered her to be referring to them. Shoe fits?
Even if she was...
Also, Stein doesn't like thinking her voters in 2016 may have ended up making Trump President, so
she'll fight back against that. And of course she doesn't. Ralph Nader didn't like it, either, in 2000.
Truth hurts. And Gabbard is using it for her own visibility.
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Truth definitely hurts.
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Virginia is the first state since T took over the party to free itself from the yoke of the GOP. May more states follow.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2019/11/06/bright-blue-virginia-leaves-confederacy-behind/
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ONE can HOPE!!! Except a NEW poll says most Americans believe Trump will be re-elected next November!! I think it's more a comment on the mess in the Dems party!! All we know for certain is that it's going to be a WILD TIME!!! :o :o :o
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ONE can HOPE!!! Except a NEW poll says most Americans believe Trump will be re-elected next November!! I think it's more a comment on the mess in the Dems party!! All we know for certain is that it's going to be a WILD TIME!!! :o :o :o
Which I'm not happy about. How much more WILD TIMES do we have to have? It's disheartening.
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Three days ago I heard a reporter on the news say that the Presidential election is only a year away.
Only.
Only?
Only!
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Fritz, congratulations on helping turn Virginia blue.
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My pleasure!
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The new Iowa poll has Pete Buttigieg coming in 2nd!
One percentage point behind first place!
20% -- Elizabeth Warren
19% -- Pete Buttigieg
17% -- Bernie Sanders
15% -- Joe Biden
Really close here.
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I think it's more a comment on the mess in the Dems party!!
Jonn, wondering what you mean by mess?
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I was intrigued by this other graph from the latest Iowa poll. Voters were asked the candidate they did NOT want to be the nominee. Over a third do not want Biden as the nominee.
(https://www.news.iastate.edu/media/2019/10/7TWX-648.jpg)
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Jonn, wondering what you mean by mess?
Tooooo many Dems running for the Top Office!! Finally some are bowing out. I like how some other countries have a SHORT campaign period, like 3 months or less. Here, it's almost impossible NOT to get campaign apathy, or just plain TIRED of reading/hearing about it!! It's TOOOOOO damned long, IMHO!! Soon as a President is sworn in, the NEXT campaign begins!! Even in the WH, it's all about the 2nd term during the 1st term!! crazy!! eventually I guess we get to the 3 month campaign around ONE candidate..........I just PRAY it's not Biden for the Dems!! He has public speaking challenges I simply CANNOT tolerate!!! sorry......... ;D
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^^^
But yesterday I hear Bloomberg is getting in the race and Eric Holder is considering it! Enough I say!
I also completely agree our election process has gotten out of control, but who's going to change it? Once in office it doesn't seem like a priority. When I was in college in the 70's I wrote about the process for a class and how unwieldy it was becoming and that seems tame by comparison nowadays.
...sigh...
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I like how some other countries have a SHORT campaign period, like 3 months or less.
In New Zealand election campaigning on radio and tv as well as street hoardings are only allowed after the writs are issued so for about 40 days every 3 years for National elections and the same (usually the year before) for local government elections. We have just had our local government elections and my city, Dunedin, has elected a Green Party Mayor who is the first in the country. Aaron is just 35 years old and I often see him with his wife and young child shopping at the Farmers Market on Saturday. Of course, our Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern, is just 39 years old (was 37 when elected). We will have National elections between September and November next year. Jacinda gets to choose the date within that period.
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...sigh...
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I happened to notice this on the index page:
Most Online Ever: 1433 (November 05, 2019, 02:23:48 AM)
Anyone know why that is? For most of the forum's existence this statistic has been on the night of the Oscars in 2006! What was going on last Tuesday?!
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That would be the morning before the election, I can't imagine there was anything then to get such attention. Maybe an errant bot farm?
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Newest Iowa poll released yesterday:
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fhollywood-elsewhere.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2019%2F11%2Fpetepolliowa.jpg&hash=f18904c18375dfd75fdf1364b0e82486ad58fa85)
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YET ANOTHER SCHOOL SHOOTING! >:( >:(
Fox News: Shooting at California's Saugus High School, 'male Asian suspect' at large,
sheriffs say.
https://www-foxnews-com.cdn.ampproject.org/c/s/www.foxnews.com/us/california-saugus-high-school-shooting.amp
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Newest Iowa poll released yesterday:
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fhollywood-elsewhere.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2019%2F11%2Fpetepolliowa.jpg&hash=f18904c18375dfd75fdf1364b0e82486ad58fa85)
And NOW, Bloomberg and Patrick are going to siphon off voters from Mayor Pete!! arrrgggghhhhh!!!! >:(
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New Iowa Des Moines Register/CNN poll out today:
(https://img-s-msn-com.akamaized.net/tenant/amp/entityid/BBWU1PO.img?h=630&w=1200&m=6&q=60&o=t&l=f&f=jpg&x=832&y=493)
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Geaux Pete!
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I wonder if Trump would take this so well
https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/new-zealand/matty-mclean-takes-jacinda-ardern-flying-door-think-shes-okay
By the way, Matty is openly gay.
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I always wonder what other countries THINK about our current President........hmmm? ;D
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I always wonder what other countries THINK about our current President........hmmm? ;D
Most of them not too positively, unless it's Russia or Ukraine.
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So......Prince Andrew has been forced to step down from all Royal duties.
He's been kicked off most of the charities he "backed".
He will still be paid thousands from " The Royal Purse"....but for what ??
If I lost my job......I'd get nothing. >:(
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I don't know the details...is this something to do with an association with Epstein? And didn't there used to be rumors about Andrew being gay?
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I don't know the details...is this something to do with an association with Epstein? And didn't there used to be rumors about Andrew being gay?
I don't recall any rumors about Prince Andrew being gay.
As for him stepping down from his royal duties, there is a woman who said that Epstein arranged for her to have sex with Andrew when she was a minor. Andrew gave a recent interview that has become a PR nightmare for the royal family. He basically denied all allegations, but went on to say that he didn't regret being friends with Epstein. When he was asked if he had sex with the 17 year-old girl, he replied no, and said he would have remembered that because for a man, sex is a positive thing.
I have no idea how true they are, but here are now stories that Andrew's office has been moved out of Buckingham Palace.
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Thanks, Chuck.
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As I recall, there were lots of rumors about Prince Edward back around that time, but not Prince Andrew.
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^^^
That's probably what I was thinking of, Fritz.
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As I recall, there were lots of rumors about Prince Edward back around that time, but not Prince Andrew.
Your'e right, the gay rumours were not about An
drew, they were about Edward. He was into theatre you see, lol!
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I love how Trudeau gets under Trump's skin!! lol.........and, of course, he is TALLER than Trump too, that's an issue for our Pres....... ;D
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I love how Trudeau gets under Trump's skin!! lol.........and, of course, he is TALLER than Trump too, that's an issue for our Pres....... ;D
He's probably, um, longer, too.
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Last night I was watching a news channel and almost everything was making me feel hopeless. There is so much the current administration is doing that is really bad. But the results of what they're doing...or not doing in many cases...won't be felt or known for years to come and when it does it'll be blamed on the NOW of the moment and not what has accrued to make it so. I like to be an informed citizen, but lately who wants to feel hopeless and helpless about it all?
I was just recalling a song from the musical Dear World (Jerry Herman) titled "I Don't Want to Know" with the lyrics:
"Let me hide every truth from my eyes with the back of my hand
Let me live in a world full of lies with my head in the sand"
The character is much more optimistic later on with some uplifting sentiments, but we aren't there at the moment. I'm not. You?
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^^^^^ No, I'm not either. I can no longer watch the national news for just these reasons, and have to mute the local news when it goes to national issues. I just can't listen to all of it anymore!! >:(
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^^^
It's hard not to, as even all the talk shows are all about it.
And here I go talking about it:
I heard this intriguing idea. Trump is so annoyed and worried about impeachment and wants it to get to the Senate ASAP as he feels he'll be vindicated there and then he can gloat about that all year.
Someone wrote an article saying that what the House should do is come up with the articles of impeachment and vote on them, but then NOT send it over to the Senate for a trial...and then all year long they hold onto it and they can add other articles of impeachment on to it all year long, holding it over the President's head which would drive him even crazier. They could eventually send it to the Senate at some point.
It sounds intriguing and who wouldn't want something that bothers the cretin to not go away all year? Since the only sane Republicans have disavowed their party and aren't in the government any more, maybe drastic and heretofore unthought of ideas should start to be thought of and tried. I mean, it doesn't seem like you can keep fighting this cult with common sense and normal means.
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In 2013 the Supreme Court gutted provision 4 of the 1965 Voting Rights Act (in a partisan 5-4 ruling) saying it had outlived it's usefulness as it was based on old data. The court left Rule 5 in place saying Congress could update and re-institute it based on new data, but that meant in reality it was gutted based on the makeup of the current Congress.
The reauthorization of the 1965 Voting Rights Act was a bi-partisan effort since 1965 every time it was scheduled to be reauthorized the last 50 years. Yesterday the House passed "historic" legislation to restore and expand voter protections that were gutted by the Supreme Court in 2013. But only ONE Republican voted for it...in legislation that used to be firmly embraced in bipartisan fashion.
Passage of the Voting Rights Advancement Act (H.R. 4) is a "critical step" in combating voter suppression efforts that have proliferated in the six years since the Supreme Court's infamous decision in Shelby County v. Holder in 2013. Numerous state legislatures have undertaken targeted and deliberate steps to limit or impede the right to vote for communities of color, students, the elderly, and people with disabilities. Americans who are eligible to vote but are denied that right due to fabricated or illegal barriers are being deprived of the full privilege of our democracy.
It now heads to the Senate -- and we know what that means.
Considering that only one Republican voted for this bill, that heads us to the road of free and fair elections in this country...when this bill used to be supported by both sides without discussion...what does this say about the current Republican party?
The chilling answer is that these Republicans don't intend there to be any more free and fair elections.
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Yesterday the House passed "historic" legislation to restore and expand voter protections that were gutted by the Supreme Court in 2013. But only ONE Republican voted for it...in legislation that used to be firmly embraced in bipartisan fashion.
And let us note this man who broke ranks with his party: Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania, District 1.
That's near where you are, Jeff, or is that your district?
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You know the thing I'm seeing all over social media is that Pumpkinhead supporters don't understand the steps for impeachment. They keep threatening violence and protests and all sorts of things if Pumpkinhead gets impeached.
He WILL get impeached, it's just that he won't get convicted by the Senate, so I don't see what they are so upset about. I'M PO'd that he won't get convicted, but I'm not going around threatening with my gun or warning that we are in for another civil war!! (BTW this was threatened by a black Pumpkinhead supporter). Maybe his supporters should start reading the what the steps of impeachment are......
I love that the Democrats are going to all this trouble, but to what end? It's not going to get rid of him.
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And let us note this man who broke ranks with his party: Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania, District 1.
That's near where you are, Jeff, or is that your district?
No. It's in the suburbs, but I don't remember exactly where.
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You know the thing I'm seeing all over social media is that Pumpkinhead supporters don't understand the steps for impeachment. They keep threatening violence and protests and all sorts of things if Pumpkinhead gets impeached.
He WILL get impeached, it's just that he won't get convicted by the Senate, so I don't see what they are so upset about. I'M PO'd that he won't get convicted, but I'm not going around threatening with my gun or warning that we are in for another civil war!! (BTW this was threatened by a black Pumpkinhead supporter). Maybe his supporters should start reading the what the steps of impeachment are......
I guess the fussing is because they don't understand the difference, and I expect a lot of other people don't understand it, either.
I love that the Democrats are going to all this trouble, but to what end? It's not going to get rid of him.
I'm happy to see them do anything, just to keep needling him and pissing him off. The trouble is that it's such a two-edged sword. The more they keep annoying him, the more lies he spouts, and the more entrenched his base becomes. Yet they shouldn't just roll over and play dead.
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Is it the era of large ...blond empty headed men ? We have our own now(UK)...but for how long ? Every 5 f---ing years ?? :'(
God help us.
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So, the Motherland, and her 'offspring' the USA, can finally unite in a hellish nightmare, which apparently is Boris and Donald!! Lord, help us, please!! :o :o :o
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Anyone going to any of the National impeachment rallies tonight?
I have a choice of two, one in downtown L.A. and the other in my backyard.
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I'd heard yesterday the Democratic Debate on Thursday might not happen because of a labor dispute at the location and the candidates wouldn't cross it. Oddly enough, the debate was switched to the new location because the original location, UCLA, was having some labor issue. It appears the debate will go on:
The Democratic debate on Thursday, December 19, appears to be on after a labor dispute at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, where the event is set to be held, has landed on a tentative solution. Democratic candidates had threatened to skip the debate and refuse to cross a picket line at the venue.
______
There's also some controversy about the qualified participants not being diverse enough. 6 out of 7 are white. Castro and Booker didn't make the cut. Kamala Harris would have, but she dropped out citing lack of enough funds.
Corey Booker started the bid to change the rules so he and Castro could qualify for the January debate.
My thoughts about this are:
--Everyone agreed to these rules from the beginning. So they aren't panning out for some and now they want to change them.
--I guess it depends on what your definition of diversity is. The debate on Thursday will have men, a billionaire, women, senior citizens, youth, a gay man and an Asian man.
--I don't know the percentages of Latino support, but in every poll, large numbers of African Americans supported Joe Biden. So if they had wanted to support Booker or Harris in polls or monetarily...they'd have had enough support to be in the debates.
--Warren, Yang, Buttigieg, Sanders, Biden, Klobuchar, Steyer.
Elizabeth, Andrew, Pete, Bernie, Joe, Amy, Tom.
Thinking about these 7, the one with the least negativity surrounding them in any area seems to be Amy Klobuchar. But that might largely be because no one is attacking her and she hasn't attacked in any way. That also means she's the least exciting for anyone. Many thought she'd be out already. I recall just a month ago when pundits were discussing how the party could whittle down the debate stage because there's too many running, one of them singled her out saying, "Why is Amy Klobuchar still in there?"
I have my opinions, LoL!, but I'm curious about others reading here...who do you think is the most divisive? Or problematic? Or excites you? Or whatever opinion you have of any of these candidates?
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Is it the era of large ...blond empty headed men ? We have our own now(UK)...but for how long ? Every 5 f---ing years ?? :'(
God help us.
I seem to be surrounded by people who used to think Boris was the pits but are now thrilled by the election results. The only positives I can see are that there are a lot of new young Conservative MPs who are apparently more idealistic (but will it last?), and that there is no more point in hoping that we can stay in Europe because that’s just not going to happen now. :(
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I seem to be surrounded by people who used to think Boris was the pits but are now thrilled by the election results. The only positives I can see are that there are a lot of new young Conservative MPs who are apparently more idealistic (but will it last?), and that there is no more point in hoping that we can stay in Europe because that’s just not going to happen now. :(
I was very surprised by that result. So the governments of both Britain and U.S. are headed by buffoons. :(
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So our buffoon is now impeached. We know he won't be convicted in the Senate and removed from office, and the action of the House will energize his base, and it may even have just handed him the 2020 election, but the House did its duty by slapping him one for trying to get a foreign government to interfere in our domestic election by digging up dirt on a political opponent.
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If the Democrat voters aren't energized enough to vote for the Democrat candidate, NO MATTER WHO IT IS, then they are no better.
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Better late than never...
Across Australia’s central deserts, floodwaters are filling Kati Thanda-Lake Eyre
The Lake Eyre Basin in Central Australia is one of the largest and most pristine desert river systems on the planet, supporting 60,000 people and a wealth of wildlife. It’s a rarity in a world that has harnessed, tapped, pumped and dammed its rivers, sometimes to death.
The basin, covering one-sixth of Australia across the Northern Territory and three states, is fed by three major systems—Cooper Creek and the Georgina and Diamantina rivers. Floodwaters from the north drain towards South Australia's Lake Eyre—the country’s lowest point, 15 metres below sea level—spilling over riverbanks and across the floodplains, filling waterholes and wetlands, and carving new arteries across the landscape, giving the Channel Country its name.
(https://i412.photobucket.com/albums/pp201/rasalgethi_photo/News%202019/lake_eyre_riverbasin_zpsj13gxtui.png)
continued...
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South Australia’s outback comes to life as water floods into Lake Eyre
Most of the rain which falls in Australia’s north never finishes the 1,000-kilometre journey to the lake through the country’s central deserts, but this year the floodwaters arrived in a way not seen for 45 years, filling the lake for only the third time in 150 years.
(https://i412.photobucket.com/albums/pp201/rasalgethi_photo/News%202019/kati-thanda-lake-eyre-in-flood_zpsajfxzfyc.jpg)
Historically, the water’s journey south has taken anywhere from three to 10 months, but the sheer volume of water created by the torrential downpour in Queensland and north-eastern New South Wales at the end of January, in the worst flooding in 30 years, meant that this year it was much faster, and water started arriving at the lake in two months.
Few animals or plants tolerate the extreme salinity of Lake Eyre, which sometimes exceeds that of seawater, but the arrival of the flood waters triggers an explosion of insects, water birds and freshwater invertebrates and fish.
Inevitably, times of bounty come to an end as the water evaporates or seeps into the ground. Salinity increases as the lake dries up, and it returns to its characteristic salt crust.
Scrolling text & informative video article here:
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-05-09/lake-eyre-is-a-wild-river-system-left-to-run-its-course/11035506
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Year 2017.
Since there were issues voiced about the date in the previous title, and even though 500 pages were not filled up, here is the new thread.
News and current events discussions.
Same rules apply.
Be neighborly to one another!!
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fpceh.org%2Fimages%2Fnews-and-events.jpg&hash=ce4230890a15a124259f2a25c07590177b1dab03)
Wow! We haven't progressed to a new thread in 3 years!!!
Heh! If we ever have a new thread it should be titled like...News and Current Events - 2019 to Present.
Then it won't feel like being back in time! And it feels still current! Or maybe we should all ring in an old year tonight!
Anyhoo... CHEERS!, y'all, for a nice Eve and to ringing in a great new year!!!
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I think people have not wanted to revisit what has happened in the last few years, Lyle. I don't even want to discuss it the first time, much less revisit it here!!
I hope you have a good evening ringing in the New Year and that the year to come is the best for you!!
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No mention of Trump's provocation of WAR with Iran?? Anything to distract from the impeachment trial now, if there IS even going to be one in the Senate?!! Lord, or whoever, SAVE US!! :o ;D :D
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My take on things!
I don't think Megan could stand the restraints of the Royal family...and it's
life style.
Major things within the Royal family down to the simplest things must
have felt like living in a straight jacket. What clothes she should wear..
what colour tights ...how high her heels should be...even down to what
colour nail varnish she could wear. This is NOT how a young woman should
be made to live. Maybe she thought things would change for her once
she married Harry. Unfortunately ...they didn't. The Royal family is a world
away from what she is ...what she wants. She is a people person...like Diana
was.
Maybe I'm reading the wrong news papers or not on the right forums on
the internet....but I can say hand on heart....I haven't seen or heard
anything racist against Megan at all.
What a shame.....another fairy tale has come to a halt.
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My take on things!
I don't think Megan could stand the restraints of the Royal family...and it's
life style.
Major things within the Royal family down to the simplest things must
have felt like living in a straight jacket. What clothes she should wear..
what colour tights ...how high her heels should be...even down to what
colour nail varnish she could wear. This is NOT how a young woman should
be made to live. Maybe she thought things would change for her once
she married Harry. Unfortunately ...they didn't. The Royal family is a world
away from what she is ...what she wants. She is a people person...like Diana
was.
Yup. And Harry knows what all that did to his mother. :(
And I don't mean to be devil's advocate here, but I'm afraid it all does make me wonder, What are these young women thinking it's going to be like when they marry into the British royal family?
The Duchess of York didn't fit in. It destroyed Princess Diana. Now Duchess Megan. From all I've heard, or haven't heard, the only one who seems to be making a go of it is Duchess Kate.
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My take on things!
I don't think Megan could stand the restraints of the Royal family...and it's
life style.
Major things within the Royal family down to the simplest things must
have felt like living in a straight jacket. What clothes she should wear..
what colour tights ...how high her heels should be...even down to what
colour nail varnish she could wear. This is NOT how a young woman should
be made to live. Maybe she thought things would change for her once
she married Harry. Unfortunately ...they didn't. The Royal family is a world
away from what she is ...what she wants. She is a people person...like Diana
was.
Maybe I'm reading the wrong news papers or not on the right forums on
the internet....but I can say hand on heart....I haven't seen or heard
anything racist against Megan at all.
What a shame.....another fairy tale has come to a halt.
I don’t follow much about the Royal Family, but is that really true that she would be given rules about clothes and make-up? Who would actually tell her them and see that they were carried out? Perhaps I’m naive.
As for the racism, yes I’m sure that there are plenty of unpleasant racist people who would use this as a slur, but I agree with you, Sue - I have never once seen any racist comments in the media or spoken.
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I don’t follow much about the Royal Family, but is that really true that she would be given rules about clothes and make-up? Who would actually tell her them and see that they were carried out? Perhaps I’m naive.
Palace staff maybe? There must be people whose job is to "mind" the Royal Family and look after their image, especially the younger, prominent female members. Perhaps they even have what we would call "handlers"? Maybe they're told to emulate the Queen. Is the Queen ever seen in public without a hat, gloves, and a handbag? (What does a Queen need a handbag for, anyway? What has she got in there?)
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I believe that the royal princes subconciously want to get out, and therefore marry girls who don't fit in and sooner or later will flee the pressure. Then she will get the blame, as society likes it. :)
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I believe that the royal princes subconciously want to get out, and therefore marry girls who don't fit in and sooner or later will flee the pressure. Then she will get the blame, as society likes it. :)
As much as he might want to, Prince Harry cannot run away from being Prince Harry, whether he "steps back" or not. One news report I've heard made the point that if they move to Canada, who's going to provide and pay for their security? It shouldn't be the Canadian taxpayers, in my opinion. This stepping back business affects a lot more people than the immediate family.
But I do feel some sympathy for Harry. If I'm remembering correctly, the Royal Family didn't like his mother. If I'm hearing correctly, now they don't like his wife. Poor guy. :(
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^^^^
Sad situation all round. :(
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I wonder if they supplied security for the Duke and Duchess of Windsor? It was a different world back then.
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Now we know who is really the GOAT. ;D
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I know I mentioned this last November, but every time I see this forum statistic I wonder about it.
Most Online Ever: 1433 (November 05, 2019, 02:23:48 AM)
And right now it also says:
Most Online Today: 955.
WTF?
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Crazy.
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Bots?
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Yes, I wonder about those stats too......unless we have guests who just keep the site open on their devices all the time? Could be, I guess...... ;D
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The previous record had always been the night of the Oscars in 2006!
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Bots?
That's a lotta bots!
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I'll email Neil and see if he can get to the bottom of it. He knows more about how to search for these internal problems.
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IMPEACHMENT TRIAL: DAY ONE
The figurative gutters of Fifth Avenue are awash...
...in blood and spent shell casings.
What the Senate cameras recorded was...
...a day-long showdown between reason and brute force.
Schiff and the other impeachment managers have...
...all the facts and principles on their side.
The president’s defenders had nothing to counter them with...
...but nonsense and lies.
Nonsense and lies...
...and 53 votes.
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Unfortunately.
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I'm sure you're all as sad as I am with Senate Republicans and just how we see they've behaved during a time when they could've had some moral courage, stood up for what's right and decent and not caved in like sniveling cowards. Not a single one of them. And for what? For this President? The see no evil, hear no evil Republicans. Oh, they'll speak evil, though. What a hideous lot.
Trump: "I alone can fix it."
Moscow Mitch: "The fix is in."
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It's up to us now. The people. We have to do whatever we can to oust these Senators and elect a new President. No matter how large or small, but do something. Help people vote. Help them get registered or overcome rules designed to get people not to vote. Donate any amount of money to a place that does so. Put support signs in your windows or on your lawns. Speak up if you hear people supporting insanity. Because it's up to us now. We the people. Do something.
MAGA 2020: MAKE ASSHOLES GO AWAY - Vote Democrat.
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I've lost all respect for Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski. I thought there were at least two good Republicans left. Apparently I was wrong.
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And Mitt's been blacklisted, already!! crazy times!! :o :o :o
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The Trump supporters know that if they don't keep every elected official in lockstep with supporting the cretin, it will fall apart. It's going to take these elected Republicans to value the country over their jobs and do what's right or voting them out of office.
The other alternative for the elected R's is not to fight the cretin's supporters and retire, which is not a profile in courage, but it's happening quite a bit. Lots of house R's and a few Senators are retiring.
We look at the past and see examples of so many courageous stands taken in service to the country...what are the politicians there for? Why wouldn't someone just want to get in the fight and stand up for what's rignt? The ones that are doing that are all out of office.
#republemmings
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And even the retiring ones are still in lockstep with T, like Lamar Alexander. Supposedly so as not to hurt his earning potential when leaving the Senate.
But at age 79?
Definitely not a profile in courage among them. Romney is still safe in Utah, which despite its conservatism is no real fan of T, and Collins faces difficulty with independents in Maine.
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I'm getting tired of Susan Collins' routine.
She expresses concerns. She states she wants fairness. In the end it's the party line all the way. She needs to go. They all do. Bye-bye.
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And writes sternly worded letters. Then votes T's way.
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I keep hearing Rs saying the Ukraine deal was improper but not criminal. BFD. What about obstructing Congress?
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I keep hearing Rs saying the Ukraine deal was improper but not criminal. BFD. What about obstructing Congress?
Simple. Only if a Democratic President did it. To say they have a double standard is astonishingly mild.
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Republicans:
4 years ago: You can't appoint a new Supreme Court Justice in an election year.
4 years later: You can't be impeached in an election year.
4 months from now: Democrats can't vote in an election year.
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https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-51351885
Why oh why are our Courts only allowed to give out such feeble jail sentences
to these people ?? It's a joke.
The Prime Minister says the Laws are to be changed....but those that are
already due for release (terrorists)....... their release dates cannot be changed.
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Iowa: WTF?
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Congressman Adam Schiff's great closing argument in Trump's impeachment trial:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eUm6OD_93g8
I like his statements imploring even one Republican to do the right thing and vote him guilty, why they should, what happens if they don't, how history will regard them.
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Deaf ears on ALL accounts...
EXAMPLE: Susan Collins, once again disgraces herself a few moments ago: “Impeachment of a president should be reserved for conduct that poses such a serious threat to our governmental institutions as to warrant an extreme step of immediate removal from office,” she said. “I do not believe that the House has met its burden in showing that the president’s conduct, however flawed, warrants the extreme step of removal from office.”
I guess she doesn't think interference in our current election process is a serious threat.
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We are in the Twilight Zone:
Nearing the end of his impeachment trial and on the eve of his third State of the Union address, President Trump’s job approval rating has hit its highest level since taking office in the latest Gallup poll: 49 percent, compared to 50 percent of respondents who disapprove.
The survey, released Tuesday, showed a gain of 4 percentage points in Trump’s approval since early January. It also was 3 points over his previous high-water mark of 46 percent in late April 2019, around the time special counsel Robert Mueller's report was released.
Trump’s latest approval bump appears to have been driven by higher ratings among Republicans (94 percent, up 6 percentage points from the previous poll) and independents (42 percent, up 5 points). It also probably reflects Americans’ confidence in the economy, which according to Gallup is higher than at any point in the past two decades.
I guess the old adage is really true: Money is the root of all evil.
🙈 🙉 🙊
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Deaf ears on ALL accounts...
EXAMPLE: Susan Collins, once again disgraces herself a few moments ago: “Impeachment of a president should be reserved for conduct that poses such a serious threat to our governmental institutions as to warrant an extreme step of immediate removal from office,” she said. “I do not believe that the House has met its burden in showing that the president’s conduct, however flawed, warrants the extreme step of removal from office.”
I guess she doesn't think interference in our current election process is a serious threat.
Hope this seals her fate among Maine's independent voters.
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In context, after T refused to shake her hand at the beginning of the speech.
A Texas politician, Clayton Williams, in running against Ann Richards in 1990, refused to shake her hand. It was seen as uncouth. He was leading in the polls much of the time, and outspent her. He lost.
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I did not watch the speech last night. Why put myself through it? I, of course, heard about it. It was more about the state of Trumpville than the Union. It was like a game show, with prizes being given out. As Joe Scarborough said on his Morning Joe program this morning: "How can you call it a good speech when it was based on lies?"
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Meanwhile, in the never ending Iowa caucus results Pete Buttigieg has been leading in the results as they are announced. The first announcement was for 62% of the vote in and last night they had another additional set raising to 71% and the results changed by .01, leaving Pete still ahead somewhat over Sanders. Still at 71% this morning. I don't know what's happening that is taking so long. Iowa's a small state. Nevada was set to use the same app in two weeks that's apparently causing problems. They've already scrapped it.
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I first learned of this on Stephen Colbert's show last night where he used a clip of it in his monologue:
An Iowa caucus-goer was caught on camera asking if she could change her vote after learning that Mayor Pete Buttigieg is gay. One of the precinct captains is now being praised for keeping her cool while talking with the woman about her views.
Here is the full video of this incident from CBS news:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mV1CkKDWUeI
Here is how Stephen Colbert used it in his Iowa caucus monologue.
The section in question starts at 4:03:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQgohRj5tOs
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"I don't want anyone like that running around the White House."
Didn't that just cut like a knife when she said that? How big a factor is this for voters? People always bring their prejudices to the polls. In 1960 the dem candidate's catholicism was an issue. We know what Obama faced. For Hillary--sexism. In reality, none of those things should matter. It also goes to show you how uninformed voters are. I mean, Pete has spent months in Iowa, visited each county and always introduced Chasten at every event.
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A Texas politician, Clayton Williams, in running against Ann Richards in 1990, refused to shake her hand. It was seen as uncouth. He was leading in the polls much of the time, and outspent her. He lost.
Not that that will make any difference to Punkinhead's base. They wouldn't have shaken her hand, either.
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I did not watch the speech last night. Why put myself through it? I, of course, heard about it. It was more about the state of Trumpville than the Union. It was like a game show, with prizes being given out. As Joe Scarborough said on his Morning Joe program this morning: "How can you call it a good speech when it was based on lies?"
Bravo, Joe!
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(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EP_BwUmXsAAwlCi?format=jpg&name=small)
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LOL
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My Senator, Kamala Harris, used Trump's own word's in her Senate speech about her upcoming Impeachment vote:
“We must recognize that still in America, there are two systems of justice: one for the powerful and another for everyone else,” Harris said on the Senate floor, decrying the lack of transparency in the Senate impeachment trial, in which Republicans voted down Democrats’ efforts to demand witness testimony and documents from Trump and the White House, which has repeatedly refused to provide them.
“Donald Trump knows all this better than anybody. He may not acknowledge that we have two systems of justice, but he knows the institutions in this country, be it courts or the Senate, are set up to protect powerful people like him,” she continued. “He told us as much. When regarding the sexual assault of women, he said, quote, ‘When you’re a star, they let you do it. You can do anything.’”
A couple other notes concerning today's impeachment vote:
Alabama Sen. Doug Jones, the most endangered Democrat in this November's elections, said Wednesday that he will vote to convict President Donald Trump when the Senate impeachment trial reaches its climax. Jones' announcement was significant for Democrats, who are hoping their party will present a united front by unanimously voting to remove Trump from office in Wednesday's final votes. That would deny Trump and his GOP allies a campaign season talking point that the Senate's virtually certain acquittal of Trump was bipartisan.
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Sens. Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona are among other Democrats being closely watched for their votes later Wednesday.
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Yowsa!:
Republican U.S. Senator Mitt Romney said on Wednesday that he will vote to convict President Donald Trump on the impeachment article charging abuse of power, breaking with his party to support removing Trump from office, the New York Times reported. “I believe that attempting to corrupt an election to maintain power is about as egregious an assault on the Constitution as can be made,” Romney told the New York Times. “And for that reason, it is a high crime and misdemeanor, and I have no choice under the oath that I took but to express that conclusion.”
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I just noticed that Al Franken is on Jimmy Kimmel's program tonight. He would've been a good Presidential candidate against Trump. He's always known how to put down the opposition in humorous ways that didn't seem mean. Too bad he got #metooed out of town. Since that happened he's been out of sight. I'll be interested to hear what he has to say tonight.
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UPDATE:
The Democrats held together, not one defection.
--Alabama Sen. Doug Jones voted impeachment on both articles.
--Sens. Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema both voted for impeachment on both articles.
--Republican U.S. Senator Mitt Romney voted for impeachment on Article 1, but did not vote for impeachment on Article 2, the Obstruction of Congress charge.
Trump has been acquitted of both articles of impeachment and is free to continue undermining our constitution, ignoring laws, interfering in our elections and ruining basic decency and morality.
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!!
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Interesting statistic: 48 Senators who voted to convict Trump represent 18 million more Americans than 52 Republicans who voted to acquit.
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(https://scontent-iad3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/84263462_3506159762758801_6156684109549666304_n.jpg?_nc_cat=106&_nc_ohc=OWs_HdWGCvcAX9DUsuO&_nc_ht=scontent-iad3-1.xx&oh=02dbdc3a9e7986f6873b72e50abab94b&oe=5ED7AC2D)
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LoL!
Dorothy: "I don't think we're in Kansas anymore."
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Really...Romney's speech is worth listening to or reading.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=siWFNYgnJdE
WASHINGTON - Sen. Mitt Romney split with his party Wednesday when he voted to convict Donald Trump on abuse of power in the Senate impeachment trial.
Read the full speech and/or watch the video:
The Constitution is at the foundation of our Republic’s success, and we each strive not to lose sight of our promise to defend it. The Constitution established the vehicle of impeachment that has occupied both houses of Congress for these many days. We have labored to faithfully execute our responsibilities to it. We have arrived at different judgments, but I hope we respect each other’s good faith.
The allegations made in the articles of impeachment are very serious. As a Senator-juror, I swore an oath, before God, to exercise “impartial justice.” I am a profoundly religious person. I take an oath before God as enormously consequential. I knew from the outset that being tasked with judging the President, the leader of my own party, would be the most difficult decision I have ever faced. I was not wrong.
The House Managers presented evidence supporting their case; the White House counsel disputed that case. In addition, the President’s team presented three defenses: first, that there can be no impeachment without a statutory crime; second, that the Bidens’ conduct justified the President’s actions; and third that the judgement of the President’s actions should be left to the voters. Let me first address each of those defenses.
The historic meaning of the words “high crimes and misdemeanors,” the writings of the Founders and my own reasoned judgement convince me that a president can indeed commit acts against the public trust that are so egregious that while they are not statutory crimes, they would demand removal from office. To maintain that the lack of a codified and comprehensive list of all the outrageous acts that a president might conceivably commit renders Congress powerless to remove a president defies reason.
The President’s counsel noted that Vice President Biden appeared to have a conflict of interest when he undertook an effort to remove the Ukrainian Prosecutor General. If he knew of the exorbitant compensation his son was receiving from a company actually under investigation, the Vice President should have recused himself. While ignoring a conflict of interest is not a crime, it is surely very wrong.
With regards to Hunter Biden, taking excessive advantage of his father’s name is unsavory but also not a crime. Given that in neither the case of the father nor the son was any evidence presented by the President’s counsel that a crime had been committed, the President’s insistence that they be investigated by the Ukrainians is hard to explain other than as a political pursuit. There is no question in my mind that were their names not Biden, the President would never have done what he did.
The defense argues that the Senate should leave the impeachment decision to the voters. While that logic is appealing to our democratic instincts, it is inconsistent with the Constitution’s requirement that the Senate, not the voters, try the president. Hamilton explained that the Founders’ decision to invest senators with this obligation rather than leave it to voters was intended to minimize—to the extent possible—the partisan sentiments of the public.
This verdict is ours to render. The people will judge us for how well and faithfully we fulfilled our duty. The grave question the Constitution tasks senators to answer is whether the President committed an act so extreme and egregious that it rises to the level of a “high crime and misdemeanor.”
Yes, he did.
The President asked a foreign government to investigate his political rival.
The President withheld vital military funds from that government to press it to do so.
The President delayed funds for an American ally at war with Russian invaders.
The President’s purpose was personal and political.
Accordingly, the President is guilty of an appalling abuse of the public trust.
What he did was not “perfect”— No, it was a flagrant assault on our electoral rights, our national security interests, and our fundamental values. Corrupting an election to keep oneself in office is perhaps the most abusive and destructive violation of one’s oath of office that I can imagine.
In the last several weeks, I have received numerous calls and texts. Many demand that, in their words, “I stand with the team.” I can assure you that that thought has been very much on my mind. I support a great deal of what the President has done. I have voted with him 80% of the time. But my promise before God to apply impartial justice required that I put my personal feelings and biases aside. Were I to ignore the evidence that has been presented, and disregard what I believe my oath and the Constitution demands of me for the sake of a partisan end, it would, I fear, expose my character to history’s rebuke and the censure of my own conscience.
I am aware that there are people in my party and in my state who will strenuously disapprove of my decision, and in some quarters, I will be vehemently denounced. I am sure to hear abuse from the President and his supporters. Does anyone seriously believe I would consent to these consequences other than from an inescapable conviction that my oath before God demanded it of me?
I sought to hear testimony from John Bolton not only because I believed he could add context to the charges, but also because I hoped that what he said might raise reasonable doubt and thus remove from me the awful obligation to vote for impeachment.
Like each member of this deliberative body, I love our country. I believe that our Constitution was inspired by Providence. I am convinced that freedom itself is dependent on the strength and vitality of our national character. As it is with each senator, my vote is an act of conviction. We have come to different conclusions, fellow senators, but I trust we have all followed the dictates of our conscience.
I acknowledge that my verdict will not remove the President from office. The results of this Senate Court will in fact be appealed to a higher court: the judgement of the American people. Voters will make the final decision, just as the President’s lawyers have implored. My vote will likely be in the minority in the Senate. But irrespective of these things, with my vote, I will tell my children and their children that I did my duty to the best of my ability, believing that my country expected it of me. I will only be one name among many, no more or less, to future generations of Americans who look at the record of this trial. They will note merely that I was among the senators who determined that what the President did was wrong, grievously wrong.
We’re all footnotes at best in the annals of history. But in the most powerful nation on earth, the nation conceived in liberty and justice, that is distinction enough for any citizen.
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These are the type of people we can derive hope from. Imagine, to do the right thing you have to overcome fear of retribution from people who deserve our scorn. People who are mad and angry at Romney, not because he did the wrong thing in their opinion, but because they know he did the right thing and they are shown for what they are.
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The National Prayer Breakfast happened to be held today and the President attended. He wasted no time attacking Romney.
At the prayer breakfast, Trump said, “I don’t like people who use their faith as justification for doing what they know is wrong.”
[You know what Donald? Neither do I. What's even worse, though, are people like you who don't know the difference.]
Nancy Pelosi was the first speaker at the annual event, saying a prayer for the “poor and persecuted.”
As Pelosi was introduced, the president, visibly annoyed, folded his arms and looked away. In his own remarks, Trump also appeared to take a shot at Pelosi, who has repeatedly said she prays for Trump when asked about him.
"Nor do I like people who say 'I pray for you' when they know that that's not so," he said. "So many people have been hurt. We can't let that go on. And I'll be discussing that a little bit later at the White House."
[Is that a threat?]
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[...]
An Iowa caucus-goer was caught on camera asking if she could change her vote after learning that Mayor Pete Buttigieg is gay.
[...]
Buttigieg responds to Iowa voter who pulled her support after realizing he's gay
https://www.nbcnews.com/feature/nbc-out/buttigieg-responds-iowa-voter-who-pulled-her-support-after-realizing-n1131591
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The National Prayer Breakfast happened to be held today and the President attended. He wasted no time attacking Romney.
At the prayer breakfast, Trump said, “I don’t like people who use their faith as justification for doing what they know is wrong.”
[You know what Donald? Neither do I. What's even worse, though, are people like you who don't know the difference.]
Nancy Pelosi was the first speaker at the annual event, saying a prayer for the “poor and persecuted.”
As Pelosi was introduced, the president, visibly annoyed, folded his arms and looked away. In his own remarks, Trump also appeared to take a shot at Pelosi, who has repeatedly said she prays for Trump when asked about him.
"Nor do I like people who say 'I pray for you' when they know that that's not so," he said. "So many people have been hurt. We can't let that go on. And I'll be discussing that a little bit later at the White House."
[Is that a threat?]
Of course it is. You know how The Great Playground Bully behaves. The Grand Poobah has a list. ...
And to talk like that at a Prayer Breakfast? Of course he has no idea how inappropriate that is.
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Neither do Evangelicals, apparently.
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Interesting statistic: 48 Senators who voted to convict Trump represent 18 million more Americans than 52 Republicans who voted to acquit.
Shades of the 2016 election.
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Can we just give Mayor Pete Iowa!!?? Come on.......... :o ;D ;)
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^^^
I know, right?
Pete Buttigieg keeps narrow lead in Iowa caucuses with 100% of precincts reporting
by Dan Merica, Jeff Zeleny and Adam Levy, CNN
Updated 9:50 PM ET, Thu February 6, 2020
The former South Bend, Indiana, mayor leads the Vermont senator by one-tenth of one percentage point in the all-important state delegate equivalent count. Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, former Vice President Joe Biden and Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar are trailing behind Buttigieg and Sanders.
The Democratic candidates have until 1 p.m. ET/12 p.m. CT on Friday to file a request for a recanvass or a recount. If there are no challenges by that time, CNN plans to report a winner. "That's fantastic news," Buttigieg said during a CNN town hall on Thursday.
Iowa Caucuses
CANDIDATE
BUTTIGIEG 26.2%
SANDERS 26.1%
WARREN 18.0%
BIDEN 15.8%
KLOBUCHAR 12.3%
Precincts reporting: 100%
CNN determines, as is standard practice in Iowa, the winner of the Iowa caucuses by who leads in state delegates. State delegates are used to choose national delegates, which determines who wins the Democratic nomination.
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Pete did a Town Hall on CNN and the update came right as they were going on air. I watched the whole program. It's not surprising to me that people are gravitating to Pete.
If you want to watch it:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e0StV5GrtAI
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On the TV news that I saw this morning, Bernie and Mayor Pete were both claiming victory. :">
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To quote Will Rogers, I don't belong to an organized political party. I'm a Democrat.
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On the TV news that I saw this morning, Bernie and Mayor Pete were both claiming victory. :">
Because of the way they do a caucus the winner was always called by who gets the most delegates and it's a three round process.
In the last caucus in 2016, Hillary edged out Sanders narrowly in the delegate count. Sanders had more support in the first round of voting, though. So GUESS WHO wanted the rules change this year that would announce the totals for each round? You guessed it...Bernie Sanders. He wanted to be able to crow about having more voters, if that occurred, even though the delegate count is the announced winner.
So now guess which campaign is complaining the most? Sanders and his supporters. Again. The supporters are all over the internet claiming the DNC and establishment Dems are out to get them again, just like they cheated last time. To be plain, I didn't like Sanders last time around and a big reason is his supporters. They are an awful lot like Trump supporters. They are always aggrieved about everything. Bernie's being ignored, the press isn't covering him fairly, the DNC is rigging the primaries against him, corporations are working against him, and on and on. They go to articles and stories and youtube videos about any other candidate and in the comment sections decry, denounce and demean them all like a swarm of locusts. And to make things worse, obvious Trump supporters egg them on with agreement.
I can happily support any of the Democrats running for President, except Sanders, who isn't even a Democrat, by the way. He won't even change his Independent status to do so. And he's so cranky. He sounds like a hectoring old man shouting for the kids to get off his lawn. I also think his policies veer so far left they'd never be accomplished. He doesn't appease by saying to "work toward the goals," he's a my way or the highway kinda guy, as are his supporters. He is so divisive within the party. Why do young people adore this grump? If you try to dissuade Sanders supporters from him, they double down. I think the other Dem candidates dont criticise him at all, because his supporters would act accordingly and swarm the ones who do so. If you notice, Hillary never criticised him 4 years ago; none of the debates so far have any candidates said anything negative to him. Time's running out guys. Ugh. Sanders has 9 dark money groups doing negative ads against his opponents. They don't even call him out on it.
Here's where I say--yes, I will vote for him if he is the nominee, but I so hope I don't have to. ???
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Great analysis, Lyle, very thought-provoking.
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The Democratic candidates have until 1 p.m. ET on Friday to file a request for a recanvass or a recount. If there are no challenges by that time, CNN plans to report a winner. "That's fantastic news," Buttigieg said during a CNN town hall on Thursday.
Well, it was reported a bit ago that the Iowa Democratic party has decided to extend the chaos and give the campaigns until 1 p.m. ET on Monday to file a request.
Are you kidding me? If campaigns didn't know by 1 p.m. today, four days after the caucus, if they wanted to file a request they shouldn't be running for President. They don't need another 3 days! If Biden were smart, now, he'd wait until Monday and then file a request. Otherwise, the results would stand and Tuesday morning, or Monday evening, Pete could make a formal I WON Iowa speech then. Tuesday is the New Hampshire primary! If one of them file a request Monday, the official results wouldn't be known until days later, after the primary. ???
Will Rogers quote indeed. :">
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Will Rogers quote indeed. :">
Will Rogers never met a man he didn't like. He never met Punkinhead.
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Thanks, Lyle. That was a great synopsis. Even I could understand it!
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Thank you, Linda... :)
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Jeff:
Iowa was a big win for Pete Buttigieg. Meet the Philly guy behind his campaign
https://www.inquirer.com/news/pete-buttigieg-brendan-phillips-iowa-state-director-primary-2020-results-q-and-a-pennsylvania-20200207.html
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Interesting! Thanks, Lyle.
(Gritty is the mascot of the Philadelphia Flyers hockey team.)
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USA Today released a new New Hampshire poll a few hours ago:
Pete Buttigieg surges to small lead in New Hampshire amid post-Iowa bounce, new poll finds
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2020/02/08/Buttigiege/surge (https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2020/02/08/new-hampshire-primary-pete-buttigieg-surged-ahead-new-hampshire-amid-big-post-iowa-bounce-new-poll-f/4700100002/)
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There's always some odd polls that come out in elections, like the Halloween mask poll, but if you're ahead in them, why not:
AI picks Buttigieg ‘the candidate to beat Trump’
by Paul Bedard | February 08, 2020 12:44 PM
An artificial intelligence analysis of Friday night's Democratic debate picked former Mayor Pete Buttigieg as the clear winner and said that voters believe he can beat President Trump.
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/washington-secrets/ai-picks-buttigieg-the-candidate-to-beat-trump
Buttigieg Leads NH Bumper Sticker Poll
If you’re skeptical of the accuracy of a bumper sticker-based poll, consider this: ASI’s first bumper sticker poll for the Iowa caucus was proven right after Buttigieg, the former South Bend, IN mayor, nabbed a win – with a slim lead over Sanders – in that state. In the New Hampshire bumper sticker poll, Buttigieg enjoyed widespread support across all demographics.
https://www.asicentral.com/buttigieg-leads-nh-bumper-sticker-poll/ (https://www.asicentral.com/news/newsletters/promogram/february-2020/buttigieg-leads-nh-bumper-sticker-poll/)
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Thoughts?
https://www.msnbc.com/stephanie-ruhle/why-he-s-backing-78553158001 (https://www.msnbc.com/stephanie-ruhle/watch/kevin-costner-on-why-he-s-backing-buttigieg-78553158001)
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I read today that Punkinhead is asking for $25.5 billion for NASA in the budget for the next fiscal year. I'm shocked to find myself approving anything he does, but I have to admit I like this proposal. Maybe it's because I was a child during the years of the Apollo project, but I'd like to see the U.S. return to more active space exploration. I'd like to live long enough to see a human being standing on the surface of the planet Mars, but I guess it's rather doubtful I will.
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Pete did well in the New Hampshire primary last night:
25.9% Sanders
24.4% Buttigieg
19.8% Klobuchar
Amy got a rise in support over the weekend, possibly taking some of Pete's vote as they're considered both in the moderate lane.
It's so early, but Pete is still in first with delegates. Yeah, early. They've all been campaigning for a year.
I will vote for any of the candidates who become the eventual nominee, but I have a complete dislike for a Sanders nomination. I think he's divisive. He is grumpy. He just recently had a heart attack. (He said he'd release all his medical records before the pri.aries. He hasn't. At one point he said if I start releasing my records it'll just go on and on. That sounds worrying.)
His speech from New Hampshire last night...not a smile in sight for his success there. Ugh! I want "hope" not "mope." A recent 2019 study had Sanders rated at the bottom of who best sponsors bi-partisan legislation in Congress. He seems unwilling to try and gather votes from all who want to defeat Trump. For example: In a news interview this morning a reporter asked him about Iowa. His reply was "Iowa was a complete disaster." Do Iowans want to hear things like that? Iowans who might want to vote for you? Bernie's way is my way or the highway. He worries me immensely. His supporters are also a whole lot like Trump supporters. Bernie even had to make a statement telling them not to bother the other campaigns. I want "No B.S. for President."
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I don't think Bernie will last, IMHO, you understand? He's tooooo much into histronics, much like Warren is too. Both of them NEED to recognize that unless the power structure changes in the Senate, NOTHING they propose will get passed......simple........
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Pete B is featuring quite a lot in the news here now.
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First Trump demeans the Presidential Medal of Freedom award by giving it to Limbaugh, and then Limbaugh cheapens it further:
Fresh off President Donald Trump awarding him with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, conservative talk radio host Rush Limbaugh mocked 2020 Democratic candidate Pete Buttigieg for being openly gay on Wednesday.
https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/ (https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/limbaugh-spews-homophobic-drivel-about-buttigieg-after-receiving-medal-of-freedom)
(Is anyone surprised?)
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I am kind of tired about all the Democratic party talk about Iowa not being a diverse enough state to be the first in the nation in nominee selection. That is most definitely true in terms of the state's population, but in the last three election cycles all these white people chose as the winner of Iowa a black man, a woman and a gay man. Iowa shouldn't be dumped on for that.
By the way, Pete's win made him the first ever gay man to win delegates from any major political party. That's history making.
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Well, openly gay man. ;)
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;D
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(https://scontent.fphl2-3.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/86490597_3158347854175795_446655832617123840_n.jpg?_nc_cat=100&_nc_ohc=6PaAydq1sYAAX8XOfec&_nc_ht=scontent.fphl2-3.fna&oh=66a7da19a4ddc14f24d724312099fb4e&oe=5F035601)
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Crimes of those granted clemency by @realDonaldTrump today:
-failing to report felony
-criminal financial schemes
-conspiracy to hack a computer
-tax fraud + false statements
-obstructing an investigation
-selling a Senate appointment
-drug trafficking
-Medicare fraud
—@Travis_Tritten
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And they or their associates gave him large campaign contributions. Otherwise known as bribes.
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If any of the caucus precincts in Nevada are tied, they break the tie by pulling from a deck of cards and the high card winner wins that precinct. (It is Nevada, after all.)
So yesterday, Pete and Bernie tied in the very large Reno caucus. They showed it live on television. Pete's team pulled first and it was a 3 of clubs. Ugh! Sanders supporters were loving it. Until Bernie's team pulled a 2! :laugh: Pete wins Reno!
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WHAT?? :o :o :o.............Lord, I hope they don't use that formula in the General Election!! :P :laugh:
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Ahead of the primary on Saturday, South Carolina's largest newspaper, The State, has endorsed Pete Buttigieg!
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I was with a few friends on Saturday and we were discussing the CA primary and at one point I sang a lyric to a song, altering one of the words.
I happened to think of that awhile ago and wanted to hear this song, so I searched for it on youtube and I found something even better...that was just posted TODAY!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R1bSa2LSKdI
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Great, Lyle! Just passed it on to a friend of mine who was at the Pete rally on Sunday here in Arlington.
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^^^
Excellent!
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For anyone interested, here's a website from Johns Hopkins University about the spread of coronavirus, the figures appear to be far more accurate than what the CDC is now permitted to give, since clearance through Pence's office was mandated.
https://gisanddata.maps.arcgis.com/apps/opsdashboard/index.html#/bda7594740fd40299423467b48e9ecf6
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Under our current leadership, I'm reminded how the Khmer Rouge designed beautiful water channels to flood rice fields in season. They were all at esthetic right angles to each other. But they required water to flow uphill, and people went hungry until reality finally trumped ideology. No one dared to contradict the leader.
https://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/04/world/asia/04iht-canal.4.18410736.html?fbclid=IwAR3l_DO5Im8lDrVNpRhxzynhbrtGFALUo7i_iSZaMt-jGELp_hLYgFreYNY
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Has anyone ever seen the MSNBC news show "ALL IN with Chris Hayes"?
I was watching it last week and he mentioned they were going to do a special LIVE show in Los Angeles, Mon. March 2, the day before the California Primary. I mentioned it to a friend of mine who likes him and we decided to try and get tickets.
I found info on the MSNBC site and went to the link and signed up. They replied that they'd work their way through the list and you'd be notified if you're selected. I got a notification on Thursday. The program is originating from somewhere either at Universal or NBC's news division in Universal City. We have to check-in at Universal Citiwalk, a tourist attraction with shops, restaurants, movie theatres and such things, outside of Universal Studios. They even gave us a free parking pass, yay! LOL, we're supposed to park in the E.T. lot and then check in at the Curious George Structure. ? LOL!
It's live so it has to start on time, 5pm Pacific/8pm eastern. Wonder if we'll be seen? Wonder if there'll be interesting guests? Wonder if we'll get in? They overbook free tapings and such.
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is it bad that I think the coolest thing is that you get to park in the E.T. lot and then check in at the Curious George Structure?
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Taking this opportunity to wish everyone a joyous February 29th!
How often does one get to do that?
I decided to vote today in our Primary, a couple days early, because we have new computerized voting machines and just in case there were long lines on election day because they confused people, I went today. I had watched the video that shows you how to do it and thought it was simple enough. It was. Yes, there's a paper ballot backup and two chances to review your vote.
I voted for Adam Schiff (!) who actually has several primary challengers, if you can believe it. For President there were over 20-25 names on the ballot! Most have dropped out long ago.
When it came down to it, it was so thrilling for me to actually cast my vote for Pete Buttigieg. The moment was memorable and exhilarating and I had a kick in my step all the way back.
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is it bad that I think the coolest thing is that you get to park in the E.T. lot and then check in at the Curious George Structure?
LoL!!! :P
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Happy Leap Day, Lyle!
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Danke mein gutes Fritzie! :)
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it was 8000 an hour ago...I signed it...
9,000 sign petition calling for SXSW to be cancelled over coronavirus fears
AUSTIN (KXAN) — More than 9,000 people have signed a petition calling for South By Southwest to be cancelled due to the coronavirus outbreak.
Hundreds of thousands of people from across the world will descend on Austin for the two-week festival, which begins on March 13.
However, some locals have expressed concerns about possible transmission of the disease, which is rapidly spreading.
https://www.kxan.com/news/local/austin/2000-sign-petition-calling-for-sxsw-to-be-cancelled-over-coronavirus-fears/ (https://www.kxan.com/news/local/austin/2000-sign-petition-calling-for-sxsw-to-be-cancelled-over-coronavirus-fears/)
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There are a number of events that have been cancelled lately due to the Coronavirus.
https://deadline.com/2020/02/coronavirus-canceled-postponed-hollywood-sports-entertainment-1202870762/
https://olympics.nbcsports.com/2020/01/29/coronavirus-track-and-field-postponements-cancellations/
The event I'm waiting for, the World Figure Skating Championships, is taking place in Canada, and appears (at this time) to be moving ahead as scheduled.
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Mayor Pete is out of the race.
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Darn.
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Pete got farther than anyone would have guessed last year. But he said he did NOT want to be known as the 'gay President'.....if he stays in politices, or stays in the game, I can see him winning a major election in the future sometime. He's supposedly said he'd be open to the #2 spot on a ticket. hmmmmmmmm??? ;D
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When it came down to it, it was so thrilling for me to actually cast my vote for Pete Buttigieg. The moment was memorable and exhilarating and I had a kick in my step all the way back.
Even though Pete is suspending his campaign, I wouldn't trade the above moment for anything.
A day later...
If this happened before I voted, I would have reluctantly given someone else my vote. I don't have to think about who now though. This kind of thing is why I've always voted on election day. This was my first time doing early voting. I've never done a mail in ballot, either, except when I was in college and was required to.
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Some of you may have seen Pete Buttigieg's speech last night after he suspended his Presidential Campaign yesterday, or perhaps some clips of it.
But what you have to see is Chasten's moving remarks before Pete gives his speech. They are on the youtube video linked below from 4:08 - 8:08. Then Pete's approximately 18 min. speech follows, if you like, but I urge you to watch Chasten's remarks...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1QYVJGM4RtM
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So good to see.😢
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Glad you saw it, Sara!
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Who's voting today?
Alabama
Arkansas
California (I did.)
Colorado (D.C.?)
Massachusetts
Minnesota
North Carolina
Oklahoma
Tennessee
Texas (Nancy?)
Utah
Vermont
Virginia (Fritz)
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Yep! Went this morning.
(https://scontent.fphl2-2.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/74615493_3206952956012818_4449158997043314688_o.jpg?_nc_cat=102&_nc_sid=8024bb&_nc_eui2=AeE2kX2t_9vrPAwbR5OnsO05F2IaeBspXdvCoqegGRXHo4HA9nRgmLX0agy9aam9Ou1J_4fyHRYXha82y4OaHzaj0wRW3MUHjbqOKAVLmiG9Xw&_nc_ohc=-Cw9miN1MkYAX9AkTm_&_nc_ht=scontent.fphl2-2.fna&oh=6f2529e9316ce5685e6801326f7f8768&oe=5E999E9D)
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The petition to have SXSW canceled is up to 29,000 but they're still going forward...except for FB, Intel & Twitter
Coronavirus: Facebook, Intel, Twitter drop out of SXSW as disease spreads
SXSW organizers say event will still go on from March 13-22
https://www.mercurynews.com/2020/03/03/coronavirus-facebook-intel-twitter-drop-out-of-sxsw-as-disease-spreads/ (https://www.mercurynews.com/2020/03/03/coronavirus-facebook-intel-twitter-drop-out-of-sxsw-as-disease-spreads/)
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It's going to be a real shame if they have to cancel the Olympics. Wonder when they'd have to decide?
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Excellent Fritz!
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It's going to be a real shame if they have to cancel the Olympics. Wonder when they'd have to decide?
I heard that a decision has to happen very soon!
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Ue5F57dZMU&feature=youtu.be
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Watch Donna Brazile tell RNC chairwoman to "go to hell" LIVE on Fox News.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i7vc69dVMhE
You go girl!
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Yeah!
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Fritz, Virginia had a big night!
I was watching primary coverage for several hours, and I'd notice results for candidates who'd dropped out, like Pete and Amy. Some things seemed odd to me, even though there could be a zillion reasons for these things. Such as...I noticed Pete had around 11,300 votes in VA, but in neighboring North Carolina he had close to 44,000. I wouldn't have thought that would be the case. And in Utah for much of the night he had 15% of the vote, which would've qualified him for delegates at the time. This was when 62% of the vote in Utah was counted. He was ahead of Biden at that time. So Pete was doing better in NC and Utah? Maybe the Democrat voters in Utah are just not Mormons.
I was disheartened to see that the state of California has nearly 21 million registered voters (!) and our voter turnout was only 25%, or around 5.3 million. In Los Angeles county it was only 20%. 1.3 million voted out of 5.6 million registered.
And this year CA has some new procedures, all designed to make voting easier. In most counties this year, everyone is sent a mail-in ballot. We were always sent an Official Sample Ballot, which now is also a mail-in ballot if you want to vote by mail. You don't have to. (However, Los Angeles county is not doing this until two years hence).
They also now have vote centers in each county instead of precincts. That means some people have further to go to vote instead of a local precinct, but you can go to ANY vote center you want to. And you had ten days with which you could vote early, plus election day. It turns out that the state officials hugely over-estimated how many people would vote early and so the vote centers in many places were jammed yesterday and people ended up waiting in lines for several hours. Ooops. Not good. My closest vote center happened also to be where I usually vote, so nothing different for me.
...the best laid plans...
I'm always surprised how many people don't vote. Every single person I'm friends with happens to vote. My fellow tenants in my building all do. The neighbors I talk to on my street do. It seems most people on this thread vote. I don't get it.
Nancy! I saw on the news that many precincts in Houston were having extremely long waits. Did that affect you at all. Do you have mail-in or early voting?
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This is a news article I thought I'd link because it's from Wyoming. Places we're familiar with because of Brokeback Mountain are mentioned, like Caspar (the article is from the Caspar Star Tribune) and Riverton. And some not so familiar like Gillette and Campbell County. It also seems some of the themes in Brokeback Mountain are still present there today.
https://trib.com/news/state-and-regional/govt-and-politics/education/campbell-county-school-board-member-shares-facebook-post-criticizing-pete/article_ea4f61f2-19a9-57a6-8fdb-73b29a0243ac.html
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Some progress.
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(https://scontent.fphl2-2.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/89119017_10219278748751114_7968673323594809344_n.jpg?_nc_cat=103&_nc_sid=1480c5&_nc_ohc=tHWBEesAiNUAX9QqBVq&_nc_ht=scontent.fphl2-2.fna&oh=1033db2607bf997e3a6c8ef3f95f8a13&oe=5E81E5C7)
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This is a news article I thought I'd link because it's from Wyoming. Places we're familiar with because of Brokeback Mountain are mentioned, like Caspar (the article is from the Caspar Star Tribune) and Riverton. And some not so familiar like Gillette and Campbell County. It also seems some of the themes in Brokeback Mountain are still present there today.
https://trib.com/news/state-and-regional/govt-and-politics/education/campbell-county-school-board-member-shares-facebook-post-criticizing-pete/article_ea4f61f2-19a9-57a6-8fdb-73b29a0243ac.html
‘Unavailable due to legal reasons’.
Still, it would only have upset me.
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I have heard Gillette described as the Armpit of Wyoming, but I won't vouch for that.
In 2017 The New Yorker ran an article about a Muslim family that's been in the Sheridan--Gillette area of the state since the late 19th century, and the crusade against them by one man because they're Muslim.
And yet I seem to recall the RuPaul is married to a rancher from that part of the state!
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Will they cancel the Olympics? Well, they have up until the DAY before the opening ceremony to decide, I guess?! :o :o :o
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They said they have to decide by May, or some time in May, if they're going to cancel. I heard today Japan has spent $12.6 billion to $25.2 billion to build facilities and prepare for the Olympics.
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They said they have to decide by May, or some time in May, if they're going to cancel. I heard today Japan has spent $12.6 billion to $25.2 billion to build facilities and prepare for the Olympics.
Yes, it's been a huge cost to Japan, and at this point, no other country would be prepared to host the games.
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Under the circumstances, I wonder if they could just postpone them for a year.
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I heard the press conference in the car on my way home from work...it'll be a big loss to local businesses. Since everyone is saying "it's gonna get worse before it gets better", I wouldn't be surprised if the Olympics are canceled.
SXSW canceled due to coronavirus after Austin declares ‘local disaster’
PUBLISHED FRI, MAR 6 20204:57 PM ESTUPDATED 8 MIN AGO
South by Southwest, the annual tech, film and music conference held in Austin, Texas, has been canceled due to concerns surrounding the COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak.
Local government officials announced the update at a press conference Friday afternoon discussing the status of the outbreak and events in the city. Austin’s Mayor Steve Adler said he had declared a local disaster in the city and issued an order canceling the conference.
In the blog post, organizers did not mention any details about refunds for badges, which cost $1,395 to attend one track or $1,725 to attend all three.
The conference had been scheduled to take place between March 13 and 22. In recent days, Facebook, Intel, Twitter and TikTok had pulled out of the conference as large corporations limited travel for employees amid the virus outbreak.
The conference said it had 73,716 attendees in 2019, 19,166 of whom were from outside the U.S. On top of that, many more work and volunteer at the event.
https://www.cnbc.com/2020/03/06/sxsw-cancelled-due-to-coronavirus.html (https://www.cnbc.com/2020/03/06/sxsw-cancelled-due-to-coronavirus.html)
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I was waiting to see if it would be cancelled. It seemed that public opinion was on the side of cancelling it.
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As we approach the anniversary of that terrible day last year March 15, we are having programs. What strikes me most, as it did at the commemoration services just after, is that the gunman attending to bring hatred but it has brought the opposite. People who rarely contacted, perhaps were a little suspicious, have become friends. This story is just one example.
https://www.tvnz.co.nz/content/tvnz/onenews/story/2020/03/09/wasseim-barber.html
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Lovely story, Brian.
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This morning I heard that Milan and the surrounding region are practically locked down. I wondered how they're letting food and other supplies in. :(
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They are allowing the people to leave their houses to go to work and shopping, they are just not allowed to leave the region. There is a little town in Spain which is completely shut down, because during a funeral 60 people from the region got infected. I guess it's difficult to keep from kissing and hugging during a funeral.
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if it wasn't for this guy, if we had to only depend on 45 for info ('Relax. We're doing great'), I don't think we'd know anything
Fauci: Americans are 'going to have to hunker down significantly more' to fight coronavirus
"I think we should really be overly aggressive and get criticized for overreacting," Fauci said.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/meet-the-press/fauci-americans-are-going-have-hunker-down-significantly-more-fight-n1159381 (https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/meet-the-press/fauci-americans-are-going-have-hunker-down-significantly-more-fight-n1159381)
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German Officials Hold Crisis Meeting Over Report of Trump’s Attempt to Gain Exclusive U.S. Rights to Coronavirus Vaccine
https://www.towleroad.com/2020/03/coronavirus-vacccine-germany/
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Wasn't there a Bernie-Biden debate last night? ??? Given the current crisis, does anybody care?
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Even in the midst of a crisis, the asshole-in-chief can't resist accusing the New York Times of deliberately misquoting him.
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From the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy...doesn't sound good
Modeling study suggests 18 months of COVID-19 social distancing, much disruption
Filed Under: COVID-19
Stephanie Soucheray | News Reporter | CIDRAP News | Mar 18, 2020
On Mar 16, when White House coronavirus response coordinator Deborah Birx, MD, stood beside President Donald Trump and announced the "15 Days to Slow the Spread" campaign, she said guidance on home isolation was informed by the latest models from the United Kingdom.
Birx was likely referring to a new modeling study on likely US and UK outcomes during the COVID-19 pandemic, published yesterday by a team of epidemiologists at the Imperial College of London.
The study, which used pandemic data gathered in China, Italy, and South Korea, has been lauded by epidemiologists around the world as the most comprehensive prediction of what the US could be facing in the coming months. But it also paints some bleak pictures, including millions of deaths if little is done.
Flattening the curve vs suppression
The model analyzes the two approaches to managing the virus. One is mitigation, or "flattening the curve," which sees the novel coronavirus continue to spread, but at a slow rate so as not to overwhelm hospital systems. The other approach is suppression, which tries to reverse the pandemic through extreme social distancing measures and home quarantines of cases and their families, achieving an R0—or reproduction number—of less than 1.
"Each policy has major challenges," the authors wrote. Mitigation "might reduce peak healthcare demand by 2/3 and deaths by half. However, the resulting mitigated epidemic would still likely result in hundreds of thousands of deaths and health systems (most notably intensive care units) being overwhelmed many times over."
To avoid that, the country would need to focus on suppression. But suppression requires social distancing measures far longer than the 14 to 30 days Americans have been told to prepare for. Instead, they would need to be in place for 18 months, or until a vaccine is made available.
"I think the model's broad conclusion is correct that there is a terrible dilemma of very long-term social distancing, or overloading healthcare systems, or both," said Marc Lipsitch, DPhil, a professor of epidemiology and the director of the Center for Communicable Disease Dynamics at Harvard University. "With the options currently available I do not see a way to get out of this dilemma."
Model considers 3 scenarios, predicts high death count
To understand how mitigation or suppression would play out, the Imperial College team, led by Neil Ferguson, OBE, ran a model based on three scenarios. In the first, US officials do nothing to mitigate the spread of COVID-19, schools and businesses are kept open, and the virus is allowed to move through the population.
This would result in 81% of the US population, about 264 million people, contracting the disease. Of those, 2.2 million would die, including 4% to 8% of Americans over age 70. More important, by the second week in April, the demand for critical care beds would be 30 times greater than supply.
If mitigation practices are put in place, including a combination of case isolation, home quarantine, and social distancing of those most at risk (over age 70), the peak critical care demand would reduce by 60%, and there would be half the number of deaths. But this scenario still produces an eightfold demand on critical care beds above surge capacity.
http://www.cidrap.umn.edu/news-perspective/2020/03/modeling-study-suggests-18-months-covid-19-social-distancing-much (http://www.cidrap.umn.edu/news-perspective/2020/03/modeling-study-suggests-18-months-covid-19-social-distancing-much)
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Do we KNOW who or WHAT to believe at this point in time? I have 'friends' who still believe it's just a bunch of BS!! I'm not kidding here. They truly believe this is not even as bad as the normal Flu virus we get every damned year!! More infections, and MORE deaths from that annual siege. I cannot argue with them, no point. Until we start seeing MORE death in the US, they will continue to believe this is just media and science invoked hysteria............so it goes.........even in polls, a high percentage of US citizens think all this is panic for NO REASON!! In my County alone, there are NO infections, no deaths, and it's the MOST populous County in this State, no infections at all.........odd, wouldn't you say? But, time will tell, I guess........ :o :o :o
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Well, no testing, no infections. Have y'all noticed how low the mortality rate is in South Corea and Germany? My theory is that they have the same as everyone, but that broad testing provides many more cases who would otherwise go unnoticed and hence reduce the mortality rate, also because carriers are more effectively isolated. Or maybe I am totally wrong and it's due to a great health system, but Spain also has a good healthcare. Or maybe a combination of factors. Or maybe I am thinking too much about this.
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My teammates and I are perforce working at home at least until the end of next week (I suspect it will be for longer). This morning we swapped some e-mails about this. We realized that for all the news reports we hear about testing and the lack of hospital capacity, we're not hearing what to do about this thing to alleviate symptoms if you get sick but don't have potentially catastrophic symptoms (i.e., shortness of breath or, I suppose, pneumonia). I'm not trying to downplay mortality from this thing, but surely millions of people are going to contract the virus and experience nothing worse than a cold or a (survivable) flu.
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Jeff, here is one site's advice on treating a mild case of the this Coronavirus:
*resting and avoiding overexertion
*drinking enough water
*avoiding smoking and smoky areas
*taking acetaminophen for pain and fever
*using a clean humidifier or cool mist vaporizer
Some articles are advising against taking NSAIDS for the aches and fever. There are uncorroborated reports that it makes the symptoms worse. I'm allergic to NSAIDS, so I only take acetaminophen anyway. I hope this helps.
This may not have been what you were asking, but here it is. I agree with you. I have mixed feelings about all of this. I've quit watching any news except for the local weather. I do get plenty of notifications on my phone. This way I can pick or choose what I want to read, not being force fed what is on TV.
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Jeff, here is one site's advice on treating a mild case of the this Coronavirus:
*resting and avoiding overexertion
*drinking enough water
*avoiding smoking and smoky areas
*taking acetaminophen for pain and fever
*using a clean humidifier or cool mist vaporizer
Thanks! That's useful, and not too terribly different from what you would do for a bad cold or the flu.
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Do we KNOW who or WHAT to believe at this point in time? I have 'friends' who still believe it's just a bunch of BS!! I'm not kidding here. They truly believe this is not even as bad as the normal Flu virus we get every damned year!! More infections, and MORE deaths from that annual siege. I cannot argue with them, no point. Until we start seeing MORE death in the US, they will continue to believe this is just media and science invoked hysteria............so it goes.........even in polls, a high percentage of US citizens think all this is panic for NO REASON!! In my County alone, there are NO infections, no deaths, and it's the MOST populous County in this State, no infections at all.........odd, wouldn't you say? But, time will tell, I guess........ :o :o :o
they also haven't been tested. it's spreading by contact and we don't know how many people are carriers that haven't had symptoms yet. You touch something that has cold/flu virus germs and it takes a few day s before you're sick...and I don't think they don't know what the incubation period for this virus is yet
Flu Incubation Period
The typical flu incubation period—the time between exposure and the start of symptoms—is between 24 hours and four days, with the average being two days. This means that if you are exposed to the influenza virus and become infected, you will start to experience flu symptoms, such as fever and body aches, anywhere between 24 hours and four days after the exposure.
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Studies from the village Vo in Italy show that approx. 50% of the virus carriers didn't even notice that they were infected... That's probably why it's spreading so fast...
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they also haven't been tested. it's spreading by contact and we don't know how many people are carriers that haven't had symptoms yet. You touch something that has cold/flu virus germs and it takes a few day s before you're sick...and I don't think they don't know what the incubation period for this virus is yet
Flu Incubation Period
The typical flu incubation period—the time between exposure and the start of symptoms—is between 24 hours and four days, with the average being two days. This means that if you are exposed to the influenza virus and become infected, you will start to experience flu symptoms, such as fever and body aches, anywhere between 24 hours and four days after the exposure.
This is true, Nancy! One HAS to question WHY the USA was soooooo slow in rolling out testing, was it to drive down the number of cases? hmmmmm? We have to wonder at this point in time. No testing, no cases.........perfect....... >:D :"> ??? >:(
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From NBC:
For those placed on ventilators, the mortality rate is 50%.
In Bergamo, Italy, the military is being used to transport corpses out the city for cremation (similar to what was done during outbreaks of the Black Death--J.W.).
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Geez. I wonder why Italy is such a hot -spot?
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Geez. I wonder why Italy is such a hot -spot?
I was wondering that too Chuck.
Someone mentioned that it might be because so many people
from different countries go there for the skiing.... but other
places do skiing vacations...but they are not as affected as much
as poor Italy. :(
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Some say it's because Italy is FULL of tourists and OLDER people, others say it's because they traditionally greet people with a hug and kiss.........who knows, really?! :o
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I was wondering that too Chuck.
Someone mentioned that it might be because so many people from different countries go there for the skiing.... but other places do skiing vacations...but they are not as affected as much
as poor Italy. :(
Some say it's because Italy is FULL of tourists and OLDER people, others say it's because they traditionally greet people with a hug and kiss.........who knows, really?! :o
From what I found online, they are suggesting that Italy was so hard hit because they have a large number of tourists, and they have a larger amount of citizens older than 65, and that's why there are more deaths.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QuSVvzLPP34&feature=youtu.be&fbclid=IwAR0fDnOsFagGrfShO_sUgqHpw87ciX0BglsT6At0AC_maMIs4I9diLbgmZU
January 22: “We have it totally under control. It’s one person coming in from China. It’s going to be just fine.
February 2: “We pretty much shut it down coming in from China.”
February 24: “The Coronavirus is very much under control in the USA… Stock Market starting to look very good to me!”
February 25: “CDC and my Administration are doing a GREAT job of handling Coronavirus.”
February 25: “I think that's a problem that’s going to go away… They have studied it. They know very much. In fact, we’re very close to a vaccine.”
February 26: “The 15 (cases in the US) within a couple of days is going to be down to close to zero.”
February 26: “We're going very substantially down, not up.”
February 27: “One day it’s like a miracle, it will disappear.”
February 28: “We're ordering a lot of supplies. We're ordering a lot of, uh, elements that frankly we wouldn't be ordering unless it was something like this. But we're ordering a lot of different elements of medical.”
March 2: “You take a solid flu vaccine, you don't think that could have an impact, or much of an impact, on corona?”
March 2: “A lot of things are happening, a lot of very exciting things are happening and they’re happening very rapidly.”
March 4: “If we have thousands or hundreds of thousands of people that get better just by, you know, sitting around and even going to work — some of them go to work, but they get better.”
March 5: “I NEVER said people that are feeling sick should go to work!”
March 5: “The United States… has, as of now, only 129 cases… and 11 deaths. We are working very hard to keep these numbers as low as possible!”
March 6: “I think we’re doing a really good job in this country at keeping it down… a tremendous job at keeping it down.”
March 6: “Anybody right now, and yesterday, anybody that needs a test gets a test. They’re there. And the tests are beautiful…. the tests are all perfect like the letter was perfect. The transcription was perfect. Right? This was not as perfect as that but pretty good.”
March 6: “I like this stuff. I really get it. People are surprised that I understand it… Every one of these doctors said, ‘How do you know so much about this?’ Maybe I have a natural ability. Maybe I should have done that instead of running for president.”
March 6: “I don't need to have the numbers double because of one ship that wasn't our fault.” March 8: “We have a perfectly coordinated and fine tuned plan at the White House for our attack on CoronaVirus.”
March 9: “This blindsided us."
March 9: "The Fake News Media and their partner, the Democrat Party, is doing everything within its semi-considerable power (it used to be greater!) to inflame the CoronaVirus situation, far beyond what the facts would warrant.”
March 10: "It will go away. Just stay calm. It will go away."
March 13: National Emergency Declaration
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QuSVvzLPP34&feature=youtu.be&fbclid=IwAR0fDnOsFagGrfShO_sUgqHpw87ciX0BglsT6At0AC_maMIs4I9diLbgmZU
January 22: “We have it totally under control. It’s one person coming in from China. It’s going to be just fine.
February 2: “We pretty much shut it down coming in from China.”
February 24: “The Coronavirus is very much under control in the USA… Stock Market starting to look very good to me!”
February 25: “CDC and my Administration are doing a GREAT job of handling Coronavirus.”
February 25: “I think that's a problem that’s going to go away… They have studied it. They know very much. In fact, we’re very close to a vaccine.”
February 26: “The 15 (cases in the US) within a couple of days is going to be down to close to zero.”
February 26: “We're going very substantially down, not up.”
February 27: “One day it’s like a miracle, it will disappear.”
February 28: “We're ordering a lot of supplies. We're ordering a lot of, uh, elements that frankly we wouldn't be ordering unless it was something like this. But we're ordering a lot of different elements of medical.”
March 2: “You take a solid flu vaccine, you don't think that could have an impact, or much of an impact, on corona?”
March 2: “A lot of things are happening, a lot of very exciting things are happening and they’re happening very rapidly.”
March 4: “If we have thousands or hundreds of thousands of people that get better just by, you know, sitting around and even going to work — some of them go to work, but they get better.”
March 5: “I NEVER said people that are feeling sick should go to work!”
March 5: “The United States… has, as of now, only 129 cases… and 11 deaths. We are working very hard to keep these numbers as low as possible!”
March 6: “I think we’re doing a really good job in this country at keeping it down… a tremendous job at keeping it down.”
March 6: “Anybody right now, and yesterday, anybody that needs a test gets a test. They’re there. And the tests are beautiful…. the tests are all perfect like the letter was perfect. The transcription was perfect. Right? This was not as perfect as that but pretty good.”
March 6: “I like this stuff. I really get it. People are surprised that I understand it… Every one of these doctors said, ‘How do you know so much about this?’ Maybe I have a natural ability. Maybe I should have done that instead of running for president.”
March 6: “I don't need to have the numbers double because of one ship that wasn't our fault.” March 8: “We have a perfectly coordinated and fine tuned plan at the White House for our attack on CoronaVirus.”
March 9: “This blindsided us."
March 9: "The Fake News Media and their partner, the Democrat Party, is doing everything within its semi-considerable power (it used to be greater!) to inflame the CoronaVirus situation, far beyond what the facts would warrant.”
March 10: "It will go away. Just stay calm. It will go away."
March 13: National Emergency Declaration
That's like the best thing I've been seeing online!! I'd send it to my friends/relatives who are STILL Trump supporters, but I have to be aware of how 'sensitive' they are to anything critical and TRUE about Trump!! :o :o :o
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i saw this live yesterday and was shocked at how utterly clueless this man is...the word "reprehensible" was used by reporters following up on the story. Peter Alexander gave this asshole a perfect opening to say something presidential, something to tamp down the anxiety that people have, and this is how he responded...it almost made me cry, because this is who is leading my country - a bumbling, emotionally stunted, narcissist who is incapable of admitting that he makes mistakes just like everybody else.
there's a link to the exchange...
Trump throws tantrum over coronavirus question: 'You're a terrible reporter'
Donald Trump has thrown an extraordinary temper tantrum on live television, lambasting a reporter who challenged him for raising hopes about a coronavirus treatment.
Peter Alexander, White House correspondent at NBC News, asked the US president: “What do you say to Americans, who are watching you right now, who are scared?”
Erupting in anger, Trump unleashed a tirade: “I say that you’re a terrible reporter. That’s what I say. I think it’s a very nasty question and I think it’s a very bad signal that you’re putting out to the American people.”
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/mar/20/trump-coronavirus-question-attack-reporter-over-fears (https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/mar/20/trump-coronavirus-question-attack-reporter-over-fears)
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Extraordinary. And as you say, a wasted opportunity.
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Trump throws tantrum over coronavirus question: 'You're a terrible reporter'
I saw that, too, live. Reprehensible is too nice a word for it. I watch NBC, so I "know" Peter Alexander. He's a hero for asking that question.
The day before, I almost laughed that even in the midst of this situation, the Great Orange Satan could not forebear to throw in a crack abut The New York Times, the Washington Post, and the Wall Street Journal.
I have a friend who is convinced that the Great Orange Satan is aiming at declaring martial law so he can take over and be the dictator he's always wanted to be.
Alarmist? Maybe, maybe not.
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I am just so grateful that I chose to move to and live in a country where we can be so proud of our leader
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AvRuYrH5rjs
This was the first time NZ has had an address to the Nation by its leader (midday yesterday - Saturday)
When I first looked at this on Youtube an hour or so ago, there were some nasty comments which were upsetting so glad comments now turned off.
I watched her live on TV yesterday
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These parents are total idiots. Who on earth would allow their kid to leave the US to go to this godforsaken place, first of all. And a week ago? Any of them watch the news at all?
I don't know much about it so googled: Honduras is one of the poorest countries in Latin America and has one of the world's highest murder rates.
‘Get us home’: 16 Austin teens stranded in Honduras during coronavirus pandemic
Lake Travis High School freshman Kembree Koleber sat cross legged on the bed at her host family’s home in Roatán, Honduras Saturday, pleading with U.S. authorities for help through a social media post: “Get us home.”
Though in good spirits, Kembree, along with 15 other Lake Travis High School students and two adult chaperons, traveled to the small island just off the coast of Honduras on March 13 for a service trip through MyPlayer2Player, an Austin startup that employs elite high school athletes to teach younger children their sport.
However, the students now are trying to find a way home after the Honduran government imposed martial law Friday following the COVID-19 pandemic, the illness associated with the new coronavirus. All normal civilian functions now are directly controlled by the country’s military and the borders have been closed, leaving the teens stranded in another country.
https://www.statesman.com/news/20200321/lsquoget-us-homersquo-16-austin-teens-stranded-in-honduras-during-coronavirus-pandemic (https://www.statesman.com/news/20200321/lsquoget-us-homersquo-16-austin-teens-stranded-in-honduras-during-coronavirus-pandemic)
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idiots
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see a difference here? wish Cuomo was running this year, then I'd have a dem to vote for...
When discussing his statewide order requiring workers in nonessential businesses to stay home, Cuomo acknowledged the potential for criticism.
"If someone is unhappy, if somebody wants to blame someone, or complain about someone, blame me," he said. "There is no one else who is responsible for this decision."
Contrast that with Trump, a fellow Queens native who also entered his father's line of work: a week earlier, the President faced questions at a press conference over his role in the country's failure to produce and implement functioning coronavirus tests.
His answer: "I don't take responsibility at all."
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see a difference here? wish Cuomo was running this year, then I'd have a dem to vote for...
When discussing his statewide order requiring workers in nonessential businesses to stay home, Cuomo acknowledged the potential for criticism.
"If someone is unhappy, if somebody wants to blame someone, or complain about someone, blame me," he said. "There is no one else who is responsible for this decision."
Contrast that with Trump, a fellow Queens native who also entered his father's line of work: a week earlier, the President faced questions at a press conference over his role in the country's failure to produce and implement functioning coronavirus tests.
His answer: "I don't take responsibility at all."
The only thing he has taken responsibility for is misdirection, false information and being an ass. >:(
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Baaawwwaaaahhhhaaaaa!!! There is literally a WORLD of difference between Trump and every other Leader!! :o
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We just watched Frau Merkel telling us to behave and I swear, she tells me, I do it. It's like Heidi's Fräulein Rottenmaier.
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oh no :( maybe he's afraid that if he disagrees too strongly, he'll be removed altogether...
Fauci says 'there isn't, fundamentally, a difference' between his view and Trump's on coronavirus
By Nicky Robertson, CNN
Updated 4:04 PM ET, Sun March 22, 2020
(CNN)The nation's top infectious disease expert said Sunday that "there isn't, fundamentally, a difference" between his view and President Donald Trump's when it comes to combatting coronavirus, saying Trump just approaches fighting the pandemic from a "hope, layperson standpoint" while he approaches it from a scientific one.
Trump has faced criticism for saying he's using his authority under the Defense Production Act to ramp up production of medical supplies needed to combat the virus, but not yet wielding those federal powers. The 1950s legislation provides the President with a broad set of powers to require businesses to "prioritize and accept government contracts" as well as "provide economic incentives" to ensure the US has the stockpiles it needs to handle an impending medical crisis.
Fauci said Sunday that "resources are being marshalled" and they are going to be clearly directed to "those hotspots that need it most," identifying California, Washington state and New York as such areas.
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He has to walk a tightrope, but I hope he's not so fearful about his job that he'll allow T to mislead any more.
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good article, addressing what we were talking about, Frtiz
Fauci gets frank about Trump: ‘I can’t jump in front of the microphone and push him down’
Amid the ongoing global coronavirus pandemic, Anthony S. Fauci, head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, has been charged with a herculean task: trying to keep President Trump’s public statements about the novel virus rooted in fact.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/fauci-gets-frank-about-trump-i-cant-jump-in-front-of-the-microphone-and-push-him-down/ar-BB11yEAg?ocid=ientp (https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/fauci-gets-frank-about-trump-i-cant-jump-in-front-of-the-microphone-and-push-him-down/ar-BB11yEAg?ocid=ientp)
(https://i.pinimg.com/564x/ec/52/f8/ec52f8e943e5e0bd91ac86606ffb3192.jpg)
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He doesn't know what he's doing, there's nothing magical about the 15 days. And his sheep are ready to follow him right off the cliff...except he'll pull aside right before, and just let them go over.
On Monday, Trump began sending retweets that seem to be encouraging an end to strong social distancing measures after the current 15-day period, despite concern from public health officials that it won't be long enough to blunt the worst of the coronavirus.
"15 days," one user tweeted. "Then we isolate the high risk groups and the rest of us get back to work before it's all over for everyone!! #Landslide2020"
"Flatten the curve NOT the Economy," reads a follow up tweet.
"After 15 days are over the world can begin to heal!," another user tweeted.
On Monday he retweeted one user, responding to his original tweet, who wrote, "Correct. Fifteen days, then we keep the high risk groups protected as necessary and the rest of us go back to work."
https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/23/politics/trump-coronavirus-15-days-social-distancing/index.html (https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/23/politics/trump-coronavirus-15-days-social-distancing/index.html)
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15 days, sure, why not learn from what's happening in other countries. Yesterday Spain prolonged the state of emergency up to 4 weeks. Isn't Italy already over two weeks? Looking rosy there.
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The person in charge doesn't care what happens in the long run, only his poll numbers in the next five minutes.
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Will the Coronavirus Ever Go Away? Here's What One of the WHO's Top Experts Thinks
What would your message be for young people around the world?
This is one of the most serious diseases you will face in your lifetime, and recognize that and respect it. It is dangerous to you as an individual. It is dangerous to your parents, to your grandparents and the elderly in particular and it is dangerous to your society in general. You are not an island in this, you are part of a broader community, you are part of transmission chains. If you get infected you are making this much more complicated and you are putting people in danger, not just yourself.
Never, never underestimate a new disease, there’s just too much unknown. What we do know is it will kill young people, it will make young people sick in large numbers. You’ve gotta respect this.
Here's the whole article. It'd very informative. Worth the time to read it.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/coronavirus-ever-away-heres-one-094824995.html
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Will the Coronavirus Ever Go Away? Here's What One of the WHO's Top Experts Thinks
https://www.yahoo.com/news/coronavirus-ever-away-heres-one-094824995.html[/size]
More straight talk from a world view perspective.
Sobering, Yes, but good to know there are people who actually understand the enormity of the problem.
~~~fia
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Very interesting article, Linda. And sobering, because this isn't happening fast enough or in a coordinated fashion to get more medical supplies to hospitals, to create more beds by cleaning and equipping more buildings as fast as we can, to manufacture the ventilators, and to test medical personnel, emergency responders, and essential workers. >:(
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Very interesting article, Linda. And sobering, because this isn't happening fast enough or in a coordinated fashion to get more medical supplies to hospitals, to create more beds by cleaning and equipping more buildings as fast as we can, to manufacture the ventilators, and to test medical personnel, emergency responders, and essential workers. >:(
I thought so as well, Jenny. I know my son and DIL are not that concerned!!
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Teenagers and Young Adults always think they are invincible.........somehow that never changes over time......
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I agree with Jim Acost of CNN, this exchange from tonight's press conference might become infamous.
And I was very upset not to see Dr. Fauci on the stage with the others.
My colleague David Smith is in the White House briefing room, and just asked President Trump, “Where is Dr Fauci?”
“I was just with him,” Trump said, explaining that Anthony Fauci was “at a task force meeting”.
Smith asked Trump if Fauci agreed with him about the need to restart the economy.
“He doesn’t not agree,” Trump said. “He understands there’s a tremendous cost to our country.”
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I agree with Jim Acost of CNN, this exchange from tonight's press conference might become infamous.
And I was very upset not to see Dr. Fauci on the stage with the others.
He was probably banished.
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One would presume all the members of Trump's Covid-19 team had to sign a non-disclosure agreement before being allowed to join it!! At least if I were Trump, I'd have that done........ ;D :P :laugh:
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(https://scontent-iad3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/90551946_3661561173885325_3716747741703962624_n.jpg?_nc_cat=103&_nc_sid=8024bb&_nc_eui2=AeEoigjHJNJ8TjKXbp0VIrKuaTgh_2K2cB2aOhRg_FLZ1VNsxo_af4GGw4fkDeO31r1DZfI9yiKfPhUThosSMe1uWbDeezRIH5NWcSKF9SAbgw&_nc_ohc=tCasQnGOOpIAX9Y0Ymp&_nc_ht=scontent-iad3-1.xx&oh=4f33cdd3c2bbe330fc36a1b9d7184d24&oe=5E9E0C68)
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(Satire, y'all)
Tributes are being paid to Lieutenant Governor of Texas Dan Patrick today after he was burned alive last night inside a giant wooden structure in an act of pagan sacrifice.
“It’s what he would have wanted.”
The fatal ritual occurred after a large crowd of seniors appeared at Patrick’s residence and abducted him. Despite reports he resisted, the seniors responsible insist he was in favor of it.
“He said he was willing to sacrifice his life to save the extravagant lifestyle of some billionaire hedge fund managers. Us not so much.”
Asked whether they really believed human sacrifice could avert major disasters by appealing to some higher pagan power, the elderly Texans involved were skeptical.
“Nah, we just felt like burning him.”
http://www.breakingburgh.com/texas-seniors-burn-lt-gov-patrick-alive-to-appease-coronavirus-gods/
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(https://scontent-iad3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/90593601_2813641148671149_1685568449415217152_n.jpg?_nc_cat=106&_nc_sid=8024bb&_nc_eui2=AeFsRokii-mC65K7nsB66_AlTwGEBEIWjbmdetpddgpAQEA8ovZiuuLun6Wwt9wqF8rRkIqVKD57KeZ1DZ12_7s_wQXvrrO8EIKh8qoQelzz_g&_nc_ohc=o3hKFKcyxMkAX9iphZD&_nc_ht=scontent-iad3-1.xx&oh=a9c022bc38395931de6e673806a3d7d1&oe=5E9FE7FA)
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Well, the state of New Mexico is up to 100 cases. No deaths yet.
The principal at Lilia's school said she will have an update soon. I would imagine it is to cancel school for the rest of the year.
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...Lieutenant Governor of Texas Dan Patrick...
The following reminded me of the part of Dickens Christmas Carol when a man asking for a donation from Scrooge tells him that if people aren't going to get needed help, they'll surely succumb and Scrooge tells him they'd better hurry up and do it, then, and decrease the surplus population.
Texas Republican Lt. Gov. Patrick suggests elderly should sacrifice themselves to save the economy
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yCSDEilLllM&t=5s
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One thing I learned in this video I didn't know. The Senate was not in session "last" weekend, when many Senators wanted to get down to action on a stimulus bill, because Moscow Mitch went home to Kentucky for three days and proceeded to call Federal judges who might be on the verge of retirement and urged them to retire NOW. Mitch wants to replace them with his preferred stooges in case the election doesn't go his way. Yup. In the midst of a pandemic, that's where his priorities are.
McConnell and Democrat Joe Manchin clash on Senate floor over bailout
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kt7s4GO1dmQ
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...stupid is as stupid does...
Man Fatally Poisons Himself While Self-Medicating for Coronavirus, Doctor Says
An Arizona man and his wife ingested a fish tank cleaning additive made with the same active ingredient as chloroquine phosphate, which President Trump has referred to as a “game changer.”
Later in the day the hospitalized woman wanted to warn people about this. [Yes...dear friends...don't ingest fish tank cleaning additives.]
The president, at a daily briefing last Thursday, spoke at length about chloroquine...as a promising preventative or treatment for COVID-19. The president said he was "a big fan" of the drug's promise against COVID-19 even as he acknowledged that it needed to be tested first. "The nice part is that it's been around for a long time, so we know that if things don't go as planned, it's not going to kill anybody," he said.
Lie #what?
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And many laughed at this book title. Click HERE (https://www.hamiltonbook.com/media/image_full/2928620A.JPG).
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(https://i.redd.it/4m4g0a6ke9g31.png)
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Thanks, Lyle!
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Reading here, I fee like I live in a different universe.
Yesterday the NZ Parliament passed an Appropriations and Supply bill and the Emergency powers legislation and has now been suspended.
It was an historic occasion. All members, of all parties, were in total agreement, Even Simon (leader of the opposition) and Jacinda (prime minister) were being nice to each other.
The opposition has ceased all electioneering (for September elections) and the Government does not have time.
As of midnight we are in total lockdown. I can only drive my car to go to doctor, pharmacist or supermarket or to get fuel. No restaurants, no takeaways, no deliveries of cooked meals (except meals on wheels for the elderly). I can go for a walk locally but must keep 2 metres from anyone I meet. Thankfully I have the garden to maintain.
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^^^
Interesting.
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I'm posting this here again. I mentioned this reliable tracking/projecting site. I urge the UBF community to be watching the trend analysis, plus understanding and watching what our "leaders" do. Make no mistakes about the messages being telegraphed in the past 48 hours. And make no mistake, the science behind the "Trend Analysis" is clear, reliable and very well understood.
https://tbub.sas.com/COVID19/
Are world "leaders" willing to "do what it takes" to flatten the exponential curve like South Korea has done (purple)? We better hope so. What's troubling is I do not see any aggressive anti-viral agent spraying of subways, ... or other measures being done (so far in the US) and that's partly because we were unprepared and are now scrambling to save lives. Italy/Spain are in deep trouble. India will be in trouble.
Also, as you've heard directly from their mouths, our same "leaders" are already weighing the "costs" of saving people's lives with "the cure is worse than then disease."
Sadly, for all of us, they fail to even understand the gravity of these graphs, the future implications or realistic timelines.
Stay safe folks and pray for the world's scientist, using the world's supercomputers going 24/7, to find a weak link in this viral agent sooner than later. V.
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Thanks for the link reminder.
______
The president's re-election campaign is threatening legal action against television stations in key battleground states if they continue to air a Priorities USA ad alleging Trump called the coronavirus a hoax. Of course, this is absolutely ridiculous.
This morning on his show, Joe Scarborough did a slow burn on Trump by taking the legal threat seriously, going over the ad again and again to see how this could stand up in court and interviewing the Priorities USA representative. It is frankly hilarious when you see what Scarborough is doing. And, of course, it's completely infuriating because, well, Trump...
Brilliant satire on a news program.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wfGUpS5s7yA
It was suggested to me that it isn't satire...but, yes, here's the definition: the use of humor, irony, exaggeration, or ridicule to expose and criticize people's stupidity or vices, particularly in the context of contemporary politics and other topical issues.
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Put a link to the Scarborough clip on my FB account. Hadn't seen it, thanks!!!
Just let him try to sue. Like most of his threats, they're empty.
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He's really got the voice down pat.
"Donald Trump vs God on Easter PPV"
https://youtu.be/sbPQCJtnT6o
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^^^
Is trump from the planet "Zog"? !! :laugh:
************
He always looks bored to tears when he has to make all the
announcements to the country. Kinda like " I ain't got it...what's
everyone worried about " !!!
ps. Loved the guy being Trump . Soooo funny !!
Thanks Fritz for a laugh in these hard times. :D
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He's really got the voice down pat.
"Donald Trump vs God on Easter PPV"
https://youtu.be/sbPQCJtnT6o
Brilliant!
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Sobering.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4J0d59dd-qM&feature=youtu.be
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^^^^ Fritz, that's frank and well explained in laymen's terms for what's happening and why the country's (and world's) NEED for ventilators (and staff to run them) is so urgent. The best graphics I've found so far for those that want/need to know projections are below. My thoughts and prayers for everyone and the world is constant. Take Care. Stay safe. Social distancing will save lives.
https://tbub.sas.com/COVID19/
https://covid19.healthdata.org/projections
https://aatishb.com/covidtrends/
V.
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Social distancing will save lives.
And the life you save may well be your own.
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Sobering.
Now I'm sober.
And depressed.
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^^^ Yeah, those dark dogs seem to be breeding like rabbits now-a-days. Let's all hang in there. V.
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The wingnuts are starting to come out of the woodwork.
Feds: Engineer Intentionally Derails L.A. Train Near U.S. Navy Hospital Ship
LOS ANGELES — A train engineer intentionally drove a speeding locomotive off a track at the Port of Los Angeles because he was suspicious about the presence of a Navy hospital ship docked there amid the coronovirus crisis, federal prosecutors said Wednesday.
Moreno said he was suspicious of the Mercy and believed it had an alternate purpose related to COVID-19 or a government takeover, an affidavit states. Moreno stated that he acted alone and had not pre-planned the attempted attack.
Moreno stated that he thought that the U.S.N.S. Mercy was suspicious and did not believe ‘the ship is what they say it’s for,'” the complaint said.
https://time.com/5814175/los-angeles-derailed-train-navy-hospital-ship/
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With the Great Orange Satan in the Oval Office, it wouldn't surprise me if there was some sinister purpose related to those who fall ill with this thing, or die from it.
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Shows you how much I've been watching the news, I didn't even hear about this until I read the article.
While there's nothing funny about the incident, I did laugh at this: Eduardo Moreno, 44, was charged with one count of train wrecking, prosecutors said.
One count of train wrecking. ;D
This part sounds like the finale of The Silver Streak: “the train smashed into a concrete barrier at the end of the track, smashed into a steel barrier, smashed into a chain-link fence, slid through a parking lot, slid across another lot filled with gravel, and smashed into a second chain-link fence.”
That'll show 'em. ???
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Now they think you can spread the Virus by merely talking or breathing?? OK then, we FINALLY have the CURE!! Everyone STOP breathing......there, no more spread!! ;D :o :P :laugh:
BTW: I do know there are many who believe Masks for ALL will slow the spread too! ;)
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^^^
I just read this, from Mayor Garcetti's daily update last night:
LA Recommends Masks For Everyone, Orders Utility Cutoff For Businesses That Refused To Close
Los Angeles is now recommending that all residents wear masks whenever they're in public and interacting with others.
He also spelled out two categories of people, with different types of mask for each.
Surgical masks: These are medical grade, like the N95 masks you've likely been hearing about, and they are reserved for medical professionals.
Homemade cloth masks: These are bandanas, scarves, hand-sewn masks and the like and should be worn by everyone else, including workers providing other essential services, such as those in food retail and vital infrastructure jobs.
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I don't think I have anything for a mask, unless I wear my underwear over my head.
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The wingnuts are starting to come out of the woodwork.
I'll bet that guy won't fill out his Census form.
Have you guys all responded to your Census inquiry? I did it as soon as I got it. It's so easy online and only took about 5 minutes. I thought there were more questions than there were. (I understand that there's a certain amount of random forms that have more questions.)
If you like this sort of thing, I came across a link that shows various interactive maps of the response rates to states, counties, cities, etc.
https://2020census.gov/en/response-rates.html
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I don't think I have anything for a mask, unless I wear my underwear over my head.
There are video instructions on how to do that.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y79K1PodX58
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I'll bet that guy won't fill out his Census form.
Have you guys all responded to your Census inquiry? I did it as soon as I got it. It's so easy online and only took about 5 minutes. I thought there were more questions than there were. (I understand that there's a certain amount of random forms that have more questions.)
If you like this sort of thing, I came across a link that shows various interactive maps of the response rates to states, counties, cities, etc.
https://2020census.gov/en/response-rates.html
Yes, I filled out the form the first day it was available on 12 March. It was great to fill it out as a married same-sex couple!
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Didn't think of that, great Fritz! Come to think of it, Ken told me he and Robert filled it out together, too! Now I feel like Rose Marie on The Dick Van Dyke Show.
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There are video instructions on how to do that.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y79K1PodX58
I've been trying to do this...this guys leg part of his underwear is form fitting, mine isn't. I just remembered I have 2-3 bandanas in my BBM memorabilia I might use.
Just curious what you guys think of wearing masks? Personally, I don't like to. All of your own hot breath inside them makes me feel like I have a fever or something. I guess you just don't know. After you've been out with one on, what do you do when you come back?
I heard someone say put 'em in a microwave? Is that safe? (Looked up some things...lots of conflicting information, but nearly all say the microwave should be used for that and nothing else. Foiled again.)
I guess Jonn had the answer all along...don't breathe. :-\
I saw my relatively new young neighbors, male/female, go out to the store yesterday and they were wearing masks and also plastic gloves.
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I don't think I have anything for a mask, unless I wear my underwear over my head.
Please, send a pic! :laugh:
I am sewing masks for my family, they are very easy to make, if you sew a little bit.
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I am starting to think that we should wear masks not because of them protecting us, but in order to protect others from us. So long testing is not available for all, anyone could be a carrier.
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Good news...look for the silver lining...
In the short term at any rate, according to experts, we have: Cleaner hands, clearer water and bluer skies.
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About a month before we received (for the first time I think) the current equivalent of the long census form (American Community Survey), which is sent to random households every year.
https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/acs
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That is interesting, Fritz!
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The differences between the Census and the Survey:
https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/acs/about/acs-and-census.html
As I said, this was the first time we received the latter, and it's the equivalent of what used to be the Census long form.
It was actually quite interesting to fill out.
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I don't think I have anything for a mask, unless I wear my underwear over my head.
Here is the video for making them out of women's bras.
https://youtu.be/bvDS0ILGwT8
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I don't think I have anything for a mask, unless I wear my underwear over my head.
Here is a video to make a one time use no sew mask out of paper towels.
https://youtu.be/ZUvWbyj6MFQ
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^^^ Some enterprising seamstresses should be making these outta their homes.. I think just a basic mask will eventually be proven better than nothing and may become common-place. As I recall, wearing masks in Japan is common. V.
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Lyle, also a video of a Korean woman who makes a no sew mask out of handkerchiefs or bandanas.
https://youtu.be/lOe_8z8k01U
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^^^ Some enterprising seamstresses should be making these outta their homes.. I think just a basic mask will eventually be proven better than nothing and may become common-place. As I recall, wearing masks in Japan is common. V.
Hi Vincent. There are hundreds of videos on YouTube about the construction of all sorts of masks.
The one I found the most interesting is this one made out of Hepa filter vacuum cleaner bags. It was developed by the wife of an ER physician.
https://youtu.be/W6d3twpHwis
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Good news...look for the silver lining...
In the short term at any rate, according to experts, we have: Cleaner hands, clearer water and bluer skies.
There's always one, you just have to LOOK for it! ;D
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Lyle, also a video of a Korean woman who makes a no sew mask out of handkerchiefs or bandanas.
https://youtu.be/lOe_8z8k01U
Where's the hijab or whatever it's called when you need it? I wonder in those countries where it's common facial wear if they have less cases? I don't keep up with that though.......we've got ENOUGH to follow here in the USA! ;D
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I posted this in the diner, but little interest there...laundry rules there...
our own government can't deliver so we have to depend on Alifuckingbaba, and it will not come without a cost, count on it...this is not being "given" in the name of charity, but greed.
Billionaire Brooklyn Nets owner Joe Tsai donates ventilators and masks to New York
New York (CNN Business)
Joe Tsai, the billionaire co-founder of Chinese ecommerce giant Alibaba, and his wife Clara Wu Tsai, have donated 2.6 million masks, 170,000 goggles and 2000 ventilators to New York — the US epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic.
https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/04/tech/joe-tsai-clara-donate-masks-ventilators-new-york/index.html
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There is argument here about the need for face masks for ordinary people. Our chief medical officer thinks they are of little use.
Reading in the Diner, I cannot get over how much more restricted we are and we have only just passed 1000 cases, 12 in hospital and thankfully just one death. Unless we are an essential worker, we are not allowed to drive except for medical needs and the supermarket. If more than 1 adult in the car, the police may stop and ask where you are going. We are not allowed to drive out of our town or suburb. Only one person from a household is to visit the supermarket. It is clearly stated in the emergency rules that we must not use the car to get exercise, just walk from home. No swimming, surfing, tramping or hunting, no activity which could cause the emergency service to be called out. No cafes or restaurants, no takeaways allowed, no cooked food to be delivered except meals on wheel for the elderly. As I live alone, I must keep 2 metres from anybody I meet or at least as much as possible in the supermarket. There are plastic screens ln front of the checkouts. People can only meet with others in their 'bubble'. Generally a bubble is your household group, in some case it may be your work team (essential services). I have 2 friends, single ladies who live opposite one another and they decided to form one bubble. Liquor stores are closed but you can buy wine and beer in the supermarket. Supermarkets will be open Easter Sunday (usually closed) but still remain closed on Good Friday.
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^^^^ South Korea told the US officials otherwise. Worldwide Govt officials now are really trying to tamper the public message b/c they know currently the world's supply of PPE and masks is being consumed and reserved for professional / hospital use. So the alternatives are make-your-own which they are recommending. Plenty of authentic, reliable, google-able info out there. The point not being made is there seems to be knowledge that any % reduction in the initial contact esposure may impact the degree to which you are sickened and your life threatened. So if someone is infected and your "mask" gets you a 60% dose vs 100% dose of whatever they are releasing... might just be enough for you to have a mild case vs deadly case.
Social distancing is the only proven method to thwart transmission of any highly contagious virus. Science does NOT fully understand this corona virus yet. The world does not yet know the real R0 numbers nor the real mortality figures but what we do know so far, is very concerning and scares the hell outta me.
WRT "in public" since I don't do well with spring pollen so I have a real "respirator" in my garage I keep for working outside during this time of year. I wore it into one local Walgreens Friday to drop off a prescription. I got a couple of weird looks but I really don't give a *@()@ what they think vs. what I know. I saw one other person in the store wearing a mask. It was an elderly lady picking up her medications. About 10 days ago, I'd say 1/3 of the people in Costco were wearing masks. I skipped this week so I expect those numbers to increase. My PoV is that it saves my life, the lives of my family, or more importantly the lives of others, then weird looks be damned. If a mask protects people from each other even a small percentage, then that many fewer people will become severely infected and die. So what do I have to loose by wearing one? Pride? Invincibility? The data says that's not going to help us. It's not like this is a fist fight. I was encouraged to see younger people (20's/30's), who've had this sh*@*, telling others their age, this virus is VERY real - listen or die.
We are really just now learning about how a lot of people can asymptomatic but still be highly infectious. It appears this virus is heavily "front loaded" meaning we become very infectious very soon after being infected and well before showing any symptoms. That's is about as insidious (and dangerous) as it gets. I also read that they think the virus can target more than just lung cells such as heart cells so it's a double-killer.
If you've not watched Bill Gates' 2015 TED talk on pandemics, I'd suggest taking a quick look and compare to where we are:
https://www.ted.com/talks/bill_gates_the_next_outbreak_we_re_not_ready?language=en
https://www.cnet.com/news/bill-gates-calls-for-nationwide-shutdown-to-curb-coronavirus-pandemic/
V.
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A very good, quick video by this nurse...and she stresses that people who wear gloves to the grocery store should take them off before they get in their car and THROW THEM AWAY IN THE TRASH, NOT ON THE GROUND. If she had to mention it twice, that tells me that idiot people are taking them off and throwing them on the ground.
Her general message? "There's no point in wearing gloves, if you're not gonna wash your hands every time you touch something,"
This nurse demonstrates just how fast germs spread even if you're wearing gloves
https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/04/us/spreading-germs-nurse-trnd/index.html (https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/04/us/spreading-germs-nurse-trnd/index.html)
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A very good, quick video by this nurse...and she stresses that people who wear gloves to the grocery store should take them off before they get in their car and THROW THEM AWAY IN THE TRASH, NOT ON THE GROUND. If she had to mention it twice, that tells me that idiot people are taking them off and throwing them on the ground.
Her general message? "There's no point in wearing gloves, if you're not gonna wash your hands every time you touch something,"
This nurse demonstrates just how fast germs spread even if you're wearing gloves
https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/04/us/spreading-germs-nurse-trnd/index.html (https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/04/us/spreading-germs-nurse-trnd/index.html)
I've been seeing quite a few pics on Facebook of places littered with masks and gloves. Is it really that hard to throw them away properly?
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^^^
I saw one in my driveway for a couple days. I don't think people really know what to do when wearing gloves. Seems to me gloves seem more like reminders not to touch your face.
I don't like wearing a mask, but I did when I went to Trader Joe's and Pavilions yesterday. Many customers were wearing them, but I noticed that not one clerk or worker in T.J.'s was wearing one. In Pavilion's some were and some weren't.
Since people don't generally like to wear them, I wonder if it's encouraged to keep people in? Whatever works.
Reading in the Diner, I cannot get over how much more restricted we are...
The problem here is that we don't have national leadership, someone that's telling the country what's going on and what to do with one voice. Some places are very restrictive. Some aren't. And alarmingly it seems to be separated by political party. Red state Governors like Missouri and Florida...do what you want.
SIDEBAR: "It's always the south..." NYT article:
In the American South, a Perfect Storm Is Gathering
In states with many uninsured citizens, few hospitals and leaders who have not required citizens to stay home, a disaster is looming.
Blue state Governors like NY and the West Coast states...much different.
Los Angeles 405 Freeway in a recent photo taken at rush hour: :o
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/ETU75TrXYAAwRmb?format=jpg)
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My two nieces in Central New York, one works in a doctor's office and the other works in a nursing home. In the nursing home she reports that many of the elderly don't really know what's going on, they don't follow or watch much news and they think they're being punished. They don't understand the restrictions nor why their relatives are unable to visit them. My niece in the doctor's office frustratingly said "people are a pain in the ass and they don't listen."
My sister stays home, but did have to go take her dog to a vet. She amused me the way she wrote it: "I took my dog to vet yesterday for a lump in her neck. No contact though.
1.) you call from parking lot when you arrive
2.) you give card number
3.) they come take dog, do what they have to
4.) they charge me $288
5.) bring dog back and we go home.
Wish it was always that fast."
Heh!
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I wore a facemask when I went to shop at Safeway a little while ago. They're pretty hot and fog up your glasses too. I'll be glad when we no longer need them.
Quite a few shoppers had them on, and all the store personnel.
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I wore a facemask when I went to shop at Safeway a little while ago. They're pretty hot and fog up your glasses too. I'll be glad when we no longer need them.
Quite a few shoppers had them on, and all the store personnel.
Fritz, I don't know what kind of mask you have, but it it's possible you can unbend a small paper clip and insert it at the top of the mask in the center and then bend it to fit over your nose. This prevents your breath from fogging up your glasses. Most of the DIY YouTube videos recommend doing this when posting how to make a mask.
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Thanks for that tip, I'll try it next time! It's a blue paper mask with elastic bands to fit around the ears. Earl got them for when any of his wrestling buddies wanted them. We have the gloves as leftovers from when the visiting nurse and I were dressing Earl's radiation wounds.
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I have some masks (3?) from the hardware store that I use when spreading compost to avoid Legionnaires disease also when mulching my own cuttings but that is to avoid dust. tried to buy more just before the lockdown started but they were sold out. I think I will take the risk for my one visit to the supermarket every 10 days. The staff wear them but only a few customers, at least a week ago. When out walking we do the Covid swerve. I had to laugh yesterday as a lady was approaching me with her little girl on a bicycle in front. Mother sang out to her daughter "Remember 2 metres". I moved onto the road.
I am just in the process of deferring my travel insurance for 12 months. It had a clause exempting pandemics so was useless. I asked for a refund but the best I can get is a 12 month start deferral but am hoping that can be extended yet again.
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Fritz, I don't know what kind of mask you have, but it it's possible you can unbend a small paper clip and insert it at the top of the mask in the center and then bend it to fit over your nose. This prevents your breath from fogging up your glasses. Most of the DIY YouTube videos recommend doing this when posting how to make a mask.
The same thing happened--glasses fogged up--when I went out to the drug store with a bandanna tied over my nose and mouth. I looked ready to rob a stagecoach.
Today I got instructions off the internet for how to make a mask using a bandanna and a couple of rubber bands. Turned out to be easier than I expected.
At least now I have some use for all those old "hankie code" bandannas that I don't need anymore. I have so many of them I can color coordinate with my outfit. ;D
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Knew that the hankie code would come back eventually.
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Another idea I came up with. Using a clean new or used Ace Bandage 4" or wider, preferably one with Velcro. 4" covered my nose and under my chin. Use larger if your face needs it to cover your nose to under your chin. Figure out the width you need for your face and double it, cut that length and put the ends together with the Velcro that is already on one end. Fold the end to the center of the back, against your face. I used elastic, but that is hard to come by these days as well, so use a couple of rubberbands that are long enough to fit over your ears. Slip them on the elastic bandage then Velcro shut.
Remember that the elastic bandage is going to stretch, so don't cut it too big. It provides good coverage and is a snug fit.
I used this one today and it worked just fine and stayed snug.
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Today's briefing in L.A. County...
Officials Urge LA County Residents to Skip Grocery Shopping, Stay Home This Week, Avoid Essential Errands During "Critical" Week in Coronavirus Fight
https://abc7.com/la-county-residents-urged-to-skip-grocery-shopping-this-week/6081845/
I guess I should do this, can do this, have to do this...if I make a list to see what I can eat every day, because this kind of news makes me want to eat and eat. And more.
Anyone else have restrictions like this?
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I went yesterday with mask and gloves to Safeway to get some needed items, as well as some more frozen food to fill up the freezer. We should be OK for several weeks. Earl is showing many though not all of the symptoms (no respiratory problems yet), some days are better than others, the fever comes and goes. Acetaminophen controls it, but not perfectly. He first noticed some symptoms back on the 19th, but it's gotten especially bad since the 27th.
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Chin up and hugs to you and Earl, Fritz!
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Thanks, Lyle!
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^^^ Yes they have been strongly urging people to remain at home because during the peaks, the most infectious people are "out-there" too which exponentially multiplies the downstream case loads.
I decided yesterday to have my medications shipped and to have as many other necessary things delivered as possible. Now, more than ever, I am coordinating and requesting any amazon shipments to a single day to help minimize their trips.
I read this AM that most grocery store deliveries are overloaded with a delivery queue now in multiple days. Instatacart is buried too. Patience will be key, as is planning ahead by at least a week, as this virus contorts the world. Peace and stay safe! V.
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^^^ Yes they have been strongly urging people to remain at home because during the peaks, the most infectious people are "out-there" too which exponentially multiplies the downstream case loads.
I decided yesterday to have my medications shipped and to have as many other necessary things delivered as possible. Now, more than ever, I am coordinating and requesting any amazon shipments to a single day to help minimize their trips.
I read this AM that most grocery store deliveries are overloaded with a delivery queue now in multiple days. Instatacart is buried too. Patience will be key, as is planning ahead by at least a week, as this virus contorts the world. Peace and stay safe! V.
I've heard that, too. I frankly, don't know what to do except to do it myself. I don't like the idea of someone else picking out my groceries, especially produce, yet grocery stores are my real worry; they are the only place I can't avoid groups of people. I went into my pharmacy on Saturday, and there was nobody around. The manager was "guarding" the door; she said nothing about me coming in, but she refused to let a group of five or so teenagers into the store. I don't know; maybe she felt certain they didn't want to come in to actually buy things. I couldn't hear most of what she said to them.
By the end of this week, or this weekend, I will need to do some shopping. It's really kind of strange. I live in a high-rise building in the very heart of Center City Philadelphia. With businesses, stores, bars, and restaurants all closed, the neighborhood is like a ghost town. It doesn't exactly seem dangerous at least to go out for a walk (with nose and mouth covered, of course) because it's so easy to avoid anyone else on the street. The supermarket where I more or less need to shop is located on the border between my neighborhood and a more residential neighborhood and therefore draws groups of people. I may try to go there during the seniors time; I'll be 62 next month.
Food is the primary concern, but last night I got to thinkin', I presume my local Staples is not open. I better check if they ship, and think about ordering paper and ink online so I don't run out before this crisis is over and the mayor lets stores reopen.
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British PM Boris Johnson Moved To Intensive Care
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That was yesterday!
He’s stable, on oxygen, not on a ventilator.
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I am going to the supermarket today. it has been 9 days since I went. That means it has been 9 days since I drove my car or went anywhere near a shop, just my street and bush walk. My supermarket does not deliver. I think the other chain that does deliver only does so for over 70's. My friends either have their children deliver or have signed up for deliveries. I only had to queue to enter for less than 10 minutes last time so fingers crossed. Our government does not recommend face masks for the average person, says you are more likely to touch your face. That is WHO recommendation Hand washing and social distancing is more important. Numbers of new cases dropped yesterday to 54 so hope our very strict lockdown may be relaxed on April 23.
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The Post reports very favorably on NZ's approach.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/new-zealand-isnt-just-flattening-the-curve-its-squashing-it/2020/04/07/6cab3a4a-7822-11ea-a311-adb1344719a9_story.html
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That is good. I cannot read it as I have an adblocker.
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Darn. All their coronavirus coverage is free and open to all readers.
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^^^^ nope ditto... blocking, subscription only..
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Yeah, the Washington Post gives you like 5 free looks, and then you have to subscribe, unfortunately.
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That's odd, they're saying that their coronavirus coverage is not blocked. I wouldn't know because we get a digital subscription along with our paper one.
It's disappointing that they're being trumplike in that.
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Yeah, the Washington Post gives you like 5 free looks, and then you have to subscribe, unfortunately.
That annoys me too, when I want to see a specific article, and I can't see it. LOL
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HERE IS THE WHOLE ARTICLE FRITZ POSTED
New Zealand isn’t just flattening the curve. It’s squashing it.
April 7, 2020 at 4:31 a.m. MDT
HAVELOCK NORTH, New Zealand — It has been less than two weeks since New Zealand imposed a coronavirus lockdown so strict that swimming at the beach and hunting in bushland were banned. They’re not essential activities, plus we have been told not to do anything that could divert emergency services’ resources.
People have been walking and biking strictly in their neighborhoods, lining up six feet apart outside grocery stores while waiting to go one-in-one-out, and joining swaths of the world in discovering the vagaries of home schooling.
It took only 10 days for signs that the approach here — “elimination” rather than the “containment” goal of the United States and other Western countries — is working.
"The number of new cases has fallen for two consecutive days, despite a huge increase in testing, with 54 confirmed or probable cases reported Tuesday. That means the number of people who have recovered, 65, exceeds the number of daily infections.
“The signs are promising,” Ashley Bloomfield, New Zealand’s director general of health, said Tuesday.
The speedy results have led to calls to ease the lockdown, even a little, for the four-day Easter holiday, especially as summer lingers on.
But Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern is adamant that New Zealand will complete four weeks of lockdown — two full 14-day incubation cycles — before letting up. She has, however, given the Easter Bunny special dispensation to work this weekend.
How has New Zealand, a country I still call home after 20 years abroad, controlled its outbreak so quickly?
When I arrived here a month ago, traveling from the epicenter of China via the hot spot of South Korea, I was shocked that officials did not take my temperature at the airport. I was told simply to self-isolate for 14 days (I did).
But with the coronavirus tearing through Italy and spreading in the United States, this heavily tourism-reliant country — it gets about 4 million international visitors a year, almost as many as its total population — did the previously unthinkable: It shut its borders to foreigners March 19.
Two days later, Ardern delivered a televised address from her office — the first time since 1982 that an Oval Office-style speech had been given — announcing a coronavirus response alert plan involving four stages, with a full lockdown being Level 4.
A group of influential leaders got on the phone with her the following day to urge moving to Level 4.
A group of influential leaders got on the phone with her the following day to urge moving to Level 4.
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CONTINUED:
"We were hugely worried about what was happening in Italy and Spain,” said one of them, Stephen Tindall, founder of the Warehouse, New Zealand’s largest retailer.
“If we didn’t shut down quickly enough, the pain was going to go on for a very long time,” he said in a phone interview. “It’s inevitable that we will have to shut down anyway, so we would rather it be sharp and short.”
On March 23, a Monday, Ardern delivered another statement and gave the country 48 hours to prepare for a Level 4 lockdown. “We currently have 102 cases,” she said. “But so did Italy once.”
From that Wednesday night, everyone had to stay at home for four weeks unless they worked in an essential job, such as health care, or were going to the supermarket or exercising near their home.
A few hours before midnight, my phone sounded a siren as it delivered a text alert: “Act as if you have COVID-19. This will save lives,” it said, referring to the disease caused by the novel coronavirus. “Let’s all do our bit to unite against COVID-19.”
From the earliest stages, Ardern and her team have spoken in simple language: Stay home. Don’t have contact with anyone outside your household “bubble.” Be kind. We’re all in this together.
She’s usually done this from the podium of news conferences where she has discussed everything from the price of cauliflowers to wage subsidies. But she also regularly gives updates and answers questions on Facebook, including one done while sitting at home — possibly on her bed — in a sweatshirt.
There have been critics and rebels. The police have been ordering surfers out of the waves. The health minister was caught — and publicly chastised by Ardern, who said she would have fired him if it weren’t disruptive to the crisis response — for mountain biking and taking his family to the beach.
But there has been a sense of collective purpose. The police phone line for nonemergencies has been overwhelmed with people calling to “dob in,” as we say here, reporting others they think are breaching the rules.
The response has been notably apolitical. The center-right National Party has clearly made a decision not to criticize the government’s response — and in fact to help it.
These efforts appear to be paying off.
After peaking at 89 on April 2, the daily number of new cases ticked down to 67 on Monday and 54 on Tuesday. The vast majority of cases can be linked to international travel, making contact tracing relatively easy, and many are consolidated into identifiable clusters.
Because there is little evidence of community transmission, New Zealand does not have huge numbers of people overwhelming hospitals. Only one person, an elderly woman with existing health problems, has died.
The nascent slowdown reflected “a triumph of science and leadership,” said Michael Baker, a professor of public health at the University of Otago and one of the country’s top epidemiologists.
“Jacinda approached this decisively and unequivocally and faced the threat,” said Baker, who had been advocating for an “elimination” approach since reading a World Health Organization report from China.
“Other countries have had a gradual ramp-up, but our approach is exactly the opposite,” he said. While other Western countries have tried to slow the disease and “flatten the curve,” New Zealand has tried to stamp it out entirely.
Some American doctors have urged the Trump administration to pursue the elimination approach.
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I was able to read it with many annoying pop up adds on Firefox. I usually use Safari.
Thankfully our local news do not block non-subscribers although they threatened to do so a year or so ago. I would be willing to pay an online subscription if they made it cheaper than the delivery subscription. I read the Sydney Morning Herald (Australia) using my sister's subscription log in. She has it delivered.
I have just come back from the Supermarket. Had to queue for 30 minutes. Saw a friend as I walked down the line then she was right in front of me at the checkout. We had a conversation at 2 metres apart. The first face to face conversation I have had in 2 weeks, sort of exciting. I am not a talk on the phone sort of person.
Noticed no paper towels, did not check TP. Still no Vit C. I have enough but wanted to get ahead. Got Coleslaw which was out last week. I wanted some cooked chicken thighs and drumsticks but she was still wrapping the drumsticks (Everything in the deli area is prewrapped) as they had just come in. I have enough frozen so did not wait.
I went to the pharmacy as I needed lactose free tablets, I had to queue at the door. Just one lady in front with a script. She had to put it in a plastic bag then a person from inside came and took it. That person then came and took me to the area where my tablets would be and I pointed at them. Just one customer inside at a time and no self touching the merchandise. Fortunately I went to my GP on March 19 and had all my prescriptions filled for 3 months just a week before the lockdown.
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CONTINUED:
In New Zealand’s case, being a small island nation makes it easy to shut borders. It also helps that the country often feels like a village where everyone knows everyone else, so messages can travel quickly.
New Zealand’s next challenge: once the virus is eliminated, how to keep it that way.
The government won’t be able to allow people free entry into New Zealand until the virus has stopped circulating globally or a vaccine has been developed, Baker said. But with strict border control, restrictions could be gradually relaxed, and life inside New Zealand could return to almost normal.
Ardern has said her government is considering mandatory quarantine for New Zealanders returning to the country post-lockdown. “I really want a watertight system at our border,” she said this week, “and I think we can do better on that.”
TAKEN DIRECTLY FROM THE WASHINGTON POST
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^^^^^^
It was a long article.
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Thanks, Linda!
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I couldn't get any shredded cabbage which I like for my salad along wit spinach leaves at the store on Sunday, so I had to settle for shredded lettuce. No shredded carrots either. There are odd outages.
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The health minister is my local member. It was so unlike him, he studied medicine at university then dropped it in favour of theology and philosophy in which he has doctorate. He is a Presbyterian minister but not a conservative, he has officiated at same-sex marriages. His political career is probably over and I am disappointed. At first we heard he had been seen mountain biking just 2 km from his home and I was defending him as a silly mistake but now we find he also drove 20 km to a beach with his family. He has only kept his job as health minister because of the crisis but has been demoted to the bottom of the cabinet list and lost a finance portfolio.
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Thanks, Linda!
No problem, Fritz. It's a good article.
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Thanks Linda
I hope it works. Everything is so much more strict here than in Australia. It helps being a small island country with just one government, no states. I worry about my sister but more my brother-in-law who insists on going for walks in the Mall near their home. I spent half an hour in our mall today in a long queue winding through it, each of us over a metre apart. Only the supermarket and the pharmacy were open. Nothing else would be open in the city except probably the banks. Driving through the city the traffic was quieter than on an early Sunday morning.
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No problem, Brian. I wanted to get the article on here as it is informative. I hope the powers that be here have read it.
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That's odd, they're saying that their coronavirus coverage is not blocked. I wouldn't know because we get a digital subscription along with our paper one.
It's disappointing that they're being trumplike in that.
I wondered about other City papers. Mine opened their online access to all, for FREE!! Just during this crisis though, they want to get the virus updates out to all.
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I couldn't get any shredded cabbage which I like for my salad along wit spinach leaves at the store on Sunday, so I had to settle for shredded lettuce. No shredded carrots either. There are odd outages.
Oh, shredded cabbage salad. I was hooked on that for several months last year, then just quit it. Before that it was lettuce salads, everyday, no fail. This Winter I decided I was getting enough veggies in my soups, I switched to those Veggie Steamfresh microwave meals, I do love those. I go on binges with salads, not sure why, right now I'm stuck on Egg Salad sandwiches, LOVE THOSE!! lol....long as I'm eating healthy, I don't care! Still have my fruits and yogurt every morning, no fail!! I like to start the day healthy, then see what happens later! :o :o :o
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Not too 'chatty' in here today!! haha......SUN was out today, very warm, up to 80 F.......wonderful day for a LONG-ASS walk in the Park too....washed my Truck, finally! Had a very productive day! Now for my recorded shows and a little reading before TRYING to sleep later....
Catch up with you in the Morning Time, maybe? ;D
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^^^ Linda, thanks for posting! Good, encouraging read... now only if...
Shelter-in-place and social distances are the only proven tools we humans collectively have against the CV-19 pandemic virus today. While CV-19 is killing people and destroying the world's economy, those ignoring these measures and pretending they are immune endangers everyone. I do not want that blood on my hands.
By not using the ONLY tool we have to 100% of its' full capacity to dead stop this foe, is beyond my reasoning when the incoming data like this shows + results. V.
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Why don't we appeal more to people's fear and selfishness than to their altruism?
Tell them, repeatedly and loudly, Cover your nose and mouth and wash your hands SO YOU DON'T CATCH IT!
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For my own info, I'd like to know if someone who would ordinarily be unable to access the WaPo feed because they've reached the limit, if they could see this article feed unhindered. This one says that access is free, whereas the one about New Zealand, the free access was just implied and not stated.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2020/04/08/coronavirus-latest-news/
Thanks in advance!
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I was able to read the article at the link, but when I clicked on the New Zealand article, I would have to join to read.
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OK, thanks. The free access is more limited than the home front page would suggest. But at least they're not being completely trumpian about it.
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(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EVCI9RmUMAAu-nS.png)
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Conservatives are special.
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So Bernie Sanders is out of the race.
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^^^^ Absolutely true. ... We are going to be dealing with these 5 a$$(*@(*@ for the next 30 years.
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So Bernie Sanders is out of the race.
Yes, and there are a bunch of supporters on Bernie's twitter feed saying there is no way they will vote for Biden, so unless Biden can changes their minds, we'll be in this mess for another 4 years.
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And of course one of Putin's favorites the Green Party Jill Stein is making a push for his supporters.
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Yes, and there are a bunch of supporters on Bernie's twitter feed saying there is no way they will vote for Biden, so unless Biden can changes their minds, we'll be in this mess for another 4 years.
Idiots. Effen idiots. ...
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I have read many of those Bernie's supporters asking people not to vote are actually Russian bots, but who knows...
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They're certainly carrying out Putin's wishes. He wants to keep the Western World disrupted, thinking he'll come out the winner on a diminished planet.
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Yes, and there are a bunch of supporters on Bernie's twitter feed saying there is no way they will vote for Biden, so unless Biden can changes their minds, we'll be in this mess for another 4 years.
Then BERNIE needs to tell his loyal followers that this sort of thinking is what put the great orange satan in charge. We best VOTE for whomever it takes to get him as a 1 Termer. This is no longer about Bernie vs Biden, it's about getting rid of Trump and the GOP deathgrip they have on congress. Recall that SOB won by about 80,000 votes across key states.. Just enough Bernie supporters take that attitude and we will be dealing the orange satan another 4 years.. and the Supreme court will forever tilted RIGHT for the rest of our lives.
See the bigger picture. I've already told my son he and his friends best get the message. V.
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Trump called out for voting absentee right after attacking absentee voting
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=McthzKPwKTg
Trump falls on face when asked by Jim Acosta for proof of mail-in ballot fraud
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FbMGSSKQ4nU
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Okay, talk about being in the Twilight Zone...
(https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/nf9mM0yq41thWeAghEeEgVv8GGQ=/0x0:6720x4480/1200x800/filters:focal(2823x1703:3897x2777)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/66562135/GettyImages_1213915416.7.jpg)
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA) — With so many people staying at home and off the roads, Los Angeles currently has the cleanest air in the world, according to IQ Air’s live quality city ranking.
LA Has The Cleanest Air In The World, Report Says
https://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2020/04/06/la-cleanest-air-report/ (https://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2020/04/06/la-has-the-cleanest-air-in-the-world-report-says/)
(https://www.8newsnow.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/59/2020/04/LA_airpollution.jpg)
I'm going out and breathe...!!!
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Wow!
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And the canals of Venice are clean.
I'm tellin' ya, Covid-19 is Mother Earth finally starting to pay us back.
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;D
It helps here that we've had quite a bit of rainy weather in March and April (it's raining now) and there's little air traffic of any sort.
I did enjoy going out on my stoop awhile ago and breathing the clean fresh air!
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When I was a Geography teacher in the 80's and teaching about Global warming, I use to discuss with my senior first level students a concept that the earth was a living organism that periodically had to cleanse itself of disease just like humans do with disease that attacks the body and humans might just be the latest disease and climate change the remedy. I wish I could remember the name given to the theory.
It was a Catholic school and I was careful to explain it was theory but they were 17 and 18 year olds and the De La Salle Brothers were very liberal even putting up with an openly gay teacher.
I always remember as a highlight of my teaching when having discussed this concept before morning recess, several of them came and complained to me afterwards that they had not spent the recess getting any physical exercise as they were too busy discussing what I had just been teaching. ;D
I get so exasperated with climate change deniers. I was teaching the concept of global warming and climate change in the 1970's even though it was not in the general news media in those days.
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And the canals of Venice are clean.
I'm tellin' ya, Covid-19 is Mother Earth finally starting to pay us back.
I can't help but think the same thing, Jeff!!
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^^^^ Yeap, wipe out the infection killing me... how stark, how sad that we cannot learn. V.
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When I was a Geography teacher in the 80's and teaching about Global warming, I use to discuss with my senior first level students a concept that the earth was a living organism that periodically had to cleanse itself of disease just like humans do with disease that attacks the body and humans might just be the latest disease and climate change the remedy. I wish I could remember the name given to the theory.
It was a Catholic school and I was careful to explain it was theory but they were 17 and 18 year olds and the De La Salle Brothers were very liberal even putting up with an openly gay teacher.
I always remember as a highlight of my teaching when having discussed this concept before morning recess, several of them came and complained to me afterwards that they had not spent the recess getting any physical exercise as they were too busy discussing what I had just been teaching. ;D
I get so exasperated with climate change deniers. I was teaching the concept of global warming and climate change in the 1970's even though it was not in the general news media in those days.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaia_hypothesis
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NZ Police filmed this in Arrowtown, a heritage gold mining town
https://www.odt.co.nz/regions/queenstown/cop-outguns-covid-arrowtown-quickdraw
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaia_hypothesis
A million thanks. I have been trying for years to remember 'Gaia', knew it was G and all I could think of was Gondwana. All my Geography teaching notes, texts etc were thrown out when I moved to NZ if not before.
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You're welcome!
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The City of Philadelphia updates its coronavirus statistics every day at 1 p.m.
As of yesterday (4/11), the city reported 5271 cases of coronavirus, with 160 deaths.
In 2018, the city's population was 1.58 million.
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We have a National update at 1pm usually with our Prime Minister and Director-General of Health though both were absent over the weekend. They were both on deck today although it is a Public holiday.
There were 19 new cases today bringing the total to 1349 in a population of 4.9 million. I guess we can be thankful.
We now have 5 deaths, 3 (80s and 90s) from the same rest home for elderly people with dementia. 1 man (60's)from a wedding which has produced over 80 cases. It was held just before restrictions came in and apparently a handful of the guests had just returned from overseas. The other and the first case was a lady in her 70's. She had underlying health problems and was not at first treated as a Covid case. It meant many of the hospital staff who had treated her had to go into strict isolation for 2 weeks. Today is Day 19 of our very strict level of isolation which will last a minimum of 28 days. The Prime Minister hinted that, even if restrictions are slightly lifted then, it is unlikely overseas visitors will be allowed in for the rest of the year and all returning citizens will be placed in restricted facilities for 2 weeks as is happening now. Tourism is NZ's biggest overseas earner.
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The Costly Toll of Not Shutting Down Spring Break Earlier
Patricia Mazzei and Frances Robles - April 12, 2020
You could find Beatriz Diaz at this spring’s Winter Party Festival in Miami Beach, giving out hand sanitizer. It was early March. She knew the coronavirus was beginning to make its way around the world, but she figured if she kept her hands clean and avoided sweaty people, she would be safe.
“I was thinking, ‘OK, well, hold on, the government did not cancel it, so it should be fine,’” she said.
Within days, reports started popping up on Facebook about a DJ and several partygoers who were suddenly terribly ill. By the end of the month, two people who attended the festival had died.
As of last week, 38 people had reported that they were symptomatic or had tested positive for the coronavirus in the weeks following the event, according to the organizer, the National LGBTQ Task Force. Diaz was among them.
Weeks before Florida ordered people to stay at home, the coronavirus was well into its insidious spread in the state, infecting residents and visitors who days earlier had danced at beach parties and reveled in theme parks. Only now, as people have gotten sick and recovered from — or succumbed to — COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, has the costly toll of keeping Florida open during the spring break season started to become apparent.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/costly-toll-not-shutting-down-161107861.html
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Okay...at least ONE of these should make you laugh!
IT'S A PUNDEMIC!
What’s the difference between COVID-19 and Romeo and Juliet? One’s the coronavirus and the other is a Verona crisis.
You know who buys up all the toilet paper? Assholes.
Why do they call it the novel coronavirus? It’s a long story….
Why didn’t the sick guy get the joke? It flu over his head.
Why don’t chefs find coronavirus jokes funny? They’re in bad taste.
I’ll tell you a coronavirus joke now, but you’ll have to wait two weeks to see if you got it.
Nail salons, hair salons, waxing center and tanning places are closed. It’s about to get ugly out there.
Finland just closed its borders. You know what that means. No one will be crossing the finish line.
What do you tell yourself when you wake up late for work and realize you have a fever? Self, I so late.
Did you hear the joke about the germ? Never mind, I don’t want to spread it around.
Where do sick boats go to get healthy? The dock!
What did the sick parent make their kids for lunch? Mac and sneeze.
I ran out of toilet paper and had to start using old newspapers. Times are rough.
You know what they’re saying about 2020. It went viral faster than anyone thought it would.
What do you call panic-buying of sausage and cheese in Germany? The wurst kase scenario.
Back in my day you would cough to cover up passing gas. Now, with COVID-19, you pass gas to cover up a cough.
If there’s a baby boom nine months from now, what will happen in 2033? There will be a whole bunch of quaranteens.
You know what they say: feed a cold, starve a fever, drink a corona.
What should you do if you don’t understand a coronavirus joke? Be patient.
If Coronavirus isn’t about beer, why do I keep seeing cases of it?
The grocery stores in France look like tornadoes hit them. All that’s left is de brie.
Still no toilet paper in the stores. They’re wiped out and you’re shit out of luck.
So many coronavirus jokes out there, it’s a pandemic.
Yeah I have plans tonight. I’ll probably hit the living room around 8 or 9.
What did the man say to the bartender? I’ll have a corona, hold the virus.
30 days hath September, April, June, and November, all the rest have 31, except for March which has infinite.
What types of jokes are allowed during quarantine? Inside jokes.
What’s the best way to avoid touching your face? A glass of wine in each hand.
:laugh: :laugh: :P :laugh: :P :o ;D :o :P :-* ;D :laugh: :P :o :laugh: :P :o ;D :o :P :-* ;D :laugh: :P :o :laugh: :laugh: :P :laugh: :o :P :-* ;D
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Yep!
:laugh: :laugh: :laugh:
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For reference.
https://nypost.com/2020/04/13/virginia-pastor-who-held-packed-church-service-dies-of-coronavirus/
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To which this story comes to mind:
A fellow was stuck on his rooftop in a flood. He was praying to God for help.
Soon a man in a rowboat came by and the fellow shouted to the man on the roof, "Jump in, I can save you."
The stranded fellow shouted back, "No, it's OK, I'm praying to God and he is going to save me."
So the rowboat went on.
Then a motorboat came by. "The fellow in the motorboat shouted, "Jump in, I can save you."
To this the stranded man said, "No thanks, I'm praying to God and he is going to save me. I have faith."
So the motorboat went on.
Then a helicopter came by and the pilot shouted down, "Grab this rope and I will lift you to safety."
To this the stranded man again replied, "No thanks, I'm praying to God and he is going to save me. I have faith."
So the helicopter reluctantly flew away.
Soon the water rose above the rooftop and the man drowned. He went to Heaven. He finally got his chance to discuss this whole situation with God, at which point he exclaimed, "I had faith in you but you didn't save me, you let me drown. I don't understand why!"
To this God replied, "I sent you a rowboat and a motorboat and a helicopter, what more did you expect?"
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And then there's South Dakota.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/south-dakotas-governor-resisted-ordering-people-to-stay-home-now-it-has-one-of-the-nations-largest-coronavirus-hot-spots/2020/04/13/5cff90fe-7daf-11ea-a3ee-13e1ae0a3571_story.html
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After that Wisconsin primary last week that the GOP insisted on holding despite health risks in order to have one of their own Supreme Court members reelected, this happened.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/liberal-challenger-defeats-conservative-incumbent-in-wisconsin-supreme-court-race/2020/04/13/7d1195ec-7d9e-11ea-8013-1b6da0e4a2b7_story.html
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^^^You can read much the same info here.
https://www.joemygod.com/2020/04/liberal-wins-seat-on-wisconsin-state-supreme-court/
As one of the comments said, Wisconsin kicked some dairy air.
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Yeah I have plans tonight. I’ll probably hit the living room around 8 or 9.
I think this is my favorite. ;D
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I'm not sure what to say about all the above articles, Fritz. I hate to say they got their's, but this is terrible. The bad thing about the article of the pastor and the packed church is not his death, but all those people he put as risk.
I love the outcome of the Wisconsin election, but once again all the people put at risk. The same for South Dakota.
Here in NM a Pastor of a church is suing the Governor and the State because she included Churches in the mass gathering ban. He said she is EVIL because she announce it Saturday night before Easter Sunday. He said it is against his First Amendment rights.
https://www.kob.com/albuquerque-news/legacy-church-sues-state-after-governor-includes-churches-in-mass-gatherings-ban/5699764/
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I can only hope that people may use all of these as cautionary tales for future action, that people might realize that they're not entirely as invulnerable as they believe in the case of gathering for church services, and that forcing people to vote in person during a pandemic might not have the consequences that those who forced it expected.
The Wisconsin GOP was completely sure that an enforced low voter turnout would be to their advantage. Surprise!
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I'm not sure what to say about all the above articles, Fritz. I hate to say they got their's, but this is terrible. The bad thing about the article of the pastor and the packed church is not his death, but all those people he put as risk.
I love the outcome of the Wisconsin election, but once again all the people put at risk. The same for South Dakota.
Here in NM a Pastor of a church is suing the Governor and the State because she included Churches in the mass gathering ban. He said she is EVIL because she announce it Saturday night before Easter Sunday. He said it is against his First Amendment rights.
https://www.kob.com/albuquerque-news/legacy-church-sues-state-after-governor-includes-churches-in-mass-gatherings-ban/5699764/
The whole "god will protect me" or when they get sick, then they cry "it was god's will" or when they die, "it was his or her time...." These religious wing-nuts have a "religious answer" for everything. They have also well instructed how to use it and readily cloak themselves in "MY religious freedom BS" What really chaps my ass is these same clowns want the state to to fund THEIR religious schools. Have thy cake and eat it too. Well my tax $ should not funding ANY religion period. Freedom of religion also means freedom FROM religion and that right is as equally true as freedom of religion, but these folks have a really hard time understanding that nuance either on purpose or just willfully ignoring it when it doesn't suite them.
What you wanted to say is dead on... Darwin at his finest. They don't believe in that either. If you really think about it, it's not far off from Jim Jones tragedy, only this time is a virulent pathogen virus, not cyanide.
These folks are 100% blinded by their faith. and they can worship whatever &diety they want, BUT when that freedom starts impacting others, sickening other, infecting others, and worse still killing others, it's time to draw a line until the pandemic is solved. (I wonder if this was debated during the 1918 pandemic as 25+ million people died? I really don't know.)
IMO, shut'm down, padlock the doors and turn off the power and water if necessary for force compliance. General public health out weighs the public's religious freedoms during a worldwide pandemic where millions could die like in 1918.
The wingnuts are coming outta the woodwork in NC too - just amazing the mentality at play. -> https://www.wral.com/coronavirus/debate-grows-over-when-to-reopen-nc/19055779/
Peace.
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Here in NM a Pastor of a church is suing the Governor and the State because she included Churches in the mass gathering ban. He said she is EVIL because she announce it Saturday night before Easter Sunday. He said it is against his First Amendment rights.
https://www.kob.com/albuquerque-news/legacy-church-sues-state-after-governor-includes-churches-in-mass-gatherings-ban/5699764/
I wouldn't call her evil, but her timing certainly sucks.
I'm afraid I disagree with you all, but I don't think the government should be shutting down churches. I have no answer for what to do about these independent fundamentalist megachurches, but the responsible denominations that I'm aware of closed their doors before governments got involved (e.g., the bishops of the Episcopal diocese of Pennsylvania and the Lower Susquehanna Synod of the Lutheran Church--I think the Roman Catholic archbishop of Philadelphia did so, too). Those decisions were made by the responsible authorities in those denominations, and they had every right to make them.
If gun shops are allowed to stay open--and they are, because closing them would violate somebody's Second Amendment rights--then governments should not be closing down churches, either.
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Not so much closing them as making them subject to the same mass gathering regulations as other businesses, including the gun stores. Like at Wal-Mart, X number of people per 1000 sqft of shopping space.
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What you are all highlighting is that we don't have focused national leadership for the current situation.
As for the WI Supreme Court Judge who was defeated, the article Fritz linked to had this quote from him:
Kelly conceded the race Monday night. “It has been the highest honor of my career to serve the people of WI on their Supreme Court these past four years,” Kelly said in a statement. “Obviously I had hoped my service would continue for another decade, but tonight’s results make clear that God has a different plan for my future.”
You see what he did there? Blames his loss on God, as though he himself (and his party) are blameless. As though the voters of Wisconsin, whoever they were, weren't his judge and jury.
The WI Republican party doesn't think it was God, though: "Kelly suffered from Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) still being on the ballot."
No self-reflection on the part of Republicans, no sirree!
And I hope voters are tired of childishness from the Trump campaign: Trump campaign spokesman Tim Murtaugh said, “In November against hapless Joe Biden, President Trump will win Wisconsin again, as he did in 2016.”
Just remember how the religious right defended their support of Trump in 2016, and still do, by the way: "Sometimes God chooses an imperfect person to deliver his message."
I doubt they'd apply that notion to any Democrat party candidate, though.
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If gun shops are allowed to stay open--and they are, because closing them would violate somebody's Second Amendment rights--then governments should not be closing down churches, either.[/font][/size]
Not here in New Mexico. I believe this is a state by state decision. The NRA is threatening to sue the governor, but she's not budging. One of the reasons we only have 32 deaths in the whole state. If non essential stores stay open they are reported by the general public and the police step in. The fines climb if they continue to stay open.
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Not so much closing them as making them subject to the same mass gathering regulations as other businesses, including the gun stores. Like at Wal-Mart, X number of people per 1000 sqft of shopping space.
One of our local grocery stores has a sign posted that they are allowed 168 people at a time. I haven't noticed the signs on the other stores, but I haven't been looking. And employees are out front to count.
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What you are all highlighting is that we don't have focused national leadership for the current situation.
Did you know Trump is stealing masks?
The federal government, under the leadership of Donald Trump, months into this crisis, has still not figured out a way to obtain and distribute protective gear to medical workers themselves, so they're stealing supplies ordered by the states.
If you recall, just recently, Trump told the states the Federal Government "isn't a warehouse"...get your own damn supplies. He said "I'll be behind you." Yeah, he'll be behind you with a gun, stealing what you get, to parcel out to his friendly states.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OjzX8vn6-M4
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Speaking of Biden, I suppose everyone has heard that he's now been accused of sexual assault.
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^^^
You're breaking that news to me. So my first thought is the Trump campaign is at it again...just like they successfully made Hillary seem on a par with Trump and got the entire country saying that they're both equally awful...NOT TRUE FOR EFFEN SAKE...they're going to do the same thing again with the Democratic nominee.
Next I read this piece:
What to Do With Tara Reade’s Allegation Against Joe Biden?
A sexual assault accusation against the presumptive Democratic nominee is being used to troll the #MeToo movement.
by Michelle Goldberg
Opinion Columnist
April 13, 2020
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/13/opinion/tara-reade-joe-biden.html
__________
My advice:
2020 Election: Eyes on the Prize
The Republicans will try anything. Compared to Trump, Biden is Mother Teresa. This is a divide and conquer strategy: Divide the Democrats. Don't let them do it. Why do you suppose these things are coming out now? Trump's being dragged over the coals with everyone talking about his handling of the current crisis. Don't change the subject.
For those who ask: What if it's all true?
I DON'T CARE RIGHT NOW. TRUMP HAS TO GO. Republicans like to have conspiracy theories hanging in the air to create doubt and uncertainty. I have no doubt. I am certain I want Trump out of the White House. This is not going to change that.
What if Democrats ignore this? So what? Look at what Republicans have ignored the last 4 years.
If Republicans want to troll with this ad infinitum, there is one response. the one I mentioned in my previous post above. Their own response:
"Sometimes God chooses an imperfect person to deliver his message."
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DON'T LOSE FOCUS. BACK TO BASICS:
Did you know Trump is stealing masks?
The federal government, under the leadership of Donald Trump, months into this crisis, has still not figured out a way to obtain and distribute protective gear to medical workers themselves, so they're stealing supplies ordered by the states.
If you recall, just recently, Trump told the states the Federal Government "isn't a warehouse"...get your own damn supplies. He said "I'll be behind you." Yeah, he'll be behind you with a gun, stealing what you get, to parcel out to his friendly states.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OjzX8vn6-M4
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^^^ But Guns and Liquor are "essential services" especially when they are regulated and generate revenue for the State and Feds. Public health trumps almost every playing card out there. These people either fail to understand the viral dynamics in play and/or just don't give a crap. Another example are those "anti-vaxers" who "choose not to vaccinate" their kids against polio, measles, mumps etc.. They have NO CLUE about what these diseases did in years past b/c they've never see them first hand nor are they capable of understanding the R0 factors of infections. (Where's Darwin when we need him...? )
Go figure. I'm not disagreeing with you at all...
Frankly, if it's not grocery stores, medical, gas or take out only, or the business operates in a single or small number of people low risk mode (such as lawn care), then they need to be closed, period. The governors of many states have walked a fine line.
I read the NC decree and he chose very carefully understanding the impacts to businesses, people's lives and the community. Starting this past Monday, he enacted a 20% cap at rated fire capacity on # of people able to enter essential stores, so yeah we are queuing outside for 1 out and 1 in. At least the doors are still open.
It was 100% certain to happen that the crazy religious wing-nuts would immediately play their "MY freedom of religion (no matter what) trumps your safety" card. Since they are SO SMART and know everything, let'm all pack'm in the pews . That problem will then take care of itself soon enough - no other way to put it. If the world didn't learn from the deal with the church choir practice in WA state where they were being careful and stayed apart, then have at it. -> https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2020-03-29/coronavirus-choir-outbreak
V.
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We only have essential services, certainly not gun shops and churches are not allowed to open. I cannot get my lawn cut either although I am still automatically paying $40 per week from my bank for garden care. I hope he makes it up to me but with winter coming he would be mowing less regularly soon anyway. No-one can come onto my property and enter my 'bubble' unless for an essential service. A friend did have a plumber come and unblock her sink. I probably could have done that myself, depending how bad it was.
I was able to watch the Easter service at my old church in Sydney. They allow up to 10 people there. There were 5 in the choir standing 2 metres apart, the priest, deacon, a woman priest who preached, one server (usually 3 or 4) and the organist. I was amused watching the server hand the censer to the priest at arms length. Only the celebrant took communion.
However here in NZ where churches are locked, our cathedral service was from the Dean's lounge room with his wife and 2 children. We only saw the children's hands when they received communion but they made all the responses.The music was taken (with permission) from NZ radio when they broadcast our Cathedral Easter service to the Nation in 2016.
I have not been to the cathedral since Christmas Eve, would have gone for Easter. Only because I enjoy the music and ceremony. I wonder how I could have believed it all for over 60 years but, even when I was in my late teens and early 20's and planned on becoming a priest, I was opposed to fundamentalism.
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What to Do With Tara Reade’s Allegation Against Joe Biden?
My advice:
2020 Election: Eyes on the Prize
The Republicans will try anything. Compared to Trump, Biden is Mother Teresa. This is a divide and conquer strategy: Divide the Democrats. Don't let them do it. Why do you suppose these things are coming out now? Trump's being dragged over the coals with everyone talking about his handling of the current crisis. Don't change the subject.
For those who ask: What if it's all true?
I DON'T CARE RIGHT NOW. TRUMP HAS TO GO. Republicans like to have conspiracy theories hanging in the air to create doubt and uncertainty. I have no doubt. I am certain I want Trump out of the White House. This is not going to change that.
What if Democrats ignore this? So what? Look at what Republicans have ignored the last 4 years.
If Republicans want to troll with this ad infinitum, there is one response. the one I mentioned in my previous post above. Their own response:
Thank you, Lyle. I agree.
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If gun shops are allowed to stay open--and they are, because closing them would violate somebody's Second Amendment rights--then governments should not be closing down churches, either.
Well, the social distancing is the key here, it's gathering vs. queuing, I think.
Appart from that, the whole guns sale just down the street thing is complete alien for me, and I am happy that it is.
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^^^ But Guns and Liquor are "essential services" especially when they are regulated and generate revenue for the State and Feds. Public health trumps almost every playing card out there. I just don't think these people understand the viral dynamics in play... just like those folks who "choose not to vaccinate" their kids against polio or measles... they have NO CLUE about what these diseases do b/c they've never see it first hand nor are they capable of understanding the R0 factors of infections. (Where's Darwin when we need him...? )
Go figure. I'm not disagreeing with you at all...
Frankly, if it's not grocery stores, medical, gas or take out only, or the business operates in a single or 2 people low risk mode (such as lawn care), then they ought to all be closed, period. The governors have walked a fine line as I read the NC decree and he chose very carefully. He also recently imposed a 20% cap to fire capacity on # of people now able to enter these essential stores, so yeah we are queuing outside for 1 out and 1 in. At least the doors are still open.
It was 100% certain to happen that the crazy religious wing-nuts would immediately play their BS "MY freedom of religion (no matter what)" card. Since they are SO SMART, let'm all pack'm in the pews - so that problem will take care of itself soon enough. No other more blunt way to put it. If they didn't learn from the deal with the choir practice and they were being careful... have at it. V.
Agree 100%. "But Guns and Liquor are "essential services" especially when they are regulated and generate revenue for the State and Feds." Add cigarettes, the only reason I see these things are consider essential is the taxes income they bring. And I say that being a smoker myself.
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^^^ Gut says those were allowed to stay open b/c they generate $ for the state and here in NC are controlled by very powerful interests. I also believe they likely weighed the impact of reasonable compliance. The ABC stores around here should be simple enough to control the# of people in the store to maintain distancing. IDK about "gun shops" though I assume the same. I'm sure there was a lot of debate on "essential..."
This COVID-19 world pandemic plus a lot of other unrelated stuff has driven me into "triple-edgy" mode. Please forgive some of my more recent rants. I'll tone them down. Peace be with you all. V.
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This COVID-19 world pandemic plus a lot of other unrelated stuff has driven me into "triple-edgy" mode. Please forgive some of my rants more recent rants. I'll tone them down. Peace be with you all. V.
You and me both, and probably 75% of the world population. Nothing to forgive :-*
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You and me both, and probably 75% of the world population. Nothing to forgive :-*
Agreed.
Liquor is a state monopoly in Pennsylvania, which makes it even less sense to me that the stores are closed.
The state has a website for ordering alcohol, but as soon as it was available it crashed from being overwhelmed. Last night the link to the site that I had bookmarked didn't work at all--it wouldn't even access the site.
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Agreed.
Liquor is a state monopoly in Pennsylvania, which makes it even less sense to me that the stores are closed.
The state has a website for ordering alcohol, but as soon as it was available it crashed from being overwhelmed. Last night the link to the site that I had bookmarked didn't work at all--it wouldn't even access the site.
Putting PA in 'dry dock', I guess!! ;D :P :laugh:
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That wouldn't happen in Louisiana, you can buy hard liquor at any mom & pop grocery store. Just like, at least in New Orleans, there's no legal times the bars have to close. Of course these days they don't open except for takeout.
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That wouldn't happen in Louisiana, you can buy hard liquor at any mom & pop grocery store. Just like, at least in New Orleans, there's no legal times the bars have to close. Of course these days they don't open except for takeout.
On the Road Trip during the Barbecue, I bought a bottle of Cutty Sark at a gas station outside Gilette, Wyoming. I think I left it in my hotel room back in Denver; that stuff is vile. :laugh:
On another trip, I was able to buy a bottle of Glenlivet at small store in Wheatland. Call it my Eastern prejudice, or ignorance, I guess, but I was surprised that anyone outside of Cheyenne or Laramie would drink a single malt.
I'm sure I remember buying a bottle in Denver before we left on Roundup, but I don't remember drinking it. :(
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This COVID-19 world pandemic plus a lot of other unrelated stuff has driven me into "triple-edgy" mode. Please forgive some of my more recent rants. I'll tone them down. Peace be with you all. V.
I agree with Elena. Nothing to forgive. We are all at def-con 1, so we all verbalize how we feel and agree with it. The situation and the joke that is our government keep us all on razor's edge.
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That wouldn't happen in Louisiana, you can buy hard liquor at any mom & pop grocery store. Just like, at least in New Orleans, there's no legal times the bars have to close. Of course these days they don't open except for takeout.
You can buy hard liquor at Walgreens here. Several years ago they quit selling cigarettes, so I was surprised about the liquor sales. :o
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You can buy hard liquor at Walgreens here. Several years ago they quit selling cigarettes, so I was surprised about the liquor sales. :o
That does seem a little strange. Maybe the liquor is considered medicinal. ;D
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In NZ, Liquor stores are closed but you can buy beer and wine in supermarkets. I like my glass of wine with the news every night but I could (and have) exist without it. Cannot remember when I last drank anything stronger, probably 40 years or more. Cigarettes are sold but cannot be on display and no advertising. NZ aims to stop all smoking by 2025, not sure that will happen but the taxes are huge and smoking areas are very restricted. The main downside is that dairies (corner stores) are often robbed for cigarettes. I wlll not stand near a smoker and cover my nose if passing one.
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On the Road Trip during the Barbecue, I bought a bottle of Cutty Sark at a gas station outside Gilette, Wyoming. I think I left it in my hotel room back in Denver; that stuff is vile. :laugh:
On another trip, I was able to buy a bottle of Glenlivet at small store in Wheatland. Call it my Eastern prejudice, or ignorance, I guess, but I was surprised that anyone outside of Cheyenne or Laramie would drink a single malt.
I'm sure I remember buying a bottle in Denver before we left on Roundup, but I don't remember drinking it. :(
Gilette,Wy? lol....where is that? And where was the BBQ? Was this at Linda's place? Anyway, I've been to Wy myself, twice I think? Once I left my FAV fishing hat in a Cafe in Landers, Wy, I wrote them and they mailed it BACK to me at home.....amazing!! AND, I still have the Hat!! lol............ :o :P :laugh:.......this was back in the 70's!!
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Gilette,Wy? lol....where is that? And where was the BBQ? Was this at Linda's place? Anyway, I've been to Wy myself, twice I think? Once I left my FAV fishing hat in a Cafe in Landers, Wy, I wrote them and they mailed it BACK to me at home.....amazing!! AND, I still have the Hat!! lol............ :o :P :laugh:.......this was back in the 70's!!
The next year (2007) we had a large gathering in Estes Park CO, and at the end of that weekend several of us left in a number of vehicles on a road trip to various places including some sites in Crook County WY northeast of Rockypoint, with buildings reminiscent of the places Jack and Ennis grew up at.
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Gilette,Wy? lol....where is that? And where was the BBQ? Was this at Linda's place?
Gillette is in northeastern Wyoming roughly midway between the Bighorn Mountains and the Black Hills. It is south and a little west of Lightning Flat. The Barbecue was in Estes Park, Colorado, in 2007.
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Our PM just gave the regular 1pm briefing and it has made me more miserable.
While numbers are continuing to decline, just 15 new cases today, she outlined level 3 which we may go down to next Thursday, they will make the decision on Monday.
It will hardly make a difference to me. Cafes etc will remain closed, cooked food deliveries may be allowed, not sure about my local fish 'n chips shop as they do not deliver, I have to collect. Retail shops other than supermarkets will remain closed, I was hoping I may be able to go to the garden/hardware store. I may be able to get a delivery of an online order.
Schools will reopen for younger children (under 15) whose parents cannot stay home, but keeping them home is preferable.
I may be able to get my lawn mowed as long as I keep away from the guy when he comes. It just needs one more tidy up before winter really sets in. It has been cold with inland snow over the last few days.
Exercise is still not to involve driving anywhere
I can open up my bubble to a visit by one or two relatives, but my only relatives live in Australia.
She acknowledged it was hard for older people living alone.
Funerals and weddings can have up to 10 people, at the moment weddings banned and no-one except priest and undertaker at funeral. However only a service, no food .
They have begun random testing starting with 300 people visiting a supermarket in Queenstown today .
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(((Brian)))
At least in NZ the Tooth Fairy is an essential worker! ;)
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LoL!
(https://i.redd.it/ditij478ivs41.jpg)
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;D
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These days I'm speaking every day to my father, who turned 90 years old in March. Last night he told me that whenever he goes into the supermarket where he shops (and uses the pharmacy for his meds), the store is out of toilet paper. As much as I hate to think of him running around a lot, I told him he's going to have to start checking other stores.
So jokes about people hoarding toilet paper are no longer funny when a 90-year-old man has to risk his health and safety to find some.
(I can't do this for him. We live about 75 miles apart, and I have no way to get to his home. It's a source of constant anxiety.)
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Jeff, couldn't you try to order some for him from Amazon? Some neighbors of us did it.
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Jeff, couldn't you try to order some for him from Amazon? Some neighbors of us did it.
I hadn't thought of that. Might be worth a look.
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Jeff, Amazon in the US is pretty sold out. I ordered some a few weeks ago and it's still sitting in china.
If you can buy it, get some and send it to him. USPS and UPS have free package pick up, probably Fed X does, too. You can set up a package pick up at your place so you don't have to drop it off.
I'm sure it's stressful for you, what a worry...try to buy whatever you can in your area and send to him, you'll feel better. Good luck, let us know how it goes.
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Jeff, Amazon in the US is pretty sold out. I ordered some a few weeks ago and it's still sitting in china.
That does not surprise me.
If you can buy it, get some and send it to him. USPS and UPS have free package pick up, probably Fed X does, too. You can set up a package pick up at your place so you don't have to drop it off.
For USPS at least, not any more. At least, not here; at least, not in my building. We have been notified that there will be no more package pick-ups.
I'm sure it's stressful for you, what a worry...try to buy whatever you can in your area and send to him, you'll feel better. Good luck, let us know how it goes.
Thanks. We'll see how it goes.
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can you use a UPS store? I bet they have updated rules about how to drop off packages to stay safe.
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I think that Earl should watch this. However the testing situation seems to be much different in NZ than the USA.
Here they have set up testing stations near supermarkets in some towns and want people without symptoms to be tested.
https://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/watch-its-fun-go-cbac (https://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/watch-its-fun-go-cbac)
We had just 8 new cases in NZ today but 2 more deaths. Of our 11 deaths, 7 have been in the one nursing (dementia?) home and all have been over 70, most over 80.
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can you use a UPS store? I bet they have updated rules about how to drop off packages to stay safe.
They're close enough I would just drop it off, if they're open. I need to go somewhere anyway to find a box. Maybe the post office has one of the correct size; I'd have to check.
I would not take an unboxed pack of toilet paper anywhere these days to have UPS pack it up. I would be concerned that it might not make it to its destination if someone knows what's in the box.
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yeah, better to have it already boxed and taped up. See if there's a Uhaul place near you, they sell boxes. Uline sells them online...not cheap, but might be your best bet just this once.
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yeah, better to have it already boxed and taped up. See if there's a Uhaul place near you, they sell boxes. Uline sells them online...not cheap, but might be your best bet just this once.
Assuming they're open, UPS stores sell packing stuff, too. So does Staples--my local one is open, just with reduced hours and only a certain number of people in the store at a time.
All these places, UPS store, Staples, and even the post office are within easy walking distance of my place.
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I think that Earl should watch this. However the testing situation seems to be much different in NZ than the USA.
Here they have set up testing stations near supermarkets in some towns and want people without symptoms to be tested.
https://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/watch-its-fun-go-cbac (https://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/watch-its-fun-go-cbac)
We had just 8 new cases in NZ today but 2 more deaths. Of our 11 deaths, 7 have been in the one nursing (dementia?) home and all have been over 70, most over 80.
Thanks, yeah, the situation is so different here because of the way the powers that be want to limit the number of tests.
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I went to two stores yesterday, first time in two weeks, and both had toilet paper! Which I don't need. Neither still had any paper towels. I haven't seen those in a store in 6 weeks.
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I went to two stores yesterday, first time in two weeks, and both had toilet paper! Which I don't need. Neither still had any paper towels. I haven't seen those in a store in 6 weeks.
I've had better luck getting both at small neighborhood stores than at my supermarket.
It was at just one of those stores I scored a couple of masks yesterday.
Um, I think they might have fallen off a truck, but I bought them anyway. ...
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I got some hand sanitiser from the village butcher - as one does. No success anywhere else.
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THE MASK I WEAR TO PROTECT YOU
HONORS THE MASK YOU WEAR TO PROTECT ME
NAMASKÉ!
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Jeff, couldn't you try to order some for him from Amazon? Some neighbors of us did it.
This afternoon once again my father had to go out to the supermarket/pharmacy to pick up a prescription. He told me that today the supermarket was well stocked with toilet paper. He bought ten rolls.
(That he seems to be going out so often just to pick up prescriptions worries me. I need to remember to again urge him to see if he could get prescriptions delivered.)
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Just read
"The Flat Earth Society are reporting social distancing is pushing some of their members over the edge!"
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:laugh: :laugh: :laugh:
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I love that, Brian! ;D
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Just read
"The Flat Earth Society are reporting social distancing is pushing some of their members over the edge!"
:laugh: :laugh: :laugh:
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;D ;D ;D
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Just read
"The Flat Earth Society are reporting social distancing is pushing some of their members over the edge!"
:laugh:
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(That he seems to be going out so often just to pick up prescriptions worries me. I need to remember to again urge him to see if he could get prescriptions delivered.)
I got mine delivered by mail this week from a CVS only 3 blocks away. No extra charge for that. :) No waiting in a line. :D No exercise. :(
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wasn't a Biden fan and this makes it worse, for me...now what :(?
Biden has one VP pick that stands above the rest
While there are many good possibilities from which Biden can choose, one stands out more than any other: Sen. Elizabeth Warren.
https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/18/opinions/biden-vp-pick-stands-above-the-rest-zelizer/index.html (https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/18/opinions/biden-vp-pick-stands-above-the-rest-zelizer/index.html)
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Just read
"The Flat Earth Society are reporting social distancing is pushing some of their members over the edge!"
What a hoot!! :laugh:
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Well done!
https://www.facebook.com/OccupyDemocrats/videos/236673061013278/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TSU0NtaPRDE
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A lady from California who visits NZ often and advises people on Tripadvisor posted that yesterday. We still get Americans asking about touring NZ later this year and generally say "In your dreams'. Yesterday Air NZ flew 175 passengers over the whole country. From next Tuesday when we go down to Alert Level 3, they will have 2 flights per day from Auckland to Christchurch while, before all of this, they had a flight every hour during the day. Dunedin has just one flight per day to Christchurch while there use to be about 20 per day to Christchurch, Wellington and Auckland. Many regional towns now have no air services, there are no intercity bus services and no regional train services.
I am hoping they might open up travel to and from Australia before Christmas but have no idea at the moment.
Even at Alert Level 3 it will not make a lot of difference to me. I may order a takeaway meal and my gardener should be able to come and mow the lawn, only needed once to tidy before winter. I am not sure but I may be able to drive (less than half an hour) to somewhere different for a walk. At the moment I can only drive to the supermarket, pharmacy or medical centre so have used the car for the supermarket (5km away) 3 times in 4 weeks. We are not allowed to drive anywhere for recreation.
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^^^ NZ was on my list of possible places to retire to...someday. (outside the US). V.
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Well done!
https://www.facebook.com/OccupyDemocrats/videos/236673061013278/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TSU0NtaPRDE
Fritz, thanks for this, just great.
The second time I sang along. It'll do your heart and soul good if y'all do, too!
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If anyone thinks there's no elected official dumber than Trump, here's a candidate: Ladies and Gentlemen I give you the Mayor of Las Vegas:
Las Vegas Mayor in off-the-walls interview on re-opening city
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=toDHKNqHv4g
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Libertarianism on steroids.
And you're welcome, Lyle!
I love singing the bass line.
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^^^^ She IS a flaming idiot. LOL I saw part of that interview. V.
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And you're welcome, Lyle!
I love singing the bass line.
I sent this to a lot of people who've been loving it and passing it on! :-*
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Can Trump get anymore cruel than he already is?
But of course...
Trump blocks stimulus funding for millions of US citizens if they're married to immigrants
https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2020-04-20/u-s-citizens-coronavirus-stimulus-checks-spouses-immigrants
...with Liberty and Justice for all ______.
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^^ unfucking believable.
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WHAT?? :o
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If anyone thinks there's no elected official dumber than Trump, here's a candidate: Ladies and Gentlemen I give you the Mayor of Las Vegas:
Las Vegas Mayor in off-the-walls interview on re-opening city
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=toDHKNqHv4g
I guess there are plenty of people stupid enough to flock to the casinos if they reopen.
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I posted this in the diner too
In idiot news, 45 is telling people to inject disinfectant to kill the virus. Be prepared to hear about a lot of white people dying of shooting up Pine Sol, after they get back from their protests.
Lysol maker, EPA warn against internal use of disinfectants after Trump comments
Twitter names Trump the 'Tide Pods' president after he suggests disinfectant injections
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I posted this in the diner too
In idiot news, 45 is telling people to inject disinfectant to kill the virus. Be prepared to hear about a lot of white people dying of shooting up Pine Sol, after they get back from their protests.
Lysol maker, EPA warn against internal use of disinfectants after Trump comments
Twitter names Trump the 'Tide Pods' president after he suggests disinfectant injections
Where the f_ _ _ does he get these ideas? Fox News?
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Today is ANZAC day and for the first time in over 100 years there are not the ceremonies and marches in towns and cities across New Zealand and Australia.
I have just taken part in 'Stand at Dawn" as throughout both nations (well in another 2 hours in Australia) we have stood at our front doors, gates or letter boxes and listened by radio as the Last Post, Ode of Remembrance, Reveille and both National Anthems were broadcast. I have both flags flying from my gate. When possible I have been in Sydney and gone into the city with my sister on special train for the Dawn Service at 4.30am. She will be standing on her balcony at 6am Eastern Australia Time.
This year I was to miss as I should have been on a tour in Transylvania and would have felt a bit guilty at missing.
On the few times I have not been in Sydney, I have gone to the Dawn Service at 6am here in Dunedin. In 2015 I was on a bus from Paris at 1am to attend the Dawn Service at the Australian War Memorial in Villers Bretonneux not far from where my uncle, who was killed on the Somme in 2016, is buried. In 2002 I attended the Dawn service at Gallipoli, Turkey where it all began.
Sadly none of those services are possible this year. I am always most moved at singing both the anthems of my dual nationality.
Lest We Forget
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I posted this in the diner too
In idiot news, 45 is telling people to inject disinfectant to kill the virus. Be prepared to hear about a lot of white people dying of shooting up Pine Sol, after they get back from their protests.
Lysol maker, EPA warn against internal use of disinfectants after Trump comments
Twitter names Trump the 'Tide Pods' president after he suggests disinfectant injections
It is reported that the Australian Chief Medical Officer got a fit of the giggles when a reporter asked him about this. I am really sorry for a country whose leader is a figure of ridicule by the rest of the world. However I am beginning to believe Trump's name will go down in history with names like Stalin, Hitler and Pol Pot as a dangerous leader.
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It is reported that the Australian Chief Medical Officer got a fit of the giggles when a reporter asked him about this. I am really sorry for a country whose leader is a figure of ridicule by the rest of the world. However I am beginning to believe Trump's name will go down in history with names like Stalin, Hitler and Pol Pot as a dangerous leader.
Not on Fox...
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It is reported that the Australian Chief Medical Officer got a fit of the giggles when a reporter asked him about this. I am really sorry for a country whose leader is a figure of ridicule by the rest of the world. However I am beginning to believe Trump's name will go down in history with names like Stalin, Hitler and Pol Pot as a dangerous leader.
don't worry about us, we got through WWII, Watergate, disco...we'll be ok ;)
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Today is ANZAC day and for the first time in over 100 years there are not the ceremonies and marches in towns and cities across New Zealand and Australia.
I have just taken part in 'Stand at Dawn" as throughout both nations (well in another 2 hours in Australia) we have stood at our front doors, gates or letter boxes and listened by radio as the Last Post, Ode of Remembrance, Reveille and both National Anthems were broadcast. I have both flags flying from my gate. When possible I have been in Sydney and gone into the city with my sister on special train for the Dawn Service at 4.30am. She will be standing on her balcony at 6am Eastern Australia Time.
This year I was to miss as I should have been on a tour in Transylvania and would have felt a bit guilty at missing.
On the few times I have not been in Sydney, I have gone to the Dawn Service at 6am here in Dunedin. In 2015 I was on a bus from Paris at 1am to attend the Dawn Service at the Australian War Memorial in Villers Bretonneux not far from where my uncle, who was killed on the Somme in 2016, is buried. In 2002 I attended the Dawn service at Gallipoli, Turkey where it all began.
Sadly none of those services are possible this year. I am always most moved at singing both the anthems of my dual nationality.
Lest We Forget
Amen.
"They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them."
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In idiot news, 45 is telling people to inject disinfectant to kill the virus.
You know what? Okay. Trump supporters...do exactly as the President you adore says. Please. The sooner the better. Look for these products. In the Stupid Is As Stupid Does aisle.
https://www.villalbaonlinepr.com/images/Gente/Vida_Social/Meme_Lysol.jpg
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Clorox Chewables!! Hilarious!
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And ten try some Purell Chewables, so you don't have to get it on your hands. Plus, Windex will kill germs on your contact lenses.
And forget 409...try Formula 45:
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EWYB67fWkAMF9oB.jpg)
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Fox News Logic
(https://i.redd.it/a5yjfemr1kt41.png)
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You know what? Okay. Trump supporters...do exactly as the President you adore says. Please. The sooner the better. Look for these products. In the Stupid Is As Stupid Does aisle.
https://www.villalbaonlinepr.com/images/Gente/Vida_Social/Meme_Lysol.jpg
OMG!! I'd laugh if it wasn't so terribly horrendous. But I do agree with you Lyle! Am I terrible that I feel this way?
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Actually, all the "virus protesters," who think they are virus invincible or immune, should volunteer to work in the hospitals, ERs and EMTs-you know do something constructive with their time. AND... since they feel Corona Virus-19 is yet another "media hoax", just forego their PPEs - more power to them!
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We have a great Governor who sticks to her decisions and it's proven to work, despite all the flak she gets from the Republicans and the 'Good Old Boy" network.
How New Mexico, One of the Poorest States, Averted a Steep Death Toll
New Mexico showed how a state can fight the coronavirus with aggressive social distancing, free testing and scientific expertise. But contagion threats are building.
ALBUQUERQUE — New Mexico has fewer hospital beds per capita than nearly every other state. It has a rapidly aging population and widespread poverty. Its residents have the highest rate by far of chronic liver disease — just one of the underlying medical conditions that are widespread in New Mexico that heighten the risk of dying from Covid-19.
Still, infectious disease specialists say New Mexico seems to have staved off disaster — for the moment, at least — with a coronavirus death rate that is lower than neighboring states like Colorado and Oklahoma.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/24/us/coronavirus-new-mexico.html?fbclid=IwAR0kWrTEAtjMoOlgOnbKfdHfZCYmEnfGzt_NsGpIBrwI-mqASSKlLHNm5LE
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The man truly should be committed.
Warnings of the dangers of ingesting disinfectants follow Trump’s remarks.
In Maryland, so many callers flooded a health hotline with questions that the state’s Emergency Management Agency had to issue a warning that “under no circumstances” should any disinfectant be taken to treat the coronavirus. In Washington State, officials urged people not to consume laundry detergent capsules. Across the country on Friday, health professionals sounded the alarm.
Injecting bleach or highly concentrated rubbing alcohol “causes massive organ damage and the blood cells in the body to basically burst,” Dr. Diane P. Calello, the medical director of the New Jersey Poison Information and Education System, said in an interview. “It can definitely be a fatal event.”
Even the makers of Clorox and Lysol pleaded with Americans not to inject or ingest their products.
The frantic reaction was prompted by President Trump’s suggestion on Thursday at a White House briefing that an “injection inside” the human body with a disinfectant like bleach or isopropyl alcohol could help combat the virus.
“And then I see the disinfectant, where it knocks it out in a minute,” Mr. Trump said after a presentation from William N. Bryan, an acting under secretary for science at the Department of Homeland Security, detailed the virus’s possible susceptibility to bleach and alcohol.
“One minute,” the president said. “And is there a way we can do something like that, by injection inside or almost a cleaning? Because you see it gets in the lungs and it does a tremendous number on the lungs. So it would be interesting to check that.”
Mr. Trump’s remarks caused an immediate uproar, and the White House spent much of Friday trying to walk them back. “Leave it to the media to irresponsibly take President Trump out of context and run with negative headlines,” Kayleigh McEnany, the new White House press secretary, said in a statement criticizing the coverage of Thursday night’s briefing.
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^^^^ Well, at this point in 45's tenure, nothing surprises me coming outta his mouth or his office.
Yeah, that's really "outta the box" thinking....and well into another box sadly.
Our fear should be there are people, who for whatever reason - supporting him or maybe just being mentally incapable of understanding, will hear POTUS 45 saying such utterly incorrect and dangerous words like that, on national TV, and believe it's good advice b/c, "If the President of USA says it, must be so." When the phones at all these companies started ringing with people asking about which products are best, that many issued public warnings saying "do not do this, it will kill you...." proves that people in positions of power like POTUS, need to consider carefully what they are saying. Let's hope that no-one actually tries this........ Peace and stay safe folks. V.
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OMG!! I'd laugh if it wasn't so terribly horrendous. But I do agree with you Lyle! Am I terrible that I feel this way?
I never wanted to be or think of myself that way, either, Linda, but it's getting to the point that something needs o wake these morons up.
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Actually, all the "virus protesters," who think they are virus invincible or immune, should volunteer to work in the hospitals, ERs and EMTs-you know do something constructive with their time. AND... since they feel Corona Virus-19 is yet another "media hoax", just forego their PPEs - more power to them!
What these protesters need to understand is there's a lot of people who have it and they're asymptomatic. They're carriers and can spread it around, even though they n't know it. Which is where testing comes in.) So when you see one of their signs that says "My risk. My choice." or "My Body, My Choice" they have to understand it's not their choice to infect others, even if they don't know they're doing it. It's like trying to get out of a parking ticket because you didn't know you couldn't park there.
Ignorance is no excuse. But it sure seems prevalent.
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We have a great Governor who sticks to her decisions and it's proven to work, despite all the flak she gets from the Republicans and the 'Good Old Boy" network.
We need more women in office.
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The man truly should be committed.
Lock him up.
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^^^^ Well, at this point in 45's tenure, nothing surprises me coming outta his mouth or his office.
From day one I've said nothing he does or says will surprise me, shock me or rise anything above the grotesque.
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Help is on the way...
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DASqY8oVoAEwgxD?format=jpg&name=small)
Heh...but he's there to save the demon from the human...!
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I never wanted to be or think of myself that way, either, Linda, but it's getting to the point that something needs o wake these morons up.
Me either, Lyle, but this has all changed.
Unfortunately there is nothing that can be said to wake up these worshipers of pumpkinhead. They only believe what comes of his mouth, no matter how outrageous and dangerous. And they believe all his lies and misinformation.
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We need more women in office.
I agree absolutely, Lyle. She is smart and informed and doesn't let anyone walk all over her. The Virus numbers here in the state prove this.
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Help is on the way...
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DASqY8oVoAEwgxD?format=jpg&name=small)
Heh...but he's there to save the demon from the human...!
Oh I love this visual!!!
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^^^ yeah that is a great one...
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What these protesters need to understand is there's a lot of people who have it and they're asymptomatic. They're carriers and can spread it around, even though they n't know it. Which is where testing comes in.) So when you see one of their signs that says "My risk. My choice." or "My Body, My Choice" they have to understand it's not their choice to infect others, even if they don't know they're doing it. It's like trying to get out of a parking ticket because you didn't know you couldn't park there.
Ignorance is no excuse. But it sure seems prevalent.
^^^ Yeap the same ignorant 80K folks who helped tilt the scales just enough to elect the orange idiot are probably the one and the same. Yeah, honestly I think I caught this shit back in March as I had a "dry" cough for 3-4 weeks, WELL before it went into hyperdrive. Never ever had a fever or felt terrible and I took me temp 2x daily for about 3 weeks.
It's hard to describe as it felt like my upper air-ways (trachea and bronchial split) were pissed off but never anything like pneumonia. So once the tests are widely available.. I'm going to see... Stay safe.
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Seems like Mr Trump isn't going to be delivering his bulletins today or anymore ??
That's the best bulletin I've heard !!!!!
He always looked bored and disinterested when he was reading them out anyway.
Off the hook now Donald !!!
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^^^ Yeah now that he believes he's won this "invisible enemy war", he's ready to move back to full campaigning to his base and since most of them seem to believe they are immune to the virus, who knows what's next.
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If you watch this you WILL laugh.
A Spoonful of Clorox
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DPDPzbLFeP4
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Yes, that is truly hilarious! Even my brother-in-law sent that link!
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NZ Director-General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield was incredulous when asked about President Trump's recent comments on how injecting disinfectant into people with Covid-19 might help "clean" them of the virus.
Dr Ashley Bloomfield says 'under no circumstances' should you inject disinfectant to battle Covid-19
His comments come after controversial remarks by the US President on the subject.
Dr Bloomfield looked shocked when asked about the comments by a reporter at today's briefing.
He then turned to Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern saying "I'm not going to comment on that Prime Minister".
"No, we will let your silence speak for itself," Ms Ardern replied.
Dr Bloomfield later responded with some advice when pressed by a journalist, who pointed out some people in the US have made themselves sick by ingesting disinfectants after Mr Trump's address.
"Under no circumstances should they think about doing that," he said to any Kiwis who had heard Mr Trump's statement.
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Why do I not find this the least bit surprising?!?
The Washington Post: President’s intelligence briefing book repeatedly cited virus threat as early as January and February.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/presidents-intelligence-briefing-book-repeatedly-cited-virus-threat/2020/04/27/ca66949a-8885-11ea-ac8a-fe9b8088e101_story.html
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That's what happens when you're not responsible.
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I disagree Fritz, I think Trump is.
Every time something bad happens, he's responsible.
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Oh of course. I meant the other meaning of responsible, like a responsible individual.
He's definitely irresponsible.
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I disagree Fritz, I think Trump is.
Every time something bad happens, he's responsible.
Woah... but the orange menace claims responsibility ONLY when the outcome is ++ or favors his or the GOP's agenda... otherwise, it's someone else's fault - the press, China, the democrats,.. he has a list of favorite scapegoats.
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Oh of course. I meant the other meaning of responsible, like a responsible individual.
He's definitely irresponsible.
I left out the laughing smiley, indicating I was joking, oh well! :laugh:
This is what really gets to most of us...
(https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-G-YfizzvlCI/W5GT9a-35QI/AAAAAAAATP4/CJW90qOcAjIeGuT93EJ5IgQ5VLzlnJffACLcBGAs/s1600/CcG_Vl9WoAAgAQA.jpg)
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^^^^^^ You know he's hard enough to look at and stomach clothed, much less without any........
Now I have to go bleach my brain! >:D
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^^^
A woman wrote a blog post about this ignorance back in March...of 2016.
Read it, it's what we 've all known... It's so frustrating that the country hasn't moved at all since then.
http://www.aknottedlife.com/2016/03/donald-trump-is-naked-truth-about.html
Excerpt:
Take, for example, this incident: Peter Alexander, a reporter for NBC Nightly News said to Trump, "Is that presidential [to say 'ass' 'p*ssy' 'motherf*cker' in public]? A lot of parents are wondering how to explain that language; what would you say to parents?"
And then instead of answering the questions, Donald Trump mocks the reporter and says, "It's stuff like that [believing a presidential candidate should not use vulgar language during a press conference] that people in this country are tired of." people are tired of ... good manners? Believing in the dignity of the presidential office? Setting a good example for children?
Donald Trump didn't answer the questions, he just mocked Alexander. And then people whooped and cheered.
You can watch the video of Peter Alexander and Donald Trump's exchange on The Nightly News' Facebook page while I let out a long, slow, infuriated exhale.
https://m.facebook.com/nbcnightlynews/videos/10154071817823689/?fref=nfyou
Watch that video from March, 2016. See what confronted the public from the very beginning. Instead of shuddering, enough of the country whole heartedly embraced it. Whooped and cheered. They still do 4 years later.
The sad thing a lot of us have learned is how many actual stupid and or ignorant people there are in this country and, also, how many who know better will sell their souls and the country to the devil for their own personal benefit.
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^^^^^^ You know he's hard enough to look at and stomach clothed, much less without any........
Now I have to go bleach my brain! >:D
Your comment is apropos of a line from that blog article:
But just so we're clear, if you vote for Donald Trump you are supporting his wardrobe.
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Your comment is apropos of a line from that blog article:
But just so we're clear, if you vote for Donald Trump you are supporting his wardrobe.
Well, hopefully no one admires his body...... (I think I threw up in my mouth a bit)
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Apparently she does...how can she attack one man and defend another? I thought Kavanaugh was repulsive during his confirmation, and I feel the same way about Biden. No one is talking about this, no one is outraged at the allegations...I am, and I think he should get out. But that's too simple of course, who would replace him? He'll not get my vote, I'll write someone in first.
'I don't need a lecture!' Nancy Pelosi angrily cuts off reporter who compares Brett Kavanaugh sexual assault allegations to Joe Biden's after the Speaker says she is 'satisfied' with party candidate's silence over claim.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8274019/Nancy-Pelosi-says-approves-Joe-Biden-responded-sexual-assault-allegation.html (https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8274019/Nancy-Pelosi-says-approves-Joe-Biden-responded-sexual-assault-allegation.html)
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this should be good...he's had months (years, actually) to get his staff working on this...wording, tone, just the right amount of groveling...maybe he'll shed a tear.
April 30, 2020
Updated 6:13 p.m. ET
WASHINGTON — Joseph R. Biden Jr. will publicly address an allegation of sexual assault for the first time in an appearance on morning television on Friday, after weeks of silence on the issue that had prompted frustration from Democrats and attacks from Republicans seeking to weaken him for a general election contest against President Trump.
Mr. Biden will discuss the allegation on “Morning Joe” on MSNBC, according to a Twitter post from the network. The decision followed intensive discussions in the Biden campaign about how to more forcefully confront the allegation.
The planned appearance came as scrutiny of the allegation intensified along partisan lines on Capitol Hill on Thursday. Nancy Pelosi, the House speaker and the Democratic Party’s highest-ranking officeholder, expressed support for Mr. Biden’s presidential bid, while Republicans weaponized the accusation to attack congressional Democrats as hypocritical.
The allegation Mr. Biden will address was made by a former aide in his Senate office, Tara Reade, who has said Mr. Biden assaulted her in a Senate building in 1993. Mr. Biden’s campaign has said the accusation is not true, but the former vice president himself had not addressed the issue publicly. His silence has raised questions among some Democrats about the agility of his campaign operation and its ability to navigate what is widely expected to be a heated and deeply divisive presidential campaign this fall.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/30/us/politics/joe-biden-tara-reade-pelosi.html (https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/30/us/politics/joe-biden-tara-reade-pelosi.html)
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He'll not get my vote, I'll write someone in first.
Do I want to answer that?
Actually I did already address the issue here:
(clicking the quote author line brings up the post)
^^^
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Do I want to answer that?
Actually I did already address the issue here:
(clicking the quote author line brings up the post)
Thanks, Lyle.
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Do I want to answer that?
Actually I did already address the issue here:
(clicking the quote author line brings up the post)
I do apologize, it has been brought up here before.
As for I DON'T CARE RIGHT NOW. ....that's a repugnant statement. So you only care about sexual assault sometimes? What if it was gay marriage they were talking about? Or gay rights? Or Aids, in the old days? Then you wouldn't care? I know he has to go, but don't say you don't care about something like this.
You're still my favorite ultra lib. And my write in would be....I'll tell you later
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^^^ There are no excuses if Biden did what he did. At this point, there are no written reports collaborating this woman's story - only her stories, and hearsay. Make no mistake, I don't like it either.
If the GOP can boondoggle the entire American Public into electing someone much worse and then US Senate into giving ass-wipe Kavanaugh a permanent seat on the US Supreme Court in spite of the direct testimony under oath, photos, (and don't forget Thomas/Hill) either then I just don't know if there's anyone, other than a woman, going to be qualified to pass the, "he touched me inappropriately" check box. It's not an excuse, it's the reality of the world we live in today and I do not condone it in any way.
Make no mistake, Biden is the only/best chance to dislodge the orange menace from office. Be careful - a write in vote for anyone not on the ticket is a vote to re-elect the sitting menace. And some statisticians believe that "protest vote" for Sanders also contributed to Clinton's loss in 2016.
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Just to mention: Some time ago, The New Yorker ran an article about Tara Reade, how she has changed her story at different times, and also her connection to conservative talk radio. I did a Google search to try to locate the article, but I was not successful.
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https://www.queerty.com/joe-bidens-new-campaign-manager-hunky-gay-silver-fox-20200430 (https://www.queerty.com/joe-bidens-new-campaign-manager-hunky-gay-silver-fox-20200430)
Biden’s new Deputy Campaign Manager is Rufus Gifford, who was the very popular US Ambassador to Denmark.
(When I was in Copenhagen a few years ago my Brokie friend Peter pointed out Rufus and his equally handsome husband-to-be Stephen, walking in the park ahead of us :).)
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As for I DON'T CARE RIGHT NOW. ....that's a repugnant statement. So you only care about sexual assault sometimes? What if it was gay marriage they were talking about? Or gay rights? Or Aids, in the old days? Then you wouldn't care? I know he has to go, but don't say you don't care about something like this.
You're still my favorite ultra lib. And my write in would be....I'll tell you later
My analogy is that right now the house is burning down. There's only two choices as to whom is going to deal with that. Trump or Biden. Trump supporters line up for him without question. If you don't vote for Biden, you are supporting Trump. Like Jill Stein did in 2016. Like Ralph Nader did in 2000 against Gore. Like Ross Perot did in 1992 against G.H.W. Bush. Like George Wallace may have done in 1968.
When so much is at stake right now, I don't want to lose focus at what's important. Two choices. If your house was on fire would you care about the past of the fireman who rescues you in that moment? If you needed an immediate surgery would you care? We're in that moment now. Don't you think so? And you're in a state where your vote for President matters even more.
You seem to care and have made up your mind the allegation is true, when there actually seems to be a lot of dubious evidence out there to be skeptical.
The post I wrote that I linked to in my reply yesterday has an article link to an opinion piece written by Michelle Goldberg who discusses this. It's titled "What to Do with Reade's allegation against Joe Biden." What to do because it's dubious/unclear in many regards she points out, but also possible. We don't know.
Because we don't it's only fodder for Republicans to do what they ingeniously did in 2016. "Our candidate is horrible, but we'll get the public to believe yours is equally as awful, so it doesn't matter." You don't think they won't do it again? When it comes to rhetoric the Republicans love dubious rhetoric. All so people will be skeptical. "Well...it might/could be true."
I don't care who anyone is or what they feel about Trump vs. Hillary or Biden, but there is no way whatsoever that Hillary or Biden is equal to Trump in any way. And I don't see how anyone could take the chance Trump could be re-elected by people voting for anyone else but Biden. Even in this circumstance. When the ship of state is floundering in deep water, the stupidest thing to do would be to take on more water.
When I said, I don't care about this right now, what I mean is the Civil Rights marchers of the 1960's mantra, "Keep your eyes on the prize." Don't get bogged down in arguments between yourselves or others that keep one from moving toward the goal. Use people that you might not totally like or believe in if it gets you a step toward the goal. Don't lose sight of that goal.
The only reason(s) anyone would not vote for Biden in the upcoming election right now is that they want Trump to remain in office. If one feels they can't vote for either of them because of sexual assault allegations, well, then you're comparing one person with one dubious (stories & hearsay) unsubstantiated claim against them to someone with a mountain of evidence from dozens of people, even from his own mouth, against him. In that one regard only, why wouldn't getting rid of Trump be closer to the goal, the eyes on the prize, even if the other is flawed in your eyes?
Why do you think black people still supported VA governor Northam, after the blackface stories emerged? For example.
As for what if it was an LGBT issue? I've had to make choices like that. But since when do we all get someone we really like running for President? You're lucky if it happens once or twice? We're adults aren't we? We make a choice from the choices we have with, hopefully, your eyes on the prize. Not voting at all or third party or write-in choices are just not having one's eyes on the prize. It's having a grievance of some sort and ultimately is not helping and could not actually be in one's own interest.
I'm reminded of an old TV series theme song...
You take the good, you take the bad,
You add them up and there you have
The facts of life...the facts of life...
And if you think I'm an ultra liberal...well, let's just say all my friends would be laughin'...
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https://www.queerty.com/joe-bidens-new-campaign-manager-hunky-gay-silver-fox-20200430 (https://www.queerty.com/joe-bidens-new-campaign-manager-hunky-gay-silver-fox-20200430)
Biden’s new Deputy Campaign Manager is Rufus Gifford, who was the very popular US Ambassador to Denmark.
(When I was in Copenhagen a few years ago my Brokie friend Peter pointed out Rufus and his equally handsome husband-to-be Stephen, walking in the park ahead of us :).)
Nice, Sara!
;D LOL...Queerty makes him seem like he's really old...then they say he's 45! :o
Only 45. Is that old?
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2 years younger than my son, so no, definitely not old!
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I'm starting to think that Fauci and Birx should just go out on their own, tell the truth and screw the WH. I'm losing confidence in them, Birx more so than Fauci, but they're both allowing themselves to be manipulated.
White House blocks Fauci from testifying before House panel, committee spokesman says
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/white-house-blocks-fauci-from-testifying-before-house-panel-committee-spokesman-says/ar-BB13ue5T (https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/white-house-blocks-fauci-from-testifying-before-house-panel-committee-spokesman-says/ar-BB13ue5T)
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Our equivalent to Fauci, the director-general of health Dr Ashley Bloomfield has become a local hero and his image is being used to raise money for Women's refuge by being printed on t-shirts, hoodies and tote bags with the logo 'the curve crusher' here in Dunedin,
https://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/familiar-face-helps-raise-thousands
Actually he is the one who has legally declared the lockdown, not the Prime Minister, although she made the declaration and gets the credit. His department actually recommended that our borders be closed to all people including homecoming New Zealanders but this was overridden by the Government as being opposed to human rights considerations. He probably expected that but had to give that recommendation based on being best for the nation's health.
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Here is an excellent article on the success of women government leaders especially in times of crisis.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/boris-can-bring-home-a-baby-but-for-true-cool-in-a-crisis-you-want-a-woman-20200430-p54osk.html
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A bed time story of how it started, and why hindsight’s 2020. (Tom Foolery)
https://youtu.be/ppv2f1yfwMM
This is just amazing. Please listen
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A little happy news for a change.
Anderson Cooper surprised viewers last night with the joyful news of his baby’s birth
https://www.scarymommy.com/anderson-cooper-baby/
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I LOVE Anderson Cooper, always have!! He was on Colbert last night too, so NICE!! ;D
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This morning I saw my first TV ad for the Great Orange Satan's reelection. Of course it praised his handling of the Covid-19 crisis. At least it had the decency to say that he's not polite.
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HAPPY BOITDAY
JEFF
DAWLIN HAWT!!!!
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Nice, Sara!
;D LOL...Queerty makes him seem like he's really old...then they say he's 45! :o
Only 45. Is that old?
I am 46 and sometimes I feel ancient... :(
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Happy birthday, Jeff!! :-* :-* :-*
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Not a happy record: Britain is the first European country to pas 30,000 Covid19 deaths. (There’s very little infection in my part of the country though.)
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Not a happy record: Britain is the first European country to pas 30,000 Covid19 deaths. (There’s very little infection in my part of the country though.)
This is unbelievable to us, we were upset that the number of deaths went to 21 yesterday. At that number we get all the details, it was the 12th death in the same dementia nursing home, a woman in her 60's.
We had another new case yesterday, there had been 0 the 2 previous days. However the new case was a student from a catholic college which is one of the main sources of infection and it is thought he was missed when originally tested several weeks ago and is at the end of his period of illness. Like the whole college he has been isolating (as have we all but not quite as strict).
I am going to the supermarket today, last time was 8 days ago, the only time I physically interact with anyone. As I told the guy on the door last time, this is my excitement for the week. I pass people when walking but at 2 metres (we call it the covid sidestep) and say good morning.
If this had not all happened, I would have been on my first full day of a tour of Albania today, instead I am filling in a form for a refund.
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HAPPY BOITDAY
JEFF
DAWLIN HAWT!!!!
Thank you. :)
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I'm starting to think that Fauci and Birx should just go out on their own, tell the truth and screw the WH. I'm losing confidence in them, Birx more so than Fauci, but they're both allowing themselves to be manipulated.
I guess I should look up Birx. I never heard of her until this all began. Fauci I've known of since the AIDS epidemic. Actually, I was surprised he's still around.
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Happy birthday, Jeff!! :-* :-* :-*
Thank you. :)
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The head of Sweden's no-lockdown coronavirus plan said the country's heavy death toll 'came as a surprise'
The man leading Sweden's coronavirus response says the country's elevated death toll "really came as a surprise to us."
Dr. Anders Tegnell, Sweden's state epidemiologist, appeared on "The Daily Show with Trevor Noah" on Tuesday, when he described the country's controversial approach.
"We never really calculated with a high death toll initially, I must say," he said.
"We calculated on more people being sick, but the death toll really came as a surprise to us."
https://www.businessinsider.com/coronavirus-sweden-lockdown-chief-says-high-death-toll-was-surprise-2020-5 (https://www.businessinsider.com/coronavirus-sweden-lockdown-chief-says-high-death-toll-was-surprise-2020-5)
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who's right? who's wrong? this is just some guy's opinion.......
The US should follow Sweden's approach to combating COVID-19
Many governors are refusing to lift their COVID-19 shelter-in-place decrees until long lists of conditions are met. They have phrased their recalcitrance in the language of science. As California’s Gavin Newsom put it: "Science, not politics must be the guide…. We can't get ahead of ourselves .... I don't want to make a political decision. That puts people's lives at risk."
As a matter of science, the governors are wrong. They assume that they are making a tradeoff of a short-term reduction in employment for a long-term reduction in age-specific mortality. They are actually making a tradeoff of a short-term reduction in COVID-19 deaths for a long-term increase in age-specific mortality for working people and their families.
The governors have made this error in judgement because they are not taking into account basic facts about COVID-19 and about the mortality risks from mass layoffs and poverty.
https://thehill.com/opinion/healthcare/496155-the-us-should-follow-swedens-approach-to-combating-covid-19 (https://thehill.com/opinion/healthcare/496155-the-us-should-follow-swedens-approach-to-combating-covid-19)
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The head of Sweden's no-lockdown coronavirus plan said the country's heavy death toll 'came as a surprise'
The man leading Sweden's coronavirus response says the country's elevated death toll "really came as a surprise to us."
Dr. Anders Tegnell, Sweden's state epidemiologist, appeared on "The Daily Show with Trevor Noah" on Tuesday, when he described the country's controversial approach.
"We never really calculated with a high death toll initially, I must say," he said.
"We calculated on more people being sick, but the death toll really came as a surprise to us."
https://www.businessinsider.com/coronavirus-sweden-lockdown-chief-says-high-death-toll-was-surprise-2020-5 (https://www.businessinsider.com/coronavirus-sweden-lockdown-chief-says-high-death-toll-was-surprise-2020-5)
How, just how can it come as a surprise when it's happening in all the countries affected? *eyeroll*
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Being so close to the Jersey and Delaware Shore resorts, we keep hearing stories about how the resort business owners want to reopen. I sympathize with them, but want to ask them, what makes them so sure they'll have business if they're open? Then I think of the news stories I've seen that feature video of crowded beaches, and I guess they will have plenty of business.
I have good friends in the bar and restaurant where I usually--maybe I should say used to--hang out. They treat me like family rather than like a customer. The bartender sees me coming and has my drink on the bar before I get to the service area. They tell me they like having me hang out with them. My heart goes out to them, but even when things open up again around here, it may be a long while before I feel comfortable hanging out in a crowded bar. Of course, that assumes the bar will be crowded.
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The head of Sweden's no-lockdown coronavirus plan said the country's heavy death toll 'came as a surprise'
I think this was the guy interviewed on our TV news several weeks ago when we went into Level 4 lockdown, saying it was not necessary. We are now in Level 3 and they will announce on Monday when we can go down to level 2. New Zealand has had 21 deaths, 12 of them in the one dementia nursing home. On Monday and Tuesday there were no new cases in the whole country, there were 2 on Wednesday and 1 yesterday. All these cases can be traced back.
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As a matter of science, the governors are wrong. They assume that they are making a tradeoff of a short-term reduction in employment for a long-term reduction in age-specific mortality. They are actually making a tradeoff of a short-term reduction in COVID-19 deaths for a long-term increase in age-specific mortality for working people and their families.
The governors have made this error in judgement because they are not taking into account basic facts about COVID-19 and about the mortality risks from mass layoffs and poverty.
I saw on social media people saying that there were increased suicides during our extreme Level 4 lockdown but the emergency (ambulance) services said there was no change to the number over the whole country. However our government has provided 80% of all lost pay to employers who have had to shut down.
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^^^ Need to invent a straw/mask or respirator combination. I can see drilling a small hole in a "beer respirator" and inserting those flexible straws... :)
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BEER!! lol..........that LAST Beer I had was in Cologne, Germany, 2004, at a local pub/cafe that brewed their own!! Fabulous stuff, AND I had the German Potatoes with Brats too!! Great times, Great Food and Drink!! I'm not a Beer drinker at all, but that was GOOD STUFF!! ;D ;D ;D
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Of course.
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75 years since VE Day. And I have a vague memory of bonfires and rejoicing.
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https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/new-zealand/nz-remembers-you-jacinda-ardern-gives-ve-day-tribute-kiwis-lost-their-lives-in-wwii
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BEER!! lol..........that LAST Beer I had was in Cologne, Germany, 2004, at a local pub/cafe that brewed their own!! Fabulous stuff, AND I had the German Potatoes with Brats too!! Great times, Great Food and Drink!! I'm not a Beer drinker at all, but that was GOOD STUFF!! ;D ;D ;D
I'm glad to know that there is at least one other person in this world besides me who is not a beer drinker. I've been kind of lonely. :laugh:
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There’s me too!
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There’s me too!
Thanks! Good to know! ;D
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Include me in, Jeff! 🍷
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75 years since VE Day. And I have a vague memory of bonfires and rejoicing.
I'm hoping for something like that this November.
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Seriously though, even though I am serious about what I wrote, write down all your memories of that. I like to hear about things like that, what people were doing or where they were on days of historic importance. I remember back in the late 70's, probably 78-79, when I worked at an office and it was December 7th, anniversary of Pearl Harbor, and I walked into the file room to get a copy made of something. I was talking to the woman in there and she said something like what I was going to do that night, I think it was a Friday, and I said, "Well, it's Pearl Harbor day, maybe I'll just go out and get bombed." Looking at me quietly she said, "I was there that day." What! She told me she was a little girl and she and some friends were outside and all these planes were flying overhead. They were all waving at them and jumping up and down. She felt the need to explain they didn't know what they were. (Of course!) I thought it was so interesting talking to her about it!
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Well I was around on VE day but, at 14 months old, I do not remember anything :D
In about 2003/04 I was helping some students in the school library where I worked research WW2 and I mentioned I was born during the war and one girl said "Are you that old?" I replied "I do not remember any of it"
I do know that despite rationing my family was allowed to buy a refrigerator due to my birth, they only owned an ice chest, so my birth was of some use.
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I'm hoping for something like that this November.
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Seriously though, even though I am serious about what I wrote, write down all your memories of that. I like to hear about things like that, what people were doing or where they were on days of historic importance. I remember back in the late 70's, probably 78-79, when I worked at an office and it was December 7th, anniversary of Pearl Harbor, and I walked into the file room to get a copy made of something. I was talking to the woman in there and she said something like what I was going to do that night, I think it was a Friday, and I said, "Well, it's Pearl Harbor day, maybe I'll just go out and get bombed." Looking at me quietly she said, "I was there that day." What! She told me she was a little girl and she and some friends were outside and all these planes were flying overhead. They were all waving at them and jumping up and down. She felt the need to explain they didn't know what they were. (Of course!) I thought it was so interesting talking to her about it!
I’m afraid that’s the limit of my memory of the day. I’ve just been watching a programme about the day - contemporary news film, some of it in colour, and people talking about their memories. It was a fantastic celebration on a enormous scale.
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Well I was around on VE day but, at 14 months old, I do not remember anything :D
In about 2003/04 I was helping some students in the school library where I worked research WW2 and I mentioned I was born during the war and one girl said "Are you that old?" I replied "I do not remember any of it"
I do know that despite rationing my family was allowed to buy a refrigerator due to my birth, they only owned an ice chest, so my birth was of some use.
Well, I was 1941, and my sister was February 1945. She was saying today, “I wish I’d been born a few months later, then I could say it was after the war and I’ll feel younger!”
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I was in kindergarten in the fall of 1963. I can still hear the voice of the school principal on the PA system telling the school that President Kennedy had been assassinated.
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Include me in, Jeff! 🍷
You're a non-beer drinker, too? :o
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I’m afraid that’s the limit of my memory of the day. I’ve just been watching a programme about the day - contemporary news film, some of it in colour, and people talking about their memories. It was a fantastic celebration on a enormous scale.
On BBC News Hour this morning they were doing an interview of the daughter of one of the main British movie stars of the era (I forget the name), and the mother said that she knew something was up when they moved all the Technicolor cameras (which were not owned by the studios, but rather by the Technicolor Corporation) from the studio to the Palace.
I always got a chuckle seeing, in older British movies, the phrase "Colour by Technicolor".
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We are really an in-between generation. Officially baby boomers were born from 1946. I just looked and there is a reference to us being the silent generation but that is an American term referring to McCarthyism which has no application to me. The description on Wikipedia fits more those like my sister born (1934) during or soon after the Great Depression. I prefer to refer to myself as a pre-boomer.
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Thanks, guys! Brian, I hope you were being droll about being worth the price of a refrigerator! :)
The first time I was in Britain, a friend and I had a long journey there which I described as a whole workday plus two hours...and that night while starting to doze off in our London hotel room, one or both of us remarked that it felt like we'd time traveled.
The previous guest(s) in our room had set the alarm for the radio to come on at an earlyish hour and it did. So while we were sleepily waking up the radio was telling us a war had started and places under attack...talk about time traveling. What we finally figured out is that on this first morning in London, September 1, 1989, the station was commemorating the 50th anniversary of the start of WWII by playing actual radio broadcasts of the period. What a way to wake up! I loved it.
I visited quite a few WWII historical places there. More than one visit. The Churchill Rooms, the Imperial War Museum where you could experience the blitz and air raid bombing in a room built for such a thing. I felt like Mrs. Miniver!
[And apropos to the current film 1917, you could experience trench warfare. Being tall, I would have had such a backache to avoid being shot.]
You could fly a DeHavilland over Britain to shoot down the Jerrys. I visited a WWII ship located on the Thames that is a museum. It was a really cold morning and you could get something to eat in the ship's mess. I had the most delicious tomato soup and bread!
I went to an 8th Air Force base that was like it would've looked in WWII. They had B-17's there and a small plane which you could hire for a short tour over the area, but it was so windy that day, they wouldn't do it. Those type things are expensive, but worth it. When I visited Hawaii once I took a WWII training fighter plane ride from the north side of Oahu following the flight pattern of the Japanese to Pearl Harbor. It was breathtaking. At one point you could see the entire island from end to end, which boggles your mind. It was just the pilot in front and me in the back. He asked me if I wanted to do a couple rolls. I said Yes! Am I crazy. The plane rolled over three times. Then he asks if I want to do a loop. Oh sure. Now I can't believe I said yes to these things. We did a loop. Holy crap.
Heading back to Dillingham airfield, which sounds incongruous in Hawaii, he wanted to know if I wanted to fly the plane myself. This was a T-6 Texan training plane to train WWII pilots in the USAAF, the US Navy and British Commonwealth forces, who called it the Harvard, so both seats were equipped to fly the plane. I agreed, but I was more nervous about that than rolling and looping. He told me what to do. He said (we had headphones on to communicate) "you don't believe you're actually doing it do you?" and I said I didn't. So he said, then I want you to slowly move the grip ahead about two inches. ..slowly...so I did and the plane started nose diving...not fast but downward and then he said to slowly reverse that. Then I wanted him back in control. I have a photo of me in that plane somewhere that I just love.
But this photo, taken in 1943, is what they looked liked:
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/1f/AT-6C_Texans_in_flight_1943.jpg/300px-AT-6C_Texans_in_flight_1943.jpg)
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I definitely remember seeing movies in colour (yes technicolor) for the first time although I do not remember which was the first. And TV only came in my last year or so of Primary school and my family did not get one until I was in High School. I first saw colour television in Bangkok on the way to Europe in May 1974. It was in the UK and had arrived in Australia when I returned at the end of the year.
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My sister's best friend (bridesmaid in 1961 and they still talk on the phone nearly every day) was born in Lithuania and is German. She lived through the Dresden bombing sheltering in a cellar with her mother and 3 younger brothers. Her Father was on the Russian front and became a POW at the end of the war. They migrated to Australia late 40's, early 50's. She and my sister often go to the movies together but she will not go to a war movie.
She admits it was Hitler who got her family out of Lithuania away from the Russian advance, not that she approves him for anything else.
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Gone with the Wind: A Quarantine Parody
https://vimeo.com/415522619 (https://vimeo.com/415522619?ref=fb-share&fbclid=IwAR1saC-uO5JcpzGfBoJcN8gkakGfa7Bfsj8JBZTdcD8030Xn6LmShsC6iyA)
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that was great, thanks Lyle.
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Gone with the Wind: A Quarantine Parody
https://vimeo.com/415522619 (https://vimeo.com/415522619?ref=fb-share&fbclid=IwAR1saC-uO5JcpzGfBoJcN8gkakGfa7Bfsj8JBZTdcD8030Xn6LmShsC6iyA)
That was fantastic! Thanks, Lyle!
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Gone with the Wind: A Quarantine Parody
https://vimeo.com/415522619 (https://vimeo.com/415522619?ref=fb-share&fbclid=IwAR1saC-uO5JcpzGfBoJcN8gkakGfa7Bfsj8JBZTdcD8030Xn6LmShsC6iyA)
;D
I thought you were going to tell me it was one of the first colour films. I saw that it was an early candidate when I was researching technicolor. However I did not see 'Gone with the Wind' until I was at university when they screened it one Friday afternoon, I may have skipped a lecture. It was probably 1963 or 64.
Now I have the DVD, should have watched it on one of the rainy days last week. Today is sunny so best I go for my 5km walk then garden or even paint another panel of the front fence (only 2 to go).
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I remember seeing it the first time in the 1960 Civil War Centennial revival (toward the end, at a neighborhood theater in 1963), my mother always talked about it as if we were going to visit relatives, like Aunt Pitypat! It was a Southern cultural icon.
It made a great impression.
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I'm glad to know that there is at least one other person in this world besides me who is not a beer drinker. I've been kind of lonely. :laugh:
There’s me too!
Include me in, Jeff! 🍷
Me four!!
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I'm glad you guys enjoyed that GWTW parody! It was certainly more than I was expecting! I liked the Intermission and CostCo part, heh!
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My mother always talked about the movie. She had read the book and when the movie came out she loved it so much that she saw it twice. I mean she went to the theater and watched it and stayed and watched it again!
I first saw it in the early 70's in a theatrical release, when I was in college. I knew there was supposed to be an intermission and I kept waiting for it. It never came. It was also a Metrocolor print. Metrocolor prints run bluish and I wasn't that enthused. I didn't know about such things back then, but when I saw a Technicolor print one time I loved it. In 1980 at AMPAS they had a two day GWTW event. They showed Selznick's personal print of it on Friday and then on Saturday they had an 8 hour Making of Gone with the Wind event where they showed screentests and interviews and how they did some special effects. Some of the people who worked on it were there! Quite an event!
In 1989, they had a 50th Anniversary screening at the Los Angeles County Museum which featured a barbecue beforehand and a few guests, one of which was Butterfly McQueen. The person who played Melanie's baby in the carriage was there, too!
On the way out they gave us a copy of the then new documentary The Making of Gone with the Wind, which is quite a story and a treat to watch in and of itself!
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In his editorial New Rule, this week Bill questions the timing of sexual assault allegations against Joe Biden by Tara Reade.
https://www.real-time-with-bill-maher-blog.com/index/2020/5/8/new-rule-sex-monster
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This was on Yahoo news, originally from the New York Times.
'Found Unresponsive at Home': Grim Records Recount Lonely Deaths
https://www.yahoo.com/news/found-unresponsive-home-grim-records-191911462.html
Please read this. It's the account of so many elderly people dying alone in their home, and the Republican Governor trying to cover up the death count in the state. The New York Times and other outlets requested records and were given a highly redacted report.
The New York Times and other news outlets obtained the descriptions of the deaths — the first such statewide data from anywhere in the country — through a public records request. The Florida Department of Law Enforcement, which oversees the state Medical Examiners Commission, redacted the 203 pages to keep the descriptions and probable causes of death private.
Florida has some of the strongest laws in the nation protecting the public’s right to view government records. Complete information from medical examiners on deaths has never before been kept secret. But the administration of Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican, has not been eager to release some coronavirus records. The state also initially refused to release information on nursing homes where outbreaks occurred.
Though large parts of the documents released this week were redacted, the text could nevertheless be extracted, copied and pasted into another file so that it could be read in full, the Times found. The spreadsheet did not include first or last names; each person was identified only as “the decedent.”
It just gets worse. Make sure to note the part in the article that states Florida, with more than 39,000 cases, started reopening most of the state Monday and has recently seen an uptick in infections, following an earlier reduction when an order to stay at home was in effect., and yet more and more states are opening up!!
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^^^ Yeap that SOB and many other GOP Governors are in lock stop with The Orange Menace (TOM). The GOP Governors are all now attempting a massive coverup by burying public records, firing people-in-the-know and claiming executive privilege to hide what they knew and when they knew it. Death Certificates, at least until now, are I thought were a matter of public record. I guess they can be redacted when it looks bad for the GOP Governor aye?
WRT obstruction, TOM blocking Fauci from testifying before the House is more of the same. The House needs to start issuing subpoenas and locking everyone of these SOB up when they fail to appear. That's what they should have been doing all a long...but they blinked and let Trump win that skirmish and we the people have now have lost that "encouragement tool."
https://news.yahoo.com/white-house-wont-let-fauci-testify-to-house-on-coronavirus-but-denies-hes-blocked-222231058.html
Yeap, the bottom line is: "CV-19 is killing off old people. So what's losing a few old folks vs winning my next election?" Bastards.
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All I have to say is...duh.
Infections spike after protests by Trump supporters
Dozens test positive in the wake of earliest protest against safety precautions, more likely to follow
At least 72 people contracted the virus following an April 24 rally at the Wisconsin state Capitol.
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Surprise!
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(https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-hDPFcoccDCk/Wt47xhvbmDI/AAAAAAADN30/mLPuwA8diPk6udbFaBa7gulh71oe8PIYQCLcBGAs/s1600/trump%2Bleave.jpg)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O7MGXf18PEM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-cAIShi3ED8
These are two links to instrumentals of AIN'T WE GOT FUN.
The top link has no lyrics on screen. The bottom link has the original lyrics on screen.
Sing-along with these new lyrics below:
Trump supporters drink Fox Kool-Aid...
Ain't we got fun?
COVID-19 getting closer...
Ain't we got fun?
"Coronavirus will be gone in the spring."
"Meanwhile drink clorox," says the orange King.
Don't trust facts and don't trust science...
Ain't we got fun?
Just believe in the orange cretin
Ain't we got fun?
There's nothing more true: Trump supporters don't have a clue.
In the meantime, in between time, the joke's on you.
Don't wear masks or social distance
Ain't we got fun?
Underestimate "Resistance"
Then we'll have fun...
So come November, dejected you'll see:
Trump unelected. "You're fired" say we...
Have no doubt this day is coming
Tick tock he's done.
Still the cult won't find that numbing
They'll believe he won.
There's nothing surer
Trump supporters just love their Fuhrer.
In the meantime, in between time
We need some fun.
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(https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-S88QOBie4MA/XriAWWHKQtI/AAAAAAAAiig/0njPXmdSFW0n8a8BKz4WokfHv75SRWI1wCNcBGAsYHQ/s1600/trump%2Bacademy.jpg)
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I saw this statement someone wrote on a comment section concerning an article related to Trump:
"Imagine being so unintelligent that you’d vote for Trump......... again."
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Some people would actually kill or injure themselves to "own the libs".
Well, kinda like the ones who ingested aquarium cleaner or bleach.
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(https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-S88QOBie4MA/XriAWWHKQtI/AAAAAAAAiig/0njPXmdSFW0n8a8BKz4WokfHv75SRWI1wCNcBGAsYHQ/s1600/trump%2Bacademy.jpg)
What's TRUE and SAD about this, is EVERY President is going to SURROUND himself with people who agree with him and his policies and opinions, just an natural thing! IMHO, you understand?
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The body of 27 year old Sydney-based US gay man, Scott Johnson, was found at the base of the cliffs at North Head in Manly on 10 December 1988.
His brother in the US, Steve Johnson, has campaigned over the decades for his death to be investigated as a hate crime. It led to the third inquest held in 2017 ruling that it was. hate crime committed by an unknown assailant.
The NSW Police finally undertook a review of 88 suspicious deaths of gay men between 1976 and the early 2000s, peaking in the late 1980s and early 1990s, many of which occurred in the area of beats. It concluded that 27 were probably gay hate murders.
This morning, a 49 year old Sydney man was arrested and taken in for questioning over the murder of Scott Johnson It is expected charges will be laid. The NSW Chief Commissioner of Police telephoned Steve Johnson in the US to let him know.
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I was just coming to report this, Tony. Hopefully justice at last and how well his brother spoke
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-05-12/nsw-police-arrest-scott-johnson-murder-suspect-arrested/12237598
As I commented in the article in today's Daily Sheet about the honour given to the gay policeman who tragically died in Victoria last week.
How things have changed.
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I've heard about that, hadn't heard they had finally arrested someone.
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The body of 27 year old Sydney-based US gay man, Scott Johnson, was found at the base of the cliffs at North Head in Manly on 10 December 1988.
His brother in the US, Steve Johnson, has campaigned over the decades for his death to be investigated as a hate crime. It led to the third inquest held in 2017 ruling that it was. hate crime committed by an unknown assailant.
The NSW Police finally undertook a review of 88 suspicious deaths of gay men between 1976 and the early 2000s, peaking in the late 1980s and early 1990s, many of which occurred in the area of beats. It concluded that 27 were probably gay hate murders.
This morning, a 49 year old Sydney man was arrested and taken in for questioning over the murder of Scott Johnson It is expected charges will be laid. The NSW Chief Commissioner of Police telephoned Steve Johnson in the US to let him know.
I think it is wonderful that they have finally listened and stuck with it and have found someone who may have committed the crime.
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The body of 27 year old Sydney-based US gay man, Scott Johnson, was found at the base of the cliffs at North Head in Manly on 10 December 1988.
His brother in the US, Steve Johnson, has campaigned over the decades for his death to be investigated as a hate crime. It led to the third inquest held in 2017 ruling that it was. hate crime committed by an unknown assailant.
The NSW Police finally undertook a review of 88 suspicious deaths of gay men between 1976 and the early 2000s, peaking in the late 1980s and early 1990s, many of which occurred in the area of beats. It concluded that 27 were probably gay hate murders.
This morning, a 49 year old Sydney man was arrested and taken in for questioning over the murder of Scott Johnson It is expected charges will be laid. The NSW Chief Commissioner of Police telephoned Steve Johnson in the US to let him know.
Wasn’t there a tv series based on these deaths not so long ago?
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Wasn’t there a tv series based on these deaths not so long ago?
I can't remember if there was a TV series - there were certainly TV documentary programs about the issue.
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The man who was arrested this morning has been charged with the murder of Scott Johnson.
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No doubt he was surprised and thought he had gotten away with it long ago.
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I did a search and there was a TV series on SBS in 2017, not sure how factual it was. It does not seem to have been shown in NZ.
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(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EXe1dORUcAEjoLI?format=jpg&name=900x900)
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(https://aleteiaen.files.wordpress.com/2020/03/pilot.jpg)
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Very reassuring.
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*shivers*
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(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EXe1dORUcAEjoLI?format=jpg&name=900x900)
OMG this great, and so true!!
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(https://aleteiaen.files.wordpress.com/2020/03/pilot.jpg)
Autopilot.
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This is an Otto pilot. :laugh:
(https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/61OmFSi%2BY0L._AC_SX679_.jpg)
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Yep! Preminger in Stalag-17! I remember that well!
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Of all the news happening...this has brought it sadly all home to me...
Hollywood Bowl season canceled for the first time in 98 years.
So long, L.A. summer...
(https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-i9rH16dSHFI/XY0yKPFrKBI/AAAAAAAAPYA/Idj3IyiWmUID_bUrDGGiPWFvnorPVAdywCEwYBhgL/s320/IMG_4834-imp.jpg)
For the first time in its nearly 100-year history, the Hollywood Bowl is canceling its entire season — a loss that amounts to far more than opening night with Brandi Carlile, the film screenings and sing-alongs, the concerts starring Diana Ross, Yuja Wang and Janelle Monáe that were to have followed.
The Hollywood Bowl is summer in Los Angeles. It is running, dizzy, down Highland Avenue with friends after a drink at the Frolic Room or a chilled martini at Musso & Frank. It is barefoot and tanned just outside the gate, wearing a favorite cotton skirt, the scent of sizzling bacon-wrapped hot dogs and street corn slathered in mayonnaise blending with shouts of “tacos, tortas, aguas frescas!”
It is laughing in the $1 seats at the very top of the amphitheater, the sun melting like deep-yellow butter over the hills, stars blinking awake in the darkening dome of the sky.
(https://joshwilltravel.files.wordpress.com/2014/08/10547731_947695971923636_2000401621039399196_o.jpg)
A wistful article about a sad thing...
https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/story/2020-05-13/hollywood-bowl-cancels-2020-season-summer-coronavirus (https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/story/2020-05-13/hollywood-bowl-cancels-2020-season-summer-coronavirus)
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Darn. During our Brokie visit to L.A. in 2008, Pete Tannen and I went there, they were setting up for something and weren't permitting visitors, but I said how I came all the way from Virginia and just wanted to see what it looked like, so they let us in for a short while. Quite an impressive place!
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This is an Otto pilot. :laugh:
(https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/61OmFSi%2BY0L._AC_SX679_.jpg)
::)
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I'm glad they let you in, Fritz!
I've been to the Bowl at least once almost every summer I've been here and often several times. All sorts of memorable programs, all kinds of music, an Easter Sunrise service, the Bowl museum, fireworks, picnics in the hills beforehand, food and drink at your seat, friends and memories galore of vanished summers. It seems so unbelievable.
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Biden better start showing up pretty soon. He's never on CNN.com's front page, he doesn't do televised updates or reports on the virus like Cuomo...I don't know anything about his campaign...I know he hates 45 and that's about it...but that's not enough to win against a fearless competitor like 45, who will say and do anything to win.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/25/us/politics/joe-biden-coronavirus-quarantine.html (https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/25/us/politics/joe-biden-coronavirus-quarantine.html)
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Who are "the haters"? Dems? Thaaaaat's great...
As for things getting worse for 45 because of all the briefings at the WH...wake up! They are rallies for his base, and he may be pulling in more simply because he's on TV, lying about things getting better...desperate people might be won over by that when they have nothing else.
Team Biden has a message for the haters: Look at the scoreboard
By MARC CAPUTO
05/15/2020 02:23 PM EDT
After weeks of questions about its strategy from Democrats and pundits, Joe Biden’s campaign on Friday formulated a response that can be boiled down to one message: scoreboard.
Donilon rejected the critics, especially those who fretted that Trump was occupying the spotlight by holding nationally watched television briefings while Biden was webcasting from home.
The content of Trump’s briefings, however, ultimately made things worse for the president, Donilon said, obliquely referencing the president’s musings about injecting bleach as a coronavirus cure.
“People have seen him. They heard him,” Donilon said. “They've seen first of all him, pushing aside the experts on this issue they care a lot about. They’ve seen him put forward some dangerous ideas, they know are really sort of scary.”
https://www.politico.com/news/2020/05/15/biden-to-haters-scoreboard-260752 (https://www.politico.com/news/2020/05/15/biden-to-haters-scoreboard-260752)
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True, Nancy!! Biden is running for President!! He needs to start LOOKING LIKE IT!! And soon!! :o :o :o
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Who are "the haters"? Dems? Thaaaaat's great...
[...]
Team Biden has a message for the haters: Look at the scoreboard
That's Politico's word...for what it's worth...
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As I've often remarked, our two year plus long marathon running for the Presidency is bloated and ridiculous. The parties used to pick the nominees at their convention and then Labor Day was the unofficial start to a two month long campaign.
Long campaigns just provide extraneous material to argue over and create distractions. When Canada and Great Britain call elections they are over in several weeks. So, really? It took two years for the American electorate to decide Trump was a better alternative than Clinton? Or was it that Trump and Republicans had two years to create the meme of "they're both equally bad."
So I'm not sure I agree with these sentiments.
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[...]
The parties used to pick the nominees at their convention and then Labor Day was the unofficial start to a two month long campaign.
And this was all before radio, TV, 24 hour news, internet... Extending campaign seasons doesn't make the electorate any smarter...it just makes them hate both candidates by election day and succumb to voter apathy.
Imagine how unintelligent someone must be to vote for Trump...again.
And that also means voting for a third party candidate that opens the door. (Amash has dropped out citing these concerns as one reason.)
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I think i have written before about elections in NZ. The Prime Minister has set the date for September 19. It was announced before Covid became a topic but she has said it will not change. The Writ for the election will be issued by the Governor General on August 16. There can be no advertising, radio, TV, newspapers or bill boards until that date. There can be none on Election day and all billboards must be take down by midnight on September 18. Obviously the Opposition Leader is making some comments, and I feel a little (just a little) bit sorry for him, about the huge expenditure and drastic laws for Covid. It has tended to backfire on him as, while there are mistakes with such huge decisions on the run, most people are fully supportive of the Government.
He had a win last week as we went down to Level 2. We can now meet in groups but no larger than 10. The government set the same rule of 10 for funerals (it had been 0) and after a opposition led furore it is now 50.
I am now going to the hairdresser. It has been 11 weeks, I usually go every 5 or 6 weeks. They opened up in Level 2 last Thursday.
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11 weeks is long! It's been over three months for me...and I haven't heard anything different about opening anything.
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(https://i.redd.it/0bpr0dkl19z41.jpg)
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:laugh:
Their thinking perfectly!
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I discovered that above photo was altered from this original one.
Click HERE (https://cdn).
Link isn't working...it said...
MY BODY
MY CHOICE
TO WORK
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Hm, that link doesn't work. Anyway, swiped for FB!
What did the original say?
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Above, Fritz...
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Aha! But the altered version is more fitting for Trumpistas.
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Do they ever acknowledge or learn anything?
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Nope. That would be admitting that they made a mistake. And like their Supreme Deity, they are infallible.
It would be fascinating though if this pro-choice position led them to similar positions in other circumstances, like a light bulb going off.
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^^^ Too bad it's not original. With the alterations, the message fits the orange menace (and all his fans) mindset - me, me, me.
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TRUMP CLAIMS HE TAKES HYDROXYCHLOROQUINE, FOX NEWS HOST WARNS 'IT COULD KILL YOU' President Donald Trump said he's been taking hydroxychloroquine, the anti-malaria drug he’s been touting as a potential coronavirus cure, for a couple of weeks. Not only is there is no known evidence that the drug works against COVID-19, but it has potentially serious side effects, including the possibility that it may alter heartbeat in a way that could lead to sudden death. Fox News host Neil Cavuto warned viewers that the drug could "kill you," referencing research studies that concluded the drug shows no real benefit for treating the coronavirus and may be harmful.
I hope is is taking it and I hope he does have the serious side effects.
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This Is Your Body And Brain On Coronavirus Quarantine
Here’s how the COVID-19 pandemic social distancing and lockdown affect you and what you can do about it.
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/body-brain-quarantine-coronavirus-effects_l_5ebde414c5b698a29045d7a9?ncid=newsltushpmgnews
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He's probably saying he's taking it (in order to increase profits for the company) while not actually taking it. Like he wanted the President of Ukraine to announce an investigation of the Biden family without actually doing such an investigation.
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Oh I know he is not taking it, but I still wish he was and still wish he has the side effects.
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It would be so fitting.
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DO NOT WATCH THIS IF YOU GET GROSSED OUT BY HORROR MOVIES
Epic Supercut Recaps Coronavirus Pandemic With Sci-Fi And Horror Movies
EVERYTHING I NEED TO KNOW TO SURVIVE COVID-19 I LEARNED BY WATCHING SCIFI & HORROR MOVIES
https://youtu.be/QUdV7Xf9sT4
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It would be so fitting.
Yes it would be.
Nancy Pulosi said today she hopes he is not taking it because he is at a higher risk due to his being morbidly obese.
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DO NOT WATCH THIS IF YOU GET GROSSED OUT BY HORROR MOVIES
Epic Supercut Recaps Coronavirus Pandemic With Sci-Fi And Horror Movies
EVERYTHING I NEED TO KNOW TO SURVIVE COVID-19 I LEARNED BY WATCHING SCIFI & HORROR MOVIES
https://youtu.be/QUdV7Xf9sT4
:laugh: :laugh: :laugh:
To sum it up, nothing new in this world.
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^^^^ Nice vid... pretty accurate as of today. Tomorrow? WTH knows?
BTW, the Post article above is a worthy read/reminder. The duration of anxiety this event has/is generating is amplifying the impacts. The "How to Nurture" points at the end are dead accurate. Acceptance, routines, bigger picture, solitude and balance are difficult to muster up now-a-days. Having been a gym rat for 30+ years, 5-6 days a week, my whole sense of routine, solitude, and balance are way off with losing that one thing. Here's to light at the end of a tunnel (fingers crossed). Stay safe, peace. V.
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Oh I know he is not taking it, but I still wish he was and still wish he has the side effects.
I think he should take it--and wash it down with Clorox.
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Oh I know he is not taking it, but I still wish he was and still wish he has the side effects.
Totally agree, he's not taking it. You can kind of see it in his face, when he said he was taking it, that he thought for a 1/2 second (that's about as long as he can think about anything) and then thought to himself, tell them you're taking it they can't prove anything.
He's too much of a coward to take something that he's telling everyone else to take. And if his base starts taking it to follow his "lead", it will only make the drug harder to get for people who really need it...I think people with lupus use it.
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I think he should take it--and wash it down with Clorox.
*Clapping*
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I think he should take it--and wash it down with Clorox.
*Clapping*
;D
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Thanks for the article Linda!
_____
New Randy Rainbow if you haven't seen it...
https://www.youtube.com/watchv=d02a9nmjxcm
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^^^That link won't work, but that's the one in which he sings to the tune of Tradition, right? Fantastic!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d02A9nmJxcM
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I think he should take it--and wash it down with Clorox.
Totally agree, Jeff!!
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Thanks for the article Linda!
_____
New Randy Rainbow if you haven't seen it...
https://www.youtube.com/watchv=d02a9nmjxcm
You're welcome, Lyle. I've been finding more and more like this as the pandemic and associated problems continue.
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There are an array of disgusting items today from the ringleader, his family, his henchmen and Republican toadys, in the news today. Just one day of typical days of this presidency.
Here's a sampling...
"Heartless" Trump slammed for ending National Guard deployments one day before they can claim benefits
The president is intentionally stripping early retirement and education benefits from thousands of soldiers one day before they go into effect.
Trump removed another watchdog who was investigating McConnell's wife, Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao
Then McConnell, the Senate GOP leader, handpicked the new IG himself, effectively ending the investigation into Chao's alleged misdeeds on his behalf.
Eric Trump claims pandemic isn’t real, will "magically disappear" right after election
The president's son is peddling wild conspiracy theories to absolve his father's failure.
Florida ousts top pandemic scientist for refusing to manipulate data
The scientist, whose work was widely praised by health officials, was removed from her position for failing to "manually change data to drum up support for the plan to reopen."
Georgia GOP cancels Supreme Court election, allowing governor to appoint a Republican
As Georgia emerges as a blue-leaning purple state, Republicans are relying on dirty tricks to cling to power.
Jane Roe’s final confession: Anti-abortion conversion ‘all an act’ paid for by the Christian right
For a quarter century, she was the star of the right. Turns out, it was all a lie.
Lindsey Graham reveals scheme to release baseless "Obamagate" probe results right before 2020 election
The president's toady all but admitted that this entire sham is aimed at tilting the 2020 election in Trump's favor.
And possibly the President's most petty thing he's yet done...
Trump refuses to unveil Obama's presidential portrait at the White House
Since he first slithered into the Oval Office in January 2017, Donald Trump has been consumed with undoing the legacy of President Barack Obama. Trump’s obsession with Obama runs the gamut, from Twitter attacks that persist to this day to the more actively dangerous war his administration has been waging against the Affordable Care Act.
Now, it appears the president’s animosity towards Obama has hit a petty new low. NBC News reports that sources in the know have revealed that Trump does not intend to uphold the decades-long bipartisan tradition of inviting his predecessor to the White House’s East Room to unveil President Obama’s official portrait as well as First Lady Michelle’s.
NBC News further reports that Obama himself is uninterested in attending such an event with Trump, an unsurprising preference given Trump’s constant attacks and more recent “Obamagate” conspiracy theorizing. On some level, Obama going to an unveiling with Trump would signal that everything is normal in our country right now, which is so clearly not the case. Refusing to help normalize Trump is the right decision.
And more!
Seriously?
Pompeo's elite taxpayer-funded dinners set off alarm bells
The president's allies are lining up pro-Trump doctors to prescribe rapid reopening
Trump warns "nobody will be guarding your potatoes" in weird threat to "go after Virginia"
Yes. Seriously.
Maryland reports largest rise yet in cases 4 days after reopening
Real estate investors and hedge fund managers weaseled $160 billion out of CARES Act
Ford caves, won't make Trump wear mask during plant visit after all
Hope...
Carbon emissions dropped 17 percent globally amid pandemic
Magic Johnson offering $100 million in loans to minority-owned businesses left out of PPP loans
Michigan secretary of state says all voters will get absentee ballot applications by mail
If even one of these things annoys you, multiply it by every single day the orange cretin has been in office and wonder how anyone could be so unintelligent as to vote for Trump...again. (And not casting a vote for Joe Biden, voting for a 3rd party or not voting at all is supporting Donald Trump, his supporters and all that comes with it.)
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I encourage anyone with access to The New Yorker to read an article in the May 11 issue by Evan Osnos called "The Greenwich Rebellion." While I did not find the article surprising, I do think it's interesting in detailing how the Stinking Rich of Greenwich, Connecticut, came to throw their
weight money behind the Great Orange Satan.
I'll share this gem: At a gathering of "deep-pocketed Republicans from Greenwich and New York" in 2015, where "no one had a pleasant thing to say about Trump," one of the guests, a woman, said, "I'm a lifelong expert on the psychographics of women's voter behavior, and I can tell you that Donald Trump will never get two percent of Republican women voters." The speaker was greeted with "wild applause." The speaker was Kellyanne Conway (who, of course, lies and says she never said it). The source of the anecdote is a professor at the Yale School of Management, who was present.
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^^^^ Sadly, I had already noticed several of those headlines. They churned my stomach to where just stopped reading and shut down. I've even started skipping the nightly news sometimes. As if a world pandemic with daily body counts is not enough, it is intensely depressing to read/hear the unbelievable, and once unmanageable, atrocities being done by this nepotist administration, to Americans. Sadly, the mud-slinging GOP (Fox) "News" lies, half-truths and "alternative facts" machine, is just ramping up their muddying of the truth. Gonna be a very long siege these next 6+ months. Peace.
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(https://piximus.net/media2/62664/quarantine-jokes-23.jpg)
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Still unable to speak truth to power...what is she afraid of? She's not running for anything. why can't she just say "he should wear a mask"...simple statement
Here's what Dr. Deborah Birx had to say about Trump wearing a mask
"Well the President did wear a mask while he was less than six feet in an occasion where that was important -- I think when he was traveling last week," Birx said.
"I'm not with him every day and every moment..."
https://www.cnn.com/2020/05/24/politics/deborah-birx-donald-trump-masks-social-distancing/index.html (https://www.cnn.com/2020/05/24/politics/deborah-birx-donald-trump-masks-social-distancing/index.html)
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I cannot vote for him if he picks Warren, and I think he will.
(CNN)Joe Biden is thinking big.
Confronted with the prospect of taking office next year in the depths of a historic economic and health crisis, Biden is now talking about a bolder presidency, with ambitions stretching beyond the restoration of pre-Donald Trump normalcy.
And there is a growing sense in Democratic circles, particularly among the progressive wing of the party, that there is one sure way to show he means it: Make Elizabeth Warren his running mate.
https://www.cnn.com/2020/05/24/politics/elizabeth-warren-joe-biden-vice-president-coronavirus/index.html (https://www.cnn.com/2020/05/24/politics/elizabeth-warren-joe-biden-vice-president-coronavirus/index.html)
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^^^ Well it's Warren, Sanders, or Harris.... pick your poison. He needs Sander's fans to get in line and that's the surest way to insure that one! ... Will see.
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Still unable to speak truth to power...what is she afraid of? She's not running for anything. why can't she just say "he should wear a mask"...simple statement
Here's what Dr. Deborah Birx had to say about Trump wearing a mask
"Well the President did wear a mask while he was less than six feet in an occasion where that was important -- I think when he was traveling last week," Birx said.
"I'm not with him every day and every moment..."
https://www.cnn.com/2020/05/24/politics/deborah-birx-donald-trump-masks-social-distancing/index.html (https://www.cnn.com/2020/05/24/politics/deborah-birx-donald-trump-masks-social-distancing/index.html)
Whoever heard of her anyway before all this started?
She values her job more than she values truth.
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I cannot vote for him if he picks Warren, and I think he will.
Every vote not cast for Biden is a vote cast to keep the Great Orange Satan in office for another four years. (Holds up hands.) Just sayin'. ...
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They do not call us the shaky isles for no reason
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-05-25/earthquake-strikes-in-new-zealand-shaking-jacinda-ardern-on-tv/12281892
The interviewer was asking her about relaxation of requirements for building alterations hence the question about a man shed for her partner.
I did not feel it, I was talking with my sister on Skype at the time. I am 700 km away.
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(https://piximus.net/media2/62664/quarantine-jokes-23.jpg)
I started reading this and was getting mad until i got to the last part!! I love it!! :laugh:
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They do not call us the shaky isles for no reason
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-05-25/earthquake-strikes-in-new-zealand-shaking-jacinda-ardern-on-tv/12281892
The interviewer was asking her about relaxation of requirements for building alterations hence the question about a man shed for her partner.
I did not feel it, I was talking with my sister on Skype at the time. I am 700 km away.
:o :o :o
How could she keep smiling as if nothing happened!? I have never been near an earthquake, I think I would be paralyzed from panic!
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People who have lived here all their lives are used to it. Dunedin is in one of the safer cities but has been hit. I have only felt one since moving here.
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I don't think I have ever heard of a strong earthquake in Germany, some very light ones, yes, but never a big one. In Spain there can be big earthquakes, but not near my hometown.
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LOL... in all seriousness. Many in the general public are ignorant that businesses are NOT PUBLIC entities. They are shareholder or privately owned. They can make their own rules (up to a point) to protect their workers b/c from a liability vantage, sickened employees could bring a class-action against the company if they fail to take adequate and reasonable measure to protect them. There have been many precedence for such actions - coal miners, asbestos, hexavalent chromium, and CV-19 is no different.
Why do you think Moscow Mitch has been trying / proposing to pass US legislation protecting businesses? We all know who's *@( he's up.
It's no different than "no shirt, no shoes, no service" or prohibiting firearms onto the premises - even in the "right-to-carry" states. As far as I'm concerned, let the naysayers and "plaguers" "boycott" those businesses! All the less the rest of the people, concerned about others besides themselves, have to worry about being infected. The arrogant stupidity of the GOP / MAGA crowd just keeps getting lower and lower with every passing headline. You know if Covid-19 fatality rate were increase to 50-80% (maybe it morphs) I think we'd be hearing a quite different, more cautious tune. Let's hope we don't find out.
Peace and have a great Memorial Day... maybe it's the one day people remember why we honor those who've fallen. V.
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I cannot vote for him if he picks Warren, and I think he will.
Every vote not cast for Biden is a vote cast to keep the Great Orange Satan in office for another four years. (Holds up hands.) Just sayin'. ...
Not casting a vote for Joe Biden, voting for a 3rd party or not voting at all is supporting Donald Trump, his supporters and all that comes with it.
(https://media.tenor.com/images/80d2b2a3073108a64a2a036332f7559a/tenor.gif)
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(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fcdn-webimages.wimages.net%2F050dfdfc5b995730171919e95588578ded883d-wm.jpg&hash=f2fc828e16f03b8bb7fe4f7f738224f5d69bb1a2)
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Go suck a lemon...
Some interesting notes on the pandemic in Los Angeles, from 1918...
Automobile Patrol plan to fight Spanish Influenza in Los Angeles.
(https://i.imgur.com/j8E3njR.jpg)
Los Angeles Herald - 6 December 1918 (https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=LAH19181206.2.38&srpos=243&e=------191-en--20-LAH-241--txt-txIN-%22Influenz[a%22----1918---1)
Some other approaches.
Lemons! ...and it doesn't look yellow...
(https://i.imgur.com/vBB8gaM.jpg)
Los Angeles Herald - 23 October 1918 (https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=LAH19181023.2.43&srpos=475&e=------191-en--20-LAH-461--txt-txIN-%22Influenza%22----1918---1)
No kissing!
(https://i.imgur.com/4w9DILU.jpg)
Los Angeles Herald - 31 October 1918 (https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=LAH19181031&e=------191-en--20-LAH-421--txt-txIN-%22Influenza%22----1918---1)
And lots of laxative!
(https://i.imgur.com/xrkAMr3.jpg)
Los Angeles Herald - 5 November 1918 (https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=LAH19181105&e=------191-en--20-LAH-301--txt-txIN-%22Influenza%22----1918---1)
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^^^ Yeap, numerous bogus cures! Probably not unlike today as has been reported in several instances. The FDA then, I do not believe, had the power to regulate things which "made unproven claims" as they do today. The 2nd wave of the 1918 Flu killed even more people and that round many of them were considered young and very healthy. It is believed now that their immune systems unleashed a "cytokine storm" and that is probably what killed so many "younger" people. Sit tight. The world will know a lot more in 10-14 days. After seeing all those images on the news of people in crowed pools and bars and other areas, I'm praying that the local hospitals will not be overrun.
BTW, did you see the image from Brazil for all the open, already dug mass graves. That should be a jolt.
https://www.9news.com.au/world/coronavirus-the-horrifying-reality-of-brazils-covid19-outbreak/c9564a0d-0e97-4382-a658-db549337e8e6 (https://www.9news.com.au/world/coronavirus-the-horrifying-reality-of-brazils-covid19-outbreak/c9564a0d-0e97-4382-a658-db549337e8e6)
> https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/30/brazil-manaus-coronavirus-mass-graves (https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/30/brazil-manaus-coronavirus-mass-graves) Peace.
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Go suck a lemon...
Some other approaches.
Lemons! ...and it doesn't look yellow...
And lots of laxative!
Maybe we should all try sucking lemons (at least our complexions would improve) and taking laxatives. :D Oh, wait. If the toilet paper shortage continues, maybe we should skip the laxatives. :D
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why aren't these cops in jail for murder?
I like cops in general...I watch Live pD and like to see them harass redneck sovereign citizens and chase real criminals. An unarmed man was killed. That's murder. Why the need for an investigation while they're out free? The video, which I can't bring myself to watch, is proof. ARREST THEM.
Minneapolis mayor thinks Floyd's death was murder
Ex-cop: Video of George Floyd feels like a monstrous rerun
https://www.cnn.com/2020/05/26/opinions/minneapolis-george-floyd-video-a-horrific-rerun-alexander/index.html (https://www.cnn.com/2020/05/26/opinions/minneapolis-george-floyd-video-a-horrific-rerun-alexander/index.html)
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why aren't these cops in jail for murder?
I like cops in general...I watch Live pD and like to see them harass redneck sovereign citizens and chase real criminals. An unarmed man was killed. That's murder. Why the need for an investigation while they're out free? The video, which I can't bring myself to watch, is proof. ARREST THEM.
Minneapolis mayor thinks Floyd's death was murder
Ex-cop: Video of George Floyd feels like a monstrous rerun
https://www.cnn.com/2020/05/26/opinions/minneapolis-george-floyd-video-a-horrific-rerun-alexander/index.html (https://www.cnn.com/2020/05/26/opinions/minneapolis-george-floyd-video-a-horrific-rerun-alexander/index.html)
I agree, hunnerd percent.
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I was going to add that the looting and burning in Minneapolis last night is not the answer, but I haven't watched people who look like me being shot in the back, gunned down when unarmed, shot in a car, for decades.
But still, stealing a tv and arson don't help anything.
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I was going to add that the looting and burning in Minneapolis last night is not the answer, but I haven't watched people who look like me being shot in the back, gunned down when unarmed, shot in a car, for decades.
But still, stealing a tv and arson don't help anything.
No, it doesn't, and I wish someone could explain to me why events such as this protest end up as occasions for looting--that is to say, stealing--and burning. Or how sometimes this happens in the neighborhoods of the people doing the looting and burning.
(Of course, that doesn't explain how the World Series victory of the Philadelphia Phillies led to cars being overturned and a luggage store two blocks from my place being looted.)
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(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EYrDtN9X0AAqDv-?format=jpg&name=medium)
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And this is so accurate! :laugh:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V46GntwQlPE
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Is it ever!
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No, it doesn't, and I wish someone could explain to me why events such as this protest end up as occasions for looting--that is to say, stealing--and burning. Or how sometimes this happens in the neighborhoods of the people doing the looting and burning.
(Of course, that doesn't explain how the World Series victory of the Philadelphia Phillies led to cars being overturned and a luggage store two blocks from my place being looted.)
Philly fans are crazy...
As for the other, this is why. Watch the video at the link...(and I have to say I hate the CNN guy, he has absolutely no empathy...if 45 was a commentator, he'd be this guy.)
Billy Baldwin
@BillyBaldwin
·
“It’s hard being black in this country when your life is not valued. And people are worried about the protesters and the looters. And it’s just people who are frustrated who, for far too long, have not had their voices heard.”
https://www.cnn.com/videos/us/2020/05/28/bakari-sellers-george-floyd-death-newday-vpx.cnn (https://www.cnn.com/videos/us/2020/05/28/bakari-sellers-george-floyd-death-newday-vpx.cnn)
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Minnesota police officer who knelt on George Floyd has been arrested
https://www.mcall.com/news/nation-world/ct-nw-minnesota-officer-george-floyd-derek-chauvin-arrested-20200529-h6i5nem3uvadzhugy67yecpgxq-story.html?utm_medium=notification&utm_source=onesignal (https://www.mcall.com/news/nation-world/ct-nw-minnesota-officer-george-floyd-derek-chauvin-arrested-20200529-h6i5nem3uvadzhugy67yecpgxq-story.html?utm_medium=notification&utm_source=onesignal)
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Minneapolis ex-officer who knelt on George Floyd's neck is in custody and faces a murder charge
https://www.cnn.com/2020/05/29/us/minneapolis-george-floyd-friday/index.html (https://www.cnn.com/2020/05/29/us/minneapolis-george-floyd-friday/index.html)
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I know what I would say if I were the mayor of Minneapolis:
Everyone in this country has a constitutionally protected right to assemble peaceably to protest.
Looting and burning is not protesting. It's criminal activity, and anyone shown to be participating in these activities will be prosecuted accordingly.
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the governor had a press conference, I thought he was very good, and that's what he said. He's supposed to decide if there will be a curfew tonight, which seems like a good idea. There are already armored vehicles on the streets there.
One thing he said, that the people setting fire to a family-owned store at 3am this morning, were not thinking about George Lloyd while they were doing it.
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Noteworthy...
Dr. Anthony Fauci on His ‘Dear, Deep Friendship’ With Larry Kramer
https://variety.com/2020/film/news/larry-kramer-tony-fauci-aids-1234618629/
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Brian Sims, a Pennsylvania House Democrat just excoriated Republicans in a viral speech after he discovered they HID a coronavirus infection.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dyt5y4KmMcM&t=4s
______________
To demand the resignation of Republican officials who KNOWINGLY exposed people to coronavirus, sign here
http://odaction.com/btcknowinglyexposed
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Whup 'em, Brian!
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^^^
Those state Republicans were notifying each other they were testing positive, but not the Democrats they were interacting with.
And sadly...yet again, this last 4 years, it doesn't surprise me.
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Not just happening in Minnesota...
Tony McDade, Black Trans Man, Killed By Police in Florida
The state is an "epicenter of anti-trans violence" according to one organization.
by Mikelle Street
https://www.out.com/news/2020/5/29/tony-mcdade-black-trans-man-killed-police-florida
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Brian Sims is my representative in the state House of Representatives.
He is the only politician who represents me anywhere, from City Council to Washington, whom I have ever met and spoken to. I told him that once when we had a conversation in my usual hangout. He got a very shocked look on his face. (I saw him there again one Saturday night shortly before Covid-19 closed the bars. I shook his hand, wished him success in the primary, and told him he had my vote. )
I support him, but he's got a temper and a mouth on him, and if he doesn't learn to watch it, it may cost him his seat some day. He is opposed in the Democratic primary on June 2; whoever wins the primary wins the general election because there is no point in being a Republican in Philadelphia. I've already voted, by mail-in ballot, and I voted for him.
This is not the first time he's been caught in a profanity-laced tirade. A year ago he got into it with a woman who was protesting in front of Planned Parenthood. Of course it got recorded and of course it went viral.
I'm not disagreeing with his position in either case, and I get it that there is no such thing as bad publicity, but he is not guaranteed his seat in the House. He's good for our district. I would hate to lose him. But that doesn't mean he doesn't shoot himself in the foot with these tirades.
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the governor had a press conference, I thought he was very good, and that's what he said. He's supposed to decide if there will be a curfew tonight, which seems like a good idea. There are already armored vehicles on the streets there.
That's sad. :(
One thing he said, that the people setting fire to a family-owned store at 3am this morning, were not thinking about George Lloyd while they were doing it.
Good for him.
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Brian Sims is my representative in the state House of Representatives.
[...]
But that doesn't mean he doesn't shoot himself in the foot with these tirades.
I didn't realize he was gay, or out, until something I read awhile ago. In the video I posted earlier, I didn't think he said anything he shouldn't have. And I know "tirades" has a negative connotation, as though there's a lack of control and often directed at children exhibiting bad behavior or being childish, but all it really means is a long, angry speech of criticism or accusation.
Frankly, after the last 4 years I wish more politicians would call out their colleagues insane behaviors. I keep being reminded of the Network quote, "I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take it any more."
It's time for all of us NOT TO TAKE IT ANY MORE.
Act Up -- in the tradition of Larry Kramer.
Oh, and then there's this:
When Sims took to the state house floor to address the issue yesterday, Rep. Jerry Knowles (R) called him “a little girl” during his speech, yelling it across the chamber.
Now women’s groups, parents, constituents and fellow legislators are rallying around Sims and encouraging more "little girls" to get into politics. “They’re losing,” Sims wrote later. “I know it doesn’t feel like that after days like this. But their behavior reeks of fear and failure.”
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I didn't realize he was gay, or out, until something I read awhile ago.
Oh, yes. ...
I once did a Google search for him, and his picture turned up on some sort of site dedicated to hot guys in suits. :laugh:
In the video I posted earlier, I didn't think he said anything he shouldn't have. And I know "tirades" has a negative connotation, as though there's a lack of control and often directed at children exhibiting bad behavior or being childish, but all it really means is a long, angry speech of criticism or accusation.
I called it a tirade because in the film showed on local news it appeared he was clearly out of control, using language that had to be bleeped.
When Sims took to the state house floor to address the issue yesterday, Rep. Jerry Knowles (R) called him “a little girl” during his speech, yelling it across the chamber.
Now women’s groups, parents, constituents and fellow legislators are rallying around Sims and encouraging more "little girls" to get into politics. “They’re losing,” Sims wrote later. “I know it doesn’t feel like that after days like this. But their behavior reeks of fear and failure.”
Good to know.
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No, it doesn't, and I wish someone could explain to me why events such as this protest end up as occasions for looting--that is to say, stealing--and burning. Or how sometimes this happens in the neighborhoods of the people doing the looting and burning.
(Of course, that doesn't explain how the World Series victory of the Philadelphia Phillies led to cars being overturned and a luggage store two blocks from my place being looted.)
These people are what we call in the UK...."Rent a Crowd"
They come from all over, and probably don't believe in or even understand
what they are "fighting" for. It's all "just a bit of fun and something to do"
to them.
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exactly right, Sue. The MN governor rightly calls them terrorists.
Stealing - great way to fight for your cause
(https://i.pinimg.com/564x/3a/32/af/3a32af3500d7d909e7287bac3dbe96d9.jpg)
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There were violent protests in Downtown Los Angeles last night and 533 people were arrested.
Today...afternoon protests in various parts of the city.
This one in the Fairfax section near Third street. Dozens of people climbed aboard that bus you see in the upper right.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/ext_tw_video_thumb/1266854963268878337/pu/img/AkU7645UzBX5EgpJ?format=jpg&name=900x900)
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(https://ca-times.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/5f8f8c8/2147483647/strip/true/crop/1602x1068+0+0/resize/840x560!/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcalifornia-times-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F37%2F60%2Fa7bb3e6e481f90c8268216068db2%2Fscreenshot-2020-05-30-at-2.15.55%20PM.png)
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Who believes that the person who torched that police car is registered to vote?
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A Police car was battered then torched.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EZTQTANUEAEZna-?format=jpg&name=large)
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(https://ca-times.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/6a20ebd/2147483647/strip/true/crop/6000x4000+0+0/resize/840x560!/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcalifornia-times-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F35%2F74%2Fefdb722a4048a35370b1dba1e169%2F548638-me-black-lives-matter-protest-kkn-001.jpg)
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Ambulance has trouble getting through the crowds.
(https://cdn.abcotvs.com/dip/images/6221721_053020-kabc-raw-fairfax-district-vid.jpg?w=1600)
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There were violent protests in Downtown Los Angeles last night and 533 people were arrested.
A photo from last night:
(https://www.abc27.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/55/2020/05/ceb711355f5b49aba31c4e99cd838bbd.jpg?w=2400&h=1440&crop=1)
Today is the 4th day of protests...
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are you anywhere near the violence, Lyle?
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Crowds marching up Fairfax...another car torched...
(https://cdn.abcotvs.com/dip/images/6221768_053020-kabc-george-floyd-protest-farifax.jpg)
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And on to La Cienega...
(https://www.dailynews.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/LDN-L-DAYPROTEST-LAPACIFIC-0531-05-1.jpg?w=810)
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are you anywhere near the violence, Lyle?
Now...the protesters are marching down Santa Monica Blvd. in front of my street now, heading to Beverly Hills...
...lots of noise here...people, helicopters, car horns, sirens...but there's no violence going on...they seem to be
stopping and going...concentrated on getting to Beverly Hills...then what?
(https://www.dailynews.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/LDN-L-DAYPROTEST-LAPACIFIC-0531-13-1.jpg?w=810)
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Meanwhile...
Local WeHo news site says:
Mayor Garcetti Goes on TV, Orders Curfew for Los Angeles as Protests Escalate
West Hollywood Mayor Lindsey Horvath and Beverly Hills Mayor Lester Friedman
have followed suit, ordering a curfew from 8 p.m. Saturday to 5:30 a.m. Sunday.
There's some discrepancy online about the Garcetti order, appears to be a 5 p.m. curfew for Downtown L.A.
where things were burned last night, stores looted and 533 people arrested. Rest of L.A. county 8 p.m.
including West Hollywood and Beverly Hills.
As I go to hit POST there are a dozen or more police cars and vehicles speeding west toward Beverly Hills, as well as 1/2 dozen helicopters.
I don't know why, but if I find out I'll let you know.
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thanks. Lyle. CNN is mostly covering other areas in LA, and now Minneapolis, which is getting much worse.
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I've turned on the TV for awhile...there's still a lot of people in the Fairfax area. Reports of a Whole Foods Store being looted and protesters are in The Grove shopping area and protesters are looting a Nordstrom. Perhaps lots of police heading to Beverly Hills to avoid that situation there, I don't know.
_________
Someone broke an officer's leg on Beverly Blvd.
_________
Trash receptacles being set on fire on Orange Grove Drive.
________
Police are shooting rubber bullets at crowds of protestors. The area was designated an unlawful assembly and if you don't leave...
________
Some shops on Melrose are reportedly being looted...
________
Several things destroyed in an Art Gallery.
________
Many protestors marching around the streets are tagging storefronts and buildings.
________
Shopping kiosks being set on fire at The Grove.
_______
Alexander McQueen store looted an on fire on Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills.
_______
Agitators are slicing automobile tires.
_______
News is reporting that online agitators are urging people to loot the stores on Rodeo Drive.
_______
This is what people will concentrate on, not the peaceful protesters who have concern, have a point, and are doing it with good intentions.
Agitators.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Everyone in the country is frustrated and/or upset or concerned or enraged or fearful etc. etc. etc. about something. Their lives, livelihoods, jobs, health, police, the government, the country right now is a powder keg it seems.
But all lot of this seems so unnecessary and misplaced. How is it going to help anything?
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So much for re-opening things little by little in the city today. :(
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this has nothing to do with justice for George Lloyd. It’s easier to make a Molotov cocktail than it is to register to vote. It’s easier to set a cop car on fire, than it is to run for city council and try to change their cities. It’s up to those “in charge” to make changes, why isn’t it up to the protesters who are destroying cities in their outrage, to help make change? Because it's easier to light a match.
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and no word or plea for calm from the WH...I wish Obama was able to say something, but i understand (kind of) why he can't
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Amid the appalling news of the police murder of George Floyd, Australia was the scene of another tragedy last weekend.
Expanding its iron mine in the Hammersley Ranges in the Western Pilbara in Western Australia, Rio Tinto blasted the Juukan Gorge, destroying two rock shelters of the Puutu Kunti Kurrama people.
Excavations in 2008 and 2014 of the rock shelters where the Puutu Kunti Kurrama camped in living memory unearthed artifacts which were dated back as far as 46 000 years. DNA analysis of a plaited hair belt revealed that it was from an ancestor of the Puutu Kunti Kurrama. The shelters are the only inland site in WA that show they were occupied through the last ice age whereas other coastal sites were inundated when the sea level rose.
The sites contained evidence of the earliest grindstone technology in WA. There was also a sharpened kangaroo bone tool and sa shell midden.
Rio Tinto knew of the vital spiritual significance of the shelters for the Puutu Kunti Kurrama and the archaeological significance but used ministerial permission to blast the gorge given in 2013 under hopelessly (deliberately?) inadequate heritage legislation.
The profound loss is irreparable.
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Well, Hell's broken loose in Philadelphia this evening. So-called "protesters" have looted stores in the 1700 block of Walnut Street. This is a more-or-less high end shopping street. The local NBC affiliate had film of someone--I'll say it, an African American man with dreadlocks--coming out of a Modell's sporting goods store in that block with an armful of clothing. A Vans store was looted and caught fire (no one knows how as of this writing), and the fire apparently spread to two other buildings. An Urban Outfitters was looted. There's an Apple Store in that neighborhood, too, but I've heard no reports about that place.
The city is presently under a curfew till 6 a.m.
The intersection of 17th and Walnut streets is about five blocks from my place. Everything is OK in my immediate neighborhood right now. It's a residential neighborhood. There's nothing here to steal.
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10:00 p.m.
National Guard to be Deployed to Los Angeles
Los Angeles mayor Eric Garcetti has asked Governor Gavin Newsom
to deploy the National Guard to Los Angeles County amid ongoing protests.
Hours after his press conference, Garcetti announced that Newsom has approved his request to send in 500-700 National Guard troops to help keep order in the city. According to the mayor, troops will be deployed overnight "to maintain peace and safety."
In addition to calling on the military, the city of Los Angeles has also mobilized its entire police department as part of its response strategy for the first time since the major earthquakes of 1994 and 1995, CBS Los Angeles reports.
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These cities joined L.A. in ordering curfews for Saturday night
Cities announcing curfews Saturday night, besides Los Angeles, included:
–Beverly Hills
–Culver City
–Pasadena
–Santa Monica
–West Hollywood
Also, Metro had suspended bus and train service in all areas.
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^^^ There were protests in multiple NC cities. Some violent with places burned and looted. Not a good weekend for the country as a whole. The divides are only growing deeper and for good reasons. People should not be dying at the hands police. George Floyd may be the latest and shockingly not only example in recent memory. Sadly, we have no leaders like MLK to calm the angry masses into non-violent protests. TOM's tweets only inflaming with his brilliance, "When the looting starts, the shooting starts!" Now he's threatening "to unleash vicious dogs and ominous weapons" on protestors.
https://www.npr.org/2020/05/29/865261916/a-decade-of-watching-black-people-die (https://www.npr.org/2020/05/29/865261916/a-decade-of-watching-black-people-die)
https://www.wral.com/looters-set-fires-break-windows-and-steal-from-stores-in-raleigh-fayetteville/19121290/ (https://www.wral.com/looters-set-fires-break-windows-and-steal-from-stores-in-raleigh-fayetteville/19121290/)
Pray that we and world make it to: 1) A CV19 vaccine and 2) Nov 2....
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It's early a.m.
The city's calmed down, but all evening the sounds of ambulances, fire trucks and police cars. And helicopters. At one point I just sat quietly in the dark and listened. I just cannot see how the violence ever helps anyone. What's it like not to care? It's so sad. Very late I watched a bit of news. People really seemed entitled to loot stores and destroy property. A restaurant that had been set to open today, and that had been giving out free meals to restaurant workers and others in need, was set on fire and smashed to bits. Who does this help? While a newsman was out in front of the place the owner happened to come by. No one can justify this. I've never understood the urge to destroy things, no matter the situation. I really feel it's a selfish act. I'm in pain so you're going to be in pain, too. I've been involved in a slew of LGBT protests over the years. There's been disruption, but never destruction. Indiscriminate destruction benefits no one and can affect those who actually support you.
What will things look like in the morning light...
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10:24 p.m. – According to Austin Police Chief Manley, every APD officer will now be working 12-hour shifts indefinitely. This includes all 2,100 officers, no matter their rank.
10:18 p.m. – Protests continue with reports of loud sounds resembling fireworks and other vocal demonstrations.
9:41 p.m. – Protesters have lit a car on fire under I-35 in Downtown Austin near APD headquarters. It was extinguished before 10 p.m.
(https://i.pinimg.com/564x/70/9d/33/709d33dbd63d995ac9e45f8792d4ed28.jpg)
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what a weak ass response from a weak ass mayor. he'd never make it in New York or LA or Philadelphia or Chicago.
by: KXAN
Posted: May 30, 2020 / 06:22 PM CDT / Updated: May 30, 2020 / 06:22 PM CDT
AUSTIN (KXAN) — Austin Mayor Steve Adler says he recognizes the importance of Saturday’s protests throughout downtown Austin, but is asking people to demonstrate safely.
“It is a good and powerful thing to be able to demonstrate and that’s a good thing. I expect our law enforcement to continue to show restraint. Recognizing this is in a pandemic, I want people to be safe. Austin is a progressive city and is working really hard…it is important we have accountability and we show true compassion moving forward,” Adler said.
Adler, in an interview with KXAN, wants demonstrators to get the message across and avoid confrontation.
“My hope is they don’t win the day,” Adler said of potential violent demonstrators.
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This may come to the forefront now, at least in Austin, if not the country. But I don't know, now that the protesters got some free clothes, it might fade away.
Protesters chanted “I can’t breathe,” calling for justice following the deaths of George Floyd in Minnesota and Michael Ramos, who was shot in southeast Austin by APD officer Christopher Taylor on April 24.
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I don't know if anything will change after this, we can trace instances of this happening back for centuries.
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These cities joined L.A. in ordering curfews for Saturday night
Cities announcing curfews Saturday night, besides Los Angeles, included:
–Beverly Hills
–Culver City
–Pasadena
–Santa Monica
–West Hollywood
Also, Metro had suspended bus and train service in all areas.
On this coast you can add Philadelphia. We've already got one in place for tonight.
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I don't know if anything will change after this, we can trace instances of this happening back for centuries.
I can't think that way. I'll admit that I'm not a activist, but they're out there and I believe change will come, if too slowly. If people thought the way you say, I wouldn't be able to vote, there would still be colored drinking fountains and rest rooms, segregation would be the norm.
There is racism in every country, it will never go completely away. But rules of law must be upheld, a cop who murders must face the consequences.
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There is racism in every country, it will never go completely away. But rules of law must be upheld, a cop who murders must face the consequences.
So should people who loot and burn and claim they're "protesting" or "demonstrating."
Yesterday afternoon there was a peaceful gathering of hundreds (if not more) of people at the "Rocky Steps" (Philadelphia Museum of Art). Those people were protesting. The people who destroyed two city blocks last night, setting a fire and stealing everything that wasn't nailed down, right in front of TV cameras, were not protesters. They were criminals.
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One has to assume that this country-wide situation was exacerbated by the pandemic with people being cooped up for months, minorities being informed the pandemic hits them more as a group, etc. and something like this was waiting for a lit match. Seems a reasonable assumption.
I was watching some local news awhile ago and they did a segment showing before...all the peaceful protests that had been going on before 5pm yesterday, and then the situation after 5pm. Of course, the after gets more attention and also takes away the messages from the before.
Of course, the baby in the White House is only blaming people for it, saying 80% of the rioters in Minnesota were from out of state, the media is to blame for the situation across the country, etc. Then William Barr makes a speech...I saw his face come on the screen and turned the channel. Who wants to listen to him talk about law & order? Bunch a criminal cretins.
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TOM's tweets only inflaming with his brilliance, "When the looting starts, the shooting starts!" Now he's threatening "to unleash vicious dogs and ominous weapons" on protesters.
What a complete imbecile.
Pray that we and world make it to: 1) A CV19 vaccine and 2) Nov 2....
If I knew that protests and such were going to be in my vicinity yesterday, I should have prepared...made a sign that says,
TWO THINGS YOU CAN DO:
1.) REGISTER TO VOTE
2.) VOTE
And brought registration forms.
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So should people who loot and burn and claim they're "protesting" or "demonstrating."
Yesterday afternoon there was a peaceful gathering of hundreds (if not more) of people at the "Rocky Steps" (Philadelphia Museum of Art). Those people were protesting. The people who destroyed two city blocks last night, setting a fire and stealing everything that wasn't nailed down, right in front of TV cameras, were not protesters. They were criminals.
To quote someone I know from around here: I agree, hunnerd percent. I'd put a smiley face, but there's really nothing to smile about...
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CNN is filming live looting in North Philly, not sure where the cops are, but it's been going on for about an hour on camera. The helicopter is up but people are running out with armloads of stuff, I even saw a kid about 10...way to make change! Teaching the next generation how to loot...
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To quote someone I know from around here: I agree, hunnerd percent. I'd put a smiley face, but there's really nothing to smile about...
Thanks. Indeed, nothing to smile about ... :(
CNN is filming live looting in North Philly, not sure where the cops are, but it's been going on for about an hour on camera. The helicopter is up but people are running out with armloads of stuff, I even saw a kid about 10...way to make change! Teaching the next generation how to loot...
... Especially nothing to smile about if it's going on again.
Geez. ,,, :(
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Looting is happening again here, in Santa Monica and Huntington Beach (one reporter disputes this) right now.
Santa Monica has changed their curfew to 4:00 p.m. L.A. should, too.
I just heard this: Curfew updates...
4pm Santa Monica
4pm Beverly Hills
6pm L.A. County
8pm Culver City
8pm Los Angeles
8pm Pasadena
8pm West Hollywood
All of these places are IN L.A. County, so I'm not sure what the 6pm L.A. County means.
The protests in Santa Monica have been orderly and peaceful and have not been near where the looting is happening,
A Santa Monica news reporter in the looting area just describing this:
Reporter: "What I've been observing...a line of high end cars has been stopping in front of stores. A couple people get out of each one
and go into the stores. After two minutes, the cars honk their horns. After three minutes they start yelling "three minutes"
then the people in the stores come out with whatever they've stolen. They may repeat this or go to another location."
What can be done? Some people on the street have been yelling at the vandals to stop looting and they've been getting pushed down and shoved.
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(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EZTgBGJU0AA70oJ.jpg)
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^^^^^ oh my how succinct, accurate, and sad that it's true.
As I was watching "Grant" a few days ago, I was thinking how close we are to igniting a major internal conflict between the red and blue states (which happen to be some of the same states that formed the confederacy). I pray that we step back from the cliff's edge. The conspiracy part of me feels like a too perfect of a storm - a novel virus appears, shutdowns, medical systems overwhelmed, 100,000+ people dead in the US so far, all with an idiot at the helm. We seemed to making it through the first wave of CV-19 and then George Floyd dies at the hands of cop - captured for the world to see. For the first time since the CV-19 started, I am fearful we might loose control of ourselves, our common sense of good and maybe our country.
The picture above says it all, well almost. It would have been perfect had a big fat GOP elephant been in Trump's lap. Peace.
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this was on one of my IGs that I follow:
STOP QUESTIONING PROTESTERS AND QUESTION THE SYSTEMS OF OPPRESSION.
To which I responded: well, now we have to wait until we put out the fires. the problem with the system has just been pushed to the back.
i don't think it will go over too well with the audience to whom the original post was aimed. (is whom right here?idk)
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I'll say it again, because we're drowning in lack of leadership: I wish Obama would speak out and make a statement as a private citizen...we will never get anything from this WH. I do think a statement by BO would help, really help.
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I guess there was too much going on to report on this last week, shame
Obama condemns violence and calls for change in wake of George Floyd protests
Washington (CNN)Former President Barack Obama on Monday condemned violence amid protests over the death of George Floyd and police brutality and called for political solutions to address protesters' grievances about criminal justice.
The message from Obama, who previously decried Floyd's death last week when he said the killings of black men at the hands of police "shouldn't be 'normal' in 2020 America," follows a weekend that saw an escalation in protests nationwide.
"Let's not excuse violence, or rationalize it, or participate in it. If we want our criminal justice system, and American society at large, to operate on a higher ethical code, then we have to model that code ourselves," Obama wrote in an essay on Medium.
https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/01/politics/barack-obama-george-floyd/index.html (https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/01/politics/barack-obama-george-floyd/index.html)
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i don't think it will go over too well with the audience to whom the original post was aimed. (is whom right here?idk)
I think it is--object of the preposition to, therefore the objective case.
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Yes!
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I see this is being passed around on Twitter,
written on a gay flag colored background;
As queer people, we
celebrate a riot that
took place 51 years ago
every year. If you
celebrate that one, you
can't condemn this one.
This one? Ones. Something isn't gelling to me with this twittered/instagrammed etc. sentiment but I don't have time to think about it at the moment.
Feel free to discuss.
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Well, I guess it's coming. Next step will be martial law, and then the Great Orange Satan and his minions will find some way to put off, or even cancel, the General Election so he can hold onto power.
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this is a great interview. Art Acevado used to be Austin police chief but left for Houston.
https://www.cnn.com/videos/politics/2020/06/01/houston-police-chief-art-acevedo-trump-mouth-shut-vpx.cnn/video/playlists/top-news-videos/ (https://www.cnn.com/videos/politics/2020/06/01/houston-police-chief-art-acevedo-trump-mouth-shut-vpx.cnn/video/playlists/top-news-videos/)
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Was trying to find accurate information all morning about various rumors and things here. News is reporting online traffic is indicating protests (and whatever that leads to) are/were planned for tonight at:
Sunset & Crescent Heights / Santa Monica & San Vicente (this one is right near me)
LaBrea & Santa Monica / Hollywood & Highland / Wilshire & Santa Monica
My friend Ken & Robert are near the Sunset & Crescent Heights are. He emailed me and said "Our neighborhood has all been notified that there is a viable threat from a group wanting to burn out the rich whites on Hollywood Blvd., Laurel Canyon, and Sunset Square. What a time to give up drinking."
I recently saw this post online:
WeHo Daily
Please do not attend the “protest” at Sunset and Crescent heights today. The people behind it are not affiliated with Black Lives Matter and only want the destruction of historic Sunset Strip venues.
Supposedly the above has been cancelled due to fear of violence, but "supposedly" doesn't mean fact.
In response to uncertainty...
Beverly Hills Police@BeverlyHillsPD
Citywide curfew to start today at 1PM until 6/2 at 5:30AM.
______
City of Beverly Hills@CityofBevHills
Curfew TODAY: Citywide and Business districts at 1PM through 6/2 at 5:30AM. Call Hotline for more info.
______
Lindsey P Horvath-WeHoMayor@LindseyPHorvath
Update for @WestHollywoodCity
- June 1 - Curfew will begin at 4 pm. West Hollywood. More possible actions announced.
Please share information that will help us be prepared to keep people safe.
______
WeHo DAILY - ALERT!
@WeHoDaily
***STREETS CLOSING IN WEHO***
4PM UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE
Sunset at Doheny / Sunset at Havenhurst /Holloway at SM Blvd
La Cienega at SM Blvd / Doheny at SM Blvd / Melrose at Doheny
Melrose at La Cienega / Beverly at San Vicente/ Robertson Blvd at Beverly Blvd.
STAY HOME!
And, of course...
As protesters pack L.A. County streets, new concerns over coronavirus mount.
A little levity...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yKHUGvde7KU&feature=youtu.be
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^^^
I wrote the above a few hours ago, but guess I just left it up on the screen and didn't hit Post.
_____
Just now I witnessed a caravan of several dozen police cruisers and open-air trucks, maybe ten of them, filled with either Sheriff's dept. squads or National Guard troops, all with rifles, heading west on Santa Monica Blvd.
There are currently protests, that I know of, going on in Hollywood, Van Nuys, West Hollywood, Long Beach, Riverside and Westwood...
All peaceful at the moment, but no one is supposed to be on the streets now, the 6pm county curfew was changed to 5pm.
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Van Nuys
The Van Nuys protest had been cancelled. It was to have been at 10:00 a.m. this morning. People started showing up for it anyway and it amassed to over 300 people by noon. I now hear that by 5pm the hours long peaceful protest has now descended into setting fires and looting.
I hope all these other protests don't descend into that.
The West Hollywood Sheriff's are completely blocking several intersections around West Hollywood for vehicles, meaning the cars either have to keep veering around areas or be subject to stopping and searching (curfew rules) so hopefully that can stop any trouble by any amount from happening.
This is all so unnecessary and worrying.
_______
And, of course...
As protesters pack L.A. County streets, new concerns over coronavirus mount.
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My friend Ken & Robert are near the Sunset & Crescent Heights are. He emailed me and said "Our neighborhood has all been notified that there is a viable threat from a group wanting to burn out the rich whites on Hollywood Blvd., Laurel Canyon, and Sunset Square.
This is exactly what I'm afraid of, that after there are no more stores left to loot, they will want to burn out the rich whites in the high-rises on Rittenhouse Square and other high-rises in Center City Philadelphia--like mine, which is why I have a bag packed and other needful things ready to shove into a backpack on very short notice.
(Just for the record, I'm not rich, though I am white. I bought my condo 25 years ago, when you couldn't give away a condo in Center City Philadelphia on a silver platter. That's how I was able to afford it.)
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Yikes! Hope they're OK.
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I learned from this morning's TV news that the rioters set fire to St. John's Episcopal Church in Washington.
There was also film of the bishop of Washington taking great exception to the Great Orange Satan using the church's sign as a backdrop and holding up a Bible as a prop for his typical political purposes.
I saw her celebrate the Eucharist at Washington National Cathedral just this Sunday. (It was the feast of Pentccost.)
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(https://scontent-amt2-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/92498290_10157478892873026_817304479400460288_n.jpg?_nc_cat=1&_nc_sid=110474&_nc_ohc=xbXqRzPsddkAX-psD60&_nc_ht=scontent-amt2-1.xx&oh=8559f945db943d5f2f6178ac19129bb3&oe=5EFB8D9E)
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A true Apprentice moment. After staging the outdoor speech, knowing helicopters, the sound of smoke and/or tear gas being thrown, and the sounds of the protesters would be heard, I'm afraid to ask how much lower he can go.
Reporter: "Is that your bible?"
45: "It's a bible."
(https://pyxis.nymag.com/v1/imgs/565/5c8/5e4627443c3abec9eb35dfaa7cf1c3e01c-trump-with-bible-dc-protests.rsquare.w700.jpg)
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I think I am going to barf...
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There is a video, with sound, some person posted on Twitter that appropriately added the Bible bursting into flames...here's a link to it:
https://twitter.com/harrykind/status/1267606587964821504
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^^^Fantastic!!!
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As I write this there's is a another protest marching down Santa Monica Blvd. today, from the West. It may be marchers from the earlier protest in Beverly Hills this morning. They have a 1pm curfew today. West Hollywood has one at 4pm as do some other places. The whole of Los Angeles county by 6pm.
I think one of the reasons the protests are continuing for so many days is that the protesters, mostly young, don't have anything to do. They're supposed to stay home as we all are. They don't have work. No school. No place to go. No responsibilities perhaps. These protests are an opportunity to go out and do something. So they are.
There's one in Hollywood right now that's drawn several hundred (including Diane Warren whom local station Channel 5 spotted and interviewed). There are hundreds protesting in the downtown area as well.
I really have no problem with protests, except they're disrupting store hours and deliveries and things some people have to do, but violence and looting I do. And also it's worrying because of COVID. So...I do wish they'd taper off.
West Hollywood avoided serious trouble last night. The protest at Sunset & Crescent Heights drew many, but they had some speakers, a Sheriff's representative and were politely all asked to disperse and go home at the West Hollywood curfew time and they did.
The rest of the city had strategic streets blocked off and perhaps tampered down anything happening. Stores, bars, shops, some hotels, restaurants, my local grocery etc. were boarded up.
A photo article of boarded up WeHo, if you're interested:
https://www.wehoville.com/2020/06/01/shut-down-and-boarded-up-todays-west-hollywood/
This photo is not in that article, a restaurant named Hugo's. We had a Brokeback dinner gathering there, some of you may recall, the night we attended the anniversary screening of the film at the Autry Museum...in December of...what year was it? Was it the 5th or 10th anniversary?
(https://pmcvariety.files.wordpress.com/2020/06/hugos.jpg?w=800)
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My friend Ken & Robert are near the Sunset & Crescent Heights area. He emailed me and said "Our neighborhood has all been notified that there is a viable threat from a group wanting to burn out the rich whites on Hollywood Blvd., Laurel Canyon, and Sunset Square. What a time to give up drinking."
Ken wrote me awhile ago and said, partly:
We had helicopters all around yesterday and again all day today. Unnerving.
Yesterday Robert's courthouse (he's a judge) was closed down for the day. And at noon today, they closed it down again. The police told him that they expect problems with the protest at Vine and Sunset this afternoon. Also they saw suspicious activity in the homeless camp behind the courthouse and found guns in a backpack. So they ordered the courthouse evacuated immediately.
Around 7:30 last night the protest came right to our front yard. I would guess about 500 people, yelling and holding signs marched down Hollywood in front of our house. The street was full. We stood inside our gate and applauded. It was loud but peaceful. Lots of police cars, flashing lights, sirens and helicopters. Our biggest worry is that someone could set fire next to the currently vacant house next to us. It was exciting and terrifying at the same time.
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Hope they stay healthy and safe.
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This photo is not in that article, a restaurant named Hugo's. We had a Brokeback dinner gathering there, some of you may recall, the night we attended the anniversary screening of the film at the Autry Museum...in December of...what year was it? Was it the 5th or 10th anniversary?
(https://pmcvariety.files.wordpress.com/2020/06/hugos.jpg?w=800)
You betcha! Dinner was awesome. It was 12/09/2010 from my photos. 5th Anniversary.
Funny, remember we all went to a party one of the guest (Phillip Irwin Cooper) was having at his home? I recall Jimmy drove one of the packed cars. Then we walked up this steeeeeppp inclined driveway. Funny, that driveway is featured in the film he made couple years ago. "Counting for Thunder" -> https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3635666/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1 (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3635666/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1) I recognized it as soon as I saw it. I was also a backer on his kickstarter to finish the film -> https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/350445268/help-counting-for-thunder-cross-the-finish-line (https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/350445268/help-counting-for-thunder-cross-the-finish-line)
Seems like that event was decades ago now. V.
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Our weather forecast for today is for severe thunderstorms later this afternoon. Maybe it will convince some of these people to stay home.
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I hope so, Jeff. I haven't checked the Philly news (I'm from the Philly 'burbs but in TX now), how was last night?
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You betcha! Dinner was awesome. It was 12/09/2010 from my photos. 5th Anniversary.
Funny, remember we all went to a party one of the guest (Phillip Irwin Cooper) was having at his home? I recall Jimmy drove one of the packed cars. Then we walked up this steeeeeppp inclined driveway. Funny, that driveway is featured in the film he made couple years ago. "Counting for Thunder" -> https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3635666/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1 (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3635666/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1) I recognized it as soon as I saw it. I was also a backer on his kickstarter to finish the film -> https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/350445268/help-counting-for-thunder-cross-the-finish-line (https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/350445268/help-counting-for-thunder-cross-the-finish-line)
Seems like that event was decades ago now. V.
I think that that driveway was at Sparky's home, right? That was an enjoyable party!
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I think that that driveway was at Sparky's home, right? That was an enjoyable party!
Yes, I was just going to say the same thing, Fritz. It was Sparky's home and he hosted the gathering. It was a wonderful party!
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White Supremacist Congressman Steve King Defeated In Shock GOP Primary
A coalition of GOP figures, seeing King as a liability for the party, had supported the campaign of his opponent, former state Sen. Randy Feenstra.
Steve King, the white supremacist congressman from Iowa, was defeated in a shocking Republican primary Tuesday, bringing an end to the long legislative career of one of Washington’s most explicit bigots.
Former Iowa state Sen. Randy Feenstra defeated King to earn the GOP nomination for Iowa’s 4th Congressional District, according to The New York Times. Feenstra will now face Democrat J.D. Scholten in the general election this November.
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/steve-king-loses-primary-republican_n_5ed6e9fbc5b6aade1be3944a?ncid=newsltushpmgnews
Hopefully small victories lead to larger ones!
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china is hilarious, in a sad, sick, twisted kind of way. There's not one thing I like about china. I can't believe that more US companies are remaining there. The company I work for, which I love, moved white collar jobs there in 2006, and I've always thought it was a huge mistake. What they save in salaries, they're losing in IP, and this company is extremely high IP, we could lose market share if certain things were stolen.
But they need to shut the hell up about racial problems in the US
4 hr 43 min ago
China hopes the US will take "concrete" measures against racial discrimination
China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs has again voiced its hope that the United States will take "concrete" measures against racial discrimination.
"We hope the US government will take concrete measures to fulfil its obligations under the international convention on the elimination of all forms of racial discrimination to protect the legal rights of minorities," Zhao Lijian, a spokesperson for China's Foreign Ministry, said Wednesday.
China "always opposes racial discrimination," Zhao told a regular Ministry of Foreign Affairs press briefing.
‘No blacks’: Evicted, harassed and targeted in China for their race amid coronavirus
APRIL 16, 2020
12:09 PM
BEIJING —
Elo started cooking as soon as he heard about the boys on the street. The Nigerian trader opened an informal restaurant in Foshan, a manufacturing city half an hour’s train ride from Guangzhou, where dozens of Africans became homeless last week.
Evictions from homes and apartments started when Guangzhou authorities announced that five Nigerians had tested positive for COVID-19. Within days, a campaign was launched to test and track all Africans in the port city.
The sudden and sweeping move was consistent with China’s response to the coronavirus. But it was propelled by a troubling logic that targeted people based on race rather than their contact history. The measure ignited a diplomatic outcry and a crisis on Guangzhou’s streets.
https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2020-04-16/china-coronavirus-black-african-evictions (https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2020-04-16/china-coronavirus-black-african-evictions)
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I hope so, Jeff. I haven't checked the Philly news (I'm from the Philly 'burbs but in TX now), how was last night?
As far as I know it was quiet, at least in Center City.
Yesterday afternoon there was a demonstration/march that started somewhere north of City Hall, then made its way around City Hall and east on Market Street. There was some fear that trouble would break out when a bicycle police officer had to be taken away in an ambulance; it was later reported that he fell off his bicycle, but I haven't heard what caused the fall.
During the night the mayor had them sneak the Frank Rizzo statue away from its place in front of the Municipal Services Building.
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I didn't even know they had a statue of Rizzo. Who paid for it and put it up, Angelo Bruno?
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I didn't even know they had a statue of Rizzo. Who paid for it and put it up, Angelo Bruno?
Couldn't say who paid for it. I didn't search that far. It's been there since 1998. A Google search will take you to quite a few articles about its removal. It's been vandalized more than once, even before the current controversies.
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that was a joke, Rizzo let organized crime & corruption flourish in Philadelphia...maybe you're new to the city
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that was a joke, Rizzo let organized crime & corruption flourish in Philadelphia...maybe you're new to the city
I've only been here since 1986, but I knew who Angelo Bruno was--that still didn't mean you weren't serious. :D
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I don't know if this has been posted here, this was a response to Trump's picture holding the bible in front of the church.
“This is an awful man, waving a book he hasn’t read, in front of a church he doesn’t attend, invoking laws he doesn’t understand, against fellow Americans he sees as enemies, wielding a military he dodged serving, to protect power he gained via accepting foreign interference, exploiting fear and anger he loves to stoke, after failing to address a pandemic he was warned about, and building it all on a bed of constant lies and childish insanity.”
- Robert Hendrickson, Rector, Saint Philip’s in the Hills Episcopal Church
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All four ex-officers face charges in Floyd case
The officer who pressed his knee on Floyd's neck now faces a charge of second-degree murder, an upgrade on his previous charge
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I don't know if this has been posted here, this was a response to Trump's picture holding the bible in front of the church.
“This is an awful man, waving a book he hasn’t read, in front of a church he doesn’t attend, invoking laws he doesn’t understand, against fellow Americans he sees as enemies, wielding a military he dodged serving, to protect power he gained via accepting foreign interference, exploiting fear and anger he loves to stoke, after failing to address a pandemic he was warned about, and building it all on a bed of constant lies and childish insanity.”
- Robert Hendrickson, Rector, Saint Philip’s in the Hills Episcopal Church
And his so-called Evangelical Christian base won't give a damn.
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it' a start...
Trump risks potential backlash from evangelicals with 'tone-deaf' Bible photo-op
Washington (CNN)As he brandished an unopened Bible in front of the boarded-up St. John's Episcopal Church across the street from the White House Monday evening, President Donald Trump delivered an unspoken message to white evangelical Christians: Remember, I'm on your side.
The question is whether enough of them will be on his side in November. Trump continues to enjoy overwhelming support among evangelical voters, but there are signs that support is cracking on the margins. A recent Pew study indicates that fewer white evangelicals approve of his response to the coronavirus. Staunch supporters like evangelical pastor Robert Jeffress have publicly said that the President was "absolutely correct" in appearing in front of the church, and Trump himself claimed Wednesday that "most religious leaders loved it." But other evangelical leaders told CNN there's more ambivalence among the faithful.
On Tuesday, Pat Robertson, the 90-year-old televangelist, appeared to give voice to that ambivalence, when he criticized Trump for threatening to send in federal troops to states where protests have turned violent.
"You just don't do that, Mr. President," Robertson said on Tuesday's episode of The 700 Club, his long-running television show. "It isn't cool!"
https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/03/politics/trump-evangelicals-church-protests/index.html (https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/03/politics/trump-evangelicals-church-protests/index.html)
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it's a start...
Trump risks potential backlash from evangelicals with 'tone-deaf' Bible photo-op
Washington (CNN)[...]
The question is whether enough of them will be on his side in November. Trump continues to enjoy overwhelming support among evangelical voters, but there are signs that support is cracking on the margins.
[...]
This is what those evangelical voters have been saying the last 4 years:
"Sometimes God chooses a flawed person to deliver his message."
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This is what those evangelical voters have been saying the last 4 years:
"Sometimes God chooses a flawed person to deliver his message."
If this has any truth to it...it may not be the message these evangelicals think it is.
_______________
"have been saying" aka "using as an excuse."
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it' a start...
Trump risks potential backlash from evangelicals with 'tone-deaf' Bible photo-op
Washington (CNN)As he brandished an unopened Bible in front of the boarded-up St. John's Episcopal Church across the street from the White House Monday evening, President Donald Trump delivered an unspoken message to white evangelical Christians: Remember, I'm on your side.
The question is whether enough of them will be on his side in November. Trump continues to enjoy overwhelming support among evangelical voters, but there are signs that support is cracking on the margins. A recent Pew study indicates that fewer white evangelicals approve of his response to the coronavirus. Staunch supporters like evangelical pastor Robert Jeffress have publicly said that the President was "absolutely correct" in appearing in front of the church, and Trump himself claimed Wednesday that "most religious leaders loved it." But other evangelical leaders told CNN there's more ambivalence among the faithful.
On Tuesday, Pat Robertson, the 90-year-old televangelist, appeared to give voice to that ambivalence, when he criticized Trump for threatening to send in federal troops to states where protests have turned violent.
"You just don't do that, Mr. President," Robertson said on Tuesday's episode of The 700 Club, his long-running television show. "It isn't cool!"
https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/03/politics/trump-evangelicals-church-protests/index.html (https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/03/politics/trump-evangelicals-church-protests/index.html)
Hope.
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Pride Month
L.A. Pride Announces Black Lives Matter Solidarity Protest March for June 14
by Jessica Royaudience
Los Angeles Times / June 3, 2020
Fifty years ago this month, Los Angeles held its first Pride parade. The first official city sanctioned Pride Parade in the United States.
This year, plans for the annual festivities were put on hold because of the coronavirus. But Wednesday morning, L.A. Pride — the producing organization for the annual pride celebration — announced another change of plans.
“In 1970, we gathered on Hollywood Boulevard to protest police brutality and oppression to our community,” said Estevan Montemayor, the organization’s president. “We will do that again this year, where it began, in solidarity with Black Lives Matter.”
A peaceful protest march in response to racial injustice is planned for Sunday, June 14. It will begin at 10 a.m. at the intersection of Hollywood and Highland boulevards and proceed to West Hollywood, where the parade normally takes place, ending at Santa Monica and San Vicente boulevards.
[...]
In light of concerns about the coronavirus, all participants are urged to wear face coverings and take other health precautions, such as bringing hand sanitizer or wearing gloves.
“We have been told that it is safer at home — and that is absolutely true; it is safer at home during this health pandemic — and that unless it is absolutely necessary you should not leave your home,” Montemayor said. “But as we reflect on what is occurring, I think it is very fair to say that it is absolutely necessary that we leave our homes and speak loudly and clearly about this injustice and peacefully protest.”
More here:
https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-06-03/la-pride-solidarity-protest-march-black-lives-matter-june-14
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^^^
June 14th is Trump's birthday.
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One of the commenters on the above article said:
"Since black lives and all minorities are members of the LGBTQ community, it's a grand idea to support the communities of color in this issue of justice, but where were all the other communities of colors' members joining the LGBT community over the years when we were marching in the streets for our lives, and civil rights and marriage equality?
The commenter has a point, which should not be taken as offense, IMO, but rather as in moving forward and the idea that "we're all in this together."
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June 14th is Trump's birthday.
There have been a lot of posts on Facebook about flooding FB with pics of Obama on Trump's bday.
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^^^^ Sadly, there are far too many people who are basically a "cult of lemmings" believing anything a "pastor, TOM, or Fox News" says as gospel. The religious fanatics quote scripture for any position and are convinced they are infallible and always right. I'd not be surprised if they believe CV-19 is a 'death-plague" sent by &diety for sinners. Sadly, the blindness, or strength of their faith from their viewpoint, creates followers akin to "Jim Jones" and so many other freedom of religious based cults the world has witnessed.
Not a surprising development in NC. The GOP and TOM are vowing to move their GOP convention to some other (red) state that will let them have a mask-less spreading event. Public safety of the surrounding people be damned. Personally, there's a little bit of hope in me that the GOP, TOM and all the religious fanatics convene and have a mask-less grand old time. Maybe by the time Nov 2 rolls around there will be more believers that CV-19 is nothing to play with and they are not immune. I feel pity for anyone's family that attends or anyone trapped on a plane with that crowd. Many innocents will be lost.
It's sad when the world is showing us mass CV-19 graves. CV-19 is ravaging through countries, cities, and communities. Karma has a way of balancing the world and I can only hope it has some mercy on the innocents in this politically motivated insanity. Peace.
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(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EZBwUibXYAEvrCw.jpg)
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^^^
Thumbs up.
Sadly, there are far too many people who are basically a "cult of lemmings" believing anything a "pastor, TOM, or Fox News" says as gospel
I wish they'd believe what he said:
I don't know if this has been posted here, this was a response to Trump's picture holding the bible in front of the church.
“This is an awful man, waving a book he hasn’t read, in front of a church he doesn’t attend, invoking laws he doesn’t understand, against fellow Americans he sees as enemies, wielding a military he dodged serving, to protect power he gained via accepting foreign interference, exploiting fear and anger he loves to stoke, after failing to address a pandemic he was warned about, and building it all on a bed of constant lies and childish insanity.”
- Robert Hendrickson, Rector, Saint Philip’s in the Hills Episcopal Church
By the way, I've been trying to figure out what TOM stands for in your posts...can't seem to find your reference!
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By the way, I've been trying to figure out what TOM stands for in your posts...can't seem to find your reference!
TOM? I don't see any TOM in my posts. Where are you seeing it?
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TOM? I don't see any TOM in my posts. Where are you seeing it?
I also quoted GATTACA's post.
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(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EZBwUibXYAEvrCw.jpg)
Exactly. We know what the base doesn't like.
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(https://miro.medium.com/max/1400/1*I2_TSx-oXRVtEneSRQRxWQ.jpeg)
Dear Trump supporters: people have been throwing up red flags about Trump his entire life.
What do you think they mean? Do you think they're throwing him a parade?
June 14th is Trump's birthday.
There have been a lot of posts on Facebook about flooding FB with pics of Obama on Trump's bday.
Since his birthday is also flag day (no wonder he hugs them all the time, he thinks they're his mother) we should all display Trumpian red flags.
***
(https://www.greenberg-art.com/.Toons/.Toons%20recent/qqxgRedflags2.jpg)
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(https://i.imgflip.com/32g87e.jpg)
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(https://images.axios.com/UeBV6VU7XXCoXDmbhbP48uDpUAI=/0x0:1920x1080/1920x1080/2018/07/16/1531772615018.jpg)
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(https://www.dispatch.com/storyimage/OH/20190521/OPINION/190529666/AR/0/AR-190529666.jpg)
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(https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn%3AANd9GcRHS-j6VgV51RFtiT0owq5ZIL53RbWmc8atGlyLvMhiHP8-2ytB&usqp=CAU)
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(https://www.timescall.com/wp-content/uploads/migration/2016/0216/20160216_17TCAREDw-1.jpg)
In 2016 every single newspaper and magazine editorial board advised NOT TO VOTE FOR DONALD TRUMP.
Except for three.
And one of those was the KKK paper.
IMAGINE HOW UNINTELLIGENT YOU'D HAVE TO BE TO VOTE FOR TRUMP...AGAIN!
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And when I posted this to FB, they blurred it. They probably object more to the picture on the left.
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I also quoted GATTACA's post.
:laugh:
I spent a good 10 minutes trying to figure out what TOM you were talking about! :laugh:
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Have you figured it out yet?
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^^^
I spent a good 10 minutes trying to figure out what TOM you were talking about!
:laugh: TOM from Minnesota!
In the last couple minutes, it suddenly came to me: TOM = The Orange Menace.
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I started following this guy this morning, he had 2 million+ followers...tonight he has over 8 million. Uncomfortable Conversations With A Black Man - if you click on the link, then click on his picture, the video will play.
Emmanuel Acho
https://www.instagram.com/p/CA6XUruBYAO/ (https://www.instagram.com/p/CA6XUruBYAO/)
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What is wrong with people?
(https://preview.redd.it/92f79ghyrt251.jpg?width=960&crop=smart&auto=webp&s=531af53dbf8b8f965805ce880ba3804f55bab61b)
The article I read said this was started in Great Britain.
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Lately, in the past decade maybe two, I started saying nothing surprises me at what people will do or say. Wrong again. There would have to be a new word added to the dictionary for these people, existing words wouldn't do them justice.
Makes Drew Brees look pretty good.
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(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EZBwUibXYAEvrCw.jpg)
OH, the Trumpeteers will definitely say the football player.
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Correct. The Orange Menace is the nicest reference I have. I prefer much more colorful epitaphs for that SORRY EVIL SOB. V.
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(https://miro.medium.com/max/1400/1*I2_TSx-oXRVtEneSRQRxWQ.jpeg)
Dear Trump supporters: people have been throwing up red fags about Trump his entire life.
What do you think they mean? Do you think they're throwing him a parade?
"Red fags"? Oh, Lyle!
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Meanwhile, Pennsylvania's gone Yellow--and I still can't get a haircut. ::)
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Oh, dear, Jeff, I wish you hadn't quoted that!
But I will fix it in "my" post. This computer I'm using seems to keep auto-correcting or changing words I type, like it knows better. Punctuation, too. How do you turn it off? Not that I just didn't make a faux pas, but anyway...
_______
What does PA's gone yellow, mean?
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A friend sent me this article awhile ago. People from Britain please weigh in!
Sex with Someone You Don't Live with is Now Illegal in England
https://mashable.com/article/sex-ban-england-coronavirus/
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A friend sent me this article awhile ago. People from Britain please weigh in!
Sex with Someone You Don't Live with is Now Illegal in England
https://mashable.com/article/sex-ban-england-coronavirus/
AlthoughI did not see any mention of it in the press, that would have been the legal situation here in NZ for the nearly 5 weeks of level 4. Except for essential services, we were not allowed to meet with anyone who was not in our 'bubble". Bubbles were our immediate household and I was in a bubble of 1. Friends had adult children who dropped off their groceries at the front step and then stood back and waved to each other. Some, who like me, over 70 and having no children living nearby, had groceries delivered but I chose to go to the supermarket every 8 to 10 days and I know some were a bit shocked.
I have one friend, a divorced lady, who has a partner but they have chosen not to live together. She told me how at level 3 he could now visit her and bring some beers (he is younger) but they sat at opposite ends of the dining room table. Fortunately she could not see me roll my eyes. :D
I have not asked about now at level 2 when we can visit, at first in groups of 10, but now 100. Everyone expects an announcement on Monday that we will go to level 1 on Wednesday which will be almost normal except our borders remain closed. We will be asked to still keep a record of our movements and regularly wash our hands. I am looking forward to announcements that concerts will resume. I am going away for 5 nights (900 km drive) but that is allowed at level 2, in fact encouraged to help our tourist industry.
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Brian, what you write sounds like ordered plans, at least. Here, we have no plan, no leadership. Just the politics of erraticism, partisanship and whimsy.
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Yes, I remember on Saturday March 21 when Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern made a speech to the nation outlining the levels and that we were going immediately into level 2. Then the following Monday, it was announced that we would go to level 3 and to Level 4 on the Wednesday which would last at least 4 weeks (it was nearly 5).
Everything stopped except medical centres, pharmacies and supermarkets. There was rubbish collection but not recycling, only essential road maintenance etc. It was a bit of a shock at the time and there have been some hiccups and confusion over the details but it seems to have worked. I remember at the time thinking it would be easier just to give us oldies who live alone a choice of taking a pill and putting us out of our misery.
However last Tuesday my weekly walking group met for the first time in 11 weeks. There were 25 walking and, as it is now winter, we only do morning walks and 17 went to lunch. I had to take the roll before we started. I booked a room in a tavern and it was more formal than usual but most stayed for well over an hour, celebrating that we had somehow survived. My 8 weeks trip to the Balkans and Greece has gone. I had paid Au$12,000 and have got $3000 back, $4,000 promised and over $4000 in flight credit vouchers for perhaps next year. (maybe September/October to Australia). Hopefully I will not actually lose more than $500.
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What does PA's gone yellow, mean?
We've gone to the "Yellow Phase" of reopening. The Stay-at-Home order expired today, and more businesses are allowed to open, at least in some ways. For example, restaurants can now have outdoor seating. Day-cares can reopen, and swimming pools can open, and so forth--but barber shops still have stay closed--which is why I still can't get a haircut..
Of course, with the rioting and looting that began now almost a week ago, Philadelphia is still mostly locked down.
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Oh, dear, Jeff, I wish you hadn't quoted that!
But I will fix it in "my" post. This computer I'm using seems to keep auto-correcting or changing words I type, like it knows better. Punctuation, too. How do you turn it off? Not that I just didn't make a faux pas, but anyway...
It's too funny to take down. You've given us a good laugh--something that's sorely needed these days. Thank you.
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https://www.towleroad.com/2020/06/51-years-after-stonewall-police-target-gay-bars-and-queer-activists-amid-george-floyd-protests-watch/ (https://www.towleroad.com/2020/06/51-years-after-stonewall-police-target-gay-bars-and-queer-activists-amid-george-floyd-protests-watch/)
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Gay Porn Star Threatens To Out ‘LG’, A Homophobic Republican Senator Who Hires Male Escorts
https://thegailygrind.com/2020/06/05/gay-porn-star-threatens-to-out-homophobic-gop-senator/
Gay porn star Sean Harding is threatening to publicly out “a homophobic republican senator” who has allegedly hired “every sex worker” he knows.
“There is a homophobic republican senator who is no better than Trump who keeps passing legislation that is damaging to the lgbt and minority communities,” Harding tweeted early Friday morning. “Every sex worker I know has been hired by this man. Wondering if enough of us spoke out if that could get him out of office?”
“I cannot do this alone. If you’d be willing to stand with me against LG please let me know,” he wrote, cryptically using the initials “LG” to refer to the senator. “So far I have two individuals who would be willing to go public and support my claims. Anyone else?” he added in a subsequent tweet.
Call me...not shocked.
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I thought everyone already KNEW it was Lindsey Graham!! Ages ago! :P :laugh: ;D
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The Bunker Boy
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2VBevEYELQ0
Tres amusant!
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Things just got real...
(https://thehardtimes.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/vp.jpg)
Village People Kick Out Police Officer
https://thehardtimes.net/culture/village-people-kick-out-police-officer/. ;D
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Wow!
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Things just got real...
(https://thehardtimes.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/vp.jpg)
Village People Kick Out Police Officer
https://thehardtimes.net/culture/village-people-kick-out-police-officer/. ;D
:laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:
I loved this "quote" from the article.
“Well, first of all, he was the only straight one in the group, so that was already a mark against him,” stated music journalist Jason Fitzpatrick. “I don’t know why any group affiliated with the LGBT movement would find police sexy anyway? Did people forget the constant raids on gay bars that led to Stonewall? Learn your history.”
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“Well, first of all, he was the only straight one in the group, so that was already a mark against him,” stated music journalist Jason Fitzpatrick. “I don’t know why any group affiliated with the LGBT movement would find police sexy anyway? Did people forget the constant raids on gay bars that led to Stonewall? Learn your history.”
Plenty do, especially if the officer is young, cute, and fills out his uniform really well.
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Just in case: To be clear, that link I posted to the Village People thing from The Hard Times:
The Hard Times is a satirical website with a focus on punk alt music, and millennial culture.
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https://www.reuters.com/video/watch/new-zealanders-proud-to-have-their-lives-idRCV008BL1
"New Zealanders hugged and kissed, shopped, and planned parties on Tuesday as the country took off all coronavirus restrictions for the first time in more than three months."
Eighteen of us walked and I did not need to take the roll. A few of us went for lunch in a very crowded cafe Then I went to the supermarket which was like it was back in March. I used the sanitiser at the door but there was no-one there to insist on it or count numbers in and out. Wonderful to be back to normal. It is 18 days since the last new case and there is no-one in the country with an active case. Our only restriction is the borders which are very strict, everyone is tested and goes into 14 day quarantine.
Tomorrow I set off on my 5 night 900 km drive with hiking if the weather allows but it is winter.
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How wonderful, Brian. And good luck for your trip. :)
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Just in case: To be clear, that link I posted to the Village People thing from The Hard Times:
The Hard Times is a satirical website with a focus on punk alt music, and millennial culture.
Thought just came to me this morning: Didn't the Village People used to include a Police Officer?
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"New Zealanders hugged and kissed, shopped, and planned parties on Tuesday as the country took off all coronavirus restrictions for the first time in more than three months."
That sounds just great!
Meanwhile...
Coronavirus Testing is 'a Mess' in the US, Report Says
https://www.cnn.com/health/testing-coronavirus-cidrap-report/index.html (https://www.cnn.com/2020/05/20/health/testing-coronavirus-cidrap-report/index.html)
Coronavirus Testing is 'a Mess' in the US, Report Says...
...among other things.
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I wonder if somebody is getting nervous about the election? For a week now I've already been seeing commercials about what a great job the Great Orange Satan has been doing.
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I wonder if somebody is getting nervous about the election? For a week now I've already been seeing commercials about what a great job the Great Orange Satan has been doing.
What the diff between a Klan rally and a Trump rally? No masks in the Trump rally.
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^^^
Tick Tock, Donald.
TICK.
TOCK.
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40% of households with incomes of less than $40,000 have reported job losses...
...meanwhile, U.S. Billionaires have become $565,000,000,000 richer since March 18th.
How much money is that? These U.S. billionaires could afford to take all that EXTRA money they've made since March 18th
(they're already billionaires) and give EVERYONE IN THE ENTIRE WORLD: $102 and 73¢. Or everyone in the U.S.: $1721 and 50¢.
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^^^ Yeah, the "white collar" looting that goes on all the time - never really makes the news unless it's a celebrity getting their hands caught in the cookie jars. I still hope they get Burr (and his family) for insider trading.. Martha needs a more members of her fan club. V.
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I guess you could say things are beginning to get back to normal around here, though not necessarily in a good way.
Tuesday about 11 p.m. I heard police sirens. I stepped out on my balcony to see if I could see anything. While I watched, eight police cars with sirens blazing went streaking by. I thought to myself, "Oh, Lord, here we go again" (with the rioting and looting).
On Wednesday from TV news I learned that what had actually happened was seven people got shot in some shoot-out north of here, and one died. The news footage included wads of cash lying around, so I figure the shoot-out had to do with drug money. I thought to myself, "If they're back to shooting each other over drug money, I guess things are getting back to normal."
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And now T is referring to the Secret Service in his tweets as SS. I doubt it was a mistake. All comparisons of this Führer wannabe to his hero are completely warranted.
https://www.joemygod.com/2020/06/trump-my-ss-did-a-great-job-on-those-dc-protesters/
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^^^
Nothing Trump does surprises me, never has, nor will it.
I'm sure he, or someone, thought he should do that, because it would cause a stir (among sane people) and then he'd have "plausible deniability."
If it's brought up to him, can't you hear him saying, "There's nothing wrong with that. S.S.--Secret Service, that's what it means. Fake news. The
left is crazy. On and on.
However: "Thank you, donald trump, for reminding Americans why the secret service is abbreviated "USSS" and not "SS".
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PROJECT TICK-TOCK.
My own personal project. I found a stack of plain postcards I had used for something one time and I decided to send one to the current white house occupant. Any time I feel like it, I send one off. I'll get more if I have to right through until Election Day.
All I write on it is:
Tick-tock, Donald.
TICK.
TOCK.
It's possible to interpret it in a few different ways, I suppose. Before I say what my intent is, what do any of you think I mean?
If anyone wonders what the point of doing this is...it's this: "It makes me feel good."
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Hair salons opened up in Los Angeles County a few days ago.
I called my local place when I needed a haircut, on March 27th. A friend and I were both wanting to make an appointment for the next day, Saturday. When I called, they told me they were closing that day, in two hours, for a month. 2 1/2 months later...I got a haircut. It was such a relief.
Of course, there are various new rules and guidelines, which make the experience different than normal.
A couple of my friends who are restaurant waiters have been called in for training purposes on how restaurants will operate. It all sounds so weird. All these people's jobs are so much harder. Movie theaters may open soon, too.
I was thinking, most all the new regulations and/or guidelines businesses have to follow...if one takes a step back and looks at it differently...all these things don't really have tangible results that one sees for doing it. So it's almost like... Okay people, today you have to skip over to the tables instead of walking and then bow. It's a feeling of WHY are we doing this? And in the long run, no one really will ever know if their particular routine needed to be done, or prevented anything, etc. I'm not saying it doesn't need to be. I'm just looking at it from a different view. The view that no one, or hardly anyone, will get the satisfaction of knowing what they did actually made any differences. Does that make sense?
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PROJECT TICK-TOCK.
My own personal project. I found a stack of plain postcards I had used for something one time and I decided to send one to the current white house occupant. Any time I feel like it, I send one off. I'll get more if I have to right through until Election Day.
All I write on it is:
Tick-tock, Donald.
TICK.
TOCK.
It's possible to interpret it in a few different ways, I suppose. Before I say what my intent is, what do any of you think I mean?
If anyone wonders what the point of doing this is...it's this: "It makes me feel good."
I'd worry that it might be interpreted as a death threat, Lyle. The are really cracking down on this and I'd hate for something to happen to you, like getting arrested. People are not given the benefit of the doubt anymore. Maybe different wording?
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I was thinking, most all the new regulations and/or guidelines businesses have to follow...if one takes a step back and looks at it differently...all these things don't really have tangible results that one sees for doing it. So it's almost like... Okay people, today you have to skip over to the tables instead of walking and then bow. It's a feeling of WHY are we doing this? And in the long run, no one really will ever know if their particular routine needed to be done, or prevented anything, etc. I'm not saying it doesn't need to be. I'm just looking at it from a different view. The view that no one, or hardly anyone, will get the satisfaction of knowing what they did actually made any differences. Does that make sense?
Well, you can't really argue from a negative, can you? If something doesn't happen, you can't say that it didn't happen because something was done. Maybe it didn't happen because it just didn't happen.
Elsewhere I've written that maybe the best reason for people to wear masks is to give them the feeling that they're at least doing something. In my building, I'm supposed to wear a mask just to walk down the hall to put trash down the trash chute. That's just plain silly, but maybe it makes my neighbors feel better.
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So, Nascar banned the confederate flag at all events and properties.
Racer Ray Ciccarelli (a racer who hasn't done well on the circut) announced he is leaving the sport in protest. He placed the announcement on Facebook and Twitter.
Nascar replied to his Tweet with a Tweet of their own. If this is real (and not photo manipulated) it's quite the burn.
:laugh:
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49996898912_c8928f0737_k.jpg)
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So, Nascar banned the confederate flag at all events and properties.
Racer Ray Ciccarelli (a racer who hasn't done well on the circut) announced he is leaving the sport in protest. He placed the announcement on Facebook and Twitter.
Nascar replied to his Tweet with a Tweet of their own. If this is real (and not photo manipulated) it's quite the burn.
:laugh:
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49996898912_c8928f0737_k.jpg)
OOOOHHHHH...........SNAP!
And the perfect answer!!!
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So, Nascar banned the confederate flag at all events and properties.
Racer Ray Ciccarelli (a racer who hasn't done well on the circut) announced he is leaving the sport in protest. He placed the announcement on Facebook and Twitter.
Nascar replied to his Tweet with a Tweet of their own. If this is real (and not photo manipulated) it's quite the burn.
:laugh:
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49996898912_c8928f0737_k.jpg)
This is one of the Tweets in response to his announcement.
Ray Ciccarelli (0-31 in his career) has announced his retirement from NASCAR due to their decision to ban confederate flags. NASCAR is scrambling to find someone else to regularly finish 28th.
It's no surprise. Ciccarelli has never been good at anything race-related.
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And another:
Honestly gotta respect Ray Ciccarelli for making his entire racing career an ode to the Confederacy by staunchly refusing to win EVER!
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EaO-BAIWsAAk-H1?format=jpg&name=900x900)
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:laugh: :laugh: :laugh:
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Well, look at it this way, he finally got his 15 minutes of FAME!! A Win for him.....I guess!! :o :o :o
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Isn't Ellicott City, MD, where that guy is from, the place in the news that was devastated by floods or something?
I think there was a special about from Gordon Ramsey, but I think he's loathsome, so I don't watch anything he does.
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Yes, Ellicott City has been flooded out several times. Site of the oldest existing railroad station in the US, the original line between there and Baltimore.
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I'd like to hear what you all have to say:
I don't pretend to know everything and am willing to challenge beliefs if I can trust or verify sources of other information. There's always different paths to a destination.
I was watching a local news channel that was interviewing a black conservative commentator (he used to or still does have a radio show) and he thinks the "media" has certain memes it adheres to, so that if other evidence comes to light they ignore or aren't interested in it.
He brought up some things that are worth asking questions about. I mean, no one has a monopoly on wisdom and if these studies he quotes are true why aren't they looked at? It makes sense to find out. After all, I've seen interviewers asking protestors dozens of questions about why they're marching and protesting and I'm not kidding when I say that 90% of their answers don't really make sense. If you think about what they're saying.
Some points he was making that if true are worth discussing:
-He says there are studies showing that actually more white people are shot and killed by police & not black people.
-He feels the media is exacerbating racial divisions by focusing on the blacks that are killed and ignoring the white people killed.
-He feels some black people are seen as quote "selling out" for refusing to believe that the major problems in the black community
result from slavery and Jim Crow and refusing to believe that institutional racism still holds blacks back.
So here's some of the interview:
So let's begin with this moment in American history because so many people are saying that the real problem right now is institutional racism and it's 400 years of oppression. It's been personified by George Floyd and that knee on his neck is symbolic of that. I think it's unfair the way the police have been mischaracterized because of the actions of these 4 officers. These were were individual officers who did what they did, not the Police Department, let alone police departments of all the entire country.
Furthermore, a study recently done by a Harvard Economist, who happens to be black, says the evidence does not show there is this epidemic of police brutality against blacks, and he said that the results of this study were the most surprising of his career. If anything, the evidence shows that the police are far more hesitant or reluctant to use force on blacks.
Also, there was a broad study done looking at every cop shooting in 2015-2016 and published in a publication put out by the National Academy of Sciences that said the same thing. There's no evidence whatsoever that the police are disproportionately using lethal force against black people because of their race. Evidence simply isn't there. Furthermore, the Washington Post looked at the number of unarmed black men killed by the police last year. It was 13 blacks unarmed and 19 were white unarmed. Shot and killed by the police. I dare say that most of the people watching could probably not name a single unarmed white person that was killed because the media doesn't care that much about unarmed whites.
INTERVIEWER: But people will think about African-Americans from Trayvon Martin to Breanna Taylor to Ahmad Philando Castile, so you see this pattern over and over again, which is why some people seem to be reacting so strongly here and now.
You're saying "pattern again". If you you look at the last several studies there have been as many unarmed whites killed by the cops as unarmed blacks, and in some cases, more unarmed whites. We're not talking about that. The fact is that a young black man is eight times more likely, compared to a young white man, to be a be a victim of a homicide, or the perpetrator of the homicide, against another young black person. There's a disproportionate amount of crime taking place in the inner city. That's why the cops are are there. You gotta be talking and asking, why is it? Criminality in the black community, and I argue is because of the absence of fathers, that's not a discussion we're having and is why I'm making a documentary, because we're not having that discussion.
We had the election of a black President and the reelection of a black President. We had back to back black secretaries of state under George W Bush and back to back to back black Attorneys general under Barack Obama. Over 10% of Congress is black. If Black America were a separate country it would be the fifteenth or sixteenth wealthiest country in the world. This is not your grandfather's America. We ought to recognize that we have more opportunities in America than any country in the world, including all the countries in Africa. Work hard. Get an education. Avoid making bad mistakes and we'll be fine in America. Barack Obama proved that in my opinion.
Why can't we have an intelligent discussion within the black community about what makes things better without a different point of view being maligned and dismissed as being somebody who doesn't care about his own people? It's outrageous the way we can't have a sensible discussion within the black community about which way go forward without people like myself being accused of not caring about that.
_______
I don't like when anyone's confronted with information that might be different from what you've been experiencing or expecting and is summarily dismissed. That's the reason so many are protesting now. They feel like their concerns are being dismissed.
But the country is so divided and in shoddy hands that no one is willing to listen to each other.
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I wonder if anybody has figures on how many black men, armed or not, are killed by black police officers?
The news does always seem to be about unarmed black men killed by white men, police officers or otherwise.
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OK, nothing justifies shooting somebody in the back, but, is it just me, or does anybody else think it was kind of stupid to grab a police officer's Taser--if that actually happened? And then to burn down a Wendy's just because that's where the shooting happened?
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Yay!
https://www.joemygod.com/2020/06/breaking-scotus-rules-for-lgbt-employment-rights/
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I just saw that on FB! Wonderful!!!
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this is 20 years old, it's like the writers had a crystal ball and were trying to warn us.
"Is it possible that we would be willing to require any less of the person sitting in that chair...?"
if you can't watch the whole 3 min 53 seconds, start at 1:13
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O2hspf6FM00 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O2hspf6FM00)
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Loved that series.
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^^^
Yes!
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Yay!
https://www.joemygod.com/2020/06/breaking-scotus-rules-for-lgbt-employment-rights/
“It is impossible to discriminate against a person for being homosexual or transgender without discriminating against that individual based on sex,” wrote Justice Neil Gorsuch for the majority in the high court’s 6-3 decision.
[When's the last time there was a decision that wasn't 5-4?)
From an editorial:
Let’s hope that this signals that the Supreme Court recognizes that we are a country that has evolved – that even though conservative justices comprise a majority they won’t all try to roll back the clock on social justice.
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Pride Month
L.A. Pride Announces Black Lives Matter Solidarity Protest March for June 14
by Jessica Royaudience
Los Angeles Times / June 3, 2020
Fifty years ago this month, Los Angeles held its first Pride parade. The first official city sanctioned Pride Parade in the United States.
This year, plans for the annual festivities were put on hold because of the coronavirus. But Wednesday morning, L.A. Pride — the producing organization for the annual pride celebration — announced another change of plans.
“In 1970, we gathered on Hollywood Boulevard to protest police brutality and oppression to our community,” said Estevan Montemayor, the organization’s president. “We will do that again this year, where it began, in solidarity with Black Lives Matter.”
A peaceful protest march in response to racial injustice is planned for Sunday, June 14. It will begin at 10 a.m. at the intersection of Hollywood and Highland boulevards and proceed to West Hollywood, where the parade normally takes place, ending at Santa Monica and San Vicente boulevards.
[...]
https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-06-03/la-pride-solidarity-protest-march-black-lives-matter-june-14
Yesterday would've been part of West Hollywood/Los Angeles' Pride Parade and ongoing festivities that were all canceled back in March. Then the climate of BLM protests spurred the organizers of the Pride Parade to have a march in solidarity with the current unrest. There initially was some pushback saying that the organization was co-opting the BLM protests for their own benefits and black people weren't consulted etc. (Hey, support is support people, don't knock it.) Things were worked out for most people's satisfaction, but not all. The protest march was renamed ABLM, all black lives matter, the A indicating LGBTQ persons.
I was wanting to attend, but kinda hesitant because of the COVID situation, and also my feet problems. The march began in Hollywood at Highland. It's three miles to the end point in West Hollywood. I did attend the protest March on the same route in 2017, against Trumpism, and marched the whole thing. That was a much cooler day!
I talked to my friends Ken & Robert who were considering attending. The hard part of the march is that the starting time in Hollywood to show up, isn't when they leave. The march would go by a block away from Ken & Robert on Sunset Blvd. What we decided is that instead of standing in Hollywood for an hour or more before they start, they could join the march when it got there and then I thought they could call me on their way to WeHo and I could join them on the last mile on the West Hollywood end. Sounded like a plan!
The start in Hollywood near Highland Avenue: (this photo was taken early Sunday morning from Highland looking west toward La Brea:
(the "ALL" is in the colors of the trans flag, MATTER in the gay flag colors)
(https://i0.wp.com/scng-dash.digitalfirstmedia.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/deandrone.jpg?fit=620%2C9999px&ssl=1)
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The opposite direction looking east:
(https://patch.com/img/cdn20/getty/23735268/20200614/013916/styles/patch_image/public/gettyimages-1249504637___14133652753.jpg)
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The biggest understatement from news media I heard more than once on the news later on:
"Most of the protestors wore face masks, but social distancing was rather difficult."
In the next photos you're all going to think NO SOCIAL DISTANCING! :o
This is also taken looking east, just before the march began:
(you can see the Chinese Theatre on the left in the center of the photo,
the building on the right is the Roosevelt Hotel)
(https://patch.com/img/cdn20/getty/23562214/20200614/050809/styles/patch_image/public/gettyimages-1249628270___14170801217.jpg)
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A closer look!
(https://img.particlenews.com/img/id/1h9sTS_0PLECwLf00?type=thumbnail_1024x576)
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Marching down Sunset west toward Fairfax Ave.
The two signs you see in the photo say Martel Ave. and Vista St.
(https://i.redd.it/pxrwzltgoy451.jpg)
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Into West Hollywood from Crescent Heights to Sweetzer:
(https://pbs.twimg.com/ext_tw_video_thumb/1272264101469671424/pu/img/NXAqRC9hbOOX-APC.jpg)
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An aerial into West Hollywood down Santa Monica Blvd. aka Route 66! It's rooftops, but those rooftops
belong to West Hollywood City Hall, Hamburger Mary's, former Circus of Books, Gold Coast,
former Silver Spoon Coffee Shop past the WeHO Matthew Shepard Triangle...
I know some of you have visited these places:
(https://scontent-lht6-1.cdninstagram.com/v/t51.2885-15/sh0.08/e35/s750x750/103933299_292747115099802_4854910074894496942_n.jpg?_nc_ht=scontent-lht6-1.cdninstagram.com&_nc_cat=106&_nc_ohc=mnlFKAiALxkAX8W7O_H&se=5&oh=316bc3a07e0236c8d2c270b4c0aae914&oe=5F108149&ig_cache_key=MjMzMjI4NzY0MzE1ODY2MzgyOA%3D%3D.2)
I love seeing the skyline of Los Angeles in the upper right corner!
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In West Hollywood just past the street I live on:
(https://www.wehoville.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Screen-Shot-2020-06-14-at-4.03.59-PM.png)
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Hanging around at the end point awhile after the march ended at Santa Monica and San Vicente, in
front of Rocco's, Rage, Don't Panic, Micky's, and the West Hollywood Sheriff's Dept.
(https://www.wehoville.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Screen-Shot-2020-06-14-at-3.56.13-PM-600x443.png)
Bars and restaurants have slowly opened up within the past week. The recent photos I posted of boarded up buildings, they were
taken down before this march on Sunday. Many hung around and patronized the businesses afterwards, for which they were grateful.
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I've read several estimates of the crowd from 30,000 to 40,000 and from 80,00 to 100,000.
Judge for yourself from this 1 minute aerial video which shows the marchers heading down
La Brea Ave. and turning onto Sunset Blvd. Amazing video!
https://www.reddit.com/r/LosAngeles/comments/h9246k/los_angeles_protests_61420/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x
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this is 20 years old, it's like the writers had a crystal ball and were trying to warn us. "Is it possible that we would be willing to require any less of the person sitting in that chair...?" if you can't watch the whole 3 min 53 seconds, start at 1:13
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O2hspf6FM00 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O2hspf6FM00)
Skin raising scary - terrifying actually. :(
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^^^ Lyle, thanks for those photos! Just awesome!
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Yes indeed, thanks Lyle!
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Yay!
https://www.joemygod.com/2020/06/breaking-scotus-rules-for-lgbt-employment-rights/
Isn't it interesting that SCOTUS handed down both this decision and Obergefell during Pride month? :)
I guess some people are very unhappy with John Roberts just now. :D
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Isn't it interesting that SCOTUS handed down both this decision and Obergefell during Pride month? :)
I guess some people are very unhappy with John Roberts just now. :D
Not to mention their Deity's chosen justice Gorsuch.
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People shot to death by U.S. police, by race 2017-2020
Published by Statista Research Department, Jun 5, 2020
(https://i.pinimg.com/originals/55/76/6e/55766e0f260e2ccc0c6fe6ace991dd4b.jpg)
https://www.statista.com/statistics/585152/people-shot-to-death-by-us-police-by-race/ (https://www.statista.com/statistics/585152/people-shot-to-death-by-us-police-by-race/)
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Isn't it interesting that SCOTUS handed down both this decision and Obergefell during Pride month? :)
Actually, no. Many Supreme Court Decisions are handed down when their term is over, which is in June!
But that makes it nice that June is Pride Month for these decisions!!!
I guess some people are very unhappy with John Roberts just now. :D
Not to mention their Deity's chosen justice Gorsuch.
Gorsuch didn't necessarily surprise me, but I'd have been really surprised if that ________ Kavanaugh had sided with the majority.
Brett Kavanaugh, Samuel Alito, Jr. and Clarence Thomas. Ugh-ly.
I had always thought Junior was Asian. He's actually Italian. He's not a justice one hears about much, personally or professionally, it's just that every decision I know how he votes on when I just hear his name I cringe. Kavanaugh and Thomas should never have been approved to the Supreme Court.
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^^^ Lyle, thanks for those photos! Just awesome!
Yes indeed, thanks Lyle!
My pleasure Gentlemen!
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Permit me a couple more:
I like this one from Hollywood Blvd.:
(https://zcomm.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/shutterstock_1756793636.jpg)
The crowd has filled in from Highland, where the "spired" building is on the left, all the way to Vine Street and beyond...
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This one's on Sunset Blvd. near Poinsettia. (Did you know that in the 20's and beyond there were fields of Poinsettias
grown in West Hollywood and Beverly Hills? Photos of them aren't that interesting because most are in black and white.)
The tall building top left with the satellite dish on it is the Hollywood CNN building.
(https://i2.wp.com/scng-dash.digitalfirstmedia.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/LDN-L-PROTEST-BLM-0515_22.jpg)
I like the bright neon green sign!
And if you haven't seen Randy Rainbow's The Bunker Boy video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2VBevEYELQ0
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Santa Monica Blvd. right before San Vicente..."I have often walked down this street before..." :D
(https://www.the-sun.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/2020/06/NINTCHDBPICT000589445405.jpg?strip=all&w=960)
The lights you see strung across the street, not that impressive in photos, but in person are,
were a new addition to the boulevard from Robertson to Palm Ave. during Pride last year, but
it was decided to leave them up all year round. They can stay one color or fade in and out to
different colors. I like them best really late at night, early morning, when there's little traffic
and it's quiet. This year not long ago I noticed they had extended them up to my street so
now I can see some of then right from my windows.
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This is the end point of the three mile march from Hollywood to San Vicente in West Hollywood.
(The Rose Parade in Pasadena is 5 miles. FYI.)
(https://www.the-sun.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/2020/06/NINTCHDBPICT000589338902-1.jpg?strip=all&w=960)
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The sign in this photo gets the last word.
(https://www.the-sun.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/2020/06/NINTCHDBPICT000589358828-1-e1592237011975.jpg?strip=all&w=960)
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The sign in this photo gets the last word.
(https://www.the-sun.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/2020/06/NINTCHDBPICT000589358828-1-e1592237011975.jpg?strip=all&w=960)
AMEN!
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Actually, no. Many Supreme Court Decisions are handed down when their term is over, which is in June!
But that makes it nice that June is Pride Month for these decisions!!!
Well, maybe you don't find it interesting, but I do. (Shrugs)
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When you said, "Isn't it interesting..." I took it as if they waited to do it during Pride month or something that's all.
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When you said, "Isn't it interesting..." I took it as if they waited to do it during Pride month or something that's all.
Nah. I didn't think that. At best I'd call it a coincidence--but still interesting that it happened that way.
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Great pictures, Lyle!
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Glad they were of interest!
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I’m a lot less self-isolating than some of my friends, but I find all that close contact pretty frightening.
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Is John Bolton's book really going to make any difference? Sadly, I don't think so. The Great Orange Satan's base won't read it, won't care, and will believe that Devil when he calls Bolton a liar. The rest of us don't need Bolton to convince us. We already know how awful that Satan is.
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Is the book out?
I just haven't been watching or reading or coming across much news lately. unless it hits me in the face or someone tells me.
When I started self-isolating it seems I self-isolated from a lot of media, too!
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The book is supposed to be officially released on 23 June, I think, but because of all of T's railing against it, it's been subject to a lot of leaks.
And as far as delaying release, the Supreme Court has not been fond of the idea of prior restraint.
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I’m a lot less self-isolating than some of my friends, but I find all that close contact pretty frightening.
I really think a lot of the recent protests, particularly the fact they're ongoing, is that after 2 1/2 months a lot of people who had nothing to do, weren't working, weren't going to school, no outside dining or sports or entertainment, just wanted to get out and do something. Also, I'd say that most people everywhere who are self-isolating are not going to see any results, personally, of doing it. You just will never know if you stayed home benefited anyone, or yourself or whatever. After 2 1/2 months and people weren't seeing any of that they felt more like it was okay to go out. Statistics aren't really going to mean much to all these people. That's my opinion.
When I had been watching some news about the local protests there were people on TV watching the crowds and talking about this. The people in charge of such things weren't saying they approved of people going out, recommended not to and added if you did you should wear masks at the very least. Others were saying these protests with thousands of people is a lab experiment. I recall one TV guy last week saying if in another 2 weeks to a month, we see little effect in the COVID situation as it is now then, "We're home free."
Of course, conservative media is using this to bash liberals, saying it's hypocritical to condemn conservatives for wanting to reopen faster and for protesting those things (without any masks) or Trump having a rally with hundreds of people and not saying anything about the thousands of people in the streets. Of course, many were saying things about it, no one was saying it was a good idea...it's as if they wanted people to stand up and push back and tell all these people (or more likely force all of them) to stay home.
I never understand how so many issues even get involved in politics. Why is health a liberal/conservative issue to be argued about. Or the environment. Or sexual orientations. I'm not talking about arguing about the ways to handle those issues, but conservatives in (our) Government don't even believe some of these issues exist (global warming) or are a hoax (COVID) or that their own adherents could be LGBTQIA+. Our conservative adherents don't even believe in Government most of the time. (And so you wonder why it can be so ineffective? When half the members of Congress don't even think the Government should be doing anything.) Remember Reagan's line: "Government is not the solution to our problem, government is the problem." I've always asked, if conservatives hate Government so much why don't thy just stay out of it. Those in it now have turned it into an organized crime family to benefit themselves.
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:'(
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6X1D2h8AheU
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:'(
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6X1D2h8AheU
Thanks for this, Lyle, very moving. I have sent it to my sister (86). For her even more than me, it feels like the end of an era. A remarkable woman, an interview with her on her 100th birthday showed her still quite strong.
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I’m a lot less self-isolating than some of my friends, but I find all that close contact pretty frightening.
I very much agree. I know there are problems with Maori here and even more so with Aborigines in Australia and we sympathise with what is going on in the USA. However these marches at this time annoy me who is quite radical compared to most of my friends. For them it is having the opposite effect to what is intended.
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Thanks for this, Lyle, very moving. I have sent it to my sister (86). For her even more than me, it feels like the end of an era. A remarkable woman, an interview with her on her 100th birthday showed her still quite strong.
You're welcome. Over the years, because she was so associated with WWII, every time I'd find out she was still performing it would seem so remarkable.
So will you please say hello
To the folks that I know
Tell them I won't be long
They'll be happy to know
That as you saw me go
I was singing this song... :'(
Quote a friend of mine wrote and sent to me:
"Sigh, I’m really sad. I mean, I know she had a good run, but I guess I miss the idea of
someone like her and wish we had someone like that now to get us through these times."
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And as far as delaying release, the Supreme Court has not been fond of the idea of prior restraint.
Yeap, as I recall, Nixon tried this tactic and lost at the Supreme Court. Which after again today, I'm sure his base is doing a "Linda Blair" spin with those damn conservative justices they lied, cheated and rammed thru. Karma's a real bitch and they deserve everything coming to them in this life or the next...
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...Statistics aren't really going to mean much to all these people. That's my opinion.
Dead on. It's impossible to educate the ignorant, especially when they think they know it all and refuse to learn beyond grade school. Working for a company who's business is statistics, and having taken statistics in college, all this just makes me shake my head further. The math doesn't lie - the politicians do. Just like the Gov of FL has been reportedly manipulating the figures to make things look rosy. Is he trying to get 1/2 the state of mainly older people infected? Part of me really wants GOPers to pack TOM's rallies. Then, maybe by the time Nov rolls around, they will all be much more humble believers that Covid-19 isn't a hoax and they are not immune. Of course, his base is not much different than any other "cult" and will believe anything he tweets.
There is no hope for TOM's base to ever think outside enriching themselves, their GOP lies and whatever Fox Lies "reports" as news. One of the biggest mistakes we ever made was removing the "fair doctrine" which forced broadcasters to provide equal time. This has lead to channels like Fox and MSNBC which are so polarized. They will never see any other angle but their own and without the "fair doctrine" in play, they don't even have to consider someone calling them out on their fake reporting in their own studio.
WRT to Bolton's book, all it needs to do is move the fencers. TOM's base is a lost, unreachable cause of lemmings.
bitch session off. Sorry, it's been a bad week. I'll tone it down.
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You're welcome. Over the years, because she was so associated with WWII, every time I'd find out she was still performing it would seem so remarkable.
So will you please say hello
To the folks that I know
Tell them I won't be long
They'll be happy to know
That as you saw me go
I was singing this song... :'(
Quote a friend of mine wrote and sent to me:
"Sigh, I’m really sad. I mean, I know she had a good run, but I guess I miss the idea of
someone like her and wish we had someone like that now to get us through these times."
I sometimes read in places like here that some film star dies in their 80's or 90's and the person reporting writes 'So sad"
My usual thought is 'not really'. When my Mother died, aged almost 97, I naturally dropped a few tears but said to people "It is not sad, it was time for her to go." However I have dropped a few tears today as well. Not sure why, I was only 1 at the end of the war. Lunching with friends today all over 70, something came up about the atrocities of WW2 and one friend said " Even with the trials of Covid, our lives have been so fortunate."
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Emmanuel Chinedum Acho is a former linebacker who played in the National Football League (NFL) and is currently working as an analyst for Fox Sports. He played college football at Texas and was drafted by the Cleveland Browns in the sixth round of the 2012 NFL Draft. He also played for the Philadelphia Eagles.
He was drafted by the Cleveland Browns in the sixth round of the 2012 NFL Draft. He was placed on injured reserve after a leg injury and missed the entire 2012 season. On April 11, 2013, Acho was traded to the Philadelphia Eagles for running back Dion Lewis. He was released on September 2, 2013. On September 10, 2013 Acho was signed to the New York Giants practice squad.
The Philadelphia Eagles signed Acho off the Giants' practice squad on October 21, 2013 after Jake Knott was injured, and he saw limited playing time in 6 games, getting his first NFL tackles. He was made gameday inactive once Mychal Kendricks and Jake Knott were back. Acho was waived by the Eagles on December 17, 2013, before the season ended, but signed to the practice squad the next day. He was resigned to the team on January 6, 2014 during the off season; released on August 30, 2014 and then added to the Eagles practice squad the next day. Acho was promoted to the active roster on September 9, 2014 after Najee Goode was injured. Following DeMeco Ryans season-ending injury in Week 9, he was thrust into a prominent role, along with Casey Matthews. He played in 14 games and recorded 31 tackles. In 2015, after being waived as part of the cuts to 53 due to a thumb injury, Acho was signed back to the Philadelphia Eagles on November 9th after Jordan Hicks was placed on Injured Reserve with a shoulder injury, but he saw no playing time and was released on November 24, 2015, making him a free agent.
Emmanuel has started to post videos to YouTube, called "Uncomfortable Conversations With a Black Man".
This is conversation #1. Emmanuel is alone in this video, discussing rioting, white privilege, using the "N word", black on black crime vs. white on black crime, black lives matter vs. all lives matter.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h8jUA7JBkF4
Here is conversation #2, and Emmanuel is joined by Matthew McConaughey. They discuss the use of African-American vs. Black, how to be a better person, black lives matter, definition of equality, "white allergies", and other topics.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CwiY4i8xWIc
Conversation #3 was just recently posted. This time, Emmanuel is joined by home maker hosts Chip & Joanna Gaines, and their children. They discuss being color blind, how to solve racism, "we've come a long way", and other topics.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xfo1XJDJKSU
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I have watched those videos. I find it's a brilliant idea. The conversation with Mathew McConaughey is really good, the one with the family a little bit forced, I thought.
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Re: Brian ^^^
As I age and I've watched parents, aunts, relatives and friends age and many pass away, for me, watching people reach those points in life where they are physically exhausted and their minds are tired, their body is worn out, and most, if not all of the people they grew up with, neighbored with, schooled with, made lives with, have died is exhausting mentally. Yes, being torn and weathered by life and losing our independence is the sad part I think. But it is not sad to accept our mortality. We have a beginning, middle and end. It's what we do during those decades, the choices we make, which ripple through our intertwined ponds of life and time. Those sometimes brief moments - matter. Holding a door for stranger, saying "Hi!" or giving a morning nod to someone you don't know, helping someone who's dropped something important to them, helping at a shelter, or sometimes just listening to a friend or even a co-worker who maybe had a bad day. Again, another lesson from BBM that kicked many of us hard, damn hard when you can see those flashbacks in your head. You are right, the sad part is not one's passing. The sadness is is the fact that they are no longer with us, at least in this world's space and time, to ripple back. V. :) Peace.
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I CAN'T TELL THEM APART ANYMORE
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Ea_Qc1qXkAM1aIO.jpg)
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So true.
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For all those people's sake... I hope this does not turn into a "super spreader" event like the initial conference in Boston.... b/c it is obvious that those people clearly:
a) don't believe in viruses, germs or other invisible to the human eye pathogens
b) have no clue about R0
c) Have not seen (or better still, consider it fake news) the mass graves dug in NYC or Brazil or other parts of the world
d) Clearly did not pay attention to the overflowing ICU and refrigerator trucks parked outside hospitals
e) Just don't give a shit about themselves, their families or anyone in their communities..
f) Think they are invincible
g) blindly believe everything TOM and Fox No-News tells them...
h) Will be believers in about 14 days...
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When they fall ill, they'll blame Obama, of course.
The virus does not care about their beliefs.
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MAGA!
https://twitter.com/thehill/status/1274585675845828611
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^^^
He looks almost human... and very pissed!
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Oh yeah.
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Sadly it looks as if at least two of the three victims of Saturday’s terrorist stabbing attack in Reading, UK, were gay, one British, one American.
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MAGA!
https://twitter.com/thehill/status/1274585675845828611
It looks like he just woke up in a very foul mood.
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Sadly it looks as if at least two of the three victims of Saturday’s terrorist stabbing attack in Reading, UK, were gay, one British, one American.
Oh I hadn't heard this Sara. How very sad. :'(
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It was a Libyan with a knife, seemingly random victims, but I wonder if there was homophobia involved. 3 dead, 3 in hospital.
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Sadly it looks as if at least two of the three victims of Saturday’s terrorist stabbing attack in Reading, UK, were gay, one British, one American.
Has there been any indication that the perpetrator knew any of the victims?
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Not that I’ve heard. The attack was near an LGBTI-friendly pub, where all three men were very well-liked.
Sorry, I tried to copy a BBC link but it doesn’t work.
Here’s another one.
https://apple.news/AOVE-MNnhQjeG6NKyeDr-bA (https://apple.news/AOVE-MNnhQjeG6NKyeDr-bA)
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So very sad.
I also note the references to the brave police officers who ran to help.
New Zealand is reeling from the shooting death of a 28 year old policeman last Friday after a routine traffic stop. The killer was on meth.
It was the first murder on duty of a policeman since 2009. The Sky tower (our tallest building) was lit up in blue on the weekend.
It reminded me of stupid statements about getting rid of police during black death matter marches. There are some rogue police but most do a great job and unfortunately they are very necessary to maintain our society.
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Has there been any indication that the perpetrator knew any of the victims?
They are calling it a terrorist act, but not sure what they are basing it on. Jeff, the American was from northeast Philidelphia. Joe Ritchie-Bennett, 39, grew up on Brous Avenue in Mayfair but moved to England about 15 years ago. He was married in 2006 to Ian who died of colon cancer in 2014. This is so very very sad all the way around.
https://www.inquirer.com/news/ritchie-london-terrorist-police-stabbed-to-death-northeast-philadelphia-20200621.html?outputType=amp
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Not that I’ve heard. The attack was near an LGBTI-friendly pub, where all three men were very well-liked.
Sorry, I tried to copy a BBC link but it doesn’t work.
Here’s another one.
https://apple.news/AOVE-MNnhQjeG6NKyeDr-bA (https://apple.news/AOVE-MNnhQjeG6NKyeDr-bA)
I just heard on our local TV evening news that the American was from my home city of Philadelphia.
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I think this is more serious than anyone realizes:
...because, really...you don't think he and his henchmen will do it?
What have they NOT done?
Trump Wants to Create Election Chaos by Killing the Post Office
President Trump and his Republican advisers appear to be laying the groundwork for presidential election chaos on November 3. Part of the plan seems to be to allow the coronavirus-slammed U.S. Postal Service (USPS) to run out of money in September, throwing the mail service into crisis, possibly disenfranchising everyone who votes by mail.
Don't forget what he said on March 30:
Trump spilled the beans himself when he said, if it were easier to vote in the U.S., Republicans would never get elected.
https://truthout.org/articles/trump-wants-to-create-election-chaos-by-killing-the-post-office/ (https://truthout.org/articles/trump-wants-to-create-election-chaos-by-killing-the-post-office/)
P.S.: A new head of the U.S. Postal Service took office this month. He has been a top donor to Trump and the Republican National Committee, and he was in charge of fundraising for the 2020 Republican National Convention.
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^^^
He looks [...] very pissed!
This is why:
Trump 'furious' about 'underwhelming' crowd at Tulsa rally.
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I think this is more serious than anyone realizes:
...because, really...you don't think he and his henchmen will do it?
What have they NOT done?
Trump Wants to Create Election Chaos by Killing the Post Office
President Trump and his Republican advisers appear to be laying the groundwork for presidential election chaos on November 3. Part of the plan seems to be to allow the coronavirus-slammed U.S. Postal Service (USPS) to run out of money in September, throwing the mail service into crisis, possibly disenfranchising everyone who votes by mail.
Don't forget what he said on March 30:
Trump spilled the beans himself when he said, if it were easier to vote in the U.S., Republicans would never get elected.
https://truthout.org/articles/trump-wants-to-create-election-chaos-by-killing-the-post-office/ (https://truthout.org/articles/trump-wants-to-create-election-chaos-by-killing-the-post-office/)
P.S.: A new head of the U.S. Postal Service took office this month. He has been a top donor to Trump and the Republican National Committee, and he was in charge of fundraising for the 2020 Republican National Convention.
I'd be much more worried about what he'd do in the months following his LOSS in November!! YIKES! :o :o :o
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I think this is more serious than anyone realizes:
...because, really...you don't think he and his henchmen will do it?
What have they NOT done?
Of course, he'll do everything he can to steal the election.
And he's going to get away with it.
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The Lincoln Project Ad after Pumkinhead's less than stellar turnout in Tulsa.
https://twitter.com/i/status/1275042854537134080
Click on the video to get sound.
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https://truthout.org/articles/trump-wants-to-create-election-chaos-by-killing-the-post-office/ (https://truthout.org/articles/trump-wants-to-create-election-chaos-by-killing-the-post-office/)
I would not put anything past these GOP ass-wipes. Using foreign agitators, lying under oath, firing people who speak out and I'm sure if TOM thought he could, he'd silence the rest of us. This is very concerning and beyond disturbing. Let's see put someone in place who's job it is to make things worse for the USPS, then make sure they run outta support and $ them right before the election, just long enough to completely disrupt the country election. Quite devious, quite sickening and quite possible. With Senate and POTUS in fully control of the GOP, I am unsure what could be done to stop'm.
I'm so hoping Nov is a landslide, but then I worry all the evils they will unleash during a lame-duck period.
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I'd be interested to know why it was thought necessary to start running TGOS's reelection commercials a month ago. I need to start watching TV with the remote in hand so I can mute it whenever I see one of those commercials start.
I guess if we didn't know it already, TGOS really does have no brake on his mouth, otherwise surely he would never have made that comment about Republicans never get elected if we have mail-in voting.
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The Lincoln Project Ad after Pumkinhead's less than stellar turnout in Tulsa.
https://twitter.com/i/status/1275042854537134080
Click on the video to get sound.
As someone responded to this:
"The hidden gem is the alt image that’s there before the video loads. Small hands and all."
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EbHtIceWAAIKo8K?format=jpg&name=small)
Thanks for the link Linda!
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This was also on there:
Donald Trump is going to throw an absolute fit when he finds out how many people have signed up for the virtual fundraiser with @JoeBiden and @BarackObama tomorrow. [ACTUALLY TODAY NOW]
So chip in ANY AMOUNT to join them and show team Trump what real enthusiasm looks like.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EbHv8IcUEAcPfR9?format=jpg&name=small)
https://secure.joebiden.com/a/obama_grassrootsfr?attr=100631126
YES INDEED! You can submit as little as $1 if one wants to.
From above--And this alone is worth more than that: Donald Trump is going to throw an absolute fit when he finds out how many people have signed up for the virtual fundraiser.
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The rally today in Arizona, will they use the tagline,
Come for the racism!
Stay for the plague!
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As someone responded to this:
"The hidden gem is the alt image that’s there before the video loads. Small hands and all."
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EbHtIceWAAIKo8K?format=jpg&name=small)
Thanks for the link Linda!
You're welcome, Lyle. It is a very telling video on many fronts.
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OK, here's a question. If Aunt Jemima, Uncle Ben, and the Cream of Wheat chef have got to go, why not Betty Crocker? Isn't she a stereotype, too?
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I call bullshit on these fucking "liberals". It was ok until George Floyd was murdered? And now all of a sudden they're sorry, and see "the error of their ways"? Come on........they just want to keep their jobs and try to make a statement as being above all the shit that's going down. They're guilty.
Jimmy Kimmel apologizes for performing in blackface
SETH ROGEN APOLOGIZES FOR 'BLACKFACE'
Tina Fey asks platforms to pull several '30 Rock' episodes that showed characters in blackface
Jimmy Fallon addresses blackface controversy on 'Tonight Show' return: 'I’m not a racist'
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I can't imagine any type of performance where blackface is ok.
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^^^^ Sadly, in general, total failure of good, understanding the real pain, judgement. (The same reason BBM has that gut wrenching impact on some and less on others.)
Even sadder is our US Senate confirmed Brett Kavanaugh as a Supreme Court Justice even after photos of him in blackface surfaced during confirmation.
People see what the want to see, when they want to see it.
Eventually we all have to recognize the pain these stunts cause and that requires empathy, something completely absent in many cases. There are people who will always hate and blame someone else for their problems, "....always someone's fault other than mine." I think that's called owning up to your mistakes or what's the one word... responsibility.
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I think this is more serious than anyone realizes:
...because, really...you don't think he and his henchmen will do it?
What have they NOT done?
Trump Wants to Create Election Chaos by Killing the Post Office
President Trump and his Republican advisers appear to be laying the groundwork for presidential election chaos on November 3. Part of the plan seems to be to allow the coronavirus-slammed U.S. Postal Service (USPS) to run out of money in September, throwing the mail service into crisis, possibly disenfranchising everyone who votes by mail.
Don't forget what he said on March 30:
Trump spilled the beans himself when he said, if it were easier to vote in the U.S., Republicans would never get elected.
https://truthout.org/articles/trump-wants-to-create-election-chaos-by-killing-the-post-office/ (https://truthout.org/articles/trump-wants-to-create-election-chaos-by-killing-the-post-office/)
P.S.: A new head of the U.S. Postal Service took office this month. He has been a top donor to Trump and the Republican National Committee, and he was in charge of fundraising for the 2020 Republican National Convention.
Thank you very much for posting this.
This is the sort of news information I am looking for - which connects the current dots and points to the intentions and probable consequences going forward. "Forewarned is forearmed".
Too much of the news I'm reading, even in proper news outlets like the Guardian, spend so much time and resources on reporting what the Republicans do after the fact, and then being critical/outraged about that, but not on predicting what's logically coming next. I frequently feel like I'm being fed news while there's only a dense fog ahead.
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I call bullshit on these fucking "liberals". It was ok until George Floyd was murdered? And now all of a sudden they're sorry, and see "the error of their ways"? Come on........they just want to keep their jobs and try to make a statement as being above all the shit that's going down. They're guilty.
Jimmy Kimmel apologizes for performing in blackface
SETH ROGEN APOLOGIZES FOR 'BLACKFACE'
Tina Fey asks platforms to pull several '30 Rock' episodes that showed characters in blackface
Jimmy Fallon addresses blackface controversy on 'Tonight Show' return: 'I’m not a racist'
Is being in blackface automatically make you "guilty" of something or is "intent" a part of the equation?
Sports players are all over on various sports websites doing the same thing under the "I want to learn" banner.
It's fine if anyone wants to learn, but haven't we learned that censorship is a bad thing, too. If actors feel like they shouldn't have done something in the past, they can own up to that, but why censor what you did by eliminating it? I realize there's an online culture of erasing anything and anyone because of something. People are wanting to remove statues of George Washington and Thomas Jefferson now. Jeff just intimated that Uncle Ben, Aunt Jemima and the Cream of Wheat Chef are now in trouble. Watch out Bert & Mary Poppins (https://www.insideedition.com/mary-poppins-racist-critic-says-iconic-chimney-sweep-scene-blackface-50506)
But censoring things from the past isn't going to change anything, plus, it's censorship.
Maybe they're doing it because f John Ridley's editorial saying the GWTW should be pulled from HBO's new streaming service until it can basically, "come with a warning." After that was published and became a member on social media, Amazon's sales of many different versions of the movie release have skyrocketed to #1. Maybe they're bing good business people.
But, really, are we heading toward Dustin Hoffman having to apologize for donning drag and playing a woman or Linda Hunt for winning an Oscar for playing an actual man, not pretending?
I can't imagine any type of performance where blackface is ok.
Since you wrote that, I'm trying to think of one. What if someone wanted to do a stage musical about Al Jolson? I don't know how much of his onstage act was done in blackface, but at least one song he did was eminently popular and remembered.
Conversely, should the Wayans movie White Chicks come under the same treatment for the men playing in whiteface? And playing women?
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Is being in blackface automatically make you "guilty" of something or is "intent" a part of the equation?
I guess not, as I just read this from Tina Fey:
"I understand now that ‘intent’ is not a free pass for white people to use these images. I apologize for pain they have caused. Going forward, no comedy-loving kid needs to stumble on these tropes and be stung by their ugliness."
You know what, I was stung a lot growing up by the ugly portrayal of LGBT people on TV, and by characters attitudes toward LGBT people by words deeds and action. Gay people were laughed at, ridiculed, the butt of jokes, dismissed, said to be mentally inferior or diseased. Deserved to be harmed or worse. You learned that you shouldn't be who you are or at the very least don't tell anyone. If you want to even fit in anywhere you should be amusing.
So I want every single episode and movie now to be removed and/or edited and/or with disclaimers beforehand about why those portrayals were harmful and wrong.
It's no wonder that the culture or erasure enveloping everything nowadays has led to the country's most famous and respected comedians to eliminate college campuses from their performance venues. It's like the college students who attend comedy concerts sit there with checklists of why there's something wrong with every single thing uttered. That there's "offense" to be found in everything. Comedy is going to disappear if even "intent" is now a bad thing.
Comedians are always walking a tightrope of good and bad taste. Danger is what makes a lot of comedy funny. It's not to be processed through a woke filter before one deems it amusing or not. For eften sake people, wake up! Humor is a good thing and there is "truth" in humor. Look what happens when someone doesn't have any sense of humor at all aka TOM.
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Things tend not to be as absolute over time. Time changes our perceptions - for better or for worse. We tend to remember the glowing moments and forget the painful ones as we age. But some things never really die b/c people don't want to "move on...."
In general, we need to only look at Hitler and the Nazis for parallels to flags (Confederate) and movements (slavery, KKK, ...) being socially unacceptable after people learn the truth. In our case, many people living in the Southern States never "got over" getting beat by the Union. Trust me, living in SC during college, you'd best be careful what you said about "that war..." in the wrong company.
People make mistakes whether it is blackface or flying flags that years ago more acceptable for those times. They need to own up - take responsibility, and admit the truth.
Today, you'd be hard pressed to find many people openly flying the Nazi flag regardless of whether they descended from members of the Nazi party. Sadly, that same argument does not seem to work on the Southern states, mainly because racism is still alive and well.
Sadly, we have not reached that point in the US WRT to the Confederate Flags and many Confederate monuments which were erected to partially honor the dead but also had a 2nd more sinister purpose of intimidating blacks - especially around the turn of the century.
Remember, it has not been that long since the Confederate flag was removed from the SC Capital. V.
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Sadly, we have not reached that point in the US WRT to the Confederate Flags and many Confederate monuments which were erected to partially honor the dead but also had a 2nd more sinister purpose of intimidating blacks - especially around the turn of the century.
What will happen to the cemeteries where Confederate soldiers are buried?
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^^^IMHO, cemeteries in are sacred ground. Dead people are dead people and should be left in peace. I would not want to provoke the dead. However, monuments erected in cemeteries which are enshrining slavery should be removed. Desecrating graves is whole another social taboo and line that never should be cross. Will some extreme crazies probably anyway? Sadly, I would not bet against it.
I get where you are going... suppose sometime likely beyond our lifetime, the powers-that-be (PTB) start to feel something like the Vietnam Memorial (built in our lifetimes) represents the unjust treatment of Vietnam's people and descendants living in the USA. Will those in charge then be inclined to remove that memorial? IDK. That is something people of that time will have to decide for themselves. We already had our stay when it was elected - wrong or right then or in the future is a matter of time and perspective.
Should we remove statues of George Washington or the Washington Monument just because he owned slaves? I think we all understand the value George Washington represents to the USA and have to understand that for his time, he did what was lawful and legal regardless of how vile we consider doing those same things today would be. A major war and time have changed those perceptions. However, I stand by what I said about the Southern States.. the same ones that succeeded from the Union then are the same ones which are still loaded with racism. Funny thing they all happen to be GOP strongholds don't you think?
IDK, slippery slopes. When I watch the stories about Egyptian Pharaohs striking the names of "disowned" or other earlier Pharaohs from Egyptian monuments I wondered if they were really doing similar things - trying to erase history they didn't like. IDK, that didn't play well for them in the end either.
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^^^IMHO, cemeteries in are sacred ground.
I agree, but in view of what's happening now, I think it doesn't take much of a stretch of imagination to see people running wild through cemeteries, splashing red paint on tombstones because the people buried there fought to preserve slavery.
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Someone I know shared this video with me.
From a gay boy in NE Texas...
https://www.dropbox.com/s/ay81hmxuk7s4aof/RPReplay_Final1591748311.mov?dl=0
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Someone I know shared this video with me.
From a gay boy in NE Texas...
https://www.dropbox.com/s/ay81hmxuk7s4aof/RPReplay_Final1591748311.mov?dl=0
WOW! Lyle. This was so powerful and so very very good!! Talk about telling it like it is!!! Thanks for sharing this!!!
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Fantastic!
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And guess what guys?
He originally posted it on Facebook and Facebook removed it.
You know, the same Facebook that took rubles in payment for false election advertising in 2016.
I have a friend who posted a short clip of a syndicated Married with Children episode that had dogs
where you could hear their thoughts, a TV series that can be seen on almost any tv station at any
time of day and he told me Facebook took it off and said that it violated some hate speech policy.
And there's no arguing or presenting a case if they do that. Facebook needs some intervention and
Zuckerberg needs to be taken down.
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Someone I know shared this video with me.
From a gay boy in NE Texas...
https://www.dropbox.com/s/ay81hmxuk7s4aof/RPReplay_Final1591748311.mov?dl=0
Oh wow - brilliant! (And what an orator!)
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I would like to nominate, as Joe Biden’s running mate, Susan Rice.
Her qualifications are virtually as good as Joe’s own. I won’t attempt to recite them here, but I will give this link to Steve Chapman’s recent article (Chicago Tribune) that lays them out plainly. And for what it’s worth, she is 55 years old.
https://www.startribune.com/biden-s-best-option-for-vp-susan-rice/571486272/ (https://www.startribune.com/biden-s-best-option-for-vp-susan-rice/571486272/)
God forbid, but I think she would be eminently qualified to assume the Presidency on Day One. None of the others being touted come close.
~~~fia
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I will admit, I don't know enough about here to have a true opinion on her taking on the VP position.
All I really know is that she was an ambassador, she worked under Obama, and was questioned about Benghazi.
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And guess what guys?
He originally posted it on Facebook and Facebook removed it.
You know, the same Facebook that took rubles in payment for false election advertising in 2016.
I have a friend who posted a short clip of a syndicated Married with Children episode that had dogs
where you could hear their thoughts, a TV series that can be seen on almost any tv station at any
time of day and he told me Facebook took it off and said that it violated some hate speech policy.
And there's no arguing or presenting a case if they do that. Facebook needs some intervention and
Zuckerberg needs to be taken down.
I just saw this article:
Facebook Unfriended by World’s Biggest Brands as Zuckerberg’s Fixes Fall Flat
By Jordan Zakarin • 06/27/20
As of Saturday morning, over 133 companies have pulled their advertising dollars from the world’s leading social platform, according to the media activist group Sleeping Giants. It marks an exponential increase from a boycott that began on Tuesday with a few outdoor recreation companies.
Zuckerberg’s announcement, meant to mollify critics, did little to change their opinions.
A few hours later, Coca-Cola announced that it would be suspending its advertising on Facebook and other social platforms for the next 30 days. The soft drink giant joined Unilever, Verizon and Honda on a growing list of mid-sized and major corporations. The loss of companies such as Coca-Cola signal skittishness from the world’s biggest brands, which could have a major impact on the company’s advertising revenue.
Noted Lawyer Rashad Robinson wrote: "What we've seen in today's address from Mark Zuckerberg is a failure to wrestle with the harms FB has caused on our democracy & civil rights. If this is the response he's giving to major advertisers withdrawing millions of dollars from the company, we can't trust his leadership."
Facebook has been under fire for the last few months as far-right outlets have spread misinformation about the coronavirus and President Donald Trump has posted violent messages about protestors. A Facebook spokesperson told the Washington Post that even under the company’s new standards, Trump’s now-infamous “When the looting starts, the shooting starts” post, which earned a warning label from Twitter, would not have been in any way censored.
Trump threw a fit over Twitter’s decisions to both affix a warning label on top of that tweet and fact checks on his tweets about voter fraud, publicly calling out the company and issuing an executive order that threatened to strip social media platforms of crucial legal protections. Zuckerberg made an effort to cater to Trump, telling interviewers that he had no interest in being the “arbiter of truth of everything that people say online.”
In Zuckerberg's mind the sentence that came after that was, "As long they keep paying me.'
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I would like to nominate, as Joe Biden’s running mate, Susan Rice.
Her qualifications are virtually as good as Joe’s own. I won’t attempt to recite them here, but I will give this link to Steve Chapman’s recent article (Chicago Tribune) that lays them out plainly. And for what it’s worth, she is 55 years old.
https://www.startribune.com/biden-s-best-option-for-vp-susan-rice/571486272/ (https://www.startribune.com/biden-s-best-option-for-vp-susan-rice/571486272/)
~~~fia
I will admit, I don't know enough about her to have a true opinion on her taking on the VP position.
All I really know is that she was an ambassador, she worked under Obama, and was questioned about Benghazi.
I was very impressed with her when Bill Maher interviewed her a week ago on his Real Time with Bill Maher episode of 6/19.
That program's on HBO, where you can find it On Demand or a rerun if you subscribe to that channel.
I don't think this is the entire interview, but here's 5 minutes of the program posted on the Real Time YouTube channel.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qn5qCrIEn5Y
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In Zuckerberg's mind the sentence that came after that was, "As long they keep paying me.'
Correct. The only way to make these a$$wipes change course is in the good-old wallet. FB's and Suckerberg are the worse of the worse of the social media platforms. Most people just "give" them (and Google) their data for free while they are making BILLIONS of $ per month outta shoving targeting, lucrative, advertising down the pipes. Ever since FB (and all the other social media platforms surfaced) many in the computer industry have been warning people about what they are really doing. You get what you pay for and when something is "free" that's the first red-flag to take a closer look. There is a cost to these and it is you, your data, your privacy. You are the product being brought and sold.
The legal protections FB and others have enjoyed for many years have compound many issues to the point of where we are today... Time for enterprising attorneys to start taking them to court and see what happens to their see no evil, hear no evil, do nothing approach.
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So why aren't Biden's people running ads about the thousands of Americans who died and are still dying of COVID-19 because the Great Orange Satan really f**ked up? Or, are they and I just haven't seen one yet?
And nobody told him about the Russian bounty on American soldiers? What a surprise. ...
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TOo bad we don't have an extradition treaty with iran
(CNN)Iran has issued an arrest warrant for US President Donald Trump over the drone strike that killed a top Iranian general in January, the semi-official Fars news agency reported Monday.
https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/29/middleeast/iran-arrest-warrant-donald-trump-intl/index.html (https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/29/middleeast/iran-arrest-warrant-donald-trump-intl/index.html)
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CONGRATS BBM-6XM, JEFF!!!!
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Carl Reiner, Comedy Patriarch, Dies at 98
https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2020/06/carl-reiner-dies (https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2020/06/carl-reiner-dies)
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^^^
I've been watching the Dick Van Dyke Show series that has extras with Carl Reiner and Dick Van Dyke, talking about the series and at one point I was thinking, wow...these two guys are STILL with us, how great!
His son Rob Reiner is 73, if you can believe it! (DVD is 94.)
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Too bad we don't have an extradition treaty with iran
(CNN)Iran has issued an arrest warrant for US President Donald Trump...
I can't tell you how much this made me laugh. I mean, other countries are issuing arrest warrants for our President.
It's like the Twilight Zone Live! One has to laugh to keep from crying over the state of things.
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Rob Reiner is 73, if you can believe it!
No, but that's not saying much because I can't believe I'm 62 either. :laugh:
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And nobody told him about the Russian bounty on American soldiers? What a surprise. ...
Yeah, that needs a bit more notoriety:
In one of the most shameful developments of the Trump presidency, reporting has revealed that Russia had placed bounties on the heads of American soldiers, that Donald Trump knew about it months ago, and yet – in all of the time that’s passed – he did NOTHING to stop it. He refused to even ask Putin to change course. He allowed American soldiers to be targeted and killed overseas, while he had the audacity to continue using our military as a prop and salute our cadets and pretend that he’s a patriot. Even amid all of his scandals – from his campaign’s cooperation with Russians looking to help him win in 2016 to his Ukraine extortion scheme to his failed coronavirus response and everything in between – this one is particularly heinous.
But I still repeat: NOTHING he ever does or will do surprises me. He's capable of a lot worse. He must be stopped. When is enough enough?
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Yeah, that needs a bit more notoriety:
In one of the most shameful developments of the Trump presidency, reporting has revealed that Russia had placed bounties on the heads of American soldiers, that Donald Trump knew about it months ago, and yet – in all of the time that’s passed – he did NOTHING to stop it. He refused to even ask Putin to change course. He allowed American soldiers to be targeted and killed overseas, while he had the audacity to continue using our military as a prop and salute our cadets and pretend that he’s a patriot. Even amid all of his scandals – from his campaign’s cooperation with Russians looking to help him win in 2016 to his Ukraine extortion scheme to his failed coronavirus response and everything in between – this one is particularly heinous.
But I still repeat: NOTHING he ever does or will do surprises me. He's capable of a lot worse. He must be stopped. When is enough enough?
And even that will not turn his base against him. They will not believe it happened (it's a plot by Nancy Pelosi, "Sleepy Joe" Biden, and the Democrats in the House--you know. those people who want mail-in voting to keep Republicans from getting elected), and they will believe him when he says nobody told him about it.
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^^^
I've been watching the Dick Van Dyke Show series that has extras with Carl Reiner and Dick Van Dyke, talking about the series and at one point I was thinking, wow...these two guys are STILL with us, how great!
His son Rob Reiner is 73, if you can believe it! (DVD is 94.)
And Rob is still acting too!! :o :o :o
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No, but that's not saying much because I can't believe I'm 62 either. :laugh:
Nah, can't believe it either ;)
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(https://d.newsweek.com/en/full/347788/06-26-cartoons-01.jpg?w=1600&h=1200&q=88&f=35fbbe15fbc4af7027f96a5c174381aa)
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^^^^ Nice thought....
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I cannot wait to get out of this benighted state
AUSTIN (KXAN) — In an appearance on Fox News Tuesday, Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick told host Laura Ingraham, “I don’t need his advice anymore,” when they were discussing the nation’s top infectious disease doctor, Anthony Fauci.
“Fauci said today that he’s concerned about states like Texas that skipped over certain things,” Patrick said in a clip from the June 30 show. “He doesn’t know what he’s talking about. We haven’t skipped over anything. The only thing I’m skipping over is listening to him.”
Patrick claimed Fauci “has been wrong every time on every issue,” but did not elaborate.
https://www.kxan.com/news/coronavirus/no-thank-you-dr-fauci-lt-gov-patrick-says-he-wont-listen-to-nations-top-covid-19-expert/ (https://www.kxan.com/news/coronavirus/no-thank-you-dr-fauci-lt-gov-patrick-says-he-wont-listen-to-nations-top-covid-19-expert/)
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yeah Dan, great job
(https://i.pinimg.com/originals/04/95/eb/0495eb62c2b23f0461d7044f21c0edbb.jpg)
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Looks bad, Nancy :( take care! :-*
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thanks! I'm staying put, wish others would, too.
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^^^^ Just more enlightened examples of the uneducated GOP and GOP governors promoting anti-science, anti-virus, anti-vaccine with sad, stonewalling positions. The fools in TX, SC, and FL are being completely incompetent and the graphs are showing it every day. They are not going to be happy until the hospitals are overrun with dead and dying people making the daily world news. "We were right, we want our freedom to infect anyone we want".. So sad, so ignorant.
You know what, the area hospitals should just stack the body bags and freezer trucks outside their capitals for all the world to see all the deaths they are causing. it worked for Vietnam... Americans grew tired of all those brave men dying for really no reason... and what's happening now is not far from that sad truth. Heaven help us.
But Fauci pointed out another obstacle: “There is a general anti-science, anti-authority, anti-vaccine feeling among some people in this country — an alarmingly large percentage of people, relatively speaking.”
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yeah Dan, great job
When people are talking about someone, I sometimes just want to see what they look like.
This guy looks like a real doofus:
(https://www.kxan.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/40/2016/07/dan-patrick-new-e1468876724572_37214601_ver1.0.jpg)
He's very anti-gay/homophobic which doesn't surprise me, because he looks like a closet case. And his foray into politics sounds right out of the Trump playbook:
He was born born Dannie Scott Goeb (I guess he had to change his name for some reason?). Originally from Baltimore, Maryland, Patrick began his career as a radio and television broadcaster. After forming a chain of sports bars and subsequently going bankrupt, he became a radio host again, this time becoming a conservative commentator. He defeated an incumbent Republican in the 2014 Primary to get on the ballot as Lt. Governor. (Continuing the bandwagon of conservative voters voting in actors, game and talk show hosts and charlatans into positions of political power.
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Texas again ::) ::)
Woman has profane meltdown at Texas grocery store over mask policy, filmed throwing items from her car
https://twitter.com/i/status/1277543582505684993 (https://twitter.com/i/status/1277543582505684993)
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When people are talking about someone, I sometimes just want to see what they look like.
This guy looks like a real doofus:
(https://www.kxan.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/40/2016/07/dan-patrick-new-e1468876724572_37214601_ver1.0.jpg)
He's very anti-gay/homophobic which doesn't surprise me, because he looks like a closet case. And his foray into politics sounds right out of the Trump playbook:
He was born born Dannie Scott Goeb (I guess he had to change his name for some reason?). Originally from Baltimore, Maryland, Patrick began his career as a radio and television broadcaster. After forming a chain of sports bars and subsequently going bankrupt, he became a radio host again, this time becoming a conservative commentator. He defeated an incumbent Republican in the 2014 Primary to get on the ballot as Lt. Governor. (Continuing the bandwagon of conservative voters voting in actors, game and talk show hosts and charlatans into positions of political power.
that's funny, I was going to put a warning in my post about not being scared of his face if you click on the link!
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Republican Voting checklist:
Radio/game show host: check.
Businessman who's gone bankrupt: check.
No previous Government experience: check.
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:laugh: but sad too
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that's funny, I was going to put a warning in my post about not being scared of his face if you click on the link!
Too late! :o
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These two things go hand in hand.
^^^^ Just more enlightened examples of the uneducated GOP and GOP governors promoting anti-science, anti-virus, anti-vaccine with sad, stonewalling positions.
[...]
But Fauci pointed out another obstacle: “There is a general anti-science, anti-authority, anti-vaccine feeling among some people in this country — an alarmingly large percentage of people, relatively speaking.”
Texas again ::) ::)
Woman has profane meltdown at Texas grocery store over mask policy, filmed throwing items from her car
https://twitter.com/i/status/1277543582505684993 (https://twitter.com/i/status/1277543582505684993)
By the way, that's her "car"? They don't allow us to drive into supermarkets where I live. ;)
They also won't even let us into the grocery store unless we are wearing a mask.
More than one person commented on that video with something like this one:
Good for her
Its unconstitutional. Period.
Wonder what these same people think of those signs posted in almost every business: "We reserve the right to refuse service to anyone.”
What is so frustrating about Republican voters is that consistency of thought never deters them from an uninformed opinion.
Probably because there is no thought, only reaction. And the selfishness and entitlement is astounding. Wonder what happened after that?
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There is a book coming out this month, by TOM's niece, Mary Trump, unless it gets blocked or postponed for any reason:
(https://i.insider.com/5ee892d55af6cc4ad601e313?width=700&format=jpeg&auto=webp)
Doesn't he just remind you of the Lt. Governor of Texas?
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Some Federal judge currently has publication on hold, but it would seem that it just creates more interest.
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^^^ Gotta love it. I'll say it again.. the average American GOP/Trump bigot is completely ignorant of the private property laws. The comments in that vid are just more proof Trump should have bigger rallies with more of his loyal supporter packed in tight. Let's allow CV-19 to cull that ignorance...and Darwin do his thing.
More to the point. She's on private property destroying merchandise she's not paid for. They should have called the police and arrested her on the spot. As a private property owner, they can tell you "no shirt, no shoes, no service..." "no mask, no entrance, no service" is well within the business's rights to. Hell they could say "no coat, no tie, no service" just like some restaurants I've been in around the world. These GOP ass-clowns have no standing. If they don't like the store's rules, shop somewhere else to spread your disease.
Recall, some GOP asshole already tried this at Costco and got asked to leave the store.. His "it's a free country backfired 100%" little do they understand, this is not a "do as you please" country when you are on privately-owned property. If that bitch wanted to stand outside in the street or on the sidewalk and protest, then that's public property.
Simply amazing ignorance.. but I'm not surprised, ignorance elected TOM and we are all suffering for it. As Fauci said a couple of days ago, “There is a general anti-science, anti-authority, anti-vaccine feeling among some people in this country — an alarmingly large percentage of people, relatively speaking.” ... and I'd bet 95% of them are GOP bigots.
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Nah, can't believe it either ;)
You can't believe I'm 62?
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He's very anti-gay/homophobic which doesn't surprise me, because he looks like a closet case.
Yeah. A closet case who couldn't get a blow job at a glory hole.
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Some Federal judge currently has publication on hold, but it would seem that it just creates more interest.
Sure. Controversy will do it.
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Simply amazing ignorance.. but I'm not surprised, ignorance elected TOM and we are all suffering for it. As Fauci said a couple of days ago, “There is a general anti-science, anti-authority, anti-vaccine feeling among some people in this country — an alarmingly large percentage of people, relatively speaking.”
There is a long history of that in the U.S.
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You can't believe I'm 62?
I can't believe you're 62 ;) I swear, you all here sound waaaay younger than some of my teenager relatives :laugh:
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^^^ Gotta love it. I'll say it again.. the average American GOP/Trump bigot is completely ignorant of the private property laws. The comments in that vid are just more proof Trump should have bigger rallies with more of his loyal supporter packed in tight. Let's allow CV-19 to cull that ignorance...and Darwin do his thing.
More to the point. She's on private property destroying merchandise she's not paid for. They should have called the police and arrested her on the spot. As a private property owner, they can tell you "no shirt, no shoes, no service..." "no mask, no entrance, no service" is well within the business's rights to. Hell they could say "no coat, no tie, no service" just like some restaurants I've been in around the world. These GOP ass-clowns have no standing. If they don't like the store's rules, shop somewhere else to spread your disease.
Recall, some GOP asshole already tried this at Costco and got asked to leave the store.. His "it's a free country backfired 100%" little do they understand, this is not a "do as you please" country when you are on privately-owned property. If that bitch wanted to stand outside in the street or on the sidewalk and protest, then that's public property.
Simply amazing ignorance.. but I'm not surprised, ignorance elected TOM and we are all suffering for it. As Fauci said a couple of days ago, “There is a general anti-science, anti-authority, anti-vaccine feeling among some people in this country — an alarmingly large percentage of people, relatively speaking.” ... and I'd bet 95% of them are GOP bigots.
EXACTLY EXACTLY EXACTLY, Vincent. I am livid at what is happening and feel so powerless to do anything that will make any bit of difference, other than to abide by the laws and regulations that are out there. And fat lot of good that does me when there are so many who aren't and don't give a rat's ass about anyone. I try so very hard to stay positive, but it gets harder by the day.
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^^^^ Yeap. I get up daily, shower, dress like I'm going into work (it helps with the mindset), and then end up in my "home office" working as if I were in the real office. For a gym rat of 35+ years now, not having that work out stress outlet is wearing thinner. :( Had a remote doc appt yesterday too who asked, "Why don't you run?" Knees and back won't take that pounding... b/c I ran for many years until things hurt so bad I had to stop. Had a professor tell me, "...you better listen to your body kid,...or you will be in very bad shape in 30 years. I listened then and now."
I do my best to stay positive and focus on what I can do which is wear my respirator when head out to the grocery or anywhere basically outside where I will have contact with anyone. I stay away from anyone who's not wearing a mask.
I also visit here daily. It is another relief valve to know we are all mostly friendly here. 8)
I don't always avoid the ABC evening news unless it's been a really bad day. They are the most balanced of the majors. I also limit reading the main, reliable news sites too often b/c the headlines are the numbers just keep escalating - mainly b/c of shear stupidity and ignorance. Sometimes I feel like we are the "dark ages".
You know, if the GOP really wanted to re-open the country, then they would following the guidelines so hospitalization rates were dropping, not escalating. But no, &diety. help me that **I** have to do something for the good of the country, my friends, my parents, my kids, my neighbors if **I** don't want to. Selfish GOP ignorance at it's best.... to which I think, "...pack'm in TOM, pack'm in -how about a rally a day across the South?''' and let your whatever &diety you believe in do some good old educating and culling. Peace.
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I can't believe you're 62 ;) I swear, you all here sound waaaay younger than some of my teenager relatives :laugh:
Thanks. :)
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^^^^ Yeap. I get up daily, shower, dress like I'm going into work (it helps with the mindset), and then end up in my "home office" working as if I were in the real office.
I do that, too.
For a gym rat of 35+ years now
Thirty-five years a gym rat? You must be in fine shape, knees or no knees.
It's all wearing thin, and staying positive is getting more and more difficult, too. It's also getting harder and harder to concentrate on my work. Partly that's sheer burnout on the job, and unhappiness at the way it's evolving, but everything else isn't helping. Too many sources of stress in my life.
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I have a friend who works at a restaurant. They opened a couple weeks ago, maybe 3? They've had business, but, of course, with new ways of doing things put in place, the work is even harder than it was before and who wants their jobs to be harder? Because the rates in CA have been spiking the Governor closed all the restaurants and bars again yesterday. Not even, "close tomorrow", but effective immediately.
So my friend was telling me how the restaurant had ordered more food and such based on the business they had the last 2-3 weeks. So now they have to figure out what to do with it. It won't all keep until another re-opening. They can't return it. I can't imagine all these restaurant owners and managers trying to keep a business open and rules changing all the time etc. The restaurant business is hard enough in good times, much less trying to have one in these times when you never know what you'll be doing. And from the property landlords I'm familiar with I'm sure they still all want their rents paid, regardless. There's a building not far from mine that had a pizza restaurant in it and also a Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf (a chain like Starbucks). About two years ago now, he raised their rents a humongous amount. I know he raised the rent, per month, of the Coffee Bean to $30,000. A month! Can you imagine? The pizza place immediately closed. The Coffee Bean management decided to close, too, saying it just wasn't worth keeping the place there paying that kind of rent. That place was always full of customers, too. So for the last two years those two places have been empty.
$30,000 is 333 cups of coffee a day at $3 each. And that doesn't include salaries. utilities, product costs etc. I was astounded to find out that a t-shirt place in the area is paying $20,000 a month rent. The biggest cost for small businesses is RENT it seems to me. I think the current situation is going to mean small businesses are going to disappear and not come back.
(there's a famous (locally anyway) Hollywood Bookstore called Larry Edmunds Bookshop. It's been open since 1938 and the current owner of it has run it since 1968. It's one of three businesses on Hollywood Blvd. that's been there the longest. It's a book store that specializes in "Hollywood" related things. Recently, the biggest money making time for the store has been the two weeks the Turner Classic Movies film festival comes to town. Patrons of the festival visit the store for additional Hollywood souvenirs, special book signings etc. That turned out to be in March this year and it was cancelled. The owner had to put up a Go Fund Me page hoping he could find a way to stay in business through all this. (Landlords are still demanding their rent whether or not you're open.) I don't think it's working out so well so far. These kinds of things were on my mind this morning.
I don't know about anywhere else, but the West Hollywood City Council has made it illegal for landlords to evict tenants who cannot pay their rent during this crisis. It doesn't mean they're off the hook for paying the rent, it just means they'll have to pay it all at some point. I don't think this covers businesses, though. Can you imagine racking up monthly rents that you owe. The stresses will become greater and greater as this all wears on.
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I just heard this news, local news: The West Hollywood Sheriiff's Dept. announced they will summarily be giving $300 tickets :o. to people not wearing face masks outside.
Unfortunately this is what you have to start doing because people don’t/won't listen.
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^^^^ Yes, that's when we begin writing off all this as business losses against ANY profits a/o declare bankruptcy to cancel the back-rental judgments landlords may win. At some point the music stops and it is is no win situation just like the 1918 Pandemic and the Great Depression. Landlords cannot keep paying taxes to federal, local and state govs either if they have no income. It sucks. It is also a lesson in having 6-12 months living expenses in-cash at all times.
However, I'm not sure even that's going to help those that do.
Our financial system and economy (I fear) was never built to withstand a "full stop" like this. Even in war-times, people are paying their bills.
WRT to restaurants closings. Most around here are allowed only curb-side pickup with very limited staffing. At every one I've visited, employees are wearing what look like good quality masks (but not N95). In many cases, they are family owned so its all family running the place. No indoor dining is permitted. I've seen some outdoor dining with the tables far apart. Who would want to sit in this summer heat is beyond me now.
Restaurants should be allowed to stay open for curbside pickup and then only if the are using N95 masks.
I've also seen some places donating their food-stocks to the local shelters so that becomes a tax write off or instead of prepared food, they sell the food unprepared as "ready-to-cook" meals in much the same manner as the grocery stores. Some seafood places shifted instead of selling primarily to restaurants, to selling to residents and people like a grocery story. That keeps the doors open. That might be a thought. Peace.
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Until people realize and understand the enormity of this pandemic, the country will stay like this, with cases, hospitalizations and deaths climbing.
I don't understand how people can be so stupid as to refuse to wear a mask, or, even worse, think that a statement by a governor that they can go to bars, means that everything is ok. Is anyone reading or watching the news?
I understand it about the the trolls who follow 45, their vision, as well as their intellect, is pretty limited.
Everyone said "let's watch Texas reopen and see how it goes"...well, here ya go...
Gov. Greg Abbott orders Texans in most counties to wear masks in public
Abbott previously resisted calls for such an order and at one point banned local governments from requiring masks. First-time violators will be issued a warning, though repeat offenders could be fined up to $250.
https://www.texastribune.org/2020/07/02/texas-mask-order-greg-abbott-coronavirus/ (https://www.texastribune.org/2020/07/02/texas-mask-order-greg-abbott-coronavirus/)
Texas DSHS
@TexasDSHS
#COVID19TX update:
#Texas had 75,000 new cases in 3 weeks from June 8 to June 29. It took Texas 3 months to reach its first 75K cases
Since June 1, current #COVID19 hospitalizations have more than tripled from 1,756 to 6,533
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EbymA8ZWAAUl_mZ?format=jpg&name=small)
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I just heard this news, local news: The West Hollywood Sheriiff's Dept. announced they will summarily be giving $300 tickets :o. to people not wearing face masks outside.
Unfortunately this is what you have to start doing because people don’t/won't listen.
I totally agree with this, Lyle. Our fine is $100 here in the state, but it's more than most people can afford here. Our Governor is cracking down hard and we're rapidly going back to total lockdown, which to be perfectly honest is fine by me. She stated it's up to the public abiding by the rules as to whether we go forward or backwards.
The biggest problem is most of the state lacks the manpower to enforce the mask wearing.
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Wow, how many people live in Texas? I think that's so many cases as in all of Germany!
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Ok, just checked, Germany hat 195000 cases, the population is 85 million.
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I had to look up TX, it's 29 million...second largest U.S. state by both area and population
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^^^^ Yeap, TX is known as the "Lone Star" state for a reason. The GOP and TOM have a firm foothold of lemmings there for sure. Abbott in TX and the other GOP asswipe in FL thought they were going to be bad-asses and defy science and ignore CV-19 - hoping it would "go away..." Yeap, go for it GOP governors! You both know more than doctors, hospitals and infectious disease experts all summed together. Let's see those degrees on your wall! Please, please, pack'm in, open the bars, clubs and beaches. Invite everyone to TOM rallies and have a grand, good old GOP time!
Now of course, this is going to lead to a lot of voter fraud with all those dead GOPers somehow voting from the grave.. but that's ok as long as it's vote for the GOP and TOM.
Sadly, a wise man once told me, the basic mentality is "..you can talk until you a blue, but sometimes you gotta let'm blow their own toes off...(or end up 6' under now) before they figure it out...." ;)
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(https://i.redd.it/t4gd2no3kkq31.jpg)
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P.S.: Maybe all male blondes are dumb?
ETA: Though Putin's less dumb than evil.
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Stalin is not a good example of a leader. I think I would prefer Putin.
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He (Russia) was an ally in WWII, though, to help defeat Naziism. Putin is an ally to Trump to help defeat the west.
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We could have a long discussion on this. At the beginning of WW2 Germany and Russio had a pact. Then Hitler was stupid enough to renege and invade Russia. Only then did Stalin join the allies.
However just this
"With a high number of excess deaths occurring under his rule, Stalin has been labeled "one of the most notorious figures in history". These deaths occurred as a result of collectivisation, famine, terror campaigns, disease, war and mortality rates in the Gulag. As the majority of excess deaths under Stalin were not direct killings, the exact number of victims of Stalinism is difficult to calculate due to lack of consensus among scholars on which deaths can be attributed to the regime.
Official records reveal 799,455 documented executions in the Soviet Union between 1921 and 1953; 681,692 of these were carried out between 1937 and 1938, the years of the Great Purge.
I well remember (aged 8 ) the newspaper banner that Stalin was dead. There was a crocodile crying across the top of the front page.
My earliest memory of a newspaper heading was a year earlier on the death of King George VI Of course the whole tone was completely different. I think there was broad black banner around the edge
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yeah, I wouldn't put Stalin as an example to aspire to :laugh: :laugh:
And now that we know Churchill was a racist, we can take him off, too.
On the other hand, they are the world's history, just as Confederates are in the US. You can't rewrite history. You don't have to glorify it, but you have to acknowledge it.
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You can't rewrite history. You don't have to glorify it, but you have to acknowledge it.
I wonder what the history books would look like if we eradicated all the horrible things and questionable people that happened in the past? Would the future generations learn from mankind's mistakes or make them all over again?
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Colleges Rescinding Admissions Offers as Racist Social Media Posts Emerge
Amid a national accounting over racism after George Floyd’s death, at least a dozen schools have revoked admissions offers to incoming students.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/02/us/racism-social-media-college-admissions.html
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Talk about people thinking they're invincible.
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^^^^^I absolutely cannot fathom how stupid these people are being!!! >:(
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(https://i.pinimg.com/236x/47/85/48/4785483623880b067b6991975dfc14c3--stupid-stuff-funny-stuff.jpg)
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In our news today that a guy was removed from the Labour Party Voting List because it was discovered he had tweeted anti-Islamist material in 2013. He was 68 on the list so unlikely he would have been elected but it did not look good. He has apologised and said his views have now changed.
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This is blood curdling and I'd not put some stunt like this past the crooked GOP and lying SOB TOM. Parts of it are already in motion.... "this is going to be the most corrupt election in history.. " he's already sowing the seeds..
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/donald-trump-2020-us-election-third-term-tim-wirth-white-house-a9600486.html
>:D
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I vote for the Washington Crackers...they never name teams after poor white trash, it's kinda racist.
If they're going to rename the Washington Redskins, these are the likeliest contenders
https://www.cnn.com/2020/07/03/us/washington-redskins-team-name-nfl-spt-trnd/index.html (https://www.cnn.com/2020/07/03/us/washington-redskins-team-name-nfl-spt-trnd/index.html)
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This is blood curdling and I'd not put some stunt like this past the crooked GOP and lying SOB TOM. Parts of it are already in motion.... "this is going to be the most corrupt election in history.. " he's already sowing the seeds..
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/donald-trump-2020-us-election-third-term-tim-wirth-white-house-a9600486.html
>:D
this is definitely disturbing and definitely possible. Biden has already said that 45 will be removed..
Biden 'absolutely convinced' military would escort Trump from White House if he loses and refuses to leave
https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/11/politics/joe-biden-donald-trump-military-white-house/index.html (https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/11/politics/joe-biden-donald-trump-military-white-house/index.html)
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^^^^ "if he looses...." The point of the article is that the GOP and TOP could create enough "uncertainty" based on GOP held states to call it a tie, which would then kick it to SCOTUS, which he's now packed with 2 less than stellar seatings, which just might rule in his favor. We've already seen the GOP clearly use this tactic in the Florida / 2000 BS where a GOP governor (Bush's brother) essentially stopped recounting the votes. The essentially stole the election from Gore then.. and here we are again.
We are in for a rough, rough ride until that SOB is seen officially leaving the WH. And even then, he's going to keep agitating and tweeting more lies. All this has me very, concerned. The USA cannot survive 4 mores years of TOM.
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yes, agree, we are probably in for a long fight to get rid of him.
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(https://i.redd.it/t4gd2no3kkq31.jpg)
We could have a long discussion on this.
yeah, I wouldn't put Stalin as an example to aspire to
I realize that we're in a current environment of over-analyzation of everything and political correctness run into the ground but I sincerely think you guys are way over-thinking this. Way. ::)
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^^^ Agree!
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This is blood curdling and I'd not put some stunt like this past the crooked GOP and lying SOB TOM. Parts of it are already in motion.... "this is going to be the most corrupt election in history.. " he's already sowing the seeds..
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/donald-trump-2020-us-election-third-term-tim-wirth-white-house-a9600486.html
>:D
In response to the Newsweek article, someone replied this in the comment section and nailed it on the head:
"Is this nuts? Sure. Is it possible? Yes, given who and what Trump and Barr are, it may well be."
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^^^
The question is, what do we do about it? What can we do about it? As individuals? Collectively?
Before it's too late.
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I vote for the Washington Crackers...they never name teams after poor white trash, it's kinda racist.
If they're going to rename the Washington Redskins, these are the likeliest contenders
https://www.cnn.com/2020/07/03/us/washington-redskins-team-name-nfl-spt-trnd/index.html (https://www.cnn.com/2020/07/03/us/washington-redskins-team-name-nfl-spt-trnd/index.html)
So I'm just asking anyone in general here...
When sports teams have been named after native Americans, I wonder what was the origins of the naming of the teams. I mean, people have affection for their sports teams and surely they weren't thinking of naming teams like the Cleveland Indians or now the Atlanta, formerly Boston and Milwaukee, Braves, as denigrating them, were they? Weren't they thinking of them as say "forces to be reckoned with? And the decades of reverence for their teams has turned into what? People resentful for having their traditional team names changed?
I don't know the educational system in every state, or schools within the states, but in my little school we learned about Indians and Indian culture in history classes. We had one year where our history class was nothing but learning about New York State history. We learned about every Indian tribe in the state, the Iroquois nations, for example. Many towns and villages across the state, not to mention lakes and rivers, are named after Indians and/or Indian tribes. (Do those all need to be changed?) I'm from the Mohawk Valley. There's a community college with that name. There was a prominent airline in the state while I was growing up called Mohawk Airlines. (In Mad Men, it's an advertising client that Jon Hamm's character is involved with.) I was a Cub Scout and Boy Scout and Indian culture is present in a lot of aspects of scouting.
The current generations seem intent on promoting the idea that anything caucasians have promoted regarding native Americans, blacks, Asians, anything else--is cultural appropriation. Using someone else's culture for their own purposes. So this is a bad thing? To like things from other cultures, but not so much as to copy them, do them as a profession, emulate, whatever. People want acceptance but they don't unless it's their way? Can you have it both ways?
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Does changing teams names benefit anyone? What if team name is changed "because of homophobia." Should it be changed back?
In 2000 the University of Hawaii erupted in controversy over their team name, the Rainbow Warriors. The school scrapped the rainbow insignia for a block-letter “H” and officially changed their team’s name to the plain old Warriors. “That logo really put a stigma on our program at times,” athletic director Hugh Yoshida said in a radio interview. “It’s part of the gay community, their flags and so forth. Some of the student athletes had some strong feelings in regard to that.” The remark elicited similarly strong “feelings” from many in the campus gay community!
Because of the controversy it was decided that each specific team could use what name they wanted. The football, men's volleyball, golf, and tennis teams became the Warriors, while the men's basketball and swimming & diving teams remained Rainbow Warriors, and the baseball team became the Rainbows. The women's teams, however, all remained the “Rainbow Wāhine."
In February of 2013, the University of Hawaii's athletic director, Ben Jay, wanted to standardize ALL of the seven men's teams under the standalone "Warriors" name. BUT: "The decision on February 13 to change the nickname of the men's teams to Warriors has generated a lot of discussion and we have received both positive and negative feedback," Jay said on May 14. "We listened to the public discussion and we went back to the original two questions we asked ourselves - who are we and what is representative of the islands?" We have come to the decision that, effective July 1, all men's teams at the school—including football—will be known as the Rainbow Warriors.
And when you discover the reasons for the team name in the first place, how could you want otherwise:
King Kamehameha the Great and his warriors united the Hawaiian Islands, earning the warrior a place of honor in Hawaiian history and an expectation of strength, skill and a fighting spirit. In the final game of the 1923 University of Hawaii season, Hawaii’s football team—then the Fighting Deans—won an epic gridiron battle against Oregon State, and a rainbow allegedly appeared in the sky. After that, every time a rainbow arced over the field, the team is said to have won, prompting sportswriters to begin referring to UH teams as the "Rainbows," and the tradition was born that Hawaii could not lose if a rainbow appeared and the UH teams became known as "Rainbow Warriors."
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it's getting closer to him...
Kimberly Guilfoyle -- Donald Trump Jr.'s girlfriend and top Trump campaign official -- tests positive for coronavirus
https://www.cnn.com/2020/07/03/politics/kimberly-guilfoyle-positive-coronavirus-test/index.html (https://www.cnn.com/2020/07/03/politics/kimberly-guilfoyle-positive-coronavirus-test/index.html)
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I heard about that today, I wonder if she passed it on to Jr.?
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^^^The question is, what do we do about it? What can we do about it? As individuals? Collectively? Before it's too late.
a) Make sure we vote and make sure everyone we know votes.
b) Make sure our Senators and Representative know we are indeed aware of their plan.
c) Pray that we don't end up with what he will call a "military coupe" evicting him from the WH...
d) Pray that some &diety. intervenes (before then....)
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^^^
Thank you!
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Happy 4th of July to you all!
(https://www.azquotes.com/vangogh-image-quotes/48/84/Quotation-Theodore-Roosevelt-Patriotism-means-to-stand-by-the-country-It-does-not-48-84-16.jpg)
"Patriotism means to stand by the country.
It does not mean to stand by the president or any other public official,
save exactly to the degree in which he himself stands by the country.
It is patriotic to support him insofar as he efficiently serves the country.
It is unpatriotic not to oppose him to the exact extent that by inefficiency or otherwise he fails in his duty to stand by the country.
In either event, it is unpatriotic not to tell the truth, whether about the president or anyone else."
--Theodore Roosevelt
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Amen.
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... Now would be a really good time to watch Burns' "The Roosevelt's"
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The top image is a Tweet from business executive, syndicated columnist, Presidential candidate and Tea Party activist Herman Cain just before the failed Trump rally which he attended.
The bottom image is from his twitter feed two days ago
(https://scontent.fewr1-6.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/106064813_608378063128949_7241019519195667691_n.jpg?_nc_cat=109&_nc_sid=110474&_nc_ohc=hDQ2hf7hs4IAX8JZhXG&_nc_ht=scontent.fewr1-6.fna&oh=0b3e2a52743fc625de1524666d53e68d&oe=5F24CEC1)
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Karma?
Sow, reap.
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I heard about that today, I wonder if she passed it on to Jr.?
Well I certainly wouldn't be intimate with him, but then again.....look at her!! >:D
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^^^^ The last few pages and days of escalating CV-19 hospitalizations have scared made me, for the first time. I'm starting to really fear that the GOP and TOM are totally out of control. My gut churns that events converging may prove to be too much for our great nation (I use those words carefully) to reconcile the bitter, partisan divisions brewed by the far extremes over the last 25 years. We have politicians and congressmen who simply cannot "do the right, honest things", negotiate and compromise with each other in good faith. This is not a winner take all game. We have a POTUS who's proven to be totally ignorant and incapable in understanding he represents ALL people vs his political, racists and personal gains. I fear we, as a nation and world player, are standing with our toes-over-the-edge of a rocky cliff. We ALL need to step back. It is not going to take too much more internal strife or external pressures to push us and the world into a spiraling fall. :( Peace.
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Suspected Bubonic Plague Case Reported in China’s Inner Mongolia
Bloomberg News 1 hr ago
China has confirmed one case of bubonic plague in northern province Inner Mongolia, according to a statement on the local health authority’s website.
The patient is now under treatment at a hospital and is in a stable condition, the Bayannur health commission said in a late Sunday night statement. It also issued a level-three alert, warning of the risks of human-to-human infection and urging citizens to report dead animals, suspected plague cases and patients running a fever for unidentified reasons.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/suspected-bubonic-plague-case-reported-in-chinas-inner-mongolia/ar-BB16mhja (https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/suspected-bubonic-plague-case-reported-in-chinas-inner-mongolia/ar-BB16mhja)
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^^^^ The last few pages and days of escalating CV-19 hospitalizations have scared made me, for the first time. I'm starting to really fear that the GOP and TOM are totally out of control. My gut churns that all these events converging may prove to be too much for our great nation (I use those words carefully) to reconcile the bitter, partisan divisions brewed by the extremes over the last 25 years. We have politicians and congressmen who simply cannot "do the right, honest things" negotiate in good faith. We have a POTUS who's proven to the inapt, ignorant and incapable in understanding he represents ALL people against his political, racists and personal gains. I fear we, as a nation and world player, are standing with out toes-over-the-edge of a rocky cliff. We ALL need to step back. It is not going to take too much too much more internal strife or external pressures to push us and the world into a spiraling fall. :( Peace.
I agree. God help us. :(
And if The Great Orange Satan loses in November, I would not be surprised in the least if at least some of his base took up arms (because, of course, the election will have been stolen from him). African Americans and gays will be targeted.
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I was so glad to see this!!!
Supreme Court says states can punish Electoral College voters
(CNN)The Supreme Court said Monday that states can punish members of the Electoral College who break a pledge to vote for a state's popular vote winner in presidential elections.
The case comes as the election season is heating up, putting the Electoral College once again front and center in an increasingly polarized and volatile political atmosphere.
In 2016, 10 of the 538 presidential electors went rogue, attempting to vote for someone other than their pledged candidate. In all, 32 states and the District of Columbia have laws that are meant to discourage faithless electors. But until 2016, no state had ever actually punished or removed an elector because of his or her vote.
The vote count was 9-0.
https://www.cnn.com/2020/07/06/politics/faithless-electors-supreme-court/index.html
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This makes me so proud and thankful to live in my adopted country.
https://twitter.com/WHO/status/1280426694680158215
It was hell for 7 weeks but now everything is normal except for our borders. They are now restricting NZ'ers from coming home as so many want to get back but the quarantine hotels cannot cope with the numbers.
I wish Australia had gone as hard. Numbers are rising again in the southern state of Victoria (Thinking of Tony and Phong) and state borders have been closed. They have just gone back to level 3. NZ went to Level 4, Australia never went that hard. NZ was 5 weeks at level 4 then 2 weeks at level 3 before another 2 weeks at level 2, now we are at level 1. At level 4 nothing was allowed open except medical centres, pharmacies and supermarkets, no other type of food shops and no restaurants and no takeaways.
I am just sad that it is unlikely I will go back and visit my sister and friends in Australia this year and just hope that the border restrictions between states keep Sydney safe for them.
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^^^^ Country first vs. me first. Seems right the proper long term move for the whole. Hmmmmm, what a concept. ++++++
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Here's a question I have not seen asked--and maybe it has been asked, and I just haven't seen it.
Is New Zealand's approach easier to take, more practical, more do-able in a nation with the population of New Zealand compared to a nation that has the population of the U.S.?
A very "quick and dirty" Internet search turned up a 2018 population of New Zealand of 4.886 million. The same search came up with a 2019 population of the U.S. of 382.2 million.
Would it even have been possible to take the New Zealand approach in the U.S.?
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NZ population recently reached 5 million. There was much mention by the Prime Minister of us working as a team of 5 million. I guess it helped. Also I note that, even compared to Australians, NZ'ers are much more compliant with the government and follow government orders.
Jacinda is immensely popular even before Covid but the previous long time (8 years) Prime Minister John Key also had a high popularity rating. Even though he was a merchant banker and I disagreed with his ideas and would never vote for him, I did not dislike him. He retired and his replacement was not so likeable, he had been treasurer and had less than one year as Prime Minister. He only just lost to Jacinda who was a fresh, young new face. The Prime Minister before John Key was Helen Clark. I did not live here then but everyone calls her Aunty Helen.
Politics does not dominate our lives like it seems to do in USA. We have elections on September 19 but political campaigning is not allowed until the writs for the election are issued on August 16. No advertisements, bill boards, phone calls nor mail outs. Then no campaigning is allowed on Election Day, all signs must be removed by midnight before.
Although I know the political views of my close friends, it is generally thought rude to discuss politics on social occasions.
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well damn.
Search Resumes For ‘Glee’ Actress Naya Rivera
The search for 33-year-old “Glee” actress Naya Rivera (she played the character Santana) resumed early Thursday morning after she went missing Wednesday afternoon on a lake in the Los Padres National Forest in Ventura County.
Ventura County Sheriff’s Office officials were now calling it a search and recovery effort.
According to the sheriff’s office, Rivera rented a pontoon boat at about 1 p.m. Wednesday for herself and her 4-year-old son to take out onto Lake Piru, which is located about 50 miles north of downtown Los Angeles. About three hours later, another boater found her child sleeping in the boat by himself. The boater notified officials, who immediately began a search for Rivera with the use of helicopters, drones and dive teams.
The child was said to be unharmed and told investigators that he and his mother were swimming, but his mother never got back into the boat. It was not immediately clear how the child got back into the boat.
(https://scontent.fewr1-5.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/60477778_2215546751858542_4636013610840096768_n.jpg?_nc_cat=110&_nc_sid=110474&_nc_ohc=74K72wGftkAAX-IEh_Y&_nc_ht=scontent.fewr1-5.fna&oh=d54c85bb6d54560e8722b2975dfa12cf&oe=5F2D55CB)
https://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2020/07/09/glee-actress-naya-rivera-missing-lake-piru-4-year-old-son-safe/
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SCOTUS infuriates Trump, yes, AGAIN!! This time his own hand-picked Justices ruled against him!! Oh, My!!! ;D ;D ;D
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SCOTUS infuriates Trump, yes, AGAIN!! This time his own hand-picked Justices ruled against him!! Oh, My!!! ;D ;D ;D
I saw that earlier this afternoon. I still don't think we're gonna see his returns.
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I saw that earlier this afternoon. I still don't think we're gonna see his returns.
He'll continue fighting it from prison.
Since it's most likely New York State, Sing Sing would be appropriate.
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He'll continue fighting it from prison.
Since it's most likely New York State, Sing Sing would be appropriate.
we should be so lucky to see that.
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I saw that earlier this afternoon. I still don't think we're gonna see his returns.
I agree.
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I saw that earlier this afternoon. I still don't think we're gonna see his returns.
No we're not, as one of the articles said nothing will happen before the next election, since the court left pumpkinhead some loopholes.
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^^^^ Ditto they split the baby.. no he does not have absolute immunity but not we will force hime to turn them over - now..... but you can keep arguing about it the lower courts. Sadly, the public will never see that loser's returns. I hope that when the GOP loses, the Democrates pass legislation that anyone running for public offices in Congress or the POTUS must release the last 20 years of tax returns before they can file to run.
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I'm more optimistic that it means we will know the truth at some point, howevr long it will take.
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I'm more optimistic that it means we will know the truth at some point, howevr long it will take.
It will be a moot point if he's defeated in November. We'll never see them. I would even go so far as to bet we'll never see them even if he does win.
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The Governor has backed us up even more here in New Mexico. I am in agreement.
Indoor seating at restaurants and breweries will be restricted
Restaurants and breweries may continue to operate patio or outdoor seating at 50% of maximum occupancy
Restaurants may continue to provide carry-out and delivery service
Breweries may continue to provide curbside pick-up services
State Parks are not open to out-of-state residents
Visitors must demonstrate proof of residency
Camping at state parks remains prohibited
Visitors must practice social distancing
The amendments to the public health order take effect Monday, July 13.
The governor said reopening school and resuming fall sports depends on the state containing the virus.
I would imagine the outdoor seating at restaurants will come to a halt soon as well.
I would also expect schools are not going to open in the Fall either. This is going to be tough on the kids.
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I would also expect schools are not going to open in the Fall either. This is going to be tough on the kids.
Their parents, too. :(
I was glad to see the head of the AFT rip the Great Orange Satan a new one. She even called him by name and didn't deign to call him the President. I saw it live on the Today show. I understand her comments are also available on the Internet.
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45 is threatening to defund public education for states whose governors don't open schools. And that imbecile Betsy Devos is backing that.
It's sad and pathetic that his base is so unaware that he doesn't care anything about their kids going to school and getting sick, while barron is tutored in the WH where he's safe. How can they be so stupid to believe he's not exactly what they say they hate: an elitist...well, except for the intellect, he's missing that part. I guess it's because he is basically them, poor white trash, but with money...so he's the head of a new class, rich white trash......not new, he's just brought them out in the open now...
this is 2 years old, but she hasn't gotten any smarter, so it's still relevant...
Betsy DeVos Flunked Her '60 Minutes' Test - Stephen Colbert
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GKPIae1_LYw (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GKPIae1_LYw)
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45 is threatening to defund public education for states whose governors don't open schools. And that imbecile Betsy Devos is backing that.
---
Betsy DeVos Flunked Her '60 Minutes' Test - Stephen Colbert
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GKPIae1_LYw (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GKPIae1_LYw)
I DESPISE that MF Evil BITCH!!! >:D
She's yet another uber-rich (top 1/2 of 1%) TRUMP swamp fuck-up with her hands deep into the pockets of private educational institutions which are milking taxpayers out of millions of $ in those BS private student loans. Her head is so far up TOM's ass she's a perma-turd.
Let'm try to defund education, I actually want'm to. It's going to blow-up in their faces at the polls.
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I DESPISE that MF Evil BITCH!!! >:D
She's yet another uber-rich (top 1/2 of 1%) TRUMP swamp fuck-up with her hands deep into the pockets of private educational institutions which are milking taxpayers out of millions of $ in those BS private student loans. Her head is so far up TOM's ass she's a perma-turd.
Let'm try to defund education, I actually want'm to. It's going to blow-up in their faces at the polls.
I hope you're right, but remember what the Great Orange Satan said about shooting somebody in the middle of Fifth Avenue.
He could rape their mothers right in front of their faces and the Base would still vote for him.
This nation has gone so far down the toilet that I am seriously scared for my own future.
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Meanwhile, in lighter news:
(https://s3.amazonaws.com/productimages.goantiques.gemr/45407/917825_fullsize.jpg)
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Send this to any Trump or Republican supporters and ask them to explain how they can still support him or Republicans who have enabled all this:
5 minutes of the cretin's greatest hits and it could go on for an hour...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qFrbWCD-eCk
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Worse Than Covid-19? China And Kazakhstan Disagree Over “New” Virus
China is panicking the world over viruses and here is another one: an unknown pneumonia sweeping Kazakhstan that was highlighted by the Chinese Embassy as a fair warning to their biggest Silk Road partner in Central Asia.
The story broke on Thursday. And on Friday, Kazakhstan rejected China’s warning of a new bug circulating on its home turf.
“The death rate of this disease is much higher than the novel coronavirus. The country’s health departments are conducting comparative research into the pneumonia virus, but have yet to identify it,” the embassy said in a warning to Chinese citizens in the country.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/kenrapoza/2020/07/10/worse-than-covid-19-china-and-kazakhstan-disagree-over-new-virus/#725a0b9e422a (https://www.forbes.com/sites/kenrapoza/2020/07/10/worse-than-covid-19-china-and-kazakhstan-disagree-over-new-virus/#725a0b9e422a)
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Concerning the second Supreme Court ruling about the tax returns:
In the second ruling on Trump’s tax returns — which was a 7-2 decision written by John Roberts — which involved three House committees’ subpoenas for his records, the court essentially punted. The justices emphasized the House does have the authority to issue subpoenas related to oversight of the executive branch, but they said lower court judges didn’t properly weigh the separation of powers issues inherent in the requests — suggesting that Congress’s power to investigate the president is not unlimited. The ruling also sent that case back to the lower courts for further consideration.
David Cay Johnson, a Pulitzer prize winning journalist who has been looking into Trump's financial business for years, says this about one of those "three House committee's" subpoenas:
The more troubling thing in the decisions today is that Justice Roberts paid no attention to one of the three [House] committees. The House Ways and Means committee operates under a section of the Internal Revenue Code that says "tax returns shall be turned over on request. Trump has the same right, he can look at your tax return any time he wants to, or mine, and Justice Roberts never cited that statute, he never cited the word "shall", he conflated the three [court] cases, two weak ones and one soft, and sent them back for further review. That's a gift to Donald Trump. That means [further litigation]. Roberts did not uphold a crystal clear anti-corruption law that's been on the books since 1924.
_________
Wish we could get answers from the Supreme Court Justices after the rulings are made. Justice Roberts has some explaining to do. He could have cited that "shall be turned over" as law and it needs to be obeyed. He ignored it. If he's a Supreme Court Justice he knows that and ignored it on purpose, why?
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Meanwhile, in lighter news:
(https://s3.amazonaws.com/productimages.goantiques.gemr/45407/917825_fullsize.jpg)
My former boss has a sister-in-law who worked as a designer for Zippo.
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The more troubling thing in the decisions today is that Justice Roberts paid no attention to one of the three [House] committees. The House Ways and Means committee operates under a section of the Internal Revenue Code that says "tax returns shall be turned over on request. Trump has the same right, he can look at your tax return any time he wants to, or mine, and Justice Roberts never cited that statute, he never cited the word "shall", he conflated the three [court] cases, two weak ones and one soft, and sent them back for further review. That's a gift to Donald Trump. That means [further litigation]. Roberts did not uphold a crystal clear anti-corruption law that's been on the books since 1924.
I figured that as soon as I heard he wasn't required to immediately turn them over.
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You are correct.. that committee has the power to request ANY tax return from any taxpayer...except TOM so it appears..
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The decision didn't say he didn't have to, the wording referred to all three cases before the court and Roberts sent them "back for further review," meaning lower courts have to weigh in on the merits or something. (More litigation.) He could have sent two of those back for review, but said, no this one is law since 1924. He just ignored it for ? reason we don't know. I don't know why the word "shall" needs to be debated. It's in the dictionary.
That question needs to be continually asked whenever possible. Rhetorically and whenever there's an opportunity to address it to Roberts. It's so blatant an omission. If a Supreme court justice can't understand the meaning of a simple line "tax returns shall be turned over on request" then perhaps he should resign. They recently had a decision on some other matter where they basically said, "We don't like the ruling we're handing down, but it's a law. And if Congress doesn't like it they should write a new law. Well, this is a law, too.
Did any of the other signers to the decision write their opinion about this?
But as someone wrote:
The only way to fix this isn't by obsessively focusing on all the different ways courts can try to pry Trump's tax records out of his grasp but instead to remove the issue from the purview of the courts entirely. We need a law mandating that all presidents release their tax returns as part of routine public disclosure. Presidents are taxpayers, just like everyone else. But unlike everyone else, presidents are also tax collectors. As head of the executive branch, the president is the ultimate supervisor of the IRS. Vote for candidates who will do this.
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OK, I will admit that I watch the Lawrence Welk show on PBS on Saturday evenings. Actually, it would be more exact to say that I listen to the show while I'm making dinner, eating dinner, and cleaning up after dinner. Anyway, the show that was broadcast this evening was a salute to Irving Berlin, so of course it included a rendition of "God Bless America." As I was listening, the thought occurred to me, I bet all these people who are against immigration love that song. Do they know that "God Bless America" was written by a Jewish immigrant from Imperial Russia?
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I wish CNN or MSNBC would ask 45 and devos if they would send their kids to a public school...and then send them
(https://i.pinimg.com/originals/7b/83/80/7b8380f7d30ee86c7834352eb0b5028b.jpg)
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Why aren't Biden and the Democrats hitting back, exposing--or repeat exposing--all the Great Orange Satan's lies and other misdemeanors and hypocrisies?
What are they doing, taking the High Road to Defeat?
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^^^^ Gut says it's better to let the TOM hang himself... The only reason he's returning to daily virus briefings is he's sinking far and fast in the polls and is hoping to turn the perception around... let's pray, that does not happen.
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Did anyone watch Chris Wallace's hour interview with Trump and call him out on his lies and in some cases make him look like the fool we know him to be? This, however, is the scariest thing that came out of his mouth and it isn't the first time, but watching him say it is chilling:
From a column called The Point:
Wallace: Can you give a, can you give a direct answer you will accept the election results?
Trump: I have to see. Look, you -- I have to see. No, I'm not going to just say yes. I'm not going to say no, and I didn't last time either.
Yeah, not good. Especially when you consider that right before this back-and-forth happened, Trump told Wallace this: "I think mail-in voting is going to rig the election. I really do." (Side note: There is zero evidence of widespread voter fraud in mail-in or absentee voting. None.) And really not good in light of the fact that Trump has been hinting at that idea for a while now.
"This will be, in my opinion, the most corrupt election in the history of our country," Trump told a group of conservative students last month. Then there's this fact: Trump alleged, with no proof, that 3 to 5 million illegal votes had been cast in the 2016 election by way of explaining why he lost the popular vote to Hillary Clinton.
When you consider that he won that election -- and that he is not currently projected to win this one this November -- you can see how bad all this could get. Should Trump lose in November, he has already laid the groundwork to say he was cheated out of a second term by Democrats pushing mail-in voting. And that, because the whole thing was rigged, he won't acknowledge former Vice President Joe Biden as the next president. And to run what amounts to a shadow presidency for the 35% or so of the public who believe whatever he says -- facts be damned. So long, peaceful transition of power!
The Point: If you don't get why what Trump told Wallace on Sunday is a direct threat to the health and strength of our democracy, you aren't paying attention.
______________________________________
What do/can we do about it?
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^^^^ This was that thread we posted a few weeks back about the GOP's (and TOM's) possible plan (as it was outlined in the article) for TOM to contest the election results in a few key states, get things bucked to SCOTUS and then we have another horrible ruling like we saw with the FL vote counting debacle.
This is all playing into outside influences to undermine the US electorate.
IDK - vote and making sure all your friends vote is about the only thing a responsible citizen can do - (and pray the outcome is a landslide....)
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Well, I guess the coup has begun, sending federal agents into cities with Democratic mayors. (As if the presence of federal agents will stop Chicagoans from killing each other.) Are these not all cities where the Great Orange Satan can expect to lose the vote in November? The next step will be martial law to prevent the election in November. We all know he's attempting to turn himself into his buddy Putin.
Why, oh, why, are the Democrats not hitting back harder?
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^^^^ My guess is they already tried to impeach him and the GOP asswipes in the Senate were too dumb and too "loyal" to see the truth and danger in the SOB. Now more actions will only fuel his delusional rantings of: "that's not fair, they are after me, it's all a deep state conspiracy, ...." and just give the TOM and deep-far right more agitation avenues. I will say this, if the Nov election is not a landslide one way or the other, or it comes down to 80K idiots again, it's going to be a rough ride. I saw this coming in 2016 when he started lambasting the media.... it's only worsened and with them trying to disenfranchise every democrat they can by purging them from the voting rolls, the GOP clearly knows when people get out and vote, they loose.
Pray folks for a landslide that cannot be contested...
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I'm still a little shocked that he actually said that if mail-in voting is allowed, no Republican would ever get elected. Well, sure. ... His single brain cell (if he has one) and his mouth are clearly not connected.
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The GOP has known for decades that when a large % of the people vote - they lose and lose big. That's part of the GOP's push to disenfranchise voters wherever and whenever they can get away with it. Just look at FL and fight over letting people who have served their time vote again. Now the GOP ass-wipes are trying to say if you served your time but didn't pay all the fines, you are still ineligible to vote. Or look at all the voter purges done in some states b/c maybe a name is not exactly matching up with driver's licenses. Do you know how many people sometimes use and don't use their middle names are initials. Just more GOP BS.
In fact, I recall that the fact when people vote the GOP looses came up in Burn's story on the Roosevelt's....
TOM's just arrogant enough to not care as it's just another point to agitate.
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Why, oh, why, are the Democrats not hitting back harder?
I think Vincent's reply is pretty accurate, but did you have something in mind you think would help?
If Trump were some kind of logical being with morals and a sense of right and wrong, that would be one thing, but going after him, especially because his sycophants won't stand up and do any right thing, going after him just muddies the water. The thing is: his base and fellow Republicans KNOW all of these things about Trump to be true. They just don't care. They never have. Right from the start. It's the same for them as watching NetFlix's Tiger King. It doesn't matter what's going on, or that it's reprehensible and disgusting, they just like the show.
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^^^ The GOP cares not about what’s right or just or fair or equitable. They only care about winning, the control, and money in their pockets. Surprise, surprise that the state’s pushing so hard to get back to work at any cost of lives are the same states GOP controlled and usually without extensive welfare support for all the people out of work. They are in great fear of having millions of people evicted and dumped into their streets and actually having to do something humane like help them or face the music of the draconian GOP policies. Don’t forget the GOP fought tooth and nail against FDR’s New Deal and have been trying to dismantle it ever since. The only reason the GOP has agreed to this latest supplement is they know dumping all these folks out into the streets before an election looks bad and insures there will be a full blue sweep. They see this as cheaper and if they retain the senate or WH, then you can bet your ass they will do exactly the opposite come January.
They only thing your can do is vote and make sure all your friends really understand what’s really going on.... and why. I’d also say watch Burns’ The Roosevelt’s and pay attention. History is repeating itself only this time it’s a pandemic trigger.
Peace. Stay safe, stay alive!
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NSFW but some light relief. :) Not sure if allowed here?
(Oxford Street is the main London shopping street.)
https://www.standard.co.uk/news/london/naked-man-oxford-street-face-mask-genitals-a4508041.html (https://www.standard.co.uk/news/london/naked-man-oxford-street-face-mask-genitals-a4508041.html)
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Now that was a nice treat, Sara, thank you!
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NSFW but some light relief. :) Not sure if allowed here?
(Oxford Street is the main London shopping street.)
https://www.standard.co.uk/news/london/naked-man-oxford-street-face-mask-genitals-a4508041.html (https://www.standard.co.uk/news/london/naked-man-oxford-street-face-mask-genitals-a4508041.html)
I LOVE it, Sara. My LOL for the day. He's following the rules!! :laugh:
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NSFW but some light relief. :) Not sure if allowed here?
(Oxford Street is the main London shopping street.)
https://www.standard.co.uk/news/london/naked-man-oxford-street-face-mask-genitals-a4508041.html (https://www.standard.co.uk/news/london/naked-man-oxford-street-face-mask-genitals-a4508041.html)
:laugh:
I can just picture that happening here.....people would have no idea what to do.
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Michael posted this over on FB.
A harsh lesson in the reality of COVID-19
https://dallasvoice.com/a-harsh-lesson-in-the-reality-of-covid-19/?fbclid=IwAR2ANWcEovIZ29X30sescJzuNw8gc_hZsr7Fqhj3RuIN4vTusu7NrEWoqOA
I hope you read it. This is very compelling. The sad fact is that people will still pooh pooh it, and do what they damn well please, continuing to contribute to the spread of Covid, and continuing to put us all at risk. >:D
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^^^ Thanks for sharing this guy's posting here.
Mr. Green is sharing a stark, cautionary and gonna be difficult-to-live with episode of the die-hard Trumpers putting ideology, the GOP dogma espousing "god-given-freedoms" stupidity over the safety of them, their families, their loved ones, their communities, their co-workers - everyone they know and many they do not - the USA.
I almost stopped reading with "I admit I voted for Donald Trump in 2016." but I continued b/c Mr. Green's story is a dire tale for GOP America. His admission, provided me a little hope for souls deeply quagmired into TOM's swamp of lies.
This young gay man, through his honesty with himself, has admittd a grave mistake. He must live with his decision which likely caused much sickness and the death of family members who attended a party he hosted during a pandemic - all while believing the "viral-hoax" theories espoused by the GOP and TOM.
"You cannot imagine the guilt I feel, knowing that I hosted the gathering that led to so much suffering. You cannot imagine my guilt at having been a denier, carelessly shuffling through this pandemic, making fun of those wearing masks and social distancing. You cannot imagine my guilt at knowing that my actions convinced both our families it was safe when it wasn’t.
For those who deny the virus exists or who downplay its severity, let me assure you: The coronavirus is very real and extremely contagious. Before you even know you have it, you’ve passed it along to your friends, family, coworkers and neighbors."
"America, this is not going to go away without sacrifice. Either way, we are going to pay a price. Governments are faced with making difficult decisions, and they cannot appease and satisfy everyone."
We, the citizens of the United States of America, have been paying a price since TOM was "elected". We are now paying an even higher priced in real lives with the continued denial promoted by the GOP, amplified by the far-righters, Bible-thumpers and people demanding their "god-given-rights" at the cost of everyone's safety. It is terrifying and sickening they don't understand that "god-given-right" does not include knowingly taking the lives of others or infecting others with a HIGHLY contagious viral disease which is mostly preventable with a good face covering or respirator, common-sense and distance. If the GOP truly wants to save lives, and the economy to reverse the 1930's era repeat we are descending into, then the sooner they realize that joining the face-covering and social distancing efforts which is human's only current defense against this killer, the better everyone will be. The county must unite - not divide - if we are going to defeat this virus and sadly with TOM and GOP in control of country, that is clearly not a priority.
The young gay man has had a revaluation of himself and maybe some of his GOP beliefs - that is unclear. He has seen a revelation which feels indeed God-given. We really do not need to see nightly reports of people dying to learn the truth about the GOP and TOM. Death of 150K+ US citizens (2x+ that of the Vietnam war casualties) is the cliff the GOP and TOM have driven our great nation to. We The People are indeed at a moment of reckoning about who we are as a nation and how much we are willing to change and sacrifice to save ourselves, our nation and 1000's of others we may never meet.
"We are all at the precipice of a common heartache." To that I'll add, death and economic destruction not seen since the 1918 pandemic if we do not reverse course immediately, shove the GOP's selfish dogma back in the swamp where it belongs, and think about others, the weak, the sick, those most vulnerable, ahead of ourselves and our selfishness.
His piece is well written, sad and inspiring b/c there may be some hope for at least a few Trumpers. He's getting an "A++" from me for learning hard lessons during the past 6+ weeks of his life. A worthy read - please do. Stay safe - stay alive. Peace. Later. V.
BTW, there are 501+ comments to his article as of this posting. Stay outta the comments. The 2nd posting is some bible-thumping TOMer castigating an earlier poster. There's so much hate, lies and general stupidly as rampant as the virus in those postings. Let his piece serve as the major reflection for the day.
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I have no reason to read the comments. I very seldom do. If I do venture into the quagmire of comments, nine times out of ten, they make me more angry, more incredulous, and more disappointed than I already am.
Someone on Michael's FB page shared a motto "Don't read the bottom half of the internet". I concur.
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anyone want to listen to a 22 y/o NBA player for the latest truth on covid? Like, that would be crazy...
Denver Nuggets forward Michael Porter Jr.
"Personally I think the coronavirus is being used obviously for a bigger agenda," the 22-year-old NBA player said. "It's being used for population control in just terms of being able to control the masses of people. I mean because of the virus the whole world is being controlled."
He continued: "You're required to wear masks. And who knows what will happen when this vaccine comes out. You might have to have the vaccine in order to travel. Like that would be crazy."
https://www.cnn.com/2020/07/29/sport/michael-porter-jr-coronavirus-nba-basketball-spt-intl/index.html (https://www.cnn.com/2020/07/29/sport/michael-porter-jr-coronavirus-nba-basketball-spt-intl/index.html)
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What a high level of intelligence he imparts in his statement!! And yes I'm being sarcastic here, in case you hadn't figured it out. :(
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No, I got that right away! :D
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We need a photo to go with his nuggets of wisdom:
(https://a57.foxnews.com/static.foxnews.com/foxnews.com/content/uploads/2020/05/931/524/Michael-Porter-Jr-Nuggets-Getty.jpg)
Probably home schooled; he's from Missouri.
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Someone on Michael's FB page shared a motto "Don't read the bottom half of the internet". I concur.
Oh, I like that! LOL
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anyone want to listen to a 22 y/o NBA player for the latest truth on covid? Like, that would be crazy...
Denver Nuggets forward Michael Porter Jr.
"Personally I think the coronavirus is being used obviously for a bigger agenda," the 22-year-old NBA player said. "It's being used for population control in just terms of being able to control the masses of people. I mean because of the virus the whole world is being controlled."
He continued: "You're required to wear masks. And who knows what will happen when this vaccine comes out. You might have to have the vaccine in order to travel. Like that would be crazy."
https://www.cnn.com/2020/07/29/sport/michael-porter-jr-coronavirus-nba-basketball-spt-intl/index.html (https://www.cnn.com/2020/07/29/sport/michael-porter-jr-coronavirus-nba-basketball-spt-intl/index.html)
::) ::)
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"You might have to have the vaccine in order to travel. Like that would be crazy.""
::) For my first overseas (except New Zealand) travel in 1974, I had to have vaccinations for Smallpox, Cholera and Typhoid.
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Yeah, we needed a yellow card for our year of study in Europe back in the mid-60's.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carte_Jaune
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Yeah, we needed a yellow card for our year of study in Europe back in the mid-60's.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carte_Jaune
I know mine is still in my filing cabinet.
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^^^^ The level of shear ignorance never fails to impress me. I imagine his parent(s) are just as ignorant anti-vaxers. It's just sad that there a people in 2020 who have no concept of disease. They need see polio, the measles, etc.. up close and first hand. People have forgotten about iron-lungs and people parallelized from such illnesses b/c they have never seen it ravage.
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Selective historic memory.
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BTW, there are 501+ comments to his article as of this posting. Stay outta the comments. The 2nd posting is some bible-thumping TOMer castigating an earlier poster. There's so much hate, lies and general stupidly as rampant as the virus in those postings. Let his piece serve as the major reflection for the day.
This warning came too late for me, I read a number of comments. I found them horrific yet fascinating in a "watching a train wreck" sort of way.
What amazes me the most is many deniers' incessant focus on proving that China manufactured the virus or at the least, let it run rampant without warning others. At this stage, so what? Whatever the original cause, the virus should have been met many months ago with a completely different approach in those countries now most severely affected. Focusing on blaming China won't keep a single soul safe in other countries ATM. I am amazed that so many people fail to see this simple and obvious truth.
ETA for the sake of clarity: I do not believe that the virus is manufactured. The risk of wild animal virus mutating to cause disease in humans has been known a long time, such a pandemic was a catastrophe waiting to happen, and has been warned against for years.
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Here we go...
ASSOCIATED PRESS |
JUL 30, 2020 AT 9:11 AM
President Trump floats delaying the presidential election, citing his own prediction of fraudulent voting
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump is for the first time floating a “delay” to November’s presidential election, as he makes unsubstantiated allegations that increased mail-in voting will result in fraud.
The dates of federal elections are set by Congress, and the Constitution makes no provisions for a delay to the Jan. 20, 2021 presidential inauguration.
Trump tweeted Thursday: “With Universal Mail-In Voting (not Absentee Voting, which is good), 2020 will be the most INACCURATE & FRAUDULENT Election in history. It will be a great embarrassment to the USA. Delay the Election until people can properly, securely and safely vote???”
There is no evidence of widespread voter fraud through mail-in voting, even in states with all-mail votes.
https://www.mcall.com/news/nation-world/ct-trump-election-delay-tweet-20200730-yozygdfoizgmhjeavw3e2oojdy-story.html (https://www.mcall.com/news/nation-world/ct-trump-election-delay-tweet-20200730-yozygdfoizgmhjeavw3e2oojdy-story.html)
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^^^^ Yeap, we wrote about that a week or so back.
The GOP knows all too well, when more people vote, they loose. The same thing happened which is what put FDR's "New Deal" in play which the GOP has been trying to dismantle since. That's been their plan for 10-20 years.. deny and restricting voting in any way possible. They have made no secret of it and once that SOB's papers came after he died about their plan, there really was no denying what the GOP's real goals were and it's certainly not voter integrity.
Fraudulent voting has never been proven in in large numbers but small cases here and there in in NC it was the GOP buying and handling votes! But the historic election data does not support TOM's and the GOP's lying narrative so we have more lies more GOP rigging elections through gerrymandering, and the list is just too long.
That's why my gut says the voters need to be overwhelming with a landslide. The 2016 and 2000 elections being decided by 80K votes out of millions or a few hanging chads in FL respectively, is ripe for disarray and has been awful for the country.
We best be careful. This country needs to unite and if a pandemic doesn't do it, IDK what will. Russia is watching for any opportunity to hurt NATO and TOM has been a perfectly willing stooge.
The voters need to remove that SOB and the GOP from majorities so we can start undoing all the damage they have done since 2016 and continue doing. I fully expect the GOP and him to keep on doing WTF they please right up until they are removed from office - hopefully. Stay safe, stay alive. Peace.
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... and so the GOP ass-wipe now in control of the USPS is starting the GOP plan to shutdown the USPS to delay and thwart mail-in voting... it's right outta the script published a few weeks back. The GOP has been planning this a long time. We are gonna be a for a rough ride folks.
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/postal-service-may-close-offices-cut-service-ahead-of-election-2020-07-29?mod=mw_more_headlines
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some Rs are growing tiny balls...I hope 45 doesn't have them neutered.
Republicans openly challenge Trump's tweet on delaying election
Updated 1:49 PM ET, Thu July 30, 2020
Washington (CNN)A large number of congressional Republicans, including members of House and Senate leadership, openly rejected President Donald Trump's suggestion Thursday that November's presidential election should be delayed, a move that the President would have no authority to make because the Constitution gives Congress the power to set the date for voting.
It was the latest example of the President making incendiary comments on Twitter -- and putting Republicans in an awkward spot to deal with the fallout.
Senate Judiciary Chairman Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican and Trump ally, told CNN when asked about the President's call to delay the election: "I don't think that's a particularly good idea."
Majority Whip Sen. John Thune, a member of Republican leadership, told CNN that there will be an election in November despite the President's tweet.
"I think that's probably a statement that gets some press attention, but I doubt it gets any serious traction," Thune said.
"I think we've had elections every November since about 1788, and I expect that will be the case again this year," he said.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell similarly insisted that the election will go on as planned.
"Never in the history of the country, through wars, depressions and the Civil War, have we ever not had a federally-scheduled election on time. We'll find a way to do that again this November 3rd," the majority leader said in an interview with WNKY.
https://www.cnn.com/2020/07/30/politics/trump-election-tweet-republican-reaction/index.html (https://www.cnn.com/2020/07/30/politics/trump-election-tweet-republican-reaction/index.html)
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President Trump floats delaying the presidential election, citing his own prediction of fraudulent voting. Trump tweeted Thursday: “With Universal Mail-In Voting (not Absentee Voting, which is good), 2020 will be the most INACCURATE & FRAUDULENT Election in history. It will be a great embarrassment to the USA.
One, we already have the greatest embarrassment ever to the USA, look in the mirror Donald. If you have a reflection.
I would also like a Press Person to ask him, based on his tweet, if we do have an election with mail-in voting and you won, would you still consider the election to be Inaccurate and Fraudulent? I want them to ask that because his answer, undoubtedly would be instructive, because whatever he answered, it would show that the only reason he says it in the first place is to cast doubt if he didn't win, meaning it's a stupid and inaccurate thing to say and stupid people need to understand this. If they could only finally see it.
[By the way, Inaccurate and Fraudulent should be Trump and Pence's Secret Service code names.)
But more importantly: The Federal General Election is set by Federal statute as the Tuesday following the first Monday in November. This date cannot be changed by any state nor any President. The general election date is not up for a debate.
If an election is not held, guess what?
--Trump's and Pence's terms expire at noon on January 20.
--If there hasn't been an election, the rules of succession fall into place. Normally, that would be speaker Pelosi, but every Representative in the house's term ends on January 3rd.
--Next would be the Senate Pro Tempore--which would be the Senator of the majority party with the longest record of continuous service. As it stands, that would be Republican Chuck Grassley.
--However, in this election cycle in the Senate 23 Republican Seats are up versus 12 Democratic Seats, so with those terms expired (no election) the balance would shift to the Democrats, meaning that the new Senate Pro Tempore would be Senator Patrick Leahy from Vermont.
--So in the event that Trump tried to subvert Federal statute and cancel the election, he would, in effect, hand the Oval Office over to President Leahy.
Nothing else needs to be said about "postponing or cancelling the election," but the above should be said repeatedly.
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YES...tinkering around with the Post Office and other election subversion methods...that's even more worrying because they CAN do that and will do that and have been doing that and need to be stopped however possible.
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What are voting measures like in your own particular places?
I just got a (California) General Election mailing in my box yesterday that says:
"To ensure you have convenient, accessible, and safe voting options,
we are mailing every registered voter a Vote by Mail ballot. (You
don't 'have to" vote by mail, there will be in person voting options.)
Except when I was in college, I've never voted by mail.
The mailing is to tell you that, if you need to, update your voter registration info and
also to request if you want the ballot mailed to you in a different language other than
English.
I'm sure that last part just rankles the brains of red state voters. They could get their ballots
in any of the following languages, besides English.
Armenian Korean Burmese
Chinese Russian Telegu
Farsi Spanish Gujarati
Hindi Tagalog Indonesian
Japanese Thai Mongolian
Khmer Vietnamese Bengali
No French or German or Italian?
(I don't think I've ever heard of Gujarati.)
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No French or German or Italian?
(I don't think I've ever heard of Gujarati.)
Gujarati is a language of India. Apparently quite a lot of speakers in North America
I think you will find, as with Downunder countries, that speakers of French, German, Italian are not recent immigrants and, if they are, they usually speak English quite well. In Australia we had huge numbers of migrants from Europe after the war but it would be a trickle today compared with Asia. The large Italian and Greek populations are mainly 2nd and 3rd generations.
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^^^ There is a scenario where contested ends up in the Supreme Court and we know how they voted last time before he packed the court with more of his swamp friends. &diety. help us if RGB fails before 20 Jan 2021..
"In a close presidential election where one or two states may well determine the outcome in the Electoral College, crying “fraud” could have much more serious consequences. And yes, a Republican-controlled state legislature might claim for itself the right to name electors in a “disputed” popular-vote scenario; that very nearly happened in Florida in 2000 until the U.S. Supreme Court decided to intervene and award the presidency to George W. Bush."
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https://finance.yahoo.com/news/column-gop-plan-cant-sue-172938487.html
If you were looking for evidence that Republicans in Congress have no sympathy for workers facing illness or worse from the coronavirus pandemic, look past the party's proposal to cut unemployment benefits.
Instead, focus on the provision in its coronavirus relief bill that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) calls a must-have in any bill that passes: It's liability protection for employers whose employees get sick at work. This proposal has received scant attention in coverage of the GOP plan. But it's more vicious than you could possibly imagine.
In GOP plan, you can't sue your employers for giving you COVID — but they can sue you.
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First we had this:
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EeL0u9XXYAAQvet.jpg)
Then we had this:
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Eb8KetmWAAEO5Jw.jpg)
and now we have this:
Former GOP presidential candidate Herman Cain dies after battle with coronavirus
PUBLISHED THU, JUL 30 2020 Kevin Breuninger
Herman Cain, a former presidential hopeful who was once considered by President Donald Trump for the Federal Reserve, has died after being hospitalized with the coronavirus. He was 74.
Cain’s death was announced Thursday on his website by Dan Calabrese, who edits the site and had previously written about his colleague’s diagnosis.
“Herman Cain – our boss, our friend, like a father to so many of us – has passed away,” Calabrese said in the blog post. “We all prayed so hard every day. We knew the time would come when the Lord would call him home, but we really liked having him here with us, and we held out hope he’d have a full recovery.”
Cain was among the highest-profile public figures in the United States to have died from Covid-19. Less than two weeks before receiving his diagnosis, Cain attended Trump’s campaign rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma, which had been staged despite concerns about mass gatherings during the pandemic.
https://www.cnbc.com/2020/07/30/former-gop-presidential-candidate-herman-cain-dies-after-battle-with-coronavirus.html
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Sow, reap.
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^^^ Yeap. He was clearly at Trump's rally -> flaunting being without a mask. Incubation timing is right.
Sadly, he lost his life to GOP ignorance, arrogance and campaign of misinformation and lies starting with POTUS on down.
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^^^^^ Also think of all the people he came into contact with whom he exposed to the virus. I suppose I don't have sympathy for them either.
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^^^^ I draw the lines at well if he exposed people who WERE wearing a mask and infected them... well too bad you or your family cannot sue the *@(*@ bastard but if you were right there with him, cheering on TOM and doing stupid like no mask and no 6'+, then you get everything you deserve - karma baby karma. My only exception are minors and their parents telling them that wearing no mask is just fine b/c it's your "god-given right" ...the part they conveniently omit is "to kill others".
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Nancy, is this getting on the news in Houston? Do you know about that doctor in Houston that Trump has spotlighted who claims that gynecological problems like cysts and endometriosis are in fact caused by people having sex in their dreams with demons and witches? She also alleges alien DNA is currently used in medical treatments and that scientists are cooking up a vaccine to prevent people from being religious. And despite the fact that the Republicans invited her to appear in Washington, D.C. to lobby Congress because Trump says she promotes hydroxychloroquine, she thinks the Government in said city is run in part not by humans but by "reptilians" and other aliens. (So who does she think she'll be talking to?)
Just on the surface, I wonder: This doctor is allowed to have a practicing medical license?
Trump would not disavow this doctor when asked about this. Why? Because she agrees with him about one thing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQS5mK_7dh8
"Ladies & Gentlemen, I give you the next Surgeon General of the United States!"
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Has anyone gotten these seeds?
https://youtu.be/8NIWFGT26gw
Most of the news items about this subject are tongue-in-cheek. Like the one above. But should they be?
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Lyle, I haven't heard anything about her in Austin, she sounds like a real moron. And I guess since I think she's a lunatic, and she's black, I'm a racist...ok by me.
Trump promotes a doctor who has claimed alien DNA was used in medical treatments
Immanuel received her medical degree from a university in Nigeria in 1990, according to the Texas Medical Board database. On her Facebook page, Immanuel says she was born in Cameroon and describes herself as "God's battle axe and weapon of war."
In the video, which was livestreamed by the right-wing media outlet Breitbart News and shared by Trump on Monday, Immanuel makes claims about coronavirus that run counter to multiple studies and advice from public health officials, including the Trump administration's own health experts. Breitbart did not respond to CNN's request for comment.
"This virus has a cure, it's called hydroxychloroquine, zinc, and Zithromax," Immanuel says, despite several high-quality studies that show the anti-malarial drug alone or in combination with others does not help Covid-19 patients.
https://www.cnn.com/2020/07/29/politics/stella-immanuel-trump-doctor/index.html (https://www.cnn.com/2020/07/29/politics/stella-immanuel-trump-doctor/index.html)
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ok, I think this pretty much sums it up...she is a lunatic with a president supporting her...what else is new?
Immanuel leads a church in Katy called Fire Power Ministries and she focuses on deliverance, or using rituals to cleanse people of evil spirits or demons. She has said she believes in alien DNA, and in 2013 she shared a video saying that certain women’s diseases are caused by sex with demons in dreams.
“They are responsible for serious gynecological problems,” she said in the 2013 video.“We call them all kinds of names — endometriosis, we call them molar pregnancies, we call them fibroids, we call them cysts. But most of them are evil deposits from the spirit husband. They are responsible for miscarriages, impotence, men that can’t get it up.”
https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/It-s-not-a-joke-Controversial-Houston-15447759.php (https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/It-s-not-a-joke-Controversial-Houston-15447759.php)
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Hey, since it's been 4 years, can Obama run again? It's just 3 terms IN A ROW, right? Can we get him back?
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It's curious how the base thinks that term limits don't apply to their deity, but certainly do to the former President.
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She thinks the Government in said city is run in part not by humans but by "reptilians" and other aliens.
She just might be right about that.
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Immanuel received her medical degree from a university in Nigeria in 1990, according to the Texas Medical Board database.
OK, well, that's particularly embarrassing. The organization I work for is involved in medical licensure and closely related to an organization that licences graduates of foreign medical schools to practice in the U.S. You can't just waltz into the U.S. with a medical degree from a university in Nigeria and begin to practice medicine.
Unless, maybe, Texas didn't do its due diligence and she's practicing illegally to begin with.
I don't know.
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She just might be right about that.
:P
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(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EefyZzWXsAA4WjI.jpg)
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That made it on NPR Morning Edition this morning!
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Happy Birthday to President Obama!
Our last President.
Until we get another one.
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America stands alone
The New York Times-The Morning
Nearly every country has struggled to contain the coronavirus. But only one affluent nation has suffered a severe, sustained outbreak for more than four months: the United States. Up
Our colleague David Leonhardt — the usual writer of this newsletter — and a team of other Times journalists around the world interviewed scientists and public health experts to reconstruct America’s unique failure. Their reporting points to two central themes.
First, the United States has a tradition of prioritizing individualism over government restrictions. That aversion to collective action helped lead to inadequate state lockdowns and inconsistent adherence to mask wearing based on partisanship instead of public health.
Second, many experts agree, America’s poor results stem in substantial measure from the performance of the Trump administration. “If you had to summarize our approach, it’s really poor federal leadership — disorganization and denial,” said Andy Slavitt, who ran Medicare and Medicaid from 2015 to 2017.
The administration’s travel restrictions were insufficient. Health officials initially gave confusing advice around wearing masks in public. And the president’s public statements — including claiming that the virus wasn’t serious and would disappear — regularly spread misinformation. In no other high-income country have political leaders so frequently departed from expert advice.
Together, skepticism toward collective action and the administration’s scattered approach have undermined the national response to the pandemic. True, the United States has made some improvements, including on mask wearing and testing. But unlike in South Korea, Germany and other countries, the virus continues to overwhelm daily life for Americans.
The frustration for many experts is that this outcome was avoidable. As one said: “This isn’t actually rocket science. We know what to do, and we’re not doing it.”
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I'm reminded of the beginning of the movie Red Dawn in which America stood alone because it had been abandoned by allies. This time in real life the Russians among others, by manipulating the GOP, have found a way for America to abandon its allies and competent leadership.
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^^^
Rumored to be outside a lot of British pubs...
(https://static.independent.co.uk/s3fs-public/thumbnails/image/2016/11/11/14/all-americans-must-be-accompanied-by-an-adult.jpg)
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And the inmates running the asylum think they're making America great again. ...
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America’s poor results stem in substantial measure from the performance of the Trump administration. “If you had to summarize our approach, it’s really poor federal leadership — disorganization and denial."
The frustration for many experts is that this outcome was avoidable. As one said: “This isn’t actually rocket science. We know what to do, and we’re not doing it.”
The Lincoln Project should do an ad of all the things Americans have been and will be missing the rest of the year. Things we all took for granted and lay the reason you're not having or experiencing it at the feet of the cretin in chief. They should redo Reagan's "Misery Index" ad from 1980.
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^^^
Rumored to be outside a lot of British pubs...
(https://static.independent.co.uk/s3fs-public/thumbnails/image/2016/11/11/14/all-americans-must-be-accompanied-by-an-adult.jpg)
:laugh:
Well, I am sorry to say it's the image many Europeans have of Americans :( I know you all, so I am cured.
I was thinking about this the other day. When you are a child, you are fascinated by the US: the movies, Disney, the food, the shine. As you grow up, you start to realize the other things: the guns, the poverty, the inequalities. And then a point comes when you start to really understand what the lack of health insurance means, voter suppression, white nationalism. It's like a country for children where some adults never realize that they have grown up and that a fair society is built by the collective, not the individual. Things like taxes, for instance. The way they are denigrated in the US. But it is what give us welfare, universal health care, free universities, equal opportunities.
I hope I am not hurting anybody with this, it's just something that has been going around my mind for some time. Please, please don't feel offended.
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‘No One Is Above The Law’: N.Y. AG Files Lawsuit To Dissolve NRA
New York Attorney General Letitia James announced that she has filed a lawsuit against the National Rifle Association after officials allegedly diverted millions of dollars for their own personal use.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rhoCkJ61cJA
Love this Attorney General. Who ever thought you'd see something like this?
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Our Parliament was dissolved yesterday and I notice the news this morning referring to Jacinda Ardern as the Leader of the Labour Party (not the Prime Minister). We will now have adverts on TV and radio, possibility of phone calls for 42 days until midnight on September 18 when they must all stop. Then we vote on September 19. I wish it was all over now, I do not know how you can have what seems like continual elections in the USA.
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Things like taxes, for instance. The way they are denigrated in the US. But it is what give us welfare, universal health care, free universities, equal opportunities.
Do recall, the United States got started as an anti-tax movement.
Must be in the nation's DNA.
I'm not defending it, I'm just sayin.'
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You're right, of course. But you did get representation!
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Our representation is becoming less, small d, democratic, especially the Senate where the majority of Senators, right now, represent way less than half the people. We have a lot of problems because the government is not working for the benefit of the people, largely due to the conservatives becoming more and more corrupt and enabled. The Republicans are trying to screw around with this years census in many states with tactics that will count less democrats and give even less representation to them in Congress, which of course means the Republicans would have more power that they don't deserve already.
This sounds like the plot of a bizarre black humor comedy: Right now, conservatives in swing states are trying, and have succeeded so far in one or two cases, ...they're trying to get Kanye West on the Presidential ballot in these states to siphon off black voters from voting for Joe Biden, which theoretically will help Trump in winning those states. You cannot get any more blatant than that. This shows you what they think of black people, for one. They think they're stupid.
It is so infuriating.
...sigh...
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It's infuriating, frustrating and so blatantly racist. Wouldn't it be nice if what Kanye attracted were frustrated Trump voters? That's honestly the people I think would vote for him.
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I guess as long as they don't vote for Trump
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It's infuriating, frustrating and so blatantly racist. Wouldn't it be nice if what Kanye attracted were frustrated Trump voters? That's honestly the people I think would vote for him.
Just what we need. An unmedicated bipolar person who has no sense of reality. From the frying pan into the fire.
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Republicans seem suddenly to want the unbalanced as leaders.
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Just what we need. An unmedicated bipolar person who has no sense of reality. From the frying pan into the fire.
Don't we have that already?
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^^^There's about to be a super spreader event in SD with 250,000 bikers converging on Sturgis, SD who have absoltely total disregard for the health of the community or themselves... such a selfish, childish view.. but what really should anyone expect?
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/07/us/sturgis-motorcyle-rally.html
I sincerely hope for the best but my brain says let Darwin work at this best and start winnowing any and all Covidiots.
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^^^There's about to be a super spreader event in SD with 250,000 bikers converging on Sturgis, SD who have absoltely total disregard for the health of the community or themselves... such a selfish, childish view.. but what really should anyone expect?
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/07/us/sturgis-motorcyle-rally.html
I sincerely hope for the best but my brain says let Darwin work at this best and start winnowing any and all Covidiots.
Oh I think the winnowing is well on it's way with the Covidiots!!! My regret is that how many innocents are they taking with them?? >:D
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Another (non) event --
Brought to you by the Trump Administration
(https://foreignpolicy.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/state_top_final-mobile.jpg)
Radio City "Christmas Spectacular" Canceled for the First Time
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/radio-city-music-hall-christmas-spectacular-canceled-coronavirus-pandemic/
The Radio City "Christmas Spectacular," starring the iconic Rockettes,
has been canceled for the first time in its nearly 100-year history.
__________
Wonder how long the list of TA non-events there are now?
I haven't heard: Is the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade still scheduled?
In Los Angeles the Hollywood Christmas Parade and the Pasadena Tournament of Roses Parade have been.
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With the holidays coming up, I'm also wondering what's going to happen.
Those who like to party were talking about how Halloween falls on a Saturday, I'm betting that there will be no events or parties.
I'm just hoping a bunch of people don't go around infecting each other on Black Friday.
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Those who like to party were talking about how Halloween falls on a Saturday, I'm betting that there will be no events or parties.
Oh, damn, that really sucks. :(
Actually, I've already started wondering what I'm going to do about Thanksgiving.
I'm just hoping a bunch of people don't go around infecting each other on Black Friday.
I'm sure it's already being spread around the annual motorcycle rally in Sturgis, S.D.
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Radio City "Christmas Spectacular" Canceled for the First Time
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/radio-city-music-hall-christmas-spectacular-canceled-coronavirus-pandemic/
I heard that a couple of weeks ago from a friend. He's really upset. When he was a kid, his grandmother took him to see the show every year. To him that show is Christmas.
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I saw it a few times back in the 70's, when it still included a movie. It was a wonderful performance.
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I've only seen it once.
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Well, there is an 80 minute DVD of the show that was put out in 2008 and
a 112 page book...Radio City Spectacular : A Photographic History of the
Rockettes and Christmas Spectacular. They both appear to still be available.
I got the DVD as a gift one year and it's quite entertaining.
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Actually, I've already started wondering what I'm going to do about Thanksgiving.
If Biden is not elected President in November there will be no Thanksgiving.
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Those who like to party were talking about how Halloween falls on a Saturday, I'm betting that there will be no events or parties.
West Hollywood's Halloween Street Carnival, which has drawn over 500,000 people some years has not been officially cancelled,
but I cannot see how it would be a good idea to gather that many people together from all over the county and beyond at this point.
It also costs the city almost three million dollars.
I have to admit that Halloween in West Hollywood...back in the day... used to be an enjoyable gathering of residents, patrons and local businesses. The boulevard was never even shut down for traffic. Hollywood Blvd. also used to celebrate Halloween in a large manner. In 1988 when there was trouble (called a riot) on Hollywood Blvd. on Halloween, the city of L.A. decided to shut Halloween down on Hollywood Blvd. and basically told everyone to "go to West Hollywood." And West Hollywood embraced it. It's become so big that I find it quite unenjoyable, especially because I live right in the middle of it and that many people around is NOT enjoyable if you live there and aren't visiting. The past decade a group of friends instead have been having really enjoyable Halloween dinner parties, costumes required. It's actually been a lot of fun. And we've had them on the Saturday before Halloween or, as this year is...on Halloween. I'm betting it probably won't happen this year the way things are going.
Since TOM has been in office every day is Halloween.
Where we only get tricked. There is no treat.
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If Biden is not elected President in November there will be no Thanksgiving.
Funny guy. That doesn't mean I'm excused from visiting my father for the fourth Thursday in November, with serious decisions about travel to make. After all, the family might get together for a wake for the nation.
Thanksgiving has been a bigger travel holiday than Christmas. One year my train was so full the conductor didn't even try to collect tickets. No way could he get through the aisle. That year I stood in the aisle for my entire trip; fortunately it was only about an hour and a half. Another year I actually rode in the vestibule; I wasn't even in the coach. (That wasn't actually too bad. I got to ride with the conductor, who entertained me with all sorts of horror stories about his job--kids throwing up, and so forth.) A few years later Amtrak finally did the sensible thing and made all trains reserved for a week on either side of the holiday.
So what is Amtrak going to do this year? Fill all the seats, meaning you'll be sitting next to who knows from wherever? Or do I rent a car and contend with highway traffic and perhaps bad weather?
So I'm not kidding. It's only August, but I've already started being concerned about that.
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Funny guy. That doesn't mean I'm excused from visiting my father for the fourth Thursday in November, with serious decisions about travel to make. After all, the family might get together for a wake for the nation.
Thanksgiving has been a bigger travel holiday than Christmas. One year my train was so full the conductor didn't even try to collect tickets. No way could he get through the aisle. That year I stood in the aisle for my entire trip; fortunately it was only about an hour and a half. Another year I actually rode in the vestibule; I wasn't even in the coach. (That wasn't actually too bad. I got to ride with the conductor, who entertained me with all sorts of horror stories about his job--kids throwing up, and so forth.) A few years later Amtrak finally did the sensible thing and made all trains reserved for a week on either side of the holiday.
So what is Amtrak going to do this year? Fill all the seats, meaning you'll be sitting next to who knows from wherever? Or do I rent a car and contend with highway traffic and perhaps bad weather?
So I'm not kidding. It's only August, but I've already started being concerned about that.
Is it a distance you can drive? Maybe renting a car would be a better option.
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I wasn't dismissing your concerns, Jeff.
Or even making a joke.
It's what I'm feeling at this point!
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I wasn't dismissing your concerns, Jeff.
Or even making a joke.
It's what I'm feeling at this point!
Perfectly valid. I suggest planning a wake, just in case--but then you know how I am. ...
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Is it a distance you can drive? Maybe renting a car would be a better option.
Yes, I did that Memorial Day weekend--but that's not a heavy travel weekend, unless maybe "down the Shore."
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(https://pics.me.me/then-jesus-said-i-cant-heal-you-for-free-thats-43140694.png)
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Kamala Harris!
Biden pick for Vice President.
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What is the general consensus of her? Is she respected and considered knowledgeable?
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She was my front runner... other than Obama somehow being VP.. 8)
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I saw this yard sign you can buy. I love it.
(https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/41G+SGKkQ2L.jpg)
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What is the general consensus of her? Is she respected and considered knowledgeable?
Yes.
I wonder, do TOM's supporters ask such questions? If they do they don't care what the answers are.
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^^^ Yes, and she's not afraid to call a spade a spade and will boomarang the GOP and TOM's bulls*((@* right back at them. Her downside is she's viewed by the GOP base as a more "liberal socialist" which is untrue.
The other candidate which I hope he names to staff is Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.). She's also not afraid to go after the crooked GOP and TOM. But Biden has to be careful. He does not want to give openings to the GOP in the Senate by pulling already elected Democratic members if a GOP is governor.
Now the real attacks and fun begins. Put on your boots b/c the nasty ads are going to start. V.
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^^^^^^^ They've already started here and have been going on for awhile, both national and local.
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Now the real attacks and fun begins. Put on your boots b/c the nasty ads are going to start. V.
They discovered a locally transmitted case of Covid yesterday in Auckland and then 3 members of the same family.
Auckland (over 1 million people) has gone back to Level 3 until midnight Friday - all schools, restaurants, bars, shops except supermarkets closed takeaway still allowed, no non-essential travel.
The rest of the country has gone to Level 2 which just means social distancing and recording movements, masks advised. Wednesday is my supermarket day but it was packed. I only had to buy a few things but ended by stocking up. I was socially distancing at the checkout and a lady came and went in front of me. I decided to keep quiet but a member of staff came and told her to move behind me. She said she knew nothing about it and was wondering at the crowds.??? All TV programs were interrupted at 9.15 last night for an emergency announcement from the prime minister and my cell phone blared an alarm at 9,30 this morning. I believe it also did at 10.30 last night but I was in bed and it was turned off.
The one good thing (referring to the quote) - All electioneering for Sep 19 election has been postponed and no advertisements until next Monday at the earliest.
On Bettermost one regular says they are flying from USA to Edinburgh next week. As I told her, it is like we live on different planets.
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^^^ Why only till Friday? Not even an incubation period.
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It is to find out the source. There is now some suspicion it may have come from a cold store. Apparently the virus can live a long time on cold surfaces and the man works in an importer cold store near the airport. We had had no community cases for 102 days and anyone entering the country must go into quarantine for 14 days The family has not been overseas nor had contact with anyone from overseas. The family and all contacts are in quarantine for 14 days, I think over 300 people. I have tickets for a symphony concert on Saturday week (the first in the Town Hall since March) so fingers crossed. It was cancelled back in April and I elected to have a 50% refund at the time and donate the rest, then had to pay again two weeks ago.
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Hope it works out for you.
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^^^ Why only till Friday? Not even an incubation period.
I believe I remember her writing that she has to stay in Edinburgh for two weeks before she can move on. I've been meaning to ask her what she's going to do in, I presume, some kind of hotel in Edinburgh for two weeks.
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Here in New Zealand, it would be a hotel (no choice) surrounded by high metal fence with army and police guards. In most cases, you can only leave your room for an hour exercise, meals are brought to your room door and they stand back to see you collect. Bedding is placed in a bag and left outside your room. You have to be tested on Days 3 and 12. It is no holiday. Only citizens, permanent residents and a very few with special exemptions are allowed.
From my hiking group, a lady has emailed me last week. I do not know her very well but knew she had planned a UK holiday starting end of February as she cancelled from coming on our camp in early March. Anyway she and her husband were in UK for 6 months, unable to get a flight home, 12 flights cancelled. She and her husband are now in a hotel in Rotorua. She emailed me to say she hoped to be hiking either next Tuesday or the Tuesday after so I will learn more then.
Two others of our group did return near the beginning. One from Sri Lanka and self isolated at home and the other from UK, was to take a cross country bus/camping trip from UK to Australia, she is very adventurous. She had to stay in a hotel in Auckland but they were very lax in those early days.
In Australia now you have to go into 14 days quarantine if you travel between certain states.
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I need some Democrats running for office to tell me what to effectively do as a citizen about the
awful news stories we keep hearing every day, like this one:
Donald Trump's postmaster general Louis DeJoy has made downgrading political mail from first class
to bulk mail part of the set of changes that are destroying the U.S. Postal Service and threatening the
reliability of voting by mail.
What are we, as individuals, supposed to do. We need to have ELECTIONS MATTER protests or some show
of resistance against these things and these people. It just seems like we keep hearing about atrocities and
go on waiting for an election to get hijacked.
I get frustrated because I don't know what to do or if there's anything I can do.
I keep hearing Sean Connery's line from The Untouchables when he's trying to get Ness to see the problem facing him:
"What're you prepared to do?"
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Trump ADMITS he won’t fund the USPS so that mail-in ballots don't arrive:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H2CCwqjv9qk
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An hour ago a reporter asked Trump a question:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TpjlzQ4a7-4
You must see this, TOM is a POS...
The poster put this on a loop. The only thing better would have been if
every single reporter had asked him this same question.
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Trump ADMITS he won’t fund the USPS so that mail-in ballots don't arrive:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H2CCwqjv9qk
Yes I read about this a couple of hours ago. He's devolved into not even trying to hide or bullshit his intentions! >:D
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The Queensland parliament has criminalised gay conversion therapy.
It is the first Australian state to do so. Victoria and the Australian Capital Territory have committed to legislating, but haven't caught up yet.
The Victorian Parliament has sat very little in recent months during the pandemic restrictions.
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The Queensland parliament has criminalised gay conversion therapy.
It is the first Australian state to do so. Victoria and the Australian Capital Territory have committed to legislating, but haven't caught up yet.
The Victorian Parliament has sat very little in recent months during the pandemic restrictions.
It has only criminalised it for healthcare professionals so does not stop church groups. However a good first step.
In NZ there is a private members bill (proposed by a Labour member) waiting to be drawn by ballot. Jacinda and most Labour party members are in support, both the health minister and the justice minister have declared support. Of course, the Green party supports but probably NZ First Party do not. They voted against the same sex marriage bill in a bloc so will never get my vote. So until the next election the government (Coalition of Labour, NZ First and Greens) cannot propose a bill.
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Veterans Group Ad Against Trump
and his War on the USPS:
https://www.facebook.com/votevets/videos/353830908981138/
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^^^^ The best things a law-abiding citizen can do are (IMHO):
- vote and vote early. Request your ballot NOW well in advance of the procrastinators and return it as soon as you get it! Do not defer, delay or procrastinate.
- Track your ballot. Some states have sites showing the receipt (so I'm told...) Consider mailing it Priority Mail but I'd leave the signature required off. Sure it might cost you $6.00 but that beats standing in line.
- write, call your representatives in Congress both HoR and Senate daily expressing your displeasure with TOM's latest antics which essentially amounts to election tampering.
- Consider that what the GOP is doing now by gumming up the USPS as blatant election tampering, rigging and gross interference. There should be a federal or state or both laws against that already on the books. Know any hot shot lawyers and scholars who want to file injunctions and be prepared to go all the way to SCOTUS?
- SUPPORT better leaders with a vision for a much better America for all - not just the GOP who's selfish slogan is "MAGA (for me)" ;)
- Pray, pray, pray, for....
V.
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^^^
Good ideas!
I'm curious if you all know your state's rules and regs for voting by mail?
I believe I mentioned that I got a card in the mail recently that says "Everyone in California is going to be sent a vote by mail ballot." Everyone! You don't have to, but you can. You can also drop it by a voting place on election day if you want.
In my Dodgers newsletter from the L.A. Times there was this paragraph today:
Go Vote!
Miss visiting Dodger Stadium and want a reason to go there in these isolated times? Go vote there.
The stadium will host a voting site for November’s election, the team announced Thursday, partnering with LeBron James’ and Chris Evans "More Than a Vote" coalition.
The site will be accessible to registered Los Angeles County voters over a five-day period for the presidential general election on Nov 3. Exact details will be announced later.
Hey, if Captain America were there I'd sure go!!! But, actually, this appeals to me and maybe I'll consider it. It'll count as my trip to Dodger Stadium this year, since otherwise...you know. Anything to get people to vote. This group is doing this all around the country.
I just thought, if they're just going to do this in the parking lot and not the actual stadium I could change my mind.
Bottom line though: I'm voting. For Biden.
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Same here. Earl and I have sent in our requests for mail ballots, they should be issued here in Virginia 45 days before the election.
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...the GOP who's selfish slogan is "MAGA"...
VOTE 2020
MAGA
Make-it
All
Go
Away
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Pray, pray, pray, for....
That made me think of this: Someone should alter this poster and show baby trump in the carriage.
But leave the slogan.
(https://i.pinimg.com/236x/c6/25/ad/c625ade8f37f26a47d13f8ab9dc1725e--rosemarys-baby-halloween-movies.jpg)
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The NZ elections have been postponed 1 month, now October 17. Parliament was to have been officially dissolved last Wednesday, then today, now it will reconvene tomorrow for another month. I just want it over and done with, my vote will not change. Advertising has not yet started and will now also be delayed a month.
I am disappointed that both concerts I had tickets for next weekend have been cancelled. Another boring weekend in store. There have been no cases on the South island for over 3 months but we are physically distancing again and signing in to cafes. All cases in Auckland are linked and no-one is allowed to leave Auckland which is why the second concert was cancelled
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I applied on line yesterday for my mail-in ballot, and the application has been received. Pennsylvania's rules are readily available on the internet.
Now what I've got to do is make sure everything is squared away for my dad to vote by mail.
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Does he also live in Pennsylvania? It's probably easier when you're not dealing with another state.
I've applied for mail in ballots for Earl and me, he was able to sign his application when I visited him in the hospital.
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Now what I've got to do is make sure everything is squared away for my dad to vote by mail.
Does he also live in Pennsylvania? It's probably easier when you're not dealing with another state.
Yes, he does. Different county, though.
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I was surprised to see on a map on the news last night that New York State doesn't have any mail-in voting.
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The NZ elections have been postponed 1 month, now October 17. Parliament was to have been officially dissolved last Wednesday, then today, now it will reconvene tomorrow for another month. I just want it over and done with, my vote will not change. Advertising has not yet started and will now also be delayed a month.
I am disappointed that both concerts I had tickets for next weekend have been cancelled. Another boring weekend in store. There have been no cases on the South island for over 3 months but we are physically distancing again and signing in to cafes. All cases in Auckland are linked and no-one is allowed to leave Auckland which is why the second concert was cancelled
Trump is such a gargoyle, yesterday calling NZ's uptick in cases was "really bad". Prompting this article:
If New Zealand's Covid-19 Outbreak is 'Terrible' Like Trump Says, Then How Bad is the Rest of the World?
https://www.cnn.com/2020/08/18/asia/trump-new-zealand-coronavirus-intl-hnk/index.html
A leader who knows nothing, but that so many STILL listen to. New Zealand reported nine new cases on Monday. The US reported tens of thousands. Great job TOM! You pathetic waste.
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Yes, that did not go down well here.
Ms Ardern was asked about the comments in Parliament today, where she stated the comparison is "patently wrong".
"Obviously I don’t think there’s any comparison between New Zealand’s current cluster and the tens of thousands of cases being seen in the United States," she said.
"I think anyone who is following Covid-19 globally can see New Zealand’s nine cases a day doesn’t compare to the United States' tens of thousands of cases or what is happening in most places.
"We are still one of the best performing countries in the world when it comes to Covid and our focus is on keeping it that way."
Our Greens Party leader (my vote) was less diplomatic.
Mr Shaw added that "Donald Trump says rubbish every single day" and he was "looking forward to seeing the back of him"
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^^^
I know what Shaw means, but my mind was like, "ewwww." :laugh:
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James Carville: "No one will be surprised by anything Trump will do during the election unless it’s showing a shred of human decency."
Ain't that the truth.
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...sigh...
A reporter from Wisconsin was interviewing a guy about Mike Pence, who is in Wisconsin today. He asked if there was anything that would shake his support from him:
“The only thing that could shake my support for him is if he cheated on his wife or lied to the American people.“
The reporter pointed out that fact checkers have said Pence has told untruths and the reporter gave examples.
The man, of course, says he doesn’t believe them. But this same man is fine with voting for Trump, who, everyone
knows, has cheated on his wife and lied to the American people.
This is the ignorance we’re up against. Too stupid to even see the hypocrisy. How convenient it is just to say, "I don't believe it."
The reporter also said Trump supporters he's talked to think they’re part of a club with Trump. I guess club means cult.
___________
This reminds me of the reporter I saw a couple years ago interviewing people in the mid-west about Trump and a man at a coffee shop with his wife stated that he likes Trump and called him "our Winston Churchill." How can any objective person look at those two people and see any sort of comparison at all?
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I guess it's not surprising, since there are a number of people who compare him favorably with Jesus. Such is the new religion of Trumpianity.
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Has anyone watched any of the Democratic Convention? It's refreshing to hear people being nice to each other,
talking about things that need to be done, seeing several Republicans not afraid to speak out against their own
President and party for the good of the country and such. I've always watched both conventions to see what
they had to say, but I decided after Monday night I will not be watching any of what the RNC is going to do.
Two people who came out in the streets and pointed guns at BLM protesters have been invited to speak at the
RNC next week. I guess they're going to shoot off their mouths.
I've seen on several stations/networks who are discussing the DNC this week that they're talking about Trump and
Pence and their appearances countering the Democrats this week, and I wish that each and every one of them would
say that these things are not what the opposition usually does. The opposition usually stays quiet during the opponents
convention week. If they would only say that each time that it's another abnormal level of disrespect from the current
administration. Maybe one of these droplets will eventually cause some voters to reflect and not genuflect.
Meanwhile I've been involved in a groups campaign to write and send postcards to people in certain states to make sure
they're registered and info where to check online or in person to make sure of it and the importance of doing so.
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I started watching the roll call of states about 2/3ds of the way through, and found it so impressive that I went to the DNC website and watched the roll call from the beginning.
Matthew Shepard's parents gave the votes from Wyoming, and a black gentleman from Maine talked about his husband and farm before he gave that state's votes. And the gold-star father whom T belittled gave the votes from Virginia. I loved seeing the scenery from state to state and territory.
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^^^^ ++++
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I agree, Fritz, I had started watching it from the beginning and really loved it from coast to coast!
Besides what you mentioned I liked seeing Pete pop up in the Indiana roll call and I liked the woman
from the Northern Mariana Islands who was glad to award their delegates and then said, "but we
don't get to vote, so don't waste yours." I mean, all these upbeat people from all areas of our country,
how can people be so hateful toward any one of them? There was beauty in all of it.
Here's the PBS Newshour feed of this segment if anyone else wants to view it:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vQ9s4x_Mybs
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Oh yeah, I almost forgot! It was great to see Pete!
Thanks for that link, it's well worth preserving.
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Oh, I wanted to say, I wish they could have had one token delegate vote for Pete Buttigieg. His name would've had to be entered into nomination, but all candidates with delegates have normally been allowed to have their delegate votes registered and it would've been nice to have, I think, the first gay man with delegates entered into the vote record.
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Thanks for that link, it's well worth preserving.
And PBS thankfully did not able comments to be made.
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And PBS thankfully did not able comments to be made.
Yes, I noticed that.
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Oh, I wanted to say, I wish they could have had one token delegate vote for Pete Buttigieg. His name would've had to be entered into nomination, but all candidates with delegates have normally been allowed to have their delegate votes registered and it would've been nice to have, I think, the first gay man with delegates entered into the vote record.
Yes, that would have been good. I forget whether there were any votes for Shirley Chisholm way back when.
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Tonight will be the Vice Presidential nomination and a speech by Nancy Pelosi and President Obama among others.
Thursday...Pete is getting a Prime Time spot.
Thursday, August 20: America's Promise
Meetings and procedures
LGBTQ Caucus Meeting
Small Business Council Meeting
Native American Caucus Meeting
Poverty Caucus Meetin
9-11 P.M.
Convention program/Speakers
Sen. Cory Booker
Pete Buttigieg
Performance by The Chicks
Gov. Gavin Newsom
Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms
Sen. Tammy Baldwin
Sen. Tammy Duckworth
Sen. Chris Coons
Andrew Yang
Vice President Joe Biden
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I sat down to watch the entire roll call too, and it cheered me up immensely. This is the USA I thought I knew, the one I want to go back to when travelling is finally allowed again. Very uplifting sight. 8)
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I sat down to watch the entire roll call too, and it cheered me up immensely. This is the USA I thought I knew, the one I want to go back to when travelling is finally allowed again. Very uplifting sight. 8)
I hope that November brings us the beginning of recovery of the past 4 years.
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I hope that November brings us the beginning of recovery of the past 4 years.
And if it does change, unfortunately it's going to be a long uphill battle to recovery, but I know we can do it. I don't want to think of the alternative.
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And if it does change, unfortunately it's going to be a long uphill battle to recovery, but I know we can do it. I don't want to think of the alternative.
People need to be reminded of this, Linda. After Obama became President in 2009, he had a lot on his plate with the economy collapse and unemployment raging etc. And, of course, the Republican obstruction and McConnell's vow to make him a one-term President. The public who'd voted for change was so impatient for it that they became very disillusioned by 2010 and stayed away from the mid-term elections where Republicans took control and because it was 2010, a census year, the R's gerry-mandered themselves into power the rest of the decade. If the D's had voted in larger numbers in 2010 it wouldn't have been so bad. I firmly believe that. This time, though, it's another census year and a Presidential Election, so at least we can avoid that problem, hopefully, but the purpose of my paragraph is that we are all going to need to be patient. Hopeful, steadfast and patient.
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^^^^ 10-4 and dead on. I was not happy with everything Obama did or didn't do but damn hell, either Bush looks damn good compared to the lying POS now in charge.
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Steve Bannon Is Charged With Fraud in We Build the Wall Campaign
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/20/nyregion/steve-bannon-arrested-indicted.html
The fund-raising effort collected more than $25 million, and prosecutors said Mr. Bannon used nearly $1 million of it for personal expenses.
Bannon was arrested early Thursday by federal postal inspectors and special agents from the U.S. attorney’s office in Manhattan, who found him off the coast of Connecticut, on a 150-foot yacht owned by a fugitive Chinese billionaire.
I can hear the conversation between he and pumkinhead, "Hey, I'm going to skim money off the donations and I'll split it with you and if I get caught, then you can pardon me."
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^^^
And of course, Bannon says he's being arrested because "others" don't want them to build the wall.
But, of course, he's being arrested for stealing the money people donated to actually do that.
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The convention the past nights has been quite good. If you've been watching this week, you know that they've had someone, a female celebrity for the most part, act as a "host" for the various evenings. Who(m?)ever's idea it was to have Julia Louis Dreyfuss as the host last night was...what do you think I'm going to say?...I thought it was genius. Injecting humor into the proceedings was perfect. Does anyone remember there used to be, depending on the times of course more than others, but there used to be a sense of joy when people were running for President and proclaiming what they could do for the country and putting their beliefs forward as how to do it, soliciting your vote. Humor in politics has been pretty much absent the past 4 years with the mope-in-chief right from the start proclaiming his American carnage crap. So, I thought the choice was perfect. I never expected to laugh out loud.
It'll be a sharp contrast to the parade of victims next week whining about everything.
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Top Republican National Security Officials Say They Will Vote for Biden
In a letter released hours before Joe Biden delivered his nomination acceptance speech, over 70 senior officials called President Trump “unfit to lead” and outlined their support for his opponent.
Read their message:
https://www.defendingdemocracytogether.org/national-security/
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NEW: Former Chief of Staff of Trump's DHS (Dept. of Homeland Security) is the newest Republican Voter Against Trump
Miles Taylor served as the Chief of Staff of Trump's Department of Homeland Security. What he saw firsthand terrified him, and now he will be voting for Joe Biden.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OgQZExTciQM
and
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EvZxxVSiwXU
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The convention the past nights has been quite good. If you've been watching this week, you know that they've had someone, a female celebrity for the most part, act as a "host" for the various evenings. Who(m?)ever's idea it was to have Julia Louis Dreyfuss as the host last night was...what do you think I'm going to say?...I thought it was genius. Injecting humor into the proceedings was perfect. Does anyone remember there used to be, depending on the times of course more than others, but there used to be a sense of joy when people were running for President and proclaiming what they could do for the country and putting their beliefs forward as how to do it, soliciting your vote. Humor in politics has been pretty much absent the past 4 years with the mope-in-chief right from the start proclaiming his American carnage crap. So, I thought the choice was perfect. I never expected to laugh out loud.
It'll be a sharp contrast to the parade of victims next week whining about everything.
Yes, last night's was the only one I watch in full, it was fantastic, including the pledge by a little boy from New Orleans, the anthem by the (Dixie) Chicks, and the invocation by the leader of the Nuns on the Bus group. And the concluding prayers by a rabbi, a priest (Fr John Martin, who gets flak from the Right because of his progay stance) and an imam were impressive too.
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^^^ Y they better watch to SOB Bannon... he was already on a yacht and it would not surprise me if he backdoored out the country to some non-extradite location... while he's counting all the $ he and he GOP friends stole while pretending to "privately fund building a wall...." anyone giving these asswipes $ deserves to be scammed. There's no way a private org can AFFORD to build a private wall. It was a scam from the start preying on people who sadly, believe this crap.
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So Kelli Ann Conway is leaving the White House. And her daughter wants to be emancipated from both her parents.
Pity. ...
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^^^ I'm not sure if you are being sarcastic or not. I'm a big fan of karma. She deserves everything karma has coming her way for all the lies she's told while "serving" TOM.
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^^^ I'm not sure if you are being sarcastic or not. I'm a big fan of karma. She deserves everything karma has coming her way for all the lies she's told while "serving" TOM.
No, I meant it sarcastically.
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I agreed. All of his crooked or lying cohorts do deserve what they get. Unfortunately he has eased that with several of them by commuting sentences. I'm not sure how commuting sentences affects their records, whether they continue to be convicted felons or not.
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"What is the difference between a commutation of sentence and a pardon?
"In the federal system, commutation of sentence and pardon are different forms of executive clemency, which is a broad term that applies to the President’s constitutional power to exercise leniency toward persons who have committed federal crimes.
A commutation of sentence reduces a sentence, either totally or partially, that is then being served, but it does not change the fact of conviction, imply innocence, or remove civil disabilities that apply to the convicted person as a result of the criminal conviction. A commutation may include remission (release) of the financial obligations that are imposed as part of a sentence, such as payment of a fine or restitution. A remission applies only to the part of the financial obligation that has not already been paid. A commutation of sentence has no effect on a person’s immigration status and will not prevent removal or deportation from the United States. To be eligible to apply for commutation of sentence, a person must have reported to prison to begin serving his sentence and may not be challenging his conviction in the courts.
"A pardon is an expression of the President’s forgiveness and ordinarily is granted in recognition of the applicant’s acceptance of responsibility for the crime and established good conduct for a significant period of time after conviction or completion of sentence. It does not signify innocence. It does, however, remove civil disabilities – e.g., restrictions on the right to vote, hold state or local office, or sit on a jury – imposed because of the conviction for which pardon is sought, and should lessen the stigma arising from the conviction. It may also be helpful in obtaining licenses, bonding, or employment. Under some – but not all – circumstances, a pardon will eliminate the legal basis for removal or deportation from the United States. Pursuant to the Rules Governing Petitions for Executive Clemency, which are available on this website, a person is not eligible to apply for a presidential pardon until a minimum of five years has elapsed since his release from any form of confinement imposed upon him as part of a sentence for his most recent criminal conviction, whether or not that is the conviction for which he is seeking the pardon."
https://www.justice.gov/pardon/frequently-asked-questions
Also, with a pardon one loses one's 5th amendment rights about testifying against yourself, since there would be no penalty involved. With a commutation, the 5th amendment rights remain in effect.
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^^^^ ROTFLMAO -> "...recognition of the applicant’s acceptance of responsibility for the crime and established good conduct for a significant period of time after conviction or completion of sentence. It does not signify innocence." None of the major cohorts TOM's let go fit that bill!
IMHO, Everyone of TOM's GOP PoS appointment likely belong in GitMo. But you know what, if Biden wins, he will likely like Gerald Ford, let that SoB get away with all this crap, "...for the sake of the country TOM's shredded." I hope NY and a few other states are not so motivated to forgive, forget and move on quickly. Seeing TOM, his 2 oldest sons, his SIL, and "all close advisors" locked up for tax evasion, embezzling, lying under oath, treason or whatever it takes for the balance of true and fair justice to be served. TOM has made a mockery of the justice system and continues to undermine the very foundations we were built upon.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_people_granted_executive_clemency_by_Donald_Trump
I'll agree with Mitt Romney (for once) and admire him for having the balls to speak out. Freeing Stone was an act of shear cover his ass corruption at the highest levels.
Stay safe. Stay alive. Vote! Peace.
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I may just stop watching TV till after the election.
I am so sick of hearing the lies, and it's only August.
Why, oh, why, are the Democrats not hitting back exposing TGOS's lies? (At least, they haven't been in the commercials I've seen so far.)
(Of course, none of my favorite shows will be back with new episodes till next year, but that's another matter for a different thread.)
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I did not watch any of the RNC last night, because of what you said Jeff. I didn't want to be subjected to "hearing the lies," but
this morning I've seen news reports of some of it. (And I watched Colbert last night who skewered it, and talked about it with the Pod Save America guys.)
The most shocking thing that I learned is that Trump Jr.'s wife, Kimberly Guilfoyle, used to be married to my Governor, Gavin Newsom. WTF :o.
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Little T and Guilfoyle haven't yet married. Republicans used to find such things unacceptable.
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Why, oh, why, are the Democrats not hitting back exposing TGOS's lies? (At least, they haven't been in the commercials I've seen so far.)
Well, the news media, except Fox, mostly does this every day (exposes the lies) and there are many commercials from groups like The Lincoln Project and Republican Voters Against Trump and others that do outstanding commercials in this area, but...I don't know where people see those ads unless they actually look them up online, or share them with others.
There's a school of thought that there are so many lies that trying to expose them all is simply futile and background noise. Also, Trump supporters don't seem to care about any of that. As Rick Wilson says, The Republican party has become a cult of personality for Donald Trump. Their only platform is to "own the libs and keep or gain power." The RNC did not even go through the motions of forming a Republican or Conservative Platform to run on this election. They actually just put out a statement of loyalty to Donald Trump. Read that again. Think about that. They're pledging their loyalty to Donald Trump. That's their platform.
[Also, I have mentioned here before over the years about a study that was done -- years before 2016 -- that tried to inhabit the conservative and the liberal mindset and what you could discern from this about both groups. The most disturbing thing: If a conservative believes something to be true, but shown that what they believe is NOT true by reasoning and factual evidence, they will double down on it. In other words it's pretty impossible to reason with them. That's exactly what they're doing now with Trump. Doubling down on him.
What kinds of ads are you seeing in PA, Jeff? We see very few ads for President each election cycle where I am because CA is not going to vote R for President and Dems aren't going to waste money on advertising here.
The Pod Save America boys are saying that Dems have to do everything to get out the vote. The R's re trying the playbook from 2016 again by demonizing everything Democratic and hoping people will give up on voting entirely because both parties are "the same" and voting won't make a difference. The R strategy is to limit voting. "Duh."
You can see it at work in nearly any youtube video comments about politics. The satan supporters all try to make an equivalency that Biden is worse or no better than Trump, just like they did with Hillary. Do not let them do it. THERE IS NO EQUIVALENCY BETWEEN TRUMP AND BIDEN, NOR WAS THERE WITH CLINTON.
For myself, I'm trying to do something, anything I can, this year to get people to vote these cretins out. A friend and I are doing a postcard campaign through an organization that has lists of likely Dem voters in swing states who may not be registered and how they can do it. Stuff like that. We have to pay for the kits ourselves and buy the postcard stamps. (They're 35¢ by the way. DeJoy doesn't even know that.) I've also donated to some groups and I've never donated as much money this year to an election campaign in the "every little bit helps in some way" department. I mean, I feel if I don't do anything now, with this cretin in office, then when?
If you look back on most Presidential election campaigns, the more hopeful person wins. Trump is the anti-hope American Carnage candidate and is supported by a national news Network undermining anything else. One can go crazy trying to understand our fellow citizens now. How can you understand anyone who believes in Trumpism?
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Little T and Guilfoyle haven't yet married. Republicans used to find such things unacceptable.
Little T, heh! They used to find nearly everything that Trump is and does unacceptable...now they're blinded by...what that is I just have never been able to comprehend. Has anyone ever explained it?
Remember when having a foreign born wife was the epitome of un-American for a President. (John Kerry.)
Remember when anything positive to do with Russia was met with skepticism and disapproval?
Remember when being accused a draft dodger was unpatriotic. (Clinton.)
Remember when a sexual scandal was grounds for impeachment by the Republicans. (Also Clinton.)
Remember when playing golf at all was derided as not doing your job for the American people. (Obama.)
Remember when lying to the American people was positively unacceptable? (Nixon.)
Remember when just one Presidential scandal could get you in trouble. (Reagan.)
Remember when G. W. Bush was considered ill-equipped as a President?
Remember when elected Presidents used to receive the most votes?
Remember when 58,000+ lives lost in Vietnam over a decade was finally deemed too high a price. (177,000 in 6 months.)
I could spend all day here if I keep going.
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Stick with these three things if you need to convince or argue with others about voting this time:
I am just repeating these three things to others and nothing else:
The American People, Republicans and Democrats, by wide margins, like Medicare, Social Security and the Postal Service. Trump is actively working to get rid of or diminish all of them and will if he remains in office. Say good-bye to:
Medicare/Medicaid: The administration has lawyers in court at this moment trying to get rid of insurance for those with pre-existing conditions, among other ACA attributes.
Social Security: Trump is saying he's going to eliminate the payroll tax taken out of your paychecks to put more money in your pocket. That tax funds at least half of Social Security and if eliminated will decimate it.
The United States Postal Service: Need I say more? If you haven't been affected by this already you're not paying attention.
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What kinds of ads are you seeing in PA, Jeff? We see very few ads for President each election cycle where I am because CA is not going to vote R for President and Dems aren't going to waste money on advertising here.
So far the usual Democratic take-the-high-road blather about "what we can do for you."
If you look back on most Presidential election campaigns, the more hopeful person wins. Trump is the anti-hope American Carnage candidate and is supported by a national news Network undermining anything else. One can go crazy trying to understand our fellow citizens now. How can you understand anyone who believes in Trumpism?
But this is not an ordinary Presidential election.
If I had my say, in Pennsylvania at least, they need to come out swinging and hitting hard, hammering home the lies and the responsibility for the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Americans from COVID-19 to convince the middle class/working class people who voted for Obama and then voted for TGOS that he hasn't done a single thing for them, and everything he says he's done for them is one big fat lie.
Stick with these three things if you need to convince or argue with others about voting this time:
I am just repeating these three things to others and nothing else:
The American People, Republicans and Democrats, by wide margins, like Medicare, Social Security and the Postal Service. Trump is actively working to get rid of or diminish all of them and will if he remains in office. Say good-bye to:
Medicare/Medicaid: The administration has lawyers in court at this moment trying to get rid of insurance for those with pre-existing conditions, among other ACA attributes.
Social Security: Trump is saying he's going to eliminate the payroll tax taken out of your paychecks to put more money in your pocket. That tax funds at least half of Social Security and if eliminated will decimate it.
The United States Postal Service: Need I say more? If you haven't been affected by this already you're not paying attention.
Hammering at those things would be part of what I'm talking about, I guess: Not only hammering about what he has done to you (the lies) but also what he will do to you if you continue to give him a chance.
(Of course, that extra money he wants to put in our pockets will also be taxed to give tax relief to the 1%.)
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We are at a major inflection point in the US history which citizens haven't seen since the Civil War. With the election of TOM + GOP senate, we have a small group of wealthy powerful GOPers controlling the entire country by any way, any means they can, legal or not and now with the proven help of foreign powers. Colluding with foreign powers to influence elections is probably not the worse of it. It's all we know about so far. IMHO, this is the most corrupt administration I've seen in my lifetime and that includes - Nixon's administration.
You are right, there is no reasoning with religious bigots and that includes those damn evangelicals. I've said for years that religion, in general, is one of the worst creations man has ever devised to "enlighten" himself. It's always used as a means of controlling the masses. IDK what's sadder, the fact that it's protected by the constitution and pays no taxes, which was brilliant on the bigots part, or the fact that far too many people fall for the shame. What a deal.
"They're pledging their loyalty to Donald Trump." Should scare the hell out of everyone. This is how dictators, charlatans and cult leaders gain power. What were the peopel at the convention chanting as reported earlier? .... "...12 more years?" ...weak minded lemmings. I just cannot keep watching the news. It's too depressing.
I've voted in every election since Reagan and intend to keep doing so - that's everyone duty as a citizen - until sadly it may not be...
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You are right, there is no reasoning with religious bigots and that includes those damn evangelicals. I've said for years that religion, in general, is one of the worst creations man has ever devised to "enlighten" himself. It's always used as a means of controlling the masses. IDK what's sadder, the fact that it's protected by the constitution and pays no taxes, which was brilliant on the bigots part, or the fact that far too many people fall for the shame. What a deal.
Americans are notoriously ignorant about history; they don't care about it, either. Meaning and usage of language change, too, over time. "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion" meant that the federal government could not establish a national church, such as the Church of England, which is "by law established." And that was all it meant.
(Example of change in meaning: The King James Bible uses "prevent" to mean, "precede" ["to go before"] --Preface to the Revised Standard Version.)
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^^^^ Accurate. That clause has been twisted too far from it's original intent and purpose by unscrupulous lawyers and the GOP facade to "protect religious freedoms" which enshrine bigotry and protect all sorts of *isms, under the surface - that far too many people now think that is what the founders meant when that is simply untrue - more mis-information.
I cannot keep watching the evening news. It has become so depressing and debilitating that I can hardly stand it. The anxiety just from this week is overwhelming. :( Time for a mental break for a while. I wish you well. Stay safe, stay alive. Peace.
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I've said for years that religion, in general, is one of the worst creations man has ever devised to "enlighten" himself. It's always used as a means of controlling the masses.
The problem with religions is that they don't concentrate on spirituality. Most people confuse spirituality and religion. They think it's the same thing. Or, with a lot of religions, they stop thinking. Spirituality is a journey. Religions have found it easier to forget that and moralize. In other words, religions have become judges and that's not spirituality.
One of the most far right politicians people can point to from the past is Barry Goldwater and in many ways now, if you read about him, he seems liberal compared to the far right nowadays. He warned the party for decades not to align themselves with the evangelicals. I believe he actually said they were batshit crazy. If he didn't, he should have. I mean, when Clinton was first elected and the subject of allowing gays in the military became a controversy immediately, because Clinton promised he would end the ban during his campaign, Clinton tried to appease the uproar not wanting this to be the first thing consuming his Presidency, so he stalled and the country ended up with the insidious DADT policy. At the time, Goldwater actually said: "He's the President. As Truman had the power to integrate the military back when he was President, all Clinton has to do is order it. He's the Commander-in-Chief." There was no need for a weeks long Republican fillibuster on this. When you look back on it, for all Clinton's talk about LGBT matters, we got DADT and DOMA from his Presidency. Many give Clinton a pass about DADT saying he had to and that Congress wouldn't let him, but as Goldwater pointed out, that was NOT true. He could have done it without Congress. Clinton got rolled. And so did we.
IDK what's sadder, the fact that it's protected by the constitution and pays no taxes, which was brilliant on the bigots part, or the fact that far too many people fall for the sham.
One of the worst things Congress ever did (was it under the R's or D's) is to grant religious status to Scientology so that they pay no taxes. Look what that's led to? Several years ago I saw a PBS program about this and how it happened. What a giant scam.
"They're pledging their loyalty to Donald Trump." Should scare the hell out of everyone. This is how dictators, charlatans and cult leaders gain power. What were the peopel at the convention chanting as reported earlier? .... "...12 more years?" ...weak minded lemmings. I just cannot keep watching the news. It's too depressing.
I've voted in every election since Reagan and intend to keep doing so - that's everyone duty as a citizen - until sadly it may not be...
"They're pledging their loyalty to Donald Trump." Should scare the hell out of everyone.
Why doesn't it? I don't see people scared enough. Most of the time I just don't know what I should be doing to help.
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I didn't know that about Goldwater's comment about the Evangelicals.
That "12 more years" business chills me to the bone. Anybody ever see Triumph of the Will?
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Yes indeed. Great filmmaking, like Birth of a Nation. But terrible message.
"I think every good Christian ought to kick Falwell right in the ass."
--Said by Goldwater in July 1981 in response to Moral Majority founder Jerry Falwell's opposition to the nomination of Sandra Day O'Connor to the Supreme Court, of which Falwell had said, "Every good Christian should be concerned." Time Magazine, (20 July, 1981)
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"I think every good Christian ought to kick Falwell right in the ass."
--Said by Goldwater in July 1981 in response to Moral Majority founder Jerry Falwell's opposition to the nomination of Sandra Day O'Connor to the Supreme Court, of which Falwell had said, "Every good Christian should be concerned." Time Magazine, (20 July, 1981)
:laugh:
I guess that applies to Falwell, Jr., too. (Also Franklin Graham--what's he up to these days?)
At least, I guess, Mrs. Falwell, Jr., got to live out everybody's fantasy of sex with the pool boy. ;D
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Peas in a pod.
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The Christchurch Massacre Terrorist has been given life without parole. The first time such a sentence has been given in New Zealand.
https://www.odt.co.nz/news/national/mosque-terrorist-given-life-without-parole
Over 90 impact statements were made over 3 days. Just reading, and watching on the nightly news, excerpts has been harrowing.
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He deserves no less
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When does Falwell, Jr. speak at the RNC?
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I wish he would. He could speak about how he follows and partakes of all the sacraments in the religion of Trumpianity.
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Karma?
https://twitter.com/travisakers/status/1298992281802825731
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:laugh:
Wonderful!
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Karma?
https://twitter.com/travisakers/status/1298992281802825731
Absolutely!!
And how much you wanna bet they spend thousands to put it back up!?!?
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and if they do, I hope it happens again.
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So it occurred to me last night, I guess when the Repubs trot out their usual "law and order" line, that's really code for it will remain Open Season on people of color.
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Trump is trying to run as though he's the challenger and not the President.
But that's not surprising since he takes no responsibility for anything.
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There's just no end to it, is there?
Now I hear that Kelliann Conway actually came out and said that continuing violence in the streets is good for the Great Orange Satan's reelection.
At least she admitted that's what TGOS and his minions believe.
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TRUMP: COVID-19 DEATHS ONLY COUNT IF THE VICTIM IS HEALTHY
One of the many headlines on Huffpost this morning.
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Good Lord, what an ass.
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On local noon news today, I heard that Biden's lead here in Pennsylvania is shrinking. That's cause for concern.
Biden just sounds so weak compared to the Great Orange Satan's scare tactics. I swear, more people are going to be swayed by the scare tactics than by anything Biden can say he will do.
Biden and his people really need to hit TGOS harder, for example pointing out what bullshit his latest statement on the coronavirus death toll is, and blaming him for the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people because of his failure to act. Say TGOS has blood on his hands, and start at least trying to scare people about what four more years of TGOS will mean for average working people. People are not going to vote Biden's promises; they're going to vote TGOS's scare tactics.
I'm very worried.
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A Biden campaign ad.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5EDjAfyZrww
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Good ad, Fritz!
On local noon news today, I heard that Biden's lead here in Pennsylvania is shrinking. That's cause for concern.
Here's an article from today about that latest poll... HERE (https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/election-update-biden-gets-good-polls-in-arizona-and-wisconsin-and-a-bad-one-in-pennsylvania/)
(https://fivethirtyeight.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/EU-0903-4x3-1.png?w=575)
Election Update: Biden Gets Good Polls In Arizona And Wisconsin — And A Bad One In Pennsylvania
With reasons for optimism. Always look for optimism, it's constructive energy! The last two paragraphs of the article:
Monmouth is an excellent pollster, its post-convention survey may be an outlier. Monmouth’s sample sizes
are on the small side, and the company isn’t afraid to publish results that diverge from the consensus (that’s
a good thing), so its polling can sometimes be subject to large swings.
And the fact remains that Biden is still more likely than Trump to win Pennsylvania. Indeed, as you’ve seen,
he is more likely than Trump to win all three of these crucial states. That’s a big reason why he still has a
69 in 100 chance of winning the Electoral College overall — almost exactly the same position he was in
before the conventions.
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Biden just sounds so weak compared to the Great Orange Satan's scare tactics. I swear, more people are going to be swayed by the scare tactics than by anything Biden can say he will do.
Biden and his people really need to hit TGOS harder, for example pointing out what bullshit his latest statement on the coronavirus toll is, and blaming him for the of hundreds of thousands of people because of his failure to act. Say TGOS has blood on his hands, and start at least trying to scare people about what four more years of TGOS will mean for average working people. People are not going to vote Biden's promises; they're going to vote TGOS's scare tactics.
I was going to suggest some things here, but this election season is so different because of COVID that I don't think any of the old rules or norms apply. I can find plenty of places to hear people hit TGOS as hard as one can for everything, but I don't know how people get their information now. If anyone knows people who might be his supporters, I suggest sending them BTC's daily videos that show Trump and others saying things and then he tells you a dose of facts about these things. They're all a few minutes long.
https://www.youtube.com/user/briantylercohen
I mean, I personally know/understand everything he's saying, but it gives me a shot of positive re-inforcement. I have no idea if these would influence Trump supporters or those leaning one way or another. You'd think they would, but I don't understand this cult of personality that can see no wrong in ANY of it.
BTC's last few video topics:
Bill Barr plays dumb to defend Trump, pretends voting twice isn’t illegal
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ux2v6Wn09oc
Trump encourages his supporters to commit voter fraud by voting twice
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ke9Wk97sIuU
Trump goes off on HUMILIATING rant about dangerous bags of soup
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJLXFWSuoCQ
Biden claps back at Trump with VIRAL response to being "soft on crime"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CzrisLL7mDI
Chris Wallace calls out Lara Trump for Donald Trump IGNORING coronavirus at RNC
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PZ-kIXLVU1M
Lara Trump admits ON AIR that more mayhem is better for Trump’s re-election
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jm_1xK3absI
Joe Biden shuts Trump up with BRILLIANT response to his attacks
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0UbqbkXjR-o&t=274s
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I'm very worried.
Well you are in Pennsylvania, which the FiveThirtyEight blog has listed, in percentage, as the U.S. state most likely to tip the election one way or another.
Then again, you are in a unique position to do something about it, perhaps. In Los Angeles I'm in a state where the outcome is known with pretty good accuracy. Anything helps, though, so I am working on, with a couple friends, a light-hearted postcard campaign that reaches out to voters in states to suggest they make sure they're registered to vote and also to actually vote. The voters list is compiled of those most likely to vote blue.
In my own personal place I thought the least I could do is to see if every tenant in every apartment in my building is registered to vote and give them a registration form if not, which I got at our post office that have them on counters to pick up, or I give them the web addresses to find out if they are or need to update any information. After that I'd ask other neighbors on the street if I happen to see anyone, even if I don't know them.
I don't always succeed, but I very much TRY to be optimistic with anyone talking about the election. I just think if it seems so all doom and gloom and people get into a state of "it's not going to matter" or worry, that all of that is negative energy. Negative energy diminishes action. I want people to feel the positive energy. The energy that says we can Make-it All Go Away and get out there and vote. That we will have a President with a plan to involve the whole country together to get rid of this pandemic and not the every state for themselves plan that "it's not my fault" TGOS has so he can throw the buck from stopping where it belongs. At his desk.
We have to imagine and believe in what we want to happen and not what we fear could happen. There's just no point in doing that.
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Speaking of fear, I recall some lesson from my youth about being afraid of things and fear and
that we feel this way at times, but it's really:
False
Evidence
Appearing
Real.
Or, as FDR used during a speech: "We have nothing to fear, but fear itself."
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'The Batman' halts production again after Robert Pattinson reportedly tests positive for COVID-19
Ethan Alter - Senior Writer, Yahoo Entertainment
Batman has previously fought and defeated the Joker (several of them), Mr. Freeze and Bane on the big screen. But the coronavirus pandemic is proving a more wily foe. Production on The Batman — Matt Reeves’s highly-anticipated reboot of the feature film franchise starring Robert Pattinson as a younger, more inexperienced Dark Knight — has shut down for a second time after the Twilight star reportedly tested positive for the virus.
“A member of The Batman production has tested positive for COVID-19 and is isolating in accordance with established protocols,” a Warner Bros. spokesperson said in a statement provided to Variety. “Filming is temporarily paused.”
Vanity Fair subsequently identified Pattinson, who was spotted walking mask-less in London in July, as the crew member in question. Warner Bros. and the actor’s representatives have yet to respond to the outlet’s reporting.
Production on The Batman, which is filming in the United Kingdom, originally shut down in March when the pandemic’s first wave swept across the globe. The halt in shooting forced Warner Bros. to adjust the film’s release date: originally scheduled to hit theaters on June 25, 2021, the movie was pushed back to October 1, 2021.
Speaking with Yahoo Entertainment in August, Reeves’s co-writer, Mattson Tomlin, said that safety was upmost in mind as The Batman crew reassembled. “The whole goal is to make it safe,” Tomlin said. “It’s a really scary time out there, so not putting peoples’ lives in jeopardy has to be the first goal, and I know they’re doing that in spades.”
https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/the-batman-halts-production-robert-pattinson-reportedly-tests-positive-covid19-191004554.html
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Do you have to register again for every election? We received a letter a few months ago which we could check to see if there was any change to our details especially address. If no changes, then we just ignored it. There are TV advertisements at the moment wanting people to register before next weekend. You can register at any time up to when you vote but they do not want people queuing to register on the day. Those votes have to be put into envelopes and the registration checked before they can be counted. It is actually against the law not to register but, unlike Australia, you do not have to vote.
If I was to ask my neighbours if they were registered, I think I would be told to mind my own business. It is generally considered impolite to discuss voting with anyone other than close friends. Recently I was discussing the referendums (cannabis use and euthanasia) with my hiking group but we did not discuss our general voting intentions.
Our elections were postponed for 28 days due to Covid so parliament reconvened until last Wednesday. Active campaigning began again yesterday. The Governor-General will now officially dissolve parliament on September 13. Only after that date can advertising on TV etc begin. So only for just under 5 weeks, election day is on October 17. More than enough for me.
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No, the registration is just necessary once as long as your address doesn't change. But if you go a certain number of elections without voting (the number depending on the jurisdiction, determined by the state), your name will be stricken from the voter rolls and you'll have to register anew.
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If I was to ask my neighbours if they were registered, I think I would be told to mind my own business. It is generally considered impolite to discuss voting with anyone other than close friends.
Well, that makes sense since you are required to register.
Here, the Republicans use voter suppression as a tactic to win. Gerrymandering, stringent* rules, putting out claims about the illegitimacy of certain voting procedures, overwhelming certain groups so that they feel like voting doesn't make any difference and any number of other things.
*And by stringent, I mean they'll disqualify someone from voting if they registered saying they're name is William, but their driver's license says Bill. So you can imagine the myriad of other ways they shorten the voter rolls. There's a reason that you'll see long lines waiting to vote that take three plus hours or more. Do you think any of those polling places like that are in heavily Republican areas?
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When I migrated to New Zealand in 2010, I stayed for 10 days in a motel then moved into a long term accommodation (mostly overseas university students) for 8 weeks. I received a letter asking me to register (permanent residents in NZ can vote after 1 year). I ignored but, when I bought my house and moved in at the end of those 8 weeks, I received another letter and registered. They seem to have a check on movements of long time stayers.
There were council elections that year, I received the papers but was on a 3 month overseas trip so ignored. I voted in the National elections the following year 2011 and in 2014. I became a citizen in 2016.
I was back in Australia for the National elections in 2010 so voted using my sister's address. Then I wrote and told them I had left Australia permanently so no longer have the right to vote there despite (before Covid) returning for a visit at least once a year.
Now that I am a NZ citizen, I would still be able to vote as long as I return for a visit every 5 years. I know Americans never lose the right to vote. I have a friend in our walking group who has lived here for many years (married to a Kiwi). I was driving her home in 2016 and joked that, if she was going to vote for Trump, she could get out and walk.
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We can do a pre-poll vote (I think from October 3) either by mail or at an office set up in the city centre. However my polling place is in the school across the road. I can walk there in 5 minutes. I have never had to queue, just walk in and have my name crossed off, receive 2 sheets of paper and go to the booth and make 2 ticks, one for my electorate vote and one for my party vote. This year there will be another 2 for the referendums. In the past I have been back home in 15 minutes.
One thing different in NZ is that you can register in either the Maori or Pakeha electorate and vote accordingly. You can choose again every 3 years. Obviously I choose Pakeha. There are 6 Maori electorates, only 1 covers the whole South Island.
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Actually, depending on the state, you can permanently lose your right to vote if you're convicted of a felony. Though more and more blue states are reversing that trend.
So you were able to vote in NZ before you became a citizen? I guess that's like some people in Canada, landed immigrants who remain British citizens but who can vote in local, provincial and federal elections.
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Actually, depending on the state, you can permanently lose your right to vote if you're convicted of a felony. Though more and more blue states are reversing that trend.
So you were able to vote in NZ before you became a citizen? I guess that's like some people in Canada, landed immigrants who remain British citizens but who can vote in local, provincial and federal elections.
At the moment those in prison in NZ cannot vote but they regain their right when released. However that is only since 2010. Before that, they only lost the right to vote if the sentence was more than 3 years. The National Party made that change in 2010 and the Labour Party would like to change it back but never got round to it but have said they will, if re-elected. It is criticised as discriminating to Maori.
Yes, I was surprised at being able to vote as a permanent resident, especially since, being an Australian, I did not have to apply for permanent residency, I just came. In Australia you have to be a citizen in order to vote.
I do think it silly that, for instance, Asian students studying here for over a year can vote. I do not know if many do.
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Pete Buttigieg Joins Biden Transition Team
https://tlrd.us/3ihZBpP
Especially for Fritz and Lyle.
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Geaux Pete!
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Thumbs up!
(I didn't know Biden was transitioning. :o )
Heh!
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Thumbs up!
(I didn't know Biden was transitioning. :o )
Heh!
Heh heh 😋!
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I heard there was a massive boat parade on a lake in Texas, to support Trump.
There were rough waters and some of the boats sank. (Just like his presidency.
A lovely symbol of things to come!) The Travis County Sheriff's Office had to
respond to "multiple calls involving several boats in severe distress." (Just like
the country.)
Someone who lives nearby there tweeted: Lake Travis Trump Boat Parade: "Yup, just
working class Americans in $300k boats and with four helicopters to record their disaster."
It's a reminder that people generally think the biggest Trump supporters were low income
and uneducated working class people. Not so, middle and upper-middle class with a high
median salary are Trump's most fervent supporters. Those who can afford boats like that
and are mainly interested in their own monetary gains, regardless of others. (Just like the
cretin himself.)
If you google "Median Trump Supporters" you'll find a lot of articles about that.
I would guess that meme of his supporters being working class and uneducated came about
because those writing about it could not conceive that people with intelligence who should
know better would be supporting such a cretin. But just look at the elected Republicans in
Congress. So...no.
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I guess T needs all the endorsements he can get.
https://www.fox5dc.com/news/osama-bin-ladens-niece-endorses-trump
A comment:
A Bin Laden endorsing an American president. I bet you didn’t have that one on your End of Times Trumpocalypse Twilight Zone Crackpottery 2020 Bingo Card…
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Trump goes off on HUMILIATING rant about dangerous bags of soup
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJLXFWSuoCQ
"Don't never order soup. Them boxes bags of soup are hard to pack."
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;D ;D ;D
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"Don't never order soup. Them boxes bags of soup are hard to pack."
:laugh:
Cans on the other hand are rumored to have the perfect size and weight...
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I guess T needs all the endorsements he can get.
A friend I talk to mentions newsy things to me about the cretin once in awhile and asks what I think about it. I always answer the same thing, "Nothing the cretin does, says or anything connected with him that happens surprises me. From day one. Look forward to numbers of programs, documentaries, books and films once he's gone with revelation after revelation of things we have yet to know happened, things that'll curl your hair and numb the senses.
And you know how he's doing anything he can to stay in office? He won't go quietly and even if he's forced to would it really surprise you if he sets up some kind of defacto Vichy government and his own television network to whine and curse that he is still the chosen one?
The stain of this man on the country is going to take a toll for awhile. Like the electing a Q-Anon believing, gun brandishing and violence threatening Congresswoman in Georgia to the House of Representatives. Of course the cretin has congratulated her primary win and called her a rising star in the Republican party.
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Related:
Thank you, I did read David Remnick's New Yorker editorial. A quote from it:
"When Trump was elected, there were those who considered his history and insisted that this was a kind of national emergency, and that to normalize this Presidency was a dangerous illusion. At the same time, there were those who, in the spirit of patience and national comity, held that Trump was 'our President,' and that 'he must be given a chance.' Has he had enough of a chance yet?"
Remnick wrote a piece the day after the election about what a national shame the results were and how this will affect our country.
The image it gave to me is like putting one drop of food coloring into a jar of water. It starts spreading and spreading, tainting every part of the clear liquid.
(https://c2.staticflickr.com/6/5168/5326987932_0a46ac8c35_b.jpg)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FPvcfmiuyIg
The only way to combat it is to flush it out with clear water. Try it yourself. It takes a long time unless there's a flood of it.
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]...] Look forward to numbers of programs, documentaries, books and films once he's gone with revelation after revelation of things we have yet to know happened, things that'll curl your hair and numb the senses. [...]
A few things trickling out this week...
Still not surprised.
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I had not seen this Lincoln Project ad before, concerning Christian evangelical support for Trump.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yoglNFN5-Js
It starts out with this frame:
"Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's
clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves." -Matthew 7:15
This Bible quote comes to mind:
"Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing."
In support of Trump, these evangelicals keep repeating "Sometimes God chooses flawed people to deliver his message."
There will come a day when they realize His message isn't what they think it is.
His message to them is they need to look within and discover how they could ever have supported such an immoral cretin.
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Truly unbelievable.
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Except that's not a drop of food coloring. That's a drop of blood.
Why, oh why, will Joe not come out and put things together and say, "193,000 Americans are dead because Donald Trump lied to them."
(OK, maybe that's not strictly accurate, but still. ... )
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^^^
He has.
Video here: as of this post anyway:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/elections/2020/09/10/trump-biden-live-updates/
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Trump to visit California amid criticism for silence on fires
By CARLA MARINUCCI 09/12/2020
President Donald Trump will visit California Monday for a briefing with Gov. Gavin Newsom and emergency response officials on the wildfires, a White House official confirmed Saturday.
Trump will meet with local and federal fire and emergency response personnel during a trip to McClellan Park, a former air base just outside of the city of Sacramento, White House spokesman Judd Deere said in an email. The park is also the site the state fire agency has used to launch big firefighting planes.
"Since mid-August, President Trump and Governor Newsom have spoken by phone and the White House and FEMA have remained in constant contact with State and local officials throughout the response to these natural disasters,'' Deere said. "The President continues to support those who are battling raging wildfires in a locally-executed, state-managed, and federally-supported emergency response."
Deere noted that "the President has approved a Presidential Major Disaster Declaration for California that began on August 14 for individual and public assistance."
https://www.politico.com/states/california/story/2020/09/12/trump-to-visit-california-amid-criticism-for-silence-on-fires-1316683
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Couple dies from COVID-19 holding hands, within four minutes of each other in Rowan Co., N.C.
By WBTV Staff - Published: Sep. 11, 2020
A husband and wife, married for 48 years, died within four minutes of each other, holding hands, in the hospital in Salisbury one week ago from COVID-19. Their funeral was held Wednesday.
“They were married 48 years, been together 50, they walked hand in hand for those 50 years,” said son Shane Peoples.
One week ago, Shane Peoples says he was cheated. His mom and dad, 67-year-old Johnny Lee Peoples and 65-year-old Cathy Darlene Peoples died from COVID-19. It marked the end of a thirty-day ordeal of both parents contracting the virus, rapidly declining, and then dying. It started with his mother, just days away from retirement.
“It was mainly the fever and loss of taste,” Peoples said. “My dad starting showing symptoms two days later. About two weeks later they were both put in the ICU. Everything just went south, everything just got worse.”
And when the end was in sight, Shane says the hospital staff did what it could to bring the couple together. “The next day they put them in the same room, same ICU room, they put their hands together, the nurses gathered around and they passed within four minutes of each other,” Peoples said.
https://www.wndu.com/2020/09/11/couple-dies-from-covid-19-holding-hands-within-four-minutes-of-each-other-in-rowan-co-nc/
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Just love the choice of words *he* chose..... at an interview
he was giving....when someone asked him about the forest
fires and the devastation it has caused to peoples homes and
lives:
" IT WILL COOL DOWN SOON "
:o
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Smoke from western wildfires reaches East Coast
John Bacon, USA TODAY - 09/15/2020
Intense smoke from historic wildfires that is filling the lungs of millions of Westerners is clouding skies across the nation.
AccuWeather meteorologist Matt Benz said you can draw a line from California through St. Louis and on to Norfolk, Virginia – pretty much everyplace north of that line is looking at smoke-tainted skies. Areas south of that line see less smoke because of air coming up from the Gulf.
"Amazingly, that wildfire smoke has traveled thousands of miles and finally has reached the East," Benz told USA TODAY. "It looks like clouds, but it is smoke. And we are stuck with this until the weather pattern changes."
A weak cold front expected to sweep through much of the East in coming days probably won't be enough to clear the air, Benz warned. The upside is that the smoke is so high in the Eastern sky that residents aren't breathing it.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/smoke-from-western-wildfires-reaches-east-coast-economic-losses-could-reach-dollar150-billion/ar-BB1949DU
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Coronavirus death toll from Maine wedding rises to 7, with over 175 infected
By Minyvonne Burke - Sept. 15, 2020, 2:17 PM EDT
The death toll from a coronavirus outbreak linked to an indoor wedding and reception in Maine has risen to seven, with the number of cases connected to the event up to 176.
The latest death was reported at the Maplecrest Rehabilitation Center in Madison, where five prior deaths were also deemed connected to the Aug. 7 wedding and reception. One person died at a hospital in the Millinocket area, a spokesman for the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention said Tuesday.
About 65 people attended the event, in violation of Gov. Janet Mills' executive order limiting indoor gatherings to 50 people, the Maine CDC has said.
The wedding ceremony was held at Tri Town Baptist Church in East Millinocket, about 63 miles north of Bangor, and a reception was held at the Big Moose Inn Cabins and Campground in Millinocket.
A person who answered the phone Tuesday at Big Moose Inn said they are not commenting and the church could not immediately be reached.
None of the seven people who have died attended the wedding or the reception.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/coronavirus-death-toll-maine-wedding-rises-5-over-175-infected-n1240138
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At CNN Town Hall Biden Calls Out Barr for Comparing Coronavirus Lockdown to Slavery
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vh9yjvLzFuw
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Had a Barr-like figure been attorney-general in 1918, no telling how many more people would have died. Possibly including some of Barr's ancestors.
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(https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/61xLIxyMezL._AC_SL1140_.jpg)
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(https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0067/9726/2903/products/11_ec93c567-95ae-4d92-bd05-8e2df72153c2_large.jpg?v=1600314465)
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I just read on AOL news that RBG has died.
May she rest in peace.
Now, guess who gets to appoint another Supreme, and guess who'll rush the approval process?
Oh, s__t. ...
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We've been talking about it in the Diner thread.
I'm hoping this spurs on Dems, Inds, and undecided to flood the polls and vote against the Republicans.
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^^^^ May she rest in peace. Truly one of the greatest Justices of our lifetime. Her support for the little guys, the underrepresented, the minorities and those on the margins of our society leaves a unfathomable gap in the balance of the SCOTUS. Justice and society as we know it rests on balance of power. Sadly, the lame bigoted GOP does not understand b/c they are too busy rigging elections + having their fingers on every scale. If that SOB appoints another Justice, the fate for those marginalized, women, GBLTQ_, the environment, and our lives in general will become. You simply cannot keep packing the court with right-wing white bigots but he and GOP do not understand that.
Let's see if the lead GOP Senate bigot ass-wipe Moscow Mitch sings his tune of "it's an election year, the next president should pick the replacement Justice" BS this time now that the shoe is on the other foot...." I'd wager my right @@ TOM will make a nomination from his "approved list of GOP bigots" and the Senate will confirm yet another conservative "religious" lying bigot before the election. Make no mistake, her death is the worse case scenario... to have 3 justices appointed by that lying SOB and approved by the spineless GOP Senate. There's no way to stop it and sadly I won't live long enough to ever see the balance returned to function properly. This is the worst case scenario so we will see if there are a few GOP Senators with a spine or whether they are indeed a bunch of cowards. I can hardly wait to hear what our illustriousness Lindsay Graham from SC says now. He's OTR saying he would not agree with moving forward if the same thing played out in 2020. It will take at least 4 GOP senators with @@ to stop this.
Conniving lying bastard -> https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/donald-trump-put-nominee-replace-justice-ruth-bader/story?id=73107862
"McConnell refused to bring then-President Barack Obama's nominee to replace Antonin Scalia in 2016 -- Merrick Garland -- to the floor for a vote, but said he will not do the same this time."
Good analysis of the implications right down to a contested election. If we have another FL hanging chad episode, the court without RBG will be fractious and then we are in trouble. -> https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/what-ruth-bader-ginsburgs-death-could-mean-for-2020-and-the-supreme-court/
We are in for a rough, rough next ride for the next few weeks and 3 months folks. May &diety help us to come out on the other side. Stay safe, stay alive. Peace. Going back underground and staying outta this thread! :)
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Let's see if the lead GOP Senate bigot ass-wipe Moscow Mitch sings his tune of "it's an election year, the next president should pick the replacement Justice" BS this time now that the shoe is on the other foot...."
That evil-incarnate bastard is already singing that they'll get a new justice approved while the Great Orange Satan is still President.
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^^^ Unless 3 GOP Senators grow a set of real @@ (aka McCain) to stand up for their country over their BS GOP party... Yes Moscow Mitch will ram it through regardless of the hypocrisy. It will tear this country apart for at least 30 years. I'm watching Graham closely b/c he's got a lot of words to EAT now as he's OTR more than once stating he would not support this.
If the Democrats take the Senate and WH, then they can increase the # of Judges and flip the tables by naming only Liberal Justices to offset this imbalance - but that's risky too. With TOM nominating younger Justices - our children will be dealing TOM's legacy of court appointments (which Moscow Mitch also held up under Obama) and the GOP BS Conservative lying bigots long after I'm ashes. At this point, this will turn into a giant chess game and I'm sure Moscow Mitch is already counting votes. I so hope more than 3 GOP senators grow a set of @@ but I'm not counting on it b/c they are afraid of TOM.
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Shooting at a backyard party in Rochester leaves 2 dead and 14 wounded
By Jason Hanna and Ganesh Setty, CNN
At least one person opened fire at a large backyard party in the upstate New York city of Rochester early Saturday, killing two people and wounding 14 others in their late teens to early 20s, police said.
The shooting sent about 100 people fleeing in a "very chaotic scene," Acting Police Chief Mark Simmons said.
Police are trying to determine who -- and how many people -- opened fire. No suspects were in custody, and no motive was immediately known, Simmons said. The shooting moved Mayor Lovely Warren to visit the neighborhood Saturday and call for calm and healing in a city recently roiled by protests in a different high-profile case -- the death of Daniel Prude after an encounter with police earlier this year.
"A number of our young people -- babies -- that came to just hang out a little while ... left running for their lives (Saturday). And that's just something that we cannot have happen," Warren told reporters.
Warren said she spoke to the party's host, who said she "invited a couple friends over, who invited a couple friends over who invited a couple friends over." "And it just got out of control. She's just traumatized," Warren said.
https://www.cnn.com/2020/09/19/us/rochester-shooting-saturday/index.html
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That evil-incarnate bastard is already singing that they'll get a new justice approved while the Great Orange Satan is still President.
I get the feeling you don't approve... 🤔
Now seriously, I hope there's a way to stop this, from where I am standing, it looks as if they were cooking a putsch.
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West Wing, The Supremes, Season 5 episode 17
Supreme Court Associate Justice Owen Brady has died from a heart attack, refocusing the White House on naming a successor.
Judge E. Bradley Shelton meets with President Bartlet. When asked about his opinions on affirmative action, Shelton indicates that he has no position.
JED
Affirmative action is going to be back in the next few years. Let's start there.
SHELTON
What do I know about it?
JED
What do you think about it.
SHELTON
I don't know. Not the answer you were looking for?
JED
Not really.
SHELTON
Unnerving isn't it?
JED
Is there another topic you'd be more comfortable with?
SHELTON
Nothing comes to mind.
JED
Perhaps you should make something up.
SHELTON
I'm not trying to be cagey, but I don't position myself on issues and I don't know what I think about a case until I hear it. There are moderates who are called that because they are not activists. And there are moderates who are called that because sometimes they wind up on the left and sometimes on the right.
JED
You think I want somebody who will vote with Ashland?
SHELTON
I think you are looking for somebody who will vote with him now and replace him later.
JED
And that's not you?
SHELTON
Wish it were. He's a giant. But my allegiance to the eccentricities of a case will reliably outweigh my allegiance to any position you might wish I held.
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anyone else afraid to watch the debate on the 29th? i don't trust biden to be able to win against such a lying bully as 45. i hope they're doing a LOT of debate prep.
and why isn't biden on CNN, MSNBC, FOX every day, giving interviews? This year, TV ads are just not enough. 45 is having big rallies...what's biden doing. Nothing.
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(https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0067/9726/2903/products/11_ec93c567-95ae-4d92-bd05-8e2df72153c2_large.jpg?v=1600314465)
gonna take more than that. does Biden have it? History would say no
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I CHOOSE to be optimistic. If for nothing else it feels good to do it. It also gives one an impetus to feel like doing something.
Which I have. I've been involved in a postcard campaign to remind people who may not be regular voters what thy have to gain by voting this time and to make sure their vote counts. (You don't tell them WHO to vote for but the organization gives you lists of names and addresses in states where voter turnout is much needed and geared toward those likely to vote for Democrats if they do vote. You write all the postcards yourself and so it feels more personal. Etc.
I feel a lot of reason for optimism.
--I cannot see all those people who voted for Democrats in 2018 suddenly thinking everything is so much better that they'll vote against them.
--If the pandemic and it's handling isn't something that will sway voters to vote against this administration then I don't see what ever would be.
--The cretin-in-chief has never had an approval rating of 50% or above.
--There's no national third party candidates on the ballot to siphon off votes as in 2016.
--In a two person race, you need 50%+ to win. In 2016 Hillary's polls were always in the 47% - 48% range. Never 50% or above. Biden's have all been at least that and much higher throughout. Though people like to say the polls in 2016 were wrong. They were not. They were in the margin of error and she actually won the vote with 48.2% to the cretin's 46.1%. Or by 2.1%. The electoral college screwed that one.
--The cretin's largest % in polls the last month is 45%. One poll. It's been as low as 37% (McGovern territory!) but the biggest percentage of the polls has had him in the 42-43 percent range. Biden's 50 and mostly higher.
--Reagan's line: "Are you better off than you were 4 years ago?" Who is? The Dems should get out Reagan's old "Misery Index".
--A couple people keep asking "where are the Democrats and Biden" now? I've seen Biden on the news every time I've watched the news. He just did a CNN town hall and there's no shortage of videos that pop up on youtube that, if you want, you can send to people you think need to see them.
--Trump IS having rallies, but what else is new. He started them the same month he became the cretin-in-chief and actually opened his campaign for the next election the same time. So who are his rallies for? They're for him and his self-aggrandizement. And having them now--is that a good thing in the face of a Pandemic? For those that care rallying crowds of people together without face masks and other precautions is pure stupidity.
--Biden had Vice Presidential debates and did fine with them. I'm not worried about him debating Trump. He's been answering alot of the cretin's BS in the best of ways and doing it to his face will be refreshing. If someone stands up to Trump he always backs down. Look at the woman in his recent ABC Town Hall who barked at him when he interrupted his question. He just looked like a teacher had slapped his knuckles with a ruler.
--It's also up to US and the very LEAST all of us can do is to spread optimism. Pessimism is deflating and it does not make one feel like acting and doing something. It only makes one feel like doing nothing or just accepting nothing will change. Engage with other like minded people or groups. It's not too late.
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--If the pandemic and it's handling isn't something that will sway voters to vote against this administration then I don't see what ever would be.
Don't worry, it won't be. Not the base.
--Reagan's line: "Are you better off than you were 4 years ago?" Who is? The Dems should get out Reagan's old "Misery Index".
I still think Biden's not hitting hard enough. His commercials strike me as bland compared to the Great Orange Satan's commercials. Biden should be harping louder and more often on the lies Trump has told--and how 200,000 Americans are dead.
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Just talking to my sister (who is 86) this morning and she said and I agree, that she would never vote for Biden if there was any alternative other than Trump. He comes over in the few clips we get on our news as a mumbling geriatric.
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Hey Lyle,
I'm all about being optimistic but I'm realistic as well. I'm voting for Biden even though I hate him and most of his policies, and I despise Harris. I'm sure I'm not the only one who is looking at "the lesser of two evils". He's old and doddering and I question his ability to keep up in a debate with 45. Just a couple things...
-Biden had Vice Presidential debates and did fine with them. I'm not worried about him debating Trump. . The VP debates from 4 years ago are nothing compared to going up against 45. He has to be ready and I'm not sure he will be.
-A couple people keep asking "where are the Democrats and Biden" now? I've seen Biden on the news every time I've watched the news. He just did a CNN town hall and there's no shortage of videos that pop up on youtube that, if you want, you can send to people you think need to see them. Again, a town hall on CNN is not the same as a direct assault from 45. Biden is 78 years old, and doesn't always seem like he can keep focused on one thing at a time. He needs to be much more aggressive with TV interviews, it should be every day. Ads are one thing, but interviews on Fox and all the other outlets are free, and it gives him the opportunity to get his message out there. He's not doing it.
--Trump IS having rallies, but what else is new. He's making points with his base, he's getting air time. Biden needs to slam the airwaves with what he's going to do to make things better. He needs to be specific about 45s lies, and what will change when he is elected.
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Biden ... needs to be specific about 45s lies, and what will change when he is elected.
That's what I keep saying, especially about the lies. Maybe they should make me a campaign consultant. ... ::) Looks to me like they're taking the usual Democratic highroad, which is a highway to defeat.
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I'm not an expert on running political campaigns, but from things I've read, the total voting electorate is pretty much set on what they want to do this election and the focus in the Biden campaign is to persuade the rest of these people, people particularly in swing states, to vote Biden. So when you say you want Biden to hammer away at Trumps lies, that's something that really just flies past people who aren't in Trump's base. They already know his lies. They need to be persuaded to vote.
I read an article from a just released poll where "new and/or irregular voters [like the ones I mentioned sending postcards to] across six swing states were surveyed to better understand how this crucial but often-caricatured subset of the electorate thinks about the race with just seven weeks until the election."
Our findings contain generally good news for Biden, and bad news for Trump, but if anything should give the Trump campaign pause, it’s just how badly his poor character and governing failures have undermined his own ability to convince voters outside his base of anything. Trump is the epicenter of American politics, and can whip up controversies out of nothing, but the electorate polarizes around everything he says and does, and he consistently finds himself on the losing end of the partisan divide.
Our top-line findings are generally consistent with what more standard national and statewide polling shows: a healthy lead for Joe Biden, high levels of enthusiasm for Trump among his committed supporters, but intense distaste for Trump personally, and disapproval of how he’s done the job of president, among over half the population.
Yet despite matching the profile of people whom elites tend to think of as hard to reach, tuned out of the news, under-informed about Trump and his conduct as president, these voters are just like regular voters in two key ways: they see Trump for what he is and they’re riled up to get him out of office, no matter what shenanigans he engages in over the next 47 days.
___________________
We tested several pro-Trump/anti-Biden, and pro-Biden/anti-Trump messages to see which if any have the potential to change the race at the margins. None of the pro-Trump/anti-Biden appeals break Trump out of the low 40s, suggesting the only people buying what he sells are already committed supporters of his.
___________________
This general disinclination to believe Trump campaign messaging has filtered down to basically everything that touches on national politics. He has managed through relentless propaganda to convince a majority of voters that “looting, rioting, and crime in American cities” is a big problem, but only 43 percent of respondents approve or strongly approve of the job he’s done addressing crime, and respondents say Biden would do a better job at lowering crime rates than Trump.
___________________
The moral of this survey should be familiar to everyone who’s heard the tale of the boy who cried wolf. Except what’s coming for Trump in November isn’t the Deep State or the Fake News Media or Black Lives Matter or Antifa or any wolf. It’s the tens of millions of people he’s spent his entire presidency trying to deceive. If they vote as promised, he will lose.
___________________
Let's encourage them all to vote, however we can do it.
Currently, I'm trying to do that with five family members of voting age who are (for reasons that I still don't know) currently moving to the swing state of North Carolina.
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Voter Suppression:
To me, voting has always been a no-brainer. I've always voted in every election, even local ones in March with a only a local city proposition on it that brings out 10% of registered voters or less.
[By the way, even before this year and the pandemic, our state of California has enacted a law, passed by voters, that local city and town elections that do not rise to a certain level of voter participation, have to be changed to co-incide with fall state general election dates so that more people will participate in the voting. Big businesses, at least in my city, have used these Spring elections to get horrible bills passed that enrich wealthy developers and subvert most voters wishes, but voters are not motivated to vote in these small local elections. Even by mail, I guess. I was so happy this proposition passed. It means my local city council election is being held next month in November, instead of March when such a very small percentage usually vote.]
Because Federal elections in the U.S. are state run and don't have National uniformity, there are so many subtle ways that voter suppression can occur. Here's an example:
ARKANSAS VOTER REGISTRATION: “To qualify to vote in the next election, you must apply to register to vote 30 days before the election. If you mail this form, it must be postmarked by that date.”
Thirty days prior to this years election is Sunday, October 4.
It's not hard to imagine someone trying to mail their registration on Sunday, October 4th and finding the post offices closed. The registration would be postmarked Monday, October 5th. So, the prospective voter goes home and feels thwarted. One less vote on election day.
That info is from a website called Vote Save America who had been compiling information for each states voters and the rules for registration. After the person realized the date was a Sunday they spent another twenty minutes looking on the Arkansas elections website, and found a document stating that Arkansas has amended its guidelines and that voter registration applications will be accepted if they’re postmarked on Monday, October 5. This corrected information wasn’t on the front page of the Arkansas elections homepage. It doesn’t appear in bold lettering on the voter registration form. It’s buried in a PDF on a website that many voters don’t know exists.
The article details how what they thought would be an easy time of finding the info for each states voting guidelines to post online turned into weeks having made calls to Secretary of State offices and researching on state-specific election law to determine the exact dates and registration cut-offs for every state.
Bottom line from this article:
The obstacles to voting in the United States are not only confusing and outdated; they are arrayed intentionally to disenfranchise voters across the country. And that will continue to be the case until federal, state, and local election officials implement overdue changes that make voting equally accessible to all Americans.
The political conversation about voter suppression in the United States tends to overlook three key issues: Archaic and unequal voter-registration systems, unclear and irregular communication regarding key dates, cut-off dates and requirements, and right-wing opposition to declaring Election Day a national holiday. [Or: changing it to Sunday when most democracies cast their ballots.]
Addressing these impediments should be easy, and simple solutions to them would enfranchise millions of voters. The federal government and state governments have the power to dramatically increase voter participation in America, and should feel it is their duty to do so. That so many governments, particularly those under Republican control, not only don’t feel this obligation, but seek new tools of disenfranchisement, is a national scandal.
____________
In Stacey Abrams new book about how her opponent in the last Georgia Governor's election used voter suppression to win the Governor's race, she makes an unsettling observation. That through voter suppression techniques like gerry-mandering, for example, the people winning elections are winning with less votes than the majority and when a politician does not have to be accountable to a majority of voters to win his office he starts doing things out of norms and getting away with unacceptable acts only because they have the power.
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I'm not an expert on running political campaigns, but from things I've read, the total voting electorate is pretty much set on what they want to do this election and the focus in the Biden campaign is to persuade the rest of these people, people particularly in swing states, to vote Biden. So when you say you want Biden to hammer away at Trumps lies, that's something that really just flies past people who aren't in Trump's base. They already know his lies. They need to be persuaded to vote.
you're right about this, of course. I can't believe he has as much support as he has.
2020 Aug 31-Sep 13
Do you approve or disapprove of the way Donald Trump is handling his job as president?
Approve Disapprove No opinion
42% 56% 2%
https://news.gallup.com/poll/203198/presidential-approval-ratings-donald-trump.aspx (https://news.gallup.com/poll/203198/presidential-approval-ratings-donald-trump.aspx)
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Lyle, I received one of those hand-written postcards in the mail a couple days ago, from California! Only problem is, I've always voted in every election cycle since forever!! haha.......I DO NOT need to register to VOTE in this upcoming election. So, something is haywire with that process. BTW, I have NO IDEA who the person is that signed the postcard, never heard of that person in my Life. Very odd. :o
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I'm not an expert on running political campaigns, but from things I've read, the total voting electorate is pretty much set on what they want to do this election and the focus in the Biden campaign is to persuade the rest of these people, people particularly in swing states, to vote Biden. So when you say you want Biden to hammer away at Trumps lies, that's something that really just flies past people who aren't in Trump's base. They already know his lies. They need to be persuaded to vote.
By being made mad as hell and not taking it anymore, so they vote to get the son-of-a-bitch out of office.
The last election taught me not to trust polls. It would be nice if this one could make me trust them again.
Lock Him Up. ...
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Since RBG died, I've been hearing a lot of talk on TV about how conservative SCOTUS would become with another of the Great Orange Satan's minions on the bench. This is most certainly true, but it also looks to me that they want another of his minions on the bench in case the election goes to SCOTUS. I'm sure they think that would help the Prince of Darkness Grim keep the Oval Office. But maybe that's unsayable.
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^^^ Yeap. If things are contested we will see another repeat of 2000 debacle when the GOP "stole" another election from the Democrats by stopping the recount in the forsaken and senile state of FL. Do you think it was a coincidence that Bush's brother was the Governor and that SOB TOM just pardoned Stone was also a major instigator in FL? ... These people are beyond corrupt.
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The hypocrisy boggles the mind. They don't even attempt to hide it.
They're out to undo everything since the New Deal.
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The last election taught me not to trust polls. It would be nice if this one could make me trust them again.
In 2016 Hillary's polls were always in the 47% - 48% range. Never 50% or above. Biden's have all been at least that and much higher throughout. Though people like to say the polls in 2016 were wrong. They were not. They were in the margin of error and she actually won the vote with 48.2% to the cretin's 46.1%. Or by 2.1%.
If you look at the final polls, they were quite accurate. Hillary would win the vote by 2-3%. It's just that no one thought Trump would gain that electoral college win in the states that he did. MI, PA, WI.
I think if he hadn't assumed the Presidency last time, people would be pretty confident about the election this year.
In the National Polls since March 1st, Trump has never been ahead in them. Not once.
_______
Since you're in PA, Jeff, do you happen to know anyone that voted for the cretin in 2016 that is not doing so this time?
The latest polls in those states from FiveThirtyEight:
Michigan:
Biden: 49.6
Trump: 42.1
Pennsylvania:
Biden: 49.7
Trump: 45.2
Wisconsin:
Biden: 50.2
Trump: 43.7
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Lyle, I received one of those hand-written postcards in the mail a couple days ago, from California! Only problem is, I've always voted in every election cycle since forever!! haha.......I DO NOT need to register to VOTE in this upcoming election. So, something is haywire with that process. BTW, I have NO IDEA who the person is that signed the postcard, never heard of that person in my Life. Very odd. :o
Well, no one I sent a postcard to has heard of me, either! It's just a way to get voters to notice. That other people maybe like themselves are concerned enough to get one to vote. People will generally toss something out that's pre-pirnted and sterile looking. Might even be suspicious of it. But handwritten and you're likely to look at it. It's not just registering, either; even if one is registered, the rules of voting are different in each state and for mailing ballots back or even requesting them, so it's all a friendly reminder to make sure you vote.
Jonn, do you want Me to send you a postcard? :D
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Stephen Colbert's show has put up a website:
https://www.betterknowaballot.com
Anyone can find their state and all the info they need to know about registering, requesting ballots, timelines and voting procedures. They are adding personalized video messages for each state every day and some of them are quite amusing.
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Fritz, I know Virginians can vote already. When are you going to do it?
It would seem weird to me to vote in September for the November election.
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If you look at the final polls, they were quite accurate. Hillary would win the vote by 2-3%. It's just that no one thought Trump would gain that electoral college win in the states that he did. MI, PA, WI.
Sure enough, but that's kind of it for me: The polls said she would win, and she didn't. If they turn out to be correct this time, perhaps my attitude to them will change.
Since you're in PA, Jeff, do you happen to know anyone that voted for the cretin in 2016 that is not doing so this time?
No. I don't know anybody who voted for him four years ago. Even my lifetime Republican father voted for Hillary.
I guess that puts him in the same category as Barbara Bush.
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Fritz, I know Virginians can vote already. When are you going to do it?
It would seem weird to me to vote in September for the November election.
Actually I got absentee ballots already for both Earl and me. I'll fill his out and get his signature at the rehab facility, then bring both of them to one of the dropboxes that the county has in a number of places, mostly close to schools. Since the Democrats took over both houses last year (all the statewide offices have been in Democratic hands for quite a while now), they liberalized voting procedures considerably, much to the Republicans howling about it. If I wanted to I could vote in person early at the courthouse, like people have been doing in Fairfax County, but I'd just as soon use the absentee ballot since I have it. It used to be that you had to prove a valid excuse to vote absentee, but no excuses are needed now.
I applied for the absentee ballots last month, and they were mailed to arrive the same day that early voting started.
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The hypocrisy boggles the mind. They don't even attempt to hide it.
They're out to undo everything since the New Deal.
What is even more mind boggling is that we are now seeing many many videos or Republican Senators who emphatically were saying that if the situation were in the same this year as in 2016 when the videos all were recorded, they would abide by the same rules, that they wouldn't have a Supreme Court nomination before an election where the people could decide.
So, the voters, see all this hypocrisy and emphatic lying and they just still are going to go ahead and vote for the liars and hypocrites? I mean, one would hope you'd have already had a Senator with the morals to uphold truth and justice without having to ever come to a decision about voting them out, but you know if the shoe was on the other foot they be whining and complaining louder than anyone.
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So....we heard on our news today....that if America or/and China....get a vaccine
for Covid .......they will not share.
Lovely people. Good humanitarians.......NOT. >:(
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^^^
I'm assuming that's because of this from the cretin in chief this week:
The Trump administration said it will not join a global effort to develop, manufacture and
equitably distribute a coronavirus vaccine, in part because the World Health Organization
is involved, a decision that could shape the course of the pandemic and the country’s role
in health diplomacy.
The only note in Trump's Song is: mi mi mi mi mi mi...
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So....we heard on our news today....that if America or/and China....get a vaccine
for Covid .......they will not share.
Lovely people. Good humanitarians.......NOT. >:(
45 is an ass, as we all know. Personally, I wouldn't take a vaccine that china produced, i'd rather stay home for another year. And Russia........I don't think so...
One country notably absent from the long lineup of participants is the US. The Trump administration said earlier this month that it would not join the program—called the COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access (COVAX) Facility—because of the involvement of the WHO. President Trump said at the end of May that he intended to withdraw the country from the WHO, which experts quickly called “shortsighted” and “self-defeating.”
Also absent from the list are Russia and China, which have already issued authorizations for experimental vaccines and have begun distributing them before clinical trials are complete. China, for instance, has reportedly inoculated tens of thousands of people already.
https://arstechnica.com/science/2020/09/covid-19-vaccine-pact-includes-156-countries-but-not-us-china-or-russia/ (https://arstechnica.com/science/2020/09/covid-19-vaccine-pact-includes-156-countries-but-not-us-china-or-russia/)
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And because of Trump, at least 50% of Americans say they wouldn't take the vaccine the
first go 'round, citing the fear it wouldn't have been properly tested.
And around 25% said they won't take it at all. Because, you know, science.
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Georgia...good news in the latest poll.
Today's Atlanta Journal Constitution Poll announced their new Presidential poll and the race in Georgia is tied:
Biden: 47%
Trump: 47%
Georgia's Senate Race is also statistically tied within the margin of error:
(Incumbent) Perdue: 47%
(Democrat) Ossoff: 45%
This poll's margin of error is 4.3%.
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They're out to undo everything since the New Deal.[/font][/size]
Correct. Just watch the Ken Burn's series on the Roosevelt's. If the GOP get's their long desired goal, there will be no "social security", "medicare" or "medicaid". There will be no EPA so they can pollute all they want and they also have eyes on the FDA. I hope all those old farts in FL are paying attention b/c that's what the GOP is really up to. They have held up then appointed 100's of "conservatively compromised" judges and now will tilt SCOTUS heavily in an always win conservative favor. Each time the GOP put's it's finger on the scale, the more corrupt they become. The other big GOP goals are to: a) Overturn Roe v. Wade and b) Kill the ACA so no one has health insurance but them c) Erase and roll-back environmental laws designed to keep the USA from looking like China. d) ...
The GOP has been steaming mad since Roosevelt's "New Deal" when the voting public turned out and overwhelming approved. As I've said before, the GOP knows that if the public really turns out, they will loose and loose big. All these attacks on the electorate since 2000 have been well planned and executed by the GOP bastards. 2016 proved (again) that winning the popular vote by millions can be outdone by well engineering cheating. 80,000 people voting for TOM put that SOB in office. 80,000 - about 1/3 of the people who will have died from Covid 19 by YE put that SOB in office in what I consider one of the most rigged elections in this country's history. This is how Fascism started in Europe before the World Wars and what put Hitler in power. The fact that I'm seeing the same things play here NOW in the USA is deeply, deeply troubling.
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So, the voters, see all this hypocrisy and emphatic lying and they just still are going to go ahead and vote for the liars and hypocrites?
Yes, because, as Michael Cohen said, they're stupid.
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Since RBG died, I've been hearing a lot of talk on TV about how conservative SCOTUS would become with another of the Great Orange Satan's minions on the bench. This is most certainly true, but it also looks to me that they want another of his minions on the bench in case the election goes to SCOTUS. I'm sure they think that would help the Prince of Darkness Grim keep the Oval Office. But maybe that's unsayable.
Actually, I finally heard this said on NBC's evening news today.
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After watching the images of Trump supporters gatherings in closed venues I think we should every Trump meeting a murder of fools.
It sounded logical in my head, but now that I have written it it reads like a bad dad joke.
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Every year since 1988 PBS has aired an election special... The Choice 2020 is this year's. I've watched all of them (I'm pretty sure).
Although I don't watch them to make up my mind who to vote for. I already know. What I do like about them is that no one in them is trying to persuade you one way or another. They basically are just trying to the tell the story of the two people running and how they've come to the place and decision where they are wanting to do that.
(https://i2.wp.com/www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/FL_BidensStutter.jpg?resize=510%2C290)(https://i1.wp.com/www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/FL_Trumpbullyingmilitaryschool.jpg?resize=510%2C290)
They go through Trump's formative years. How he became a bully.
They go through Biden's formative years. How he battled a severe stutter.
Those two photos above remind me of my #1 rule for voting for anyone: A sense of humor is required. A sense of humor is a marker of intelligence and awareness. A smile is enlightening. The best leaders can take a joke at their expense. It is said that Trump decided he would run for President at the White House Correspondent's Dinner where he attended one year and Seth Myers made several jokes at his expense. They showed Trump at his table. He didn't laugh or shrug it off. He sat there seething. Trump made the selfish decision to run for President because of his ego. Not because he had any self-awareness or desire to do the work of a Presidency. For the people? No, for Donald's ego.
I really don't see how anyone could watch this and still want to vote for Trump, despite any reservations they might have about Biden. But I don't understand why they ever wanted to vote for him anyway, except for the entertainment.
If interested, you can watch it here, I believe, on PBS's website:
https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/film/the-choice-2020-trump-vs-biden/
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^^^^ Sadly, that is easy. His base of idiots think's he "walks on water" and can do no wrong. To them, this is more "fake news" and leftist propaganda. Recall that SOB said in Jan 2016 that he could "...shoot someone on 5th Avenue and not lose any voters." He was not kidding - he meant every word of it. 200K people are dead b/c of him.... and his "supporters" just don't give a damn.
In case you've forgotten -> https://time.com/4191598/donald-trump-says-he-could-shoot-somebody-and-not-lose-voters/
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Man gets 1 year in jail for holding large parties against COVID-19 rules
ByEmily Shapiro
September 26, 2020
A Maryland man has been sentenced to one year in jail after he hosted two parties against the governor's COVID-19 large gathering orders, prosecutors said.
Following a bench trial, Shawn Marshall Myers, 42, was convicted of two counts of failure to comply with an emergency order, according to a Friday statement from the Charles County State’s Attorney's Office.
On March 22, officers responded to Myers' home in Hughesville for a report of a large party violating Gov. Larry Hogan's state of emergency and large gathering orders, prosecutors said. Officers found about 50 people at Myers' home and they told Myers that his party violated the current rules, prosecutors said.
Myers allegedly argued with the officers, but he "eventually agreed to disband his party," prosecutors said. Days later, on March 27, officers again responded to Myers' home for another report of a party with more than 50 people.
https://abcnews.go.com/US/man-year-jail-holding-large-parties-covid-19/story?id=73259644
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^^^^
One young law student here in UK got fined £10,000 for a party he threw
a few weeks back.
Yep a "Law Student"....and "no"...... daddy wouldn't pay the fine.
Well done dad !!
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I had a very horrible waking thought this AM WRT the ass-wipe FL Governor, DeSantis, a 100% Trump supporter, re-opening everything and banning local governments from imposing their own restrictions - now.
https://abc7ny.com/florida-phase-3-lifts-restrictions-coronavirus-covid-19/6561359/
a) The GOP is now using CV19 as a weapon of voter suppression and intimidation + some might say a weapon of mass destruction on Floridians. Let's consider the time line based on the weekend of 9/25. Add 2 weeks = ~ Oct 9.. the next first wave of CV19 hits hospitals and begins overwhelming them.
b) The infection rates will continue increasing for a least another 4-8 weeks. That then times well with FL + Nov voting. This times nicely as a direct attack on the people of FL by the GOP governor who's attempting to help Trump win FL.
Why?
a) If CV19 is peaking on/around Nov 3, that will create a "heath crisis" which will ripple thru the FL election. It will provide more reasons for any results to be challenged in court and we know where this is heading for multiple reasons.
b) We from the data that CV19 hits minority communities and "everyday" working folks harder than people likely to vote for Trump. So we could view this an subtle voter suppression by the GOP to keep more people likely to vote against TRUMP away from the poles by either making sure they are afraid to vote, b/c the virus is raging, or dead or sick and in the hospital.
c) When the rates escalate, that same GOP governor may then step in and "close the poles" or do other things to impact the vote b/c he now has a health crisis in motion.
All, very dangerous, very devious, very evil. Someone needs to call the spade a spade and wake up the folks in FL they are being manipulated by the GOP to the point of using Floridians as sacrificial lambs to support the GOP agenda. We already know the GOP thinks 200,000+ dead is "no problem and is affecting a very small number of people...."
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And, of course, on top of all that, they will challenge the validity of mail-in ballots, especially in any state the Great Orange Satan loses.
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Man gets 1 year in jail for holding large parties against COVID-19 rules
ByEmily Shapiro
September 26, 2020
A Maryland man has been sentenced to one year in jail after he hosted two parties against the governor's COVID-19 large gathering orders, prosecutors said.
Following a bench trial, Shawn Marshall Myers, 42, was convicted of two counts of failure to comply with an emergency order, according to a Friday statement from the Charles County State’s Attorney's Office.
On March 22, officers responded to Myers' home in Hughesville for a report of a large party violating Gov. Larry Hogan's state of emergency and large gathering orders, prosecutors said. Officers found about 50 people at Myers' home and they told Myers that his party violated the current rules, prosecutors said.
Myers allegedly argued with the officers, but he "eventually agreed to disband his party," prosecutors said. Days later, on March 27, officers again responded to Myers' home for another report of a party with more than 50 people.
https://abcnews.go.com/US/man-year-jail-holding-large-parties-covid-19/story?id=73259644
GO Maryland!!!!
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^^^^
One young law student here in UK got fined £10,000 for a party he threw
a few weeks back.
Yep a "Law Student"....and "no"...... daddy wouldn't pay the fine.
Well done dad !!
Stoopid Kid, and, YAY Dad!!
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I had a very horrible waking thought this AM WRT the ass-wipe FL Governor, DeSantis, a 100% Trump supporter, re-opening everything and banning local governments from imposing their own restrictions - now.
https://abc7ny.com/florida-phase-3-lifts-restrictions-coronavirus-covid-19/6561359/
a) The GOP is now using CV19 as a weapon of voter suppression and intimidation + some might say a weapon of mass destruction on Floridians. Let's consider the time line based on the weekend of 9/25. Add 2 weeks = ~ Oct 9.. the next first wave of CV19 hits hospitals and begins overwhelming them.
b) The infection rates will continue increasing for a least another 4-8 weeks. That then times well with FL + Nov voting. This times nicely as a direct attack on the people of FL by the GOP governor who's attempting to help Trump win FL.
Why?
a) If CV19 is peaking on/around Nov 3, that will create a "heath crisis" which will ripple thru the FL election. It will provide more reasons for any results to be challenged in court and we know where this is heading for multiple reasons.
b) We from the data that CV19 hits minority communities and "everyday" working folks harder than people likely to vote for Trump. So we could view this an subtle voter suppression by the GOP to keep more people likely to vote against TRUMP away from the poles by either making sure they are afraid to vote, b/c the virus is raging, or dead or sick and in the hospital.
c) When the rates escalate, that same GOP governor may then step in and "close the poles" or do other things to impact the vote b/c he now has a health crisis in motion.
All, very dangerous, very devious, very evil. Someone needs to call the spade a spade and wake up the folks in FL they are being manipulated by the GOP to the point of using Floridians as sacrificial lambs to support the GOP agenda. We already know the GOP thinks 200,000+ dead is "no problem and is affecting a very small number of people...."
Even if they were warned, I doubt they'd take the warning to heart.
I'm so vey glad my Son and family got stationed up to Alaska before all this sh*t started.
Kodiak Island
Total residents: 13,592
Total cases: 74
Active cases: 2
Recovered cases:72
Deaths: 0
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I guess I'm a bad citizen, but I have no intention of watching the debate tonight. Listening to the Great Orange Satan always upsets me and makes me angry (so do his commercials, for that matter). He's just going to lie and attack Biden and probably interrupt him. I want to be able to sleep tonight; I won't get any if I listen to him for an hour and a half. LOL.
Although, this might be contradictory, I think I would be interested in hearing at least some of his interviews with Bob Woodward.
(I still think Biden's people are not hitting back hard enough, though perhaps I'm just not hearing the right commercials. I would expect them to be hitting really hard here in Pennsylvania--e.g., don't just tell people Biden will protect Social Security; forcefully point out that the Great Orange Satan will destroy Social Security, and point out that Biden will protect it. Don't just tell people that the Great Orange Satan lied about Covid. Point out that he lied about it and 200,000-and-counting Americans are dead because of his lies. Say that he has their blood on his hands.
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I would be inclined not to watch it, but a neighbor is having a new TV installed and it's been delayed, so she's coming by to watch it here tonight. I'd much rather not see the Orangeosity, but it looks like I'm obliged this time.
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I would be inclined not to watch it, but a neighbor is having a new TV installed and it's been delayed, so she's coming by to watch it here tonight. I'd much rather not see the Orangeosity, but it looks like I'm obliged this time.
You're being a good neighbor, and that's a Good Thing.
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Data from Google reveals a significant increase in people search the words "move to New Zealand" on Google from the US today, as presidential candidates Donald Trump and Joe Biden sparred in their first televised debate.
It was searched more times in the two-hour period of the debate than at any other point within the last week.
In particular, the hottest interest is seen to come from Hawaii, Oregon and Colorado.
;D
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So sad, Helen Reddy has died
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-09-30/i-am-woman-helen-reddy-blazed-a-trail-then-left-it-all-behind/10496882
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Tonight's debate debacle:
(https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/noNMpSk9XcztngokASn8cVdltmIwSg7tBaIuM_wd1dbaicDrkkrVb3QpXMzGgrocRgdoezQ=s615)
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(https://fivethirtyeight.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/SlackChat_0930-4x3-1.png?w=575)
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Last night, when Biden questioned Trump's intelligence (there's a question?) Trump said:
“Don’t ever use the word ‘smart’ with me."
Don't worry, I never have and never will.
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Lillian Brown was a makeup artist to nine presidents, but she did more than powder noses. She advised on diction, apparel and camera angles, helping them put their best selves forward. Brown died at 106.
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Lillian Brown was a makeup artist to nine presidents, but she did more than powder noses. She advised on diction, apparel and camera angles, helping them put their best selves forward. Brown died at 106.
Did she go back to JFK? It's pretty well known that in Kennedy's debate with Nixon, Kennedy wore makeup and came off a lot better in appearance than Nixon.
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Did she go back to JFK? It's pretty well known that in Kennedy's debate with Nixon, Kennedy wore makeup and came off a lot better in appearance than Nixon.
I really don't think that would be a difficult thing to do...to look better
than Nixon !! :D
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Did she go back to JFK? It's pretty well known that in Kennedy's debate with Nixon, Kennedy wore makeup and came off a lot better in appearance than Nixon.
Dwight D. Eisenhower to Bill Clinton all used her services.
On Aug. 8, 1974, Lillian Brown, a longtime makeup artist for presidents, was urgently summoned to the White House, where she saw President Richard M. Nixon sobbing. Engulfed by the Watergate scandal, he was about to go on national television and announce that he was resigning. If he didn’t stop crying, she knew, his makeup would streak down his face.
“He was in bad shape,” Ms. Brown recalled years later. “We had six minutes to air, and I thought, What can I do for this man?”
She tried humor. She reminded him of the time one Christmas when his Irish setter, King Timahoe, kept bumping into the tree and destroying the ornaments. To get the dog away from the tree, Ms. Brown took him into a bathroom, and somehow, as if scripted by the Marx Brothers, she, the dog and Nixon all ended up locked in the loo by the Secret Service.
Nixon burst into laughter. With no time to spare, Ms. Brown made him presentable, and he went before the cameras.
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Very interesting! Thanks!
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Trump’s fear of Biden
There is a theme that has run through President Trump’s entire re-election campaign: He is afraid that he cannot beat Joe Biden.
It explains his extraordinary efforts last year to prevent Biden from becoming the nominee. And it explains his more recent efforts to discredit the election. Rather than running against Biden, Trump now seems to be running against democracy itself.
I think it’s useful to think of the 2020 Trump campaign in three distinct stages. The first was during the run-up to the Democratic primaries, when Trump used the powers of the presidency to pressure at least one foreign country, Ukraine, to smear Biden (an effort that led to impeachment). Trump took no similar steps to damage Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren or Kamala Harris.
Why? Trump often acts on instinct, and he may have done so in this case. But he is also a voracious consumer of polls, and polls consistently showed him faring worse in a hypothetical matchup against Biden than against any other Democrat.
The second stage began after Biden clinched the nomination, and Trump doubled down on efforts to damage him. He portrayed Biden as a corrupt old politician, not so different from Hillary Clinton, or a closet socialist.
It hasn’t worked. Biden’s lead over Trump has remained stable.
That has led to the third stage: Try to prevent a normal election.
Trump, with help from other leading Republicans, has increased his efforts to make it difficult to vote. His campaign has filed lawsuits in North Carolina, Pennsylvania and elsewhere to restrict voting by mail. (The Times Magazine has a new investigation on this subject, including Mike Pence’s role.)
In recent weeks, Trump also began what seems like an obvious attempt at voter intimidation, encouraging his supporters to show up at polling places, purportedly to prevent voter fraud, which almost never occurs. Donald Trump Jr. has released a video calling for an “army for Trump’s election security operation.”
Tuesday’s debate was the apex of the strategy, at least for now. Trump refused to allow a normal debate, constantly interrupting Biden. For voters, the result was a chaotic jumble. For Trump, it was one more attempt to undermine the normal functioning of democracy.
There is still more than a month until Election Day — an eternity in politics. At this point, though, the picture from the last year and a half is remarkably consistent.
Trump seems to believe he would lose a normal election to Biden. But in an abnormal election, with low turnout and protracted fights over ballot eligibility, who knows what will happen? And if Trump does lose, he is laying the groundwork to make the false claim that the election was rigged.
As my colleague Maggie Haberman put it yesterday, “People close to him are blunt that the president knows he’s losing and is scared of it.”
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Very insightful.
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Trump’s fear of Biden
[...]
"Donald Trump Jr. has released a video calling for an “army for Trump’s election security operation.”
This Junior a-hole is a chip off the ol' blockhead.
And have you guys seen Lindsey Graham all over Fox News lately begging (really, he's begging) for money for ads against his opponent in the Senate Race, who is raking it in to defeat Graham. It is so demeaning. He actually looks desperate and about to cry.
Sounds like a really strong leader with morals ya got there South Carolina.
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Very insightful.
Yes it is!
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Add to it, now rushing to get a Conservative appointed to the Supreme Court because he thinks it will help him if the election goes to SCOTUS. It might also energize his base if she's confirmed before the election.
He's going to lose that suit in Pennsylvania, I would bet. He's already lied about people being prevented from going to the polls. They're not polls. They're places to drop off mail-in ballots to prevent trusting them to the U.S. mail. One of the drop-off places is City Hall, which is only a few blocks from my place. As soon as I get my ballot--my application has been received--I'm going to fill it out and drop it off.
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So, on October 1st...
--Recordings came out with Melania Trump saying the children at the border being kept in cages and separated from their families were better off there than in their own countries.
--That Melania didn't want to do Christmas at the White House because it's stupid and nobody cares about any of that.
--Kimberly Guilfoyle, Don Jr.'s girlfriend, had several complaints filed toward her where she works at Fox News for sexual harassment, against other female employees.
--That Trump's press secretary Kayleigh McEnany has Covid and may be the Typhoid Mary of the White House.
--Donald Trump and Melania and who knows how many others now have Covid.
____________
And that's just the first day of the month.
32 days until the election...
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I am soooo sceptic about him having Covid, not because he hasn't done anything possibly to try to contract it, but it doesn't fit him to acknowledge it so fast... and he hasn't ever said anything that wasn't a lie. OMG, I am turning into a conspiracy theorist :o
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My thoughts exactly! Sympathy vote factor? Avoidance of debate#2? Who knows. ::)
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^^^^ Absolutely. I thought this would be one of the October "surprises" that the &#*&*& GOP has in store. Sweep up some sympathy vote, especially if it turns dire for any of them. Yeap, he now has an out to avoid the debates. But will he stop campaigning? We shall see. No doubt this will be followed by a round of miraculous "I'm cured. See it wasn't that bad. If I survived, anybody can survive" tweets, lies and more. The shit show has just really started - sadly. I just hope an overwhelming majority of the American voter see thru all this BS... and that their votes are actually counted. I still stand by what I posted earlier which is happening in FL. Voter intimidation, voter role purging, and GOP Lawsuits aimed at the voting public - on all levels - are at an all time high by the GOP because they truly know it is the only way they can win - short of colluding with a foreign power. We have reached a sad state of affairs. When I thought Richard Nixon was bottom... we are now digging under that floor. V.
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I'm agreeing with you all above. That's the first thing that some of us thought of...he actually acknowledged this so fast? That is so uncharacteristic of him. SO then you wonder why?
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And it's not being a conspiracy theorist to wonder the possibilities, because this administration has shown us all how untrustworthy they are. I'm even going so far as to wonder if they're somehow trying to stage Pence as the replacement and get voters to vote for him. I mean, with this group anything out of the ordinary is ordinary for them.
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Considering one of the symptoms of having COVID, someone sent out this tweet today:
How will we know if they've lost their taste?
(https://images.dailykos.com/images/315794/large/barron-trump-on-a-lion-881x574.jpg?1477110456)
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:laugh: :laugh: :laugh:
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My thoughts exactly! Sympathy vote factor? Avoidance of debate#2? Who knows. ::)
I thought all of these things too....but IF he does have Covid...it does
prove one thing......that there is a God after all !! :D :D
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I can't watch CNN anymore, they're overreacting so much. Jim Acosta said 45 was "medi-vac'd", "airlifted" to Walter Reed. He got on Marine One. He wasn't on a stretcher.
They'll hash this over with anyone they can get to come on and talk about it, it will all be speculation until something happens. That's what's so tiresome about cable news, to fill air time they just keep going and going...even when there's nothing more to say.
(https://www.energizer.com/images/default-source/default-album/new-footer-bunny_225x340.png)
I will say Biden's camp is being classy, with the well-wishes. And they dropped attack ads.
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^^^
Agree with all your assessments.
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you made my day, Lyle :)
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As the old saying goes, you can attract more flies with honey than with vinegar.
It's just a pity that the base thrives on vinegar.
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May all those suffering from CV be healed.
All lives matter. Even orange ones heading toward a trial.
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May all those suffering from CV be healed.
All lives matter. Even orange ones heading toward a trial.
Didn't mean for him to die from Covid.....just suffer a little.
May be then he will understand the use of masks and social
distancing.
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Didn't mean for him to die from Covid.....just suffer a little.
May be then he will understand the use of masks and social
distancing.
Just so.
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Considering one of the symptoms of having COVID, someone sent out this tweet today:
How will we know if they've lost their taste?
(https://images.dailykos.com/images/315794/large/barron-trump-on-a-lion-881x574.jpg?1477110456)
:D :D :D Good one.
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I will say Biden's camp is being classy, with the well-wishes. And they dropped attack ads.
^^^ But the TOM camp has not stopped their attack ads. I see this as another GOP card played to do exactly as we said, garner sympathy support and stop the attack ads b/c they are probably working. If the tables were turned, as we've clearly seen from the ACB bitch nomination, the GOP would, most certainly, increase the attack ads if Biden had CV19 and was in the hospital.
Now I can hear my mother saying, "...be nice, do unto others, rise above the fray, ..." That only works when everyone plays by and believes those rules to heart. The GOP asswipes are truly horrible racists bigots with no conscience or sense of right and wrong only "me first..." They so deserve exactly what karma deals to re-balance the scales they have had their fingers resting on for the past decade!
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The doctors gave a "press conference" about 45's condition, and as usual, you could tell it was bullshit. 45 told the doctors what to say and not say. They wouldn't answer direct questions about if he had been on oxygen ("he is not on oxygen right now, no"), they wouldn't say what his fever was ("I don't want to give numbers").
But he did say, maybe inadvertently, that he tested positive 72 hours ago. We found out 36 hours ago, and that meant he went to a fundraiser and rally in Minn knowing he had covid. He also went to his golf course on Thursday and met with 250 donors and had another meeting. All of this with no masks, no distancing.
He's pure evil. I frankly don't give a damn what happens to him.
CHrist Christie just tested + for covid...
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CHrist Christie just tested + for covid...
He did? I hadn't hear that yet.
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^^^^ Yeap I read yesterday that he knowingly potentially infected GOP donors, some paying $250K a plate to be in his presence - maskless. "Steaming mad...and panicing..." now they are - gotta love it! I sincerely wish them "all the best" A near-death experience to that crowd would be appropriate - scale balancing karma. Yeah on Christie too...and he's high risk....
https://www.cnbc.com/2020/10/02/gop-donors-panic-after-coming-close-to-trump-at-fundraiser-hours-before-positive-covid-19-test.html
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200K+ Americans dying is one thing, but to have a member of their elite class come down with even a mild case, that's traitorous.
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The list keeps growing.
Sen. Ron Johnson becomes latest member of Congress to test positive for COVID-19
John Fritze & Ledyard King - 10/03/2020
Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wisc., became the latest member of Congress to test positive for COVID-19, his office announced Saturday.
Johnson, chairman of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, was tested Friday afternoon, according to the statement from Johnson spokesman Ben Voelkel.
"Senator Johnson feels healthy and is not experiencing symptoms," Voelkel said the statement. "He will remain isolated until given the all-clear by his doctor."
Aides said that most staff in Johnson's Washington office had already been working remotely. With the new test result, the office will go all-virtual, an aide said.
Johnson, 65, was the third GOP senator to announce a positive test result for coronavirus since Friday. Sens. Mike Lee, R-Utah, and Thom Tillis, R-N.C., also tested positive. The former businessman from Oshkosh is the 16th member of Congress to have tested positive for the virus since the pandemic began in March.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2020/10/03/ron-johnson-wisconsin-republican-has-tested-positive-covid-19/3607529001/
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(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EjXrDN1VgAEcIcU.jpg)
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From the looks of it, the virus may run the gambit of all the republicans in the senate. HMMM! !?
I was going to add something else, but elected not to. 8)
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(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EjXrDN1VgAEcIcU.jpg)
This is absolutely true, Lyle!!
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From the looks of it, the virus may run the gambit of all the republicans in the senate. HMMM! !?
What a pity.
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(https://external-preview.redd.it/LxUrbm58yIc_lWr6vLS0AKk7X1wzN7EA-iHjoB7tIK4.jpg?auto=webp&s=04bd7d614472eb68a538bd557f1181b87bf3612b)
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(https://i1.wp.com/www.weeklyhumorist.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/trump-covid-feat.png)
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:laugh: :laugh: :laugh:
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Christie tests positive for COVID-19 after helping Trump with debate preparation
BY Brett Samuels - 10/03/20
Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) has tested positive for COVID-19, he announced Saturday, making him the latest official in President Trump's orbit to contract the virus.
"I just received word that I am positive for COVID-19. I want to thank all of my friends and colleagues who have reached out to ask how I was feeling in the last day or two," Christie tweeted. "I will be receiving medical attention today and will keep the necessary folks apprised of my condition."
Christie was at the White House last Saturday for Trump's announcement that he was nominating Judge Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court. The ex-governor was spotted interacting closely with others in the Rose Garden without a mask.
In the week since, Trump, first lady Melania Trump, Sens. Mike Lee (R-Utah) and Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), and former White House counselor Kellyanne Conway have all tested positive for the coronavirus that causes COVID-19. All five were also at the Rose Garden ceremony, which was followed by an indoor reception.
https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/519473-christie-tests-positive-for-covid-19-after-helping-trump-with-debate
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What if Trump Can’t Run? Many Steps Are Clear, but Some Are Not
The Constitution says the vice president is next in line if the president dies or can no longer serve, but things get murkier from there.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/02/us/politics/trump-succession-constitution.html
A VERY INFORMATIONAL ARTICLE!
It answered some of my questions, but in the end it's likely to be a total clusterf**k. But then it just totally fits in with what the past 4 years have been! I am no longer the least bit surprised about anything anymore. The year ain't over yet!!! ::)
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It answered some of my questions, but in the end it's likely to be a total clusterf**k.
I read a similar article on FiveThirtyEight which has the same conclusions.
After the 2000 debacle in Florida, you'd think our election laws would have been updated. You would think that worst case scenarios would have laws firmly in place as to what would happen. But no. I understand that making laws for scenarios that most likely would not occur might seem like a waste of time when our Government can hardly take care of pressing interests, but I say, instead of having two years of people running for President each cycle, why don't we have two years of fixing these things instead.
You know that if any of the unlikely scenarios arise that the Republicans will do absolutely anything to win throwing any moral, ethical or practical considerations straight out the window. Just look at McConnell and the Scotus situation right now. Plow it through is all he cares about regardless of rules, regulations, COVID, common decency...whatever...
We now do, frankly, need a national system of voting. The quaint idea of leaving how to conduct elections up to each state>district>county>mayor>>>>> is frankly becoming a recipe for disenfranchisement for countless numbers of people. The ONLY good thing about it at present is that the decentralization makes it nearly impossible for foreign entities to hack into and disrupt things in any broad way.
One thing we've learned from this administration is that a lot of things need to be put into actual writing, as laws, with penalties also in writing as to what happens if those laws are broken, because we've seen what happens without it. I mean, even simple debate rules were drawn up and the candidates agreed to them. So it's assumed both would follow them, but one didn't. So there was no, if you do that then this happens. So chaos followed.
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Have you been following the reclaiming of the #ProudBoys on Twitter? Since yesterday it has been flooded with pictures of proud gay people and it's a thing of beauty. Even if you don't have twitter you can see the thread:
https://twitter.com/hashtag/proudboys?lang=es
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Have you been following the reclaiming of the #ProudBoys on Twitter? Since yesterday it has been flooded with pictures of proud gay people and it's a thing of beauty. Even if you don't have twitter you can see the thread:
https://twitter.com/hashtag/proudboys?lang=es
Hello Elena! I saw that on FB, I believe Star Trek's George Takei has been posting on Twitter about that. I don't know if he is the originator, but it seems that people are following his post.
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Have you been following the reclaiming of the #ProudBoys on Twitter? Since yesterday it has been flooded with pictures of proud gay people and it's a thing of beauty. Even if you don't have twitter you can see the thread:
https://twitter.com/hashtag/proudboys?lang=es
Thanks for sharing that. The photos just go on and on and on and are great to look at!
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Thanks for sharing that. The photos just go on and on and on and are great to look at!
Oh yeah!
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Nate Cohn’s polling diary: Trump seems unlikely to benefit politically from his diagnosis, polls suggest. In one, from Reuters/Ipsos, 65 percent of Americans said he probably would not have been infected had he taken the virus more seriously.
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Nate Cohn’s polling diary: Trump seems unlikely to benefit politically from his diagnosis, polls suggest. In one, from Reuters/Ipsos, 65 percent of Americans said he probably would not have been infected had he taken the virus more seriously.
Karma.
I guess it's not a hoax anymore. Or fake news.
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The sacrifices of many
Trump leaves the hospital, but only briefly. He is taking a medicine used in severe cases. And many Americans are wondering why pandemic rules don’t apply to everyone.
Millions of Americans have gone months without seeing some of their closest relatives or their colleagues. They have canceled weddings and graduations. They have said goodbye to dying loved ones by phone.
But when many of the nation’s political leaders gathered at the White House nine days ago to celebrate the Supreme Court nomination of Amy Coney Barrett, they decided the pandemic rules that applied to everybody else didn’t apply to them.
Some of them assumed, wrongly, that because they had received a fast-response virus test when arriving at the White House, they could not be infectious. Others simply chose not to think about the virus, it seems. Instead, dozens of them sat, unmasked, within inches of one another. They shook hands, hugged and kissed. After starting outdoors, the event moved indoors, where the participants continued to celebrate like it was 2019.
There is now reason to believe that the gathering was a superspreader event for the coronavirus. The president and the first lady are sick, as are two senators who attended, a former governor, the president of the University of Notre Dame and multiple White House staff members, journalists and others.
And anyone infected at the White House that day may have later infected others.
Andrew Joseph of the health publication Stat wrote this weekend that the event at the White House “offers a case study in what experts say has been the administration’s recklessness.” The Times has compiled photos from the event, with labels identifying many of the attendees.
Rebecca Ruiz of Mashable tweeted, in response to a photo of the indoor reception for Barrett: “I haven’t hugged my parents since March 8 and they haven’t hugged their grandchildren since then either. 6yo desperately wanted to hold hands w/ her grandpa on her birthday and I said no, we can’t take that risk.”
David French of the conservative website The Dispatch, wrote, “What a breathtaking contrast to the way so many millions of Americans have lived their lives.”
Perhaps the most poignant response came from, the Notre Dame president, the Rev. John Jenkins. This spring, Jenkins had made the case that colleges had a moral obligation to reopen, for the sake of the “body, mind and spirit” of their students. But Notre Dame would do so carefully, he promised. When some students violated campus rules by holding parties — without masks or social distancing — and a virus outbreak followed, Jenkins canceled in-person classes for two weeks as a punishment and a precaution.
Early last week, even before it was clear that the White House helped spread the virus, Jenkins wrote a letter to the Notre Dame community expressing regret for his behavior there. “I failed to lead by example, at a time when I’ve asked everyone else in the Notre Dame community to do so,” he wrote. “I especially regret my mistake in light of the sacrifices made on a daily basis by many.”
The New York Times
The Morning
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Vitamin D sufficiency may reduce complications of COVID-19
A new study demonstrates that people with sufficient levels of vitamin D are less likely to develop life threatening COVID-19 complications when hospitalized with the disease.
The research, published in the journal PLOS ONE, could be valuable for doctors attempting to reduce the mortality rates of COVID-19 in the absence of an effective vaccine.
If further studies back up these findings, vitamin D supplements might offer a cost-effective way to limit the risk of severe COVID-19. It is important to note that this recent study has several limitations, which we address below.
Since the sudden emergence of the virus SARS-CoV-2 and the disease that it causes, COVID-19, scientists have paid a great deal of attention to the development of a vaccine.
Experts consider a vaccine to be crucial in reducing the effects of the virus, even if it is not yet clear to what extent an initial vaccine would moderate rates of transmission and infection.
Alongside the endeavor to develop a vaccine, researchers are also focusing on developing effective COVID-19 treatments. Even if none can make a person immune to the virus, treatments may be able to reduce the disease’s severity.
https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/vitamin-d-sufficiency-may-reduce-complications-of-covid-19#Treatments
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Didn't mean for him to die from Covid.....just suffer a little.
May be then he will understand the use of masks and social
distancing.
Is this man completely crazy ??
Seems he has no thought for his staffs welfare.
Doing a drive by to wave to his fans was criminal..mask or no mask.
Big car if you can keep 2 mtrs apart. I wish to amend my post from
last week. I think I do want him to "turn up his toes"....just a little !!
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Vitamin D sufficiency may reduce complications of COVID-19
https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/vitamin-d-sufficiency-may-reduce-complications-of-covid-19#Treatments
Yes +++ there was some other info published earlier. Vit D can be low for many reasons. I've been taking simple Vit D for many years on a very low dose b/c blood panels said deficient. A very easy fix.
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"No Democratic presidential candidate has won Arizona since 1996. But a new Times poll shows Biden with an eight-point lead there and the Democratic Senate nominee with an 11-point lead. It’s evidence that Republicans are losing their grip on the state, Nate Cohn writes."
New York Times
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Mars passes closest to the earth until 2035
Today, Mars will make its nearest approach to Earth until 2a035. The red planet will come within 38.57 million miles of us; it's usually about 140 million miles away. Mars hasn't come this close to Earth since 2003, which was the closest it had been in 60,000 years. It is now visible as a rusty red dot to the naked idea. The two planets will be the closest to each other at 10am EDT.
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^^^
Hi, neighbor!
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c8/My_Favorite_Martian_Ray_Walston_1963.JPG)
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"The distance of Mars from Earth is currently 62,072,206 kilometers, equivalent to 0.414927 Astronomical Units. Light takes 3 minutes and 27.0506 seconds to travel from Mars and arrive to us."
as of 2:30 pm Eastern. Quite a far cry from the maximum of over 20 minutes when Mars is far away to get a signal from the rovers and ground stations there.
https://theskylive.com/mars-info#:~:text=The%20distance%20of%20Mars%20from,Mars%20and%20arrive%20to%20us.
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I feel like we are ON Mars with Trump around!! :o :P :laugh:
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(https://bloximages.newyork1.vip.townnews.com/stltoday.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/5/1f/51fa98b9-d1f1-5672-ba3c-ba6097550180/5f7cf3ae3dd94.image.png?resize=800%2C567)
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Chilling..."UNTIL THEN"...
Justices Thomas, Alito Blast Supreme Court Decision On Same-Sex Marriage Rights
NPR | October 6, 2020
https://www.npr.org/2020/10/05/920416357/justices-thomas-alito-blast-supreme-court-decision-on-gay-marriage-rights
Supreme Court Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito issued a broadside against the high court's 2015 same-sex marriage decision on Monday when the court declined to hear a case brought by a former Kentucky county clerk Kim Davis who refused to issue a marriage license for such couples.
The two justices agreed with the decision not to hear the case but used the occasion to take a legal baseball bat to the court's 2015 decision Obergefell v. Hodges, which declared that same-sex couples have a constitutional right to marry under the 14th Amendment guarantee to equal protection of the law.
Writing for himself and Alito, Thomas said that the court's decision "enables courts and governments to brand religious adherents who believe that marriage is between one man and one woman as bigots, making their religious liberty concerns that much easier to dismiss." His words came in a case brought by Kim Davis, a former county clerk in Kentucky, who in the aftermath of the same-sex marriage decision refused to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples and was sued.
"Davis may have been one of the first victims of this court's cavalier treatment of religion in its Obergefell decision," Thomas and Alito wrote. But they agreed that the court properly decided not to take up Davis' case because, they said, it does not "cleanly" present the issues in the court's 5-4 decision five years ago.
Nevertheless, they said, the case "provides a stark reminder" of the consequences of the same-sex marriage decision. By choosing to endorse "a novel constitutional right over the religious liberty interests explicitly protected in the First Amendment, and by doing so undemocratically, the court has created a problem that only it can fix," they said. "Until then, Obergefell will continue to have ruinous consequences for religious liberty."
The fact that Thomas and Alito chose this moment to issue their blast provoked dismay in the LGBT community and elsewhere.
"It is alarming that there are justices on the Supreme Court who want to overrule Obergefell, which is a precedent the court has reaffirmed, and which hundreds of thousands of couples have relied to seal their unions in matrimony," said Yale Law School professor William Eskridge, co-author of Marriage Equality: From Outlaws to In-laws.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
When I heard this last night my gut reaction was that if these Justices ever succeeded in overturning this I would go out and burn the place down. Literally. Why does "religious liberty" to conservatives mean that others have to believe what they do? If they believe you can't eat meat on Fridays, that doesn't give them the right to go into Outback Steakhouse and shut it down on Fridays.
These two things from Alito and Thomas are particularly galling: "this court's cavalier treatment of religion" and "a novel constitutional right over religious liberty interests."
REALLY? These two justices are ignorant or purposely ignorant. The word “marriage” can refer to two distinct concepts: civil marriage and religious marriage. Marriage is a religious act that occurs in the context of a religious community consistent with religious texts, traditions and understandings. Marriage is also a civil institution that affords certain legal privileges and protections. The law treats these concepts differently. Obergefell v. Hodges is about civil marriage.
What religious liberty is taken away under this and exactly how is it cavalier? No one's religious beliefs are being taken away from them. It's when your religious beliefs (you, in other words) don't like that other people are doing something you don't like. Nothing is being taken away from you. No one is forcing it upon you. If the mere suggestion of alternative ideas is abhorrent then that explains a lot of religious right people rejecting climate change as real.
As for a "novel constitutional right?" I suppose they don't believe in equal protection under the law, either.
Sorry for the profanity but...FUCKING ASSHOLES.
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Meanwhile...in November, the justices are scheduled to hear a major test of laws that apply generally and neutrally across the board. At issue is Philadelphia's decision to terminate a contract with Catholic Social Services for screening and certifying parents for foster care. The city terminated the contract because Catholic Social Services, citing its religious objections, refused to certify qualified same-sex couples.
In these cases where religious institutions cite religious objections, does the court ask them exactly what their religious objections are? I don't approve of marriage equality. Well, what if your religion promoted fasting on certain Holidays, would you refuse to certify qualified people because they did not? I mean, you could have dozens of questions in this vein. I mean, I don't know how the Catholic church views marriage now, ut there was a time when if you were divorced you were a pariah. Or hd a child out of wedlock, any number of things. Religious objects there?
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Oh, I've figured for a long time that once Roe is gone, Obergefell will be next, so I'm not at all surprised.
I just will never understand how religious objections can be allowed to excuse a public official from performing the duties of that person's office.
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^^^ I saw the write up b/c I follow a SCOTUS blog daily. I nearly choked to death which was quickly followed by raw fear they would be expressing such views followed by nausea. Those statements should disqualify either to rule on any case related period b/c they are expressing pre-conceived positions. Those two ass-wipes are still angry b/c they lost that vote and want nothing more than to please the GOP base vs fairness in the law.
What you state is accurate and what they said is highly disturbing. Both feel that "ALL religious freedoms" - a very poor choice of words "freedom that is" outweigh the good of and rights of everyone who may not agree with them and that simply is not true.
The path the GOP has chosen to bring down Roe v. Wade and Obergefell v. Hodges is very dangerous to a free society. It moves the USA one step closer to becoming ruled by a "religious dictatorship" rubber-stamped by GOP Justices seated on SCOTUS by a corrupt GOP and bat-shit-crazy, lying, cheating POTUS. The GOP has martyred themselves to bringing down Roe v. Wade since the gavel was struck and this is the only way they can do it b/c they cannot get the votes in Congress to outlaw a woman's right to choose - the optics are politically nonviable - today.
In no way should any POTUS be allowed to appoint this many to SCOTUS especially since McConnell went nuclear and removed the one rule which forced the legally dominate party to compromise. A working democracy has to balance the will of the people and protect the rights of the minority from the tyranny of the majority which is NOT happening today as the GOP stacks the decks in their favor. This is an "at any cost" position. Karma is real bitch and I hope she's ready b/c those who disagree with religious dogma are going to need her to survive the next 40 years.
Since Moscow Mitch stole a seat from a sitting POTUS in 2016, nothing has felt fair or right. This is all about balance - you win some you lose some but putting your fingers on the scales of fairness and JUSTICE is fraught with REAL danger to society but the GOP does not care as long as they remain in control and get to casually make the rules for everyone else to follow - except themselves when it pleases them to do otherwise.
We are heading for a major clash between the GOP religious right bible-thumpers and the rest of our sane society. Recall that it is only within my own lifetime that "blue laws" were removed from the books in many GOP dominated RED southern states. And if the GOP religious bigots get their way, they will enact and enshrine laws guided by their religion and not by fairness to all. "Freedom of Religion" also means "Freedom FROM Religion" and they most certainly do not like that position!
This is a very, very dangerous and highly threatening position, "We the People" are entering. Confirming yet another deeply dogmatic religious bigot to SCOTUS gives the GOP and the religious bigots the power to undo everything accomplished in the past 50 years socially from women's rights, marriage equality, anti-segregation, workplace anti-discrimination, lending laws, all the name of "religious freedom". There is no real freedom in that use. It's a sound bite that frames their argument falsely which they have been using for years. At some point the bible-thumpers will be making the rules for everyone by overturning established laws they don't like. When you serve the public, you serve ALL the public not just the segment who agrees with your religious dogma. For example, "My religion says "the races shall not mix" which means my white kids shouldn't be forced to attend school with people of color." That position is NOT outta reach and is in many ways already being played. Now on top of that, the religious bigots want YOU to pay to educate THEIR kids in their religious private schools! WTF?
You are correct too. These same folks will also need to make divorce illegal, mandate you should be in church EVERY Sunday (and they will take attendance) and Wednesday night for your mid-week dose, that you should pray 10 x a day, that no meat will be served on Fridays, that anyone committing adultery be stoned to death in public, that GBLTQ people be tossed off rooftops, inter-racial marriage will be illegal, corporations are people-too, alcohol is evil and will be outlawed, entertainment such a movie theaters are "places of the devil" and will be shuttered, businesses will be closed on Sunday (b/c everyone should be in church), hmm and let's not even get into all the sports which should be shutdown as well. I've heard it all before growing up and many of these were in place in the past 50 years!
You may think I'm exaggerating - sadly I am not. In some areas of this country, again in my own lifetime, I had a minister who refused to perform a ceremony for anyone getting married again after divorce. He believed that once you were married, you are married forever (including eternity) to that person period. There was no out if he beat you. There was no out if he or she cheated on you. There was no out - period. And he stuck to his position, even in his own church, other pastors had to be used to perform marriages in those circumstances. Do I think he should be able to hold that belief, sure you can think what you want.. but should you be able to use ANY religious dogma to discriminate against others b/c you do not agree with THEIR life choices - HELL NO. On the horizon, plan for a return to prohibition and women's rights will also be on the front line of the attack, equal protection and education for all will be in the sights too. In fact, any marginalized segment of society the religious bigots do not like will become fair game in SCOTUS decisions. You can bet the GOP bigots already are preparing court cases to take all the way to a GOP appointed, religiously anointed majority You may think I'm joking but I am not. That is the path we are on if yet another religious bigot is is confirmed to SCOTUS and short of CV19 hitting the Senate hard and putting a bunch of them in the ICU, it looks like there's nothing the rest of people can do to stop it at this point. They will ram this one thru at any cost to anyone. Karma, baby karma is our last hope.
I've said for decades now the GBLTQ community should organize and ordain a religious entity where sexual orientation, expression etc.. was acceptable and written into the Church's bi-laws. Then that could be used to fight all this "conservative religious BS" we see today. How do you balance one "faith" against another? Hmmm.. very slippery slope we should NEVER find ourselves on in the first place with this "religious freedom" BS that favors a "belief" over a reality.
Bottom Line is religious freedoms is a huge misnomer that the weak minded have easily fallen for - sounds just like MAGA.
Religion should NEVER enter into any element of a government for the people and when it does watch out... b/c within a generation or two, it will be the religious "clerics and leaders" calling the shots and anyone / everyone who does not agree with them will be accused of heresy and stoned or thrown from the rooftops of buildings or just disappear. There was a very good reason the founders set forth a clear "separation of church and state" and that is slowly being chipped away as we are seeing now. Sadly, yes the GBLTQ community, a minority, WILL be tyrannized by this religiously dogmatic majority when the courts have been packed with more GOP religious bigots. There will be no one in those courts to stand up and say this wrong like the late, great RBG. May she rest in peace.
This is the longest post I've composed in a long time in a thread I'm not even suppose to be reading! I'm sure my BP is up 10+ points. But yesterday's events from those sitting SCOTUS justices are signaling the depth of crisis the GOP intends to inflict on the minority even if they badly lose this or any future election for the next 40 years.
Stay safe, stay alive. Peace.
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^^^
Excellent post, Vincent. Thank you.
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Pete Buttigeig talks about this when he appeared on Stephen Colbert last night:
Pete Buttigieg Has A Message For Justices Alito And Thomas As They Attack Marriage Equality
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i9v47SdfuLc
Pete: "I'm tired of the existence of my marriage, my family, being up for debate."
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A commenter on the video wrote: Honestly, the only reason gay marriage is an issue is because of people like Pence and these Supreme Court Justices. Otherwise, people would just move on because it doesn’t actually affect them.
EXACTLY.
I take what Alito and Thomas have said as a threat. Supreme Court justices should not be in the business of threatening people.
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Are you aware...
...that 4 of the 8 current Supreme Court Justices were put there by Presidents who did not receive the most votes of the American people in their elections? And a 5th is on the way. >:D
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^^^^ YES and that's what makes this latest ram job all the more wrong. Hypocrites.
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About the Vice-Presidential Debate:
What good is a televised debate when one of the participants spouts lies and inaccuracies to the American people and uses exaggerated political talking points while they are playing a game of one upsmanship.
If you don't know who you are already voting for, and don't know you're being lied to, what good are these debates? Pence's talking points were all scare tactics. He stood there with his pious demeanor as though he's better than those two women he had to deal with and disrespected, again, the debate format by constantly interrupting and going over his time limits. I've never really been a fan of debates, ever. I don't think they really help. People only look to them for gotcha moments. Like a fly in your hair.
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^^^ I can only hope that fly is karma at work...
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(https://scontent-iad3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/121016246_4535135399861227_879648874495524521_n.jpg?_nc_cat=100&_nc_sid=730e14&_nc_ohc=P-3dKQRGGgAAX-PPQ-0&_nc_ht=scontent-iad3-1.xx&oh=ef0c5ba2b9f2c607f463aa7a8808ecba&oe=5FA51201)
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(https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/6vIUIE-ERhYadSrCZORYeAnY4AqhVGaWEhUpgBMV4ucpTuu1Ep4cwebJMdtLHznX3H8VeKM=s500)
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(https://i.etsystatic.com/9246816/r/il/92882f/2562209847/il_1140xN.2562209847_s4fr.jpg)
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Everything's BIGGER in Texas?
Los Angeles County Harris County (#Houston)
Pop: 10.4 million (1st in US) Pop: 4.7 million (3rd in US)
Mail ballot dropoff sites: 398 Envelope Ballot box with ballot dropoff sites: 1
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Ejq3lJlWkAcRpwy?format=png&name=360x360) (https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Ejq3lJmXgAUdfhy?format=png&name=small)
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This sounds nice. Commenter in the New York Times:
I’m looking forward to a time in the near future when a new government will just hum along in the background, no longer invading the media space with dozens of daily Twitter fits, and that my first thought in the morning and my last thought at night will no longer be about this miscreant whose insanity and corruption of the past four years has brought this country to its knees.
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This should be read by all those who cannot be bothered voting.
https://www.odt.co.nz/news/decision-2020/sisters-enjoy-new-feeling-emancipation
Mansoureh and Somayah Sadeghi know the privilege of voting better than most.
The Afghani sisters, refugees from Iran, are looking forward to voting for the first time in their lives in this year’s general election.
The pair arrived in New Zealand just over a year ago, and are both studying English at Otago Polytechnic in Dunedin.
Born in Iran to Afghani parents, they had few rights.
"We looked for a better life with citizen’s rights," Somayah said.
"Rights to work, rights to educate, rights to own something — this is what we didn’t have in Iran."
They could not hold driver’s licences and they definitely could not vote.
Somayah said it was hard to put into words what it meant to them to be able to exercise their democratic rights for the first time.
"It’s a new feeling ... but we like it. It’s really interesting for us to be able to think about the future.
"We feel part of the country, part of the community. We have roles here. Our voice matters."
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I swear, I've had 4 years to give me some kind of inkling why people like the cretin-in-chief and I Just cannot understand it.
Maybe I just don't want to believe so many people are ________. I have several choices for that word, but none seem adequate or one word doesn't seem adequate.
And if they really don't get why he should not be President and never should have been, why don't they know and how can they be shown the truth or learn the truth?
People who support him would be okay for any President to even "think" the following, much less act on it?
In several phone calls last weekend from the presidential suite at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, Mr. Trump shared an idea he was considering with his White House staffers: When he left the hospital, he wanted to appear frail at first when people saw him, according to people with knowledge of the conversations. But underneath his button-down dress shirt, he would wear a Superman T-shirt, which he would reveal as a symbol of strength when he ripped open the top layer. He ultimately did not go ahead with the stunt. At the White House on Saturday, Mr. Trump took note of the teal blue shirts the attendees wore, pointed to the crowd and said, “I want to put one of them on instead of a white shirt.”
As for his Doctor. Wouldn't you know Trump would have a doctor named CONley?
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^^^ You do know employees at the hospital were required to sign non-disclosure agreements for Trump....
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I did not, but anything goes with this cretin.
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I've been in my home town in Central Pennsylvania since Saturday while my father has been hospitalized. This is a rock-ribbed Republican county, so I have been quite surprised by the number of Biden/Harris signs I've seen on front lawns in the city.
After all, remember what James Carville said about Pennsylvania.
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What did he say?
I don't remember.
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California Republicans Embrace Legally Dubious Ballot Harvesting
After Trump and the GOP Spent Months Decrying the Practice
--The California Republican Party doubled down on its use of unauthorized ballot drop boxes, potentially in violation of state law, shortly before state officials issued cease-and-desist orders compelling them to stop.
--Election officials are investigating and addressing multiple instances in Los Angeles, Orange, and Fresno counties of Republicans setting up unauthorized drop boxes for their voters' mail ballots.
--The state Republican Party defended itself on Twitter by citing California law allowing third-party ballot collection, but officials have noted that state law clearly prohibits drop boxes not established by election officials.
--California Republicans have also put themselves directly at odds with the messaging of President Donald Trump and national Republicans who have forcefully opposed ballot-harvesting efforts.
https://www.businessinsider.com/california-gop-breaks-with-party-embraces-unauthorized-ballot-harvesting-2020-10
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What did he say?
I don't remember.
Wasn't it something like, Philadelphia and Pittsburgh at either end, and Mississippi inbetween?
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California Republicans Embrace Legally Dubious Ballot Harvesting
After Trump and the GOP Spent Months Decrying the Practice
--The California Republican Party doubled down on its use of unauthorized ballot drop boxes, potentially in violation of state law, shortly before state officials issued cease-and-desist orders compelling them to stop.
--Election officials are investigating and addressing multiple instances in Los Angeles, Orange, and Fresno counties of Republicans setting up unauthorized drop boxes for their voters' mail ballots.
--The state Republican Party defended itself on Twitter by citing California law allowing third-party ballot collection, but officials have noted that state law clearly prohibits drop boxes not established by election officials.
--California Republicans have also put themselves directly at odds with the messaging of President Donald Trump and national Republicans who have forcefully opposed ballot-harvesting efforts.
https://www.businessinsider.com/california-gop-breaks-with-party-embraces-unauthorized-ballot-harvesting-2020-10
They're special. Above the law.
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KKK 'Social Visit' Cards Left at Joe Biden Supporters' Homes in Tennessee
Cards describing a "social visit" from the Ku Klux Klan were left at the homes of Joe Biden supporters in Tennessee, intimidating local residents. Breana Green, of Shelbyville, described how she noticed that a sign showing support for Biden in her neighbor's yard had been disturbed. Speaking to WSMV, Green said the yard was littered with a number of "business cards" reportedly belonging to the KKK. Green believed the cards were left in response to the Biden-Harris yard sign, which also had tire marks indicating it had been run over.
"It's scary knowing that just supporting a presidential candidate can incite this kind of vandalism," Green said. "There is some anxiety that people could be targeted in my family," she added. "People in the community could be targeted as well. I just don't think this should be something that we're dealing with in 2020." Speaking to WPLB, Green described that the cards said how the KKK had paid "a social visit," with a warning that the next time will be "a business call."
Green said she feels like the littering of the cards was an act of intimidation by the white supremacist group. "I can't imagine the folks in Shelbyville who are people of color, how they are feeling. They must be feeling really scared," Green said. "And I want to make sure the community comes together to make them feel like they are welcome." Another woman told WSMV that the same cards were left at her home and that her Biden-Harris sign had been stolen.
Shelbyville Police confirm that both Biden and Donald Trump signs have been targeted in the area and that KKK material previously appeared in the city in 2016.
Deputy police chief Brian Crews said there is no clear indication of intimidation, but encourages those who find similar cards to come forward.
"We don't believe that it's targeting specific races. We believe that it's targeting certain neighborhoods that would even be predominantly white," he told WPLN. "I think most people just view it as trash." In a statement, police said: "The Shelbyville Police Department has been made aware of a limited number of incidents involving theft and/or damage to campaign signs. This is true for both Trump and Biden yard signs. "We have also been made aware of local residents receiving literature from individuals purporting to be from the knights of Ku Klux Klan. Similar literature has been found in driveways and yards for a number of years."
The Shelbyville Police Department has been contacted for further comment.
And of course the police department is poo-pooing the whole thing! >:D
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What did he say?
I don't remember.
Wasn't it something like, Philadelphia and Pittsburgh at either end, and Mississippi inbetween?
My memory of it is, "Pennsylvania is Philadelphia and Pittsburgh with Alabama in between," but I might have the Southern state wrong.
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I admit I'm truly frightened by that "stand down, stand by comment," really by the "stand by" part. It's like saying, "Be ready when I need you."
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Some people say that the state motto of Alabama is "At least we're not Mississippi". ;D
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(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EjbrdYUUcAIZk4M.png)
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(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EWACGChU4AAaLSa?format=jpg&name=small)
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(https://ca-times.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/2ac158d/2147483647/strip/true/crop/2000x2000+0+0/resize/840x840!/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcalifornia-times-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F2e%2F4c%2F2caef7e008dec7e1c6786c290c16%2Fla-hp-pete-buttigieg-1x1-20190417)
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Aww, his little ears!
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(https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vcGJzLnR3aW1nLmNvbS9tZWRpYS9Fai1ib2tXWGtBTUowTEouanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY2MzQ4NzUzMX0.IuI0UQNP0iHnylMqxRTReJwDbot1eBf5wbVt9RxyPdw/img.jpg)
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Trump heading to Iowa for a campaign rally.
Some Iowans respond:
(https://townsquare.media/site/724/files/2020/10/Trump.jpg?w=980&q=75)
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I've been in my home town in Central Pennsylvania since Saturday while my father has been hospitalized. This is a rock-ribbed Republican county, so I have been quite surprised by the number of Biden/Harris signs I've seen on front lawns in the city.
Another thing that surprises me. In times past, most of the Letters to the Editor in the hometown newspaper were from people attacking other people who were attacking the Great Orange Satan. Now the letters are attacking the Great Orange Satan.
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(https://ca-times.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/2ac158d/2147483647/strip/true/crop/2000x2000+0+0/resize/840x840!/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcalifornia-times-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F2e%2F4c%2F2caef7e008dec7e1c6786c290c16%2Fla-hp-pete-buttigieg-1x1-20190417)
Pete doesn't really HAVE a job now. I think he's audtioning for one in a Biden/Harris Administration, but which one? I think he'd make a great Press Secretary!! IMHO, you understand? ;D
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^^^
When I posted that picture it was to accompany a story about him representing Biden/Dems on several Fox New interviews and the way he just leaves those hosts speechless when he answers questions in the simplest most devastating way because he's just telling the truth of the matter.
But then I just liked looking at the photo, heh! Yes, I think Press Secretary would be perfect for him. Especially contrasted with who's there now. I wonder what he would want.
Anyway, here's some paragraphs from that article:
https://www.latimes.com/story/2020-10-12/pete-buttegieg-ruthless-rhetorical-assassin (https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/story/2020-10-12/pete-buttegieg-ruthless-rhetorical-assassin)
Last week, having served as stand-in for Vice President Mike Pence during Harris’ debate prep, Buttigieg must have seemed a natural choice for a predebate interview. Fox News’ Martha MacCallum and Bret Baier certainly thought so, asking Harris’ former rival a preloaded question about her public policy differences with Biden. Standing in front of Kingsbury Hall in Salt Lake City, Buttigieg gave his now viral-famous answer:
“Well, there’s a classic game of trying to find a little bit of daylight between running mates,” Buttigieg said. “And if people want to play that game, we could look into why an evangelical Christian like Mike Pence wants to be on a ticket with the president caught with a porn star, or how he feels about the immigration policy that he called ‘unconstitutional’ before he decided to team up with Donald Trump.”
Cue stunned silence in the studio and the sound of a kajillion social media posts.
Steve Doocy must have missed the segment and the tweets because he had Buttigieg on “Fox and Friends” the next morning. When asked a question about President Trump refusing to participate in a virtual debate, Mayor Pete answered: “I don’t know why you’d want to be in a room with other people if you were contagious with a dangerous disease, if you care about other people. But maybe the president of the United States doesn’t care about other people.”
Later in the interview, when Buttigieg brought up the president’s denigration of fallen American soldiers, Doocy, having learned nothing even from his very own interview, interrupted to insist the president had denied those reports. Buttigieg let him down easy with a classic “If you really believe the president now on this kind of stuff,” he said. “I’ve got a bridge to sell you.”
Then, during an MSNBC interview on Sunday, Buttigieg followed a touching response to National Coming Out Day with a calm, cool and collected shredding of Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett’s just-made opening statement ahead of her confirmation hearings. “This is what nominees do. They write the most seemingly unobjectionable, dry stuff,” Buttigieg said. “But really what I see in there is a pathway to judicial activism cloaked in judicial humility.”
Then he launched into a soliloquy that evoked the award-winning play “What the Constitution Means to Me.”
“At the end of the day, rights in this country have been expanded because courts have understood what the true meaning of the letter of the law and the spirit of the Constitution is,” he said. “That is not about time traveling yourself back to the 18th century and subjecting yourself to the same prejudices and limitations as the people who write these words. The Constitution is a living document because the English language is a living language. And you need to have some readiness to understand that in order to serve on the court in a way that will actually make life better.”
He went on to add that even the Founding Fathers — the guys that these “stone-hand originalists claim fidelity to” — understood the importance of changing with the times.
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^^^
“And if people want to play that game, we could look into why an evangelical Christian like Mike Pence wants to be on a ticket with the president caught with a porn star, or how he feels about the immigration policy that he called ‘unconstitutional’ before he decided to team up with Donald Trump.”
Buttigieg said. “But really what I see in there is a pathway to judicial activism cloaked in judicial humility.”
“At the end of the day, rights in this country have been expanded because courts have understood what the true meaning of the letter of the law and the spirit of the Constitution is,” he said. “That is not about time traveling yourself back to the 18th century and subjecting yourself to the same prejudices and limitations as the people who write these words. The Constitution is a living document because the English language is a living language. And you need to have some readiness to understand that in order to serve on the court in a way that will actually make life better.”
I have no doubt that Pence made a pact by trading his "Christian soul" to the GoS and in the process selling out everyone in America except those "holier than thou" evangelicals.
Absolutely dead on. The real PTB would never be uneducated enough to have a quid pro quo conversation on that **@@( nomination - at least not with her directly knowing she'd be under oath. However, the GoS and the GOP have telegraphed their intents clearly for the past 4 years. We nominate you, we expect party above country. The GOP has now morphed the court into exactly what they profess to abhor.
The whole cloak of "originalist" and "textualist" is dogmatic BS. It's like saying the founding fathers had "time-traveling" foresight to plan for everything we see today - from social media to AK47s to nuclear power, climate change and air pollution. If they did, they would have surely written differently. This groups thinking stems from the religious dogma that the bible text is literate too. This is not a new idea and it rooted in the evangelicals (see a theme here). If literacy is what they want, then then let's outlaw divorce, start publicly stoning adulterers, harken women to be fully obedient to their husbands, rescind women's rights across the board, ... and I could go on and on quoting that BS old testament dogma.
Don't get me wrong, ACB is highly qualified to such a court position but should she be seated to upset the balance on SCOTUS is a whole other matter. Her appointment clearly gives the ultra-conservatives a 6-3 almost unbreakable advantage for the next 40 years or a whole generation! I'll be long dead by the time these last 3 GoS appointees, are no longer executing a GOP, conservative, business-friendly agenda.
The Democrats got screwed in 2016 with the GOP colluding with our enemy Russia to put a GoS figure-head as POTUS. I still partially blame all those idiots who voted off ticket for some 3rd party BS candidate b/c they just didn't like Clinton. Remember it came down to ~ 80,000 votes out of millions that decided the 2016 election in the electoral college. The GOP has been executing this takeover for 30 years with everything from gerrymandering to colluding.
Back to Buttigieg, I like what he represents. I hope someday he'll make an advisor or cabinet member or maybe higher - maybe in my lifetime. However, nothing will piss off the moral majority and evangelicals any more... Stay safe, stay alive. Peace.
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Anyway, here's some paragraphs from that article:
https://www.latimes.com/story/2020-10-12/pete-buttegieg-ruthless-rhetorical-assassin (https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/story/2020-10-12/pete-buttegieg-ruthless-rhetorical-assassin)
That piece ran in my hometown newspaper this morning. I was absolutely floored.
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FWIW, the thought came to me today that all the machinations of the Great Orange Satan and his minions are not the actions of confident people. They are the actions of scared people who think they're going to lose.
If they weren't so dangerous, they'd be pathetic.
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More People Watched Biden on ABC Than Trump on NBC, MSNBC and CNBC
By Brian Stelter, Fri October 16, 2020
Joe Biden's town hall on ABC averaged 13.9 million viewers on Thursday night, easily surpassing the Nielsen ratings for President Trump's town hall on NBC. That alone was a result virtually no one in the TV business expected. And that's not even the most surprising part.
The Trump town hall was simulcast by two of NBC's cable channels, MSNBC and CNBC, but even when those channels are included in the total, Biden -- on only one network -- still prevailed.
The Trump town hall averaged 10.6 million viewers on the NBC broadcast network. On MSNBC, Trump reached 1.74 million viewers, and on CNBC, about 671,000 viewers. So Trump's gross audience across the three channels was 13 million, about one million fewer than Biden's audience on ABC alone.
Staffers at ABC News privately admitted to their surprise when the preliminary ratings came in on Friday.
The Nielsen ratings only measure viewership on TV sets. Both town halls were also live-streamed to phones, computers and other devices.
https://www.cnn.com/2020/10/16/media/town-hall-ratings-biden-trump/index.html
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More People Watched Biden on ABC Than Trump on NBC, MSNBC and CNBC
By Brian Stelter, Fri October 16, 2020
Joe Biden's town hall on ABC averaged 13.9 million viewers on Thursday night, easily surpassing the Nielsen ratings for President Trump's town hall on NBC. That alone was a result virtually no one in the TV business expected. And that's not even the most surprising part.
Yes, I was hearing on some news programs, before either of these aired, that Trump wanted to do this town hall, opposite Biden, because he could brag about having more/bigger ratings. He was sure of it.
:laugh:
The most honest thing in what you posted:
Trump's gross audience
Ain't that the truth!. :P
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Yes, I was hearing on some news programs, before either of these aired, that Trump wanted to do this town hall, opposite Biden, because he could brag about having more/bigger ratings. He was sure of it.
He'll still claim he had more viewership.
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Trump said this: I might leave country if I lose to Joe Biden in Nov. 3 election!
The Lincoln Project's response: Promise?
Sometimes we get our laughs when we can!!
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His buddy Putin will be happy to give him a nice comfy dacha in Siberia. He'll even throw in a lifetime supply of Uncle Vlad's™ famous soothing and refreshing polonium tea.
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Yeah, Trump's putting it out there...he might leave...he does want to avoid prison, after all.
I'd say "Good riddance," but you know, if he went to Russia or someplace, even if Trump doesn't understand a lot, he has seen and knows things from being President. They could use him. Is there any law to prevent a former President from sharing state secrets. A law, not protocol. He's going to have to be watched and monitored when he's out of office. You know he'd sell any information he had to the highest bidder.
Jake Tapper shared some info yesterday:
@jaketapper
Former WH Chief of Staff John Kelly has told friends, about Trump: “The depths of his dishonesty is just astounding to me. The dishonesty, the transactional nature of every relationship, though it's more pathetic than anything else. He is the most flawed person I have ever met in my life."
Duh.
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His buddy Putin will be happy to give him a nice comfy dacha in Siberia. He'll even throw in a lifetime supply of Uncle Vlad's™ famous soothing and refreshing polonium tea.
One can only hope!
One of the other responses to this was that we should go ahead and buy Greenland and put him there along with his followers and not let them back in.
My theory is that he wants to leave and go somewhere with no extradition treaty with the US as he expects to be indicted on numerous charges once he is out of office! Once again, one can only hope!
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Anyone want to see a Joni Ernst embarrassing debate performance:
Watch Joni Ernst fail big time at her Iowa Senate Debate...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aFXohHi6Tmk
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Not sure whether to put this here or in the humor thread
Calling New Zealand’s Prime Minister “crooked and rigged,” Donald J. Trump accused Jacinda Ardern of competently handling the coronavirus pandemic in order to get reëlected.
Speaking at a rally in Wisconsin, Trump called Ardern’s use of public-health measures to mitigate the impact of the coronavirus on her nation “a sleazy political move like you wouldn’t believe.”
“This woman wanted to get reëlected, so she decided to go after the coronavirus and beat it,” he said. “This woman is a disgrace.”
ROFL like I think most Kiwis.
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I found the previous when searching for this which I had read earlier in our news but cannot now find
After securing a historic election victory, the New Zealand prime minister was asked about the world leaders who sent her congratulations. 'I have had a few lovely messages. Scott Morrison (Australia)... I've had the prime minister of Denmark, Pedro Sánchez from Spain. Of course, Boris Johnson reached out as well.' When asked about whether Donald Trump had been in touch, she replied: ' I don't tend to have those direct communications with the president of the United States'
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When asked about whether Donald Trump had been in touch, she replied: ' I don't tend to have those direct communications with the president of the United States'
and she should count herself fortunate for that,
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I must have watched this 20+ times when it came out in 2007...oh for the good old days, when Obama was young and had ideals for us to aspire to, and Giuliani was still in the early stages of dementia.
Debate '08: Obama Girl vs Giuliani Girl
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ekSxxlj6rGE (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ekSxxlj6rGE)
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Yeah, Trump's putting it out there...he might leave...he does want to avoid prison, after all.
Lock him up! ;D
I'd say "Good riddance," but you know, if he went to Russia or someplace, even if Trump doesn't understand a lot, he has seen and knows things from being President. They could use him. Is there any law to prevent a former President from sharing state secrets. A law, not protocol. He's going to have to be watched and monitored when he's out of office. You know he'd sell any information he had to the highest bidder.
Treason will do.
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I'm glad the Biden campaign is running ads that come right out and say the Great Orange Satan is a liar.
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(https://i.redd.it/s4hfjf4c76b21.jpg)
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;D ;D ;D
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So the latest NYT investigation shows Donald Trump retains a “secret” bank account in China making a nonsense of his flailing attempts to tie Joe Biden to the political interests of Beijing. Trump was pursuing China projects while in office.
Anyone surprised?
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Not at all.
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Two weeks out from election day yesterday Trump had a rally, complained about the temperature, which had been hovering around 50° and then told the assembled crowd he was only there because he was losing.
okay... You'd think his supporters might get a clue that that's what he thinks of them.
Then at one point, he appeared to be trying to get the crowd to feel sorry for him, telling them "nobody wants me".
Well, that might be an instance of truth-telling.
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Keep 'em coming...
New film appears to show Rudy Giuliani fondling himself in hotel room in front of young actress
https://www.nydailynews.com/news/2020/10/21/new-film-appears-to-show-rudy-giuliani-fondling-himself-in-hotel-room-in-front-of-young-actress/ (https://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/ny-nyc-borat-rudy-giuliani-20201021-qxm25e2kwfgkhl5zxmurr46arm-story.html)
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Two weeks out from election day yesterday Trump had a rally, complained about the temperature, which had been hovering around 50° and then told the assembled crowd he was only there because he was losing.
okay... You'd think his supporters might get a clue that that's what he thinks of them.
Then at one point, he appeared to be trying to get the crowd to feel sorry for him, telling them "nobody wants me".
Well, that might be an instance of truth-telling.
He's getting more and more desperate, making more and more (even for him) outlandish claims, and becoming more and more pathetic every day.
Too bad there isn't time enough before the election for someone to make something equivalent to Chaplin's The Great Dictator with the Great Orange Satan instead of Hitler.
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I can't even begin to imagine, and be horrified at the thought of what he is going to pull, and he will do so, if he loses, in the 14 weeks between the election and the swearing in. He's going to do as much damage as possible and the dickless Republicans will allow him to do it!
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^^^ Yeap. Trouble is they already started... passing as much crap as they can, gutting regulations they could not get thru, seating as many more GOP sanctioned Judges (which where all held up so they could) as they can possibly push thru, just like the Barrett confirmation... but doing something for the real America... the GOP Senate ain't doing shit. it's going to be a horrible mess to clean up and if the Dems don't win both the WH and Senate, it will be another 4 years of Moscow Mitch refusing to do anything to help anyone but the .01%...
Our country's voters need to wake up and stop backing these polarizing ass-wipes. We need more moderates, people willing to give/take, win some / lose some, compromise or we will end up like those middle-eastern enclaves of religious fiefdoms and evangelical radicals running the place.
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Anyone else voted yet?
I have always voted in person on election day. I find it exciting and also like to see other voters exercising their voting rights. I could have this year, too, but I decided that since the cretin has been bashing mail in voting that it felt like an act of defiance to do the thing he's railing against, so I did it.
Monday evening I got out my mail in ballot and finalized all the votes I wanted to make. We have ten propositions! Some of them dense. Looked up some info online for a final decision here and there. My ballot is SIX pages long! There's a city (West Hollywood) prop that would raise our sales tax over 10%. I've always thought that was a barrier that should not be broken. What are sales taxes in your areas?
Then I decided to take a midnight stroll in the cool evening air over to the library where the closest official Ballot Drop-Off box was to mail it...after my last vote for Biden/Harris was marked with hope and prayer for this country. Actually it's not mailing it, but sort of. I didn't know if the boxes were locked all night hours or not, but then I noticed the ballot mailing had our closest drop box locations listed and under the address said - 24 hours.
It was so quiet out that night, too, and peaceful. Maybe it's designed that way, but the box wasn't readily marked as to how you put the ballot in it. In fact, for a couple minutes I thought it "was" locked and was confused. I had to push and pull around it for a bit to see what was up, but finally part of it gave way to a narrow slit to put the ballot into it!
If one signs up at BallotTrax in CA, which I did, you can track your ballot in 4 steps.
1.) It's been mailed to you. (CHECK!)
2.) Post office has received it and it's on the way to the ballot center.
3.) Elections board has received it.
4.) Ballot has been verified/checked and your votes will be counted.
As of today #2 hasn't happened yet. I read that before October 30th, ballots are picked up approximately every 96 hours. That's 4 days. After that, every 72 hours, which is 3 days. As of right now it's been 59 hours since I put it in the box, however I don't know when they picked up the ballots in that box before I put mine in.
After I placed it in the Ballot Box the walk back home was contemplative and hopeful.
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Yep, requested a mail in ballot for Earl and me in early September. Unfortunately, Earl was unable to sign his outer envelope before he died.
Shortly after his passing, I filled mine out and brought it to a dropbox near our local library branch. I checked on the website, it has been received.
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I find this so telling of what passes for a modern conservative mentality.
(https://scontent-iad3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/122263200_10221035037778061_3929136950918512501_n.jpg?_nc_cat=111&ccb=2&_nc_sid=825194&_nc_ohc=GwJ6j8F1xTIAX_0HAxB&_nc_ht=scontent-iad3-1.xx&oh=90251b65c792c260e12a0276f496188f&oe=5FB5D234)
Fortunately, unlike Christianity, Trumpianity will not survive his demise.
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Perhaps I'm missing it on our News programs....but who is doing best
in the run up to the US election ?
I hope the answer is what I'm hoping for !
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Perhaps I'm missing it on our News programs....but who is doing best
in the run up to the US election ?
I hope the answer is what I'm hoping for !
Last I heard, Biden is leading by 10 percentage points here in my home state of Pennsylvania. I can't speak to the rest of the nation, but I keep hearing that he's leading.
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Anyone else voted yet?
October 5. One of the "drop-off" locations in Philadelphia is the Board of Elections, which is located in City Hall, which is about a five-block walk from my place. I hand carried the ballot there myself. I figured the safest place to drop off a "mail-in" ballot was the Board of Elections. I've received e-mail confirmation that my ballot has been received.
I have always voted in person on election day. I find it exciting and also like to see other voters exercising their voting rights. I could have this year, too, but I decided that since the cretin has been bashing mail in voting that it felt like an act of defiance to do the thing he's railing against, so I did it.
I am 62 years old, and nothing makes me feel so much like a grown-up as voting. I would have liked to have voted in person. My polling place is ordinarily the social hall of my church, which is literally right around the corner from my place, but things got screwy for the spring primary because of the pandemic. I think a great many polling places got moved to the Convention Center. I was not about to trudge to the Convention Center and stand in a "super-spreader" line all day to vote. Sometime in September I noticed a placard on the churchyard gate about a hearing to return the polling place to the church, but I don't know what the result of the hearing.
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Amazing, heart-warming, must-see video from Jimmy Kimmel tonight: pass it on...
...if you're not at all moved...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gqYvBlO2BFo
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Amen.
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Boy, howdy.
Didn't Biden call him out how for four years we've been hearing that he's going to replace it with something better, yet after four years there is no plan?
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Tomorrow, always tomorrow. Just like releasing his taxes.
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Amazing, heart-warming, must-see video from Jimmy Kimmel tonight: pass it on...
...if you're not at all moved...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gqYvBlO2BFo
Thanks Lyle. This was beautiful!!❤️
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You're welcome...one can only wish people wanted to be civil and helpful again toward each other.
It feels so good just to even think about it.
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Well, I've now seen a report that doesn't actually surprise me but is certainly cause for concern--not to say worry and fear.
Some pollster who is said to have predicted victory for the Great Orange Satan in 2016 is predicting it again on the basis that people who are too embarrassed to say, even to a pollster, they will vote for him, nevertheless will vote for him.
This was a report on AOL news. I just read the lead. I didn't, yet, try to read the whole article, but I find the premise frighteningly plausible. It kind of speaks to why I don't trust pollsters who are predicting a Biden win. I'm guessing they also predicted a Clinton win in 2016.
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Read this, this morning:
As the first coronavirus vaccines arrive in the coming year, government researchers will face a monumental challenge: monitoring the health of hundreds of millions of Americans to ensure the vaccines don’t cause harm.
Purely by chance, thousands of vaccinated people will have heart attacks, strokes and other illnesses shortly after the injections. Sorting out whether the vaccines had anything to do with their ailments will be a thorny problem, requiring a vast, coordinated effort by state and federal agencies, hospitals, drug makers and insurers to discern patterns in a flood of data. Findings will need to be clearly communicated to a distrustful public swamped with disinformation.
For now, Operation Warp Speed, created by the Trump administration to spearhead development of coronavirus vaccines and treatments, is focused on getting vaccines through clinical trials in record time and manufacturing them quickly.
The next job will be to monitor the safety of vaccines once they’re in widespread use. But the administration last year quietly disbanded the office [OF COURSE THEY DID.] with the expertise for exactly this job, merging it into an office focused on infectious diseases. Its elimination has left that long-term safety effort for coronavirus vaccines fragmented among federal agencies, with no central leadership, experts say.
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^^^ Yes voted and accepted. These were hand delivered to the election office. Took no chances with that SOB postal GOS ass-wipe.
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Laws are for little people and Democrats.
(https://scontent-iad3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-0/p180x540/122323697_880513119151416_2350336590133773266_o.jpg?_nc_cat=1&ccb=2&_nc_sid=8bfeb9&_nc_ohc=8-9iGZPCCpgAX9rbiwu&_nc_ht=scontent-iad3-1.xx&tp=6&oh=9ff5f5874b3216da515072bc230235d0&oe=5FB97274)
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^^^ Yes voted and accepted. These were hand delivered to the election office. Took no chances with that SOB postal GOS ass-wipe.
I took my mail in ballot to one of the early polling places yesterday morning when i went to pick up my car after getting the brake work done. I'm like you, Vincent, I hand carried my ballot to the voting places after reading at least 3 stories where ballots ended up in dumpsters put there by postal workers. One of them had ties to QAnon.
My son thinks I'm a conspiracy theorist, I told him I'm just not trustful!
We don't agree on things..............
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^^^^ When it comes to the GOP, there is no line they will not cross. Pure evil.
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My son thinks I'm a conspiracy theorist, I told him I'm just not trustful!
Trust, but verify, is what Reagan always said. Not a bad plan.
Fortunately, we have BallotTrax, which one can sign up to track your ballot. If you mail your ballot, you can follow it in 4 steps until it's verified and your ballot is accepted. If you put it in an Official Ballot Box, it's two steps. I just got notification a couple days ago, my ballot has been received at the election office and verified: YOUR VOTES WILL BE COUNTED.
Now, because it's all Republicans know how to do lately, someone is making a big stink about that. Saying that means you're voting multiple times...casting several ballots. Except what it means is that you are casting several votes on your ONE ballot. They just will not stop.
Neither can we.
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https://twitter.com/i/status/1320758219803971587
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^^^
The Lincoln Project is such a valuable asset.
Nothing is surprising, but Trump and his minions running around campaigning on the fact they've given up fighting the coronavirus and their plan is just saying "you won't hear about it after the election" and "we're taking care of it," meanwhile Pence, the head of the task force's subjugates are all coming down with COVID...is such a big failure and an act of brazen charlatanism that you have to wonder how his supporters are just soooo blind about him. Isn't there a Bible verse something like, "Forgive them, oh lord, for they know not what they do?" Don't these people have to repent, though? How can they repent if they don't know the truth? Or don't want to know.
And in his rallies Trump whines about COVID being brought up all the time. He is so bothered and tired of it. "That's all they want to talk about," he says. Um, duh!!! At the beginning of all this he said he was like a war President with this disease. Well, can you say "utter failure?" "Capitulation." "Retreat."
His followers have no idea they're being conned big time and when they eventually realize it, if they do at all, they won't admit it, they like to double down.
I just like reading these definitions, as they are so spot on:
--charlatan
A person practicing quackery or some similar confidence trick or deception in order to obtain money, fame or other advantages via some form of pretense or deception. Synonyms for charlatan include shyster, quack, or faker.
--charlatanism
A person who makes elaborate, fraudulent, and often voluble claims to skill or knowledge; a quack or fraud.
If the cretin was accused of this to his face he'd whine, "‘I have been accused of perfidy, malingering, duplicity, charlatanism and forty other words that I don't know the meaning of.’
You know how any number of people over the past long years has said, "If Obama did that, or if Obama said that, or whatever...I wish someone would have thought to do a film with the title "If Obama Did That." The premise would be an actor playing Obama as though he was just like Trump. Sometimes actually seeing something might make people think. Allow them to think. That could be one benefit. Another would be that it would sure give the cretin's opponents something to hang their hat on.
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Cher sings for Biden...
Just the song:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4kNHvCsEbXQ
With visuals from the I WILL VOTE CONCERT:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wYzrGxtBfzA
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EVERY Serious Model: Trump is About to Get Crushed
David Pakman Show
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IOl8cfHtB7E
This sub-heading for the video shows how gut-punched and burned we all were 4 years ago with the electoral college close win.
Every election forecasting model predicts Joe Biden will win the election, but it's by no means a guarantee.
A lot of pundits on TV including Republican ones, are saying if 2016 hadn't happened like that, they would be saying it's over.
Also, there's a lot of worry about voter fraud, meaning Republicans trying to get Dems not to vote.
At the very least that video is just lovely to watch and think about!
If you liked that one, here's a bonus treat:
Trump Massively Triggered by Obama Rallies
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i18oh_5jn2Q&t=272s
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^^^ Thanks for posting.
I'm weary and exhausted of the pundits. They royally fracked up 2016. My gut says all the "Clinton's predicted to win" probably discouraged enough voters to go, "..well Hillary is up by xx points, why bother voting, she's going to win." I remind people that it only took 80,000 votes across 3 key states to put the GOS in the WH. I have 0 faith 2020 will be any better predicting the GOS's demise.
80,000 votes people, remember that got us 4 years of hell and 3 Supreme Court justices which will begin erroding 70 years of progress for the next 30-40 years!
This election won't be settled until I see Biden saying "I do" with his hand on a Bible held by the Chief Justice Roberts and the GOS on a helicopter exiting the WH grounds. And then, I'd love to see him being arrested when he sets foot in NY for tax fraud. That's how they got Capone... it's good enough to get these liars.
The only other wish I have is that karma finds Moscow Mitch and Lying Lindsay and re-balances their scales.
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Obama campaigning in Philadelphia for Biden:
(https://media3.s-nbcnews.com/j/newscms/2020_43/3422417/ss-201022-twip-04_fb3223fc81b9c4c9785004e2ca9dd7a0.fit-880w.JPG)
Obama tore into President Donald Trump in a fiery speech Wednesday as being unable to take "the job seriously,"
faulting him for lacking a plan to address the coronavirus, emboldening racism, working to rip away health care
protections without an alternative, tweeting conspiracy theories and engaging regularly in lies and indecent behavior.
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There was clip of him on our news last night. As my sister who is 86, said. He is still inspiring (even 12 years after his first election) and knows how to make a speech. Except that the alternative is so horrible, why would you want to go and vote for a man that mumbles and seems to be on the verge of aged dementia. Personally I would not want to vote for anyone over 65. Surely a country with a population of many millions could find a younger man/woman who can inspire.
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^^^ Thanks for posting.
I'm weary and exhausted of the pundits. They royally frackedup 2016. My gut says all the "Clinton's predicted to win" probably discouraged enough voters to go, "..well Hillary is up by xx points, why bother voting, she's going to win." I remind people that it only took 80,000 votes across 3 key states to put the GOS in the WH. I have 0 faith 2020 will be any better predicting the GOS's demise.
I like to keep pointing out that the polls were not wrong in 2016. The final polling was that Clinton would win with 2%-3% of the vote. She did that. The supposition, though, was that she'd take those three states of WI, MI and PA. History was on their side with that. Though considered battleground states every year, however close, they'd gone for the Democrats. The last time Wisconsin went for a Republican was Reagan in 1984. Only one state didn't. The last time PA and MI went for a Republican was 1988. You point out that 80,000 votes among those states gave the electoral college win to Trump. That's about 2 votes per precinct!
A lot of voters, particularly Bernie supporters, voted third party, too, to "make a statement." The statement they made was giving Trump the election. (Why do we allow third parties in the Presidential election? They usually screw the Democrats: Humphrey, Gore, H. Clinton, though Perot may have screwed Bush.)
The reason to be optimistic and show it is: there actually are people who like to vote for who they perceive as the winner, so enthusiasm helps get out the votes. That's where the term "get on the bandwagon" comes from.
Also, I was just thinking about this awhile ago...being wary, or fearful, projects weakness. Despite all of the polls cited above saying Trump should lose, do you see what the Republicans are doing? Ignoring it. They're shouting "we're gonna win", the polls are false, they're ignoring facts to project themselves as winners. Dems are not really. They're gun shy.
There's the saying to always "act as if". A technique for succeeding. If the end is a fact, you start thinking in the ways to get there. For attaining goals. So go for it. Act as if we've got this in the bag. Act as if it's already a foregone conclusion. In terms of voting project it as "we've got this in the bag, providing you vote."
________________
By the way, I'm adamantly against fracking. One mistake in fracking causes polluted ground water. And it has happened. Try cleaning polluted water supplies. (Example: put a drop of food coloring into a bowl of clear water. Try to get it out.) It's also blamed for some earthquakes, though the industry denies these as just coincidences. A 3.5 outside of Los Angeles this summer: fracking area.
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Also, I was just thinking about this awhile ago...being wary, or fearful, projects weakness. Despite all of the polls cited above saying Trump should lose, do you see what the Republicans are doing? Ignoring it. They're shouting "we're gonna win", the polls are false, they're ignoring facts to project themselves as winners. Dems are not really. They're gun shy.
I guess I've said before, the Republican actions are those of desperate people afraid they're going to lose. I see this going on all the way down to races for the House. They offer nothing. They only attack their opponents with half-truths taken out of context and downright lies.
The trouble is, if they do win, they're dangerous.
(I have a suspicion, too, that unless she was lying, in the new Supreme Court justice, they may not be getting what they think they're getting. I hope I'm right.)
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Hope so too. But I remain highly wary.
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^^^^ Thanks for the posting. I agree, Clinton was projected to win by a slim margin and she won the popular vote clearly. You are correct. What they did not bank on was 80K people delivering those 3 key states electoral votes to that SOB. You are right, history was wrong in 2016 and you can tell from the last minute campaigning the GOP is running the same playbook in 2020. Let's hope CV19 wakes enough people up as the rates SOAR.
I also agree that anyone who may have honestly voted for Bernie to "make a statement" was a vote lost for Clinton (more than likely). I've seen enough of these "make a statement" fools in my lifetime to know in a close election, that a big mistake for the Dems. IDK if Clinton losing votes to Bernie would have changed the outcome. Someone might.
You are right, whenever a 3rd party candidate runs, it's usually splitting the democratic vote which is why I'm so glad Bernie (and the rest of them) came to his senses and did not add his / their name to the ballot this time. The Democrats should have coalesced around Clinton in 2016 and our world would be quite different. Coulda-woulda-shoulda 20/20 hindsight. It's a mistake the Dems cannot afford to make again with 3 right-wing "textualists" ideologues, which are fancy words for ultra-conservatives, now sitting for the rest of my lifetime on the SCOTUS. The court is now badly out-of-balance, the country is ravaged with CV19, our leader is selling us to the Russians .. all because 80K idiots voted for the GOS.
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"It's the economy, Stupid." :(
The lying promise of new jobs, and the scare tactic of higher taxes, may do it. Also scare tactics about government health care.
I just still cannot, CANNOT believe how they can lie about Covid-19--and how stupid people are to believe them.
But the thought has crossed my mind: If you don't know someone who has been sick with or died of Covid-19, higher taxes can feel more like a certainty. After all, you might not catch it.
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^^^
A few random thoughts.
--"It's the economy, Stupid" and the economy is NOT good.
--The higher taxes scare tactic is just a Republican trope, they alway say that. Nothing new.
--A lot of Trump's supporters are immune to his lying. They don't care, don't believe, or both.
--Look at what Trump did the other night. Held a rally in Nebraska near an Omaha airport. People had to be bussed there.
Afterwards they were all left out in the near freezing temperatures and dozens needed medical attention. No word or apology or basic human concern has been expressed from Trump or his campaign. That's how much he cares about them.
https://www.medpagetoday.com/washington-watch/electioncoverage/89378
--The opposite thing happened in a Florida rally. So many people in hot temperatures started passing out, fainting. Seventeen people needed medical attention and at least a dozen people who were overcome by heat during Trump’s rally in Tampa, Florida Thursday, were taken to a local hospital. A fire truck nearby decided to spray water in the air hoping for somewhat of a misting/cooling effect over the crowd. Trump was annoyed. At one point, Trump asked the crowd if the spray was coming from “friend or foe,” adding: “If they’re foe, let’s take care of those sons of bitches.”
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/florida-trump-rally-heat_n_5f9b8a93c5b6f7f4a16a7900
--The last jobs report before the election shows the U.S. added 661,000 jobs in September while the Labor Department reported that 837,000 people filed new unemployment claims last week.
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I have not watched much news all year. Why? Heh! But Friday night I watched a whole evening of news programs. Has it been like this all year. No wonder people are going crazy. Or is it just that the election is close at hand and it's bringin up a lot more anxiety.
I cannot say that in all my years of following elections that I've heard our local television stations, in Los Angeles, in California, talking about the police being on duty 24/7 election day and protocols in place to protect buildings and the streets and such. Beverly Hills Police are telling some businesses to board their windows. What? Do they have info we don't? Are people expecting violence and looting on election day? Or Halloween? Or what? This is all very surreal. 1984-esque.
Personally, I'm not getting a sense of anything like that.
In some contemplative moments this morning I was recalling people's anxieties displayed all over TV and worry and what have you. Then I started thinking...the cretin-in-chief lost the vote totals last time by three million votes. Does anyone seriously think he could overcome that this time? We've had the worst year ever for an incumbent President before an election. There is ample evidence of a whole lot of people that voted for Trump in 2016 that are against him now. In 2018 the Dems gained more seats in Congress than they ever had in a mid-term. And just about everything is worse this year than it has been in his whole Presidency. Where is he going to make that up? Just because we've been fed news clips of his adoring sycophants for years doesn't mean anything except that Trump is a cult leader and cults make news. My common sense tells me that when it comes down to it, he cannot seriously win this thing. Last time was a seriously unfortunate fluke. I don't think I'm wishful thinking.
I am worried about the R's blatant attempts to suppress votes anyway they can and doing it in plain sight with the help of partisan judges. And, of course, Trump doing things. I was going to say doing unthinkable things, but he always does that.
I have some measure of confidence.
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Three interesting rulings from SCOTUS midweek, two of them positive and one somewhat positive.
https://youtu.be/uBoMUo-7pb0
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^^^
Thanks for that one.
If anyone want to hear Pete Buttigieg on the campaign trail in Tampa:
He's always uplifting, and watch how he handles hecklers. He turns it into uplifting moments and not confrontation.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=if_FVgLfTsI
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It Only Takes 57 Seconds to Explain Why God ‘Doesn’t Give a s**t’ if You are LGBT+.
https://www.gaystarnews.com/article/gay-theology-expert-explains-why-christians-who-use-the-bible-to-hate-have-got-it-all-wrong/
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Jacinda Ardern has just announced that Grant Robertson is to be Deputy Prime Minister of New Zealand.
Grant is openly gay and grew up in Duneidn where he was head boy of our major High School
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grant_Robertson
Robertson lives in Northland, Wellington, with his partner Alf, whom he met through playing rugby together for the Wellington-based Krazy Knights, New Zealand's first gay rugby team. After 10 years in a relationship, they held a civil union ceremony in January 2009
In his maiden statement (given on 9 December 2008), Robertson alluded to his sexuality as a part, but not the whole, of his identity:
I am proud and comfortable with who I am. Being gay is part of who I am, just as is being a former diplomat, a fan of the mighty ... Wellington Lions, and a fan of New Zealand music and New Zealand literature. My political view is defined by my sexuality only inasmuch as it has given me an insight into how people can be marginalised and discriminated against, and how much I abhor that. I am lucky that I have largely grown up in a generation that is not fixated on issues such as sexual orientation. I am not—and neither should others be.
In a 2012 interview with Guyon Espiner, he hit out at the suggestion that being gay could prevent him from understanding the concerns of ordinary New Zealanders:
That’s one of the things that irritates me the most. How can you say that? That someone won’t understand New Zealanders because they’re gay. I understand all sorts of things about being a New Zealander. I understand what happens when your dad goes to prison. I understand what it’s like when the All Blacks lose. You know? I understand what it’s like when you’re trying to work out if you’ve got enough money to do [renovation] to the house? It’s bullshit.
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A great improvement on the last Deputy Prime Minister (and therefore acting Prime Minister while Jacinda was on maternity leave) Winston Peters.
Winston Peters is leader of the New Zealand First party. He chose to support Labour (and therefore Jacinda) in 2017 when neither Labour nor National could form government without him. So I am grateful for that decision.
However New Zealand First voted in a bloc against Same-sex marriage in 2013 (all other parties gave a free vote) therefore will never get my vote.
They did not get enough votes this year to return to parliament
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There are also 3 openly gay women in a ministry of 26. And the new Foreign Minister is a Maori woman who has a moko kauae (chin tattoo) which should be interesting in international meetings (whenever they are held in person again). Something like 42% of the ministry are women
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Keep hearing a lot about Pennsylvania and Philadelphia concerning the election.
Any observations from inside that bubble, Jeff???
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Trump supporters are acting like spoiled children this past weekend.
Or more accurately they're acting like Trump.
The worst is the group that was trying to run a Biden campaign bus off the road, that was going to a rally in Texas.
They surrounded it with their vehicles and slowed it down. Someone inside the bus called 9-1-1. Haven't heard any
further details, but a car crash seems to be involved and the San Antonio FBI is investigating. Then later Trump talks
about it and says "They were protecting the bus, they're so nice."
I sure hope the adults in this country take over with their votes this election and put baby back in the corner.
In my neck of the woods...it seems almost every weekend that a sizeable group of Trump supporters has been gathering in Beverly Hills at a park that runs adjacent to Santa Monica Blvd., so they can rant and rave at passing motorists. Videos I've seen of this show these supporters to be delusional, bordering on the bizarre, or just plain bizarre with no borders, and damaged people just like their role model. It's no secret lots of wealthy people support the cretin, but these people, by the looks of things, are not. In fact, they look more like an audience waiting to get into Let's Make a Deal. In any event, the Beverly Hills Police Department seems extremely worried about violence breaking out in BH. They've basically shut the city down from last Friday night through election day. Curfews at 9pm. They've even encouraged quite a few businesses to board up their windows. Really? WTF do they know that's prompted all this? It just seems crazy. But nearly every day of the last 4 years has felt that way.
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Morning news: For the second time, the Texas Supreme Court on Sunday denied a legal challenge to drive-through voting in Houston’s Harris County. However, a separate challenge is still pending in federal court, with a hearing scheduled for Monday morning. The Republican plaintiffs are attempting to invalidate the almost 127,000 votes cast via drive-through voting in the Democratic-leaning county.
Comments:
--Republicans: we don't care about fairness. Or rules. Voter suppression on full unapologetic display.
--Harris County. Kamala Harris County? :)
--Texas Supreme Court said no once. Republicans bring another slightly different lawsuit. Texas Supreme Court says no twice. Republicans: Let's file a Federal lawsuit in court.
--When do these people ever take NO as their answer. This lawsuit is so assinine. Just because it's not written into exact law that you can vote from your car, they say those ballots should be invalidated.
--Election lawsuits should be invalidated or post-poned when voting starts. That was one of the things Republicans just whined and whined about for a month during the 2000 Florida vote problems. They kept saying that Democrats were trying to change the rules after voting had happened. That's exactly what they are doing here. But since when isn't HYPOCRISY the reigning mantra for these people?
--Deluging others with lawsuits is a standard Trump playbook mantra.
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I didn't realize, exactly, that California allows ballots arriving by mail to be counted up to three weeks, twenty days, after election day, as long as they were post-marked by election day. That seems pretty excessive to me.
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I didn't realize, exactly, that California allows ballots arriving by mail to be counted up to three weeks, twenty days, after election day, as long as they were post-marked by election day. That seems pretty excessive to me.
We allow 14 days which is why the final results of the October 17 election will be announced next Friday Nov 6. They say there are 17% of special votes mainly from overseas. They will not make any difference to the government this year but in 2017 we had to wait until the final result before Winston Peters would declare whether he would support the Nationals or Labour. I remember my sister was visiting and we were driving to a concert and I had to pull over and listen as the announcement was made that Jacinda would be Prime Minister.
As special votes are from overseas and also late enrolments, they tend to be liberal/left so go towards Labour and Greens. It is more likely Nationals (opposition) will lose one or two more seats.
The cannabis vote was lost (only gaining 47%) and there is a slight possibility it could pass if over 70% of special votes are in favour. The euthanasia bill passed with 64% so would need 100% of special votes to be against to be lost.
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Speaking of Pennsylvania, the Capital Star newspaper asked each of PA's 67 counties about their workforce, timeline and equipment for processing mail-in ballots. Election workers are not allowed to start processing any mail-in ballots until Tuesday morning. Counties are not required to count any of those ballots on Tuesday, either, just very strongly encouraged to do so. The paper has a map, updated when responses are received, of the counties plans for counting votes. Nine counties are not going to start counting any ballots until Wednesday, November 4th.
The last paragraph in the article I'm reading says:
The map shows when each county plans to start counting mail-in ballots, how well equipped they are to count quickly and how many they have to get through before they’re done. This is also important because the counties that don’t plan to start counting mail-in votes until Wednesday will almost certainly have too-good-to-be-true results for Trump on Nov. 3.
That rings an alarm bell in my mind. All of the counties who are not counting until Wednesday "will almost certainly have TOO-GOOD-TO-BE-TRUE results for Trump on Nov. 3?" Are they waiting to see what the count is and planning something to boost these counties vote totals for Trump? Isn't is suspicious that all the counties waiting...are Republican majority counties?
Republicans have shown they CANNOT be trusted.
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The atmosphere around the area here is noticeably tense...like everyone is holding their breath.
Anxiety is everywhere. Waiting for the unknown to become known. One of those times where
what happens in the next few days will choose the path we'll be on for years and the stakes
could not be higher and the direction we take couldn't be more of a polar opposite.
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Keep hearing a lot about Pennsylvania and Philadelphia concerning the election.
Any observations from inside that bubble, Jeff???
No. All I'm hearing about locally is the places where you can drop off mail-in ballots and urges to get those ballots in. They can't start counting those until tomorrow.
I'm not going to have the TV on tonight or tomorrow evening/night. I have enough to fear and worry about without allowing myself to be further upset by election returns that won't be final for days.
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(https://scontent-iad3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/122179027_3666792823330895_6299210527892671763_o.jpg?_nc_cat=108&ccb=2&_nc_sid=8bfeb9&_nc_ohc=k4zoWQrMBbMAX_gUGQj&_nc_ht=scontent-iad3-1.xx&oh=d2c38503c1774fa66d449506ee60d450&oe=5FC5B72B)
The hands that once picked cotton, can now pick presidents. We are the hope and the dream of the slave.
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^^^
HOPE.
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I'm recreating a Tweet from Damien Owens, posted 4 years ago after the election,
but still sums up the state of things in such perfect terms:
He wrote: "As long as I live, I will never understand how this alone wasn’t the end of it."
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CxQzQcaXAAAw9YK?format=jpg&name=small)
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^^^ Absolutely just un-believable and really, that reporter should have a lawsuit queued for slander as soon as that SOB leaves office - one way or the other. His supporters just don't give a damn. The GOP is all about ME, ME, ME, ME - the selfish ME and that's totally at odds to their supposedly evangelical and religious teachings about helping others. But all that's a false cloak of "holier than thou" anyway.
That's just one of many slanderous and evil things which should have ended any political career. the GOS is really more like a "fanatic cult" leader who's follower's believe blindly everything coming from his mouth. They have been brainwashed by the GOP, Fox Lies and other right-wing media outlets to believe anything he says is true and have lost all ability to discern the facts themselves. The trouble is there are way too many believers blindly following these SOBs. The GOP has basically preyed on the weak-minded under-educated religious voter for support the last 30 years. When they got control in 2010, they gerrymandered themselves more control and then played stall games until they got this idiot elected. Now they have packed the one balancing factor which is supposed to be non-partisan, the courts, with sworn GOP sympathizers. There's a long road ahead to fix all the evil they have done.
Gonna be a long week folks. Hang on we are in for a crash landing.
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The GOP has basically preyed on the weak-minded under-educated religious voter for support the last 30 years.
I think you can say it goes back farther than that, all the way to what is called Nixon's "Southern Strategy," where his talk of "law and order" was a code word for White Supremacy.
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I've been saying all along that if the Great Orange Satan wins, I fear for the future of the country and for my own future, but it has occurred to me that there is a more immediate danger, at least around here. If T***p he wins, there will be rioting and looting. A criminal element will use a T***p victory as an excuse.
I base this on what happened here in Philadelphia last week, where the shooting of a Black man by two police officers was an occasion once again for looting.
The police stopped a van near the Philadelphia Museum of Art--I've never heard why they stopped it--and it was packed with explosives and what has been described as "burglary tools." It's thought the occupants of the van were not intending domestic terrorism but instead were planning to blow up ATMs, which has happened around here.
That, of course, has nothing to do with protesting. Already stores that were hit after George Floyd was killed are boarded up.
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^^^ Correct. Perfect subterfuge.
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The best of luck to you all today! 🤞🤞🤞🤞🤞
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Today's must see: ONE DAY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Ckdatqp_Js
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Boarded-up windows and increased security: U.S. cities brace for election violence
Besides the wooden boards, security officials are reported to be preparing for a range of possible threats, from spontaneous acts of mob violence to more organized, planned attacks.
It's reported that besides planning an eight-hour event at Black Lives Matter Plaza, which is one block from the White House, left-wing group Shutdown DC has also trained its members in how to interact with police if things get ugly and with counter-protesters.
Meanwhile, militia groups are planning to organize election-related armed violence in five states including Pennsylvania, Georgia and Michigan, according to a joint report released last Wednesday by the the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project and Militia Watch.
https://news.cgtn.com/news/2020-11-02/U-S-cities-brace-for-election-violence-V5le1oEeoo/index.html (https://news.cgtn.com/news/2020-11-02/U-S-cities-brace-for-election-violence-V5le1oEeoo/index.html)
A boarded-up building in Washington D.C., October 31, 2020. /CFP
(https://news.cgtn.com/news/2020-11-02/U-S-cities-brace-for-election-violence-V5le1oEeoo/img/5b943d71d22d45bea72f06844c092af3/5b943d71d22d45bea72f06844c092af3.jpeg)
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^^^
Trump is stoking all this. When he loses he'll want to bring the country down with him.
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The cretin was on his favorite show this morning, Fox & Friends, sounding tired and a mess, frankly.
(But then isn't that his normal state?) I saw some edited segments of it on youtube.
The hosts were trying to liven things up, change the subject, be more upbeat, but what can you do.
The cretin was just rambling about the strangest of things.
Here's a small transcript of one thing he said. Keep in mind this is the President of the United States saying this:
The female host asks Trump if it's been worth it, being President I guess.
TRUMP: "Well, it's been mean, it's been, ah, you've dealt with horrible people like Shifty Schiff and Crazy Nancy and Cryin' Chuck...Shumer...you deal with some horrible people. People say who is the hardest...you know, friends of mine from the past really, they say President...cause they all call me President, they used to call me Donald now they call me President...which is terrible...it's hard to have friends...because they react differently to me now. Than they used to...in the old days they'd say let's go to dinner Don, now it's Mr. President gee could we somehow get together someday...you know it changes but... You three are friends, okay? But it is it is a very different thing, but...ah...it's...ah...you deal with people that are very deceptive, but they'll go "Mr. President, tell me...who's the country that's most difficult to deal with. Is it Russia? Is it China? Is it North Korea? Sir, is it North Korea?" And I go no, well, by far, the most difficult country to deal with is...the U.S. Not even close. And they all say you've gotta be kidding? And I say no I'm actually probably not kidding. No we have very very deceptive people.
He goes on and on talking about his unprecedented never seen before massive rallies the biggest in all of history. The hosts try to stop him from ranting, but it's impossible. It would be sad if he wasn't the f**kin President of the United States. He's completely unstable.
Trump also says: "The US could never be the same if Biden wins."
Yeah, that's why we're voting for him!
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I have a dozen reasons to feel really optimistic about the election today for a Biden win, increased Democrats in the house and a Senate takeover by the Democrats.
The most respected people in the political business see it coming. One of them said, and I wish I could find the exact quote, but the gist of it was that if they're way off this year, then the polling business is history.
One even says the election could be over and called for Biden by 10pm. (I assume he meant Eastern Time.)
Another more analytical outfit believes Biden will win, either by a small margin, or a blowout. Same with the Senate forecast. Dems will either have a 3 member majority or up to 7!
Trump is:
(https://yt3.ggpht.com/a/AATXAJzGbxGP_fuVEeZOLLVVbsn4Z95vbcl-7sbK2-qV=s900-c-k-c0x00ffffff-no-rj)
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This is all so strange to us especially as our elections were only 3 weeks ago. No politician can be on the news on Polling day from midnight until the polls close at 6pm. Our Prime Minister was able to have a relaxing day with family. She probably needed it. Her husband, who hosts a fishing program on TV, brought out barbecued seafood to the reporters at the gate AFTER the polls closed and it was shown on the News. He did the same 3 years ago when she was just the Leader of the Opposition.
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I have a dozen reasons to feel really optimistic about the election today for a Biden win, increased Democrats in the house and a Senate takeover by the Democrats.
I'm praying for that, because I hope a Democratic House and Senate would be able to minimize the damage.
But, yeah, if the polls screw it up this time, the pollsters all should be looking for work.
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Today's must see: ONE DAY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Ckdatqp_Js
And they got the perfect voice for this spot!! "West Wing"s President Josiah Bartlet, played by Martin Sheen.
I LOVE this Lyle! Thanks so much for posting it! ❤️
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The Associated Press has already called New Mexico for Joe Biden.
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Another more analytical outfit believes Biden will win, either by a small margin, or a blowout.
Well...it's not going to be a blowout.
I'll settle for a win.
It ain't over 'til it's over.
Same with the Senate forecast. Prediction Dems will either have a 3 member majority or up to 7!
Looks like Dems are most likely not going to get even the three pick-ups.
ANd the President just came out and basically said he's won and the election is now being taken
away from him because they're still counting the votes.
Which shows again why he should never have been President in the first place.
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^^^ If interested, ABC News has a breakout of exit polling demographics.
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The most respected people in the political business see it coming. One of them said, and I wish I could find the exact quote, but the gist of it was that if they're way off this year, then the polling business is history.
But, yeah, if the polls screw it up this time, the pollsters all should be looking for work.
Looks like the pollsters should be out of work. Election too close to call, and no gains in the Senate.
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I'm still going to have hope that Biden wins. I choose to do that today. It has been laid out that it is possible.
The longer it takes, though, the more the cretin will send out dog whistles to his minions that it's all unfair and it's being stolen. (The R's did this in 2000 in Florida. Same thing.)
Many Dem organizations, just in case, had pre-planned Count Every Vote Rallies for today, Wednesday. I can't seem to find one in my area at the moment, I'll keep looking, but if I can, I'll attend one.
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This is something Lee Drutman wrote last night on the FiveThirtyEight live election blog. Any emphasis noted is "mine."
LEE DRUTMAN
NOV. 3, 10:46 PM
As we watch the results tonight, it’s important to keep in mind that in any other presidential democracy, this would not be a particularly close election. The only thing making this election so close is the Electoral College. Similarly, the only thing making the Senate so close is the small-state bias. If Trump ekes out an Electoral College victory, it will be the third time in six elections that a Republican has won the Electoral College and the presidency while losing the popular vote. In Presidential elections, the Republicans have won the popular vote only once since 1988. And Republican senators have represented a majority of Americans only for one Congress in the past 40 years, despite having a Senate majority more than half that time.
Current Vote as of this post:
Joe Biden 238 electoral votes 50.1%. Votes: 69,799,913
Cretin 213 48.3% 67,188,612
_________
I heard that this presidential election has the highest voter turnout since 1908.
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Something else from Lee Drutman:
I published a book earlier this year, “Breaking the Two-Party Doom Loop: The Case for Multiparty Democracy in America,” in which I worried about an escalating feedback loop of hyper-partisan animosity undermining the very legitimacy of our democracy. I offered this conclusion: “We know how democracies succumb. They succumb when the country splits apart into two sides that distrust and fear each other so much that one side blows up norms of fair play to keep the other side out of power. Once that happens, it’s hard to build back stability. Unfortunately, this is where America’s doom loop of toxic two-party politics is headed.” Tonight, I’m feeling more pessimistic than I was when I finished the book. It feels like the time sands are slipping through the hourglass faster than I feared.
I still believe that electoral reforms that would break this razor’s-edge zero-sum binary and move us to a proportional, multiparty system hold tremendous promise. I just hope we can find a path to get there. Perhaps when this all is over, we’ll have a genuine soul-searching and start having a bigger conversation about what we want our democracy to be.
__________________
I don't hold out hope that the Cretinist Republican Party will or will want to "have a genuine soul-searching and start having a bigger conversation about what we want our democracy to be."
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I'm still going to have hope that Biden wins. I choose to do that today. It has been laid out that it is possible.
The longer it takes, though, the more the cretin will send out dog whistles to his minions that it's all unfair and it's being stolen. (The R's did this in 2000 in Florida. Same thing.)
Many Dem organizations, just in case, had pre-planned Count Every Vote Rallies for today, Wednesday. I can't seem to find one in my area at the moment, I'll keep looking, but if I can, I'll attend one.
I went to bed last night pretty confident in Biden winning and woke up at 2am to check....I was shocked at how many states 45 led in...it's looking a little better today - for the moment. Wisconsin & Michigan flipped, again, for the moment...
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At 9:42 a.m. Eastern Time:
Biden Officially Wins Most Votes for Any Presidential Candidate
Vice President Joe Biden has 69,543,071 votes tallied for him so far, breaking a record of most votes for any presidential candidate. In 2008, then-candidate Barack Obama made history by winning 69,498,516 total votes, according to the FEC -- the most of any presidential candidate in history at that time.
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^^^
Remember in 2000 how that got sooo much attention, Bush getting the Presidency with less votes than the opponent.
2016: Happens again. Attention, but mostly to rub Trump's nose in it.
2020: Happens again. Hardly anyone has mentioned this on TV that i have seen. Or written about it. In fact, last night during the whole evening I only saw a graphic of the Presidential Vote Total only once. Normally, it was always pretty much in view somewhere. Are we just going to take this for granted now? I will not.
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NO RECOUNT HERE:
Los Angeles County Votes (I'm so glad I live here!)
BIDEN: 71.58% 2,247,254
Trump: 26.60% 835,123
California Votes (likewise!)
BIDEN: 65.2% 7,722,795
Trump: 32.9% 3,899,436
Mail-in ballots are allowed to arrive up to 20 days from now as long as they were postmarked on or before election day.
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“We know how democracies succumb. They succumb when the country splits apart into two sides that distrust and fear each other so much that one side blows up norms of fair play to keep the other side out of power. Once that happens, it’s hard to build back stability. Unfortunately, this is where America’s doom loop of toxic two-party politics is headed.” Tonight, I’m feeling more pessimistic than I was when I finished the book. It feels like the time sands are slipping through the hourglass faster than I feared.
I've been saying similar a while. We / America are standing at a cross-roads not seen since the civil war over slavery. To resolve that took a war and thousands of lives to solve and re-assemble the shattered country. We are standing at that cliff b/c of the plethora of lies, hatred and total disregard for the lives of others the GOP represents. The other tilting point is we are in grave danger of having China and/or Russia pull some shit like attacking a NATO member or worse still, going after something in mainland USA to shove the country over the edge.
I too had hoped to wake up at 03:00 AM and have FL BLUE or at least that lying Graham gone from SC. Say what we want, this will end up in the courts which is where the GOP intended to put it all along. They cannot win any other way as we've seen and now that they know how to play this lying game (2000, 2016, ...) it is now SOP.
I'm still hopeful all the absentee ballots push Biden to 270.... but it's going to a mud-slinging fight which I hope the Democratic lawyers are prepared for. Also remember, I believe, that *@(*@* Barrett was one of the legals helping Bush in 2000's Gore v. Bush who engineered pushing the FL re-count the SCOTUS to stop it....
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Dem voters can't roll over on this one now if things get to that point.
PROTECT THE RESULTS
ORGANIZING TO PROTECT THE RESULTS OF THE 2020 ELECTION
We are building a coalition of voters ready to mobilize if Trump undermines the results of the 2020 presidential election.
WE’RE NOT ACTIVATING NATIONAL MOBILIZATIONS YET — BUT BE READY
Americans across race and zip code turned out in historic numbers to make their voices heard at the ballot box.
Election officials are continuing to count votes across the country, and the outcome of this election will be decided by the voters.
While the coalition will not be activating its national network as yet, some local organizers may still hold “Count Every Vote” events in their community.
https://protecttheresults.com/?utm_source=Indivisible
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only took 4 years...
A source close to the White House said it's becoming apparent that GOP officials are beginning to lose patience with some of President Trump's behavior as he baselessly claims fraud is robbing him of the presidency.
Trump is "bleeding GOP support," said the source, who described the President's complaints as an "ambulance chasing routine."
The source went on to criticize the Trump campaign for leveling charges of voter fraud in Pennsylvania.
https://www.cnn.com/politics/live-news/election-results-and-news-11-04-20/h_54d10c051b4ae1406826ce70bddc3d7e (https://www.cnn.com/politics/live-news/election-results-and-news-11-04-20/h_54d10c051b4ae1406826ce70bddc3d7e)
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...ever closer...
(info from Nate Silver's FiveThirtyEight)
The new batch of Nevada results looks like it contained 9,101 new Biden votes and 4,706 Trump votes, or a ratio of 66-34 in Biden’s favor. That means it actually widened Biden’s statewide lead to 12,042 votes, or 49.5 percent to 48.5 percent. If the rest of Nevada’s mail ballots are this blue, it’s hard to see Trump carrying Nevada.
Nate Silver: I think Nevada is on the verge of being callable at this point. Two-thirds of the state’s population is in Clark County and Biden is gaining big in Clark County! Not sure I see the route for a Trump comeback. this dynamic may affect how different networks are handling Nevada. If you’ve called Arizona (which I don’t think you should have!), then a Nevada call would give Biden the election. But Nevada is probably callable at this point! Fox, who along with AP have called Arizona, is going to have a crazy tense decision about uncalling Arizona. Because, if they don't, they've got to call the whole thing.
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I've watched this guy on NBC and MSNBC many times, but I never knew this:
NBC election analyst Steve Kornacki is openly gay and a big sports fan
Steve Kornacki shines on election night and does it as an openly gay man and huge sports fan.
https://www.outsports.com/2020/11/2/21540733/2020-election-steve-kornacki-gay-nbc-msnbc-sports
(https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/YxK5zRmK5q_-N_2Tww8es2J9nMA=/0x0:6192x4128/920x613/filters:focal(2455x1344:3445x2334)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/67726576/1205522073.0.jpg)
The article says he's been out publicly since 2011!
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A friend and I were discussing what the polls had said before the election and how the Dems were supposed to be celebrating taking back the Senate with at least three seats and bunches of state elections for Dems and it's been a slog. It's been so
uniform my friend wondered: Do you think there's been any Russian (or other countries) interference in the election because it doesn't make sense. And the Russians, at least, have been inside state voting systems, according to our own Government, "but not done anything." Anyone think they did?
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Nevada becomes first state to recognize gay marriage in state constitution
A question on the Nevada ballot asked voters whether they support an amendment
recognizing marriage “as between couples regardless of gender.”
Nov. 5, 2020
by Dan Avery
Nevada voters overturned an 18-year-old ban on same-sex marriage, making the state the first to enshrine gay couples’ right to marry in its state constitution.
Question 2 on Nevada ballots asked voters whether they support an amendment recognizing marriage “as between couples regardless of gender.” The “Marriage Regardless of Gender Amendment” also asked if religious organizations and clergy retained the right “to refuse to solemnize a marriage.” The results were 62 percent in favor and 38 percent against, according to the Nevada secretary of state, with more than three-fourths of the votes counted.
Davin said members of the LGBTQ community wanted something concrete to protect same-sex marriage in case "the federal level ever revokes it — which is what a lot of folks are worried about with the new Supreme Court.”
More here:
https://www.nbcnews.com/feature/nbc-out/nevada-becomes-first-state-recognize-gay-marriage-state-constitution-n1246607
(https://i.imgur.com/pKcQeNC.jpg)
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^^^ I saw that - a very positive development.
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Who woulda thought?
Georgia has just gone ahead in the vote count for Biden!
Georgia 16 electoral votes · 99% reporting
BIDEN 49.4% 2,449,371
Trump 49.4%. 2,448,454
That's a difference of 917 votes!
Georgia's 16 electoral votes would give Biden 269.
One shy of what he'd need, 270.
Unless there's some larger vote margins in all these close states, I fear there will be a lot of trouble.
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I just saw this CBS headline online:
2020 Election Live Updates: New results show razor-thin race for the White House
That really grates on me, because look at this.
These are the votes for the candidates as of now:
BIDEN: 73,737,904
Trump: 69,655,457
That's a difference of 4,082,447 votes.
They call this the popular vote. You know what every other democracy
in the world calls the winner of the popular vote? THE WINNER.
For effen sakes, if we got rid of the electoral college we wouldn't be waiting on 5 states with "razor thin" margins.
Biden's vote total is only going to get higher. California hasn't even reported the bulk of it's vote yet, for one.
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They call this the popular vote. You know what every other democracy
in the world calls the winner of the popular vote? THE WINNER.
Totally true.
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Apparently the gap is closing in Pennsylvania as well.
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Yep, that's what they said here on the 1pm news too.
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^^^ Well if things were solely decided on the popular vote, the GOP would NEVER be elected again - and they know it. The GOS would not be president. We would be living in vastly different world.
Yes, this is yet another way the GOP "games the system". As I recall, Democrats have clearly "won the popular vote" in every election of the past 20-30 years (don't quote me but that stat is out there). While the electoral college is one way supposedly "to protect the rights of the minority over the tyranny of the majority and give rural areas more weight," the GOP has become a master manipulator of the EC by surgically gerrymandering districts to give themselves far more power and seats beyond what the founding fathers intended. If the gerrymandering stopped, then there are theories the EC would work as it was really intended. IDK the answers, just am very aware of 3+ million votes in 2016 clearly superceded the 80K that put the GOS and GOP in control. And in 2020, it looks like the popular vote is going to be even larger with Biden carrying the largest popular vote in history... yet the GOS still can "win..." Go figure.
One thing I will say I saw yesterday is I was pleased to see ABC News terminated the "Presidential Broadcast" last night after about 5 mins of the GOS ranting and raving about everything he's "won" and why the election is being stolen from him by counting all the legitimate votes. The lengths the GOP went to thwart voters, especially Democratic voters, once they understood there would be a huge mail-in ballot response, is public for all to see. The Trumpers can deny all the want and they probably will. What that SOB DeJoy did in conjunction to our USPS should be viewed as part of a larger criminal enterprise + "election tampering". But that's not going to happen as long as the lap-dog, yes-man, bend-over Barr is in charge either.
We are in for a long rough ride folks, stray in.
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One thing I will say I saw yesterday is I was pleased to see ABC New terminate the "Presidental Broadcast" last night after about 5 mins of the GOS ranting and raving about everything he's "won" and why the election is being stolen from him by counting all the legitimate votes.
NBC did the same thing.
I'm pleased to see the networks identifying Beelzebub's lies, but the trouble is, the Devil's Disciples aren't hearing that and wouldn't believe it if they did. All they pay attention to is Beelzebub's personal propaganda machine, aka Fox "News."
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I've watched this guy on NBC and MSNBC many times, but I never knew this:
NBC election analyst Steve Kornacki is openly gay and a big sports fan
Steve Kornacki shines on election night and does it as an openly gay man and huge sports fan.
https://www.outsports.com/2020/11/2/21540733/2020-election-steve-kornacki-gay-nbc-msnbc-sports
(https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/YxK5zRmK5q_-N_2Tww8es2J9nMA=/0x0:6192x4128/920x613/filters:focal(2455x1344:3445x2334)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/67726576/1205522073.0.jpg)
The article says he's been out publicly since 2011!
He also has multiple pairs of those SAME pants!! Must be his lucky color!! hahaha.........little quirky, yes! :P :laugh:
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I've watched this guy on NBC and MSNBC many times, but I never knew this:
NBC election analyst Steve Kornacki is openly gay and a big sports fan
Steve Kornacki shines on election night and does it as an openly gay man and huge sports fan.
https://www.outsports.com/2020/11/2/21540733/2020-election-steve-kornacki-gay-nbc-msnbc-sports
(https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/YxK5zRmK5q_-N_2Tww8es2J9nMA=/0x0:6192x4128/920x613/filters:focal(2455x1344:3445x2334)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/67726576/1205522073.0.jpg)
The article says he's been out publicly since 2011!
and he's a tik tok sensation...
TikTok users are uploading videos of the two on-air personalities, complete with upbeat, catchy songs as the backdrop.
In one, a montage of photos of Kornacki is played to "Be My Baby" by The Ronettes.
https://www.cnn.com/2020/11/06/media/tiktok-fancam-john-king-steve-kornacki-trnd/index.html (https://www.cnn.com/2020/11/06/media/tiktok-fancam-john-king-steve-kornacki-trnd/index.html)
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^^^
I enjoyed that this morning!!! Heh!
Kornacki-Cam!
I just adore (a penthouse view) nerdy smart guys who like ML Baseball!
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Jimmy Kimmel said what he thought in his monologue:
(I think this quote I found had a line or two added that Kimmel did not originally say.)
I'm shocked that it was this close. It's unimaginable to me that close to half of American voters saw what this man has done to this country the last 4 years. How he kowtowed to Vladimir Putin, he cozied up to Kim Jung Un, alienated us from our allies, put children in cages and separated them from their parents, he constantly villainzed the free press, he hid his tax returns, tear gassed peaceful protesters, he pardoned all his criminal buddies, he extorted Ukraine, he mislead us about COVID, he dismantled the pandemic response team, he dismantled healthcare, he called neo-Nazis "very fine people", he hired a never-ending parade of imbeciles unqualified for their own Cabinet positions. He used his office to enrich himself and his sycophantic family. He governed as though he was President of states that only voted for him. He ignores climate change and actively works against the notion. Dozens of true Republicans left the Republican party over his administration. Several of his own family including his sister and niece have talked about how dangerous he is. His own family. He was impeached. He lied and lied and lied and then he lied some more, He is a liar and a cheat who wants them to stop counting thousands of legitimate votes...and all of that is just the tip of the iceberg.
And apparently half the country is okay with that.
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(https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/t-5zJhxeSnDSTaJ0XbS3o8Z2_ZsKfmVMmvZk0nhNluRT3z42iWSnX-_j9E4VEGBBmj6S=s440)
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Yes, this is yet another way the GOP "games the system". As I recall, Democrats have clearly "won the popular vote" in every election of the past 20-30 years (don't quote me but that stat is out there).
They've won the popular vote 7 out of the last 8 Presidential elections.
1992-1996-2000-2004 (Bush won it here)-2008-2012-2016-2020
Which means we got screwed out of 8-12 years of holding the Presidency.
(12 years means I included 2004, because if Gore had been the incumbent, he c/would've won.)
I really like Al Gore. I met him once. In 2002.
While the electoral college is one way supposedly "to protect the rights of the minority over the tyranny of the majority and give rural areas more weight," the GOP has become a master manipulator of the EC by surgically gerrymandering districts to give themselves far more power and seats beyond what the founding fathers intended. If the gerrymandering stopped, then there are theories the EC would work as it was really intended.
The founding fathers didn't quite trust the opinion of "the people" and the EC was also designed to prevent a person like Trump from becoming President, where they could've declined to vote for him. That was also intended. Didn't work.
One thing I will say I saw yesterday is I was pleased to see ABC News terminated the "Presidential Broadcast" last night after about 5 mins of the GOS ranting and raving about everything he's "won" and why the election is being stolen from him by counting all the legitimate votes.
And Jeff says NBC did, too.
On CBS, before Trump's remarks, Stephen Colbert had finished taping his show to air at 11:35pm. He was so incensed, he got the necessary people back together to re-do the opening monologue and lambaste Trump, McConnell and the GOP in general. Bravo!
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I'm pleased to see the networks identifying Beelzebub's lies, but the trouble is, the Devil's Disciples aren't hearing that and wouldn't believe it if they did. All they pay attention to is Beelzebub's personal propaganda machine, aka Fox "News."
??? If you like Fox News, just wait for Trump-TV. ???
So, how are things in Philadelphia, Jeff? Enjoying the news spotlight in your hometown?
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He also has multiple pairs of those SAME pants!! Must be his lucky color!! hahaha.........little quirky, yes! :P :laugh:
Makes is easier to get dressed when all your pants are the same. ;D
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So, how are things in Philadelphia, Jeff? Enjoying the news spotlight in your hometown?
I have a work issue. I'm not paying close attention. I shouldn't even be reading and writing this. I did hear on news this morning that the city police arrested two men near the Convention Center, where the ballots are being counted. Each was armed with a pistol. They were driving a silver Humvee with Virginia license plates. The vehicle was decorated with Q-Anon stickers. There was an AK-47 in the vehicle.
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Thanks, Jeff.
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(https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/rgWuQnVFf-M3fL75Ty-ghkrrVbAlian7b9hSAJA0OR4EOAiA36YiC01iy3PImUp3nSf91A=s500)
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(https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/t-5zJhxeSnDSTaJ0XbS3o8Z2_ZsKfmVMmvZk0nhNluRT3z42iWSnX-_j9E4VEGBBmj6S=s440)
:laugh: :laugh: :laugh:
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What’s Left To Count
Since it looks like no projection is imminent in the presidential race, here’s where things stand in the five crucial states we’re still watching:
Where we’re expecting more data tonight:
Pennsylvania: Biden has overtaken Trump in the state and now leads by 13,371 votes — and most of the remaining 100,000+ ballots should be very good for Democrats, given that they are either mail-in or provisional votes. Of particular note, a cache of about 29,000 mail-in ballots in Allegheny County (Pittsburgh) that a court had ordered to be segregated and double-checked will be counted starting at 5 p.m. Eastern.
Nevada: After some updates this morning, Biden expanded his lead here to 20,137 votes. Although about 150,000 late-arriving mail ballots or provisional ballots have yet to be counted, these ballots are expected to lean Democratic. Clark County (home of Las Vegas), where most percent of the outstanding ballots are, will release its next update at 7 p.m. Eastern and should have the bulk of the counting done this weekend.
Arizona: Biden currently leads here by 43,779 votes, but there are somewhere around 220,000 left to count. Trump needs to win about 60 percent of those (or more) to pull into the lead, but he’s been falling short of that so far. We expect to get more results from Maricopa County (where most of the outstanding ballots are) at 9 p.m. Eastern. It’s unclear whether that will be enough to cause the networks to project the state. (Some outlets, such as AP and Fox News, have already projected Arizona for Biden, but most media outlets have not.)
Heading to a recount:
Georgia: Biden currently leads here by a razor-thin margin (1,561 votes) with about 8,200 regular absentee ballots, up to 8,900 overseas ballots and at least 5,500 provisional ballots left to count (plus 2,000 rejected absentee ballots that could be “cured” by their voters). The secretary of state has already said that the race will go to a recount.
No updates until next week:
North Carolina: North Carolina has counted every ballot it had in its possession as of Tuesday, and Trump leads by 76,737 votes among them. However, the state has announced that about 117,000 mail-in ballots and 40,766 provisional ballots are potentially outstanding, although not all of them will count. Mail-in ballots have until Nov. 12 to arrive, and only at that point will more results be released.
Info from FiveThirtyEight
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If the election ends up with Biden winning all the states he's currently leading in,
and the Presidential vote totals having Biden winning 5-7 million more votes than
the GOS, then future historians and people won't really have any idea of this past
week of everyone on pins and needles and calling the election so razor thin close.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EmJVhTZXEAEFfu8?format=jpg&name=large)
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The Importance of having MORE than 270 EC votes from the election...
Did you know?
Did you know that in the 2016 election, for the first time since 1808, there were 7 faithless electors in the Electoral College, 2 for Trump and 5 for Clinton, who voted for someone else? These electors came from the states of Texas, Hawaii and Washington.
Hawaii-1 elector voted for Bernie Sanders.
Texas- 1 elector voted for Rand Paul and another for John Kasich.
Washington-3 electors voted for Colin Powell. 1 voted for Faith Spotted Eagle.
Two Democratic electors, one in Minnesota and one in Colorado, were replaced after voting for Bernie Sanders and John Kasich, respectively. Electors in Maine conducted a second vote after one of its members voted for Sanders; the elector then voted for Clinton.
Not only that, for the first time since 1896, mutliple electors voted against any vice-presidential candidate:
Electoral College misses: 2016
--One Clinton elector in Colorado attempted to vote for John Kasich. The single vote was ruled invalid by Colorado state law, the elector was dismissed, and an alternative elector was sworn in who voted for Clinton.
--One Clinton elector in Minnesota voted for Bernie Sanders as president and Tulsi Gabbard as vice president; his votes were discarded and he was replaced by an alternate who voted for Clinton.
--One Clinton elector in Maine voted for Bernie Sanders; this vote was invalidated as "improper" and the elector subsequently voted for Clinton.
--One Trump elector in Georgia resigned before the vote rather than vote for Trump and was replaced by an alternate.
--Beside the two Trump electors in Texas who did not vote for Trump, one elector did not vote for Pence and instead voted for Carly Fiorina for vice-president; a third resigned before the vote rather than vote for Trump and was replaced by an alternate.
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Somebody sent me this facebook link to a video.
It's a cross between Sister Act and the current Georgia election...you''ll see what I mean.
It's wonderful:
https://www.facebook.com/theamericanidol/videos/10100800495494424/UzpfSTc5ODg2MzQyNjoxMDE1ODczMjQzNjc0MzQyNw/?d=n
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Beautiful! Thank you!
I loved that movie.
I saw it in Moscow. Idaho.
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(https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/t-5zJhxeSnDSTaJ0XbS3o8Z2_ZsKfmVMmvZk0nhNluRT3z42iWSnX-_j9E4VEGBBmj6S=s440)
Lock him up! ;D
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He's fired!
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Somehow I have managed to fall a month behind in reading my copies of The New Yorker. It's probably a moot point now (one way or the other), but the Oct. 12 issue had a very interesting article about the Lincoln Society. I'd heard the name but knew nothing about it, I was pleased to learn that, apparently, all along, the Lincoln Society did run the sort of hard-hitting attacks on the Great Orange Satan that I've said the Democrats should have. I guess they just haven't been running them on the TV stations I watch. All of the Lincoln Society founders are Republicans and Conservatives. One of them recently published a book called Running Against the Devil. His contention kind of boils down to, When it comes to Presidential campaigns, Democrats are wishy-washy. They need to save the policy debates until after they win. They need to learn that a Presidential campaign is not a scholarly discourse: "This is a chain fight in a biker bar in Frogsass, Alabama."
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Somebody sent me this facebook link to a video.
It's a cross between Sister Act and the current Georgia election...you''ll see what I mean.
It's wonderful:
https://www.facebook.com/theamericanidol/videos/10100800495494424/UzpfSTc5ODg2MzQyNjoxMDE1ODczMjQzNjc0MzQyNw/?d=n
Oh Damn, it's been taken down!!!
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The Associated Press has declared Joe Biden as President Elect with 273 electoral votes after Pennsylvania has been called.
He will be the 46th president and the oldest elected. May God bless him and keep him safe.
Now the fireworks will begin. UGH!
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Thank goodness!
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Yay!
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OMG! I didn't realize how much and long I've held my breath since the votes were cast! I am finally breathing easily. The only thing we can hope for is the runoff elections for the Senate.
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HD are HA!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kx2mzukXY4Y
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Joe Biden is a Syracuse University graduate.
That means our new President (!!!) is also an Orange-man!
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The President of France sent a simple message, "Welcome back, America."
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Thank God!!!! Already the world seems like a safer place. ;D ;D ;D
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HD are HA!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kx2mzukXY4Y
This is sweet and joyful!
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YAAAAYYY, CONGRATULATIONS!!
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Thank God!!!! Already the world seems like a safer place. ;D ;D ;D
It definitely does, Janie!!
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YAAAAYYY, CONGRATULATIONS!!
Thanks so much, Elena. Not only is the United States safer, but the whole world!
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Believe me, we know! We were with friends the news arrived and there was a collective, relieved pheeeeewww. Now let's hope the Georgians manage to flip the senate too!
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As we celebrate, we know that Trump will never acknowledge defeat
and his statement he offered after the race was called proves just that.
You wouldn't expect anything else, would you?
Text of a statement from President Donald Trump on the election result:
“We all know why Joe Biden is rushing to falsely pose as the winner, and why his media allies are trying so hard to help him: they don’t want the truth to be exposed. The simple fact is this election is far from over. Joe Biden has not been certified as the winner of any states, let alone any of the highly contested states headed for mandatory recounts, or states where our campaign has valid and legitimate legal challenges that could determine the ultimate victor. In Pennsylvania, for example, our legal observers were not permitted meaningful access to watch the counting process. Legal votes decide who is president, not the news media.
“Beginning Monday, our campaign will start prosecuting our case in court to ensure election laws are fully upheld and the rightful winner is seated. The American People are entitled to an honest election: that means counting all legal ballots, and not counting any illegal ballots. This is the only way to ensure the public has full confidence in our election. It remains shocking that the Biden campaign refuses to agree with this basic principle and wants ballots counted even if they are fraudulent, manufactured, or cast by ineligible or deceased voters. Only a party engaged in wrongdoing would unlawfully keep observers out of the count room – and then fight in court to block their access.
“So what is Biden hiding? I will not rest until the American People have the honest vote count they deserve and that Democracy demands.”
The statement was issued while Trump was golfing at his club in Virginia.
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so his communications director was writing while 45 was golfing...I have to believe, I have to believe, that he won't get any support for the bs that's he's spreading now. Hopefully Mark Meadows, the mother of all enablers, will be in ICU for a while (and I'm not usually a vindictive person), and that other republicans will start to stand up for what they know is right.
Words like this just make it look like he's not paying attention...
Joe Biden has not been certified as the winner of any states
In Pennsylvania, for example, our legal observers were not permitted meaningful access to watch the counting process.
Legal votes decide who is president, not the news media.
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besides the obvious differences between 45 and Biden, there is this: the human differences. This is a great short article by Vogue...the part I put below made me realize how little humanity we've seen in the past 4 years, how little caring that was shown, even for their own family (except when he said if Ivanka wasn't his daughter, he would date her, ewwwwww). And the dog is a rescue! That alone was reason to vote for him...
Another Great Thing About Biden’s Win: There’s Going to Be a Dog in the White House Again!
Can you imagine Donald Trump offering to get Barron a puppy? Or keeping a promise, for that matter? Not once in the past four years have we seen Donald and Melania warmly embrace after an event or trip; we haven’t seen smiling family vacations or loving moments shared on the dance floor. I miss those moments of humanity on display for all of America to see.
https://www.vogue.com/article/biden-dog-in-the-white-house (https://www.vogue.com/article/biden-dog-in-the-white-house)
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(https://cdn.prod.www.spiegel.de/images/ec1527dc-3bc0-4ce0-bb91-26eeea013f79_w948_r2.11_fpx51.14_fpy44.99.jpg)
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(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EmPHH93XUAAVlx7?format=jpg&name=small)
Doug Emhoff & KH.
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I really love this:
(https://scontent-muc2-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-0/p180x540/124180085_10158815179542114_1572998362979605475_o.jpg?_nc_cat=103&ccb=2&_nc_sid=e3f864&_nc_ohc=V-eFIU_epq4AX-NJ5Jb&_nc_ht=scontent-muc2-1.xx&tp=6&oh=f2e084f1036cd7e06990c2ac5fe97535&oe=5FCDCCF3)
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I woke up on the West Coast this morning at the same moment the election was being called for Joe Biden. It was cloudy and cool (cold for L.A.) and I made coffee, sat down at the computer and found out the wonderful news. As I was sipping the coffee a sliver of sunlight appeared from the sky and shown right down on the Biden/Harris sign I've had on my balcony for months.
Then I'd hear some car horns occasionally. Then more. People on Santa Monica Blvd. expressing their joy of the morning news is what I was thinking was happening. As I drank the cup of coffee it did not abate. I decided I needed to take a look. I took my stars and stripes kerchief and my Biden/Harris sign down to the corner, and yes indeed, people were out walking and driving up and down the street expressing sheer joy and exuberance. I joined in. I walked from my street down to La Cienega Blvd., waving my kercheif and holding the sign up high. Car after car were honking and people yelling out the windows. I walked back down the street on the opposite side from La Cienega to San Vicente. Then I returned to the corner of my street. I stayed there and all the while more and more and more people were lining the streets on foot and in cars and everyone quite happy, joyous, relieved. Music of different types blaring from car windows. Things like "We are the champions..." and "Oh joyous day" to the Wizard of Oz's "Ding Dong, the witch...:o and the rap song I heard someone playing on election night of 2016: "F**k Donald Trump."
I asked a person why I saw so many people carrying individual flowers of all kinds and one person told me the local Trader Joe's up the street was giving them out to every passerby! People would acknowledge my sign and we'd cheer or I'd greet others and just say "Good morning." Not just a greeting today, but a feeling. It IS a "good" morning and how many have we woken up to in 2020 Or the last 4 years for that matter.
I was so filled with positive energy and good will that I stayed out there for over two hours. I had to go home and get a drink of water. And I was tired, too. I've been home for 2 1/2 hours and the crowds and cars have only increased from then. Non-stop car horns all that time...and normally that would be extremely irritating, but today it feels like an orchestra of angels and humanity embracing sanity and putting to rest the fears of a possible future that might've been if this day had not come.
It seems this outpouring is only going to increase and continue into the afternoon and evening. Continue on dear revelers, it is music to my ears.
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Wonderful, Lyle. The beginning of a novel - a GOOD one. :)
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^^^
:-* !!!
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The President of France sent a simple message, "Welcome back, America."
Wonderful!!
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Dawn
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gMzjA6asUDg
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^^^
:-* !!!
;)
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We've had fireworks in the neighborhood and around church this evening. Not a huge amount, but very noticeable.
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Dawn
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gMzjA6asUDg
Absolutely wonderful, Lyle!!
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We've had fireworks in the neighborhood and around church this evening. Not a huge amount, but very noticeable.
Wonderful, Fritz!! I live too far away from the city to see or hear anything, but we did have cars up and down the main city street downtown celebrate the results.
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My friends have posted video on FB from Montclair, NJ, with people driving up and down the main street, cheering and honking their horns.
:)
A lot of areas have fireworks going off.
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He's fired!
Lock him up!
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The President of France sent a simple message, "Welcome back, America."
That's lovely. :)
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Kamala Harris = 47?
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Kamala Harris = 47?
It is long past due that the US should get its first female president, I think it would be great!
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Saw this reposted on FB from Twitter.
Despite some of the highest Covid-19 death rates in America, Navajo Nation increased their turnout and went 97% for Biden ... yes, 97% ...
We owe them a debt of gratitude in helping to flip Arizona.
Trumpites will be even more pissed off when they hear this!!
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Saw this reposted on FB from Twitter.
Despite some of the highest Covid-19 death rates in America, Navajo Nation increased their turnout and went 97% for Biden ... yes, 97% ...
We owe them a debt of gratitude in helping to flip Arizona.
Trumpites will be even more pissed off when they hear this!!
I love it!!!
-
I woke up on the West Coast this morning at the same moment the election was being called for Joe Biden. It was cloudy and cool (cold for L.A.) and I made coffee, sat down at the computer and found out the wonderful news. As I was sipping the coffee a sliver of sunlight appeared from the sky and shown right down on the Biden/Harris sign I've had on my balcony for months.
Then I'd hear some car horns occasionally. Then more. People on Santa Monica Blvd. expressing their joy of the morning news is what I was thinking was happening. As I drank the cup of coffee it did not abate. I decided I needed to take a look. I took my stars and stripes kerchief and my Biden/Harris sign down to the corner, and yes indeed, people were out walking and driving up and down the street expressing sheer joy and exuberance. I joined in. I walked from my street down to La Cienega Blvd., waving my kercheif and holding the sign up high. Car after car were honking and people yelling out the windows. I walked back down the street on the opposite side from La Cienega to San Vicente. Then I returned to the corner of my street. I stayed there and all the while more and more and more people were lining the streets on foot and in cars and everyone quite happy, joyous, relieved. Music of different types blaring from car windows. Things like "We are the champions..." and "Oh joyous day" to the Wizard of Oz's "Ding Dong, the witch...:o and the rap song I heard someone playing on election night of 2016: "F**k Donald Trump."
I asked a person why I saw so many people carrying individual flowers of all kinds and one person told me the local Trader Joe's up the street was giving them out to every passerby! People would acknowledge my sign and we'd cheer or I'd greet others and just say "Good morning." Not just a greeting today, but a feeling. It IS a "good" morning and how many have we woken up to in 2020 Or the last 4 years for that matter.
I was so filled with positive energy and good will that I stayed out there for over two hours. I had to go home and get a drink of water. And I was tired, too. I've been home for 2 1/2 hours and the crowds and cars have only increased from then. Non-stop car horns all that time...and normally that would be extremely irritating, but today it feels like an orchestra of angels and humanity embracing sanity and putting to rest the fears of a possible future that might've been if this day had not come.
It seems this outpouring is only going to increase and continue into the afternoon and evening. Continue on dear revelers, it is music to my ears.
Lovely to read this, Lyle!
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I woke up on the West Coast this morning at the same moment the election was being called for Joe Biden. It was cloudy and cool (cold for L.A.) and I made coffee, sat down at the computer and found out the wonderful news. As I was sipping the coffee a sliver of sunlight appeared from the sky and shown right down on the Biden/Harris sign I've had on my balcony for months.
Then I'd hear some car horns occasionally. Then more. People on Santa Monica Blvd. expressing their joy of the morning news is what I was thinking was happening. As I drank the cup of coffee it did not abate. I decided I needed to take a look. I took my stars and stripes kerchief and my Biden/Harris sign down to the corner, and yes indeed, people were out walking and driving up and down the street expressing sheer joy and exuberance. I joined in. I walked from my street down to La Cienega Blvd., waving my kercheif and holding the sign up high. Car after car were honking and people yelling out the windows. I walked back down the street on the opposite side from La Cienega to San Vicente. Then I returned to the corner of my street. I stayed there and all the while more and more and more people were lining the streets on foot and in cars and everyone quite happy, joyous, relieved. Music of different types blaring from car windows. Things like "We are the champions..." and "Oh joyous day" to the Wizard of Oz's "Ding Dong, the witch...:o and the rap song I heard someone playing on election night of 2016: "F**k Donald Trump."
I asked a person why I saw so many people carrying individual flowers of all kinds and one person told me the local Trader Joe's up the street was giving them out to every passerby! People would acknowledge my sign and we'd cheer or I'd greet others and just say "Good morning." Not just a greeting today, but a feeling. It IS a "good" morning and how many have we woken up to in 2020 Or the last 4 years for that matter.
I was so filled with positive energy and good will that I stayed out there for over two hours. I had to go home and get a drink of water. And I was tired, too. I've been home for 2 1/2 hours and the crowds and cars have only increased from then. Non-stop car horns all that time...and normally that would be extremely irritating, but today it feels like an orchestra of angels and humanity embracing sanity and putting to rest the fears of a possible future that might've been if this day had not come.
It seems this outpouring is only going to increase and continue into the afternoon and evening. Continue on dear revelers, it is music to my ears.
Beautiful, Lyle!
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It will be so nice to have a fundamentally decent human being in the Oval Office.
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^^^
You said it Jeff!
Lovely to read this, Lyle!
Beautiful, Lyle!
Danke Danke!
Good morning!
The reveling continued until just after midnight! That's over 15 hours! I am not exaggerating when I say that one could hear car horns for every minute (if not second) of that 15 hours! West Hollywood was even on CBS's National broadcast with an interviewer in the middle of it who could hardly be heard. Since I deeply understood and felt the reason for it all this cacophony actually didn't bother me! (But fifteen hours is a l o n g time!)
I also saw on our local news that one of the cars on the boulevard celebrating yesterday was John Legend and his wife Chrissy Teigen. Someone was driving their car and they were popped up through the sun roof. Wish I'd seen that! Not only do I like a lot of JL's music, I really love "him." He's such a great human being, generous of spirit with people who disagree with him and he always seems to be doing the right thing, saying the right things. He must be in the city taping The Voice which is airing now. (Which I don't watch.) Heh!
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Voter Fraud
DAMN. They caught us.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/El7zcWIXIAARngp.jpg)
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Apparently someone screwed up...still giving the late night guys material
Donald J. Trump
@realDonaldTrump
Big press conference today in Philadelphia at Four Seasons Total Landscaping — 11:30am!
(https://img.buzzfeed.com/buzzfeed-static/static/2020-11/8/15/asset/a9d97942c6e8/sub-buzz-10081-1604850671-2.jpg?downsize=600:*&output-format=auto&output-quality=auto)
Four Seasons Hotel Philadelphia at Comcast Center
@FSPhiladelphia
To clarify, President Trump’s press conference will NOT be held at Four Seasons Hotel Philadelphia.
It will be held at Four Seasons Total Landscaping— no relation with the hotel.
(https://img.buzzfeed.com/buzzfeed-static/static/2020-11/8/15/asset/a9d97942c6e8/sub-buzz-10052-1604850599-26.jpg?downsize=600:*&output-format=auto&output-quality=auto)
Jake Tapper
@jaketapper
Some say the world will end in fire/
Others say at Four Seasons Total Landscaping north of the Tacony-Palmyra bridge, near the porn shop.
Zack Bornstein
@ZackBornstein
I could write jokes for 800 years and I'd never think of something funnier than Trump booking the Four Seasons for his big presser, and it turning out to be the Four Seasons Total Landscaping parking lot between a dildo store and a crematorium.
Kieran Healy
@kjhealy
Per pool, after the President’s press conference at Four Seasons Total Landscaping there will be an emergency cabinet meeting at the Cinnabon at King of Prussia Mall, the one near the massage chairs, not the other one.
Corporate Goth
@HoboCEOE
Shout out to the Four Seasons Landscaping person who stone cold booked Rudy's press conference and ran their credit card without telling them
Josiah Hawthorne
@JosiahHawthorne
I want to know who it was at the Four Seasons Landscaping that
—answered the phone
—heard that the Trump campaign wanted to hold a press conference in his parking lot
—realized they had mistaken him for a hotel
—Looked at an invisible documentary camera
—said, “Absolutely.”
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Josiah Hawthorne
@JosiahHawthorne
I want to know who it was at the Four Seasons Landscaping that
—answered the phone
—heard that the Trump campaign wanted to hold a press conference in his parking lot
—realized they had mistaken him for a hotel
—Looked at an invisible documentary camera
—said, “Absolutely.”
:laugh: :laugh: :laugh:
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OMG, the Tweets and comments in the article are hysterical!!!
No, not that Four Seasons. How Team Trump’s news conference ended up at a Northeast Philly landscaping firm.
by Jeremy Roebuck, Maddie Hanna and Oona Goodin-Smith
What began five years ago with the made-for-TV announcement of Donald Trump’s presidential ambitions from the escalator of his ritzy Manhattan high-rise, ended Saturday with his aging lawyer shouting conspiracy theories and vowing lawsuits in a Northeast Philadelphia parking lot, near a sex shop and a crematorium.
In hindsight, the hastily arranged news conference featuring Rudy Giuliani, the president’s personal lawyer, just minutes after Joe Biden had been declared the victor of the 2020 race, delivered a fitting end to a campaign that had been at times characterized by its slapdash techniques.
But the story of how a landscaping company in Holmesburg became the backdrop for what could have been one of the Trump team’s last public gasps in its bid to reverse the results quickly captured the public’s imagination.
It started Saturday morning, with a presidential tweet that, as has often happened during the last four years, Trump’s advisers quickly scrambled to correct.
Trump announced: “Lawyers News Conference Four Seasons, Philadelphia, 11 a.m.,” only to delete his post minutes later and replace it with one changing the venue from the upscale Center City hotel to a similarly named business: Four Seasons Total Landscaping on industrial State Road, next to Fantasy Island Adult Books and Novelties and across the street from the Delaware Valley Cremation Center.
https://www.inquirer.com/news/four-seasons-landscaping-philly-trump-giuliani-hotel-biden-20201108.html
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^^^^^^ Well the bookends of the Adult Bookstore makes sense considering who the President is, and now that I think about it, the crematorium works as well considering who the President is.... :laugh:
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:laugh: :laugh: :laugh:
(https://i.imgur.com/vWPzK3m.jpeg)
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Has nobody remarked that a landscaping company no doubt has a good stock of manure, and Rudy just added to it?
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31 years ago today the Berlin wall ceased to exist. A day I will never forget. The emotions were unbelievably strong. I'm happy and grateful that I could witness this special moment together with my mom who had escaped East Germany more than 30 years before, in Berlin where I lived at the time.
The times, they were a-changing!
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I remember watching all of that on TV. I was 37 yo and was interested and actually watched the news. CNN hadn't been around very long by that time but remember watching it on there. Congratulations on the anniversary.
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A friend of mine has been sending emails for days with humorous memes and other things about the election.
Under the saying that "there's truth in humor" I thought I'd share a scant few of them with you. This one was titled BLUE Georgia!
(https://i.imgur.com/CtCfaiSh.jpg)
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(https://i.imgur.com/vxth3Zf.jpg)
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(https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/dvdtalk.com-vbulletin/1440x819/bc99e0dd_177b_4046_beff_7166fa512c55_f1c7ab7061fcca6a29a121d30a4a814c3c6c97ab.jpeg)
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(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EmRxKBKXUAE43S3.jpg)
(https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/V0xk4ny-19bJ9JfDaRNn0Z68fuNGanuyeX0vZKi3ufaFZ_7HhRIBMHcp-7H2DZecQkbs=s500)
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:laugh: :laugh: :laugh:
(https://i.imgur.com/vWPzK3m.jpeg)
Simply mahvelous...!!!
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Has nobody remarked that a landscaping company no doubt has a good stock of manure, and Rudy just added to it?
Jeff!!! LOL!
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31 years ago today the Berlin wall ceased to exist. A day I will never forget. The emotions were unbelievably strong. I'm happy and grateful that I could witness this special moment together with my mom who had escaped East Germany more than 30 years before, in Berlin where I lived at the time.
The times, they were a-changing!
This is one of those historical events that I did not appreciate so much at the time because I was extremely busy at my job, working long hours and sleeping most of the time and hearing, seeing or reading very little news then. I only caught up on it all weeks later and the enormity of it sank in. A joyous occasion.
SIDEBAR 1: In 1969, Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In's News of the Future segment predicted this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5nQkvSbAvxI
SIDEBAR 2: In 1989, a friend of mine who was a bartender at the Revolver, a video bar, appeared on a Chuck Woolery hosted game show called SCRABBLE. Nearly a decade later the subject came up and I asked him if he had ever seen the episode? (He didn't do very well on it.) He said no, but that the Revolver video guys had taped it and there was a cassette of it up in the video library somewhere. As it happens, I knew a VJ who did the program for one of the nights there and I was up in the library with him one night when I remembered this and we looked all over for this tape. We finally found it and decided to watch it. Not three minutes into the program NBC's Special Bulletin came up... "We interrupt this program..." and the announcement of the Berlin Wall news came on and that was it! Heh! The rest of the episode was pre-empted and who knows if it was ever even aired! I told him about it later on and he just laughed and laughed.
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This is the one I've been waiting for since election day of 2016:
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EmPd5A7VgAE7VdP.jpg:large)
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31 years ago today the Berlin wall ceased to exist.
I gained more appreciation for the people who lived with the Berlin Wall and why it's demise was such an event when I visited this some years ago:
Longest Stretch of Berlin Wall Outside Germany - Los Angeles, CA
10 panels from the Berlin wall are located across the street from the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.
Long Description:
The plaque says, "The Wall Along Wilshire features ten sections of the original Berlin Wall. Measuring nearly forty feet wide, it is the world's longest stretch of the wall outside of Germany. The Wall Along Wilshire was assembled in 2009 as a component of The Wall Project, the Museum's public art initiation commemorating the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. The Wende Museum invited L.A.-based artists Kent Twitchell, Farrah Karapetian and Marie Astrid Gonzalez to participate in the project and parked them with French-born, Berlin based muralist Thierry Noir who was one of the first artists to paint on the Berlin Wall in 1984. Through their participation, the installation recalls the outdoor "Estside Galley" in Berlin, made famous by the International artists whose collective intervention transformed the Berlin Wall into a canvas reflecting real and imagined divisions. The last four segments contain original graffiti from the Cold War Era Berlin, including an iconic image of Bimer's green bear. The Wall Along Wilshire is part of the Wende Museum's permanent collection."
(https://www.roadsideamerica.com/attract/images/ca/CALANberlinwall_darrington1_620x300.jpg)
If you want, this link shows you what's on the other side of the above photo:
https://bigcitiesbrightlights.wordpress.com/2014/05/07/los-angeles-10-pieces-of-the-berlin-wall-on-wilshire-boulevard/
I do have to say I'm not sure they should have located these 10 panels where they have. The psychological height of that wall is so much taller than the actual wall was and it's loctaion at the base of a many storied skyscraper diminishes that to me. Although some might say the building behind the wall enhances that notion. It might when you are actually standing there at the wall, an emotional experience ot be sure, but not from the street (Wilshire Blvd.) I don't think.
Does anyone remember? I recall around Christmas time of 1989 that at some department stores I was in you could buy boxed pieces of the Berlin Wall contained in a soft pouch and some historical references included. Anyone else recall this?
And while I'm babbling, does anyone remember the title of a gay themed movie where two guys, each on opposite sides of the Berlin Wall, were in love with each other?
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We have a slab of the Wall outside the main entrance of my former workplace, the German Armed Forces Command main building in Reston VA.
I saw those being sold, my cousin sent me a plastic bag with fragments of the wall which he had chipped away.
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(https://scontent-iad3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/74788564_3220214501353330_6882914735151382528_o.jpg?_nc_cat=107&ccb=2&_nc_sid=730e14&_nc_ohc=t-BuvdkfEl8AX9RweIh&_nc_ht=scontent-iad3-1.xx&oh=4dbbb3aef96f5b1fa11b2c28d3f01e5d&oe=5FD04F16)
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(https://scontent-iad3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/74714977_3220216601353120_1274794255352594432_o.jpg?_nc_cat=107&ccb=2&_nc_sid=dbeb18&_nc_ohc=rpU6PQF48YwAX-UOT8I&_nc_ht=scontent-iad3-1.xx&oh=d4856ad6c80879f0de1dbb0a0e856af1&oe=5FCE941B)
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(https://scontent-iad3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/74788564_3220214501353330_6882914735151382528_o.jpg?_nc_cat=107&ccb=2&_nc_sid=730e14&_nc_ohc=t-BuvdkfEl8AX9RweIh&_nc_ht=scontent-iad3-1.xx&oh=4dbbb3aef96f5b1fa11b2c28d3f01e5d&oe=5FD04F16)
:)
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what planet are these people living on? and do they not understand that they're making complete fools of themselves with these kinds of statements? who would ever trust this guy again...ok, who ever trusted him in the first place? there's a video at the link...
Pompeo predicts ‘smooth transition’ — to second Trump administration
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo predicted Tuesday that President Trump would emerge victorious in this year’s election.
During a briefing at the State Department’s headquarters, Pompeo was asked by a reporter whether officials there were “preparing to engage” with Joe Biden’s transition team.
“There will be a smooth transition to a second Trump administration,” Pompeo said with a smile.
https://nypost.com/2020/11/10/mike-pompeo-predicts-smooth-transition-to-second-trump-administration/?utm_source=browser&utm_medium=push-notification&utm_campaign=mike-pompeo-predicts-smooth-transition-to-second-trump-administration (https://nypost.com/2020/11/10/mike-pompeo-predicts-smooth-transition-to-second-trump-administration/?utm_source=browser&utm_medium=push-notification&utm_campaign=mike-pompeo-predicts-smooth-transition-to-second-trump-administration)
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*shakes head*
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This is a bona fide question; why are the Biden supporters so certain that the current Republican ploys will not lead anywhere? Or is that just putting a brave face on things?
We've seen the Rs will stop at nothing - all it would take seems to be them presenting some persons (however dubious) who claim under oath to have witnessed voter fraud, and the Rs finding some loophole and urgent reason to send their Very Important!! court case directly to the Supreme Court, where I am sure the two most recent judges are more than willing to tip the scales and strike down the election. It won't matter how utterly wonky and bizarre the claims, or how shaky the legal reasoning - as long as the SCOTUS is what it is, can't they basically get away with anything?
I was hoping for the best until McConnell threw his hat in with the WH, then I knew that this was very dangerous.
I hope Biden and his team takes this seriously, and has work ongoing to halt it.
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This is a bona fide question; why are the Biden supporters so certain that the current Republican ploys will not lead anywhere? Or is that just putting a brave face on things?
We've seen the Rs will stop at nothing - all it would take seems to be them presenting some persons (however dubious) who claim under oath to have witnessed voter fraud, and the Rs finding some loophole and urgent reason to send their Very Important!! court case directly to the Supreme Court, where I am sure the two most recent judges are more than willing to tip the scales and strike down the election. It won't matter how utterly wonky and bizarre the claims, or how shaky the legal reasoning - as long as the SCOTUS is what it is, can't they basically get away with anything?
I was hoping for the best until McConnell threw his hat in with the WH, then I knew that this was very dangerous.
I hope Biden and his team takes this seriously, and has work ongoing to halt it.
I'm glad you wrote this, because this is what I'm afraid of. I just didn't want to pee on anybody's victory parade. Even without any shenanigans, remember Bush v. Gore? I won't rest easy until Biden is sworn in, and maybe not even then. But, yes, all the celebrating has seemed a bit premature to me.
The office in charge of overseeing the vote count in Philadelphia has been receiving death threats.
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Guys, there is no voter fraud, that's why that won't lead to anything anywhere. Every single court case that the administration folks have desperately tried to get into court has been thrown out because they're all frivolous. Or they're over a small amount of votes that wouldn't change anything in any state.
The New York Times or WP reported contacting almost every single state's head election officials and they have all reported there were no problems with this election. The two R Senate candidates in Georgia got together today and said the top election official in Georgia should resign. He's Republican. He basically said f**k off. These state election officials have integrity, both Democrat and Republicans. It's their job, too, and they aren't going to let these people get away with it. There was a great segment about this on 60 Minutes this past Sunday where the interviewed five separate county election heads in Pennsylvania.
McConnell and these GA Senate candidates and others are all after this because of that Senate run-off election in Georgia in two months. The President and others are using it to keep the base stirred up and to make tons of money off it. In fact, Trump's website has been whining for money online all week to "help" with that Senate campaign. In the fine print it says that donated money can also be used to pay Trump's campaign bills. McConnell, of course, wants to keep his power as majority leader. They think keeping the base happy and not giving up gives them incentive. And gives them money they can pocket. Trump's last weeks in office will be trying to scam anything he can.
As for the two Senate run-off seats in Georgia...if they both were won by Democrats there'd be a tie which the Dem VP would break on even votes. Maybe I shouldn't do this but:
Personally, in the year 2020, in a year I have least been able to afford it, I have donated the most time and money I ever have to political candidates/campaigns. But if not this year, when? If you're interested and/or are able to, this is where Stacy Abrams says to go to donate money for the two Senate elections coming up in Georgia which will decide if Mitch McConnell can be neutered (if he isn't already). I did. Every little bit helps. Mine was small, but it was something. Dollars like votes can add up to something big.
http://www.GASenate.com
Stacy Abrams appearance on Stephen Colbert last night:
Part 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2D_nys3lxW8
Part 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ukrIXDJgfxc
Here's that 60 Minutes segment about the vote counting in PA that Republicans have demonized.
60 Minutes
"It is not cheating, it is democracy": A first-hand look at ballot counting in Pennsylvania
In Philadelphia, the birthplace of American democracy, election officials carry out their duties while facing unfounded attacks on the integrity of the vote by a sitting president.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/pennsylvania-ballot-counting-2020-election-60-minutes/
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This is something more worrying...
[...] He's going to have to be watched and monitored when he's out of office. You know he'd sell any information he had to the highest bidder. [...]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xhbpHpAwgkk
Not surprised:
Lawrence O'Donnell and John Brennan discuss today's New York Times article about the fear within the intelligence community that Trump will be compromised and will be basically revealing state secrets after he's out of office. John Brennan: Donald Trump will take with him knowledge of classified intelligence that he could use to "advance his own personal, political or financial interests."
You know he'd do it.
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By the way, at this point you think 75 and counting million people that voted to get the cretin out of office are going to put up with this crap of trying to keep him there? I personally would fly to Washington and participate in mayhem to get him out and maybe not even wear a mask doing it.
Wasn't every single Trump supporter for the last 4 years telling everyone else: You lost get over it?
All of the supporters and enablers shouting election fraud because Biden won should be shut down with this simple statement:
"If you think the election is really fraudulent, do you really think Democrats would have been so stupid as to just gotten Biden elected and not also the Senators and down ballot Democrats?" You effen grotesques...
I am so sick of these people and: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=licwOgzBqo0
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Speaking of the Biden vote total, as the rest of the votes are being tallied,
today California became the first ever state to give a Presidential candidate
TEN MILLION votes:
Biden: 10,270,877
Cretin: 5,370,182
I was looking at the map earlier and even some Republican
counties like Orange County and San Diego county went for
Biden.
The tallies aren't finished yet, too, but if you add up the numbers as of now, 15,973,936 Californians voted.
And we have 2 Senators. 55 electoral votes.
North and South Dakota combined had 783,471 voters.
That's 4 Senators for those people. (And we have 2 for over 15 million more people!) Together they have 6 electoral votes.
Which means each one of California's electoral votes represents 290,435.2 voters.
For both Dakotas each one of their electoral votes represents 130,578.5 voters.
If each of California's electoral votes had the same representation as both Dakotas,
California would have 123 electoral votes. California is screwed by the electoral college.
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Thank you for replying so thoroughly, Lyle. Very informative. I sincerely hope you are right.
Guys, there is no voter fraud, that's why that won't lead to anything anywhere. Every single court case that the administration folks have desperately tried to get into court has been thrown out because they're all frivolous. Or they're over a small amount of votes that wouldn't change anything in any state.
That's why I figured they'd have to find someone willing to lie under oath - people do ANYTHING for money - and then bypass the lower court tiers to get their cases into the Supreme Court. They have shown time and time again that they will do egregious things after lots of people insisted 'they cannot do that'. There are a lot of dangerous and utterly amoral people fighting for their livelihoods right now...
McConnell and these GA Senate candidates and others are all after this because of that Senate run-off election in Georgia in two months. The President and others are using it to keep the base stirred up and to make tons of money off it. In fact, Trump's website has been whining for money online all week to "help" with that Senate campaign. In the fine print it says that donated money can also be used to pay Trump's campaign bills. McConnell, of course, wants to keep his power as majority leader. They think keeping the base happy and not giving up gives them incentive. And gives them money they can pocket. Trump's last weeks in office will be trying to scam anything he can.
You may be right about McConnell's main objective- as long as he retains senate majority he's shown it matters little to him who the president is - but there's a dynamic to these situations where once you've waded into the mess, you can't extricate yourself. I think this will be one of those cases where anyone with other motives than keeping DT in office, will find that that is the consequence of their actions; the battle to keep him in office really does become their battle too. As for DT himself, he has shown time and again that he means exactly what he's saying: He's not in it to enrich himself for two more months, he's in it to have the election in his disfavour overturned, by any and all means. Believe him.
By the way, at this point you think 75 and counting million people that voted to get the cretin out of office are going to put up with this crap of trying to keep him there? I personally would fly to Washington and participate in mayhem to get him out and maybe not even wear a mask doing it.
Honestly, I've been thinking that more of those voters ought to be more vocal and more visible in demonstrating that they mean business on behalf of Biden. Now everyone's just out there making funny tweets about Four Seasons Landscaping. While I enjoy the jokes, there's nothing funny about what is happening.
I see that certain changes are being made at the Pentagon, even, and it made me worried that "loyal" people are being put in place to ensure the military follows DT even if a situation arises where they might be used agaist the 75 million. Again, I sincerely hope I worry over nothing...
The problem is that the (unbelievable!) 71 million who voted for DT give him and the Rs a boost. I have had to do with business leaders IRL who were loud, explosively volatile, with a towering presence to make people around them cower and cringe, and yet I do not understand what it is with DT that makes his large circle of sycophants fall down before him in the way they do. There's no other explanation than those 71 million and what they might get up to...
ETA; My apologies for being so pessimistic. I hope I'm wrong and everything works out fine.
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I join your pessimism, Gillian. For what is worthy, from the outside it looks as if a coup was cooking in the US, and I so hope it's just me being overly affected by the fall depression.
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ETA; My apologies for being so pessimistic. I hope I'm wrong and everything works out fine.
I join your pessimism, Gillian. For what it's worth, from the outside it looks as if a coup was cooking in the US, and I so hope it's just me being overly affected by the fall depression.
I understand the pessimism, but pessimism is what got Democrats in trouble in the first place in 2010.
After Obama was elected in 2008 with Congress and the Senate along for the ride, there were high hopes and high fives from Dems all throughout the party that their dreams of--whatever dreams they had--would come true. After two years of dealing with the intransigent Republicans and the monetary crisis and a bruising battle (and still one) over the ACA (which PASSED by the way) the Dems were severely disappointed and too many to believe just sat out the mid-term elections of 2010 and allowed the Republicans to gain Senate, Congressional, Governors, State Houses and because it was a census year, control of gerrymandering. The Republicans would most likely have made some gains anyway, of course, but it would not have been nearly as bad had the Dems gone and voted like they did two years earlier. This is what pessimism did.
Look at the face of optimism: Stacey Abrams. (Check out the Colbert links in my post from last night.) She hasn't given up. She's done the work. Look at the DNC chairman Tom Perez. He's always optimistic, in a recent appearance he was just relating how far Dems have come back from the 2010 debacle already. Look at young Democrats like Pete Buttigieg and Andrew Yang. Do you ever see them being negative about things, while also being realistic about where things stand? Finally, look at President-Elect Biden yesterday. Curmudgeonly Democrat strategist and commentator James Carville was asked about the Republicans and how they're acting right now:
James Carville: "I was upset about it this afternoon, but I watched the remarks from the President elect...he really was a great leader...he calmed 'me' down. I feel very good. I think he's exhibited real qualities of leadership. And like I said. If they want to, please recount everything...you know, it's always good when you beat somebody, go beat 'em again. Like Sunday with the Saints and Tampa Bay, we beat 'em and came back again Sunday night and beat 'em again. The same thing's gonna happen when we recount these votes. He's going to lose twice. Count 'em as many times as they want. We'll keep on beating 'em."
As for the Republicans, what does one realistically expect after they've been behaving this way for 5 years (I count 2016)? When Obama took office in 2009 they practically avowed to pretend he didn't exist for 8 years. For the last 4 years they've ignored everything they've professed to believe in those 8 years. You think they'd be acting any differently NOW after they've lost an election? Realistically you'd think they'd act worse than ever. Is it surprising? I've kept stating over the years that nothing Trump and his minions, disciples, lemmings...would do since day 1 would ever surprise me. Nothing has.
If Trump had won, don't you believe that he and his supporters would be out rubbing our noses in it in every single way (and day) they could? Biden is not going to do that. Democrats aren't going to do that, but what they should be doing now is celebrating the victory and not dwelling on the fact the Republicans are acting like the vermin we know them now to be. We want them to do the right thing. When have they done that lately. Don't expect it. Don't let it get you down, either. Biden isn't. Take your lead from him. He's been in Government for long time and he knows the ins & outs of it better than anyone. He's more prepared to take over than any previously elected President. He knows what's up.
By the way, in Biden's remarks yesterday he said something you have never heard from the current cretin-in-chief in his entire life. When Biden was asked a rather pointed question, he paused, and before answering it he said... "Let's see, how can I put this tactfully..."
Cheer up people! We won! Don't get bogged down in wanting others to do what they've shown you thy aren't willing, too. I have faith in the new team. The best thing any Biden supporter can do now is to be happy and optimistic. And if you can't do that, then fake it. He's not even President yet and people are getting pessimistic.
I don't know what else to say.
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[...]In fact, Trump's website has been whining for money online all week to "help" with that Senate campaign. In the fine print it says that donated money can also be used to pay Trump's campaign bills.[...]
I happened to come across a video discussing this if you want more information:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qn1Vdj3egaE
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Cheer up people! We won! Don't get bogged down in wanting others to do what they've shown you thy aren't willing, too. I have faith in the new team. The best thing any Biden supporter can do now is to be happy and optimistic. And if you can't do that, then fake it. He's not even President yet and people are getting pessimistic.
I don't know what else to say.
And I hope all goes well!! It's just a shitty year :( Don't take me too seriously.
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Yes I know!
What's really crappy is how low the Republican party is going to appease Trump's inferiority complex.
When they have a chance to just say adios. They are truly afraid of Trump voters. Fear is a really
unattractive quality in politicians.
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You might think that the GOP is afraid that T will send them to the cornfield.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/It%27s_a_Good_Life_(The_Twilight_Zone)
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You might think that the GOP is afraid that T will send them to the cornfield.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/It%27s_a_Good_Life_(The_Twilight_Zone)
How about we send T to the cornfield.
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I join your pessimism, Gillian. For what is worthy, from the outside it looks as if a coup was cooking in the US, and I so hope it's just me being overly affected by the fall depression.
I'm on that wagon, too. I understand they're already lining up people in Michigan to swear they witnessed fraud.
If "honest Republican" isn't an oxymoron, they should find some of them to say, "I was there, there was no fraud," but I guess that's not likely.
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The GOS was taught to use law, the threat of the law and lawsuits as a weapon against anyone who disagrees with him and lawyers are running over themselves for that cash prize and selling their souls to the devil. Most people cannot defend themselves against that kind of $.
When that doesn't work, he uses payouts and hush money. I will not breathe or sleep well until that SOB exits the WH to a departing chopper or better still in handcuffs. I hope the State of NY has an arrest warrant waiting...
Yes, the changes he's made in the past 2 days at the Pentagon should be scaring the hell outta you as he's preparing to to stage a coup and use his minions in the military to do it. This SOB, and his family, and the GOP yes-asswipes are pure evil incarnate and what's just as terrifying is he's convinced 70M people he's right and now he's riling up those masses to do his bidding again. This has all the hallmarks of an autocrat and wanna-be dictator written all over it. If someone would have told me 10 years ago, the USA would be facing this... I'd thought they were mad. Social media like FB, Twitter etc.. have amplified these psychos and given them a voice to influence far too many people.
"I see that certain changes are being made at the Pentagon, even, and it made me worried that "loyal" people are being put in place to ensure the military follows DT even if a situation arises where they might be used agaist the 75 million. Again, I sincerely hope I worry over nothing..."
Sorry, you have every right to be worried. As long as the spinless GOP in the Senate are afraid of him, they will do nothing. They had a chance to get rid of the SOB and all fell in line like good little bitches. He and the GOP are indeed implementing a scorched-earth policy and will burn down and blockade as many and much of the USGovt as they can. For the first time in my lifetime, I am truly worried the US is threatened by domestic terrorist calling themselves the GOP.
Sorry to be so dark - I just have no real assurances that the Congress will act to remove him from office. They already blew that chance.
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If he tries to stage a coup and fails, it might just convince a little more of the base that he's plain evil.
They might not believe it if he then said that he was just joking, which is his usual reaction to his failures.
I just hope enough in the Armed Forces remember that their oath is to the Constitution, and not to any person.
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(https://i.etsystatic.com/7634390/r/il/392eac/1572120080/il_794xN.1572120080_2w0r.jpg)
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Fear is almost always False Evidence Appearing Real.
People from the Pentagon, former Pentagon officials and those that know people there that I've seen talk on MSNBC are not worried about them acceding to anything the cretin thinks he is cooking up. The oath they all take is to the constitution. Not the President.
I know we've all become accustomed to the atrocities of the past 4 years and wondered what at all we could do about them. 75 million people and counting did something! We have a new President. Regardless of how the cretin reacts, and he told us he'd do exactly what he's doing, don't let him dictate what you do. His supporters take their opponents worrying as a sign they did do something wrong. And you all know that's not true. So I'm choosing to rejoice in this first step. It's going to be a slog, but the team Biden's assembling is up to it and more. Do not give power to your enemies. Rejoice!
(https://www.davidsrefuge.org/app/uploads/2019/12/fear-not-2.jpg)
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Amen.
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I find election statistics interesting. Only 6 states have certified their election results so far. (Wyoming is one!)
In this year of greater voter turnout, I was noticing the very few that had less turnout than 2016. I don't know
any reasons why, does anyone have any ideas about these states?
The only states, five of them, that had less voter turnout than 2016 were:
Alaska -9.7%
District of Columbia -0.7%
Maryland -1.2%
Mississippi -4.1%
New York -13.6%
I am most curious about New York and why their voting percentage was so off from the last election.
Was it NYC down so much, or the rest of the state? Curious.
The 10 states, by percentage increase, with the biggest increases in voting from 2016 were:
Hawaii +33.8%
Arizona +30.8%
Utah +26.9%
Idaho +25.6%
Texas +25.4%
Georgia +22.0%
Tennessee +21.6%
Montana +21.4%
Washington +19.7%
South Carolina +19.5%
Hawaii? (More military vote this time?)
Other states, not mentioned yet, where people live (that I know of) on this thread:
(Fritz) Virginia +12.0%
(Linda) New Mexico +15.4%
(Jeff) Pennsylvania +11.4%
(Mark) Florida +17.6%
(Chuck) New Jersey +4.7%
(Vincent) North Carolina +15.6%
(Jonn) Kansas +12.6%
(Lyle) California +13.5%
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Yes, my state had a huge absentee ballot, the first major election it was possible without an excuse. A neighbor worked our precinct Dominion Hills, and her supervisor said that 2/3 of the voters there voted before election day, so her day there was pleasantly uneventful.
Arlington went 80.6% for Biden.
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It was my understanding, but I could be wrong, that NJ had very limited in-person voting. Everyone was encouraged to vote by mail, use a drop-box, or drop off the ballot in person at a polling place.
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I just realized, I don't even know if it's possible to vote from foreign countries in the US election. Have those votes increased too?
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I just realized, I don't even know if it's possible to vote from foreign countries in the US election. Have those votes increased too?
Yes US citizens vote absentee in their state of residence, the same as if voting domestically. It depends on the state whether they'll accept the ballot after election day or just postmarked on election day. It's always a wise idea to mail the ballot extra early from a foreign country.
In the conventions there were delegations from Democrats/Republicans Abroad who cast their ballots for their particular candidates. The conventions also include delegations from the territories which are not (yet) states.
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If you're living abroad, you can register to vote in the last state where you lived before departure, or you can chose the state and county where you were born (I think).
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Thank you, Fritz!
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I remember in the 2000 aftermath all the talk of waiting for military and overseas ballots to come in.
ARIZONA -- finally called for Joe Biden last night. I guess all those illegal fraudulent ballots were counted by the Republican cunty election officials. ::)
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nice of Arizona to join the party.
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Washington Post: :o
130+ Secret Service Members Infected With Covid Or Quarantining
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ovSf_jeKXNE
All thanks to Trump, of course...
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Need another reason to dump FB? There are so many more ways to stay in touch these days...
Zuckerberg: Bannon's beheading comments aren't enough to ban him from Facebook
(CNN Business)Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg told staff at a company meeting on Thursday that Steve Bannon suggesting that Dr. Anthony Fauci and FBI Director Christopher Wray should be beheaded was not enough of a violation of Facebook's rules to permanently suspend the former White House chief strategist from the platform, according to a Facebook employee.
Bannon was permanently suspended from Twitter last week after making the comments in a video.
https://www.cnn.com/2020/11/13/tech/facebook-steve-bannon/index.html (https://www.cnn.com/2020/11/13/tech/facebook-steve-bannon/index.html)
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Trump campaign drops Arizona lawsuit requesting review of ballots
By Kara Scannell, CNN
Lawyers for the Trump campaign have dropped a lawsuit seeking a review of all ballots cast on Election Day after finding that the margin of victory for the presidential contest in Arizona could not be overcome.
The Trump campaign filed the lawsuit on Saturday alleging some voters were confused on Election Day and feared that their ballots were not counted if the vote tabulation machines classified their ballots as overvotes. They were seeking a hand review of any ballots flagged by the machine as overvotes alleging it could result in thousands of votes for President Donald Trump.
CNN has projected that President-elect Joe Biden will win the state.
"As we've said, the Trump campaign's lawsuit was frivolous and their motion to withdraw any claims of relief related to the presidential campaign confirms that this was nothing more than a waste of time," the Biden campaign said in a statement. "President-Elect Joe Biden won Arizona, and now it's time to unite the country and move forward."
https://www.cnn.com/2020/11/13/politics/arizona-trump-lawsuit/index.html
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Law Firm Porter Wright Withdraws From Trump Campaign Lawsuit in Pennsylvania
By Reuters, Wire Service Content Nov. 13, 2020
A law firm representing Republican President Donald Trump's campaign in challenging U.S. election results in Pennsylvania is withdrawing from at least one of the cases contesting ballots in the battleground state.
Democrat Joe Biden captured the presidency on Saturday, thanks in part to a win in Pennsylvania. Trump has refused to concede and has repeatedly claimed, without evidence, that there was widespread voter fraud.
In a court filing on Thursday, lawyers at Porter Wright Morris & Arthur said it had agreed that its clients - the campaign and two registered voters - "will be best served if Porter Wright withdraws."
The campaign is in the process of retaining new counsel, Porter Wright said in the filing to U.S. District Judge Matthew Brann in Williamsport, Pennsylvania.
The lawsuit, filed on Sunday in federal court in Pennsylvania, alleges that the state's mail-in voting system "lacked all of the hallmarks of transparency and verifiability that were present for in-person voters."
"We’ve committed to the court to fulfill our obligations as required to ensure transition to substitute counsel, and so as not to cause material adverse effect on the client’s interest. We will have no further comment," Porter Wright said in a statement.
https://www.usnews.com/news/top-news/articles/2020-11-13/law-firm-porter-wright-withdraws-from-trump-campaign-lawsuit-in-pennsylvania
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Feeling a little better because of the weakness of T's cases, and the incompetency of his lawyers.
But I'll feel a lot better when he's a distant, distasteful memory.
There's supposed to be a pro-T march in DC tomorrow. There's no open carry in DC. The participants will feel naked, and exposed.
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I'd like to think that, too, Fritz, but I have a feeling he's gonna be biting at our ankles for years to come.
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Joe Biden is the apparent winner over Trump in Georgia, the first Democrat to take the state since ’92
Dan Mangan, Hannah Miao NOV 13 2020
President-elect Joe Biden is the apparent winner of Georgia’s presidential race, the first Democrat to win that race in the state since 1992, NBC News projected Friday.
Biden’s victory would give him 16 more Electoral College votes and further solidify an already large lead over President Donald Trump in both the Electoral College and popular vote tallies.
Georgia’s secretary of state has already said that a hand recount of all ballots statewide will be conducted because of the closeness of the race. Biden as of Friday was leading Trump by 49.5% to 49.2% of the ballots tallied so far, a margin of about 14,000 votes.
Trump on Friday was projected as the winner in North Carolina, the last state to be called in the race for the White House. Trump was leading North Carolina, which has 15 Electoral College votes, by 50% of the votes tallied, to 48.6% for Biden, who was trailing the incumbent by more than 70,000 votes there.
Biden has secured 306 Electoral College votes, compared with 232 such votes for Trump under current projections.
To win the presidency, a candidate must win at minimum 270 votes in the Electoral College.
https://www.cnbc.com/2020/11/13/georgia-election-results-2020.html
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Charles Koch says he regrets fueling partisanship: 'Boy, did we screw up!'
Juliana Kaplan
The billionaire Charles Koch, who has funneled millions into the GOP and conservative movements, reportedly expressed misgivings over how that money had fueled excessive partisanship.
In an interview with The Wall Street Journal's Douglas Belkin published Friday, Koch spoke about his new mission of unification across partisan lines.
He also shared with The Journal parts of his new book, "Believe in People: Bottom-Up Solutions for a Top-Down World," in which he said he regretted his partisanship and the divisions it fostered.
"Boy, did we screw up!" he wrote, according to The Journal. "What a mess!"
https://www.businessinsider.com/charles-koch-partisanship-mistake-boy-did-we-screw-up-wsj-2020-11
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I'd like to think that, too, Fritz, but I have a feeling he's gonna be biting at our ankles for years to come.
Yeah, unfortunately. Hope the mainstream media avoid him as much as possible. The crazy media can have him.
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Charles Koch says he regrets fueling partisanship: 'Boy, did we screw up!'
Juliana Kaplan
The billionaire Charles Koch, who has funneled millions into the GOP and conservative movements, reportedly expressed misgivings over how that money had fueled excessive partisanship.
In an interview with The Wall Street Journal's Douglas Belkin published Friday, Koch spoke about his new mission of unification across partisan lines.
He also shared with The Journal parts of his new book, "Believe in People: Bottom-Up Solutions for a Top-Down World," in which he said he regretted his partisanship and the divisions it fostered.
"Boy, did we screw up!" he wrote, according to The Journal. "What a mess!"
https://www.businessinsider.com/charles-koch-partisanship-mistake-boy-did-we-screw-up-wsj-2020-11
He's saying that now only because he lost. Had he won, we'd be hearing of his genius.
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He's saying that now only because he lost. Had he won, we'd be hearing of his genius.
I'm sure you're right, but there's a part of me that likes to think he's learned a lesson.
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I certainly hope he has.
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I'd like to think that, too, Fritz, but I have a feeling he's gonna be biting at our ankles for years to come.
That ugly mug will be with us forever. He gets a Presidential Library.
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I'm sure you're right, but there's a part of me that likes to think he's learned a lesson.
I will believe he's learned his lesson when he donates billions to the Democratic Party equal to what he has donated to the Republican Party.
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That ugly mug will be with us forever. He gets a Presidential Library.
With a lovely reflecting cesspool.
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He's saying that now only because he lost. Had he won, we'd be hearing of his genius.
I'm not sure. I don't think he's grown a conscience, far from it, but I think he and his ilk would like society to not completely fall apart - that would harm his businesses and stock value. And I do think he is shrewd enough to see that '4 more years' might have left a smoking ruin.
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^^^
Also, he's trying to sell a book.
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Yeah, unfortunately. Hope the mainstream media avoid him as much as possible. The crazy media can have him.
When Presidents leave office, they usually stay out of sight and don't remark on a new administration's actions, policies, whatever. We know Trump isn't going to be quiet. When he is out of office, if the media starts going back to him to see what he's tweeting and saying, feeding his insatiable need for attention, we all need to condemn them for that immediately. They need to stay away from him for as long as possible for the good of the country. If they don't, all of us need to tell them to, or we will stop watching, reading, listening to them. We need a list of emails and addresses and/or phone numbers at the ready to pounce on it if they start up. If anyone comes across such things or articles about this, let us know.
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Excellent. Necessary. Chilling.
Democracy
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w0ErQXEzFWA
(New Lincoln Project ad.)
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Charles Koch says he regrets fueling partisanship: 'Boy, did we screw up!'
Juliana Kaplan
The billionaire Charles Koch, who has funneled millions into the GOP and conservative movements, reportedly expressed misgivings over how that money had fueled excessive partisanship.
In an interview with The Wall Street Journal's Douglas Belkin published Friday, Koch spoke about his new mission of unification across partisan lines.
He also shared with The Journal parts of his new book, "Believe in People: Bottom-Up Solutions for a Top-Down World," in which he said he regretted his partisanship and the divisions it fostered.
"Boy, did we screw up!" he wrote, according to The Journal. "What a mess!"
https://www.businessinsider.com/charles-koch-partisanship-mistake-boy-did-we-screw-up-wsj-2020-11
He lives here. I know MANY people who work for Koch Industries, or have worked for them. Charles Koch is a taskmaster for sure. He's kooky though.....his wife still cuts his hair, to save money! baaaawaaaahhhaaaa!!! Odd family.
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He lives here. I know MANY people who work for Kock Industries, or have worked for them. Charles Koch is a taskmaster for sure. He's kooky though.....his wife still cuts his hair, to save money! baaaawaaaahhhaaaa!!! Odd family.
Really? How strange.
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GOP leaders in 4 states quash dubious Trump bid on electors
Bob Christie and Nicholas Riccardi - Sat, November 14, 2020
Republican leaders in four critical states won by President-elect Joe Biden say they won’t participate in a legally dubious scheme to flip their state’s electors to vote for President Donald Trump. Their comments effectively shut down a half-baked plot some Republicans floated as a last chance to keep Trump in the White House.
State GOP lawmakers in Arizona, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin have all said they would not intervene in the selection of electors, who ultimately cast the votes that secure a candidate's victory. Such a move would violate state law and a vote of the people, several noted.
“I do not see, short of finding some type of fraud — which I haven’t heard of anything — I don’t see us in any serious way addressing a change in electors,” said Rusty Bowers, Arizona’s Republican House speaker, who says he’s been inundated with emails pleading for the legislature to intervene. “They are mandated by statute to choose according to the vote of the people.”
The idea loosely involves GOP-controlled legislatures dismissing Biden's popular vote wins in their states and opting to select Trump electors. While the endgame was unclear, it appeared to hinge on the expectation that a conservative-leaning Supreme Court would settle any dispute over the move.
https://news.yahoo.com/trump-win-fantasy-electors-bid-053422014.html
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Hello Ultimate Brokeback Forum members.
As you've no doubt noticed, the forum has been experiencing repeated downtimes. Nax, Killersmom and I have worked behind the scenes to keep everything running, however, we feel we owe you an explanation.
UBF is run by a company that handles our server, and helps maintain it. We have just recently found out that the man who runs that company does it primarily on his own, and unfortunately, has had some unspecified health issues which required a hospital stay.
It was at this time that the recent outages began.
We are not discussing specifics of his recent problems, out of concerns for privacy. We also want to respect the fact that we've (until recently) received very good services from him and his company.
That being said, Nax has been performing regular and recent backups of the forum to ensure the most recent information is captured, in case a move to a new server/company is needed.
As you can see, we are back. However, we are still having discussions regarding what may be required in the future. Once we have all the information that we need, and all of our 'ducks are in a row', we will let you know what the outcome will be.
Thanks for your patience during these instances. We know these downtimes are frustrating (we're frustrated too), but this issue is not being ignored. We are actively seeking the best solution.
CellarDweller115
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^^^
Thank you, Chuck. Understand. Much appreciated!
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GOP leaders in 4 states quash dubious Trump bid on electors
Bob Christie and Nicholas Riccardi - Sat, November 14, 2020
Finally, some State leaders doing the right thing. Now if only the Republican Senators would show some backbone
instead of their yellow shadings.
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I will believe he's learned his lesson when he donates billions to the Democratic Party equal to what he has donated to the Republican Party.
Yeap... these well educated people should have known it's all about BALANCE in the system not gaming the system to tilt the odds heavily in your favor. By funding the GOP all these years, they have been able to successfully gerrymander more control while still receiving less that the majority of the vote. I just hope the Scales of Karma teach them both a lesson, though I think one of the two died... so he's gotten or getting his due.
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Cheer up people! We won! Don't get bogged down in wanting others to do what they've shown you they aren't willing, too. I have faith in the new team. The best thing any Biden supporter can do now is to be happy and optimistic. And if you can't do that, then fake it. He's not even President yet and people are getting pessimistic.
I don't know what else to say.
I thought I owed you another thank you for your informative and positive posts.
Also, I am happy to say that I am now quite confident Biden will be president, the WH's tragic attempts to derail the election results notwithstanding. DT's behaviour is looking increasingly childish and unhinged, and less in touch with reality by the minute. He obviously does not do as much as one minute's actual work anymore, beyond trying to sabotage the incoming administration in any way possible. Thereby also securing the uncontrolled spread of Covid.
But in general, the Republicans are coming around, although embarrassingly slowly.
Biden has played this right - he's been in this game for many long years and it shows. Getting to work, demonstrating down-to-earth optimism, keeping his cool. It will be such a relief to have a decent human being as the 'leader of the free world'.
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That's kind of you (((((( Gillian ))))), thanks!
_______
I've been off the news merry-go-round today, but I read a blurb online about the MAGA ralliy in D.C.
This one quote from one person there, highlights a problem with a whole lot of Trump supporters:
Marcello Milone, who traveled with his family, including his 15-year-old son, from South Carolina, said they were there to "demand the truth." "I don’t understand how the country went to bed with Trump up by tons of votes on Election Night then days later Biden is called the winner,” he said, waving an American flag. "It doesn’t make any sense."
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I've been off the news merry-go-round today, but I read a blurb online about the MAGA ralliy in D.C.
This one quote from one person there, highlights a problem with a whole lot of Trump supporters:
Marcello Milone, who traveled with his family, including his 15-year-old son, from South Carolina, said they were there to "demand the truth." "I don’t understand how the country went to bed with Trump up by tons of votes on Election Night then days later Biden is called the winner,” he said, waving an American flag. "It doesn’t make any sense."
White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany Wildly Exaggerates Trump March Crowd Size
Mili Godio 11/14/20 AT 2:05 PM
Thousands of Trump supporters have already gathered at Freedom Plaza in Washington, D.C. on Saturday for the 'Million MAGA March,' also known as 'Stop the Steal' and the 'March for Trump,' in support of President Donald Trump and protest the outcome of the presidential election, emphasizing baseless claims of voter fraud.
White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany tweeted photos of the gathering, claiming that more than a "million" Trump supporters were in attendance, despite photos showing a much different version.
"AMAZING! More than one MILLION marchers for President @realDonaldTrump descend on the swamp in support," McEnany tweeted. "Best base in political history — we LOVE you guys!!!"
McEnany told Fox News on Thursday that, although she couldn't estimate a specific number of attendees, she said the event will be "quite large."
The pictures of the event—shared less than an hour before noon when the event was slated to start—showed hundreds of the president's supporters sporting MAGA hats and waving Trump flags. But McEnany's wildly exaggerated number was met with no shortage of backlash and mockery as people present at the event said the number didn't even come close—but rather came to a few thousand people that filled a city block in D.C. as the event was underway.
https://www.newsweek.com/white-house-press-secretary-kayleigh-mcenany-wildly-exaggerates-trump-march-crowd-size-1547493
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She, Pompeo, Peter Navarro are all living in bizarro world. It's hilarious that they don't see how ridiculous they look to the real world
Kayleigh McEnany insists that Trump will attend 'his own' inauguration in January
Navarro: White House’s operating ‘assumption is a second Trump term’
Pompeo promises ‘smooth transition to second Trump administration’ as world leaders congratulate Biden
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It should be noted that # MillionMoronMarch has been trending on twitter in the US during the day.
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It should be noted that # MillionMoronMarch has been trending on twitter in the US during the day.
What an absolutely appropriate name!! I love it!!
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Yeah.. she will soon be un-employed. IDK where else lying with a straight face is a mandatory job requirement.
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another one I can't wait to see kicked to the curb is Betsy DeVos, I hate that bitch
the SNL writers captured her perfectly...it was almost exactly like her real interview with 60 Minutes.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3l4NYspZLsU (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3l4NYspZLsU)
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LOL, there's a whole list of bat-shit crazy b*@*@(*@ just like those two sheeping along for the GOS... and yeah.. DeVos who's filthy rich never sent her kids to Public School, yet she's in charge of something she knows shit nothing about? Her whole purpose in that job was to make it easier to siphon public tax dollars to be used to fund private school educations - charter BS, including religious, for her wealthy GOP friends. She ain't never worked a day in her sorry miserable life.
If her religious-based tax $$ cannot be used to fund women's services and support everyone including GBLTQ people, then my tax dollars cannot be used to fund her sappy kid's religious educations. It's just that simple - separation of church and state is and should be absolute.. yet we have the likes of her trying to public $ for religious purposes. We cannot have it both ways.
Yeap.. that clip sums up her mentality and qualifications to leading anything...
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From an article about the MoronsAreGrousingAgain gathering in D.C. yesterday:
Many groups that attended the planned rallies have distinct core beliefs, and on Saturday were united in their unwavering support for the President. They included anti-government groups such as the Oath Keepers, far-right groups such as the Proud Boys and the Three Percenters, conspiracy theorists such as Alex Jones and Republican members of Congress.
This reminds me of those tests one might have had in school where they give you a set of words and ask which one doesn't belong in the sequence:
Red
White
Blue
Orange
The correct answer would be orange. :P
In the above paragraph the one that SHOULD be the answer for not belonging to the others is unfortunately now aligned with the others.
Anti-government
Far-right
Conspiracy theorists
Republican members of Congress
___
Alabama has a new Republican Senator, Tommy Tuberville.
Which of the following is true about the new Senator?
a.) He doesn't know what the Voting Rights Act is about.*
b.) He doesn't correctly know the three branches of U.S. Government.
c.) He is a former football coach.
d.) He said his father, A WWII veteran, was a part of liberating Paris from socialism and communism.
e.) Asked which Senate committees he'd like to serve on his reply was, "The obvious ones."
f.) He said yesterday: "I think it still is still up in the air who’s going to be the president."**
I think you know where I'm going with this.
g.) All of the Above.
*The VRA, Voting Rights Act, materialized because of events in HIS OWN STATE of Alabama.
**He also said about that: "I remember in 2000 Al Gore was president, United States president elect, for 30 days – 30 days – and after 30 days, it got to the Supreme Court and the Supreme Court says, no, George Bush is going to be the president."
Which, of course, couldn't be further from the truth. On election night the networks did project George Bush the next president and that stood for over two hours until it was determined that the Florida election was too close to call and was retracted. (A relative of George Bush, by the way, called Florida for Fox and the other networks followed suit.) Also, the Supreme Court did not SAY George Bush is going to be the President. Yes, they stopped the vote count which precipitated that.
This is your new Senator Alabamians! Congrats.
Alabama Senate Voter: Football. Republican. Likes Trump.
Alabama Media Group's Kyle Whitmire noted, "With three weeks left before the election, Tuberville's campaign strategy was to say as little as possible. No debates. No interviews. No nothing. Tuberville was in hiding." The columnist added, "f a campaign won't let its candidate speak openly because he can't do so without saying dumb things that hurt his chances of winning the election, what the heck is going to happen when he's in the United States Senate?" None of this seemed to matter too much to voters in Alabama -- Tuberville won in a landslide.
WHO REPRESENTS THE PEOPLE OF THE UNITED STATES?
Alabama: 2 Senators | Population: 4.9 million
California: 2 Senators | Population: 39.96 million
If you need to argue with anyone about this country and it's politics, tell them that since 1992
only ONE Republican presidential candidate has won the popular vote over the Democrat. That
is only 1 out of 8 elections.
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wonderful
N.J. sets another new record with 4,540 positive COVID-19 tests.
By Katie Kausch
For the second day in a row, New Jersey hit a record number of new daily coronavirus cases, with 4,540 new cases reported on Sunday. An additional 18 deaths were also reported.
Both Saturday and Sunday saw daily new case numbers higher than those seen in April, during the height of the first wave of the pandemic.
“These numbers are ALARMING and continue to rise. Take this seriously. Wear a mask. Social distance. Stay safe,” Gov. Phil Murphy said in a Sunday afternoon tweet reporting the numbers.
“As we begin the holiday season, plan accordingly and keep social distancing and safety in mind,” Murphy said. “We MUST redouble our efforts and crush the curve like we did last spring. Our lives literally depend on it.”
https://www.nj.com/coronavirus/2020/11/nj-sets-another-new-record-with-4540-positive-covid-19-tests-alarming-gov-murphy-tweets.html
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Heard a rumor that " The Orange One"...will stand for election AGAIN in
four years time.
Please say it isn't true ? Let him fade away... just like the yellow in his hair !!!!
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Heard a rumor that " The Orange One"...will stand for election AGAIN in
four years time.
Please say it isn't true ? Let him fade away... just like the yellow in his hair !!!!
Oh, he won't fade away, he'll keep tweeting and be on TV and nurture his cult of conspiracies and divisiveness.
But in four years' time, he'll be too senile to stand for election. That process is well on its way already.
I'd rather worry that dead-eyed Ivanka or one of his sons try to take over and capitalize on the name.
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Heard a rumor that " The Orange One"...will stand for election AGAIN in four years time.
Please say it isn't true ? Let him fade away... just like the yellow in his hair !!!!
Let's try NOT to pay any/much/no attention to this guy after Jan. 20th. After all, what he wants is attention. 24/7.
On a youtube video the other day this was the topic, him running again in 4 years. So I immediately put in this comment: "From jail?"
The righteous NYS Attorney General might have him in jail by then.
But of course the cretin will say something like this, if for no other reason so that he can set up a campaign site for his minions to send him their money. Jut like he did the day after he was inaugurated in 2017.
And, of course, if we can get a law passed in Congress that a Presidential Candidate is required to reveal a certain amount of years worth of tax returns, well that would be the end of that.
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I'm sorry. Those people who keep saying, "We will never accept Joe Biden as President of the United States," may be batshit crazy, but they still scare the shit out of me.
I heard there was violence in Washington over the weekend. I did not hear who started it.
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Enjoy! Watch Trump concede the election: at 5:45 on this youtube video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ao8pGE1V1sI
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Around here, there must still be some apprehension of trouble. Yesterday afternoon, my local Staples was open, but every window was boarded up, including the windows in the doors.
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Enjoy! Watch Trump concede the election: at 5:45 on this youtube video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ao8pGE1V1sI
;D ;D ;D
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Around here, there must still be some apprehension of trouble. Yesterday afternoon, my local Staples was open, but every window was boarded up, including the windows in the doors.
Just wondering, have you been around this Staples lately? I ask because there are still a few places in Los Angeles that boarded up last summer during the protests that are still that way.
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There was a press conference today that NYC schools are closing down, and going to remote learning.
I tried to find a story, but all the links were to sites you need to subscribe to, except for Fox News, and I refused to link to there.
:laugh:
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Here's a link from NBC News, I'm pretty sure it's an open link.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/nyc-schools-close-city-reaches-3-percent-test-positivity-threshhold-n1247899
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thanks Fritzie!
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Enjoy! Watch Trump concede the election: at 5:45 on this youtube video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ao8pGE1V1sI
Wonder how long it took them to piece this together ?
Brilliant !! :laugh:
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Just wondering, have you been around this Staples lately? I ask because there are still a few places in Los Angeles that boarded up last summer during the protests that are still that way.
Yes. I'm there fairly frequently because it's only four blocks from my place. They had boarded up in the spring, and then the window coverings had come down after things had settled down. They went back up again after the recent unrest and looting--none of which took place near my neighborhood. The convenience store and the Korean restaurant on the street level of my building had taken down their window coverings; they boarded up again, too.
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Wonder how long it took them to piece this together ?
Brilliant !! :laugh:
Yes, it was quite exceptional I thought. Especially in the way it made Trump sound sincere and normal. Hard to get clips of him not sounding bats**t crazy.
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Wonder how long it took them to piece this together ?
Brilliant !! :laugh:
I agree! Made my day!
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If we didn't already know that the Great Orange Satan was a spoiled brat, he's certainly proving it now. He's determined to leave as big a mess for Joe as he possibly can.
If he won all these challenges, would he have enough electoral votes to swing the election? It still worries me what his armed minions might do with all this talk of a stolen election. No way will they go quietly home.
We've been hearing about his Administration refusing to help the Biden transition, but one thing I have not heard about--and properly so--is whether he is interfering with the protection provided to a President-elect. I mean, if some armed goons plotted to kidnap and no-doubt execute the governor of Michigan, might not some of them plot to assassinate the President-elect? Or the Vice-President elect? Heck, if these people couldn't accept a President who was a person of color, are they going to stomach a Vice President who is a woman of color?
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As long as the GOS/SOB has a megaphone, he and the spinless GOP are not going to accept defeat gracefully. This part of America's nightmare will not be over until I see his sorry a$$ get onto a waiting chopper and is gone on 20 Jan 2021. They are still planning to win the election by invalidating the vote counts and force the election into House... where they think they will win. What's more sickening is 70M people voted for this SOB and his core still thinks he "walks on water"... All that says to me is the GOP is well adept at brainwashing and generating a cult following. It's really easy for Autocrats and Fascists to sell people what they want to hear regardless of the truth. We don't have to look back in history any further than Hitler to find this playing out...
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If we didn't already know that the Great Orange Satan was a spoiled brat, he's certainly proving it now. He's determined to leave as big a mess for Joe as he possibly can.
If he won all these challenges, would he have enough electoral votes to swing the election? It still worries me what his armed minions might do with all this talk of a stolen election. No way will they go quietly home.
We've been hearing about his Administration refusing to help the Biden transition, but one thing I have not heard about--and properly so--is whether he is interfering with the protection provided to a President-elect. I mean, if some armed goons plotted to kidnap and no-doubt execute the governor of Michigan, might not some of them plot to assassinate the President-elect? Or the Vice-President elect? Heck, if these people couldn't accept a President who was a person of color, are they going to stomach a Vice President who is a woman of color?
they upped his protection ahead of the election...
Secret Service plans to ramp up protection of Biden in anticipation of his possible win
by Carol D. Leonnig, The Washington Post, Posted: November 6, 2020
https://www.inquirer.com/politics/election/secret-service-expands-protection-for-joe-biden-election-2020-20201106.html (https://www.inquirer.com/politics/election/secret-service-expands-protection-for-joe-biden-election-2020-20201106.html)
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As long as the GOS/SOB has a megaphone, he and the spinless GOP are not going to accept defeat gracefully. This part of America's nightmare will not be over until I see his sorry a$$ get onto a waiting chopper and is gone on 20 Jan 2021. They are still planning to win the election by invalidating the vote counts and force the election into House... where they think they will win. What's more sickening is 70M people voted for this SOB and his core still thinks he "walks on water"... All that says to me is the GOP is well adept at brainwashing and generating a cult following. It's really easy for Autocrats and Fascists to sell people what they want to hear regardless of the truth. We don't have to look back in history any further than Hitler to find this playing out...
I'm afraid that will just be the beginning...as I said a few days ago, he'll be biting at our ankles for years to come...
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And like I said at some point, the press has to resist the temptation of going back to him to see what he's doing. Or twittering. Or whatever. Most Presidents drop out of sight while a new President takes over. Trump will not, of course. He is, as Bill Maher repeatedly calls him: "a whiny little bitch."
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I wish they would stop covering him now, except for things that affect the country...but their constant giving him the attention he craves is ridiculous. Report once an hour on the idiotic lawsuits that are going nowhere, then move on to Biden and what his plans are.
And it makes me crazy every time CNN says "no other time in history has a US president..."!! Those are loving words to 45s ears, it makes me so mad when someone says that. He just eats it up.
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It's really easy for Autocrats and Fascists to sell people what they want to hear regardless of the truth. We don't have to look back in history any further than Hitler to find this playing out...
I happened upon this program on PBS a couple nights ago. And I began watching it and all I could see is the parallels to Trumpler.
RISE OF THE NAZIS
S1 E2: The First Six Months in Power
Discover the measures Chancellor Hitler takes to dismantle the German state. The Nazis have the power to ban free speech, books are burned, and Jewish people, gay people and those holding anti-Nazi beliefs begin to disappear.
This link contains the program:
https://www.pbssocal.org/programs/rise-of-the-nazis/episode-2-the-first-six-months-in-power-fcglhv/
Of course, everyone is treating what Trump and his minions are doing right now as a joke, but what Trump is doing should be called out for what it is: He is perpetrating an attempted coup. He is trying to overthrow a duly elected President by reversing the votes of several states and having the legislatures appoint Republican delegates to the Electoral College to vote him back in.
The incompetence of those doing his dirty work is laughable, but what if someone in office with these traits was smart. And competent? Trump's presidency should serve as a warning that a lot of things in our Government that have existed as the normal way to do things are only because we've had decent people in office that have followed these protocols. (Like a peaceful and legitimate transfer of power.)
We need to solidify these protocols into laws that have enforced penalties if they are not followed. Example: In the 1963 Presidential transition act, the head of the GSA, General Services Administration, who now is Emily Murphy, appointed by Trump in 2017, is tasked with "unlocking nearly $10 million in federal dollars for the president-elect to begin hiring staff, and providing office space and access to officials across government agencies. In a typical election, it's a determination that's made within a matter of hours. But 12 days since President-elect Joe Biden was declared the winner of the election, the Trump appointee has still not signed off on the paperwork." The act says in writing "the apparent winner of the election." It doesn't say certified winner, because that takes into the middle of December for that.
Under pressure from Trump, Emily Murphy is not signing off on this. It's reported she even discussed this issue with a former head of the GSA, who's advice was this: "My conversation with her was that as tough as this is going to be, just as my mother always told me, 'Do the right thing and live with the consequences.' "
Emily Murphy is NOT doing the right thing. She is not doing anything. She does KNOW that Biden is the "apparent winner" because it's been reported that she is looking for a new job within Republican circles now. But she's afraid of Trump and his twitter feed. So, for one thing, if she's holding up COVID relief response involving vaccine availability she might also be killing people. Could she be sued for this? I hope so. She's just another spineless Republican bureaucrat afraid of the cretin in chief.
And my point is, this law might be telling her what to do, and all before her have done it, but there is no PENALTY if she doesn't. There's no legal remedy to force her hand. It is unconscionable that she is holding all this up.
Watch Lawrence O'Donnell explain:
Trump's GSA Head Is An ‘Enemy Of The Voters’ ("That's YOU Emily")
Lawrence O’Donnell explains how Emily Murphy is violating her oath of office as Trump’s
appointed head of the General Services Administration by failing to sign all of the legal
documents that begin the presidential transition process.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W22RWp3yuIo
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Trump's GSA Head Is An ‘Enemy Of The Voters’ ("That's YOU Emily")
...by the way, THIS is Emily Murphy, "enemy of the voters":
(https://cdn.24h.com.vn/upload/4-2020/images/2020-11-09/Nguoi-phu-nu-quyen-luc-van-chua-quyet-dinh-ong-Trump-that-cu-truoc-ong-Biden-tuyen-the-1604904924-74-width640height427.jpg)
Emily is on the right: "I swear to uphold the duties of my office, like sign the transition papers, unless of course Donald doesn't want me to and then of course I cannot because he'll send out a mean tweet about me and I could not bear that and it might affect me getting a job with my fellow Republican charlatans in the future, so I'd have to decline to do so and go into hiding, even though if I don't sign the papers the COVID relif plans could be delayed and hampered and many people might succumb to the disease because of it, not to mention our National Security could be at risk if people aren't given the proper information, but those tweets, you know, I just can't risk that happening as I feel my spine turning into jelly and I'll be collapsing into a pool of whimpering and gelatinous cowardice, but, you know, those mean tweets. I guess I'm okay with all this because I am doing it."
Emily Murphy is now in hiding.
Here's a headline from this morning:
Top House Democrats Demand Biden Transition Briefing From GSA Chief
I'd love it if this happens:
Merrick Garland Among Biden Candidates For Attorney General, Sources Say
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They’re talking of possibly starting the COVID vaccines in December in Britain.
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yes, I read an article about her, sounds as if she's unable to carry out the duties she was sworn to do
]https://www.cnn.com/2020/11/18/politics/biden-transition-trump-delay/index.html[url] (https://www.cnn.com/2020/11/18/politics/biden-transition-trump-delay/index.html[url)[/url]
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Trump's GSA Head Is An ‘Enemy Of The Voters’ ("That's YOU Emily")
...by the way, THIS is Emily Murphy, "enemy of the voters":
Emily Murphy is now in hiding.
Here's a headline from this morning:
Top House Democrats Demand Biden Transition Briefing From GSA Chief
I'd love it if this happens:
Merrick Garland Among Biden Candidates For Attorney General, Sources Say
she's getting death threats
oh, and I love your version of her swearing in...I'd even put a smiley face, if her lack of backbone wasn't so dangerous
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The Lincoln Project has continued their work -- 2 new videos lambasting the continued Trumpism:
Leaders
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ou-8MNvV0qk
Michigan
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lkuzLFjO1yU
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Wow!
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they upped his protection ahead of the election...
Secret Service plans to ramp up protection of Biden in anticipation of his possible win
by Carol D. Leonnig, The Washington Post, Posted: November 6, 2020
https://www.inquirer.com/politics/election/secret-service-expands-protection-for-joe-biden-election-2020-20201106.html (https://www.inquirer.com/politics/election/secret-service-expands-protection-for-joe-biden-election-2020-20201106.html)
Sincerely, thank you. I'm very glad to know that.
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she's getting death threats
Aww, ain't that a shame. ...
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And right now pumpkinhead a**hole is speaking and promising to lower prescription drugs.........
I guess he figures this is going to win him more votes.....
This person clearly is not living in reality.....
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N.J.’s largest city to order 10-day coronavirus lockdown starting day before Thanksgiving
By Jeff Goldman
Newark residents will be asked to stay at home for 10 days beginning the day before Thanksgiving in an attempt to slow the spread of the coronavirus in the state’s largest city, Mayor Ras Baraka said Thursday.
“We are, from Wednesday before Thanksgiving to Dec. 4, going to lock the city down,” Baraka said in a radio appearance on WBGO 88.3 FM’s Newark Today. “We want people to shelter in place. We only want folks to come out for essential purposes. Do not go outside if you don’t have to. Don’t mingle with other people if you don’t have to. Stay (with) your family in your immediate household.”
The number people with COVID-19 in Newark has risen sharply in recent days with 164 additional cases announced Thursday. There have been 14,226 cases in Newark since the pandemic began in March with 694 deaths, according to Essex County officials.
Irvington’s mayor said earlier this week he was considering a week-long lock down as well.
It is unclear if Gov. Phil Murphy would overrule the Newark lockdown order. While Murphy recently signed an executive order allowing towns to close nonessential businesses starting at 8 p.m. - a step Newark took - Murphy has pushed back against additional town-by-town restrictions.
https://www.nj.com/coronavirus/2020/11/njs-largest-city-to-order-10-day-coronavirus-lockdown-starting-day-before-thanksgiving.html
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Rudy Giuliani's Son Potentially Exposed Most of Trump's Legal Team to COVID During RNC Press Conference
BY Natalie Colarossi 11/20/20
Acampaign lawyer for President Donald Trump said that most of his legal team may have been exposed to COVID-19.
During a conference call Friday morning, Trump campaign lawyer Jenna Ellis said that the legal team was likely exposed—after Andrew Giuliani, Rudy Giuliani's son, tested positive for the virus on Friday, Axios reported.
Later that afternoon, Ellis tweeted that she and Rudy Giuliani, who is President Donald Trump's personal attorney, had so far tested negative for the virus, and that the rest of the legal team will continue to "follow the advice and protocols of our doctors."
Andrew Giuliani, a White House staffer, is thought to have exposed members of the legal team at a press conference, which featured his father, at the Republican National Committee (RNC) headquarters in Washington, D.C., on Thursday.
On Friday morning, the younger Giuliani tweeted that he was experiencing mild symptoms and following recommended protocols to prevent spreading the virus further.
https://www.newsweek.com/rudy-giulianis-son-potentially-exposed-most-trumps-legal-team-covid-during-rnc-press-conference-1549139
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Georgia certifies Biden as state's 2020 winner
By Jane C. Timm and Dartunorro Clark - 11/20/2020
Georgia announced Friday that it certified the results of the 2020 general election, which Republican Gov. Brian Kemp said he would sign, following a hand recount of nearly 5 million votes that saw the majority of the state's counties finding no change in their final tallies.
The Trump campaign has until Tuesday to request a machine recount. The state’s secretary of state, Brad Raffensperger, a Republican, reiterated the validity of the results Friday. The state announced it had completed the certification process a couple of hours before it was finalized.
“Close elections sow distrust, people feel their side was cheated, we saw this from the Democrats in 2018 and we see this from Republicans today,” he said to reporters. “As secretary of state, I believe that the numbers that we have presented today are correct. The numbers reflect the verdict of the people, not a decision by the secretary of state's office or of courts or either campaign.”
Raffensperger also advocated for election reforms that would allow the state to intervene in county election administration and add a voter ID requirement for absentee ballots.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2020-election/georgia-certifies-biden-state-s-2020-winner-n1248416
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Michigan lawmakers meet with Trump, say they haven't seen evidence of voter fraud
David Jackson & Michael Collins - 11/20/2020
President Donald Trump met Friday with Michigan lawmakers as part of an overall effort to reverse election losses in key states – but his guests said later that Michigan's electoral votes should go to the winner of its popular vote, and that is Joe Biden.
"The candidates who win the most votes win elections and Michigan's electoral votes," said a joint statement from Mike Shirkey, the majority leader in the Michigan state senate, and Lee Chatfield, speaker of the Michigan House. "These are simple truths that should provide confidence in our elections.”
White House spokeswoman Kayleigh McEnany said Trump did not plan the session as "an advocacy meeting." But other aides said the president has discussed the long-shot idea of pressuring Republican-led state legislatures to send a pro-Trump slate of electors to the Electoral College – even in states like Michigan where the voters went for Biden.
The statement by the legislative leaders seemed to throw cold water on the idea. Shirkey and Chatfield said allegations of fraud should be investigated, but "we have not yet been made aware of any information that would change the outcome" in Michigan.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2020/11/20/trump-meets-michigan-lawmakers-part-challenge-biden-win/6361814002/
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Trump turns on Pfizer over vaccine timing
David Knowles
President Trump called a press briefing Friday to announce the implementation of his rules on drug pricing, which he said could save consumers hundreds or thousands of dollars a year, but got sidetracked with a rant against Big Pharma, which he blamed for sabotaging his reelection campaign because his policies would hurt their business.
In particular, he attacked Pfizer, the largest drug company in the U.S., just two hours after his press secretary, Kayleigh McEnany, claimed credit for the development of Pfizer’s new COVID-19 vaccine on behalf of the administration’s Operation Warp Speed program. Trump accused Pfizer of waiting to announce the success of their phase III vaccine trial until the day after the presidential election in order to avoid helping him.
Apparently, in his mind, it didn’t work. Trump proclaimed that he won the election anyway, as he has all along, notwithstanding Joe Biden’s commanding lead in both the popular and Electoral College votes.
“Pfizer and others even decided to not assess the results of their vaccine, in other words, not come out with a vaccine, until just after the election,” Trump said. “That’s because of what I did with favored nations and these other elements. Instead of their original plan to assess the data in October. So they were going to come out in October, but they decided to delay it because of what I’m doing, which is fine with me because frankly this is just a very big thing.”
https://news.yahoo.com/trump-turns-on-pfizer-over-vaccine-timing-214110276.html
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h5dozZF_j80
This link is tonight's episode of ALL IN with Chris Hayes.
Show themes: American Delusion / Let the Voters Decide / The Trump Crisis
It's very illuminating. It deals with the current state of the election aftermath, the Republicans, Trump and his supporters. If one is looking for any reasoning for the state of all these things right now it's quite eye opening, especially how Trump supporters can possibly believe the things they do. Adam Schiff is interviewed, too.
This video was posted by a third party, not MSNBC, so if the link doesn't work it may have been taken down at some point. MSNBC does not always post entire episodes of their nightly programs, usually highlights, but not until the next day.
I'd be interested in anyone's opinion of this, especially the first twenty minutes.
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^^^ WRT the spineless GSA administrator.... who's clearly not executing her job and is afraid of the GOS Tweet megaphone - those are people should be answering to congress, not the POTUS.
Twitter was a horrible concept when it started and it's proven even worse today b/c like Suckerberg and his lofty ideas, the darker side of the equation was heavily discounted. What could someone like Hitler have done with Twitter and FB at their disposal? I shutter to think we'd all be clacking our boots.
WRT to GOS pandering about "lowering Rx pricing" LOL - but of course he's talking mostly to the senile elderly state of FL who are re-living the 1950s and have Fox Lies brainwashing them 24/7.
WRT "RISE OF THE NAZIS", I plan to watch this now... TY for recommending.
WRT "Michigan Lawmakers" Their "statement" should be all we need to know as for WHY they were "summoned" to the WH by the GOS and GOP. As for whether the "statement" is true or a cover for what they are really up to, we shall see. Right now, every GOP Congressman should be standing up for the Constitution and not the GOS. So far only a couple have including Romney. While I'm not a fan of his politics, the fact that he (and a few others) are standing up sure beats Moscow Mitch and Lying Lindsay's position of supporting the GOS directly and by "letting this play out..."
Yeap all the *isms the Nazis perpetuated are hiding in the core of today's GOP. Just listen to the blond *(@*@( in GA, a Senator, speaking openly - unbelievable the level of hate and bigotry and b/c it's a "female", she somehow get's away with it. Shameful reflection on the people of GA who support her. I can only hope they are both defeated... if not we are truely losing our human dignity and respect for the individual, life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
Sadly, I believe we or rather the MBAs and company executives of the great American companies have over a period of 40 years slowly offshored far too many jobs to low-cost countries and as a direct result, they have abandoned the middle-class. This demographic is where the bulk of the GOP's base originates and when there's no longer opportunities for everyone, society tends to see rise of people like Hitler and the GOS. This is not a new or unique story. While I despise this GOP when I stop and really think about it, the root cause really boils down to REAL opportunities for all and not just the 1% and until that is fixed, I fear we are thrashing in quicksand. V.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h5dozZF_j80
This link is tonight's episode of ALL IN with Chris Hayes.
Show themes: American Delusion / Let the Voters Decide / The Trump Crisis
It's very illuminating. It deals with the current state of the election aftermath, the Republicans, Trump and his supporters. If one is looking for any reasoning for the state of all these things right now it's quite eye opening, especially how Trump supporters can possibly believe the things they do. Adam Schiff is interviewed, too.
This video was posted by a third party, not MSNBC, so if the link doesn't work it may have been taken down at some point. MSNBC does not always post entire episodes of their nightly programs, usually highlights, but not until the next day.
I'd be interested in anyone's opinion of this, especially the first twenty minutes.
Great video, Lyle. Thanks for posting it! It really covered a lot. I'm not sure it explained, for me at least, the reason why some people give such allegiance to someone who is so clearly bat sh*t crazy, narcissistic, uneducated..... I could go on and on. I guess I'm just too dense to see what anyone would see in him, much less a leader.
The thing is he has proven over and over again that he is a lying piece of sh*t that only wants to get what's in it for him, and to hell with anyone else. I just fail to see why there are so many that don't see this.
I think it was very prophetic when he made the statement that he could walk in Times Square in NYC and shoot someone and no one would do anything. He was speaking the truth, and how horribly disturbing this is?
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^^^ Sadly, my gut for why "these people" do not, or rather do not want, to understand?
Most people have empathy for the other beings of the world who are less fortunate, most people care about the environment we are leaving for future generations, most people believe a person's body is their own and not a government or religious bigots to determine how they live or what they do with their body, most people stand by our long time allies, friends and honor our long standing commitments (whether we might agree in total with them or not), ............
It is also b/c those voting for this GOS have the same Narcissistic Personality Disorder and general belief characteristics of my sh*#*# don't stink. The demographics have been published often - not shocking but frightening and disappointing b/c these "Evangelicals /Christians" profess loudly what they don't like while whispering about the all the crap they "overlook" b/c they themselves are doing it. As I've said many times, why aren't these evangelicals waving signs trying to outlaw divorce? Why aren't they protesting about businesses being open on Sunday...when everyone should be in a church pew? There are countless examples of this hypocrisy today and in the past. V.
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Great video, Lyle. Thanks for posting it! It really covered a lot. I'm not sure it explained, for me at least, the reason why some people give such allegiance to someone who is so clearly bat sh*t crazy, narcissistic, uneducated..... I could go on and on. I guess I'm just too dense to see what anyone would see in him, much less a leader.
I'm glad you found it worthwhile. I think it was explained that it's not Trump necessarily they're giving so much allegiance to, but that it's...
Chris explained the those talk radio hosts like Limbaugh and Mark Levin for decades now have been telling their listeners that "they can't trust the 4 corners of deceit: Government | Academia | Science | Media. And if you cut all that off, what are you really left with? Not much. Just what the cult wants you to believe."
Meaning they've been conditioning little by little anyone that speaks against their leaders/beliefs cannot be trusted and therefore are their enemy. So it's Trump or nothing, basically. Them vs. Us. Us vs. Them. They see anyone outside their Republican circles to be enemies. We are their enemy and you never trust or capitulate or (heaven forbid" compromise on anything. It's why one Republican can express a viewpoint against their leader or party and immediately get primaried out of existence. Almost immediately.
Look at what happened on election night when Fox dared to project Arizona as a Biden state. Their loyal followers were immediately distrustful of the network aided by Trump's tweets demonizing them. In the days following Trump supporters gathered at various places in Arizona and were chanting Fox News Sucks. Trump has been tweeting that these followers dump Fox and head to One News Now and OANN (One America News Network) who make Fox seem like MSNBC comparatively. And they're doing it. These networks viewership has risen the past two weeks exponentially. I've seen some youtube videos from both ONN and OANN and it's like watching communist state supported television news. It's like a Nazi propaganda networks. If you thought Fox news viewers were on the misinformed side, to put it mildly, now...wait'll you see what they'll be like if they all gravitate toward those places.
By the way, that link of the whole show I initially provided from a third party is not that episode any more. Apparently this poster keeps changing the content on that link.
MSNBC has not provided their usual episode highlights from Nov. 20th yet, but they do have these two parts/segments from the episode online totaling together about 11 minutes.
American Delusion:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J_uV0RZZn98
Let the Voters Decide:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AJMSLq0Sxxo
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Look at what happened on election night when Fox dared to project Arizona as a Biden state. Their loyal followers were immediately distrustful of the network aided by Trump's tweets demonizing them. In the days following Trump supporters gathered at various places in Arizona and were chanting Fox News Sucks. Trump has been tweeting that these followers dump Fox and head to One News Now and OANN (One America News Network) who make Fox seem like MSNBC comparatively. And they're doing it. These networks viewership has risen the past two weeks exponentially. I've seen some youtube videos from both ONN and OANN and it's like watching communist state supported television news. It's like a Nazi propaganda networks. If you thought Fox news viewers were on the misinformed side, to put it mildly, now...wait'll you see what they'll be like if they all gravitate toward those places.
After I wrote the above, I came across this article (Opinion Piece):
Fox News was Only the First Circle of Right-Wing Media Hell
The race to capture Trump supporters' eyes, ears, and clicks is just ramping up.
https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/fox-news-was-only-first-circle-right-wing-media-hell-n1248461
If you want to see and prepare for what the future holds in certain respects, you should read it.
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Look at what happened on election night when Fox dared to project Arizona as a Biden state. Their loyal followers were immediately distrustful of the network aided by Trump's tweets demonizing them. In the days following Trump supporters gathered at various places in Arizona and were chanting Fox News Sucks. Trump has been tweeting that these followers dump Fox and head to One News Now and OANN (One America News Network) who make Fox seem like MSNBC comparatively. And they're doing it. These networks viewership has risen the past two weeks exponentially. I've seen some youtube videos from both ONN and OANN and it's like watching communist state supported television news. It's like a Nazi propaganda networks. If you thought Fox news viewers were on the misinformed side, to put it mildly, now...wait'll you see what they'll be like if they all gravitate toward those places.
and their leaving Twitter for Parler and Facebook for MeWe.
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You may find an overseas (Australia) opinion interesting
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-11-23/united-states-is-just-too-big/12907642
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I'm glad you found it worthwhile. I think it was explained that it's not Trump necessarily they're giving so much allegiance to, but that it's...
Chris explained the those talk radio hosts like Limbaugh and Mark Levin for decades now have been telling their listeners that "they can't trust the 4 corners of deceit: Government | Academia | Science | Media. And if you cut all that off, what are you really left with? Not much. Just what the cult wants you to believe."
Isn't it a tad ironic that talk radio is a part of the media? Or have I been totally misinformed all these years ???
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Consistency is not among their strong points.
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Consistency is not among their strong points.
So true, Fritz! Don't do as I do, do as I say.
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In the days following Trump supporters gathered at various places in Arizona and were chanting Fox News Sucks.
Well, at least they got something right. ...
I hear a federal judge has thrown out Trump's suit here in Pennsylvania. He likened it to Frankenstein's monster, something stitched together.
I also think I heard that Pennsylvania certifies its election results tomorrow.
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Yes, Pennsylvania and Michigan both certify their results today and hopefully there are no more shenanigans afoot. Trump's case which is already moot will be officially done, there's no way he could win without those states, but that won't stop him from pulling out things from his bag of tricks and lying about winning. I mean, he said he would do that if he didn't win and he still hasn't given up on his crowd size of 4 years ago.
Etcetera
etcetera.
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UPDATES
...on some of these statistics from eleven days ago...
I find election statistics interesting. Only 6 states have certified their election results so far. (Wyoming is one!)
As of today, 13 states have officially certified their results so far. Including Florida. How did they get so efficient this election cycle? By the way, on Meet the Press yesterday, NBC reported that Dade County Florida, a Democratic stronghold and one which Hillary Clinton won by 39%, was won by Joe Biden by only 7%. (I may have the numbers slightly off, as I can't find a clip of it this morning.) If Biden had won with similar numbers as Clinton, he would've won the state. I'd been hearing for weeks that the Republicans were courting the Cuban and Venezuelan voters in that county, playing on their fears of "socialism" and how awful Biden would be for them because of that. And it worked. Democrats around the country hearing that (for weeks) kept wondering why the party wasn't in there trying to counter all those lies. I don't know why.
In this year of greater voter turnout, I was noticing the very few that had less turnout than 2016. I don't know
any reasons why, does anyone have any ideas about these states?
The only states, five of them, that had less voter turnout than 2016 were:
Alaska -9.7%
District of Columbia -0.7%
Maryland -1.2%
Mississippi -4.1%
New York -13.6%
As of today, it turns out only ONE state had less voter turnout this year than in 2016. Totals today: (None here are certified yet.)
Alaska +12.6%
District of Columbia +10.6%
Maryland +8.5%
Mississippi +8.5%
New York -8.5%
What the heck was going on in New York State? Election rules? COVID? Curious. New York also had the largest swing of people voting Republican this year over 2016: 7.6% more votes for Republicans than Democrats.
Other states increases in voting percentages where people live (that I know of) on this thread:
(Fritz) Virginia +12.0%
(Linda) New Mexico +15.4%
(Jeff) Pennsylvania +11.4%
(Mark) Florida +17.6%
(Chuck) New Jersey +4.7%
(Vincent) North Carolina +15.6%
(Jonn) Kansas +12.6%
(Lyle) California +13.5%
(Fritz) Virginia +12.0%
(Linda) New Mexico +15.7%
(Jeff) Pennsylvania +13.2%
(Mark) Florida +17.5%
(Chuck) New Jersey +17.7%
(Vincent) North Carolina +16.5%
(Jonn) Kansas +12.6%
(Lyle) California +22.3%
So far, Virginia and Florida are the only two states on this list who have certified their elections.
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Popular vote totals as of today:
BIDEN: 79,855,687 Cretin: 73,807,328
A difference of 6,048,359.
Votes are still trickling in and it's expected Biden's total will go over the 80 million mark before all the totals are certified.
When I look at those vote totals I keep remembering this, from Jimmy Kimmel's monologue a day or two after the election:
I'm shocked that it was this close. It's unimaginable to me that close to half of American voters saw what this man has done to this country the last 4 years. How he kowtowed to Vladimir Putin, he cozied up to Kim Jung Un, alienated us from our allies, put children in cages and separated them from their parents, he constantly villainzed the free press, he hid his tax returns, tear gassed peaceful protesters, he pardoned all his criminal buddies, he extorted Ukraine, he mislead us about COVID, he dismantled the pandemic response team, he dismantled healthcare, he called neo-Nazis "very fine people", he hired a never-ending parade of imbeciles unqualified for their own Cabinet positions. He used his office to enrich himself and his sycophantic family. He governed as though he was President of states that only voted for him. He ignores climate change and actively works against the notion. Dozens of true Republicans left the Republican party over his administration. Several of his own family including his sister and niece have talked about how dangerous he is. His own family. He was impeached. He lied and lied and lied and then he lied some more, He is a liar and a cheat who wants them to stop counting thousands of legitimate votes...and all of that is just the tip of the iceberg.
And apparently half the country is okay with that.
:'(
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Hope Biden gets over 80 mil.
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Yes, Pennsylvania and Michigan both certify their results today and hopefully there are no more shenanigans afoot. Trump's case which is already moot will be officially done, there's no way he could win without those states, but that won't stop him from pulling out things from his bag of tricks and lying about winning. I mean, he said he would do that if he didn't win and he still hasn't given up on his crowd size of 4 years ago.
Etcetera
etcetera.
The man is not smart enough to have a bag of tricks. It's the GOP (not that the lot of them have one brain among them to share) and the stable of lawyers that actually think he is going to pay them come up with ridiculous theories that will win him the election. He's about outta time.
I just found this on YouTube
We Didn’t Start the Fire’ Parody Sums Up Trump Presidency in 3 Minutes
https://youtu.be/ZJmPw0YZo4M
Published by Now This
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^^^^ The GOP is smarter than most take'm to be. The GOP has been engineering this takeover for 30+ years. When the took the state legislatures in 2010, it assured them of gerrymandering and voter suppression. When the GOP got the Voting Rights Act of 1965 mostly rescinded by the conservative ass-wipes at SCOTUS, that opened the door to mischief on a level not seen since Jim Crow Laws in the south. "Precision gerrymandering" on a level never seen before with voter packing districts which assured the GOP retained control of the state legislatures in spite of many always losing the total vote counts. The rise of Fox Lies, Rush Limbaugh and all the right wingnuts all supported this and the social media birth just gave them an un-controlled and unregulated direct path to each person. Depending on the "data" they have about them (you).... they can disperse ads encouraging you to vote or discouraging you to vote...
Our founding Fathers must be spinning in their graves.
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I see reports that LGBTIQ people are actively involved in the continuing rallies and protests against the regime in Thailand which have been calling for months for the resignation of the prime minister who led the military coup in 2014, the rewriting of he constitution which ensured that he and the military and the authoritarian forces would win the elections (including having the senate consist solely of appointed members) and the reform of the monarchy.
LGBTIQ figures including drag queens perform on rally stages to help reduce increasing tension and provide entertainment.
Thailand is not the gay paradise it is often depicted as. LGBTIQ characters feature on TV and in movies, they are always narrowly stereotyped. Same-sex marriage has not been legalised. Transgender people suffer discrimination.
Young LGBTIQ people see the reforms proposed by the demonstrators as leading to equality for them.
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I just found this on YouTube
We Didn’t Start the Fire’ Parody Sums Up Trump Presidency in 3 Minutes
https://youtu.be/ZJmPw0YZo4M
Published by Now This
Thanks, Linda, this is so true.
Especially these lyrics near the end:
"The list is very long...
...might need another song...."
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New Lincoln Project:
Remove "Republic" from Republican
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nxY9LBR02JQ
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Hope Biden gets over 80 million.
Popular vote totals as of today: Nov. 25th
BIDEN: 80,086,825 Cretin: 73,902,604
A difference of 6,184,221.
Almost half the states (23) have certified their elections.
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Good news.
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Last night on his show Seth Meyers did a humorous segment called:
JOES BIDEN'S TRANSITION PRIORITIES.
This one made me laugh:
Re-establish diplomatic ties with old allies, like France, Spain...and California.
;D
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Good one!
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Last night on his show Seth Meyers did a humorous segment called:
JOES BIDEN'S TRANSITION PRIORITIES.
This one made me laugh:
Re-establish diplomatic ties with old allies, like France, Spain...and California.
;D
That made me LOL as well!! :laugh:
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People who drank the Great Orange Satan's kool-aid were at it again today in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania (chanting "Four More Years"), and Republican state legislators were with them, applauding Giuliani's baseless lies about the election being stolen.
Don't fool yourself. These people are not going away. I'm expecting massive the-election-was-stolen protests on Inauguration Day, and we're going to have four years of this bullshit regardless of what the courts say.
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(https://hips.hearstapps.com/hmg-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/images/thanksgiving-decor-clx110118welltailgating-14-1562861744.jpg)
(https://auritmediation.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/Happy-Thanksgiving.jpg)
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^^^
Heh! Jack & Ennis's Thanksgiving! Reminds me of their truck in the film.
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The Lincoln Project Gives Thanks
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XyOlj5NoJbk
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Just a small first bite of the next 30 years of GOP court-packed rules thanks to Moscow Mitch and the GOS. Even Scalia knew and understood there was a real and present danger in this unlimited "religious freedom" protocol.
-> https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory/supreme-court-rules-ny-coronavirus-restrictions-74412175 (https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory/supreme-court-rules-ny-coronavirus-restrictions-74412175)
"Happy Thanksgiving!"
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^^^
The most disturbing thing about that is they felt a need to rule on something that is MOOT.
And notice with the deciding vote of Amy Comatose Barrett, SHE did not give any reasoning
for her vote as everyone else did. Nor did Mr. SMug: S. Alito.
During a briefing call with reporters on Thanksgiving morning, Cuomo shrugged off the court's move.
"The Supreme Court ruling on the religious gatherings is more illustrative of the Supreme Court than anything else .... This was really just an opportunity for the court to express its philosophy and its politics. It doesn't have any practical effects," he said.
Cuomo, echoing Roberts' dissent, said that the entire case was moot because the restrictions in the particular zone in Brooklyn no longer exist. He said the case will now go back to a lower court.
"The decision isn’t final. Second, it didn’t affect our mass gathering rules. So it didn’t mention those. It didn’t mention the overall limits," said Cuomo, who questioned why the court ruled "on an issue that is moot?”
Why indeed.
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I'd bet you a dozen doughnuts it was Alito. He's also the smug *@(*@ that shrugged off the "Citizens United" ruling which was called out during the State of the Union address which unleashed unlimited dark monies back into the US Elections. They caught him on camera mouthing off about it. Yeah... the progressives have been screwed by Moscow Mitch and the GOS for the next 30 years as the court packing by Moscow Mitch continues at a fever pace. Gotta love it. I'll be watching for how karma rebalances the scales of fairness and justice the GOP have so blatantly tipped in their favor....
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It makes my head ache.
I am genuinely uneasy with the idea of the civil authorities telling religious institutions--churches, synagogues, mosques, whatever--what they should and should not do, even in a pandemic. But then I have connections to two mainline Protestant denominations that have behaved responsibly--closing churches (for the second time because of the surge), limiting attendance (you have to make a reservation to go to church).
But when you've got people behaving irresponsibly under the guise of religious freedom--which you do when thousands show up for a wedding, or in the case of fundamentalist megachurches--which, I presume, answer to no denominational authority--I really don't know what to do. :-\
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^^^ Yeap. Head explode is more like it. The insanity of it all makes me want to buy a cabin in the middle of no-where and live out my days without having to deal with idiots.
Health and general public safety, during a widespread pandemic, has priority over "religious freedom" which is being leveraged by GOP right-wing nuts to justify a general non-compliance with anything they do not like or perceive as counter to whatever doctrine they are professing to believe.
These people are not being asked to disband or to stop being a "organized church". The govt is not trying to wipe out this religion or that religion or create a national religion as has been done many times in human history by others. The govt is trying to protect ALL citizens from spreading a deadly disease - religious or otherwise. People are being asked to protect themselves and OTHERS around them by not meeting in person. They are not staying stop meeting at all.
Let them get creative. If they feel they must "meet-in-person" to practice a "faith" then leverage open parking lots, open fields, a megaphone, a baseball stadium and practice very safe pandemic measures - wearing full cover masks. Trouble is they all want to show up, wearing no masks, and do exactly as they please like spoiled, selfish children - which is the perfect storm for CV19 to community spread. When someone recently told me the pastor and their churck were still meeting and none are wearing masks, I shook my head and told'm they were a grown legal adults who needed to change the channel. He said, "They are practicing the "God will protect you...." aka religious freedom." I could only think - "dogma BS". Completely unbelievable but not surprising given I'm sure most of them voted for the GOS.
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^^^ Is there place for me in your cabin?
Churches have closed by themselves in Germany, the number of people allowed to congregate is restricted, but most have just closed and make distance services. Our main problem now are schools, they are trying to keep them open but the cases are multiplying and lots of teachers are in sick leave, not because of corona, mostly because you're not allowed to teach if you as much as sneeze. Our daughter's school just closed for 2 weeks. Yay.
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^^^^ Until vaccines are administered and become effective enough to hault the spread globally, our re-openings will be only as effective as the mask-wearing and social distancing allows. It only takes one Covidiot to shut down the whole ride... and they just don't seem to get that. If everyone wore good masks, as instructured, covering their NOSE and MOUTH then I truely believe, based on the understood science today, a lot more places could open and stay open without risking substantial spread... But alas, it only takes one bad apple... and our US has plenty of them.... LOL.... isolated cabins right now I heard are in high demand. A buddy from work took his family to the mountains this summer and all the cabins which are mostly isolated were booked solid.
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Funny, that's what happened in my girl's school. A covidiot from the last grade who sings in the school choir, where there are kids from various grades and classes, and even with masks and distancing they have decided to close the school because there's too many classes involved. One is enough.
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It makes my head ache.
I am genuinely uneasy with the idea of the civil authorities telling religious institutions--churches, synagogues, mosques, whatever--what they should and should not do.
My first thought is "Why not? They always are telling everyone else what they should and should not do. COVID doesn't care anything about religion. If they're doing things that are putting others in danger, including themselves, one might have to ask why their religious beliefs are so selfish. What kind of religion is that?
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Yeah, Trump's putting it out there...he might leave the country...he does want to avoid prison, after all.
I'd say "Good riddance," but you know, if he went to Russia or someplace, even if Trump doesn't understand a lot, he has seen and knows things from being President. They could use him. Is there any law to prevent a former President from sharing state secrets. A law, not protocol. He's going to have to be watched and monitored when he's out of office. You know he'd sell any information he had to the highest bidder.
This is something more worrying...
Former CIA Director: Trump Could Reveal State Secrets After Leaving Office
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xhbpHpAwgkk
Not surprised:
Lawrence O'Donnell and John Brennan discuss today's New York Times article about the fear within the intelligence community that Trump will be compromised and will be basically revealing state secrets after he's out of office. John Brennan: Donald Trump will take with him knowledge of classified intelligence that he could use to "advance his own personal, political or financial interests."
You know he'd do it.
Ongoing...
You know it's true...
TODAY: Experts Worry Trump Can't Be Trusted With Nation's Secrets After Leaving Office
Some ex-intelligence officials are saying that when President Donald Trump leaves office, he should not receive access to classified information about the country's national security secrets.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1luhKTT7s8E
I worried he couldn't be trusted with the nation's secrets while IN office.
By the way, is that a thing? Ex-Presidents still get classified info???
AND 2 mins. 30 secs. of more delusion from the Cretin-in-Chief:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vVR2_JyVzHE
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My first thought is "Why not? They always are telling everyone else what they should and should not do. COVID doesn't care anything about religion. If they're doing things that are putting others in danger, including themselves, one might have to ask why their religious beliefs are so selfish. What kind of religion is that?
Everyone else isn't a religious institution. Because I do happen to believe it's an unconstitutional violation of the separation of church and state. Even in a pandemic.
But that's why it makes my head ache--or ready to explode. I don't know what to do about those religious institutions that are behaving irresponsibly.
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Interesting, the T campaign just spent $3 million to garner an additional 132 more votes for Biden.
https://www.thenewcivilrightsmovement.com/2020/11/donald-trump-just-spent-3-million-to-win-joe-biden-132-more-votes/
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Trump loses appeal in Pennsylvania
Kathryn Watson: Novbember 27, 2020
The Trump campaign lost another battle Friday in their attempt to prove mass fraud in the election, something thus far they've been unable to do. This time, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals denied the campaign's request for an injunction in Pennsylvania to undo the Keystone State's certification of its votes.
Trump-appointed Judge Stephanos Bibas, who wrote the opinion for the three-judge panel, said the campaign's arguments have no merit. Pennsylvania certified its election results last week, and the federal government's General Services Administration has allowed for the formal transition process to take place.
"Free, fair elections are the lifeblood of our democracy. Charges of unfairness are serious. But calling an election unfair does not make it so. Charges require specific allegations and then proof. We have neither here," Bibas wrote in his opinion.
Specifically, the Trump campaign objected that Pennsylvania's secretary of state and some counties restricted poll watchers and allowed voters to fix technical issues with mail-in ballots. Bibas rejected those claims.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-pennsylvania-appeal-loss-today-2020-11-27/
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I give thanks that New Zealand does not have a constitution, we do have a bill of rights but it cannot override an act of parliament.
And after 65 years of calling myself a Christian, I now regret it bitterly. It has ruined my life. My church's opposition to the Euthanasia referendum (which has passed 64% in favour) was the last straw I think the world would be better without any religion but that is unrealistic. I last went to church on Christmas Eve last year. I probably would have gone at Easter but they were all closed due to our lockdown at that time. I am thinking of going to the Advent service tomorrow night, I do like the music.
In the NZ 2018 census 48.2% had no religion (I still put Christian -Anglican at that time) and only 9% went to church regularly.
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No doubt T thinks that the judges he appoints should realize that they owe him something, and also thinks that they are all as corrupt as he is.
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No doubt T thinks that the judges he appoints should realize that they owe him something, and also thinks that they are all as corrupt as he is.
Oh, no doubt. Even yesterday he was talking about some magic trick of getting one of these lawsuits into the Supreme Court because he is sure that they'd overturn the election for him. And as skeptical as I am of two of the three bozos he was told to appoint to the court might do it, I do not think a needed 5 would. (I'd like to say that it would be unanimous against him, 9-0, but I don't have that much faith in some of them. Not when several of them felt the need to waste their time and rule on a MOOT case a couple days ago.)
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Everyone else isn't a religious institution. Because I do happen to believe it's an unconstitutional violation of the separation of church and state. Even in a pandemic.
This whole thing sounds like a control issue. If people in congregations KNOW the dangers of their gatherings becoming a super-spreader event and passing diseases among each other and others outside the congregation and they knowingly participate in such things, then how is that any tenant of spirituality or religion? And I'm sorry, it is actually stupidity. What kind of religion would not suspend their gatherings to save the lives and health of it's members? It's something temporary. Or is it just "Don't tell us what to do?"
I mean, did churches obey the blackout restrictions in WWII? If hurricane warnings were issued by the government that one was heading toward one of their days of gathering would they still go? I'd guess not because of safety issues. But these health warnings are also safety issues and are ignored. Why? Because they can't see it happening like they could a hurricane? That's rich.
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Trump loses appeal in Pennsylvania
He's never had any appeal to me.
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He's never had any appeal to me.
(https://i.gifer.com/8zRa.gif)
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He's never had any appeal to me.
:laugh:
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The incompetency and credulity of anything Trump does is always suspect, but these continuing voter fraud cases his comedy team has not let up on are just getting more and more ludicrous. Today I'm listening to one program discussing that Trump's Voter Fraud "Proof" in a court case in Wayne County Michigan lists towns that are in, not Michigan, but in Minnesota. The comedy team tried to get out of it telling the judge someone mistakenly wrote MI on the submitted documents, that it was supposed to be for a case in MN, Minnesota, where those towns are. However, there is no Wayne County in Minnesota.
And there also is no President in Washington, D.C.
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Wisconsin Recount Confirms Biden's Win
Wisconsin finished a recount of its presidential results on Sunday, confirming Democrat Joe Biden's victory over President Donald Trump in the key battleground state. Trump vowed to challenge the outcome in court even before the recount concluded.
Dane County was the second and last county to finish its recount, reporting a 45-vote gain for Trump. Milwaukee County, the state's other big and overwhelmingly liberal county targeted in a recount that Trump paid for, reported its results Friday, a 132-vote gain for Biden.
Taken together, the two counties barely budged Biden's winning margin of about 20,600 votes, giving the winner a net gain of 87 votes.
https://news.yahoo.com/completed-wisconsin-recount-confirms-bidens-174953527.html
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$3M for a gain for Biden. And the GOP had to pay for it. Maybe they want to spend more.
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This morning I heard that 73% of people who voted for Trump believe that the election was stolen, and 81% of those people won't give Biden a chance (whatever that means). If this is correct, I have no hope. No way will Biden be able to bring the country together, because the minions of the Great Orange Satan will never believe anything except what their god tells them and what they want to hear.
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The incompetency and credulity of anything Trump does is always suspect, but these continuing voter fraud cases his comedy team has not let up on are just getting more and more ludicrous. Today I'm listening to one program discussing that Trump's Voter Fraud "Proof" in a court case in Wayne County Michigan lists towns that are in, not Michigan, but in Minnesota. The comedy team tried to get out of it telling the judge someone mistakenly wrote MI on the submitted documents, that it was supposed to be for a case in MN, Minnesota, where those towns are. However, there is no Wayne County in Minnesota.
And there also is no President in Washington, D.C.
Well, he started out with a clown car of characters, and is staying true to form and ending up with the same thing. It may not be the same clowns as at the start, but it's all the same.
(https://mir-s3-cdn-cf.behance.net/project_modules/max_1200/65721443311195.57eab48e91590.png)
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That clown car needs to explode.
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Yo bet it does!!!
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I bet there would be more people dancing in the streets.
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Well, he started out with a clown car of characters, and is staying true to form and ending up with the same thing. It may not be the same clowns as at the start, but it's all the same.
(https://mir-s3-cdn-cf.behance.net/project_modules/max_1200/65721443311195.57eab48e91590.png)
Linda, The Week magazine's front cover echoes your post:
(https://magdownload.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/The_Week_USA_-_December_12_2020-scaled.jpg)
With or without his clownish lawyers, Trump has damaged Democracy. And...what exactly did J-Lo learn from A-Rod?
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$3M for a gain for Biden. And the GOP had to pay for it. Maybe they want to spend more.
I like that Biden keeps WINNING and WINNING. Which means, Trump keeps LOSING and LOSING!
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Yeah!
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This morning I heard that 73% of people who voted for Trump believe that the election was stolen, and 81% of those people won't give Biden a chance (whatever that means). If this is correct, I have no hope. No way will Biden be able to bring the country together, because the minions of the Great Orange Satan will never believe anything except what their god tells them and what they want to hear.
Not only Trump, but I also blame all of the Republican Party sycophants whose acquiescence to him and not standing up for democratic principles gives all those people more permission to believe his lies. If we'd had Senate Republicans stand up and immediately accept Biden's win and state Republicans doing the same and not fooling around with appeasing Trump's sensibilities that 73% would be lower. (How much I don't know.)
The Washington Post has documented Trump's lies throughout his Presidency. In mid-July he hit the 20,000 lies mark. At an average, per the Post, of 50 lies a day he could be up to 29,600 by Jan. 20th. He wouldn't have to work too hard to get it up to 30,000.
In 2016 Trump branded his opponents liars, like calling Ted Cruz Lyin' Ted and Hillary Clinton a pathological liar. So if Trump was accused of lying his supporters would cite those two and others and just recite that all politicians lie. That's what Trump did well in 2016. He got people to believe that, at the very least, all his competitors were just as bad as he was, when in reality there was no equivalency in how bad Trump was compared to everyone else. But his supporters were willing to overlook his lies because everyone else lies, so why not give him a chance? Look where that's gotten us.
How it's gotten to a point where they believe his lies are not lies is what's even more disturbing. I bet if you asked Trump supporters a generic question like, "As a rule, would you approve of a candidate who's a known liar?" and they'd undoubtedly say "No." And yet, something like this oh-so-obvious-lie and his supporters don't bat an eye:
(https://pyxis.nymag.com/v1/imgs/bf3/20b/0bebd189636b7a19c9b9d4491203eba67f-04-trump-hurricane-dorian-alabama.rhorizontal.w700.jpg)
That photo is from an article titled: Trump Won’t Rest Until We Accept His Sharpie-Doctored Hurricane Map: The media owes him an apology, he says.
https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2019/09/trump-draws-alabama-into-dorian-path-rather-than-admit-error.html
What if they were asked, "Would you vote for a President who would tell the American public an average of 50 lies a day?"
The above is not the only simple and unarguable and totally obvious lie, not t mention embarrassing to the whole United States, that could be presented as evidence as to why this person always was unfit to be elected President.
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^^^
Oh...as a point of optimism about a new Presidency... Well, you just never know. Right before the 1980 election Americans were feeling like they do now, for different reasons. There was that over a year long daily in our face "hostage crisis" that was wearing to the soul every day and inflation was the worst that I can ever remember. Every time I went to the store it seemed my groceries cost $5 more. And remember our gas crisis where you could only get gas on days your license plate ended in an odd or even number?
SIDEBAR: I remember an acquaintance at work named Steven I wrote a limerick for at the time.
He had to get gas, so Steven
Told everyone he was leavin'.
He went out at noon
But came back real soon
Because he was odd and not even.
And though President Carter was a really decent man, he was not prone to inspiring people. Remember his speech about Americans being infused with malaise? Not uplifting. (Although anyone as decent as Jimmy Carter right now seems highly uplifting.) So the public decided to give Reagan a shot. Big time. And the first two years the country was still having a lot of problems. Reagan being shot gave him a longer period of a honeymoon than President's get now. But as his Presidency went on by 1984 Americans were doing a whole lot better and they felt good about themselves. The summer Olympics were in Los Angeles and a huge success. And Reagan was a positive energy at the helm, even if you did not like all his political leanings. He won in a huge landslide in 1984.
Now the national mood is not a happy one and we have a lot of forces (no internet and round the clock media in 1984) that often sideline anything positive, but I have to believe once the pandemic is under control and people get back to some normalcy and back to work and get some money in their pockets and rush out in person to enjoy the things we've missed, like restaurants and movies and sports and concerts, well everything...that the country's mood could play a part in turning the focus away from any influence the cretin might want to assert. Nothing is guaranteed, of course, but our own optimism or pessimism is our own choice, too.
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In the "it seems like he won't ever go away department..."
Trump Looms Large Now, but Maybe Not Forever
by Steve Inskeep
New York Times
Article:
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/29/opinion/trump-obama-history-one-term.html
A short Morning Joe segment with the author
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZUmoMAv4DoU
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I bet if you asked Trump supporters a generic question like, "As a rule, would you approve of a candidate who's a known liar?" and they'd undoubtedly say "No." And yet, something like this oh-so-obvious-lie and his supporters don't bat an eye:
Reminds me that I once heard that certain people, when asked if they were in favor of Obamacare, responded with a resounding No. Asked if they were in favor of the Affordable Care Act, and they were all in favor of that.
OK, the equivalence isn't exact, but it reminded me.
It's kind of fun watching the Great Orange Satan turn on his own. If we didn't already know this, we're now seeing that the only thing that matters is loyalty to him. Never mind the Constitution or the law, never mind the good of the nation, never mind when even Republican governors say that their state elections were fair, all that matters is loyalty to him.
He really should be locked up for trying to get governors to refuse to ratify electors based on election results and instead pick slates that will vote for him.
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He really should be locked up for trying to get governors to refuse to ratify electors based on election results and instead pick slates that will vote for him.
Lock him up.
He really thinks he can get away with everything and the Republicans have aided and abetted him in that regard. And him running around the White House shouting "I won. I won. I won." is just so like Lady MacBeth running around the castle. He is delusional beyond belief, and so, it appears, are roughly 73 million voters.
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(https://westernnews.media.clients.ellingtoncms.com/img/photos/2020/11/23/right_toon.jpg)
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(https://2qibqm39xjt6q46gf1rwo2g1-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/23489394_web1_M-1201-wtf-2020-whamond-EDH-201130-1200x851.jpg)
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(https://www.tampabay.com/resizer/3PXT1WffC958YjrAmDFweZ8pmZc=/620x0/smart/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/tbt/UEQLU3G24ZDNLB3OX7CC2OHMKQ.jpg)
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(https://2qibqm39xjt6q46gf1rwo2g1-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/23489394_web1_M-1201-ruins-biden-plante-EDH-201130-1024x666.jpg)
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does anyone still believe china is a "friend"? their government is trump multiplied by 1000000...don't forget about "made in china 2025" & the south china sea islands.....i hope we and the world wake up sooner rather than later.
I mean who does this??
China's fake photo of Australian soldier harming child is part of 'dirty game,' Australian special forces soldier says
A fabricated image of an Australian soldier harming a child published on a Chinese official's Twitter account on Sunday has further divided China and Australia.
The doctored image depicted an Australian soldier slitting a child's throat with a knife, in front of a Australian flag and an Afghan flag in the form of an incomplete puzzle. A caption at the bottom of the photo reads, "Don't be afraid, we are coming to bring you peace!"
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/chinas-fake-photo-of-australian-soldier-harming-child-is-part-of-dirty-game-australian-special-forces-soldier-says/ar-BB1bxtTw?ocid=ientp (https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/chinas-fake-photo-of-australian-soldier-harming-child-is-part-of-dirty-game-australian-special-forces-soldier-says/ar-BB1bxtTw?ocid=ientp)
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He really should be locked up for trying to get governors to refuse to ratify electors based on election results and instead pick slates that will vote for him.
Lock him up.
He really thinks he can get away with everything and the Republicans have aided and abetted him in that regard. And him running around the White House shouting "I won. I won. I won." is just so like Lady MacBeth running around the castle. He is delusional beyond belief, and so, it appears, are roughly 73 million voters.
But remember during the campaign for the 2016 election he stated, "I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody, and I wouldn't lose any voters", and unfortunately he has proven this time and time again over the last 4 years. I feel this same reasoning will translate into him not answering for ANY of the illegal things he has done in the last 4 years, and how horrible is this fact that the US has sunk so low??
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Some news from across the pond.
:laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:
Anti-LGBTQ Hungarian Lawmaker Resigns After Getting Busted at COVID Lockdown Orgy in Gay Nightclub
Andy Towle - 12/1/2020 BY ANDY TOWLE
Szájer József, a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from Hungary, has resigned after getting busted at an orgy in the basement of a Brussels gay bar over the weekend amid the COVID lockdown there.
The New York Post reports: “The sex party in the Belgian capital took place Friday in the bar on Rue des Pierres, the Brussels Times reported, citing local media. The European Union official, who has not been identified, allegedly tried to flee but was caught and questioned by authorities, according to La Dernière Heure. All of the attendees — most of whom were naked men — were fined for violating the coronavirus measures, a source told Het Laatste Nieuws.”
József, who was later identified as the MEP, released a statement: “A newspaper ran in the Belgian press today about a house party in Brussels on Friday that I was attending. After the police certificate, I indicated that I was a representative because I did not have a card, the police conducted the procedure, was given a verbal warning and then taken home. I didn’t use drugs, I offered to the police on the spot to have an official test done, but they didn’t. Police said an ecstasy pill was found. It’s not mine, I don’t know who placed it and how. I made a statement to the police about this. I am sorry that I have violated the rules of assembly, it was irresponsible on my part, I will take the penalties for that.”
https://www.towleroad.com/2020/12/szajer-jozsef/?fbclid=IwAR0kVop7XbWSy49hnW1ukiZIs7DW5eEIcHm_LQFUEpzgGCD5_A9eirZ4dzk
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They think they're hiding it so well.
How long before we hear that he was just doing research?
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Lock him up.
He really thinks he can get away with everything and the Republicans have aided and abetted him in that regard. And him running around the White House shouting "I won. I won. I won." is just so like Lady MacBeth running around the castle. He is delusional beyond belief, and so, it appears, are roughly 73 million voters.
Some day somebody's gonna write an opera about him.
How can anybody be so pathetic and yet so dangerous at the same time? He will never admit that the country has told him, "You're fired!"
I understand some state Republican officials are starting to call him out, not that it will do any good.
A lot of people are going to get hurt, and people are going to get killed, and their blood will be on his hands.
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You have to watch this new Lincoln Project video because,
well, you'll be glad you did...
WHISPERS III
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N6Y4XwiLD0o
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The Lincoln Project also has three new ones that are very good, geared toward the Senate Races in Georgia:
ON THE BALLOT
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iwr2_Rbu_Ws
PULPIT
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZiLzsJGgV_s
DON'T GO BACK
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OHZf6IDZEac
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You have to watch this new Lincoln Project video because,
well, you'll be glad you did...
WHISPERS III
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N6Y4XwiLD0o
The f-bomb at the end was quite satisfying.
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I hear Ivanka got deposed about some illegal profiting. I hope this means the sharks are starting to circle.
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And the good part about these lawsuits that may be starting up is that they are not on the federal level, they are on the state level, as is the one where Ivanka was deposed. He can hand out as many pardons as he wants, they only work on the federal level, not the state!! I wonder if he knows this?? ;D
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^^^
Yes, exactly!
The f-bomb at the end was quite satisfying.
Yes, exactly!
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You have to watch this new Lincoln Project video because,
well, you'll be glad you did...
WHISPERS III
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N6Y4XwiLD0o
Love it!!
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Donald Trump’s Brutal Day in Court
By Kyle Cheney and Josh Gerstein 12/04/2020
President Donald Trump and his legal allies earned a platinum sombrero Friday, striking out five times in a matter of hours in states pivotal to the president’s push to overturn the election results — and losing a sixth in Minnesota for good measure.
It was another harsh milestone in a monthlong run of legal futility, accompanied by sharp rebukes from county, state and federal judges who continue to express shock at the Trump team’s effort to simply scrap the results of an election he lost. Several of the most devastating opinions, both Friday and in recent weeks, have come from conservative judges and, in some federal cases, Trump appointees.
The losses included a rejection in Wisconsin from the state Supreme Court, where the majority was gobsmacked at the effort by a conservative group to invalidate the entire election without any compelling evidence of voter fraud or misconduct.
“The relief being sought by the petitioners is the most dramatic invocation of judicial power I have ever seen,” said Brian Hagedorn, a conservative elected justice, in a concurring opinion. “Judicial acquiescence to such entreaties built on so flimsy a foundation would do indelible damage to every future election. Once the door is opened to judicial invalidation of presidential election results, it will be awfully hard to close that door again. This is a dangerous path we are being asked to tread.”
An Arizona county judge, similarly, tossed a suit brought by state GOP chair Kelli Ward. "The court finds no misconduct, no fraud and no effect on the outcome of the election." Ward has vowed to appeal that ruling.
A Nevada judge issued a point-by-point rejection of every claim lodged by the Trump team, emphasizing that the facts they presented were sparse and unpersuasive. Carson City District Judge James Russell’s opinion repeatedly emphasized their case would not have succeeded “under any standard of proof.”
https://www.politico.com/news/2020/12/04/donald-trump-in-court-443010
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I have started to believe that these utterly clownish court sessions are nothing but a dog-and-pony show to distract everyone, admittedly with the side effect of gaining the T family new hundreds of millions from all the gullible souls out there. The more I think of T's character, the way he NEVER quits or moves on when he feels the least bit slighted, and the way he will use whatever means available, ethics and morals be damned - the more I am certain that you are looking at an attempted military coup in the next month or so. The signs are there; he keeps on installing minions in Pentagon, he is recalling troops from 'shithole countries' to placate military families, the loud insistence on a stolen election will mean almost half the population think a coup is justified, the Republicans in charge are clearly waiting for something bigger to happen with the way they still keep kowtowing to him (no, I don't think it's just because of Georgia). He is the commander in chief with all that entails, - he even possesses the nuclear codes - am I really to believe he wont make the most of the military powers he's got rather than just meekly leave in January? I just don't think his personality lets him do that, no matter how much money he manages to wring from supporters in the weeks over Christmas.
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I have started to believe that these utterly clownish court sessions are nothing but a dog-and-pony show to distract everyone, admittedly with the side effect of gaining the T family new hundreds of millions from all the gullible souls out there. The more I think of T's character, the way he NEVER quits or moves on when he feels the least bit slighted, and the way he will use whatever means available, ethics and morals be damned - the more I am certain that you are looking at an attempted military coup in the next month or so. The signs are there; he keeps on installing minions in Pentagon, he is recalling troops from 'shithole countries' to placate military families, the loud insistence on a stolen election will mean almost half the population think a coup is justified, the Republicans in charge are clearly waiting for something bigger to happen with the way they still keep kowtowing to him (no, I don't think it's just because of Georgia). He is the commander in chief with all that entails, - he even possesses the nuclear codes - am I really to believe he wont make the most of the military powers he's got rather than just meekly leave in January? I just don't think his personality lets him do that, no matter how much money he manages to wring from supporters in the weeks over Christmas.
I don't think that Trump is planning a coup. Perhaps I'm naive, but I don't see that happening.
However, he is definitely taking in millions from his followers.
Trump Lost the 2020 Election. He Has Raised $207.5 Million Since.
Shane Goldmacher - Dec. 3, 2020
Even in defeat, President Trump continued to raise money at some of the fastest rates of the year, pulling in $207.5 million in the month since Election Day along with the Republican Party as he made baseless claims of voter fraud to undermine the legitimacy of the election.
Mr. Trump’s campaign apparatus has continued to aggressively solicit donations under the guise of supporting his various legal challenges to the election of Joseph R. Biden Jr., but as of now 75 percent of donations goes to a new political action committee that Mr. Trump formed in mid-November, up to the PAC’s legal limit of $5,000. The other 25 percent goes to the Republican National Committee. Only if a donor gives more than $6,000 do any funds go to Mr. Trump’s formal “recount” account.
His campaign did not release a breakdown of how the $207.5 million was divided. The funds are split among the new PAC, called Save America, the R.N.C. and two committees operated jointly by the party and the campaign, with some money also going toward paying off Mr. Trump’s campaign debts.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/03/us/politics/trump-campaign-money.html
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I am so happy to see this.
https://twitter.com/10SportAU/status/1335144402642227201?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1335173489041448970%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es3_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.abc.net.au%2Fnews%2F2020-12-05%2Faustralian-national-anthem-sung-in-a-first-nations-language%2F12954354
At the International Rugby match between Australia and Argentina last night the National Anthem was sung in an Indigenous language. The language of the Eora tribe which covers much of the area around Sydney.
There are over 150 Aboriginal languages which makes it a problem to copy Aotearoa/New Zealand where we always sing the National Anthem in the Maori language before singing it in English.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RYdfQvZrakM
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What a great thing to do.
I'm sure this would ever happen here in the US. We've terribly mistreated our Indigenous people, and it continues today.
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What a great thing to do.
I'm sure this would ever happen here in the US. We've terribly mistreated our Indigenous people, and it continues today.
It has not been that great in both Australia and New Zealand either which is why I am so happy to see this small sign of an advance.
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I don't think that Trump is planning a coup. Perhaps I'm naive, but I don't see that happening.
However, he is definitely taking in millions from his followers.
Trump Lost the 2020 Election. He Has Raised $207.5 Million Since.
Shane Goldmacher - Dec. 3, 2020
Even in defeat, President Trump continued to raise money at some of the fastest rates of the year, pulling in $207.5 million in the month since Election Day along with the Republican Party as he made baseless claims of voter fraud to undermine the legitimacy of the election.
Mr. Trump’s campaign apparatus has continued to aggressively solicit donations under the guise of supporting his various legal challenges to the election of Joseph R. Biden Jr., but as of now 75 percent of donations goes to a new political action committee that Mr. Trump formed in mid-November, up to the PAC’s legal limit of $5,000. The other 25 percent goes to the Republican National Committee. Only if a donor gives more than $6,000 do any funds go to Mr. Trump’s formal “recount” account.
His campaign did not release a breakdown of how the $207.5 million was divided. The funds are split among the new PAC, called Save America, the R.N.C. and two committees operated jointly by the party and the campaign, with some money also going toward paying off Mr. Trump’s campaign debts.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/03/us/politics/trump-campaign-money.html
A fool and his money are soon parted.
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What a great thing to do.
I'm sure this would ever happen here in the US. We've terribly mistreated our Indigenous people, and it continues today.
Chuck, when Meryl and I visited Munument Valley some years back, we happened to be staying at the hotel where a ceremony took place honouring Navajo tribe members who had served in the military. With the beautiful mitten buttes as backdrop, this was a very special event. During the ceremony, a Navajo woman in traditional clothing (velvet blouse, a squash blossom necklace, long skirt, and hair in a knot) sang the Star-Spangled Banner in the Navajo language. It is something I will never forget.
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Chuck, when Meryl and I visited Munument Valley some years back, we happened to be staying at the hotel where a ceremony took place honouring Navajo tribe members who had served in the military. With the beautiful mitten buttes as backdrop, this was a very special event. During the ceremony, a Navajo woman in traditional clothing (velvet blouse, a squash blossom necklace, long skirt, and hair in a knot) sang the Star-Spangled Banner in the Navajo language. It is something I will never forget.
Oh, I wish I could've seen that.
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Oh, I wish I could've seen that.
National Anthem - In Navajo at Heard Museum
https://youtu.be/eR0NCNaRWf4
It is a beautiful language. I have been to the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center here in Albuquerque with Michael a couple of times, and it is always fascinating and beautiful.
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Thank you Auntie!
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National Anthem - In Navajo at Heard Museum
https://youtu.be/eR0NCNaRWf4
It is a beautiful language. I have been to the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center here in Albuquerque with Michael a couple of times, and it is always fascinating and beautiful.
Beautifully done. Thanks, Linda.
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Megachurch Pastor Who Defied COVID Orders Dies Of The Virus
On Monday, Bob Bryant of the Water of Life Community Church in Fontana in Southern California died of COVID-19. He was the Associate pastor at his Evangelical church that chose to defy orders that religious services could only take place outdoors in San Bernardino county. He was 58-years-old.
Dan Carroll, the church's senior pastor, spoke with KABC-TV about Bryant's death, saying soon after he was diagnosed his condition rapidly worsened.
"He was only in the hospital for a matter of hours and they put him on a respirator. And then a few hours after that, he had a heart attack," Carroll said.
https://god.dailydot.com/water-of-life-church-pastor-dies-covid-19/?fbclid=IwAR3UQd8Jna-G_uteSvOtbIdewMN4sYVTAQtzBZx9BYkO5C77KE-omXpDOJE
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Maybe I am cruel, and maybe he would have caught it even if he had abided by the regulations, but I don't Have much sympathy for him.
I feel for the people who he may have infected.
This is the statement that makes me feel no sympathy:
The church is planning a memorial service for Bryant, which will also be streamed online for anyone who does not want to attend in person. That should be everyone, but Waters of Life seems very determined to keep spreading death. There is no reported plan to end indoor services.
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Rudy Giuliani has coronavirus, Donald Trump says
Amanda Holpuch - 12/06/2020
Donald Trump’s personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani, has tested positive for Covid-19, the president tweeted on Sunday. Giuliani, 76 and a former mayor of New York City, has been leading Trump’s attempt to overturn his election defeat by Joe Biden, through lawsuits in battleground states.
Trump did not specify when Giuliani tested positive or if he was experiencing symptoms.
“Rudy Giuliani, by far the greatest mayor in the history of NYC, and who has been working tirelessly exposing the most corrupt election (by far!) in the history of the USA, has tested positive for the China Virus,” Trump tweeted, using a racist term for the coronavirus. “Get better soon Rudy, we will carry on!!!”
Giuliani has been traveling frequently in the aftermath of the election, and often appears in public without a mask.
Last week, he appeared maskless before state lawmakers in Michigan, to challenge votes in the state. On Thursday, he spoke at the Georgia capitol building in a crowded legislative session, again without a mask.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/dec/06/rudy-giuliani-coronavirus-covid-donald-trump
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If I was better with gifs, I would post that 'You in danger, girl' gif from 'Ghost' aimed at that crazy drunk woman Giuliani had sitting next to him last week in order to expose all the imaginary voter fraud. But maybe she was the one who infected him.
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National Anthem - In Navajo at Heard Museum
https://youtu.be/eR0NCNaRWf4
It is a beautiful language. I have been to the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center here in Albuquerque with Michael a couple of times, and it is always fascinating and beautiful.
I wanted to thank you for this. What a lovely rendition.
When I visited the Navajo reservation for the first time, one of my big wishes was to get to hear the language spoken IRL by people who actually had it as their first language. We arrived very late to the town where we were staying, and popped into a McDonalds to get something to eat before going to bed. The guy in front of me in line was speaking on his cell phone the entire time, and he was speaking Navajo. I was as secretly thrilled as a kid at Christmas.
We also were lucky enough to stumble upon a friendship dance at the Hopis' Second Mesa. It is a cherished memory for life. The preserved culture of the Native Americans is mesmerizing. I do worry about the toll Covid is taking on the indigenous populations, and especially on the elders who are the ones preserving their culture. :-X
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If I was better with gifs, I would post that 'You in danger, girl' gif from 'Ghost' aimed at that crazy drunk woman Giuliani had sitting next to him last week in order to expose all the imaginary voter fraud. But maybe she was the one who infected him.
(https://media0.giphy.com/media/7NbNXY0hXaBWw/giphy.gif)
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:laugh: :laugh: :laugh:
Thank you, Chuck!
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you're very welcome!
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What a great thing to do.
I'm sure this would never happen here in the US. We've terribly mistreated our Indigenous people, and it continues today.
True enough, sadly.
This brought to mind something I remember. When the 1984 Summer Olympics were in Los Angeles, during the ceremonies they had a segment with people residing in Los Angeles who represented all of the countries participating in that years Olympics. (They were either descended from or had immigrated from all of the varied countries, but now made their home in Southern California.) An Indian Chief from a native Los Angeles tribe was involved and at the rehearsal he was talking to one of the organizers who was gathering all the participants together and he asked if he was representing all of the Indian tribes in the United States and the organizer told him..."No. You are representing the United States." The man broke down and cried. He hadn't known this.
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I wanted to thank you for this. What a lovely rendition.
When I visited the Navajo reservation for the first time, one of my big wishes was to get to hear the language spoken IRL by people who actually had it as their first language. We arrived very late to the town where we were staying, and popped into a McDonalds to get something to eat before going to bed. The guy in front of me in line was speaking on his cell phone the entire time, and he was speaking Navajo. I was as secretly thrilled as a kid at Christmas.
We also were lucky enough to stumble upon a friendship dance at the Hopis' Second Mesa. It is a cherished memory for life. The preserved culture of the Native Americans is mesmerizing. I do worry about the toll Covid is taking on the indigenous populations, and especially on the elders who are the ones preserving their culture. :-X
You are more than welcome. Living in New Mexico has given me a lot of contact with the rich culture of the Native Americans. Yes the toll on the Navajo Nation is more than devastating. :'(
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UPDATES
...on some of these statistics from eleven days ago...
As of today, it turns out only ONE state had less voter turnout this year than in 2016. Totals today: (None here are certified yet.)
Alaska +12.6%
District of Columbia +10.6%
Maryland +8.5%
Mississippi +8.5%
New York -8.5%
What the heck was going on in New York State? Election rules? COVID? Curious. New York also had the largest swing of people voting Republican this year over 2016: 7.6% more votes for Republicans than Democrats.
(Fritz) Virginia +12.0%
(Linda) New Mexico +15.7%
(Jeff) Pennsylvania +13.2%
(Mark) Florida +17.5%
(Chuck) New Jersey +17.7%
(Vincent) North Carolina +16.5%
(Jonn) Kansas +12.6%
(Lyle) California +22.3%
So far, Virginia and Florida are the only two states on this list who have certified their elections.
UPDATES: Dec. 7th
Well, New York went into the plus column since my last update!
That means every state had a significant increase in voter turnout from 2016.
New York +11.5%
(Fritz) Virginia +12.0%
(Linda) New Mexico +15.7%
(Jeff) Pennsylvania +13.1%
(Mark) Florida +17.5%
(Chuck) New Jersey +17.7%
(Vincent) North Carolina +16.5%
(Jonn) Kansas +15.9%
(Lyle) California +23.4%
New Jersey and California are the only two states on this list who have not certified their elections so far.
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Popular vote totals as of today: Nov. 25th
BIDEN: 80,086,825 Cretin: 73,902,604
A difference of 6,184,221.
Almost half the states (23) have certified their elections.
Popular vote totals as of today: Dec. 7th
51.3% BIDEN: 81,281,672 46.9% Cretin: 74,221,585
A difference of 7,060,087.
(There were 2,898,868 other votes cast for President.)
44 states (+D.C.) have certified their elections. 6 have not:
California
Colorado
Hawaii
Idaho
Missouri
New Jersey
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IDK what to think about this very long article. Might be better skimmed and it may be paywalled.
Feels like we are heading in that direction inevitable generational strife between the aging "take-it-all" boomers and the millennials is escalating. Just look at the GOP demographics.
The right-wing nuts Limbaugh etc.. are already stoking the pumps. -> https://www.marketwatch.com/story/enormous-change-in-the-us-a-potential-secession-crisis-in-red-states-and-the-possibility-of-solving-intractable-problems-will-mark-the-2020s-says-author-neil-howe-2020-11-03?mod=election-2020 (https://www.marketwatch.com/story/enormous-change-in-the-us-a-potential-secession-crisis-in-red-states-and-the-possibility-of-solving-intractable-problems-will-mark-the-2020s-says-author-neil-howe-2020-11-03?mod=election-2020)
"The way millennials see it, democracies are failing to invest in the future. While they brilliantly protect the rights and entitlements of older people, they leave the next generation to fend for itself. In America, you can see that with college funding — rigged to extract maximum unsubsidized payments out of young people and turn them into indentured servants. And then there’s health care, whose growing and massive subsidies go almost entirely to old people."
The above is just a snippet of the context.
https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/trump-gop-loyalists-seek-pile-supreme-court-election/story?id=74636127 (https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/trump-gop-loyalists-seek-pile-supreme-court-election/story?id=74636127)
https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/pentagon-plans-cut-support-cias-counterterrorism-missions/story?id=74641591 (https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/pentagon-plans-cut-support-cias-counterterrorism-missions/story?id=74641591)
https://abcnews.go.com/US/man-arrested-threatening-blow-spokane-county-democrats-office/story?id=74640741 (https://abcnews.go.com/US/man-arrested-threatening-blow-spokane-county-democrats-office/story?id=74640741)
Per above just from this AM, I continue holding my breath and waking up a 4AM in a panic sweat as we are no where near "done" with the US election as the GOS and his supporters are burrowing into positions which still gives them power to thwart, defer, delay and gum up the entire whole of the USG. The rats are running for cover and hiding now while others are charging forward with even more insanity. It's scaring the hell outta me folks.
Now assemble all this together.... It makes my brain hurt - badly and I just feel like I wanna puke. :( V.
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https://news.sky.com/story/pete-buttigieg-reportedly-being-lined-up-as-bidens-us-ambassador-to-china-12155873 (https://news.sky.com/story/pete-buttigieg-reportedly-being-lined-up-as-bidens-us-ambassador-to-china-12155873)
Pete Buttigieg reportedly lined up as ambassador to China.
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Nooo! We want him as ambassador to Norway! ;D (Would be a welcome change after the previous ones.) I bet the Danes are saying the same, after the whole Greenland drama.
Buttigieg has made such a favourable impression, I suppose there was no doubt he was up for an important position.
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The Danes have already been lucky with Rufus Gifford - he even had his gay wedding there! (I briefly glimpsed him and his then fiancé when I was visiting a Brokie friend in Copenhagen, :D)
I’m not sure China will be an easy post.
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Per above just from this AM, I continue holding my breath and waking up a 4AM in a panic sweat as we are no where near "done" with the US election as the GOS and his supporters are burrowing into positions which still gives them power to thwart, defer, delay and gum up the entire whole of the USG. The rats are running for cover and hiding now while others are charging forward with even more insanity. It's scaring the hell outta me folks.
What worries me is what may happen on Inauguration Day and afterward.
Rush Limbaugh is an old person himself.
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^^^^^ Rush isn't long for this world. I would think he would do something positive instead if spewing so much he hate. I guess looking death in the eye doesn't change some people. He also doesn't have to worry about getting the vaccine for a virus he believes doesn't exist. Makes one available for someone who does want and need it. Sometimes we do see justice.
If I sound bitter, yes, I am. I'm tired of these a**holes spewing so much hate and division, and nothing is done!
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What worries me is what may happen on Inauguration Day and afterward.
Rush Limbaugh is an old person himself.
Yeah, I pray karma has lots of fun in store for Mr. Limbaugh...
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I found this both funny and disturbing at the same time. Another reason is to get the strong "fast food" smell out that permeates the place as well.
White House Will Be Thoroughly Disinfected in the Hours After Trump's Exit
BY JAMES WALKER ON 12/10/20 AT 3:58 AM EST
The White House will be deep cleaned to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in the hours after President Donald Trump's exit and before the Biden administration's arrival at the Oval Office, a federal agency said.
The General Services Administration told Politico on Wednesday that it would "thoroughly clean and disinfect" surfaces touched by Trump's team in the final moments of his presidency—such as door handles, light switches and furniture.
According to a federal contract, one firm will be paid a little under $30,000 to provide "disinfectant misting services" to combat coronavirus in the White House. The deal is expected to last for 10 months.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said in July that COVID-19 could survive on surfaces for anywhere between hours and days. The agency also warned Americans to clean and disinfect visibly dirty surfaces to curb the spread of the virus.
The CDC said in May: "Based on data from lab studies on COVID-19 and what we know about similar respiratory diseases, it may be possible that a person can get COVID-19 by touching a surface or object that has the virus on it and then touching their own mouth, nose or possibly their eyes, but this isn't thought to be the main way the virus spreads."
Newsweek has contacted the General Services Administration for further details and comment on its deep cleaning plans.
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:o
oh my!
;D
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:o
oh my!
;D
My sentiments are a bit stronger than this^^^^^^! >:(
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Amongst all your gloom, you may like this as our Prime Minister addresses kid's worries about Santa and Covid,
https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/new-zealand/jacinda-ardern-answers-kids-curly-covid-questions-around-santas-upcoming-trip-nz?auto=6215327493001
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My sentiments are a bit stronger
I bet they are
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Pete Buttigieg reportedly lined up as ambassador to China.
Pete: Speaks English, Norwegian, Spanish, French, Italian, Maltese, Arabic, and Dari with varying degrees of fluency.
And they want him to go to China?
Pete is such a great spokesman for our future and one thing all people like about him is his ability to talk in ways that speak the truth but bridges the divide(s) of the country. So you want to take that and send it out of the country where no one will notice?
Doesn't make any sense to me.
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Hawaii, Idaho and California are the only three states that have not certified their elections yet,
despite several on news programs last night that said every state has done so. I can understand
why CA might not, they have an extended period of time to allow mail ballots to arrive and there
are roughly 20 million votes in the state. But why Hawaii (575,000). and Idaho (800,000) haven't
I cannot say.
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IDK if you guys recall, I talked about a legal theory of leveraging "organized religious protections" a while back as a means to protect the vulnerable LGBTQ+. Organize a church, create bylaws and voila that "church/religion" can attack anyone for infringing on THEIR religion.
Well sadly, racists in MN have now figured out how to use this umbrella protection. So what does it mean?
Shorter term - More "religious persecution" cases will be heading to the now stacked conservative SCOTUS.
Longer term - We are one step away from many "organized hate groups" wrapping themselves in the current interpretation of "religious protections" to shield themselves from the law, hate crimes and other heinous acts they may commit. We are on that dangerous slope that even the late A. Scalia recognized there had to be a line where "religious protections" must be balanced with laws... or we would become a land of the lawless where religious bigots, racists, ..., could follow whatever laws they wanted and ignore the laws they chose not to and then hide under the protective cloak of "religious persecution" A. Scalia opened that door, probably well meaning, but he made an arrogant, flawed, grave error we are just starting to see realized. The whole game card the religious bigots are now playing to where they are a "persecuted minority" is 100% BS and is positioning the USA to end up like countries where the a religious lunatic is in charge rather than those elected. You think it cannot happen here in the USA... think again. The "overthrow the election" crap we see right now coming from the GOS and the GOP are another step in this direction. More than 1/2 of the GOP representatives have now signed onto this frivolous lawsuit heading to SCOTUS.
https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/church-identified-hate-group-permit-minnesota-74646489?cid=clicksource_4380645_2_heads_hero_live_headlines_hed (https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/church-identified-hate-group-permit-minnesota-74646489?cid=clicksource_4380645_2_heads_hero_live_headlines_hed)
This is very dangerous and with the recent SCOTUS appointments, it happening may be unstoppable as they cling to their "originality" vs "common sense" dogma. The now conservative majority on SCOTUS will bend over backwards and contort into knots to protect anything which smells like "infringement" of ANY religion. Next we will have hate groups of Nazi's organized as a church and suddenly protected and once one of them gets a nod from SCOTUS - game over.
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they continue dropping.
Newly Sworn-In GOP N.H. House Speaker Dies Of COVID-19, Autopsy Shows
Dan Barrick, Todd Bookman, Josh Rogers 12-10-20
Rep. Dick Hinch, a Republican who was elected speaker of the New Hampshire House just one week ago, died of COVID-19 on Wednesday. This comes about a month before the state legislature, the largest in the U.S., is expected to convene in Concord for its regularly scheduled annual session.
The state's attorney general, Gordon MacDonald, announced the cause of death Thursday afternoon with the consent of Hinch's family, following an autopsy by New Hampshire Chief Medical Examiner Jennie Duval.
Hinch, who was 71 and from Merrimack, was poised to lead his party in the state's House of Representatives. New Hampshire Republicans gained control of both the House and the state Senate from Democrats in elections last month.
Hinch was formally elected House speaker on Dec. 2 at an outdoor session held on an athletic field at the University of New Hampshire because of coronavirus concerns. Earlier that same week, several Republican House members were confirmed to have tested positive for the coronavirus after attending an indoor GOP caucus meeting.
https://www.npr.org/2020/12/10/945137222/newly-sworn-in-n-h-gop-house-speaker-dies-of-covid-19-autopsy-shows
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^^^^ Karma balancing the scales....
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Donald Trump Labelled 'Loser of the Year' by Europe's Biggest News Magazine
By Brendan Cole on 12/10/20
The German magazine Der Spiegel has delivered a withering assessment of President Donald Trump's 2020 in an article headlined "The loser of the year."
The piece of more than 3,300 words pulled no punches in criticizing Trump's response to the coronavirus pandemic, his refusal to accept an election defeat, and for good measure, it took swipes at other presidential actions this year.
Headlined in German "Der Verlierer des Jahres" the article published online on Thursday describes how Trump's refusal to accept President-elect Joe Biden's victory is "not surprising," because, as Roland Nelles and Ralf Neukirch write: "nothing is normal under Trump."
"Instead, he speaks of massive electoral fraud, although there is no evidence for it. Trump's presidency ends as it began. Without decency and without dignity."
https://www.newsweek.com/der-spiegel-donald-trump-election-loser-year-germany-1553807
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Pete: Speaks English, Norwegian, Spanish, French, Italian, Maltese, Arabic, and Dari with varying degrees of fluency.
And they want him to go to China?
Pete is such a great spokesman for our future and one thing all people like about him is his ability to talk in ways that speak the truth but bridges the divide(s) of the country. So you want to take that and send it out of the country where no one will notice?
Doesn't make any sense to me.
Doesn't make sense to me, either. What is Joe thinking? Pete should be in the Cabinet.
On the other hand, given his personality, maybe he could help better U.S.-China relations.
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I found this both funny and disturbing at the same time. Another reason is to get the strong "fast food" smell out that permeates the place as well.
White House Will Be Thoroughly Disinfected in the Hours After Trump's Exit
BY JAMES WALKER ON 12/10/20 AT 3:58 AM EST
The White House will be deep cleaned to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in the hours after President Donald Trump's exit and before the Biden administration's arrival at the Oval Office, a federal agency said.
They need to get the smell of the bullshit out of the place, too.
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They need to get the smell of the bullshit out of the place, too.
Well, this goes without saying, but I expect there is not a cleaner in the world that would get that stench out!! As is said of the Grinch, "Stink, stank, stunk...."
https://youtu.be/vlwEwArHZ0k
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Doesn't make sense to me, either. What is Joe thinking? Pete should be in the Cabinet.
On the other hand, given his personality, maybe he could help better U.S.-China relations.
I agree.
It seems weird to not have Pete in the US, but being the US ambassador to China will require a lot of balancing and political skills.... with the way China is flexing its considerable muscles and the way T has bulldozed so much of the US's political clout.
Pete is so proficient with languages, maybe he's at home now studying Mandarin like crazy?
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I agree.
It seems weird to not have Pete in the US, but being the US ambassador to China will require a lot of balancing and political skills.... with the way China is flexing its considerable muscles and the way T has bulldozed so much of the US's political clout.
Pete is so proficient with languages, maybe he's at home now studying Mandarin like crazy?
Regardless, China is going to be an important and difficult post.
(I envy people with a gift for langauges.)
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Donald Trump Labelled 'Loser of the Year' by Europe's Biggest News Magazine
By Brendan Cole on 12/10/20
The German magazine Der Spiegel has delivered a withering assessment of President Donald Trump's 2020 in an article headlined "The loser of the year."
Trump's presidency ends as it began. Without decency and without dignity."
Exactly.
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There's another Reality TV show for the Great Orange Satan: The Biggest Loser.
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You may have heard that the Republican Attorney General of Texas, , an idiot that we've mentioned on this thread before, filed a lawsuit with the Supreme Court (under some rule that allows a state to directly petition the Supreme Court) alleging that the states of Pennsylvania, Georgia, Michigan and Wisconsin had changed their voting laws illegally and that this affected the rights of the people of Texas adversely and the suit wants the Supreme Court to throw out all of the votes in those states, in an effort to reverse the election and keep Trump in office. Trump has signed on to it and gotten Ted Cruz to accept the job of arguing the case before the Supreme Court if they take the case. The Attorneys General of 17 other states have signed on to support this. :o Do you know how absolutely NUTS this is? It gets worse. 106 Republican members of Congress (over half the Republican members) have also agreed to sign on to this.
This embarrassing yet dangerous act Republicans are engaged in now is absolutely insane, but let us not lose sight of how abnormal this is while they are going to be laughed out of court.
Steve Schmidt: You saw [things like this] coming the past summer...the astounding moment when the Republican platform became nothing more than a loyalty oath to Donald Trump. An oath of obedience. Complete obedience. That's what the Republican platform was. Not even a prestense of policy, issues or ideas in it. And, so, today's a historic day. And I know sometimes in the instant anaysis culture of fast moving events we can overstate the importance of an event in the context of the moment and say this is a meaningful event in history. Smoetimes it's obvious, like 9/11, that was a before and after moment. Today is a before and after moment in the life of the nation. 106 members of the AMerican Congress broke faith with American Democracy today. THey did something the fascists, the Nazis, the Confederate Army was unable to do. THey forced a majority, or a majority of elected officials of one of the two major parties in a Federal House broke faith with the idea that the people are sovereign. That we're a government of the people, by the people and for the people. Democracy definitionlaly requires one side being willing to lose an election. To accept the results. To come back the next time in a competition of ideas. And so what we saw today, this breaking of faith, which followed the poisoning of faith and belief in the system, in the American system, the American republic, which has endured since 1776. It was poisoned this month. Faith and belief in it. ANd we're going to live with this now [for a long while] because the competition in American politics is now between a Democratic party, meaning a party that believes in democracy, vs. an autocratic party. And we've never seen that. When you see that many members of Congress breaking faith with their oath, to overturn an election because they don't like a result, we're off the reservation... [...] It's a very worrying moment. And what it means is that we're one election away from losing the country to people who no longer believe in democracy.
That line is in the rear view mirror. They crossed it. We cannot be fantastical in wishing that what has happened has not happened in our thinking. It has happened. They [Republicans] all know that Biden has won the election. What they’re doing is for no purpose other than power. The Republican party is an organized conspiracy for the purposes of maintaining power for self-interest, and the self-interest of its donor class. There is no fidelity to the American idea and ideal.
So it is clear that we are in a war, a war to save our lives, a war to save the economy and a war to save democracy. The people have won the first big battle in this war by winning the 2020 election and defeating the head of this openly anti-democratic Republican Party. The next battle is defeating the two right wing Republicans in the January Senate run-offs in Georgia and there will be many battles yet after that extending well into and after the Biden Administration. In election after election, anyone associated with this anti-democratic Republican Party will have to be defeated which is all the more reason that the broad coalition that propelled Biden to victory must remain intact and in fact be broadened even further.
This is not the first time that the people have faced the threat of fascism and it will not be the first time when we finally defeat this particular threat.
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Supreme Court rejects Texas' effort to overturn election in fatal blow to Trump legal blitz to stop Biden
By Pete Williams Dec. 11, 2020
The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday brushed aside the lawsuit filed by Texas that sought to overturn Joe Biden's election victory in four battleground states.
President Donald Trump called the case "the big one," and 126 of the 196 Republicans in the House urged the court to take it. But the justices acted quickly to turn it down.
"Texas has not demonstrated a judicially cognizable interest in the manner in which another state conducts its elections," the court said in a brief unsigned opinion.
Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito said the court had no authority to refuse a case filed on its original docket, where one state files to sue another. But they said the would not have granted Texas any other relief and expressed no view on any of the issues raised in the lawsuit.
So the ruling was essentially a unanimous rejection of the Texas claims.
Supporters of the Trump campaign saw the Texas suit as their best hope for derailing a victory for Joe Biden before the actual presidential vote is cast by the Electoral College on Monday.
President-elect Joe Biden's team welcomed the news, calling it an end to the president's baseless legal battle.
"The Supreme Court has decisively and speedily rejected the latest of Donald Trump and his allies’ attacks on the democratic process," said campaign spokesman Mike Gwin in a statement.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/supreme-court/supreme-court-rejects-texas-effort-overturn-election-fatal-blow-trump-n1250883
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I'm sure T will tell the base that he's appealing to a higher court.
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He's going to tell them that now it's up to them. :-X Watch out...
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Actually, all those traitors who signed, should be removed from office per the 14th Amendment.
https://twitter.com/billpascrell/status/1337482153752453120?s=11 (https://twitter.com/billpascrell/status/1337482153752453120?s=11)
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106 Republican members of Congress (over half the Republican members) have also agreed to sign on to this.
As Chuck's post stated later on, it went up to 126. This is absolutely crazy.
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Actually, all those traitors who signed, should be removed from office per the 14th Amendment.
https://twitter.com/billpascrell/status/1337482153752453120?s=11 (https://twitter.com/billpascrell/status/1337482153752453120?s=11)
I'm on board.
Adam Schiff
@AdamSchiff
During impeachment, Republicans said “let the voters decide.”
Now that the voters have decided and Trump has lost,
Republicans are suing to overturn the election.
It's clear it was never about the voters, our constitution, or our democracy.
Only staying in power.
________________________________________________________________
Some of the well-known politicians, Government workers and political pundits who responded with other tweets to Gattaca's link have really been lambasting the Republicans with good reason. It was heartening to read their responses.
The thing is, I don't think that very serious removal option of the 14th amendment that Congressman Pascrell has proposed is going to be taken seriously at all. And it should be taken seriously. These Republican Congressmen (any women?) should be at least offered the chance to explain their position and or renounce it in front of the people of this country and if not, not be seated. This is not a game like they always want to divert to when they get caught. "Oh, it was just a joke. He/I'm/She's joking."
The joke lost. Joking time is OVER.
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These past few days I've been wondering what the Great Orange Satan and Moscow Mitch think of Amy Coney Barrett now. I'm sure the base is pleased to have her on the court, but she certainly wasn't much help in getting the election overturned.
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She'll come through for the Federalist Society soon enough. Since T can't do anything more for them, they'll be as loyal to him as he to them.
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^^^^ Yeap... she and all the other "young conservative pledged" judges Moscow Mitch has appointed during the GOS reign.
Sadly there's nothing the Democrats can do to stop him as long as the GOP holds unbreakable voting blocks in the Senate. He's pretty much Senate dictator... this is why GA is now so critical to the next 2 years for sure.
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^^^
DARE WE HOPE?
Although margins are tight, yesterday was the first time Jon Ossoff was ahead in GA.
And by tight, I mean a toss-up.
Ossoff: 48.5%
Perdue: 47.5%
Warnock: 48.5%
Loeffler: 46.9%
There are no 3rd party candidates in the run-off, though I assume you could write one in.
But in Georgia the candidates have to have 50% to win. (Which is why there's a run-off.)
I wonder what the rule is about people who go to the polls, but, say, just don't vote for
either, they just show-up. Is it votes cast or based on who shows up? At this point it's all
too much.
Interesting article:
Warnock And Ossoff Are Testing A New Strategy For Democrats In The South
https://538.com/georgia-democrats-may-have-found-their-own-southern-strategy (https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/georgia-democrats-may-have-found-their-own-southern-strategy-a-black-centric-campaign/)
By the way, I don't know what's going on on the ground in GA, but if I were Democrats, I'd be going around to every single voter in need right now and tell them if they want help from the Federal government during this COVID pandemic, monetary assistance and more, voting for both Warnock and Ossoff will put some money in your pocketbook. And that the only way to do it is to vote for them to get rid of McConnell. You vote for them, money will come. It's that simple right now. They say people vote their pocketbooks all the time. This is one instance where your vote would directly translate to money in your pocket. I'd guarantee it.
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On any politically related youtube video I watch now I just quote Steve Schmidt and post the following, whether or not it's directly related to the subject matter. I've been doing it for days now. If repeating things ad infinitum works for the R's, why not?
"The Republican Party is an organized conspiracy for the purposes of maintaining power for self-interest, and the self-interest of its donor class. There is no fidelity to the American ideal. There has never been a force that has achieved power, or is within reach of achieving power in the next election, that’s been so hostile to the history, the founding, the essence and the entire meaning of the country, as is this Trump and Trumpist movement that has taken over lock, stock, and barrel the Republican Party. It’s no longer dedicated to American democracy. It is dedicated to Trump and Trumpism and to his family, to defense of his indecencies, his autocratic manner, his corruptions, an apologist for the profound damage he has done."
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Wisconsin Supreme Court rejects Donald Trump's election challenge; electors vote for Joe Biden
Riley Vetterkind - 12/14/2020
Wisconsin's 10 presidential electors cast their votes for President-elect Joe Biden on Tuesday, hours after the state Supreme Court denied President Donald Trump's request to overturn the election result by tossing out more than 220,000 votes in heavily Democratic Dane and Milwaukee counties
The flurry of activity caps off a tumultuous post-election saga in Wisconsin that has now concluded, save for the counting of each state's electoral votes on Jan. 6 in Washington.
In a 4-3 ruling written by conservative-backed Justice Brian Hagedorn and the court's three liberal-backed members, the court affirmed a circuit court's ruling that Biden won the election, and dismissed Trump's challenge as meritless and far too late. But with just one more vote, however, the conservative-backed members of the court who dissented may have succeeded in tossing at least some ballots that the Trump campaign challenged, potentially overturning the election result.
Biden won the state by more than 20,600 votes, but the campaign challenged more than 220,000 ballots in heavily Democratic Dane and Milwaukee counties.
https://madison.com/wsj/news/local/govt-and-politics/wisconsin-supreme-court-rejects-donald-trumps-election-challenge-electors-vote-for-joe-biden/article_d82d99c1-25a5-53ad-bd55-e0998efd86a5.html
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Even with Three Trump-Appointed Justices on the Bench, SCOTUS Declines to Roll Back Marriage Equality
Elura Nanos Dec 14th, 2020
The Supreme Court of the United States denied certiorari Monday in a case that threatened to chip away at marriage equality. The Court’s denial will disallow Indiana’s effort to discriminate against same-sex couples, and will continue to preserve the meaning of Obergefell v. Hodges.
Indiana Attorney General Curtis Hill (R) took the position in Box v. Henderson that same-sex spouses should not have the same rights to be listed on state-issued birth certificates as opposite-sex spouses. The case arose as the result of several lesbian couples who conceived via artificial insemination; Indiana refused to list birth mothers’ wives on their children’s official birth certificates, but regularly listed birth mothers’ husbands on birth certificates without additional requirement.
The same issue had been raised in response to Arkansas’ identical practice in Pavan v. Smith—a 2017 Supreme Court case in which the Court also sided with the same-sex parents. A few months after Pavan, a three-judge panel of the Seventh Circuit heard oral arguments in Box v. Henderson. However, the Seventh Circuit waited nearly three years–in time for SCOTUS to include two Trump-appointees—before handing down a unanimous ruling in favor of the same-sex parents in Box v. Henderson.
https://lawandcrime.com/supreme-court/even-with-three-trump-appointed-justices-on-the-bench-scotus-declines-to-roll-back-marriage-equality/?fbclid=IwAR0bkJk-vMelV25Q2oZb0cVLOfZwNoBOE1_v-W58fN6jXluGczKivLaEy1Y
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On any politically related youtube video I watch now I just quote Steve Schmidt and post the following, whether or not it's directly related to the subject matter. I've been doing it for days now. If repeating things ad infinitum works for the R's, why not?
"The Republican Party is an organized conspiracy for the purposes of maintaining power for self-interest, and the self-interest of its donor class. There is no fidelity to the American ideal. There has never been a force that has achieved power, or is within reach of achieving power in the next election, that’s been so hostile to the history, the founding, the essence and the entire meaning of the country, as is this Trump and Trumpist movement that has taken over lock, stock, and barrel the Republican Party. It’s no longer dedicated to American democracy. It is dedicated to Trump and Trumpism and to his family, to defense of his indecencies, his autocratic manner, his corruptions, an apologist for the profound damage he has done."
They have turned this nation into a Banana Republic--and I don't mean the retail store.
It would be a farce if it wasn't so tragic and dangerous.
Maybe some day somebody will write a farce about it, but I don't expect to see it in my lifetime.
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Electoral College results confirm it: Joe Biden is the next president
David Knowles - December 14, 2020,
It’s over, again. The 538 members of the Electoral College cast their ballots on Monday, the penultimate step in confirming President-elect Joe Biden’s victory over Donald Trump in the November election.
In Georgia, a state Biden was able to flip in 2020, former Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams took the roll call of electors and announced that the state had cast its electoral votes for him.
“I am pleased to announce that Joseph R. Biden has received 16 votes for president of the United States,” Abrams said.
As more members of the Electoral College cast their votes around the country, the drama-free proceedings resembled previous elections in which the results were a foregone conclusion. A little after 5:30 p.m. ET, when California cast its 55 votes, Biden crossed the 270-vote threshold needed to officially be declared the next president.
Despite pressure from Trump and his legal team to convince the Republican legislatures in battleground states to appoint a slate of electors who would overturn the popular vote, none obliged. Biden was on track to receive his 306 votes compared to 232 for Trump — coincidentally, the same margin Trump won in 2016, which he has characterized as a “landslide.”
https://news.yahoo.com/electoral-college-results-confirm-it-joe-biden-is-the-next-president-222811405.html
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William Barr steps down as Trump's attorney general
Lauren Gambino - Mon 14 Dec 2020
The US attorney general, William Barr, one of Donald Trump’s staunchest allies, has resigned just weeks after he contradicted the president by saying the justice department had uncovered no evidence of widespread voter fraud that could change the outcome of the 2020 election.
Barr’s departure ends a tenure marked by brazen displays of fealty to a president whose political agenda he willingly advanced. Critics said Barr had turned the Department of Justice (DoJ) into an obedient servant of the White House, eroding its commitment to independence and the rule of law.
Trump sought to play down tensions as he announced Barr’s resignation in a tweet on Monday, moments after members of the electoral college officially pushed Joe Biden over the 270-vote threshold to win the White House on Monday. The procedural step effectively ends Trump’s unprecedented bid to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election based on false claims of widespread voter fraud that Barr concluded were meritless.
“Just had a very nice meeting with attorney general Bill Barr at the White House,” the president said. “Our relationship has been a very good one, he has done an outstanding job! As per letter, Bill will be leaving just before Christmas to spend the holidays with his family…”
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/dec/14/william-barr-out-attorney-general-donald-trump
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T and Barr were so loyal to one another.
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apparently, no longer.
After Barr made his statements that there was no evidence of election fraud, it went south.
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Michigan House punishes GOP Rep. Gary Eisen for hinting at Electoral College disruption
Dave Boucher - 12/14/2020
Michigan Republican legislative leaders pulled a GOP lawmaker from his committee assignments Monday after the lawmaker hinted he was part of a group that sought to disrupt or otherwise undermine the Electoral College vote slated to happen at the Capitol in the afternoon.
State Rep. Gary Eisen, R-St. Clair Township, made the comments Monday morning during an interview with Port Huron-area radio station WPHM-AM (1380). He was asked about the Electoral College, members of which were set to meet Monday in the state Senate chamber to cast the state's 16 electoral votes for President-elect Joe Biden.
Eisen made the comments in the context of he and others in Lansing having some sort of event, either at the Capitol or somewhere else. He said he could not rule out the possibility of violence. Eisen also made reference to a threat he said was received regarding safety at the Capitol. He questioned the veracity of the threat, however, calling it "convenient" and implying it would impede efforts for Trump supporters to contest the Electoral College proceedings.
House Speaker Lee Chatfield, R-Levering, denounced threats made against Electoral College members in announcing the decision to pull Eisen from his committee assignments.
“We have been consistent in our position on issues of violence and intimidation in politics — it is never appropriate and never acceptable. That is true of threats or suggestions of violence against Gov. (Gretchen) Whitmer, Secretary (of State Jocelyn) Benson, Rep. (Cynthia) Johnson and others on the Oversight committee, Republicans, Democrats, and members of the Electoral College. That applies to threats made toward public officials, and it must also apply when the public officials open the door to violent behavior and refuse to condemn it. We must do better," Chatfield said in a statement Monday morning.
https://www.freep.com/story/news/politics/elections/2020/12/14/gary-eisen-michigan-electoral-college-radio-interview/6537175002/
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GOP leader McConnell finally acknowledges Biden won election
By Lisa Mascaro - 12/15/2020
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell congratulated Democrat Joe Biden as president-elect on Tuesday, saying the Electoral College “has spoken.”
The Republican leader’s statement, delivered in a speech on the Senate floor, ends weeks of silence over President Donald Trump’s defeat. It came a day after electors met and officially affirmed Biden’s election win.
“I want to congratulate President-elect Joe Biden,” McConnell said.
“Many of us had hoped the presidential election would yield a different result,” he said. “But our system of government has the processes to determine who will be sworn in on Jan. 20. The Electoral College has spoken.”
McConnell called Biden someone “who has devoted himself to public service for many years.” He also congratulated Vice President-elect Kamala Harris, saying “all Americans can take pride that our nation has a female vice president-elect for the very first time.”
The Senate leader’s remarks followed a groundswell of leading Republicans who have now said that Biden is the winner of the presidential election, essentially abandoning Trump’s assault on the outcome after the Electoral College on Monday confirmed Biden’s victory.
https://apnews.com/article/mitch-mcconnell-congratulates-joe-biden-2ed09a34fbbc3342fe45c733ee0dd725
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Mayor Pete is going to head the Department of Transportation.
I don't really get that any more than I did the idea of him being ambassador to China, but it is a Cabinet post.
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^^^
This might explain it a bit: (The last paragraph.)
Buttigieg would be the first Senate-confirmed LGBT Cabinet secretary should his nomination make it through the chamber. The choice -- which represents the first time the President-elect has called on one of his former Democratic presidential opponents to join his administration as a Cabinet secretary -- vaults a candidate Biden spoke glowingly of after the primary into a top job in his incoming administration and could earn Buttigieg what many Democrats believe is needed experience should he run for president again.
The role of transportation secretary is expected to play a central role in Biden's push for a bipartisan infrastructure package. Buttigieg is seen as a rising star in the Democratic Party but someone who lacked an obvious path to higher elected office given the continued rightward shift of his home state of Indiana.
As a presidential candidate, he rolled out a $1 trillion infrastructure plan that prioritized upgrading the country's crumbling infrastructure and expanding broadband internet access through payment to state and local governments. Buttigieg often spoke about infrastructure on the campaign trail from the perspective of a small mayor, arguing that local governments like the one he once ran needed people in Washington who understood their needs and issues.
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Hello Ultimate Brokeback Forum members.
We would like to give you an update on the status of our forum, and the frequent outages we've had.
On November 14th we had posted a message to you all regarding our outages and the issue with our hosting company. We had discovered it was basically a one man show, and that one man was in the hospital with an unspecified medical issue. We were told that this would be resolved soon.
Unfortunately, we were contacted 4 days later to be told that he had passed away. His family was now taking over the business, and there would be a team of people running the show at this point. We extended our condolences to his family, and we opted to stay for a while to see if service improved, rather than leave while his family was dealing with his loss.
Given the fact that the forum continues to deal with repeated outages, this last one lasting two days, we decided that it was time to move to a new hosting company.
Nax (Neil) was able to locate a new company that is run by a team of people. The pricing is comparable to what we are paying now, so there is no increase in cost that will require any budgeting adjustments.
Nax is also a tech assistant to another forum, and that other forum was using the same hosting company we currently are. They just moved to the new hosting company we are going to, and Nax said the move went very smoothly, the new hosting company handled the move on the other forum's behalf, and the other forum is working just fine now.
KillersMom, Nax and I are taking the necessary steps to get the Ultimate Brokeback Forum moved to the new hosting company ASAP. We are hoping to have it finished by the end of this week.
When the move happens, the forum will be down again, for approximately one day, maybe a little longer, given the size of the forum. When we return, we will be on the server of the new hosting company.
Updates to this post will follow, as needed.
Nax
KillersMom
CellarDweller115
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^^^
This might explain it a bit: (The last paragraph.)
Buttigieg would be the first Senate-confirmed LGBT Cabinet secretary should his nomination make it through the chamber. The choice -- which represents the first time the President-elect has called on one of his former Democratic presidential opponents to join his administration as a Cabinet secretary -- vaults a candidate Biden spoke glowingly of after the primary into a top job in his incoming administration and could earn Buttigieg what many Democrats believe is needed experience should he run for president again.
The role of transportation secretary is expected to play a central role in Biden's push for a bipartisan infrastructure package. Buttigieg is seen as a rising star in the Democratic Party but someone who lacked an obvious path to higher elected office given the continued rightward shift of his home state of Indiana.
As a presidential candidate, he rolled out a $1 trillion infrastructure plan that prioritized upgrading the country's crumbling infrastructure and expanding broadband internet access through payment to state and local governments. Buttigieg often spoke about infrastructure on the campaign trail from the perspective of a small mayor, arguing that local governments like the one he once ran needed people in Washington who understood their needs and issues.
It's great news for Pete! But wasn't Ms Clinton running for President in 2008, and then became Secretary of State?
Oh, on rereading this, I guess it's just limited to Joe Biden.
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Yes, Biden's first pick from those who were running in the Primary against him.
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Fritz: I got an email awhile ago from Ken/Robert. He said he'd been forgetting to tell me this, I thought you might find it interesting:
One of President Biden's Cabinet picks, Alejandro Mayorkas, Secretary of Homeland Security, is a friend of Robert's. They went to high school together, or rather, Robert and Alejandro's sister were in the same class, Alejandro I believe was a year or two behind Robert. But they know one another very well.
Isn't that cool.
Ken
Très cool!
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Fantastic! Thanks for letting me know, and tell them hi for me! I hope when the vaccine is well distributed and I won't have anything holding me here that I'll be able to travel once again and come to the Southland to visit you.
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^^^ Forum outages update... Hello Ultimate Brokeback Forum members.
Neil, Linda and Chuck: Thanks so much for the update on UBF's technical issues over the past few weeks. My gut said there was something fundamentally happening we'd not seen since the initial move.
I am saddened for his family. Losing someone right now is compounded by the Covid-19 epidemic. A friend of mine's father passed away last week and she's unable to attend his funeral in the next few days b/c of the long drive and pandemic restrictions. I just ache when I think about that.
We trust your judgement in ascertaining what's best for the small UBF community. Being a one-man IT gig, his boots will be difficult to fill for his family and business as they may be on a steep learning curve. We don't know. Please take your time - make the best decisions. You have our support. V.
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Nothing shocks me right now. I'm numb. This one remains in play and reflects on the mentality. Folks this election ain't over until the GoS no longer has access to "the briefcase"... and his ass is officially not in the WH. I said earlier, the GoP is going to play every card and this remains in play not matter how much "bat-shit-crazy" we think these folks are. Retaining power is "at-all-costs" -> https://www.wral.com/nc-senator-ok-with-suspending-civil-liberties-in-wake-of-trump-s-defeat/19431251/ (https://www.wral.com/nc-senator-ok-with-suspending-civil-liberties-in-wake-of-trump-s-defeat/19431251/)
V.
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Neil, Linda and Chuck: Thanks so much for the update on UBF's technical issues over the past few weeks. My gut said there was something fundamentally happening we'd not seen since the initial move.
I am saddened for his family. Losing someone right now is compounded by the Covid-19 epidemic. A friend of mine's father passed away last week and she's unable to attend his funeral in the next few days b/c of the long drive and pandemic restrictions. I just ache when I think about that.
We trust your judgement in ascertaining what's in the best for the small UBF community. Being a one-man IT gig, his boots will be difficult to fill for his family and business as they may be on a steep learning curve. We don't know. Please take your time - make the best decisions. You have our support. V.
Thanks so much, Vincent. We tried to give the current hosting company a chance, but there were just too many unexplained outages and no responses from them. This new company should do the trick.
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Hello everyone!
The site transition should be happening today! If you see that the forum is down again today, it is planned, and when we come back up, that will mean we are on our new server with the new hosting company, which should stop the outages!
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Thanks, Chuck!
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10-4 TY!!!!
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Fantastic! Thanks for letting me know, and tell them hi for me! I hope when the vaccine is well distributed and I won't have anything holding me here that I'll be able to travel once again and come to the Southland to visit you.
Nice. Thumbs up!
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Nothing shocks me right now. I'm numb. This one remains in play and reflects on the mentality. Folks this election ain't over until the GoS no longer has access to "the briefcase"... and his ass is officially not in the WH. I said earlier, the GoP is going to play every card and this remains in play not matter how much "bat-shit-crazy" we think these folks are. Retaining power is "at-all-costs" -> https://www.wral.com/nc-senator-ok-with-suspending-civil-liberties-in-wake-of-trump-s-defeat/19431251/ (https://www.wral.com/nc-senator-ok-with-suspending-civil-liberties-in-wake-of-trump-s-defeat/19431251/)
V.
I've been wondering what effect a declaration of Martial Law might have on the situation, if that could be used to put off the inauguration.
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Nothing shocks me right now. I'm numb. This one remains in play and reflects on the mentality. Folks this election ain't over until the GoS no longer has access to "the briefcase"... and his ass is officially not in the WH. I said earlier, the GoP is going to play every card and this remains in play not matter how much "bat-shit-crazy" we think these folks are. Retaining power is "at-all-costs" -> LINK (https://www.wral.com/nc-senator-ok-with-suspending-civil-liberties-in-wake-of-trump-s-defeat/19431251/https://www.wral.com/nc-senator-ok-with-suspending-civil-liberties-in-wake-of-trump-s-defeat/19431251/).
V.
From that article:
Steinburg also made it clear he believes the recent presidential election was stolen and that Trump is the victim of a conspiracy to which multiple countries, the media, U.S. government agencies, officials and judges are either a part or turning a blind eye.
“There’s something going on here bigger than what anybody is willing to talk about," he said. "I’m not nuts. … I’m not a conspiracy theory person. I don’t like them. I don’t like conspiracy theories at all. But something is going on here that’s bigger than meets the eye.”
Steinburg then offered, unprompted, to take a psychiatric evaluation. He said the CIA and FBI both know there's a coup d'etat going on in the country but won't do anything about it.
I think people should take him up on the psychiatric evaluation. Pronto.
He says he's not a conspiracy theory person, but he spouts the classic "conspiracy theory" trademark line: "Something is going on here." Conspiracy theorists always know that something is going on. Proving it they cannot, but they just know it. Then he says, the CIA and FBI know there's a coup d'etat going on in the country, but won't do anything about it.
[Steinburg knows something is going on, but doesn't know what. But he does know the CIA and FBI know what it is and that they won't do anything about it. How does he know that? Got it?]
Yeah, something is going on. Right in plain sight. Steinburg has it right, there's a coup d'etat going on in the country, but it's the cretin-in-chief who's behind it. And the CIA and FBI don't have to do anything about it at the moment because the courts and many state officials are handling it.
For decades Republicans have run on a meme that Government is bad and cannot run anything efficiently, yet they continually come up with conspiracy theories that would have to have precision and unbelievable planning and secrecy and involving thousands of people or more to succeed. But that's possible?
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In related news on an opposite scale: Steve Schmidt registers as a Democrat.
(He turned independent when Trumpism took over the GOP. This last few weeks
was the very last straw.)
Why:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yLyTFsDh8MA
Steve Schmidt is serious.
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I've been wondering what effect a declaration of Martial Law might have on the situation, if that could be used to put off the inauguration.
Meanwhile in Virginia:
Republican Candidate for Virginia Governor Calls for Trump to Declare Martial Law
https://www.virginiapilotonline.com/government/chase-martial-law-20201216 (https://www.pilotonline.com/government/elections/vp-nw-chase-martial-law-20201216-fun5nwdxq5ab3gxhkhyndxkn3q-story.html)
State Sen. Amanda Chase, (https://www.pilotonline.com/resizer/ZPVbemLrUJJUxVmt5sigCGboRyE=/800x533/top/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/tronc/AGRQAEONKFG3DGYR2W7XSASDIU.jpg), a Republican running for Virginia governor next year, has called on President Donald Trump in a Facebook post to declare martial law in the United States to keep him in office and refute November’s election results. Chase, who represents Colonial Heights, Amelia County and parts of Chesterfield County, wrote in her post Tuesday that Democrats legalized cheating at the polls “under the guise of covid.”
“We know you cheated to win and we’ll never accept these results. Fair elections we can accept but cheating to win; never. It’s not over yet,” she wrote. “So thankful President Trump has a backbone and refuses to concede. President Trump should declare martial law as recommended by General Flynn.”
Several Virginia politicians spoke out against Chase’s statement, suggesting her rhetoric is hurtful to the democratic process. Chase, a member of Virginia’s senate since 2016, has at times been at odds with GOP leaders and spoke at a gun rights rally featuring far-right anti-government group in July. Former Virginia House of Delegates speaker Kirk Cox, who is running against Chase for the GOP nomination in the governor’s race, released a written statement responding to Chase’s post and affirmed Biden’s victory. “Senator Chase’s suggestion that martial law be imposed is absurd and dangerous. I taught government for 30 years and have great respect for our constitutional republic,” Cox wrote. “Per that system and the electoral college vote yesterday, Joe Biden will be the next President.” Invoking martial law would hand over all government and civilian control to the military, according to the National Criminal Justice Reference Service. It has historically been used in times of war and civil unrest.
U.S. Rep. Jennifer Wexton, a Democrat representing Virginia’s 10th District, criticized Chase on Twitter. “I served with @AmandaChaseVA in the state senate — she was as unhinged then as she is now,” Wexton wrote. “This is a good reminder that we don’t allow tyrants here in the Commonwealth.”
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^^^
We cannot forget that this woman was ELECTED. We might laugh and shrug off these things as insane, but Trumpist people are now electing these insane people and we have to be vigilant in defeating them. They have to pay a price. (Steve Schmidt expresses it better.)
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Worth reading. An August, 2020 article:
Martial Law in the United States: Its Meaning, Its History, and Why the President Can’t Declare It
by Joseph Nunn | The Brennan Center for Justice
SUMMARY: The concept has never been well understood. What should be clear, however, is that the president lacks the authority to declare it.
https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/martial-law-united-states (https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/martial-law-united-states-its-meaning-its-history-and-why-president-cant)
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It would be interesting if T tried to do it and failed (I have a lot of faith in the US Armed Forces remembering that their oath is to the Constitution and not to the person of T), then perhaps held in custody until 20 January. The Uniform Code of Military Justice also forbids carrying out illegal orders no matter where the source.
It would certainly make all who supported him in doing this more widely known. Making them come out of the closet, so to speak.
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^^ The trouble I fear is all these right-wing bat-shit crazy nut-jobs are believing all the Social Media crap and Fox Lies. If those "Proud Boys" start riots in several large cities... that may provide the means to "declare martial law" and put the transition on hold. It also signals that if the GoP holds GA, then they will do everything they possibly can NOT to cooperate aka Moscow Mitch's playbook for the next 2-4 years all over again. Nothing and no lie is beneath the current GoP and the people who elected them are beholden to the GoS. Look no further than Germany for a parallel.
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^^ The trouble I fear is all these right-wing bat-shit crazy nut-jobs are believing all the Social Media crap and Fox Lies. If those "Proud Boys" start riots in several large cities... that may provide the means to "declare martial law" and put the transition on hold. It also signals that if the GoP holds GA, then they will do everything they possibly can NOT to cooperate aka Moscow Mitch's playbook for the next 2-4 years all over again. Nothing and no lie is beneath the current GoP and the people who elected them are beholden to the GoS. Look no further than Germany for a parallel.
I'm with you there.
Of course, if a Democrat wins in Georgia, it will be because the election was stolen.
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Pete Buttigieg's Speech After Biden's Historic Nomination
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zhYSmrC62t0
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In Historic Move, Biden To Pick Native American Rep. Haaland As Interior Secretary
Nathan Rott - December 17, 2020
In a historic first, President-elect Joe Biden will nominate Rep. Deb Haaland to lead the Department of the Interior, his transition team announced Thursday evening.
If confirmed by the Senate, Haaland, a member of the Laguna Pueblo in New Mexico, would be the country's first Native American Cabinet secretary. Fittingly, she'd do so as head of the agency responsible for not only managing the nation's public lands but also honoring its treaties with the Indigenous people from whom those lands were taken.
In a statement, the Biden-Harris transition team called Haaland a "barrier-breaking public servant who has spent her career fighting for families, including in Tribal Nations, rural communities, and communities of color," who will be "ready on day one to protect our environment and fight for a clean energy future."
In a tweet, Haaland acknowledged the unique "voice" she'll bring. "Growing up in my mother's Pueblo household made me fierce," she wrote. "I'll be fierce for all of us, our planet, and all of our protected land."
https://www.npr.org/2020/12/17/937259525/in-historic-move-biden-to-pick-native-american-rep-deb-haaland-as-interior-secre
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As Democracy Holds, Trump Finds Himself Increasingly Isolated
Domenico Montanaro - December 15, 2020
What a day Monday was. The Electoral College affirmed what was already known — that Democrat Joe Biden won the 2020 presidential election.
Biden officially got the votes of 306 electors, exactly what he was supposed to get based on the popular vote from each state. It was 36electoral votes more than the 270 needed to become president.
So, it's yet another step showing that Biden is president-elect and that he will be sworn in as president on Jan. 20, 2021.
And yet there's still the lingering question of when or if President Trump will ever accept the results.
Like in any good reality show, there was the kind of drama Monday that everyone has become accustomed to in the Trump presidency. Minutes after enough electors voted to put Biden over the top (again) — remember, states already certified results, and Monday was a mere formality — Trump announced via Twitter that Attorney General William Barr was stepping down.
In any other administration, people might say it was stunning, if not shocking, that one of the president's closest allies was leaving just weeks before his term would be up. In the Trump era, though, it's just another day.
https://www.npr.org/2020/12/15/946562685/democracy-held-with-bidens-win-but-trump-is-keeping-america-divided-as-ever
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^^^ Keep saying... this sh*@( ain't over.. the next GOP is being queued up...
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/mike-pence-could-go-rogue-when-congress-counts-electoral-votes-election-experts-warn-11608246200?mod=home-page (https://www.marketwatch.com/story/mike-pence-could-go-rogue-when-congress-counts-electoral-votes-election-experts-warn-11608246200?mod=home-page)
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As Democracy Holds, Trump Finds Himself Increasingly Isolated
The neighbors don't even want him at Mar-a-Lago.
What a pity. ...
(NOT!)
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^^^
From what I understand, when permission was given to build Mar-a-Lago there was a stipulation that it could NOT be anyone's residence. But Trumps don't obey rules or laws. Those are for suckers.
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His neighbors there have deeper pockets than he does to fight him and get rid of him.
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^^^
From what I understand, when permission was given to build Mar-a-Lago there was a stipulation that it could NOT be anyone's residence. But Trumps don't obey rules or laws. Those are for suckers.
I believe I heard something like that, and also something about him trying to register that as his address for voting but wasn't allowed to do that.
His neighbors there have deeper pockets than he does to fight him and get rid of him.
Then I guess I don't need to send them a contribution. ;D
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A month ago I mentioned the new big-time a-hole Senator that Alabama elected. Tommy Tuberville.
A quote from that post:
Alabama Media Group's Kyle Whitmire noted, "With three weeks left before the election, Tuberville's campaign strategy was to say as little as possible. No debates. No interviews. No nothing. Tuberville was in hiding." The columnist added, "f a campaign won't let its candidate speak openly because he can't do so without saying dumb things that hurt his chances of winning the election, what the heck is going to happen when he's in the United States Senate?"
None of this seemed to matter too much to voters in Alabama.
So..."what the heck is going to happen when he's in the United States Senate?"
From Vincent's link above:
"If both a representative and a senator agree to object to a state’s election results, the Senate and the House of Representatives will adjourn to their separate chambers to debate the matter for up to two hours and then hold a vote on whether to reject a slate of electors. This scenario seems likely to happen, after several Republican representatives have come forward saying they will challenge results, while Alabama Republican Senator-elect Tommy Tuberville has said he might join in, despite Sen. Mitch McConnell urging his caucus not to."
Yes, the first thing idiot extraordinaire Tommy Tuberville wants to do to start off his Senate term is to embarrass himself and join in the Republican insurrection. His recent statement:
"You'll see what's coming," Sen.-elect Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., said this week. "You've been reading about in the House. We're going to have to do it in the Senate." "It's impossible. It is impossible what happened," Tuberville, former head football coach at Auburn University, said referring to Biden's victory as he stumped in Georgia for Loeffler and Sen. David Perdue, R-Ga. "But we're going to get that corrected." "I'm gonna tell you: Don't give up on him," Tuberville said of Trump. "Don't give up on him."
His comments were captured in a video by liberal activist Lauren Windsor and posted on Twitter. "We're going to fight hard," Tuberville said following his speech after someone asked if he's going to fight to "make this election right." A Tuberville spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment.
And, by the way, Mitch McConnell has urged his caucus NOT to pull this stunt, not because it's the right thing to do, but because he knows it will fail with a house Dem. majority: "During a private call Tuesday to GOP caucus members, NBC and Politico reported, McConnell warned Republican senators not to object to the election results on Jan. 6. Doing so, he told them, would force Republicans to take a "terrible vote" by voting down the objection and thus appearing against Trump."
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You all know what a tuber is, don't you? It's a potato. So has Alabama elected Mr. Potato Head to the United States Senate?
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^^^ That and all this GOP talk is more ammo for the Democrats to use against those 2 ass-wipes bigots in GA. Moscow Mitch is all about counting votes and keeping votes (power). We have a real problem with the factions that have taken over the GoP.. they are bat-shit crazy just like their king GoS.
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BTW, Neil, Chuck and Linda: I assume the forum moved successfully?! Thank You! V.
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BTW, Neil, Chuck and Linda: I assume the forum moved successfully?! Thank You! V.
Hiya Vincent. Yes, the forum has moved successfully and we are good to go!
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Supreme Court Punts Census Case, Giving Trump An Iffy Chance To Alter Numbers
Nina Totenberg & Hansi Lo Wang - December 18, 2020
The U.S. Supreme Court ducked a direct ruling Friday on whether President Trump can exclude undocumented immigrants from a key census count.
At issue in the case was Trump's July memorandum ordering the U.S. Census Bureau for the first time to exclude undocumented immigrants from the decennial census for purposes of reapportionment. The count is used to determine how many seats each state gets in the House of Representatives and the Electoral College.
In an unsigned opinion, the court said it would be "premature" to rule on the case right now because it is "riddled with contingencies and speculation" and even the Trump administration doesn't know how many undocumented immigrants there are or where they live.
In fact, at oral arguments just 18 days ago, acting Solicitor General Jeffrey Wall, representing the Trump administration, told the justices that "career officials at the Census Bureau still don't know even roughly how many illegal aliens it'll be able to identify, let alone how their number and geographic concentration might affect apportionment."
At the end of the day, the court's six-justice conservative majority said, the case was not yet ripe for resolution because none of the 23 states or immigrant groups that brought it had yet been injured.
Though the court's opinion was unsigned, Chief Justice John Roberts almost certainly was the author. He signaled the outcome at the oral arguments, observing, "Right now ... we don't know what the president is going to do. We don't know how many aliens will be excluded. We don't know what the effect will be on apportionment," so why, he asked, aren't we "better advised" to wait until we have that information.
https://www.npr.org/2020/12/18/946875796/supreme-court-punts-in-census-case-says-its-premature-to-decide-the-issue
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THE bat shit crazy GOP bitch is at it again.
https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/fired-attorney-sidney-powell-back-advising-trump-chart/story?id=74823842 (https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/fired-attorney-sidney-powell-back-advising-trump-chart/story?id=74823842)
+
This should be raising hairs on your arms to full chill attention:
https://www.axios.com/pentagon-biden-transition-briefings-123a9658-4af1-4632-a6e6-770117784d60.html (https://www.axios.com/pentagon-biden-transition-briefings-123a9658-4af1-4632-a6e6-770117784d60.html)
At least 30 more days of "scorched earth and mischief" remain and that's a lot time to do even more damage.
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THE bat shit crazy GOP bitch is at it again.
https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/fired-attorney-sidney-powell-back-advising-trump-chart/story?id=74823842 (https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/fired-attorney-sidney-powell-back-advising-trump-chart/story?id=74823842)
+
This should be raising hairs on your arms to full chill attention:
https://www.axios.com/pentagon-biden-transition-briefings-123a9658-4af1-4632-a6e6-770117784d60.html (https://www.axios.com/pentagon-biden-transition-briefings-123a9658-4af1-4632-a6e6-770117784d60.html)
At least 30 more days of "scorched earth and mischief" remain and that's a lot time to do even more damage.
And to think that 74,222,593 voters thought leaving him in office would be just fine.
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And to think that 74,222,593 voters thought leaving him in office would be just fine.
It truly boggles the mind, Lyle!!
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that's putting it mildly.
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that's putting it mildly.
Well, I was trying to be polite. It is the holiday season, and I have to stay on Santa's good list!! ;) ;D
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Well. now we've got another vaccine coming on line.
We've also got a new strain of virus that's more easily passed from person to person.
No way am I an anti-vaxxer. I will take whatever vaccine is available when the list gets down to me. But I still think people are being overly optimistic about these vaccines and expecting too much of them, or maybe too much too soon.
The world went through a revolution this year, and life as we knew at the holiday season of 2019 is over, and it's not coming back.
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Scary...
As Many as 1 in 80 People in L.A. County are Infected with and Spreading COVID-19 Right Now
The news came as L.A. County set another record for daily cases.
https://www.timeout.com/los-angeles/1-in-80-people-in-l-a-are-infected-right-now/ (https://www.timeout.com/los-angeles/news/as-many-as-1-in-80-people-in-l-a-are-infected-with-and-spreading-covid-19-right-now-121620)
Los Angeles County’s director of health services Dr. Christina Ghaly: “The worst is still before us.”
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Nothing I've read explains why this surge except in the above article Dr. Ghaly believes it was ignoring stay at home around Thanksgiving.
Supermarkets in L.A. County See Unprecedented Coronavirus Infection Rates
by Soumya Karlamangla | Los Angeles Times
Dec. 20, 2020
Supermarkets have been hit hard by the unprecedented explosion of the coronavirus in Los Angeles County, further straining an essential service that needs to remain open despite the new stay-at-home order.
[...]
L.A. County is investigating ongoing coronavirus outbreaks at 490 businesses, compared with 173 a month ago, according to county data. The increase in outbreaks drives home officials’ warnings that the only way to stay safe is to stay home, even as many businesses remain open. “The number of outbreaks is extraordinary — we’ve just never had this many,” said Dr. Jeffrey Gunzenhauser, L.A. County chief medical officer.
“Many things are permitted still, but they may not be wise, and they carry immense risks for you and the people around you,” Dr. Christina Ghaly, the county health services director, said last week. Indoor environments where people are often in close, prolonged contact can become hotbeds for the coronavirus, especially when the pathogen is so widespread, experts say. The Times analysis also found a jump in outbreaks this month at banks, postal outlets, pharmacies, hardware stores and many nonessential businesses.
[...]
“When 1 in 80 people in L.A. are infected, even if you’re just going to the grocery store … there’s a higher chance today than there was two weeks ago that you’ll be exposed to COVID-19.”
___________________
This [bolded above] scares me as it's really the only thing I go out for. I'd already planned when I go to the store Wednesday to have enough so I don't have to go out for 2 1/2 weeks.
Meanwhile, headline I saw: Anti-vaccine and alt-right groups team up to stoke fears of COVID-19 vaccine
Of course they do.
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Romney: Trump continuing to dispute election results is 'really sad' and 'embarrassing'
By Evie Fordham
Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, called President Trump's refusal to concede the 2020 election "really sad" and "embarrassing" on Sunday.
"I understand the president is casting about, trying to find some way to have a different result than the one that was delivered by the American people," Romney told CNN's "State of the Union." "It’s really sad in a lot of respects and embarrassing because the president could, right now, be writing the last chapter of this administration with a victory lap with regards to the vaccine."
"He could be going out championing this extraordinary success, and instead he's leaving Washington with conspiracy theories and things so nutty and loopy that people are shaking their head wondering what in the world has gotten into this man? I think that’s unfortunate because he has more accomplishments than this last chapter suggests he is going to be known for," Romney continued.
The president has refused to concede to President-elect Joe Biden and continues to claim without evidence that there was massive voter fraud in many of the key battleground states where Biden beat Trump, giving the former vice president a large 306-232 Electoral College victory over the GOP incumbent. Biden also beat the president by more than 7 million votes in the national popular count.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/mitt-romney-trump-election-republican-party
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^^^ Yes, the reality that 74.2+M people of the voting electorate chose the GoS is unsettling, unnerving and should be a reminder for how Germany's Hitler rose to and then took power and then started a World War. With roughly 68.2% of the eligible electorate voting, that put the numbers into even more stark perspectives. 81,298,098 for Biden and 74,222,998 for GoS. We, as a people, have been on this trajectory for 40+ years now - ever since the GOP started with Regan's voodoo economics which have debunked by study after study. The hatred buried since the Civil War have been simmering, especially in the South. An yet so many people, who will never benefit from this trickle BS, still believe it and the GOP is still selling that shit. It's no different than the "evangelicals" turning their nose up and a blind-eye to electing a PoS like the GoS in the first place b/c he promised them "religious protections" from what?, from whom? They already enjoy a protected status and yet they wanted more? They are both ignorant to see thru these charades or are blinded by their religious dogma.
^^^ While I do not like Romney's politics or religion, I respect him for his willingness to stand up to the GoS. He's one of only a handful that have the courage not to give a crap what the GoS tweets and call the shots as he sees them. Truth to Power has a lot of risks in today's political climate.
^^^ This virus mutating into a more infectious strain is to be expected. It only takes a few of the now more than 4000 known variants to get a foothold and then "go wild". It's what viruses (and other infectious diseases) do when left unchecked. My gut aches for CA now as last night's news said the LA area's hospital infrastructure was near collapse from COVID19 patients and the "Thanksgiving surge" is now in full uptick mode across the country. So far the data shows this new strain also is checked by the vaccine. I hope it remains true. To stop the possible number of mutations, the infection rates have to come down as each new host is a potential factory of mutations.
“When 1 in 80 people in L.A. are infected, even if you’re just going to the grocery store … there’s a higher chance today than there was two weeks ago that you’ll be exposed to COVID-19.”
The uptick above the 10% number of infections in my state has prompted me to stop going to the gym again. I had been going for the past 3 months, always wearing my respirator, and for the most part most patrons were behaving by wearing their masks full-time as required. However, there were always a few I'd see with the mask not covering their nose or in some cases pulled down which was allowed until mid-November "when actively exercising" I never liked that policy but felt safe in my setup. I no longer feel with the rising rates that it is worth the risk, even with a industrial respirator in play. I've curtailed almost all going out now and limit my runs to "off peaK" (very early AM or very late PM) times for groceries. The risk is now getting far too high, even with all my precautions, of just 1 covidiot spreading the virus b/c they are not following the full face covering rules is increasing rapidly. I think most people are descent, and care about not infecting others, but then I see people knowingly breaking the safety rules and I just have to wonder if the human gene pool is being served well. IDK.
^^ The super GOP bitch Powell was "back at the WH on Sunday" whispering in the ear of the GoS to impound voting machines in states the GoS lost and who knows what other "scorched earth" schemes. We are in for a long month of news, revelations and more disturbing headlines. People are dying 2000+ now a day and that's all these ass-wipes can think about? The Senate had a chance to remove this SOB from office and may see the day soon enough when they realize the grave, grave error they made by falling into line like good little party idiots. :(
_____________
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We, as a people, have been on this trajectory for 40+ years now - ever since the GOP started with Regan's voodoo economics.
I'll go with the "+." I've said before I believe it started before that, with Nixon's '"Southern Strategy," winning the South for the Republican Party by stoking racism with code words like "law and order."
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I'll go with the "+." I've said before I believe it started before that, with Nixon's '"Southern Strategy," winning the South for the Republican Party by stoking racism with code words like "law and order."
I was too young to recall that. All I remember about Nixon are: a) Visit to China b) Watergate + "missing gaps in tapes". I have no doubt. Preach something long enough and often enough, it's effective brain-washing and manipulation. That's why FB is so evil.. they can target people now, right into their eyeballs. V.
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I was too young to recall that. All I remember about Nixon are: a) Visit to China b) Watergate + "missing gaps in tapes". I have no doubt. Preach something long enough and often enough, it's effective brain-washing and manipulation. That's why FB is so evil.. they can target people now, right into their eyeballs. V.
I'm too young to remember much of Nixon, either, except his resignation (I was in high school). I read about the Southern Strategy somewhere, as when the South started to turn Republican.
I agree with you about FB. Zuckerberg unleashed a monster on the world that nobody can control, and he refuses to take responsibility for it. I'm not sure Twitter and Instagram are much better. In a way, I'm not too fond of Apple, either. Smart phones have their uses (especially right now), but how many millions are addicted to that little device in their hands?
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I'm too young to remember much of Nixon, either, except his resignation (I was in high school). I read about the Southern Strategy somewhere, as when the South started to turn Republican.
I agree with you about FB. Zuckerberg unleashed a monster on the world that nobody can control, and he refuses to take responsibility for it. I'm not sure Twitter and Instagram are much better. In a way, I'm not too fond of Apple, either. Smart phones have their uses (especially right now), but how many millions are addicted to that little device in their hands?
The day Nixon resigned was the last day I fully shaved. It coincided with my last day of Army Reserve training in Wisconsin.
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Things are growing increasingly dire with bitch Powell back at the WH whispering into the the GoS ear.
Congress now has a bigger problem. The GOP controlled Senate had a chance to remove that SoB from office and instead were afraid of his Twitter bullhorn to do the right thing. The will "rue-the-day" soon enough.
Now, "We the People" have a growing problem in the WH bigger than any scandal in history. This is far beyond Nixon's Watergate tapes or Clinton's "little blue dress" issue. Hell even right-wing-nut evangelical Pat Robertson admits the GoS is losing it and needs to "move on." Yes, the GOP rats are indeed jumping ship. As the GoS is encircling himself with "yes-ass-kissers and anal-wipes" such as Powell, Giuliani, Flynn, Bannon, ... he's descending into nothing but "bad-advice" territory. He's only missing stalwart balless Graham to join that loco party.
Like I said in early November, as much as am thankful for the decisive win and voter turnout, this piece of this total fucked-up mess is not over until the GoS no longer has access to the briefcase AND is on a chopper OFF the WH grounds. Hold your breath and pray there is enough sanity remaining in the WH to keep him in check through 20 Jan 21. With lying worthless Barr jumping ship too, that a big damn flashing red-flag. V.
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That's why FB is so evil.. they can target people now, right into their eyeballs. V.
I agree with you about FB. Zuckerberg unleashed a monster on the world that nobody can control, and he refuses to take responsibility for it. I'm not sure Twitter and Instagram are much better. In a way, I'm not too fond of Apple, either. Smart phones have their uses (especially right now), but how many millions are addicted to that little device in their hands?
Regarding these things, I urge anyone interested to watch the 2020 documentary, The Social Dilemma.
The Dilemma
Never before have a handful of tech designers had such control over the way billions of us think, act, and live our lives.
The Mental Health Dilemma
A 5,000 person study found that higher social media use correlated with
self-reported declines in mental and physical health and life satisfaction.
— American Journal of Epidemiology, 2017
The Democracy Dilemma
The # of countries with political disinformation campaigns on social media doubled in the past 2 years.
— New York Times, 2019
The Discrimination Dilemma
64% of the people who joined extremist groups on Facebook
did so because the algorithms steered them there.
— Internal Facebook report, 2018
The Social Dilemma blends documentary investigation and narrative drama to disrupt the disrupters, unveiling the hidden machinations behind everyone’s favorite social media and search platforms.
More about it:
https://www.thesocialdilemma.com
I was looking at a website about this film and there was something that made me click on a specific link on it and the whole point of this documentary became even clearer when after I clicked on it this note came up: "We knew you would click on this." And then gave the reason why they knew.
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^^^ Absolutely "MUST SEE" for anyone who's not in the computer industry who wants to understand WHAT Suckerberg and the other social media ass-wipes are doing and just how lucrative this monster is.
Just remember, "free email, free this or that, IS NEVER really free" or they could not stay in business building all these giant, proprietary datacenters all over the world. These ass-wipes are making BILLIONS of dollars in ad-revenue and selling "social insights" from YOUR data which far too many do not realize you gladly click OK and give them.
A close friend of mine clued me into this scheme about the time FB started. He despises them as much as I do b/c we saw this model coming years ago! Personalized feeds + personalized "ads" + political targeted BS is an industry run amok and the whole social media EMPIRE needs to be cut down to size and regulated.
If there's one thing I must admit I agree with the GoS about is repealing Section 230 - although for totally different reasons. He's out for payback/revenge. I want people to be able to sue the crap out of them for publishing lies. The "we are only a platform" is total BS but as long as Section 230 protects them, they are immune to lawsuits. It's not much different than the umbrella protection the weapon industry currently enjoys at our peril. In my gut, if Section 230 is removed, it will unleash a wave of lawsuits which will, in itself force these clowns to validate they shit they let be released on their platform and scrutinize WHO their customers are due to that possible blowback. There's nothing like losing money in court to change an industry as "big tobacco" learned.
It's funny when I tell folks FB is pure evil, I get this "whatta mean" look..."it's just for posting pictures and staying in touch with family...." I just shake my head and murmur to myself pick up the phone or write a letter or email (not using a social media platform) That's why I will only use Apple products b/c they are at least not mining my emails.
True story: An aunt got ensnared in one of these well known "military romance" scams about a year before she died by posting to FB. Some romantic ass-wipe 1/2 world away was pretending to be US Military and "wanted to come home and visit." When going thru her papers after she died, we learned she was borrowing $ and then sending it to these low-life bastards in gift-cards and Western Union transfers! They covered their tracks well b/c she deleted nearly every text and email afterwards (on their instructions I'm sure) but we found her hand written notes on what she did and when along with stacks of "used gift cards and visa cards" where she had brought and then provided them the account information.
I nearly lost it - un-fracking real. She was a smart, trusting lady who taught herself a lot in life. But many people are just not prepared for these cunning FB "bastards aka "friends...." V.
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If there's one thing I must admit I agree with the GoS about is repealing Section 230 -
This year IS strange. You agree with GoS! ;)
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^^^^ LOL.. that's the only one! That's why I had to explain - the GoS is out for revenge. Me, I just want the playing field leveled and gags put on the evils ones! ;)
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The Pardon onslaught has begun today! :o
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From the Dec. 29 TDS:
European Hopes For Biden Administration
:) I hope for that, too, if we can ever get the GOS to leave.
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What a hoot! Moscow Mitch and the Senate Republicans are actually opposing the Great Orange Satan!
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All just so they can screw the average citizen.
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Exactly. Moscow Mitch is only now getting a backbone (or hard-on whichever you prefer) b/c
a) he's in danger of loosing control of the Senate... (OH that will be so sweet....) and
b) He knows GoS is a lame duck and Moscow Mitch now has nothing to lose and
c) he wants to give those two (@(@*( bigot senators in GA plausible deniability to the voters that "...they wanted to vote for and support the GoS's $2000 payments but a lass, they could not b/c Moscow Mitch...."killed the bill..."
Perfect storm of lies. Nothing new here... slimy, lying, evil as ever.
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I think I'm going to be seriously nauseous. :o
It's another reminder of what happens when folks cannot agree and "split the vote" ....
At least they got 1/2 the answers right.. which 1/2? You be the judge. 8)
-> https://news.gallup.com/poll/328193/donald-trump-michelle-obama-admired-2020.aspx?utm_source=alert&utm_medium=email&utm_content=morelink&utm_campaign=syndication (https://news.gallup.com/poll/328193/donald-trump-michelle-obama-admired-2020.aspx?utm_source=alert&utm_medium=email&utm_content=morelink&utm_campaign=syndication)
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So I see that jerk from Missouri (?--not sure I'm remembering the state correctly) intends to proceed to challenge the vote on January 6. This, I will admit, scares me, because somebody is banking that the Republicans in the Senate won't vote against the Great Orange Satan because doing so might hurt their own reelection prospects--which sounds like a plausible scenario to me, typical of the Republican party.
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-> https://news.gallup.com/poll/328193/donald-trump-michelle-obama-admired-2020.aspx?utm_source=alert&utm_medium=email&utm_content=morelink&utm_campaign=syndication (https://news.gallup.com/poll/328193/donald-trump-michelle-obama-admired-2020.aspx?utm_source=alert&utm_medium=email&utm_content=morelink&utm_campaign=syndication)
Well, at least the top spot was chosen only by 18% of Americans. And if you look further, this makes some sense, too:
--The incumbent president is usually top of mind when Gallup asks Americans to name, without prompting, which man living anywhere in the world they admire most. In the 74 times Gallup has asked the open-ended most admired man question since 1946, the incumbent president has topped the list 60 times. (In other words, people can't think of anyone else. And also feel they have to pick someone.)
Although I admire this more: In addition to the public figures named by Americans, 11% name a relative or friend as the man they admire most. Twenty-one percent did not offer an opinion in response to the open-ended question.
The Rev. Billy Graham finished among the top 10 a record 61 times during his life. I lost ALL respect for him when it became known he was a Trump supporter.
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So I see that jerk from Missouri (?--not sure I'm remembering the state correctly) intends to proceed to challenge the vote on January 6. This, I will admit, scares me, because somebody is banking that the Republicans in the Senate won't vote against the Great Orange Satan because doing so might hurt their own reelection prospects--which sounds like a plausible scenario to me, typical of the Republican party.
You're right. It's Sen. Josh Hawley from Missouri. The people of Missouri elected him in 2016, over their competent, respected and Incumbent Senator Claire McCaskill. Commentators are saying this is his way of entering the Republican Primary for President. He's 41. I guess he's 42 now, today is his birthday.
He's a first class a-hole:
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/fd/Josh_Hawley.jpg/220px-Josh_Hawley.jpg)
I have to say when I saw his photo I thought of
lyrics from that Annie Get Your Gun song:
"Folks are dumb where I come from...
They ain't had any learnin'
If you saw my Paw and Maw,
You'd know they had no learnin',
Still they raised a family
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They've already started working on the next Presidential election, the Repubs anyway! So it goes......... :o
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Oh, but I thought the Great Orange Satan was going to run again in '24. You mean somebody might actually challenge him? :o I didn't think any Republican had the b_ _ ls to do that.
I hear the Great Orange Satan has returned early from Florida without explanation, skipping his own to-do at Mar-a-lago.
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Oh, but I thought the Great Orange Satan was going to run again in '24. You mean somebody might actually challenge him? :o I didn't think any Republican had the b_ _ ls to do that.
I hear the Great Orange Satan has returned early from Florida without explanation, skipping his own to-do at Mar-a-lago.
Maybe no one wanted to attend!!
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who could blame them?
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Trying to make sense of all this. Will the Senate vote on Jan 6 in reality depend on the Georgia election on Jan 5? As in, if the Rs retain the Senate majority, they'll vote to uphold the states' verified election results, but if Georgia flips the Senate, they'll actually support the challenge of this Hawley person and throw the US into chaos?
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Several things happening as I see it:
- GoS continues filing lawsuits with more than 61 now, losing 60. The courts are doing their part to block his coup attempt at every level.
- The clock is running out on #1 so the radicalized GoP is playing another hand - though not their last. This time a challenge of the election results by any members in both houses of Congress will force an open debate in both houses and simple majority vote. It only takes 1 member of either house to start that play... and with the ass-wipe Senator from Missouri declaring he will join the 100+ radical House GoPers, this mess will now be in play come 6 Jan
- The above play forces the slimy, GoP to "go on record" with votes which will force them to choose between the making the GoS an absolute dictator or not but they don't have the majority votes (we hope) to execute this plan. (Yes, it's that nightmare!!) Moscow Mitch has been trying to keep the Senate from doing this b/c it would shutdown the debating and "going on record..." and close that avenue.
- By forcing an on-the-record vote, the radical GoP is winnowing out it's ranks to expose the hard-core GoS supporters vs. those "not with the GoS" This will open those voting against the GoS to more attacks from the GoS now and in the future as well as give GoS supporters a "list of names" to defeat and replace with more GoS bigots. In other words, those "silent and ball-less" GoPer who have been privately against GoS will now be OTR otherwise. Sure there are a few very outspoken GoPers (The late John McCain, Mitt Romney, ...) but most have not had the balls to vote to impeach GoS or vote against anything or speak against anything for fear of that damn Twitter megaphone.
- With Congress overriding the GoS's veto of the Defense Appropriation Act, they for the FIRST time have rebuked the GoS and he's pissed
- The GA runoffs are all about Senate control for at least the next 2 years. If either of the GOP ass-wipe bigots win, they will retain the slimmest control of the Senate and Moscow Mitch remains in power. Then they will do just like they did with Obama - block, obscure and delay everything Biden attempts to get done. However, it will only take just a few GOP Senators deciding to vote country over party this time on votes to pass items.
- The final card they will play, as I read it, will be the GoS "declaring martial law" due to something like a massive pandemic emergency (which they have poorly executed and planned on purpose I truly believe) or perhaps some sort of skirmish with Russia, North Korea or Iran happens, then the GoS declares martial law and makes himself king.
Like I've said several times, this is not over until the GoS no longer has access to the launch codes and is escorted from the WH either peacefully or in hand-cuffs. Sadly folks 20 Jan cannot get here soon enough. We need some sane adults in charge after 4 long years of rich spoiled childish behaviors from the GoS and GoP.
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Sadly folks 20 Jan cannot get here soon enough. We need some sane adults in charge after 4 long years of rich spoiled childish behaviors from the GoS and GoP. [/list]
It can't come soon enough, but it's not going to make a whole lot of difference, either. I'm still concerned about violence on Inauguration Day. If the Democrats don't control both houses, hardly anything will get done. Everyone from Moscow Mitch down to the Boogaloo (sp?) Boys will not fold their tents and go quietly home.
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Several things happening as I see it:
7. The final card they will play, as I read it, will be the GoS "declaring martial law" due to something like a massive pandemic emergency (which they have poorly executed and planned on purpose I truly believe) or perhaps some sort of skirmish with Russia, North Korea or Iran happens, then the GoS declares martial law and makes himself king.
You've mentioned GoS declaring martial law several times the past month, Vincent. Do you not believe this:
Worth reading. An August, 2020 article:
Martial Law in the United States: Its Meaning, Its History, and Why the President Can’t Declare It
by Joseph Nunn | The Brennan Center for Justice
SUMMARY: The concept has never been well understood. What should be clear, however, is that the president lacks the authority to declare it.
https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/martial-law-united-states (https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/martial-law-united-states-its-meaning-its-history-and-why-president-cant)
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^^^
I'm not saying he wouldn't try to.
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^^^ Precisely! What I think is meaningless. What the GoS and the spineless GOPers have proven repeatedly is they will eagerly cross lines (lie, pay hush $, cohort with enemies, ...) which honest, law-abiding civilized citizens, would not dare to cross. "What can I get away with ?" and "If I get caught, do I have a plausible lie ready?" is their MO. This is especially true when the laws (or customs or expectations of the office) are grey a/or have been fully corrupted with puppets. It's even more so when their "interpretation" of the statues (or lack thereof as in no clear precedence) muddies those waters further. Democracy is about a balance - sometimes one wins, sometimes one loses but you do not burn down the house or refuse to play by the known rules when you lose. Like a spoiled child who does not always get his/her way.
"SUMMARY: The concept has never been well understood. What should be clear, however, is that the president lacks the authority to declare it." (Bolding is mine...)
There is no bar too low for the GoS and his GOP lemmings to stoop to retain power. We are about to see who in the GOP wings is putting party above country on 06 Jan 21. And they are not going to stand-down when this fails either. There is war happening in the GOP for control of the party - between the insane, despicable GoS supporters and the sane, civilized folks whom I may disagree with on some but not all issues.
Moscow Mitch is not wrong about his earlier statements. "This will be the most important vote of is life." It is incendiary, it is dangerous, it is reckless, .... I have no doubt, our enemies are watching closely. They are learning how to disrupt and if we are not careful, destroy a nearly 250 year old strong democracy from within by using Twitter, FB and other un-regulated, uncontrolled, unverified, social media elements who can put lies directly into the eye-balls of way too many people. As I've said before, Suckerberg and the other SM ass-wipes unleashed a monster on the world which may not ever go back in the bottle until they are regulated or sued into oblivion. But that's another rant... :( Stay safe, stay alive.
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this is heartbreaking. Burning in hell is too good for them, they need to suffer while they're still alive.
Mara Lago 12/31/20
https://www.instagram.com/stories/instasarah/2478532517301495940/ (https://www.instagram.com/stories/instasarah/2478532517301495940/)
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^^^ Public health - be damned... Law's and safety orders - BS... no one's going to arrest me. I have the right to catch whatever deadly disease I want or spread it around to whomever is nearby. Someone else will pay for it.
Yeap about as rude, selfish and uncaring human beings as they make'm. Like father, like son.
I only find comfort and peace in understanding that karma will eventually even the scales.
(It's too bad all the people which are being infected from crap like this cannot sue the hell outta the person or entity hosting such events...)
V.
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then there's this ass, I'm sure he'd follow trump over a cliff
https://www.instagram.com/stories/fostercatsfordays/2478177324674549125/ (https://www.instagram.com/stories/fostercatsfordays/2478177324674549125/)
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A must read for why and how the GOP has a deathgrip on the nation. Those rural barely populated areas with the GoS worshipers are "over-represented...."
https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/what-democrats-can-learn-from-nebraskas-shift-to-the-right/
Now if you want to read something to really make you mad... (paywalled). That uber rich, utterly stupid blond bitch who has never worked a day in her life and who sent her kids to "private school" has really just totally fracked up the DoE. It's like putting the fox in charge of guarding the hen house.
=> https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/02/opinion/sunday/education-department-cardona-biden.html (https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/02/opinion/sunday/education-department-cardona-biden.html)
"The departing education secretary, Betsy DeVos, will be remembered as perhaps the most disastrous leader in the Education Department’s history. Her lack of vision has been apparent in a variety of contexts, but never more so than this fall when she told districts that were seeking guidance on how to operate during the coronavirus pandemic that it was not her responsibility to track school district infection rates or keep track of school reopening plans. This telling remark implies a vision of the Education Department as a mere bystander in a crisis that disrupted the lives of more than 50 million schoolchildren."
V>
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then there's this ass, I'm sure he'd follow trump over a cliff
https://www.instagram.com/stories/fostercatsfordays/2478177324674549125/ (https://www.instagram.com/stories/fostercatsfordays/2478177324674549125/)
Who was this person? I don't follow Instagram. I stay away from social media sites...Intagram, Twitter, even Facebook and the more I find out about it, the more I'm glad that I do. Anyone watch The Social Dilemma documentary?
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I read this interesting article about the Georgia Senate Race.
Why A Split Verdict In Georgia Isn't That Crazy
https://fte.com/features/split-verdict/?cid=taboola_rcc_r (https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/why-a-split-verdict-in-georgia-isnt-that-crazy/?cid=taboola_rcc_r)
One is better than none, maybe it helps in the next round of Senate elections, but still. I've been a bit skeptical of having my hopes up for both Democrats to win, or even one of them. Maybe I just don't want to be disappointed. There's enough of that around. You've heard people say "I'll believe it when I see it?" I've always been an adherent to the notion that "I'll see it when I believe it." There's power in that. You have to believe something is possible in order for it to happen. If you don't believe something is possible, your actions, thoughts and emotions will always be on the side of sabotaging yourself. If you believe something is possible, the opposite is true. That's what I believe.
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^^^ Yes, TY for the link. Any democratic win in GA, or any "southern state", is a positive direction away from the corrupt GOP. I'm holding my breath and praying for a clear win by 1000's of votes. After last nights bombshell report and recording released from the GoS dancing around and all but bribing the GA officials to "find him the votes to win", I hope the people in GA will realize how evil the GOP has become and how far they have fallen from grace.
https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/trump-demands-georgia-secretary-state-find-votes-hand/story?id=75027350&cid=clicksource_4380645_2_heads_hero_live_hero_image (https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/trump-demands-georgia-secretary-state-find-votes-hand/story?id=75027350&cid=clicksource_4380645_2_heads_hero_live_hero_image)
and on the heels of that story is this one. They know what the GoS is up to....until it is not.
https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory/extraordinary-warning-trump-10-pentagon-chiefs-75029997 (https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory/extraordinary-warning-trump-10-pentagon-chiefs-75029997)
"The former Pentagon chiefs warned against use of the military in any effort to change the outcome.
“Efforts to involve the U.S. armed forces in resolving election disputes would take us into dangerous, unlawful and unconstitutional territory,” they wrote. “Civilian and military officials who direct or carry out such measures would be accountable, including potentially facing criminal penalties, for the grave consequences of their actions on our republic.""
We are on the edge of a cliff, without a parachute and the GoS + his GOP seditious lemmings are racing and shoving. :( V<
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I listened to the entire hour long full phone call. It just confirms what all people with any modicum of sanity know.
The cretin is bad news. I only can imagine all the other phone calls just like this that we haven't heard. It's pretty
stunning to hear something like this, not just the reports of it, but to hear it all as it unfolds. I could not be civil to
this guy. In this circumstance civility gives credence to his insanity.
Full Phone Call: Trump Pressures Georgia Secretary of State To Recount Election Votes
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AW_Bdf_jGaA
At one point in this phone call, Trump says: "All I'm interested in is the truth."
Me: "You can't handle the truth."
The truth: "You lost, bitch."
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We are beginning the "Crescendo of Crazy" as Trump's days are numbered...
More mind boggling disgusting news from Donald Trump as reported by Axios:
President Trump is expected to give Reps. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) and Devin Nunes (R-Calif.)
the Presidential Medal of Freedom, three sources familiar with the plans tell Axios.
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The crazy continues:
Wisconsin Pharmacist Accused of Tampering with COVID-19 Vaccine
Doses Allegedly Has False Belief It Would Change People's DNA
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/steven-brandenburg-wisconsin-pharmacist-covid-vaccine-doses-dna/
The employee, identified in the statement as pharmacist Steven Brandenburg, is accused of intentionally removing 57 vials of the Moderna vaccine from a pharmacy refrigerator at the Aurora Medical Center and leaving them out overnight. The company said it fired the employee after he admitted to intentionally removing the vials. He was arrested last week by Grafton police. A judge set Brandenburg's bond at $10,000 and ordered him to have no contact with Aurora employees and submit his firearms to the Sheriff's office. The detective who wrote the statement also called Brandenburg an "admitted conspiracy theorist," but did not elaborate.
_______
Of course he has guns.
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^^^
I've seen news reports from sone states where over half of the frontline healthcare workers in some states, like Ohio, refuse to take the vaccine.
In my own neck of the woods, the main reason I go anywhere is to buy groceries and I'll take the local shuttle service to get there. Last month I was the only one on the shuttle and I began talking to the driver. She talked about Covid and respecting all the science telling us all to stay home and not go out and wearing masks and all the other precautions. But then she said she had problems with wanting to take the vaccine. She said she didn't trust it. I asked her why. One reason is that she apparently had heard about the ideas swirling about that it was going to be used to track people somehow.
I told her I didn't believe that for a second. "I don't know," she said. I told her if the Government or anyone wanted to track people all they'd have to do is use the cellphones everyone has already. They don't need to be putting it in Covid doses. I told her the vehicle she's driving is tracked online via NextBus and I myself could find out where she is any time of the day.
When I was growing up in the 60's our little town's school had regular programs for various shots every year that all of us took in school and I don't remember a peep out of anyone worried about it. Shots for measles and mumps and polio and you name it. There was no paranoia about them. I remember in college in 1976 when there was a program one year that had all of us in the college (this was countrywide) had to get a shot for something. We all didn't hesitate to do it. There weren't conspiracy theories afloat.
I talked to the driver about it and was firm in my support. I said I can't understand why people are so willing to believe the oddest conspiracy theories and would risk their lives, and others, and not get the vaccine. That is what's crazy. I told her I thought she'd be happier and safer if she knew that everyone getting on to her shuttle was vaccinated and we'd be safer and happier if she did, too. I hope I convinced her.
I know from the news there's reports about the slow roll out of the vaccine. That there's a tier of people who are supposed to get it first, followed by the next tiers. I don't know how each state is allocated for the numbers of vaccines they get, but because Los Angeles seems to be the hot spot right now. (You cannot watch the local news here right now or you'll be in a constant state of panic.) I was wondering...if there's a real hotspot of the virus in some part of the country, whether it be L.A. or N.Y. or Butte, Montana, wouldn't it be a priority to get a lot of the people in the hotspots vaccinated? Like it or not, these people are moving around and not just within the same place. They're traveling.
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The crazy continues:
Wisconsin Pharmacist Accused of Tampering with COVID-19 Vaccine
Doses Allegedly Has False Belief It Would Change People's DNA
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/steven-brandenburg-wisconsin-pharmacist-covid-vaccine-doses-dna/
The employee, identified in the statement as pharmacist Steven Brandenburg, is accused of intentionally removing 57 vials of the Moderna vaccine from a pharmacy refrigerator at the Aurora Medical Center and leaving them out overnight. The company said it fired the employee after he admitted to intentionally removing the vials. He was arrested last week by Grafton police. A judge set Brandenburg's bond at $10,000 and ordered him to have no contact with Aurora employees and submit his firearms to the Sheriff's office. The detective who wrote the statement also called Brandenburg an "admitted conspiracy theorist," but did not elaborate.
_______
Of course he has guns.
Hi Lyle!
The crazy is never going to go away!!
This crazy is convinced the world is ending. His wife had already filed for divorce, months previous, and lately has gotten sole custody of their two children, as she fears for their lives. Good call on her part!
Unfortunately there are so many more like him out there. It's scary.
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I remember in college in 1976 when there was a program one year that had all of us in the college (this was countrywide) had to get a shot for something.
Was that swine flu? I remember getting in line for that.
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^^^ Yeap unbelievable with her potential risk for exposure. I'd be screaming for the shot. But sadly, there are plenty of people who rely on unreliable news sources and don't bother to seek the truth. Good for you to try and probably save her life.
The root basis of this sh*@(* circles around to people relying on unreliable, inaccurate "news" sources from the likes of Suckerberg and his Social Media friends, and rogue right-wingers masquerading as "news" when they are nothing more than GOP propaganda machines. SM is a direct path into people's eyeballs without ANY verification of the facts.
The 2nd cause of this is the "anti-vaxers" which have spread inaccurate information online for years about the MMR vaccine causing all sorts of childhood issues. The study all that crap was based on was rebuked and yet the BS still continues.
The 3rd cause is there are people out there who make their living on spreading all this BS and lies (besides Suckerberg) and who have zero interest in setting the record straight.
This is why I've said the one thing I agree with is repealing Section 230 and unleashing liability on the social media ass-wipes. Making them liable for all this "crap" is the fastest and surest way to get'm to verify the information before they "publish it". Every other "news media" in the country can be held fully accountable if they knowingly publish lies, slander etc.. I still to this day do not understand how Fox Lies stays on the air. It's time these SM titans feel some real pain in the wallet and real regulation on their "looking the other way...."
V> IDK... maybe I'm just wishing too much for human decency.
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This is why I've said the one thing I agree with is repealing Section 230 and unleashing liability on the social media ass-wipes. Making them liable for all this "crap" is the fastest and surest way to get'm to verify the information before they "publish it". Every other "news media" in the country can be held fully accountable if they knowingly publish lies, slander etc.. I still to this day do not understand how Fox Lies stays on the air. It's time these SM titans feel some real pain in the wallet and real regulation on their "looking the other way...."
I kind of agree with that. They should also be held accountable for their role in child and teen suicides that result from use of their platforms for cyber-bullying.
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Georgia -- HOPE is on the horizon. Hope hope hope.
10:15 pm PST. 1:15 am EST
Warnock: 2,191,369 -- 50.4%
Loeffler: 2,172,931 -- 49.6%
Difference 35,649
Perdue: 2,191,369 -- 50.0%
Ossoff: 2,190,048 -- 50.0%
Difference 1,321
With the remaining votes to be counted at this time, Steve Kornacki (!) tells us they are in mostly counties that are heavily democratic and there's enough votes in one county alone (DeKalb) that could add to Rafael Warnock's lead and catapult Jon Ossoff into the lead in his race. Remaining votes at this late hour are usually ballots that need to be verified and are often recently arrived mail ballots or early voting tabulations. There's also a period of time military ballots are allowed to arrive and be tabulated, so the gears slow down.
Besides DeKalb county, Fulton County has 7,500 mail in ballots that need processing and Chatham county (where Savannah is located) has 3,000 mail in ballots. Neither of those totals are going to be processed until tomorrow. DeKalb County's votes may come in during the night or early morning.
So, I go to bed hopeful and most of you will know a lot more by the time I get up tomorrow!
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Right after I hit POST and posted the above, 1/3 of the remaining DeKalb votes were posted and the result of that was news organizations have called the race for Rafael Warnock!
Senator Elect Rafael Warnock -- the WINNER.
What it also did is put Jon Ossoff into the lead!!!
Ossoff: 2,195,441 -- 50.0%
Perdue: 2,191,881 -- 50.0%
Difference 3,560
Woo-hoo!!!
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I'm up late!
At least one place has called the race for Ossoff, with this headline:
Jon Ossoff, Raphael Warnock Win Georgia Runoff Races, Democrats Gain Senate Majority
(https://static.hollywoodreporter.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/Jon-Ossoff-and-Raphael-Warnock-Split-Getty-H-2020-1604706380-928x523.jpg)
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I read that Jon Ossoff will be the youngest person elected to the Senate in over 40 years. About time.
Statement on Jon Ossoff's website:
“When all the votes are counted we fully expect that Jon Ossoff will have won this election to represent Georgia in the United States Senate. The outstanding vote is squarely in parts of the state where Jon’s performance has been dominant. We look forward to seeing the process through in the coming hours and moving ahead so Jon can start fighting for all Georgians in the U.S. Senate.”
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EaPrm4VWoAECaIa.jpg)
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F.U. Mitch McConnell.
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Republicans turn on Trump after Georgia loss
I LOVE IT..... I LOVE IT.... I LOVE IT!!!!!
The vultures are circling the Pumpkin!! :laugh:
Now I have real hope!
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F.U. Mitch McConnell.
Absolutely, Lyle!!! 💗💗💗
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F.U. Mitch McConnell.
Ay-MEN!
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Republicans turn on Trump after Georgia loss
I LOVE IT..... I LOVE IT.... I LOVE IT!!!!!
The vultures are circling the Pumpkin!! :laugh:
Now I have real hope!
Couldn't happen to a more deserving individual.
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I am in such a good mood this morning.
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I'd been wondering this for weeks, but didn't know until now. In the Georgia Senate races, the race between Warnock and Loeffler is to finish out the term of the Senator who retired in 2019 due to his health. Loeffler had been appointed to replace him. So Warnock's Senate victory is for two years and he'll be up again.
Ossoff and Perdue's race is for a full six year term.
I remember the same was true in 1992 in CA when Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer ran the same year. They both won and Boxer remained Senator until 2016 when she retired and Feinstein is still Senator. (She does need to go now, she's 90 and been problematic off and on.)
I knew one of these Georgia races was for a shorter term, and I should've realized it was the Warnock/Loeffler one because she'd been appointed to fill the seat, but I didn't connect the dots.
So, another election for Warnock...next year!
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The perpetual campaign.
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I do not know if you are aware. Jon Ossoff's mother was an Australian. I read in one paper that Ossoff had Australian citizenship but has relinquished it. Perhaps the USA is like Australia where the Commonwealth constitution requires that all members of parliament have no other citizenship. This caused many problems a few years ago when a number of parliamentarians had to resign due to hereditary citizenships. Most did not even know.
NZ does not have the same rule. I could stand for parliament in NZ even though I am a dual citizen.
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Very prophetic. Note the date of the tweet.
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50807870481_39c3510847_c.jpg)
They are far from being destroyed, but I like the direction they are going!
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Republicans turn on Trump after Georgia loss
I LOVE IT..... I LOVE IT.... I LOVE IT!!!!!
The vultures are circling the Pumpkin!! :laugh:
Now I have real hope!
I'm going to have to look for news stories about this, I haven't had the chance yet! LOL
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Mike Pence rejects Trump’s call to overturn Biden election
Dan Mangan Kevin Breuninger
Vice President Mike Pence on Wednesday refused President Donald Trump’s demand that he try to block confirmation by Congress of Joe Biden’s election as the next president of the United States.
Pence said in a letter that he did not believe, as Trump has claimed, that a vice president has the power to reject some Electoral College votes for a candidate.
“It is my considered judgment that my oath to support and defend the Constitution constrains me from claiming unilateral authority to determine which electoral votes should be counted and which should not,” Pence wrote in his three-page letter addressed to members of Congress.
His dramatic break from Trump came minutes before the Republican vice president began presiding over a joint session of Congress, which is meeting to declare the former Democratic vice president Biden the victor.
Pence said in his letter that he shared “the concerns of millions of Americans about the integrity of this election,” which Trump and his supporters have claimed without evidence was corrupted by widespread ballot fraud.
But Pence also wrote that “vesting the Vice President with unilateral authority to decide presidential contests would be entirely antithetical to” the system of check-and-balances between branches of the government designed by the framers of the Constitution.
“The Presidency belongs to the American people, and to them alone,” Pence wrote.
https://www.cnbc.com/2021/01/06/mike-pence-rejects-trumps-call-to-overturn-biden-election.html
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^^^ It's getting ugly folks as Trumpers storm the capital as part of the coup attempt by the GoP and GoS. They are all egged on by the GoS and his stream of lies. I will be so glad when they terminate his Twitter and other social media accounts. The GoS has been stoking and riling up his bat-shit crazy "base of idiots" for months.
https://www.cnbc.com/2021/01/06/buildings-in-us-capitol-complex-evacuated-amid-pro-trump-protests.html
https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/live-updates/2020-election-results-transition/?id=75022086#75088331
And Moscow Mitch even understands the grave danger inherent in this hand full of trump-ass-wipe senators and representatives staging this BS.
We are 1 step away from bedlam and chaos.
"We’re debating a step that has never been taken in American history – whether Congress should overrule the voters and overturn a presidential election."
Speaking directly to his colleagues, he reminded them he supported Trump's right to legal challenges, "But over and over, the courts rejected these claims including all-star judges whom the president himself has nominated."
"We cannot simply declare ourselves a national board of elections on steroids. The voters, the courts, and the states have all spoken,” he said. “If we overrule them, it would damage our republic forever.""
McConnell went on to say overturning the results would send the country on a "poisonous path” and into an "endless spiral of partisan vengeance” before calling on elected leaders to summon "patriotic courage" in both victory and in defeat.
"We must not imitate and escalate what we repudiate," he said.
"I will not pretend such a vote would be a harmless protest gesture while relying on others to do the right thing. I will vote to respect the people's decision and defend our system of government as we know it," McConnell said in closing.
V>
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This is utterly unbelievable. Except it's not. ...
I briefly tuned in to Fox news. Even those people sounded shocked.
I'd have to look it up, but I think this might actually be treason.
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where is the National Guard? Where are cops with rubber or REAL bullets? Where are cops with night sticks?
(https://static01.nyt.com/images/2021/01/06/us/politics/06dcprotests-blog-header/06dcprotests-blog-header-jumbo.jpg?quality=90&auto=webp)
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how did we ever let this lunatic do this?
Law enforcement officers point their guns at a door that was vandalized in the House Chamber during a joint session of Congress
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/ErEvLdGVgAA0R2T?format=jpg&name=small)
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why aren't they hosing these idiots down with tear gas? They're breaking windows and crawling inside, the cops are doing nothing that i can see. I saw one cop spraying a rioter with what looked like a purse-size mace spray.
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Why wasn't the National Guard surrounding the Capitol in the first place?
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Oh look, the Confederate flag and all! :o WTAF
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he should be charged with treason for allowing this to happen...for watching it on tv and allowing these thugs to try to begin a coup...it's treason.
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WHERE IS LAW ENFORCEMENT??
[/b]
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he should be charged with treason for allowing this to happen...for watching it on tv and allowing these thugs to try to begin a coup...it's treason.
Agreed.
On CNN they keep talking about him "leaving office." He's going to have to be forcefully removed from office.
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WHERE IS LAW ENFORCEMENT??
[/b]
CNN is reporting that the National Guard and law enforcement from Maryland and Virginia are being mobilized, but I still want to know what fool didn't have them around the Capitol right from the beginning this morning.
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I cannot believe that the rioters are still there, I cannot believe it! If the DC police chief isn't fired tonight, it'll be a shame. CNN showed a picture of a note that one of the terrorists left on NANCY PELOSI'S DESK! "We will not back down".
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He needs to be removed from office tonight.
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I agree what's happening is stunning. But not surprising. Never surprising.
Biden made a live statement in person that was right for the moment.
Trump later made a taped statement that he put on Twitter. He lied about the election being stolen and his usual tropes. Then he told people to go home and respect law enforcement. In other words, he was talking out of both sides of his mouth. He poured gasoline on the fire, he didn't extinguish anything.
Ugly day for us.
And U.S.
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I’m watching CNN - unbelievable.
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Meanwhile...
Jon Ossoff has been declared the WINNER in his Georgia Senate election. ;D
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trump's statement was horrifying. "the election was stolen from us, go home". how does he think history is going to portray him? does he think these thugs are writing history to be passed down?
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^^^
Yes. Exactly. Succinctly put: "the election was stolen, now go home."
I agree that all of the security forces in Washington, D.C., the Capitol Police, the Secret Service, National Guard...etc.
...that they did not foresee this was a possibility. How could they not have?
Several IED's have been found on the grounds of the Capitol Building (Improvised Explosive Devices).
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^^^^ Unbelievable. Sadly, I knew this was coming. :( The GoS stoked HIS racists idiots for weeks, months and years with lies, lies and more lies. The only thing the GoS cares about is who is "loyal" to him - not the constitution. Make no mistake, the GoS is a dangerous wanna-be dictator. His bat-shit crazy followers and those GoPers (Senators, Governors and Representatives) who've remained silent b/c they didn't want to confront Trump on Twitter are just as guilty of contributing to what we are seeing now.
IMHO, Twitter should terminate his accounts IMMEDAIATELY for inciting riots.
When his ass-wipes started showing up in DC yesterday - the alarm bells should have been ringing and the national guard mobilized immediately. Our military leaders were warning about this for a while. People are going to die in DC tonight and it's blood on GoS's hands.
This is what the GOP has stooped to to remain in power. Shameful. V>
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Somebody on CNN, I heard but didn't see who, expressed my fear: This is not the end of something. This is the beginning.
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^^^ Yes, the GoP created this genie over the past 50 years... it's not going back in the bottle. All the lies are coming home to roost. The US military needs to be on high alert as our enemies are watching... V>.
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The DC Police are not permitted to enter the Capitol grounds. That's a matter for the Capitol Police, a separate force. The (DC) MPD does not have any jurisdiction over Federal property.
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Meanwhile...
Jon Ossoff has been declared the WINNER in his Georgia Senate election. ;D
Yay! I really didn't think it would be possible to win both seats. But the GOP brought it on itself.
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Yay! I really didn't think it would be possible to win both seats. But the GOP brought it on itself.
I saw someone who wrote today:
"GA responded to the complete corruption of the Republican
Party by electing a black man & a Jew. God Bless Georgia."
:)
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the former DC police chief just said there are 2000 capitol police and he didn't know how they got overwhelmed so fast...they just weren't ready, and they should have been.
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That's very true, the Capitol Police should have been better prepared.
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I hope they're not afraid to use force. The former chief said he thought every civilian in the Capitol should be on their faces in cuffs...
"You gotta do whatever you gotta do to get 'em outta there"
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I cannot believe that the rioters are still there, I cannot believe it! If the DC police chief isn't fired tonight, it'll be a shame. CNN showed a picture of a note that one of the terrorists left on NANCY PELOSI'S DESK! "We will not back down".
A supporter of US President Donald Trump leaves a note in the office of US Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi as he protest inside the US Capitol in Washington, DC, January 6, 2021. – Demonstrators breeched security and entered the Capitol as Congress debated the a 2020 presidential election Electoral Vote Certification. (Photo by SAUL LOEB / AFP) (Photo by SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images)
(https://www.nxsttv.com/nmw/wp-content/uploads/sites/107/2021/01/GettyImages-1230454148.jpg?w=876)
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^^^^ Unbelievable, scary and terrifying. Anyone watching this really needs to ask themselves WTF they voted for the GoS and the GoP. (My MIL is a full-blown idiot.) They have been playing with gasoline fueled fire!! This is the mess the GOP created with the help of social media's megaphone and none of them have the balls call BS on the GoS's years of lies. In fact, the 4 years have been nothing but a stream of lies from the WH! I can hardly wait to hear this BS, "alternative facts..."
Who knows what's been planted by the seditious SOBs in the capital building? It will have to searched cleared from top down for all sorts of items. ;( And with the GoP losing GA, the Democrats can put an end to the GOP's and Moscow Mitch's terror of holding the Senate hostage to his will since 2015 by blocking and obstructing progress.
It's also time for ALL social media and Twitter to shutdown his feeds and not just flag'm. Shutdown and remove his accounts and block the accounts of all his subscribers and block anything posted related to this seditious riot. V<.
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if the cops allow the curfew to be ignored, I just don't know what's going on. it's 5:58, no one's moving.
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When....and it is a case of "when"...not "if"...this rabble is bought under control...
will anything happen to Trump because he WAS inciting rioting ??
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Republicans turn on Trump after Georgia loss
I LOVE IT..... I LOVE IT.... I LOVE IT!!!!!
The vultures are circling the Pumpkin!! :laugh:
Now I have real hope!
Yay! Yay! Yay!
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This is incredible. Like scenes from a dystopy, from a horror movie.
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the cops aren't doing it right. they're gently moving the lines away from the Capitol, allowing many to still congregate and mill about. It should be much more forceful, make the terrorists know they won't take shit from them...otherwise the the terrorists are just like children and they'll keep pushing and pushing, and will come back tomorrow and keep going, and the cops are like indulgent parents, it's making me sick.
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yes it's hard to watch
we just saw live footage - kinda absurd what's going on there...
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yes it's hard to watch
we just saw live footage - kinda absurd what's going on there...
You should have tried LIVING here the past 4 years! :o
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^^^
Yeah.
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It's also time for ALL social media and Twitter to shutdown his feeds and not just flag'm.
Twitter did just shut his Twitter feed down for 12 hours. With the warning they could shut it down completely.
Could?
Should.
Now.
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So I see that jerk from Missouri (?--not sure I'm remembering the state correctly) intends to proceed to challenge the vote on January 6.
You're right. It's Sen. Josh Hawley from Missouri. The people of Missouri elected him in 2016, over their competent, respected and Incumbent Senator Claire McCaskill. Commentators are saying this is his way of entering the Republican Primary for President.
He's a first class a-hole:
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/fd/Josh_Hawley.jpg/220px-Josh_Hawley.jpg)
While the insurrections were happening at the Capitol today and the rabble was at the gates, Josh Hawley was sending out fundraising tweets.
Assault On Democracy: Sen. Josh Hawley Has Blood On His hands in Capitol Coup Attempt
by the KANSAS CITY STAR EDITORIAL BOARD
January 06, 2021
No one other than President Donald Trump himself is more responsible for Wednesday’s coup attempt at the U.S. Capitol than one Joshua David Hawley, the 41-year-old junior senator from Missouri, who put out a fundraising appeal while the siege was underway.
https://www.kansascity.com/opinion/editorials/article248317375.html
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^^^ Josh Hawley dangerous. He's a younger "GoS" in the making - despicable. He's trolling for $, wants the love of the GoS voters, and was reported to have "power-fisted" the Trump protestors gathering near the capital as he approached the east side of the Capital Wed morning.
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It's also time for ALL social media and Twitter to shutdown his feeds and not just flag'm. Shutdown and remove his accounts and block the accounts of all his subscribers and block anything posted related to this seditious riot. V<.
Facebook and Twitter lock Trump's accounts after posting video praising rioters
By Ahiza García-Hodges, Ben Collins and Dylan Byers
Twitter removed three tweets from the account of President Donald Trump on Wednesday and suspended his account for 12 hours after he continued to push conspiracy theories about the election after a mob stormed the U.S. Capitol.
The company also warned that further violations of its rules "will result in permanent suspension" of Trump's Twitter account.
One of the tweets included a video of Trump repeating unfounded claims that the election was taken from him and encouraging his supporters to disperse after violence erupted at the Capitol. He said that law and order were needed and that he loved his supporters.
Facebook and YouTube also removed the video from Trump's accounts. Facebook said it would be blocking the president's account from posting for 24 hours due to two policy violations.
https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/social-media/facebook-youtube-twitter-remove-video-trump-amid-chaos-capitol-n1253157
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Pence, Not Trump, Gave Order to Activate National Guard: Report
After an hours-long delay, 150 D.C. National Guard troops were sent to the U.S. Capitol to help law-enforcement efforts to remove Trump supporters who had violently seized the building in an act of insurrection. Such an order would usually be given by the president and commander-in-chief, but according to Pentagon officials who spoke with the New York Times, it was approved by Vice-President Mike Pence.
It’s not clear what caused this upending of the chain of command, which came after President Trump encouraged protesters to head to the Capitol to protest the certification of election results, did not explicitly condemn the attack, and said in a video that he “loves” his supporters who stormed the Capitol.
Pence’s order came hours after the president condemned him for not having “the courage” to stop the certification of the election in Congress on Wednesday — a power that the vice-president does not possess. In his speech before protesters early on Wednesday afternoon, Trump also lashed out at his vice-president before encouraging the crowd to “walk down Pennsylvania Avenue” to the U.S. Capitol, where a handful of Republican senators and more than 100 House representatives planned to object to the election results. The symbolic process was interrupted by the violent act of Trump supporters, which has reportedly resulted in one death.
This is a developing story; please check back for updates.
The New York Intelligencer
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This Is What Trumpism Without Trump Looks Like
On Wednesday afternoon, as a mob sacked the U.S. Capitol, Donald Trump’s successor pleaded for peace. America was a good place, so much better than what we were seeing today, President-elect Joe Biden insisted. We’ve triumphed before, and we’ll triumph again. But the platitudes fall flat. So do the shocked tweets and the cable punditry. Trump could stop this with a tweet, people said; this is not who we are. But Trump cannot stop this, because this is who we are. This is who we’ve always been. The sacking of the Capitol is the latest entry in a bloody old ledger.
Trump is not a sophisticated thinker, but he understands a basic truth about America. If you understand the Civil War as a slaveholder’s insurrection, the events of January 6 feel inevitable. This country birthed the Ku Klux Klan and lynched thousands. This country murdered Martin Luther King Jr. This country beat civil-rights protesters and killed trade unionists and Communists and so, eventually, it elected Trump. And the violence was revived. Under Trump, this country killed Jews at worship in 2018, and it targeted Latinos in an El Paso Walmart the very next year. This country gave rise to neo-Nazis in the streets of Charlottesville, Virginia, and to the murder of Heather Heyer.
Though America has also always been more complex than the ugliest version of itself — it is Heyer’s country, and King’s country, as much as it’s Trump’s — there’s nothing original about the violence his presidency inspires. When we wonder about the future of what we call Trumpism, a loose term for the racist nationalism that defines his presidency, conventional wisdom generally holds that there is no Trumpism without Trump. Without his celebrity, the coalition that coalesced around him would not survive for long. There’s still some truth to that view. But that doesn’t mean the threat Trump poses will pass. The mob that invaded the Capitol carried Trump flags, true, but it carried Confederate flags too. That’s what Trumpism without Trump looks like: old-fashioned white supremacy, outfitted with a new set of grievances.
When Biden takes the oath of office later this month, Trump’s presidency will be over. White supremacy, however, will not be. America will still be America, and Biden will have to figure out how to deal with it. Pretending that this country is nobler than it is will accomplish nothing; it will only guarantee that the forces Trump mobilized will rage on for years. So let’s agree now to call the events of January 6 what they are: an insurrection waged by the usual suspects, incited by a president who understands precisely what he’s doing. The fascistic undertones are not difficult to hear. Go home now, Trump told supporters on Wednesday, but you’re right to be angry; the election was stolen. “We love you,” he added. “You’re very special.” They know. They’re grateful. And they’re not going anywhere.
The New York Intelligencer
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Mitt Romney scolds Republicans as pro-Trump rioters breach the Capitol building, disrupting the election certification: 'This is what you've gotten'
Haven Orecchio-Egresitz - 01/06/2021
As Washington, DC, descended into chaos and violence Wednesday when pro-Trump rioters led a historic breach of the US Capitol building, Republican Sen. Mitt Romney yelled at his GOP colleagues, "This is what you've gotten," The New York Times reported.
A handful of Republican politicians have supported President Donald Trump's conspiracy theory that the 2020 presidential election was fraudulent, a claim that has no basis in fact or reality.
That baseless claim is what prompted a flood of Trump diehards to contest Electoral College votes from states that Biden won.
The rioters had attended a "March for Trump" rally to protest the certification on Wednesday.
https://www.businessinsider.com/mitt-romney-scolds-republicans-this-is-what-youve-gotten-2021-1
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This Is What Trumpism Without Trump Looks Like
Trump is not a sophisticated thinker, but he understands a basic truth about America. If you understand the Civil War as a slaveholder’s insurrection, the events of January 6 feel inevitable. This country birthed the Ku Klux Klan and lynched thousands. This country murdered Martin Luther King Jr. This country beat civil-rights protesters and killed trade unionists and Communists and so, eventually, it elected Trump. And the violence was revived. Under Trump, this country killed Jews at worship in 2018, and it targeted Latinos in an El Paso Walmart the very next year. This country gave rise to neo-Nazis in the streets of Charlottesville, Virginia, and to the murder of Heather Heyer.
It goes farther back than the Civil War. Earlier in the nineteenth century it killed Catholics and Irish, too.
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So, only now are the rats abandoning the sinking ship.
Four people dead. I'm glad, and surprised, it's not more.
Of course, his good buddy Putin is gloating.
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^^^ Well not all of the rats - yet. There are 6 GOP Senators and 121 GOP Representatives who still voted to "object." I'd say they are still listening to the piper's music and angling for his retched base of lemmings!.
Cruz, Ted (R-TX), Hawley, Josh (R-MO), Hyde-Smith, Cindy (R-MS), Kennedy, John (R-LA), Marshall, Roger (R-KS), Tuberville, Tommy (R-AL)
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TRAITOR
(https://i.pinimg.com/564x/51/1a/2a/511a2a49a4aed29874c18c21138e4737.jpg)
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I totally agree. He is being called the Baby Trump, and may be even more dangerous.
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I wonder why these snakes, Cruz, Ted (R-TX), Hawley, Josh (R-MO), Hyde-Smith, Cindy (R-MS), Kennedy, John (R-LA), Marshall, Roger (R-KS), Tuberville, Tommy (R-AL), as well as the 121 members of the House hid from the rioters? Aren't they supposed to be supporters of those who attacked Democracy yesterday? What did they have to fear?
Cowards and Assholes!
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"BT" .. "Baby Trump" is fitting, accurate. Yeah, that's the photo. He's the one caught signaling his support via "power- fisting" to the GoS supporters and capital riot protestors. Now that the Senate is in Democratic control, they should censure him and the other 5.
And here's another newly elected GoS supporter from WV that needs to be censured. He was in the crowd, filming...
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/06/us/derrick-evans-west-virginia-capitol.html
Nicely said editorial -> https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/06/opinion/impeach-trump.html
"From the moment Trump became the G.O.P. front-runner in 2015, it was obvious who he was and where, if given the chance, he would take America. He was a malignant narcissist in his person. A fraudster in his businesses. A bully in his relationships. And a demagogue in his politics.
He did not have ideas. He had bigotries. He did not have a coalition. He had crowds. He did not have character. He had a quality of confident shamelessness, the kind that offered his followers permission to be shameless, too.
All this was obvious — but was not enough to stop him. America in 2015 had many problems, many of which had gone too long ignored and were ripe for populist exploitation. But by far the biggest problem of that year was that a major political party capitulated to a thug. And the biggest problem of every subsequent year has been that more and more of that party has excused, ignored, forgiven, colluded in and celebrated his thuggery.
...
The Republican Party is now walking to the edge of moral irredeemability. I say this as someone who, until 2016, had always voted the straight Republican ticket and who, until this week, had hoped that Republicans would hold the Senate as a way of tilting the Biden administration to the center. I say this also of the party generally, and not of the courageous individual Republicans — Brad Raffensperger, Mitt Romney, Denver Riggleman, Larry Hogan, Ben Sasse (the list is depressingly short) — who have preserved their principles, maintained their honor and kept their heads these past five years.
But there is no getting away from the extent to which leading party members and their cheerleaders in the right-wing media are complicit in creating the political atmosphere in which this Visigothic sacking of the Capitol took place."
V>
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^^^ Well not all of the rats - yet. There are 6 GOP Senators and 121 GOP Representatives who still voted to "object." I'd say they are still listening to the piper's music and angling for his retched base of lemmings!.
Cruz, Ted (R-TX), Hawley, Josh (R-MO), Hyde-Smith, Cindy (R-MS), Kennedy, John (R-LA), Marshall, Roger (R-KS), Tuberville, Tommy (R-AL)
When you put it that way, yes. I was thinking of something I heard this morning about some members of the White House staff, and even the ambassador to Ireland, quitting. I was thinking specifically of the White House as the sinking ship.
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yeah, they made it 4 years supporting that low life trailer trash, and just couldn't take it one more minute...it doesn't mean anything that they're deserting the ship now.
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LOL.. yeah I cannot wait to hear the blond bitch's "alternative facts"
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yeah, they made it 4 years supporting that low life trailer trash, and just couldn't take it one more minute...it doesn't mean anything that they're deserting the ship now.
No, it doesn't, not with only two weeks remaining in the term. Does amuse me, though, to watch it happening. I have these lovely imaginary images in my mind of White House staff fleeing the building--like rats deserting the sinking ship--and the Great Orange Satan sitting alone in the Oval Office completely abandoned by everybody.
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stop insulting him
(https://fastly.syfy.com/sites/syfy/files/2020/12/match_made_in_hell.jpg)
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I don't think anything will come of this, but it would be nice.......
Angry Republican leaders float removing Trump from office
By Michael Warren, Jamie Gangel and Jim Acosta, CNN
After violent pro-Trump protesters stormed the US Capitol on Wednesday, a growing number of Republican leaders and Cabinet officials told CNN that they believe Donald Trump should be removed from office before January 20. Four of them called for the 25th Amendment to be invoked, and two others said the President should be impeached.
"He has to be impeached and removed," said one current Republican elected official.
A former senior official said the President's actions were egregious enough to remove him even with such a short time left in his tenure.
"I think this has been a huge shock to the system," said the former official. "How do you keep him in place for two weeks after this?"
By impeaching and removing Trump, even at this late stage of his term, the Senate could subsequently vote to disqualify Trump from ever holding federal office again. On the other hand, invoking the 25th Amendment would require Vice President Mike Pence and a majority of the Cabinet to vote to remove Trump from office due to his inability to "discharge the powers and duties of his office" -- an unprecedented step.
Some Cabinet members are holding preliminary discussions about invoking the 25th Amendment, a well-placed GOP source told CNN.
https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/06/politics/trump-capitol-impeachment-25-amendment/index.html
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Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer – who will become majority leader once Joe Biden is sworn in – issued a statement calling for swift action on the 25th Amendment – while also leveling the threat of a second impeachment.
'What happened at the U.S. Capitol yesterday was an insurrection against the United States, incited by the president. This president should not hold office one day longer,' he said.
'The quickest and most effective way - it can be done today - to remove this president from office would be for the Vice President to immediately invoke the 25th amendment. If the Vice President and the Cabinet refuse to stand up, Congress should reconvene to impeach the president,' Schumer said.
In another blow to Trump, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said Trump will be blocked from both the Facebook and Instagram platforms at least through Inauguration Day, because the risks are 'too great.'
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9123033/Republican-congressman-Adam-Kinzinger-demands-Mike-Pence-remove-Donald-Trump-25th-Amendment.html?ito=push-notification&ci=66487&si=23934553 (https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9123033/Republican-congressman-Adam-Kinzinger-demands-Mike-Pence-remove-Donald-Trump-25th-Amendment.html?ito=push-notification&ci=66487&si=23934553)
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In another blow to Trump, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said Trump will be blocked from both the Facebook and Instagram platforms at least through Inauguration Day, because the risks are 'too great.'
Well for the time being Zuckerberg has at last grown some balls. Now I think if he'd continue to have balls, he'd block the Seditionary in Chief for life.
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Yep, indeed.
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Well for the time being Zuckerberg has at last grown some balls. Now I think if he'd continue to have balls, he'd block the Seditionary in Chief for life.
That son-of-a-b_ _ _ h is just running scared that he's soon going to be held accountable for all the s _ _ t that Facebook has caused.
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A fascinating comment on a retort that the rioters were actually Antifa in disguise:
"To those tRump supporters who are saying Antifa was the organization behind yesterday's seditious actions I say this...
I will grant you that ALL of the participants in yesterday's capitol takeover were Antifa if you will follow the logical conclusion that that makes tRump a supporter of Antifa.
He said of the people at the capitol "We love you, you're very special." And shouldn't someone who says they love Antifa be removed from office immediately? I think so and I'm sure you do too. Or are you an Antifa supporter also?"
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I asked in an earlier post...what will be done to Trump for more or less inciting
a riot/protest for the want of a better word....but now my question is...do you
think he will be allowed to stand for President again as he still has another
5 years in his " bag " if he wants to....or ANY other members of his family ?
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He's in the process of destroying his "brand" irrevocably.
And the proper word is "failed insurrection".
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this is bullshit. they had these people in the Capitol yesterday and "escorted" them out. Why weren't they on the floor handcuffed while they were there? Why were they allowed to leave? NOW they're going to go looking for them?
First, the Capitol police were totally unprepared, and let the terrorists take over the Capitol. That never should have happened, it's beyond my comprehension that law enforcement was so gullible to believe that signs and metal barriers would work, after trump, his idiot sons and giuliani (Rudy Giuliani says pro-Trump rioters attacking US Capitol building are ‘on the right side of history’), told them to do what they did.
Second, there were 52 arrests yesterday, little to no tear gas and no rubber bullets, let alone real ones...last summer there were over 400 arrests on the protestors, and tear gas & rubber bullets were used liberally.
The hunt for MAGA's most wanted: Police release pictures of the Trump rioters who stormed and trashed the Capitol as DOJ promises to charge them all with federal crimes -
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we'll see..
BREAKING NEWS: Nancy Pelosi tells Mike Pence to remove Donald Trump with the 25th Amendment IMMENDIATELY or she will start impeaching him for 'sedition' to end 'horror show' - as Republicans hope to run out the clock without doing either
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9123033/Republican-congressman-Adam-Kinzinger-demands-Mike-Pence-remove-Donald-Trump-25th-Amendment.html?ito=push-notification&ci=66520&si=23934553 (https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9123033/Republican-congressman-Adam-Kinzinger-demands-Mike-Pence-remove-Donald-Trump-25th-Amendment.html?ito=push-notification&ci=66520&si=23934553)
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I asked in an earlier post...what will be done to Trump for more or less inciting
a riot/protest for the want of a better word....but now my question is...do you
think he will be allowed to stand for President again as he still has another
5 years in his " bag " if he wants to....or ANY other members of his family ?
Hi Sue,
If he was impeached AND convicted he could NOT run for President in 4 years. He could be censured, which is just a slap on the wrist, it has little meaning. He also could be removed by the 25th Amendment, but there are no republicans who have the ba**s to do this.
https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twenty-fifth_Amendment_to_the_United_States_Constitution#:~:text=The%20Twenty%2Dfifth%20Amendment%20(Amendment,disabled%20for%20a%20short%20time.
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we'll see..
BREAKING NEWS: Nancy Pelosi tells Mike Pence to remove Donald Trump with the 25th Amendment IMMENDIATELY or she will start impeaching him for 'sedition' to end 'horror show' - as Republicans hope to run out the clock without doing either
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9123033/Republican-congressman-Adam-Kinzinger-demands-Mike-Pence-remove-Donald-Trump-25th-Amendment.html?ito=push-notification&ci=66520&si=23934553 (https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9123033/Republican-congressman-Adam-Kinzinger-demands-Mike-Pence-remove-Donald-Trump-25th-Amendment.html?ito=push-notification&ci=66520&si=23934553)
Yes I'll not hold my breath, Nancy, as I would surely die!!
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If he was impeached AND convicted he could NOT run for President in 4 years.
^^^
Yes, if it could happen, the best thing would be to impeach and convict (remove) him. Not to have him be able to hold elective office again would eliminate that hanging over the country's head.
He has to be held accountble for this somehow. SOMEHOW. Doing nothing and no consequences is what always happens with him...he's Rolo Tomassi.
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He is certainly guilty of sedition.
"Seditious speech" is protected under the First Amendment, unless it poses an imminent threat, which the things he said yesterday certainly did.
There is truly something mentally wrong with that person. We knew that all along, but still this clinging to the notion that he won by a landslide and the election was stolen from him is truly insane. Certainly there are grounds for invoking the Twenty-fifth Amendment.
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An article worth reading:
Jan. 6 Was 9 Weeks — And 4 Years — in the Making
I spent the last election cycle immersed in the metastasizing paranoia behind Wednesday’s
assault on Congress. Nobody should be surprised by what just happened.
By Tim Alberta | 01/07/2021
https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2021/01/07/jan-6-was-9-weeks-and-4-years-in-the-making-455797
For the record: I wasn't surprised. Right from the start I knew Trump was capable of anything and could
not be surprised at anything that happened during his Presidency.
Dear Susan Collins,
Have YOU learned your lesson, yet?
Sincerely,
The United States
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Yes, if it could happen, the best thing would be to impeach and convict (remove) him. Not to have him be able to hold elective office again would eliminate that hanging over the country's head.
Since the election I've been thinking that he's beginning to look so old that maybe he'll be dead in four years.
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^^^^
Thanks for all the explanations you guys. :)
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I was pretty sure it was going to come to this, it's beyond belief how this was allowed to happen.
(CNN)House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Thursday called for the resignation of the US Capitol Police chief and said the House Sergeant at Arms has told her he is submitting his resignation amid criticism over an apparent lack of preparedness to deal with Wednesday's violent mob on Capitol Hill.
Pelosi made her comments during her weekly news conference, and follows Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer saying he would fire the current Senate Sergeant-at-Arms when he becomes majority leader.
"If Senate Sergeant Arms Stenger hasn't vacated the position by then, I will fire him as soon as Democrats have a majority in the Senate," Schumer said in a statement.
https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/07/politics/capitol-police-reaction-details/index.html (https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/07/politics/capitol-police-reaction-details/index.html)
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An article worth reading:
Jan. 6 Was 9 Weeks — And 4 Years — in the Making
I spent the last election cycle immersed in the metastasizing paranoia behind Wednesday’s
assault on Congress. Nobody should be surprised by what just happened.
By Tim Alberta | 01/07/2021
https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2021/01/07/jan-6-was-9-weeks-and-4-years-in-the-making-455797
For the record: I wasn't surprised. Right from the start I knew Trump was capable of anything and could
not be surprised at anything that happened during his Presidency.
A very good read, and I'm still frightened because yesterday wasn't the end. It was the beginning.
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One of the >:D Republican Representatives who voted not to certify the Electoral College vote represents the county where I grew up. >:(
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U.S. Capitol Police Chief Steven Sund to resign later this month;
By Washington Post Staff
Jan. 7, 2021 at 7:48 p.m. CST
The secretary of the Army and the chief of D.C.’s police force acknowledged Thursday that they did not expect President Trump’s supporters to try to enter the Capitol building, despite extensive online conversations in which far-right groups publicly discussed their plans to do just that.
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Sorry to sound like a conspiracist, but I wonder to what degree the Capitol Police, at least the leadership, knew about and actually welcomed the insurrectionists into the Capitol.
Hope any investigation will find out more about this.
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People at the US Capitol riot are being identified and losing their jobs
By AJ Willingham and Carma Hassan
As images and social media posts of Wednesday's insurrection at the US Capitol circulate online, some of those who were present are being identified, and some have lost or left their jobs because of it.
Navistar, a direct marketing company in Maryland, announced that an employee had been terminated after he was photographed wearing his company ID badge inside the breached Capitol building.
"While we support all employees' right to peaceful, lawful exercise of free speech, any employee demonstrating dangerous conduct that endangers the health and safety of others will no longer have an employment opportunity with Navistar Direct Marketing," the company said in a statement provided to CNN.
An Allentown, Pennsylvania, teacher has been "temporarily relieved" of his teaching duties" until his school district can complete a formal investigation in his alleged involvement at the protests.
"We understand that many members of our community are upset by the image," the Allentown School District said in a statement. "At the same time, the district has an obligation to respect the First Amendment rights of our staff and students." The district did not name the staffer.
https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/07/us/capitol-riots-people-fired-jobs-trnd/index.html
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Sorry to sound like a conspiracist, but I wonder to what degree the Capitol Police, at least the leadership, knew about and actually welcomed the insurrectionists into the Capitol.
Hope any investigation will find out more about this.
Rachel Maddow has questions. Discusses this. Watch:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pxmnJA0TBn8
Rachel Maddow describes how Maryland Congressman Steny Hoyer, locked down as pro-Trump rioters marauded through the U.S. Capitol, called Maryland Governor Larry Hogan for National Guard support, and how that support was held up from being authorized for an hour and a half as the Trump administration remained unresponsive.
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One of the >:D Republican Representatives who voted not to certify the Electoral College vote represents the county where I grew up. >:(
We should know his name!
I read this awhile ago:
In the wake of the Capitol Hill riot, “the real campaign inside the Republican party now is to protect the president from himself.” The country in effect now has three parties, because the grassroots of the GOP is “still Donald Trump’s party.”
Disturbing. But GOOD. Split up the Republican party.
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One of the >:D Republican Representatives who voted not to certify the Electoral College vote represents the county where I grew up. >:(
We should know his name!
Lloyd Smucker. I just didn't mention it because I figured it wouldn't mean anything to anybody here.
Smucker (like the jam people, except they're from Ohio) is a common family name in Central Pennsylvania, which has had a large population of Germans and descendants of Germans since the 18th century.. The ancestors of the jam people probably moved west from Pennsylvania.
Incidentally, Gingrich (as in Newt) is also a common Central Pennsylvania surname, except here the "ch" is pronounced like a "k"--Gingrick. He has roots in the Harrisburg area.
I wonder if I'll be hearing anything about the experiences of my own Representative, Dwight Evens?
From across the river in Jersey, the odious Jeff Van Drew (who switched parties to support the Great Orange Satan--and still got reelected!) voted not to accept the results.
On the other hand, another Jersey boy, Andy Kim, was seen helping to clean up the mess when it was all over. I think that video has gone viral.
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Dominion Voting Sues Former Trump Lawyer, Seeking More Than $1.3 Billion In Damages
Miles Parks - January 8, 2021
The elections company Dominion Voting Systems, which has been at the center of many of President Trump's conspiracy narratives about the 2020 election, filed suit Friday against one of the loudest amplifiers of those false stories.
The company sued Sidney Powell, a lawyer who previously worked for the Trump campaign and who has spent much of the past two months claiming Dominion rigged the election and was somehow tied to the Venezuelan regime of the late Hugo Chavez.
None of those claims are true. Dominion was founded in Toronto and is now headquartered in Denver; its machines have been used in American elections for more than a decade. Chavez died in 2013.
The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, and in it Dominion asks for more than $1.3 billion in damages. Powell's "viral disinformation campaign" has destroyed the value of the business, the lawsuit says.
Election experts have wondered whether the company would be able to survive after the onslaught of accusations by the Trump campaign.
To gets contracts needed to stay afloat, a voting company needs to be able to convince local governments its systems are trustworthy — but that becomes a herculean task if a large chunk of voters in those communities are consuming misinformation.
Even if the allegations appear ridiculous, the company's fate still is complicated if Republican elected officials become torn about engaging with a vendor that Trump and his supporters have tarred.
https://www.npr.org/2021/01/08/954836971/dominion-voting-sues-former-trump-lawyer-seeking-1-3-billion-in-damages
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couldn't be happier. the only thing he understands is money (and ego), so this will hurt on both counts.
Sen. Josh Hawley's book canceled by publisher citing 'deadly insurrection' at Capitol building
New York (CNN Business)In an extraordinary move, Simon & Schuster announced Thursday that it would no longer publish a planned book by Sen. Josh Hawley, one of the Republican lawmakers who led objections to Congress certifying President-elect Joe Biden's victory.
https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/07/media/josh-hawley-book-canceled/index.html (https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/07/media/josh-hawley-book-canceled/index.html)
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Lindsey Graham was chased by Trump supporters at an airport, calling him "traitor" for not supporting Trump after the Capital attack.
Apparently the same has happened to Mitt Romney.
With the lawsuit against Trump's lawyer, and Hawley losing his book, and the stories above, I hope all those people in government start to see and feel repercussions for supporting that lying asshole for so long.
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he's definitely a liability now, that's for sure. I saw the story about LG, but didn't know Romney had also been harrassed.
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Some of the arrested insurrectionists:
Cleveland Meredith was charged on Jan. 7, 2021, with making interstate threats to Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
"Richard Barnett, of Arkansas, was charged on Jan. 7, 2021, with knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds without lawful entry; violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds; and theft of public money, property, or records. Barnett allegedly entered a restricted area of the Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi.
"Lonnie Coffman, of Alabama, was charged on Jan. 7, 2021, with possession of an unregistered firearm (destructive device) and carrying a pistol without a license. It is alleged that Coffman's vehicle contained 11 explosive devices known as Molotov cocktails and firearms. It is further alleged he was in possession of two firearms. Coffman was arrested and is currently being held. His detention hearing is scheduled for Jan. 12, 2021.
"Mark Leffingwell, was charged on Jan. 7, 2021, with knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds without lawful authority; assault on a federal law enforcement officer; and violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds. Leffingwell allegedly entered the Senate side of the Capitol and when stopped by law enforcement, struck an officer in the helmet and chest. Leffingwell is currently being held and has a detention hearing in district court today.
"Christopher Alberts, of Maryland, was charged on Jan. 7, 2021, with carrying or having readily accessible, on the grounds of the United States Capitol Building, a firearm and ammunition. Specifically a Taurus G2C, 9mm handgun and 9mm caliber ammunition. The defendant appeared in district court and was released. He has a preliminary hearing scheduled for Jan. 28, 2021.
"Joshua Pruitt, was charged on Jan. 7, 2021, with knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds without lawful authority. The defendant appeared in district court and was released. He has a preliminary hearing scheduled for Jan. 28, 2021.
"Matthew Council, of Florida, was charged on Jan. 7, 2021, with knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds without lawful authority and violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds. Council allegedly unlawfully entered the Capitol building, and when stopped by law enforcement, he pushed the officer.
"Cindy Fitchett, of Virginia, was charged on Jan. 7, 2021, with knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds without lawful authority; or knowingly, with intent to impede government business or official functions, engaging in disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds; and violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds.
"Michael Curzio, of Florida, was charged on Jan. 7, 2021, with knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds without lawful authority; or knowingly, with intent to impede government business or official functions, engaging in disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds; and violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds.
"Douglas Sweet, of Florida, was charged on Jan. 7, 2021, with knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds without lawful authority; or knowingly, with intent to impede government business or official functions, engaging in disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds; and violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds.
"Bradley Ruskelas, of Illinois, was charged on Jan. 7, 2021, with knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds without lawful authority; or knowingly, with intent to impede government business or official functions, engaging in disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds; and violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds.
"Terry Brown, of Pennsylvania, was charged on Jan. 7, 2021, with knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds without lawful authority; or knowingly, with intent to impede government business or official functions, engaging in disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds; and violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds.
"Thomas Gallagher was charged on Jan. 7, 2021, with knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds without lawful authority; or knowingly, with intent to impede government business or official functions, engaging in disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds; and violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds."
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Hearing on the radio just now, the delegate from the WV House who was inside the Capitol has also been charged.
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Brad Rukstales, CEO Of Inverness, Arrested At U.S. Capitol Riot, Apologizes And Expresses Embarrassment
By Charlie De Mar - January 8, 2021
Bradley Rukstales was deep in protest at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday afternoon – and then riots broke out, and he ended up getting arrested.
On Thursday night, Rukstales, of northwest suburban Inverness, told CBS 2’s Charlie De Mar things just got out of hand.
We chatted with Rukstales outside his home. He apologized for his decision and said he regrets the embarrassment to his family, colleagues, and friends.
But when De Mar asked him why he chose to break the law and go inside into the Capitol, he decided he’d had enough talking.
“It was great to see a whole bunch of people together in the morning and hear the speeches, but it turned into chaos,” Rukstales said.
Rukstales was back home Thursday night in his upscale, quiet suburban Inverness home – in a drastic contrast to the chaos he chose to participate in just a day earlier.
https://chicago.cbslocal.com/2021/01/08/brad-rukstales-of-inverness-arrested-at-u-s-capitol-riot-apologizes-and-expresses-embarrassment/
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Some of the arrested insurrectionists:
"Lonnie Coffman, of Alabama, was charged on Jan. 7, 2021, with possession of an unregistered firearm (destructive device) and carrying a pistol without a license. It is alleged that Coffman's vehicle contained 11 explosive devices known as Molotov cocktails and firearms. It is further alleged he was in possession of two firearms. Coffman was arrested and is currently being held. His detention hearing is scheduled for Jan. 12, 2021.
"
"Christopher Alberts, of Maryland, was charged on Jan. 7, 2021, with carrying or having readily accessible, on the grounds of the United States Capitol Building, a firearm and ammunition. Specifically a Taurus G2C, 9mm handgun and 9mm caliber ammunition. The defendant appeared in district court and was released. He has a preliminary hearing scheduled for Jan. 28, 2021.
Imagine if these not so upstanding citizens had managed to get to where AOC, the Squad, Nancy Pelosi or Bernie Sanders were? It would've been a bloodbath. And yet the latter guy isn't even required to post bail to get out of jail now? :-\
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Hearing on the radio just now, the delegate from the WV House who was inside the Capitol has also been charged.
Oh GOOD!!!
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couldn't be happier. the only thing he understands is money (and ego), so this will hurt on both counts.
Sen. Josh Hawley's book canceled by publisher citing 'deadly insurrection' at Capitol building
New York (CNN Business)In an extraordinary move, Simon & Schuster announced Thursday that it would no longer publish a planned book by Sen. Josh Hawley, one of the Republican lawmakers who led objections to Congress certifying President-elect Joe Biden's victory.
https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/07/media/josh-hawley-book-canceled/index.html (https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/07/media/josh-hawley-book-canceled/index.html)
In addition to this:
CNN:Josh Hawley's ploy to be a pro-Trump hero results in withering blowback.
https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/08/politics/josh-hawley/index.html
(CNN)Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley offered pro-Trump demonstrators who stood outside the Capitol a raised fist salute as he walked into the Senate early on Wednesday, buoyant about his leading role in objecting to President Donald Trump's electoral defeat.
Mere hours later, some of those same Trump supporters would be marauding through the Capitol in a violent scene that will now be forever tied with the senator's attempt to overturn a free and fair election.
Hawley is now a pariah among many of his colleagues, openly derided and mocked in his home state and a source of shame for longtime political supporters who helped propel him to his position.
It's a long article but try to read it all! This guy has RUINED himself, and I could not be HAPPIER!!
You know sometimes bad things happen and you feel like the person that had something to do with the bad thing will never see any punishment for this? I am so happy this blowback is happening to him! Just thrilled!
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wonderful news!
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^^^ Karma baby karma!!! That "power-fisting" move was as bad as the Hitler salute.
Josh Hawley is a younger form of the GoS and is just, rather more, dangerous. The only thing missing is the hood.
I hope he and any other Senators and HoR or other government officials who participated in this unbelievable insurrection are censured and if possible kicked out of the Senate and House.
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The woman who was killed at the Capitol was from San Diego and an Air Force Veteran of 14 years. Ashli Babbitt. Since I heard those barest of details above, one had to feel some sort of remorse that anyone was killed at the Capitol. Sad...but the more you know, harder to feel sorry, though I absolutely wish no harm come to anyone...
When I saw this same short news report, linked below, last night about her...well, the second half of the report shows video that she posted of herself online where she's in her car, all worked up and on the brink of hysteria. That's what I see. If she was that way when storming into the Capitol... "She loves her country and loves President Trump" her relative says. IMO, those two things are not compatible.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fw7Hfau3gq4
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^^^ Karma baby karma!!! That "power-fisting" move was as bad as the Hitler salute.
Josh Hawley is a younger form of the GoS and is just, rather more, dangerous. The only thing missing is the hood.
I hope he and any other Senators and HoR or other government officials who participated in this unbelievable insurrection are censured and if possible kicked out of the Senate and House.
YES he has screwed himself royally, which delights me no end!!
I certainly hope ALL of the Senators (especially the POS Ted Cruz) and the Representatives who insisted upon continuing with the lies will get get everything they got coming to them!
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In addition to this:
CNN:Josh Hawley's ploy to be a pro-Trump hero results in withering blowback.
https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/08/politics/josh-hawley/index.html
(CNN)Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley offered pro-Trump demonstrators who stood outside the Capitol a raised fist salute as he walked into the Senate early on Wednesday, buoyant about his leading role in objecting to President Donald Trump's electoral defeat.
Mere hours later, some of those same Trump supporters would be marauding through the Capitol in a violent scene that will now be forever tied with the senator's attempt to overturn a free and fair election.
Hawley is now a pariah among many of his colleagues, openly derided and mocked in his home state and a source of shame for longtime political supporters who helped propel him to his position.
It's a long article but try to read it all! This guy has RUINED himself, and I could not be HAPPIER!!
You know sometimes bad things happen and you feel like the person that had something to do with the bad thing will never see any punishment for this? I am so happy this blowback is happening to him! Just thrilled!
Great article, and I hope is career is shot now. However, given all that Trump has gotten away with, I have my doubts.
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Lloyd Smucker. I just didn't mention it because I figured it wouldn't mean anything to anybody here.
My father had a robo-call from Smucker or his people today. Dad didn't pick up and no message was left--but I would really like to know what that message was.
OK, I'm glad to know that bad things are happening to bad people, but there are still too many crazies out there, and they are armed.
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Lindsey Graham was chased by Trump supporters at an airport, calling him "traitor" for not supporting Trump after the Capital attack.
Apparently the same has happened to Mitt Romney.
Sorry to hear that about Mitt.
About LG, not so much.
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Sorry to hear that about Mitt.
About LG, not so much.
(https://scontent-iad3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/137565469_4936972689677494_6873277829838736799_o.jpg?_nc_cat=105&ccb=2&_nc_sid=dbeb18&_nc_ohc=wKAe0q-qI6EAX9RwC-6&_nc_ht=scontent-iad3-1.xx&oh=6262f125672b0a2d040ce8ce4f49f7d7&oe=602024BD)
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I found out today, as an aside, that Trump gave the Medal of Freedom to 3 professional golfers......... shakes head.
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This is an interesting and thought provoking opinion piece by Michael Gerson in the Washington Post.
Trump’s evangelicals were complicit in the desecration of our democracy
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/trumps-evangelicals-were-complicit-in-the-desecration-of-our-democracy/2021/01/07/69a51402-5110-11eb-83e3-322644d82356_story.html?utm_campaign=wp_post_most&utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&wpisrc=nl_most&carta-url=https%3A%2F%2Fs2.washingtonpost.com%2Fcar-ln-tr%2F2e49456%2F5ff892299d2fda0efba50aab%2F5fecac719bbc0f25124484ac%2F18%2F70%2F5ff892299d2fda0efba50aab
A couple of points that stood out for me:
"We didn’t vote for him to be our pastor or our husband,” explained Penny Nance of Concerned Women for America. “We voted for him to be our bodyguard.” But what if the bodyguard you hired turns out to be a brutish, bigoted, narcissistic, authoritarian thug who wants to burn down any democratic institution he can’t control? Perhaps the moral character of political bodyguards actually matters. Perhaps evangelicals should not be hiring bodyguards in the first place, but rather supporting moral leaders who seek the common good.
The collapse of one disastrous form of Christian social engagement should be an opportunity for the emergence of a more faithful one. And here there are plenty of potent, hopeful Christian principles lying around unused by most evangelicals: A consistent and comprehensive concern for the weak and vulnerable in our society, including the poor, immigrants and refugees. A passion for racial reconciliation and criminal justice reform, rooted in the nonnegotiable demands of human dignity. A deep commitment to public and global health, reflecting the priorities of Christ’s healing ministry. An embrace of political civility as a civilizing norm. A commitment to the liberty of other people’s religions, not just our own. An insistence on public honesty and a belief in the transforming power of unarmed truth.
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The bible-thumping bat-shit crazy evangelicals have totally lost their way when they sold their souls to the devil GoS in pursuit of 2 things:
a) Someone's trying to take away their "religious freedom" BS while all the while THEY are imposing their religious beliefs on the general public.
b) Overturning Roe v. Wade since it was issued. There was a whole crowd of "protestors" outside the women's clinic today when I drove by, waiving signs and praying with Bibles in hand, even megaphones most days.
These religious evangelicals were so lulled by the GoS and GOP's lullaby that they looked the other way on the pure evils right in front of their faces in their "pursue and win at any cost" quest. The means do not justify the ends clearly in this case.
From above link - very well written:
"What would America be like if these had been the priorities of evangelical Christians over the past four years — or over the past four decades? It would mean something very different, in that world, to raise the banner “Jesus Saves.”"
"... because the overwhelming support of evangelicals is the SINGLE largest reason that Trump possesses power in the first place. It was their malignant approach to politics that forced our country into its current nightmare. As white nationalists, conspiracy theorists, misogynists, anarchists, criminals and terrorists took hold of the Republican Party, many evangelicals blessed it under the banner “Jesus Saves.”
Jesus had something to say about political deals with the devil: “Get behind me, Satan!” My point is less theological: The political and religious costs of a tight evangelical alliance with violent bigots and crackpots were easily foreseen. I and many others foresaw and foresaw until our fingers ached at the keyboard. Yet Franklin Graham, Jerry Falwell Jr., Robert Jeffress and the others either shut their eyes or shared in Trumpian hatreds. “There has never been anyone,” said Ralph Reed of the Faith and Freedom Coalition, “who has defended us and who has fought for us, who we have loved more than Donald J. Trump. No one!”
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IF this is real, where are her SS? They're going forward with the inauguration??
https://parler.com/post/9b2e14194c1b441796e8c9e0805fc48b (https://parler.com/post/9b2e14194c1b441796e8c9e0805fc48b)
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^^^
(What is SS? Security ?-something?)
The comments to that video are even more hair raising. Like this one:
They De platformed The President of the United States of America!!!
One of the most, if not the most powerful man on this earth
They stole his voice, which is our voice, the peoples voice, the straight thinking normal ones of society.
If they can do this to the president of the united states of america then what do you think they are going to do to us the small fish in the big ocean.
They are petrified of our voices, they will not listen, they will not reason, the left, big tech and the lame stream media is the enemy of the people.
DO NOT GIVE UP!
DO NOT GIVE IN!
FIGHT FOR OUR RIGHTS!
FIGHT FOR OUR FREEDOMS!
MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!
MAKE BRITAIN GREAT AGAIN!
WE MUST NOT GIVE UP TO THESE TRAITORS, THESE PARASITES OF SOCIETY!!
WE ARE THE PEOPLE!!!
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Secret Service
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The bible-thumping bat-shit crazy evangelicals have totally lost their way when they sold their souls to the devil GoS in pursuit of 2 things:
a) Someone's trying to take away their "religious freedom" BS while all the while THEY are impose their religious beliefs on the general public.
In breaking news:
Donald Trump Launches 'Parting Assault on the LGBT+ Community’ by Stripping Discrimination Protections
Amid the fallout from extremist riots at the US capitol, Trump’s Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has officially adopted new rules allowing recipients of federal HHS grants to discriminate against LGBT+ people in the name of religious freedom.
https://www.pnews.org/2021/01/09/donald-trump-lgbt-discrimination (https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2021/01/09/donald-trump-lgbt-discrimination-protections-health-human-services/?fbclid=IwAR2Jx_q5XkYjMeVkM4NRTnVeHFQOkyAoQqIih7UfpmOFjKvlUVBZk2YNNsQ)
Amid Coup Chaos, Trump Quietly Erases LGBTQ Protections in Adoption, Health Services
HHS went public on Thursday with the final rule, which rescinds regulations implemented in the Obama administration barring discrimination among HHS grantees with respect to sex, religion, sexual orientation and gender identity. The change also rescinds the Obama-era regulations requiring HHS grantees to “treat as valid the marriages of same-sex couples.”
Although Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which governs federal programs, prohibits discrimination based on race, color, or national origin, it doesn’t prohibit anti-LGBTQ discrimination, so the regulation allows considerable discrimination in federal programs against LGBTQ people.
https://www.washingtonblade.com/2021/01/09/trump-erases-lgbtq-protections/ (https://www.washingtonblade.com/2021/01/08/amid-coup-chaos-trump-quietly-erases-lgbtq-protections-in-adoption-health-services/)
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Lloyd Smucker.
My father had a robo-call from Smucker or his people today. Dad didn't pick up and no message was left--but I would really like to know what that message was.
When I talked to my father last night, he said that he had voted Republican ever since he was eligible to vote (he's now 90 years old), and now he feels ashamed.
OK, somebody might feel he should feel ashamed, but it still hurts that my 90-year-old father, who is a veteran, feels ashamed.
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Part of a recent post:
Last month I was the only one on the shuttle and I began talking to the driver. She talked about Covid and respecting all the science telling us all to stay home and not go out and wearing masks and all the other precautions. But then she said she had problems with wanting to take the vaccine. She said she didn't trust it. I asked her why. One reason is that she apparently had heard about the ideas swirling about that it was going to be used to track people somehow.
I told her I didn't believe that for a second. "I don't know," she said. I told her if the Government or anyone wanted to track people all they'd have to do is use the cellphones everyone has already. They don't need to be putting it in Covid doses. I told her the vehicle she's driving is tracked online via NextBus and I myself could find out where she is any time of the day.
This woman I had been talking to on the shuttle is a black woman and last night on the news I heard that Latino and Black communities are high percentages of those who are skeptical of taking the vaccine. Besides the fact many minority communities have reasons to be skeptical when it comes to some things...
Here's what we do to counter. Reverse psychology. We start spreading the theory that the Trump right-wingers are spreading the rumor about it being dangerous to take the vaccine because they don't want minorities to take the vaccine, they don't care if they succumb to it. So fight back and show them--take the vaccine.
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^^^ Biden/Harris just need to hit re-wind and undo EVERYTHING that the GOS and GOP did in the past 4 years... or as much of it as they can. Some, like appointments to the SCOTUS, and other appointments I read cannot be undone as easily. All these BS regs can be reversed and drilling and selling rights - can be rescinded. It's more gifts to those bat-shit crazy evangelicals who the GOP wants to keep in their pocket - evil or not. Though pressure is now mounting for the one of the older conservatives Breyer to step down. I can only hope so.
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For those with WaPo access, here's a timeline of the events of 6 January.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/interactive/2021/capitol-insurrection-visual-timeline/?utm_campaign=wp_main&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook&fbclid=IwAR2qZaDZ9lbefekOeFrLeBDteWPht7tBpJ8U9WOXufFFstjSD8f-t8ED0t0
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^^^
(What is SS? Security ?-something?)
The comments to that video are even more hair raising. Like this one:
They De platformed The President of the United States of America!!!
One of the most, if not the most powerful man on this earth
They stole his voice, which is our voice, the peoples voice, the straight thinking normal ones of society.
If they can do this to the president of the united states of america then what do you think they are going to do to us the small fish in the big ocean.
They are petrified of our voices, they will not listen, they will not reason, the left, big tech and the lame stream media is the enemy of the people.
DO NOT GIVE UP!
DO NOT GIVE IN!
FIGHT FOR OUR RIGHTS!
FIGHT FOR OUR FREEDOMS!
MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!
MAKE BRITAIN GREAT AGAIN!
WE MUST NOT GIVE UP TO THESE TRAITORS, THESE PARASITES OF SOCIETY!!
WE ARE THE PEOPLE!!!
BRITAIN?? :o
How dare they link my country with those bigoted, hate-filled, blinkered idiots?
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Hate is everywhere, Sara, even Britain...consider yourself lucky that they haven't yet done the worst, like they did here.
The U.K. Media’s Unwillingness To Address Racism & White Supremacy
To say that Britain is not racist is to ignore the overt racism of its continuing scandals: Grenfell Tower, the Windrush generation, and the government’s suppression of reports concerning the higher COVID-19 death rate for black and minority ethnic (BAME) people. It also ignores the historic racism, such as the white elite continuing to enjoy financial and political power accumulated off the back of the British slave trade. It also certainly ignores the systemic racism, proven time after time through inquests such as those into the corrupt police investigation of Stephen Lawrence’s racially motivated murder.
https://theowp.org/the-u-k-medias-unwillingness-to-address-racism-white-supremacy/ (https://theowp.org/the-u-k-medias-unwillingness-to-address-racism-white-supremacy/)
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Arnold Schwarzenegger has delivered a heartfelt address about recent events.
https://www.joemygod.com/2021/01/viral-video-schwarzenegger-compares-capitol-riot-to-kristallnacht-says-i-know-where-trumps-lies-lead/
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that video was amazing!
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Very very powerful. Well done.
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Thanks for bringing that to our attention, Fritz.
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(https://pbs.twimg.com/card_img/1347226531819565056/qR8qZTM6?format=jpg&name=small)
Forbes Chief Content Officer warns against hiring Kayleigh Mcenany or any other prominent Trump flacks:
“Hire any of Trump’s fellow fabulists above, and Forbes will assume
that everything your company or firm talks about is a lie.”
A Truth Reckoning: Why We’re Holding Those Who Lied For Trump Accountable
As American democracy rebounds, we need to return to a standard of truth when it comes to how the government communicates with the governed.
https://www.forbes.com/a-truth-reckoning-why-were-holding-those-who-lied-for-trump-accountable/ (https://www.forbes.com/sites/randalllane/2021/01/07/a-truth-reckoning-why-were-holding-those-who-lied-for-trump-accountable/?sh=48ad73195710)
Opening paragraphs:
[This week’s] insurrection was rooted in lies. That a fair election was stolen. That a significant defeat was actually a landslide victory. That the world’s oldest democracy, ingeniously insulated via autonomous state voting regimens, is a rigged system. Such lies-upon-lies, repeated frequently and fervently, provided the kindling, the spark, the gasoline.
That Donald Trump devolved from commander-in-chief to liar-in-chief didn’t surprise Forbes: As we’ve chronicled early and often, for all his billions and Barnum-like abilities, he’s been shamelessly exaggerating and prevaricating to our faces for almost four decades.
More astonishing: the number of people willing to lend credence to that obvious mendacity on his behalf.
In this time of transition – and pain – reinvigorating democracy requires a reckoning. A truth reckoning. Starting with the people paid by the People to inform the People.
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I found out today, as an aside, that Trump gave the Medal of Freedom to 3 professional golfers......... shakes head.
A couple headlines:
Golfweek
Annika Sorenstam, Gary Player Shame Golf
by Accepting Presidential Medal of Freedom
from Donald Trump
New York Post
Gary Player's Son 'Shames' Golfing Legend
for Accepting Medal of Freedom from Trump
The son of Gary Player was incensed the golfing legend went
through with receiving the Medal of Freedom on Thursday from
President Trump.
ESPN
Two Hall of Fame Golfers Are Getting Torched
for Accepting the Presidential Medal of Freedom
from Donald Trump
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P.S.: The third golfer awarded was Babe Didrikson Zaharias.
I've known of her, particularly from her participation in the 1932 Los Angeles Olympics.
Info:
Mildred Ella "Babe" Didrikson Zaharias was an American athlete who excelled in golf, basketball, baseball and track and field. She won two gold medals in track and field at the 1932 Summer Olympics, before turning to professional golf and winning 10 LPGA major championships.
I don't know if anyone accepted this in her name. I prefer to think no one did, so I didn't look it up.
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Hate is everywhere, Sara, even Britain...consider yourself lucky that they haven't yet done the worst, like they did here.
The U.K. Media’s Unwillingness To Address Racism & White Supremacy
To say that Britain is not racist is to ignore the overt racism of its continuing scandals: Grenfell Tower, the Windrush generation, and the government’s suppression of reports concerning the higher COVID-19 death rate for black and minority ethnic (BAME) people. It also ignores the historic racism, such as the white elite continuing to enjoy financial and political power accumulated off the back of the British slave trade. It also certainly ignores the systemic racism, proven time after time through inquests such as those into the corrupt police investigation of Stephen Lawrence’s racially motivated murder.
https://theowp.org/the-u-k-medias-unwillingness-to-address-racism-white-supremacy/ (https://theowp.org/the-u-k-medias-unwillingness-to-address-racism-white-supremacy/)
I’m not sure why you’ve thrown all this at me.😢
I think you misunderstand me again, Nancy. :)
And by the way, the UK media are constantly pointing out all the above. In particular the higher rate of Covid deaths, for whatever reason, is very much in the news. And there are certainly plenty of racist people in Britain, to our shame.
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The comments to that video are even more hair raising. Like this one:
They De platformed The President of the United States of America!!!
One of the most, if not the most powerful man on this earth
They stole his voice, which is our voice, the peoples voice, the straight thinking normal ones of society.
If they can do this to the president of the united states of america then what do you think they are going to do to us the small fish in the big ocean.
They are petrified of our voices, they will not listen, they will not reason, the left, big tech and the lame stream media is the enemy of the people.
DO NOT GIVE UP!
DO NOT GIVE IN!
FIGHT FOR OUR RIGHTS!
FIGHT FOR OUR FREEDOMS!
MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!
MAKE BRITAIN GREAT AGAIN!
WE MUST NOT GIVE UP TO THESE TRAITORS, THESE PARASITES OF SOCIETY!!
WE ARE THE PEOPLE!!!
These comments terrify me. I mean, seriously, they really terrify me.
It's fine to think of holding accountable all those people who lied for Trump--and they should be held accountable--but the people who need to learn the truth aren't listening. Their minds have been so poisoned that anything that doesn't affirm their own beliefs is immediately discounted.
I read once somewhere that somebody once walked up to Sarah Huckabee Sanders and asked her to her face what it was like to lie for a living.
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I’m not sure why you’ve thrown all this at me.😢
I think you misunderstand me again, Nancy. :)
And by the way, the UK media are constantly pointing out all the above. In particular the higher rate of Covid deaths, for whatever reason, is very much in the news. And there are certainly plenty of racist people in Britain, to our shame.
*sigh*
You said this:
How dare they link my country with those bigoted, hate-filled, blinkered idiots?
I said this:
Hate is everywhere, Sara, even Britain...consider yourself lucky that they haven't yet done the worst, like they did here.
I don’t know what “I’m not sure why you’ve thrown all this at me” means.
If you’d rather I not respond to any of your posts, just say so.
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^^^ I consider the current and every former "press secretaries" for the GoS along with that *@(*@* Kellyanne Conway's "alternative version of the facts" indeed "professional liars by trade" and by that I mean, people who's skill is to look you in the eye and lie, lie, lie. They would make good lobbyists and probably will. How they live with themselves and sleep at night is beyond my understanding.
Oh I'm sure some "moral-less" organization will hire them to do what they do best..
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^^^
Kayleigh Mcenany's first statement to the press was "I'll never lie to you". Guess that was her first lie...
White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany: "I will never lie to you. You have my word on that."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9zoiTTvDjGg (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9zoiTTvDjGg)
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I would still like to know:
Antifa means antifascism or antifascist.
So if you oppose Antifa, I guess that makes you a fascist?
As of this morning, the top look-ups on the Webster's website include insurrection, fascism, impeach, Antifa, and sedition.
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Talk radio company orders hosts to stop suggesting election was stolen from Trump
By Zack Budryk - 01/11/21
A talk radio company that employs some of the nation’s most popular conservative radio hosts has issued a memo barring talent from spreading conspiracy theories about the 2020 presidential election.
“We need to help induce national calm NOW,” wrote an executive with Cumulus Media in a Wednesday directive, the same day as the deadly riot at the U.S. Capitol by a pro-Trump mob, according to The Washington Post.
Brian Philips, the company’s executive vice president, went on to say Cumulus and its program syndication branch, Westwood One, “will not tolerate any suggestion that the election has not ended. The election has been resolved and there are no alternate acceptable ‘paths’. ” “If you transgress this policy, you can expect to separate from the company immediately,” he added.
Cumulus hosts include Mark Levin, Ben Shapiro and Dan Bongino. Rush Limbaugh, who is broadcast on numerous Cumulus stations but syndicated by Premiere Networks, is not subject to the directive.
It remains to be seen whether hosts like Levin who have built a strong personal brand will abide by the memo and whether Cumulus would be willing to take major disciplinary action if they do not. As recently as Thursday, a day after the riot, Levin seemingly denied responsibility for inciting the unrest, saying: “I’m not stirring up a damn thing. Everything I say is based on principle and mission. Everything is based on liberty, family, faith, the Constitution. ... My enemies and my critics can’t say the same.”
https://thehill.com/homenews/media/533616-talk-radio-company-orders-hosts-to-stop-suggesting-election-was-stolen-from
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I haven't been scouring the news for info, so some of you may know these things.
This was a segment on All In from Friday evening:
Must-See New Video Shows Capitol Riot Was Way Worse Than We Thought
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lhjRXO72v1s
In the above, Chris Hayes talks of harming Nancy Pelosi and Mike Pence was a "possibility".
Today, on Morning Joe, Joe Scarborough says:
"Let's be very clear about this. It was well organized. It was organized online. There was the goal of killing Nancy Pelosi. There was the goal of killing Mike Pence."
Disturbing New Video And Details Emerge From Capitol Riot | Morning Joe
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FWeenH7VoYU
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I hope they disbar him
New York State Bar Association considers removing Giuliani for telling MAGA rally crowd to use 'trial by combat' before they stormed Capitol
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9135129/NY-State-Bar-Association-probing-removing-Giuliani-telling-MAGA-crowd-use-trial-combat.html?ito=push-notification&ci=67505&si=23934553 (https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9135129/NY-State-Bar-Association-probing-removing-Giuliani-telling-MAGA-crowd-use-trial-combat.html?ito=push-notification&ci=67505&si=23934553)
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I haven't been scouring the news for info, so some of you may know these things.
This was a segment on All In from Friday evening:
Must-See New Video Shows Capitol Riot Was Way Worse Than We Thought
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lhjRXO72v1s
In the above, Chris Hayes talks of harming Nancy Pelosi and Mike Pence was a "possibility".
Today, on Morning Joe, Joe Scarborough says:
"Let's be very clear about this. It was well organized. It was organized online. There was the goal of killing Nancy Pelosi. There was the goal of killing Mike Pence."
Disturbing New Video And Details Emerge From Capitol Riot | Morning Joe
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FWeenH7VoYU
the picture of the terrorist with zip ties is pretty scary, I mean he meant to use them on someone. They were screaming Hang Pence, they had erected a gallows and noose on the grounds.
this guy is retired Air Force
(https://images.foxtv.com/static.fox5dc.com/www.fox5dc.com/content/uploads/2021/01/764/432/zip-ties.jpg?ve=1&tl=1)
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(https://cbsnews1.cbsistatic.com/hub/i/r/2021/01/10/d7a3e816-c4af-4f27-afd1-1109007d60cb/thumbnail/1200x630/d0153a574782ac0eea679f2ccf18a281/gettyimages-1294932395-cropped.jpg)
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Talk radio company orders hosts to stop suggesting election was stolen from Trump
An article headline I read this morning:
Trump's Voter Fraud Lies Encouraged a Riot.
GOP Allies are Still Giving them Oxygen.
Since the extremely close 2000 election the Republicans have been stoking fears of "voter fraud"
allegations which are unfounded. But little by little their supporters hear all the lies and start to
believe them. By the 2008 election 52% of Republicans believed voter fraud was a major problem.
Is it any wonder with the aid and abetting of Donald Trump, the voter fraud lies have erupted into
violence.
___
Maybe appropriate quote, in any case, I like it:
"When stupidity is considered patriotism, it is unsafe to be intelligent."
- Isaac Asimov
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I hope they disbar him
New York State Bar Association considers removing Giuliani for telling MAGA rally crowd to use 'trial by combat' before they stormed Capitol
CONSIDERS? To quote Niké: JUST DO IT.
-
I hope they disbar him
New York State Bar Association considers removing Giuliani for telling MAGA rally crowd to use 'trial by combat' before they stormed Capitol
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9135129/NY-State-Bar-Association-probing-removing-Giuliani-telling-MAGA-crowd-use-trial-combat.html?ito=push-notification&ci=67505&si=23934553 (https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9135129/NY-State-Bar-Association-probing-removing-Giuliani-telling-MAGA-crowd-use-trial-combat.html?ito=push-notification&ci=67505&si=23934553)
Oh, that should happen. People need to pay for what happened.
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This morning Democrats introduced a resolution calling on Pence to invoke the 25th Amendment.
ME: You'd think since Trump was trying to have him killed, he would do it.
Rep. Steny Hoyer introduced a resolution calling on Vice President Pence to invoke the 25th Amendment and remove President Trump from office, but Republicans objected to a unanimous consent request to pass it.
ME: Traitors. It seems, I guess, this is a Republican delay tactic, so that it moves more slowly before a vote. I say, just get to the article of impeachment. We know that it would pass in the House. Would the Senate convict him with 2/3 of the vote needed to do so? 66 Senators? Well, we know there'd be over 50. Also, the rules seem to state that it would have to be 2/3 of "the Senators present." If a number of Republicans stayed away from the vote, they could easily get 2/3 of those remaining. The biggest thing about going ahead with this is that if the vote to convict happened, they then take a vote, that only needs a simple majority, on whether the convictee (that's you, Donald) would be barred from holding any public office again. (It would also mean, whether he intended to run again or not, he couldn't keep raising money off the possibility.)
Wouldn't that be great to take off the table?
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Talk radio company orders hosts to stop suggesting election was stolen from Trump
By Zack Budryk - 01/11/21
A talk radio company that employs some of the nation’s most popular conservative radio hosts has issued a memo barring talent from spreading conspiracy theories about the 2020 presidential election.
“We need to help induce national calm NOW,” wrote an executive with Cumulus Media in a Wednesday directive, the same day as the deadly riot at the U.S. Capitol by a pro-Trump mob, according to The Washington Post.
Brian Philips, the company’s executive vice president, went on to say Cumulus and its program syndication branch, Westwood One, “will not tolerate any suggestion that the election has not ended. The election has been resolved and there are no alternate acceptable ‘paths’. ” “If you transgress this policy, you can expect to separate from the company immediately,” he added.
Cumulus hosts include Mark Levin, Ben Shapiro and Dan Bongino. Rush Limbaugh, who is broadcast on numerous Cumulus stations but syndicated by Premiere Networks, is not subject to the directive.
It remains to be seen whether hosts like Levin who have built a strong personal brand will abide by the memo and whether Cumulus would be willing to take major disciplinary action if they do not. As recently as Thursday, a day after the riot, Levin seemingly denied responsibility for inciting the unrest, saying: “I’m not stirring up a damn thing. Everything I say is based on principle and mission. Everything is based on liberty, family, faith, the Constitution. ... My enemies and my critics can’t say the same.”
https://thehill.com/homenews/media/533616-talk-radio-company-orders-hosts-to-stop-suggesting-election-was-stolen-from
I expect that the Sinclair stations won't let up.
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Bitch, please...
Gay Trump Supporter Was Proud to “Storm the Capitol.” Now He Says He’s “in fear for my life.”
“I’m scared,” Kristopher Dreww said, on the verge of tears. “I fear for my life.” He wasn't nearly
as worried about the people in the Capitol when it was stormed by insurrectionists.
by Alex Bollinger Monday, January 11, 2021
He calls himself "the adorable deplorable."
___
Meanwhile, a gay man doing something more worthwhile...
The First Congressional Candidate of 2021 Would Be New Mexico’s First LGBTQ Member of Congress
Victor Reyes is vying for the seat of Rep. Deb Haaland (D-NM), who has been nominated for Secretary
of the Interior by President-Elect Joe Biden.
by Molly Sprayregen Monday, January 11, 2021
Queer, progressive New Mexico congressional candidate, Victor Reyes has spent his entire life learning to
advocate for others. Reyes is currently the Legislative Director for New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham.
(https://abuwjaawap.cloudimg.io/v7/_lgbtqnation-assets_/assets/2021/01/A001-11060654-C027.00-01-42-27.Still001-scaled.jpg)
Good luck to Victor. (Heh, when he wins, the headline could be Victor/Victorious.)
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;D ;D ;D
That would be great!
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Today, on Morning Joe, Joe Scarborough says:
"Let's be very clear about this. It was well organized. It was organized online. There was the goal of killing Nancy Pelosi. There was the goal of killing Mike Pence."
I have no doubt.
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(CNN)The FBI has received information indicating "armed protests" are being planned at all 50 state capitols and the US Capitol in Washington, DC in the days leading up to President-elect Joe Biden's inauguration on January 20, according to an internal bulletin obtained by CNN.
"Armed protests are being planned at all 50 state capitols from 16 January through at least 20 January, and at the US Capitol from 17 January through 20 January," it says.
The bulletin, which was circulated after rioters stormed the US Capitol last week, also suggests there are threats of an "uprising" if President Donald Trump is removed via the 25th Amendment before inauguration day.
https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/11/politics/fbi-bulletin-armed-protests-state-us-capitol/index.html (https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/11/politics/fbi-bulletin-armed-protests-state-us-capitol/index.html)
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2 Capitol Police officers suspended and another individual arrested for their alleged roles in riot
(CNN)Two Capitol Police officers have been suspended and another individual has been arrested for their alleged roles in the riot at the US Capitol on January 6, said Rep. Tim Ryan.
"There were two people suspended. One was the selfie officer and another was an officer who had put a MAGA hat on and started directing some people around," said Ryan, an Ohio Democrat who is chair of the House subcommittee handling the investigation into the response to the insurrection. "It was the interim chief who determined that to be qualifying for immediate suspension."
Ryan had fewer details about the individual who was arrested, and was not sure if the person was a police officer or a member of the National Guard. He told reporters he would have more details later.
He added that there are approximately 10 to 15 Capitol Police officers under investigation for their behavior during the riot but did not have more specifics.
https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/11/politics/capitol-police-officers-suspended-tim-ryan/index.html (https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/11/politics/capitol-police-officers-suspended-tim-ryan/index.html)
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the repercussions keep coming.
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and we have another resignation
Acting Secretary of Homeland Security Chad Wolf resigns; FEMA Administrator Pete Gaynor to take over
By Priscilla Alvarez and Geneva Sands - 01/11/2021
Chad Wolf is resigning as the acting secretary of Homeland Security, he said in a letter to the department Monday obtained by CNN.
Federal Emergency Management Agency Administrator Pete Gaynor will be the new acting secretary, taking over in the wake of the US Capitol attack and as the national security apparatus prepares for possible violence leading up to Inauguration Day.
"I am saddened to take this step, as it was my intention to serve the Department until the end of this Administration," Wolf wrote, citing ongoing litigation challenging the validity of his appointment. "Unfortunately, this action is warranted by recent events, including the ongoing and meritless court rulings regarding the validity of my authority as Acting Secretary. These events and concerns increasingly serve to divert attention and resources away from the important work of the Department in this critical time of a transition of power," Wolf added.'
Wolf was in the chief role at the department in an acting capacity for 14 months. His tenure has repeatedly come up in litigation against the Trump administration's immigration actions, most recently last week regarding asylum limits.
https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/11/politics/chad-wolf-homeland-security/index.html
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Rats. Ship.
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EXCLUSIVE: Ivanka has bust up with her dad over her plan to go to Biden's inauguration...
Ivanka Trump had plans to attend Joe Biden's inauguration on January 20 - much to her father's chagrin, according to a White House insider, in order to save her aspiring political career as the White House plunges further into chaos and is being dubbed a 'circus on steroids.
'Ivanka is worried that her promising political career is in jeopardy and she's doing whatever she can to save her reputation,' the source says.
But President Trump was up in arms about Ivanka's decision.
'He said it's an insult that she would even want to engage with the crooks that are trying to bring him down,' says the insider, adding that Trump said the family must stand together and put on a united front.
'The president told his daughter that her presence at the inauguration will cost her thousands of supporters and would be the worst decision she could ever make,' they say.
Ivanka was convinced that by attending Biden's inauguration she would come across as 'being a good sport and will gain future supporters,' the source says.
'She said she has to protect her own political aspirations and isn't about to muck it all up by attending her dad's 2024 campaign kick-off which is set for the same day. She's leaving that for her dad and Don Jr.'
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9134437/Ivanka-Trump-planning-attend-Bidens-inauguration-save-political-career.html?ito=push-notification&ci=67568&si=23934553 (https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9134437/Ivanka-Trump-planning-attend-Bidens-inauguration-save-political-career.html?ito=push-notification&ci=67568&si=23934553)
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I am glad for the repercussions, but the threat of armed
demonstrations insurrections does not surprise me.
"We have scorch'd the snake, not kill'd it;
She'll close and be herself, whilest our poor malice
Remains in danger of her former tooth."
I really do hope there is a hell so the Great Orange Satan can burn in it everlastingly for what he has brought upon this nation.
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One, at least, recipient of the Medal of Freedom has the integrity to refuse it as proffered by T. I hope he accepts it if offered by President Biden.
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/patriots-bill-belichick-medal-freedom-trump_n_5ffcf165c5b66f3f796085a1?fbclid=IwAR1QoxVRnkv6keDz0SxzBMWoUvQdOtDw_Aaw_jZJ-j9NHwG36mzUYKT_zUQ
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the picture of the terrorist with zip ties is pretty scary, I mean he meant to use them on someone. They were screaming Hang Pence, they had erected a gallows and noose on the grounds.
this guy is retired Air Force
(https://images.foxtv.com/static.fox5dc.com/www.fox5dc.com/content/uploads/2021/01/764/432/zip-ties.jpg?ve=1&tl=1)
And his ex-wife turned him in.
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And his ex-wife turned him in.
:laugh: Good for her!
She's the real patriot here.
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ok, here's what I don't understand...the FBI issued a bulletin warning US, the American people, of armed protests in all 50 states.
WHERE IS LAW ENFORCEMENT? Why aren't they warning the terrorists? Why aren't there daily press conferences warning the terrorists that deadly force will be used, tear gas, tanks, show up at their own peril. They're letting them win before anything starts.
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^^^ CNN is pissing me off! They're wringing their hands, clutching their pearls, asking the other talking heads, "what do you think about this latest bulletin?" "this has never happened before" "what are we going to do?" NOT ONCE talking about the absence of law enforcement leadership. Why are they not getting the word out? It's as if they're hiding, and putting the terrorists in control of the situation. Every state capitol should be issuing daily statements warning of the danger to the terrorists if they choose to show up armed to do harm, escalating the threat to the terrorists. I'm baffled by their lack of involvement. I know they're working behind the scenes, but we need a show of force by someone other than the terrorists.
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law enforcement needs to put up a show of strength. Especially since when it was BLM marching, there were officers everywhere.
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Talk about Rats/Ship
I can't remember if this was said here or I read it several places elsewhere.
Companies are halting donations to Congress members who backed overturning the election result.
Large corporations and their lobbyists usually try to steer clear of messy political fights. Companies prefer to work behind the scenes, giving money to both political parties and quietly influencing tax policy, spending and regulation.
But President Trump’s effort to overturn the result of the presidential election — and the violent attack on Congress by his supporters — has created a dilemma for many companies. A growing number have decided that they are, at least for now, not willing to support members of Congress who backed Trump’s efforts to change the election result and promoted lies about election fraud.
Over the weekend, several large companies — Marriott, Blue Cross Blue Shield and Commerce Bancshares — announced a suspension of donations to members of Congress who voted against election certification. Yesterday, the list expanded to Amazon, AT&T, Comcast, Airbnb, Mastercard, Verizon and Dow, the chemical company. Hallmark has even asked for its money back from two of the senators who opposed certification, Josh Hawley and Roger Marshall.
“Just a few days ago, this would have been unthinkable,” Judd Legum — the author of the Popular Information newsletter, who has done the best recent reporting on corporate donations — told me.
In the Senate, the temporary ban on donations will also affect Rick Scott of Florida, Ted Cruz of Texas and a few other members. In the House, the group includes more than half of the Republican caucus, including its two top leaders, Kevin McCarthy and Steve Scalise.
"We have to create some level of cost,” Thomas Glocer, a board member at Morgan Stanley and Merck, told The Wall Street Journal. “Money is the key way.”
The National Association of Manufacturers, long one of the more conservative business lobbying groups, has been particularly harsh. It called out Republicans who “cheered on” Trump during his “disgusting” effort to overturn the election, which it said had “inflamed violent anger.” The association added: “This is sedition and should be treated as such.”
Still, many large companies have not announced a change. (And other companies, like Goldman Sachs and Google’s parent, have announced a pause on all political donations — a move that seems designed to prevent public criticism while also not angering politicians who supported attempted election fraud.)
McDonald’s and the tobacco company Altria, which are among the top 20 donors to McCarthy, the House Republican leader, have not announced a halt on donations to any Congress members. Neither has Bank of America (a major donor to Scott), although it said it would “review its decision making.”
The well-connected law firm Squire Patton Boggs has also not announced any policy change. It has donated to Paul Gosar, a House member from Arizona who helped promote the Jan. 6 rally that turned violent, tweeting “#FightForTrump” and “The Time Is Now. Hold the Line.”
What’s the bottom line? I asked Andrew Ross Sorkin, the Times columnist who has spent two decades covering corporate leaders, and he said that the announcements amounted to “temporary defensive moves.” The real question was whether, six months from now, the companies would go back to donating to the politicians who supported overturning a presidential election.
I copied the article in it's entirety, as it is from the NY Times, and they require a subscription to read the whole thing.
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uh...ok, Denmark...what the hell? And we think Hollywood is bad.
Denmark’s new children’s show about a ‘man with very long penis’ receives backlash
John Dillermand (danish for penis-man) is a Danish animated TV series about a man who has superhuman penis. His genitals can extend to a few meters long, and he uses it to do his daily tasks and, at times, get out of trouble.
In some episodes of the show, John can be seen using his penis as a leash, a helicopter, a pogo stick and even as a weapon to save the day.
https://pop.inquirer.net/103612/denmarks-new-childrens-show-about-a-man-with-very-long-penis-receives-backlash (https://pop.inquirer.net/103612/denmarks-new-childrens-show-about-a-man-with-very-long-penis-receives-backlash)
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:o
who would think that this is appropriate?
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Deutsche Bank cuts ties with Trump after Capitol attack
By Zachary Warmbrodt - 01/12/2021
Deutsche Bank, one of President Donald Trump’s main lenders, plans to distance itself from its best-known client in the wake of last week’s Capitol insurrection, creating a new threat to Trump's finances once he leaves office.
The German bank will no longer do business with Trump or his company going forward, according to a person familiar with the matter. Trump owes the bank more than $300 million.
Separately, New York's Signature Bank said it is closing Trump's personal accounts and calling for his resignation. The bank is pledging to no longer do business with any members of Congress who objected to the certification of President-elect Joe Biden's election last week.
"To witness a rioter sitting in the presiding chair of the U.S. Senate and our elected representatives being told to seek cover under their seats is appalling and an insult to the Republic," Signature Bank said in a statement. "We witnessed the President of the United States encouraging the rioters and refraining from calling in the National Guard to protect the Congress in its performance of duty."
The moves by Trump's banks are the clearest signs yet of looming financial blowback to his business empire as he leaves office facing widespread repudiation for stoking the Jan. 6 mob attack that disrupted Biden's election certification. A growing number of major financial institutions and other corporations have spoken out against the events and announced plans to cut off financial support for Republican officials.
https://www.politico.com/news/2021/01/12/deutsche-bank-cuts-ties-trump-458193
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cutting ties w/trump
The Professional Golf Association (PGA) of America
The golfing association will no longer be hosting the 2022 PGA Championship at the Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, New Jersey.
Stripe
The online payment processing company announced it will no longer be processing payments for the Trump campaign website, citing violations of the company's user policy, which bans users from promoting violence on its platform.
Shopify
The e-commerce platform has shut down online stores selling Trump merchandise, including ones run by the Trump Organization and Trump campaign.
Comcast
The major cable company and media group is withholding donations to those who voted against the certification of the presidential election.
Hallmark
The greeting card company noted in a statement that "the recent actions of Senators Josh Hawley [of Missouri] and Roger Marshall [of Kansas] do not reflect our company's values," and said it "requested Sens. Hawley and Marshall to return all HALLPAC campaign contributions."
Below are other companies that have suspended contributions for those who voted against the certification of the election results.
1. Airbnb
2. American Express
3. AT&T
4. Best Buy
5. Blue Cross Blue Shield Association
6. Mastercard
7. Morgan Stanley
8. Verizon
Financial institutions
Four of the country’s largest banks, JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, Citigroup and Morgan Stanley, said they would temporarily stop sending donations from their political action committees. The banks have raised hundreds of thousands of dollars and donated to candidates of both parties.
The chemicals giant Dow also said it was suspending all PAC contributions “to any member of Congress who voted to object to the certification of the presidential election.” The suspension will last for one election cycle — two years for representatives and up to six years for senators.
American Airlines said that beginning on Monday, it would pause all of its political donations for three months while the company reviewed its giving practices.
The Blue Cross Blue Shield Association, one of the nation’s largest federations of insurance companies, announced on Friday that it was suspending political contributions to Republicans in Congress who tried to block the electoral vote tallies for President-elect Joe Biden
The hotel giant Marriott International said it was taking similar action.
The Coca-Cola Co said in a statement that it would also suspend political giving: “These events will long be remembered and will factor into our future contribution decisions.”
And the shipping company FedEx said in a statement that it condemned the violence in Washington last week and supported the results of the presidential election. “We are reviewing all future political contributions,” it added.
Last week, two institutions, Lehigh University in Pennsylvania & Wagner College on Staten Island announced that they had rescinded the honorary degrees they had previously awarded to Trump, and another said it was considering doing the same for Giuliani.
In Vermont, Middlebury College is reconsidering its relationship with Giuliani.
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^^^
If any of these places had done this 1-2-3-4-5---20 years ago I might be inclined to have a little more respect for them.
Sane people have known Trump is bad news for decades.
And what does "withholding donations" means. That implies a future donation, not just right now.
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Denmark’s new children’s show about a ‘man with very long penis’ receives backlash
John Dillermand (danish for penis-man) is a Danish animated TV series about a man who has superhuman penis. His genitals can extend to a few meters long, and he uses it to do his daily tasks and, at times, get out of trouble.
Some of the nightly shows like Colbert were talking about this last week.
If you see the character it isn't as weird at it sounds as it just looks like a really long tail and he's dressed, though how you'd design that red & white striped outfit is beyond me. Of course people are going to over-react to this. Some of the article has people calling the show pornographic. If they want to really enrage people they should say he's gay, too.
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One, at least, recipient of the Medal of Freedom has the integrity to refuse it as proffered by T. I hope he accepts it if offered by President Biden.
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/patriots-bill-belichick-medal-freedom-trump_n_5ffcf165c5b66f3f796085a1?fbclid=IwAR1QoxVRnkv6keDz0SxzBMWoUvQdOtDw_Aaw_jZJ-j9NHwG36mzUYKT_zUQ
He's one person I thought WOULD accept it. He & Trump are supposed to be buddies, aren't they? He's expressed support for Trump many times. Call me cynical, but he's just protecting his business. Belichick still said, after all, that, "he had been 'flattered' to receive the honor."
And why would Belichick be given a "Presidential Medal of Freedom" honor anyway? I guess #3 can be very broadly interpreted:
The Presidential Medal of Freedom is awarded by the president of the United States "for especially meritorious contribution to (1) the security or national interests of the United States, or (2) world peace, or (3) cultural or other significant public or private endeavors".
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And why would Belichick be given a "Presidential Medal of Freedom" honor anyway?
You could ask the same question about the golfers. Did they get it for playing at Trump's golf club?
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^^^
If any of these places had done this 1-2-3-4-5---20 years ago I might be inclined to have a little more respect for them.
Sane people have known Trump is bad news for decades.
And what does "withholding donations" means. That implies a future donation, not just right now.
Maybe it means "withholding" money from someone who voted against certifying and giving it to a future opponent?
I wonder how much money we're talking about here, individually and in total? I bet none of those who voted not to certify expected this blowback.
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EXCLUSIVE: Ivanka has bust up with her dad over her plan to go to Biden's inauguration...
'Ivanka is worried that her promising political career is in jeopardy and she's doing whatever she can to save her reputation,' the source says.
This is why Donald and now Ivanka are not qualified for holding political office. They are so unselfaware that they do not know they are supremely unqualified to do so. They may be good at pulling the wool over the eyes of many people, giving them the old "razzle-dazzle" (listen to that song from Chicago) which makes them dangerous, but NOT qualified.
'Trump said it's an insult that she would even want to engage with the crooks that are trying to bring him down,' says the insider.
The people that brought you down, Donald are 81 million+ strong.
'The president told his daughter that her presence at the inauguration will cost her thousands of supporters and would be the worst decision she could ever make,' they say.
Ivanka was convinced that by attending Biden's inauguration she would come across as 'being a good sport and will gain future supporters,' the source says.
Did I say not self aware?
'She said she has to protect her own political aspirations and isn't about to muck it all up by attending her dad's 2024 campaign kick-off which is set for the same day. She's leaving that for her dad and Don Jr.'
I didn't know Trump actually decided to do that. Not surprised. He keeps the cash flowing in if he does it immediately.
But, please media, DO NOT COVER IT. To quote a popular Disney song, "Let It Go." Freeze him out.
Donald, most of the world wants you to GO AWAY.
(And for Ivanka - Goya-way.)
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^^^
If any of these places had done this 1-2-3-4-5---20 years ago I might be inclined to have a little more respect for them.
Sane people have known Trump is bad news for decades.
And what does "withholding donations" means. That implies a future donation, not just right now.
I've heard that Hallmark is asking for its money back. I wonder if they'll get it.
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Republicans pay the price for being in the 'treason caucus': Harvard fires Elise Stefanik from honorary role after she refuses to resign and Ted Cruz's communications director quits in disgust
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9139667/Harvard-fires-Elise-Stefanik-Ted-Cruzs-comm-director-quits-treason-caucus-fallout.html?ito=push-notification&ci=67827&si=23934553 (https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9139667/Harvard-fires-Elise-Stefanik-Ted-Cruzs-comm-director-quits-treason-caucus-fallout.html?ito=push-notification&ci=67827&si=23934553)
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Isn't it interesting how many Republicans are giving interviews where they think we should just all get along with each other now? I didn't even know they knew the word "cooperation." All of a sudden...hmmm.
DO THEY THINK WE'RE AS STUPID AS THEIR SUPPORTERS ARE?
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they don't mean it now any more than they did last week, when they didn't say it. I'm encouraged (a little) by the mainstream corps that are cutting and running, even if it did take a revolt.
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How key states plan to secure their capitol buildings ahead of possible armed pro-Trump protests
By Eric Levenson - January 12, 2021
States across the country are increasing security at their capitol buildings ahead of what the FBI has warned are "armed protests" being planned at all 50 state capitols.
An internal FBI bulletin obtained by CNN warns that armed protests are being planned at state capitols from Saturday through at least Inauguration Day next Wednesday. The bulletin also suggests there are threats of an "uprising" if Trump is removed before then.
Complicating the concern is that the FBI's bulletin was not publicly released but was leaked to reporters. Federal law enforcement has yet to hold a press conference detailing the Capitol attack or laying out plans for securing President-elect Joe Biden's inauguration. And the purge of Twitter and Facebook accounts promoting violent protests has made it difficult for the public to understand the extent of the issue.
The startling warning, just days after a pro-Trump mob forcibly took over the US Capitol, is pushing states to increase security in case of a similar such attack at state capitols. Although many capitols are closed due to coronavirus restrictions, the warnings are particularly fraught in states that allow people to openly carry firearms or those where President Trump has falsely claimed fraud.
https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/12/us/trump-protests-states/index.html
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You'd think that if the FBI and law enforcement ramped up the efforts to identify all the terrorists from 6th Jan and get them under lock and key, the inauguration day issue would be easier to handle. A fair share of these persons surely were in DC that day, judging by the vids that have been released.
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(Eric Levenson)
Complicating the concern is that the FBI's bulletin was not publicly released but was leaked to reporters. Federal law enforcement has yet to hold a press conference detailing the Capitol attack or laying out plans for securing President-elect Joe Biden's inauguration. And the purge of Twitter and Facebook accounts promoting violent protests has made it difficult for the public to understand the extent of the issue.
"Federal law enforcement has yet to hold a press conference ... laying out plans for securing President-elect Joe Biden's inauguration."
Sure. Let's give the enemy our battle plans, why don't we?
::)
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How key states plan to secure their capitol buildings ahead of possible armed pro-Trump protests
By Eric Levenson - January 12, 2021
States across the country are increasing security at their capitol buildings ahead of what the FBI has warned are "armed protests" being planned at all 50 state capitols.
An internal FBI bulletin obtained by CNN warns that armed protests are being planned at state capitols from Saturday through at least Inauguration Day next Wednesday. The bulletin also suggests there are threats of an "uprising" if Trump is removed before then.
Complicating the concern is that the FBI's bulletin was not publicly released but was leaked to reporters. Federal law enforcement has yet to hold a press conference detailing the Capitol attack or laying out plans for securing President-elect Joe Biden's inauguration. And the purge of Twitter and Facebook accounts promoting violent protests has made it difficult for the public to understand the extent of the issue.
The startling warning, just days after a pro-Trump mob forcibly took over the US Capitol, is pushing states to increase security in case of a similar such attack at state capitols. Although many capitols are closed due to coronavirus restrictions, the warnings are particularly fraught in states that allow people to openly carry firearms or those where President Trump has falsely claimed fraud.
https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/12/us/trump-protests-states/index.html
In my opinion this isn't nearly enough. They need to be on TV every day, warning the terrorists that they're taking their lives in their hands if they show up, let them know in no uncertain terms that state capitols will be defended, no matter what that might look like. The terrorists are warning us, it should be the other way around.
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"Federal law enforcement has yet to hold a press conference ... laying out plans for securing President-elect Joe Biden's inauguration."
Sure. Let's give the enemy our battle plans, why don't we?
::)
Why is warning the terrorists that they are in danger of being shot giving battle plans away? I'm all for law enforcement, from local police to the FBI, stating unequivocally that they are ready, willing and able to defend their capitols. As I said, the terrorists are warning us, and it should be the other way around.
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Austin is preparing, as I'm sure are other capitol cities, I hope it's enough
Updated: Jan 12, 2021 / 02:22 PM CST
AUSTIN (KXAN) — The Texas Department of Public Safety has increased patrols around the Texas State Capitol ahead of Inauguration Day.
RELATED: Officials focus on security for upcoming Inauguration Day after Capitol siege
On Monday, NBC News learned the Federal Bureau of Investigation released a memo warning states of potential armed protests at all 50 state capitol buildings starting Jan. 16.
The memo also stated a group is threatening an uprising if Congress moves to remove President Donald Trump from office.
In a statement, Texas DPS told KXAN it’s “continuously monitoring” events in Austin and their impacts on public safety.
“As a result, the department has deployed additional personnel and resources to the Texas State Capitol. While we do not discuss operational specifics, DPS will continue to adjust our operations as needed to maintain public order and address potential threats,” the statement reads.
Stratfor Risk Assistance + Network Exchange Executive Director Brian Lynch, who spent more than 20 years in the FBI, called the bureau’s memo warning all 50 states of a potential threat remarkable.
He says an increased law enforcement presence can sometimes act as a deterrent to those who could pose a threat to safety. He also says the detective work local law enforcement agencies do ahead of time on groups that could pose a threat is just as important as the extra security detail being put in place.
“Really, it comes down to the intent and capability of the people that show up. What are they trying to accomplish? And that’s where really good police work and good sources will help our organizations charged with protecting these buildings and people,” he said.
The Austin Police Department said it is working with Texas DPS to make sure any demonstrations remain peaceful.
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sometimes i hate the ACLU
PHOENIX (KXAN) — The man accused of storming into the U.S. Capitol — while wearing a horned helmet and fur — during last Wednesday’s pro-Trump riot will be fed an organic diet while he’s in custody of the U.S. Marshals.
https://www.kxan.com/news/national-news/qanon-shaman-jake-angeli-will-be-fed-organic-diet-while-hes-in-custody-for-capitol-riot/ (https://www.kxan.com/news/national-news/qanon-shaman-jake-angeli-will-be-fed-organic-diet-while-hes-in-custody-for-capitol-riot/)
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Why is warning the terrorists that they are in danger of being shot giving battle plans away? I'm all for law enforcement, from local police to the FBI, stating unequivocally that they are ready, willing and able to defend their capitols. As I said, the terrorists are warning us, and it should be the other way around.
Yes, they should be warned, and warning them is not giving away plans, but that's not how I read that writer's comment. I took it, I guess, as literally telling them about troop placements and so forth. I was thinking things like, OK, let's tell them, "We're going to have tanks on Pennsylvania Avenue," or saying things like, "We're going to have snipers on every roof around the Capitol, and on the Capitol itself"--that sort of thing. Let them guess what they'll be facing.
I don't think warning them will keep them away, or not all of them, anyway.
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sometimes i hate the ACLU
PHOENIX (KXAN) — The man accused of storming into the U.S. Capitol — while wearing a horned helmet and fur — during last Wednesday’s pro-Trump riot will be fed an organic diet while he’s in custody of the U.S. Marshals.
https://www.kxan.com/news/national-news/qanon-shaman-jake-angeli-will-be-fed-organic-diet-while-hes-in-custody-for-capitol-riot/ (https://www.kxan.com/news/national-news/qanon-shaman-jake-angeli-will-be-fed-organic-diet-while-hes-in-custody-for-capitol-riot/)
WTF? >:(
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Yes, they should be warned, and warning them is not giving away plans, but that's not how I read that writer's comment. I took it, I guess, as literally telling them about troop placements and so forth. I was thinking things like, OK, let's tell them, "We're going to have tanks on Pennsylvania Avenue," or saying things like, "We're going to have snipers on every roof around the Capitol, and on the Capitol itself"--that sort of thing. Let them guess what they'll be facing.
I don't think warning them will keep them away, or not all of them, anyway.
You're probably right about a warning not keeping them away. It's like trying to reason with 4,000 trumps, can't do it.
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Early warning signs emerge for GOP after US Capitol riots
Marc Levy, Thomas Beaumont and Nicholas Riccardi - January 12, 2021
Since last week’s deadly insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, about 225 Republicans logged in to the election office in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, to change their party registration. Ethan Demme was one of them.
“Ever since they started denying the election result, I kind of knew it was heading this way," said Demme, the county's former Republican Party chairman who has opposed President Donald Trump and is now an independent. "If they kept going, I knew there’s no way I can keep going. But if you’ve been a Republican all your life, it’s hard to jump out of a big boat and into a little boat.”
Officials are seeing similar scenes unfold elsewhere.
In Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, 192 people have changed their party registration since the Jan. 6 riot. Only 13 switched to the GOP — the other 179 changed to Democrat, independent or a third party, according to Bethany Salzarulo, the director of the bureau of elections.
In Linn County, Iowa, home to Cedar Rapids, more than four dozen voters dropped their Republican Party affiliations in the 48 hours after the Capitol attack. They mostly switched to no party, elections commissioner Joel Miller said, though a small number took the highly unusual step of cancelling their registrations altogether.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/early-warning-signs-emerge-gop-051435341.html
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House releases final language of impeachment resolution against Trump
From CNN's Manu Raju
The House just released the final version of the sole impeachment article being filed against President Trump.
The measure is titled "Impeaching Donald John Trump, President of the United States, for high crimes and misdemeanors."
The House will vote on the single article of impeachment on Wednesday.
Here's an excerpt from the bill:
"Wherefore, Donald John Trump, by such conduct, has demonstrated that he will remain a threat to national security, democracy, and the Constitution if allowed to remain in office, and has acted in a manner grossly incompatible with self-governance and the rule of law. Donald John Trump thus warrants impeachment and trial, removal from office, and disqualification to hold and enjoy any office of honor, trust, or profit under the United States."
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Top military leaders condemn ‘sedition and insurrection’ at Capitol, acknowledge Biden win
Amanda Macias - 01/12/2021
In an extraordinary letter Tuesday to the U.S. military, the nation’s top commanders condemned last week’s acts of “sedition and insurrection” at the U.S. Capitol, while acknowledging Joe Biden’s election victory.
The message did not mention President Donald Trump by name, but the Joint Chiefs of Staff, led by U.S. Army Gen. Mark Milley, made it clear that the military intends to stand by the constitutional transfer of power to the next administration.
“As we have done throughout our history, the U.S. military will obey lawful orders from civilian leadership, support civilian authorities to protect lives and property, ensure public safety in accordance with the law, and remain fully committed to protecting and defending the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic,” wrote the nation’s highest military officers.
“As Service Members, we must embody the values and ideals of the Nation. We support and defend the Constitution. Any act to disrupt the Constitutional process is not only against our traditions, values and oath; it is against the law,” the chiefs wrote.
https://www.cnbc.com/2021/01/12/top-military-leaders-condemn-sedition-and-insurrection-at-capitol-acknowledge-biden-win.html
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Ted Cruz Faces Mounting Backlash, Possible Censure As Top Aide Resigns Abruptly
By Daniel Villarreal - 1/12/21
Following the resignation of his communications director, Republican Texas Senator Ted Cruz is facing a potential congressional censure as Democrats and some Republicans have accused him of being partially responsible for the riot at the Capitol last Wednesday.
Cruz's communications director Lauren Blair Bianchi resigned because she was reportedly "unhappy with the direction the office had taken" following Cruz's opposition to Congress' January 6 certification of President-elect Joe Biden's Electoral College win, according to The New York Times.
"Senator Cruz and Lauren agreed that it would be best to part ways," Cruz's office said in a statement. "He thanks her for her service and wishes her the best."
"I'm grateful to Senator Cruz for the opportunity and wish him and his first-rate staff nothing but the best," Bianchi said in a statement about her resignation.
https://www.newsweek.com/ted-cruz-faces-mounting-backlash-possible-censure-top-aide-resigns-abruptly-1561016
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Early warning signs emerge for GOP after US Capitol riots
Marc Levy, Thomas Beaumont and Nicholas Riccardi - January 12, 2021
Since last week’s deadly insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, about 225 Republicans logged in to the election office in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, to change their party registration. Ethan Demme was one of them.
“Ever since they started denying the election result, I kind of knew it was heading this way," said Demme, the county's former Republican Party chairman who has opposed President Donald Trump and is now an independent. "If they kept going, I knew there’s no way I can keep going. But if you’ve been a Republican all your life, it’s hard to jump out of a big boat and into a little boat.”
That is the county where I was born and raised.
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^^^
If any of these places had done this 1-2-3-4-5---20 years ago I might be inclined to have a little more respect for them.
Sane people have known Trump is bad news for decades.
And what does "withholding donations" means. That implies a future donation, not just right now.
That's exactly what it means Lyle. The thought that went through my head when reading that Dow was suspending contributions thru the next election cycle to those who supported the objection of certification of President Biden through the next election cycle is that it would be interesting to see if they hold to this for the time they said.
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He's one person I thought WOULD accept it. He & Trump are supposed to be buddies, aren't they? He's expressed support for Trump many times. Call me cynical, but he's just protecting his business. Belichick still said, after all, that, "he had been 'flattered' to receive the honor."
And why would Belichick be given a "Presidential Medal of Freedom" honor anyway? I guess #3 can be very broadly interpreted:
The Presidential Medal of Freedom is awarded by the president of the United States "for especially meritorious contribution to (1) the security or national interests of the United States, or (2) world peace, or (3) cultural or other significant public or private endeavors".
The same question I had about all the golfers he gave it to and to the toady republican supporters.
President Trump’s picks
President Trump’s first round of medals is unusual in at least one respect: He waited 20 months to award them, longer than any other president. This is surprising for a president who enjoys commanding the media’s attention and exercising unilateral executive power.
Trump’s seven selections include three athletes and three posthumous awards – well above the mark for past recipients, 5 percent of whom were athletes and 10 percent recognized posthumously. One of these is baseball great Babe Ruth, who died 70 years ago, in 1948.
Trump’s selections also differ markedly from those of his predecessor, Barack Obama. Whereas Obama selected the most diverse set of recipients to date – 36 percent of whom were women, and 39 percent people of color – Trump has selected six men and six white people, out of seven recipients.
And while Trump’s selection of Miriam Adelson – a doctor, philanthropist and, perhaps most importantly, a GOP mega-donor – has been controversial, he is hardly the first president to award the nation’s highest civilian honor to a prominent political supporter. Obama, for one, awarded the medal to Oprah Winfrey – who gave him a key endorsement in the 2008 primaries. He also awarded it to Democratic activists such as Barbra Streisand and Bruce Springsteen. But the sheer size and scope of Adelson’s political contributions - more than US$113 million in combination with her husband, Sheldon – differentiates her from past recipients.
Who will Trump pick next?
Trump’s future selections will tell us even more about who he is and what legacy he wants to leave as president. In fact, if these first awards are any indication, Trump might use his medal selections to associate himself with cultural icons not yet claimed by other presidents - as he did by picking Elvis this year.
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And while Trump’s selection of Miriam Adelson – a doctor, philanthropist and, perhaps most importantly, a GOP mega-donor – has been controversial,
Also the wife of Sheldon Adelson, who just died.
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I've heard that Hallmark is asking for its money back. I wonder if they'll get it.
Hell no. OrangeASSity has put it in his private accounts, and if he's not going to pay back any of his loans to his banks, it is definite that he won't give back campaign funds.
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How key states plan to secure their capitol buildings ahead of possible armed pro-Trump protests
By Eric Levenson - January 12, 2021
The warnings are particularly fraught in states that allow people to openly carry firearms.
Gee, maybe those states shouldn't allow that. ::)
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In Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, 192 people have changed their party registration since the Jan. 6 riot. Only 13 switched to the GOP — the other 179 changed to Democrat, independent or a third party, according to Bethany Salzarulo, the director of the bureau of elections.
After the events of a week ago 13 people actually thought it would be a good idea to change their party to the Republicans. I'd keep an eye on those 13.
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'Stop the Steal' Organizer Says GOP Lawmakers Helped Him with Rally
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FccXlTghw_U
They would be:
Congressman Mo Brooks, Alabama
(https://whnt.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2021/01/AP21006515410250.jpg)
Congressman Paul Gosar, Arizona
(https://images1.phoenixnewtimes.com/imager/u/745xauto/11524044/screen_shot_2021-01-06_at_12.16.04_pm.png)(https://www.gannett-cdn.com/presto/2018/07/26/PPHX/a95ee956-3a0f-4d60-bb47-4c7118bba1b9-Paul_Gosar004.jpg)
Congressman Andy Biggs, Arizona
(https://www.gannett-cdn.com/presto/2019/09/25/USAT/5ac3ad39-ce06-4983-9bb3-59702f96a80b-Biggs.jpg)
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Trump business backlash part of 'cancel culture,' son says
Bernard Condon - January 12, 2021
The PGA canceled its tournament at his golf course. Banks say they won’t lend to him anymore. New York City is ending his contract to operate the Central Park skating rink.
Hits to President Donald Trump’s business empire since the deadly riots at the U.S. Capitol are part of a liberal “cancel culture,” his son, Eric, told The Associated Press on Tuesday, saying his father will leave the presidency with a powerful brand backed by millions of voters who will follow him “to the ends of the Earth.”
“We live in the age of cancel culture, but this isn’t something that started this week. It is something that they have been doing to us and others for years,” said Trump, who along with his brother, Donald Jr., have been running the family company since their father took office four years ago. “If you disagree with them, if they don’t like you, they try and cancel you.”
The remarks in an extended interview to the AP come amid an extraordinary backlash against the Trump Organization after thousands of the president’s supporters stormed the Capitol last week in a violent riot seeking to keep lawmakers from confirming Joe Biden’s presidential election victory.
Amid accusations Trump incited the mob, the PGA of America voted to strip its namesake championship from Trump’s Bedminister, New Jersey, golf course next year, a British golf organization said the British Open will not be played at a Trump property in the “foreseeable future,” the e-commerce company Shopify stopped helping run the online Trump Store, and New York City said it was canceling contracts with Trump for skating rinks and a golf course in the Bronx.
“The president incited a rebellion against the United States government, a clearly unconstitutional act,” Democratic Mayor Bill de Blasio said. “That’s unforgivable."
https://www.yahoo.com/news/trump-business-backlash-part-cancel-013518015.html
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WTF? >:(
Yes, it's because he is a shaman! Oh and since he lives with his mother, she said he HAS to eat organic food or he'll get sick.
I say let him vomit.
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Trump supporter dead in suspected suicide days after being arrested at Capitol riot
Gino Spocchia - Wed, January 13, 2021
A supporter of the US president who was arrested at the Capitol riot was said to have died by suicide.
A medical examiner in Fulton County, Atlanta, ruled on Tuesday that the death of Christopher Stanton Georgia was by suicide, confirming earlier reports.
The 53-year-old was also said to have suffered a “gunshot wound to the chest”, the medical examiner said.
He was found by his wife in the basement of their home in Alpharetta, Georgia, on Saturday, according to reports.
Georgia, who was said to have been a regional portfolio manager at a North Carolina bank, was arrested in Washington DC on Wednesday evening after taking part in the riot on the Capitol.
According to the Washington Examiner, he was charged with attempting to break into the US Capitol alongside supporters of the US president.
They had earlier been instructed by the president to march on the country’s legislature with “strength”.
Georgia, who pleaded not guilty in court on Thursday, was also charged with violating an evening curfew in Washington DC that was imposed after the riot.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/trump-supporter-dead-suspected-suicide-172004838.html
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Trump business backlash part of 'cancel culture,' son says
Bernard Condon - January 12, 2021
“We live in the age of cancel culture, but this isn’t something that started this week. It is something that they have been doing to us and others for years,” said Trump, who along with his brother, Donald Jr., have been running the family company since their father took office four years ago. “If you disagree with them, if they don’t like you, they try and cancel you.”
Boo hoo hoo. I feel so sorry for you Junior. Victim Culture. All this from the Trumps and Republicans is their constant stance of victimization. That's all they know. Of course they or others didn't do anything wrong. If you punish us it's that we're being victimized. Trump doesn't win? we were vctimized by fake voters and irregularities. Twitter and other platform bans? We're being victimized. They don't want to hear what we have to say, they're trying to quiet us. Trump, Jr. was complaining there wasn't any way for Senior to communicate with the American people now. Well guess what, Junior, daddy can go into the White House press room any time he wants to, to communicate with the American people and press is there to cover it. And, of course, Fox News gladly lets him on their shows all the time.
Don't give any Republicans complaints like this room to breathe.
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(https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/62cb8c2f46602c7cd7bf2cee6723959b4c28a58eea423323524f188359ce27ed.jpg)
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Boo hoo hoo. I feel so sorry for you Junior. Victim Culture. All this from the Trumps and Republicans is their constant stance of victimization. That's all they know. Of course they or others didn't do anything wrong. If you punish us it's that we're being victimized. Trump doesn't win? we were vctimized by fake voters and irregularities. Twitter and other platform bans? We're being victimized. They don't want to hear what we have to say, they're trying to quiet us. Trump, Jr. was complaining there wasn't any way for Senior to communicate with the American people now. Well guess what, Junior, daddy can go into the White House press room any time he wants to, to communicate with the American people and press is there to cover it. And, of course, Fox News gladly lets him on their shows all the time.
But this would necessitate him having to be in front of human beings as he speaks, and not hiding in the White House behind a closed door and a keyboard using 'spell check' for every other word.
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Meanwhile...
DONALD TRUMP HAS OFFICIALLY BEEN IMPEACHED
(FOR THE 2nd TIME)
I can't think of a more deserving person.
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(https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/62cb8c2f46602c7cd7bf2cee6723959b4c28a58eea423323524f188359ce27ed.jpg)
Damn, this is GOOD!
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^^^
Yes, excellent Fritz.
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The following is a list of the Republican House of Representatives who voted to Impeach:
Republican Reps.Liz Cheney of Wyoming, John Katko of New York, Adam Kinzinger of Illinois, Fred Upton of Michigan, Jaime Herrera Beutler of Washington State, Jaime Herrera Beutler of Washington State, Peter Meijer of Michigan, Anthony Gonzalez of Ohio, David Valadao of California and Tom Rice of South Carolina all voted to impeach Trump.
I think they should be applauded.
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The following is a list of the Republican House of Representatives who voted to Impeach:
Republican Reps. Liz Cheney of Wyoming, John Katko of New York, Adam Kinzinger of Illinois, Fred Upton of Michigan, Jaime Herrera Beutler of Washington State, Jaime Herrera Beutler of Washington State, Peter Meijer of Michigan, Anthony Gonzalez of Ohio, David Valadao of California and Tom Rice of South Carolina all voted to impeach Trump.
I think they should be applauded.
I'm in agreement.
And: Take out one James Herra Beutler and add: Dan Newhouse of Washington. ;)
______
Meanwhile:
Trump Awards Medals to Singers Toby Keith and Ricky Skaggs as House Impeaches Him ::)
https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2021/jan/13/trump-awards-medals-singers-toby-keith-and-ricky-s/
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The medals will have as many asterisks as home runs during the steroid era.
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Interesting. T got 232 votes to impeach him just now in the House.
He got 232 electoral votes in the 2020 election, far fewer than needed.
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Wow, that's a coincidence.
Now, we'll see what happens in the Senate. Given that the Senate is not meeting again until January 19th, and the new administration takes over on the 20th, I don't see a vote happening, which would mean that if a vote for conviction goes along party lines, it will be a tie, with VP Kamala Harris casting the tie breaking vote.
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There would have to be a 2/3 majority in the Senate to convict. Highly unlikely, yet if Moscow Mitch votes to convict, as he's been teasing that he might, who knows what will happen. T has not exactly made himself beloved in that chamber. Far fewer Senators than Representatives voted to overturn votes in the Electoral College tally.
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Meanwhile...
DONALD TRUMP HAS OFFICIALLY BEEN IMPEACHED
(FOR THE 2nd TIME)
I can't think of a more deserving person.
Well....he always wanted to go down in history.
I certainly think he has achieved that !
Bye-bye DT. !!
******
Just a passing thought......will other members of his family be allowed to
stand again ??
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They haven't been charged (yet), so there's no barrier to them running. But they might not get as much support as they presume they will.
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Question; Is T still allowed to pardon himself? I'd be interested to know if the impending impeachment curtails any wriggle room in that direction. Anyone know?
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In other News! What is this all about?
https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/armie-hammer-alleged-direct-message-scandal-breaks-silence-005656552.html
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Question; Is T still allowed to pardon himself?
That seems to be an open question. Some say no, the framers of the constitution wouldn't ever have conceived a situation where a President could essentially be free to commit crimes, and then get away with them by pardoning himself.
Others say the framers may never have thought someone would commit crimes and then pardon themselves, but it's not expressly forbidden.
For his entire term Trump has done things that no one else would because, well, his motto is: The rule is "you shouldn't", but it doesn't say "you can't."
Bill Maher (from Real Time with Bill Maher) calls this the GUS rule. It's from a 70's Disney movie called Gus. Gus is a mule. A football team with a long losing record decides to add a MULE to its football team because they can use his back legs to kick field goals and score points. People are like... "You can't have a mule as a team member." The reply is, "Well, the rules don't expressly say you can't." So they do.
To Trump, you're not supposed to means yes I can. Like, you're not supposed to be making money off your Presidency because you might be duly influenced in making decisions based on that, but "not supposed to" means I'll do it any way.
Trump is Gus.
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(https://scontent-iad3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/137024331_4961986587176104_6348898778775236876_n.jpg?_nc_cat=103&ccb=2&_nc_sid=dbeb18&_nc_ohc=Z7f247gUPTYAX-r6_Mm&_nc_ht=scontent-iad3-1.xx&oh=03a9743cae96851e379341e5a037e495&oe=6027604B)
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LOL!
I think it should be "Happy New Impeachment!"
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^^^ Hmm since I don't do twitter and instagram.. seems a woman has accused him of sending lude messages. I sure as hell hope it's not true.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-9133153/Armie-Hammer-trending-topic-graphic-Instagram-DMs-hes-accused-sending-leaked.html
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Just for info, a current list of all those arrested for the events of 6 January.
https://www.justice.gov/opa/investigations-regarding-violence-capitol
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The Pro-Trump Activists Who Helped Plan The Insurrection Feel Betrayed By The President
Molly Hensley-Clancy - 01/08/2021
On the website that was the epicenter of plans for the violent insurrection at the US Capitol Wednesday, some of President Donald Trump’s most loyal followers, who had for months shamed, silenced, and banned anyone who criticized the president, grappled with a new feeling after the riot ended: betrayal.
For months, the forum TheDonald has been a gathering place for people planning to try to overturn Trump’s election defeat. But when its users actually broke into the Capitol, as they had promised to do for months, the site tried to rapidly change course, saying it would “follow President Trump’s lead” and would not allow “organizing, or calling directly for, violence of any kind.”
The reversal, which moderators hinted was made under pressure from the site’s hosts, left some Trump loyalists in disbelief that they had done anything wrong: They were, they said, only following the president’s orders.
“I don’t understand the thinking,” said one popular post on the forum. “Trump told us to march down Pennsylvania Avenue to the Capitol. We listened to the president. They should be thanking us.”
"For weeks people were saying how ready they were to fight. The moment it happens everyone starts pearl clutching," read another popular post.
For some, Trump’s video Thursday night, where he acknowledged for the first time that he had lost the election, only intensified the feelings.
https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/mollyhensleyclancy/trump-rioters-online-aftermath?fbclid=IwAR3RkK1K7slg_MSl0J5McvjOfG3xcaNgk9AxocwgQIzDcAhQHXE1hQCEZS0
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T always betrays his followers, because only he counts. It's astonishing that so many people fail to realize this.
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The Pro-Trump Activists Who Helped Plan The Insurrection Feel Betrayed By The President
Molly Hensley-Clancy - 01/08/2021
On the website that was the epicenter of plans for the violent insurrection at the US Capitol Wednesday, some of President Donald Trump’s most loyal followers, who had for months shamed, silenced, and banned anyone who criticized the president, grappled with a new feeling after the riot ended: betrayal.
For months, the forum TheDonald has been a gathering place for people planning to try to overturn Trump’s election defeat. But when its users actually broke into the Capitol, as they had promised to do for months, the site tried to rapidly change course, saying it would “follow President Trump’s lead” and would not allow “organizing, or calling directly for, violence of any kind.”
The reversal, which moderators hinted was made under pressure from the site’s hosts, left some Trump loyalists in disbelief that they had done anything wrong: They were, they said, only following the president’s orders.
“I don’t understand the thinking,” said one popular post on the forum. “Trump told us to march down Pennsylvania Avenue to the Capitol. We listened to the president. They should be thanking us.”
"For weeks people were saying how ready they were to fight. The moment it happens everyone starts pearl clutching," read another popular post.
For some, Trump’s video Thursday night, where he acknowledged for the first time that he had lost the election, only intensified the feelings.
https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/mollyhensleyclancy/trump-rioters-online-aftermath?fbclid=IwAR3RkK1K7slg_MSl0J5McvjOfG3xcaNgk9AxocwgQIzDcAhQHXE1hQCEZS0
My reaction.......OH BOO HOO!!! >:D
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It is baffling to me how people have watched this man throw EVERYONE under the bus if it just benefited him the slightest bit, or as part of CYA activities on his part, and yet - they keep thinking it won't happen to them. Everyone else had it coming, because T says so, but THEY are too special, too loyal, too useful - he'll keep the faith with THEM. I'm sure both Giuliani and Pence thought so. But just as he frequently lies just for the fun of it, he has no compunction hanging the most loyal of booth-lickers out to dry. It's been obvious from day 1. So many of his followers must be completely delusional. They really thought, if their insurrection failed, that he'd stand up for them? :laugh:
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NRA files for bankruptcy, to move to Texas
By Danielle Haynes - 01/15/2021
The National Rifle Association filed for bankruptcy Friday and said it plans to implement a restructuring plan, moving the organization from New York to Texas.
In the Chapter 11 filing, the NRA said it plans to now operate as a non-profit organization in Texas after being incorporated in New York for about 150 years.
"The move will enable long-term, sustainable growth and ensure the NRA's continued success as the nation's leading advocate for constitutional freedom -- free from the toxic political environment of New York," the NRA said.
The announcement comes two months after the organization agreed to pay $2.5 million to resolve an investigation into whether it violated New York insurance laws. It also agreed to stop marketing its insurance to members in the state for five years.
New York officials said the NRA operated as an "unlicensed insurance producer" and sold "dangerous and impermissible insurance products" through its Carry Guard program.
https://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2021/01/15/NRA-files-for-bankruptcy-to-move-to-Texas/3911610753194/
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NRA seeks cover from NY lawsuit by filing for bankruptcy in Texas
By Molly Crane-Newman - JAN 15, 2021
Under fire in New York on charges of misspending members’ money, the National Rifle Association filed for bankruptcy Friday and announced plans to reincorporate in gun-friendly Texas.
The nation’s biggest pro-gun group said it will restructure as a Texas nonprofit “to exit what it believes is a corrupt political and regulatory environment in New York,” a statement on the NRA’s website reads.
“This strategic plan represents a pathway to opportunity, growth and progress,” NRA Chief Executive Wayne LaPierre said in a statement. “Obviously, an important part of this plan is ‘dumping New York.’”
New York Attorney General Letitia James sued to dissolve the NRA in October. Authorities say senior leaders of the nonprofit registered in New York illegally spent tens of millions of NRA members’ dollars for vacations, private jets, expensive meals and other luxury items.
https://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/ny-nra-bankruptcy-texas-new-york-letitia-james-attorney-general-20210116-outsn22hcndvfabcnk3vgfh6ti-story.html
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It doesn't quite work that way.
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That seems to be an open question. Some say no, the framers of the constitution wouldn't ever have conceived a situation where a President could essentially be free to commit crimes, and then get away with them by pardoning himself.
Others say the framers may never have thought someone would commit crimes and then pardon themselves, but it's not expressly forbidden.
For his entire term Trump has done things that no one else would because, well, his motto is: The rule is "you shouldn't", but it doesn't say "you can't."
Bill Maher (from Real Time with Bill Maher) calls this the GUS rule. It's from a 70's Disney movie called Gus. Gus is a mule. A football team with a long losing record decides to add a MULE to its football team because they can use his back legs to kick field goals and score points. People are like... "You can't have a mule as a team member." The reply is, "Well, the rules don't expressly say you can't." So they do.
To Trump, you're not supposed to means yes I can. Like, you're not supposed to be making money off your Presidency because you might be duly influenced in making decisions based on that, but "not supposed to" means I'll do it any way.
Trump is Gus.
Lyle, thank you for that. So it's a gray area.
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^^^
You're welcome! Yes, Trump has exposed a lot of gray areas that should now be codified as laws.
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Capitol rioter known as "QAnon Shaman" will be jailed until trial
BY Erin Donaghue - January 16, 2021
A Capitol rioter known as the "QAnon Shaman" has been ordered detained until trial, after federal prosecutors in Arizona initially said his words and actions during the January 6 siege show that the intent of the rioters was to "capture and assassinate" lawmakers. Acting U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Michael Sherwin later said there is no "direct evidence" of kill and capture teams, and a prosecutor later stuck that line from the memorandum urging a judge to keep him detained, according to The Associated Press.
Jacob Chansley, 33, of Arizona was indicted January 11 by a federal grand jury on two felony charges of interfering with law enforcement during the commission of civil disorder and obstructing a Congressional proceeding, threatening Congressional officials and disorderly conduct. Chansley, who is also known as Jake Angeli, was also indicted on four misdemeanor counts.
Prosecutors say Chansley, a well-known fixture at Arizona pro-Trump rallies, is a "self-proclaimed leader" in the QAnon conspiracy theory movement. Images of a shirtless Chansley storming the Capitol wearing horns, a fur coyote tail headdress and face paint, carrying a bullhorn and a spear, quickly went viral on social media. He is being held in a federal detention facility in Arizona.
In a detention memorandum filed Thursday, U.S. prosecutors in Arizona argue Chansley would pose an "ongoing danger to the community" and a flight risk were he to be released. While inside the Capitol, prosecutors argue, Chansley approached U.S. Capitol police officer Keith Robishaw and screamed that "this was their house, that they were there to get Senators, and that they were there to take the Capitol, to get Congressional leaders," the memorandum reads. "Chansley also used his bullhorn to communicate that they were there to take out several United States congressmen," the filing says.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/jake-angeli-qanon-shaman-jail-triial-capitol-riots/
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I was just remembering the good old days when the Republicans impeached Bill Clinton because he had an affair in the White House and then lied about it. And all the Republicans wailing that this character flaw was so detrimental to the nation that it should be wiped from office. How could we abide a President who lied to the American people about having an affair. One lie about having an affair got Bill Clinton impeached.
Cut to the Republicans acquiescence to Trump who has made lying a personal priority in every aspect of his daily life, even before the Presidency. Last I heard the catalogue of lies has reached 25,000 - 30,000 lies. A veritable encyclopedia of lying, just during his Presidency.
"Trump got even worse after November 3. Since then, he has spent the final months of what has been a wildly dishonest presidency on a relentless and dangerous lying spree about the election he lost."
When I just tried finding out the current number of lies that some places have been tracking, I couldn't even find that information, perhaps they've given up? But I found this article from today:
The 15 Most Notable Lies of Donald Trump's Presidency
https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/16/politics/fact-check-dale-top-15-donald-trump-lies/index.html
Excerpt:
Trying to pick the most notable lies from Donald Trump's presidency is like trying to pick the most notable pieces of junk from the town dump.
There's just so much ugly garbage to sift through before you can make a decision.
I've selected the 15 Trump lies that stand out to me from his four years in power -- for their importance, for their egregiousness, for their absurdity, or for what they say about the man.
If you read the article you'll discover what the answers are to these lying categories: The most telling lie, the most dangerous lie, the most alarming lie saga, the most ridiculous subject of a lie, the ugliest smear lie, the most boring serial lie, the most entertaining lie shtick, the most traditional big lie, the biggest lie by omission, the most shameless campaign lie, the lie he fled, the Crazy Uncle lie award, the most hucksterish lie, personal favorite lie...
...and maybe the most damaging one...
The most depressing lie: Trump won the election
Trump's long White House campaign against verifiable reality has culminated with his lie that he is the true winner of the 2020 presidential election he clearly, certifiably and fairly lost. To many of us, it's ludicrous nonsense. But to millions of deluded Americans, it's the truth. And it has now gotten people killed. The nation's truth problem, clearly, isn't just a Trump problem. With this last blizzard of deception and the Capitol insurrection it fomented, Trump has shown us, once more, just how detached from reality much of his political base has become -- or always was.
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This made me very happy, and a little hopeful
Trump finishes with worst first term approval rating ever
(CNN)Poll of the week: A new Quinnipiac University poll finds that President Donald Trump's approval rating stands at 33%, while his disapproval is at 60%.
An average of recent polls finds Trump with a 38% approval rating and 59% disapproval rating.
What's the point: A big question during the Trump presidency was whether anything could actually move the public opinion needle. It turns out that the insurrection at the US Capitol last week did exactly that.
The result is that Trump's final first term approval rating looks to be the lowest on record dating back since scientific polling began.
https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/16/politics/trump-approval-analysis/index.html (https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/16/politics/trump-approval-analysis/index.html)
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And I hate this...doesn't the Pentagon have to approve anything military? He can't just order himself a 21 gun salute, can he? On the other hand, it is totally pathetic that no one else will do it...like throwing yourself a retirement party 'cause nobody else stepped up to do it...
Trump is planning an 'elaborate' send-off for himself before Biden's inauguration. He wants a red carpet, military band, and a 21-gun salute, reports say.
President Donald Trump is planning an "elaborate, military-style sendoff" for himself before President-elect Joe Biden's inauguration on January 20, according to ABC News.
Trump hopes to walk down a red carpet while a military band plays, sources familiar with the plans told the broadcaster.
He's even discussed a flypast by US Air Force fighter jets, ABC News said.
It has also been reported that Trump has asked about the possibility of a 21-gun salute, according to the Associated Press.
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The Pentagon has said, no.
https://www.thenewcivilrightsmovement.com/2021/01/trump-requests-military-style-farewell-parade-for-his-white-house-departure/
A 21-gun salute might work, if it's done by his supporters, and is circular.
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The Pro-Trump Activists Who Helped Plan The Insurrection Feel Betrayed By The President
"For weeks people were saying how ready they were to fight. The moment it happens everyone starts pearl clutching," read another popular post.
:laugh:
I'm envisioning the Shaman in the horned headdress clutching his pearls. ...
:laugh:
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^^^ can someone photo-shop that, please? :D
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Right now I'm at my dad's place, in the county represented in Congress by the odious Lloyd Smucker.
It was amusing and gratifying today to see how many people were ripping Smucker a new one in letters to the editor of the local newspaper--and this is a rock-ribbed Republican county--or it used to be, anyway.
One writer, a poll worker, demanded an apology for Smucker's insinuation that the poll workers hadn't done their job. (I doubt she'll get it.)
Another writer pointed out something I hadn't thought of before: Smucker was claiming fraud in the ballots for President, but he had no complaints about his own reelection. But they're on the same ballot.
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The Pentagon has said, no.
https://www.thenewcivilrightsmovement.com/2021/01/trump-requests-military-style-farewell-parade-for-his-white-house-departure/
A 21-gun salute might work, if it's done by his supporters, and is circular.
With him in the middle!!
:laugh: :laugh: :laugh:
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Yep!
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I am seeing a lot of positive stuff in these articles, but it's also depressing that our country has deteriorated asuch as it has in the last 4 years.
Now before anyone says anything I am be very aware that there was and is an overwhelming amount of this stuff out there, but because of the a**hole that has resided in the White House the last 4 years they have been given permission, and this is what is so scary and sad and disturbing.
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I'm waiting for a flurry of pardons on Tuesday. I bet bookmakers are offering odds. Personally I bet he's going to pardon himself and his kids. I'm more doubtful about pardons for those idiot Capitol stormers who are begging him for pardons now.... pardoning them would make him seem bad where the upcoming Senate vote is concerned. Also, since the stormers didn't achieve his goal, I bet he considers them nothing but undeserving suckers and losers. ::)
I will be so relieved when Wednesday's events have come and gone. I fear some gun-crazed conspiracy-fed people will pull a last-ditch violent stunt. Perhaps even one of those sorry Q-crazies in Congress.
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Looks like influence peddlers aren't even trying to hide bribery in trying to get T to issue pardons for their rich clients.
https://www.joemygod.com/2021/01/trump-allies-rake-in-huge-fees-from-pardon-seekers/
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^^^ Yes, more indications of the 1% buying their freedoms from the most corrupt POTUS in our lifetime. He makes Nixon look like child's play.
Pardons imply guilt. That privilege should be reined in so a lying, crooked POTUS cannot pardon co-consiprators like the GOS has done with his 3 sorry henchmen - Bannon, Flynn, Stone and the many others.
My Karma side is hoping State of NY pursues the whole lot of his family on blatant lying and tax evasion - sparing only his almost duplicit wife which I pray has one helluva divorce lawyer ready to serve him divorce papers as soon as they land in FL and the youngest minor son. I do not want Biden to get bogged down in this GOP quagmire. The GOP needs to grow some real balls and restore what little morals they have left. We all need more leaders like the late John McCain, John Lewis, or Ted Kennedy, or ... I found new respect for Mitt Romney over this - the lone GOPer with the balls and a conscience who was not afraid to stand up to the GoS.
We shall see next week who joins him - take note.
I also know that our legislators need FULL ACCOUNTABILITY for their actions, lack of actions, and statements. Democracy suffers when that does not happen. People like Bannon, Flynn and Stone need to be tried, convicted and punished for their crimes against the US.... and that's the real damage we risk by being complacent or letting a corrupt POTUS pardon his co-conspirators.
People must pay for their crimes and not be above the law... I do not care WTF they are or who they can buy as we are seeing right now. V.
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This made me very happy, and a little hopeful
Trump finishes with worst first term approval rating ever
"People are saying it's historic."
"...despite the negative press."
"No one's seen anything like it."
"It's never happened before."
"And everybody knows it."
"Person, woman, man, camera, TV."
"Covfefe."
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this is good news, they ARE as stupid as they look...
Armed man, 22, with 37 rounds of ammunition and woman who claimed to be a presidential cabinet member are arrested for trying to breach security checkpoints in Washington D.C. and Starbucks shuts 240 stores in Manhattan as State Capitols brace for violence
A 22-year-old Virginia man was arrested for possession of three high capacity magazines, 37 rounds of unregistered ammunition, and a Glock gun near the US Capitol on Sunday while a Connecticut woman was detained for impersonating a police officer as the nation’s capital remains on high alert in the days leading up to Wednesday’s inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden.
Meanwhile, Starbucks has shut down all of its New York City locations on Sunday - reportedly for fear of protests - while security was beefed up around State Capitols nationwide.
In Michigan, armed protesters began gathering outside the State Capitol in Lansing on Sunday. About 20 protesters, among them members of the anti-government Boogaloo movement, were seen outside the statehouse just after noon - with the numbers expected to grow.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9156435/Statehouses-US-capital-brace-potentially-violent-week.html?ito=push-notification&ci=69180&si=23934553 (https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9156435/Statehouses-US-capital-brace-potentially-violent-week.html?ito=push-notification&ci=69180&si=23934553)
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A '70s pop group is armed outside the Michigan capitol? I think Bandstand rated their music as stupid and hard to dance to...
Members of the armed anti-government 'Members of the armed anti-government 'Boogaloo Bois' militia are seen above outside the Michigan State Capitol in Lansing, Michigan, on Sunday' militia are seen above outside the Michigan State Capitol in Lansing, Michigan, on Sunday
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(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/ErypR-0VkAI3UGF.jpg)
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Anyone have any news about anything going on in their State Capitols today?
Mine:
Sacramento, California: The scene around the California State Capitol was quiet and mostly deserted Sunday.
Good.
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Meanwhile: Lady G was on Fox News today blaming Nancy Pelosi for what happened at the U.S. Capitol.
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I think we're ok so far...
On Friday, the Texas DPS closed the State Capitol building and grounds through Wednesday.
Updated: 5:39 PM CST January 17, 2021
A group of demonstrators, several armed with rifles, gathered outside the Texas Capitol gates Sunday afternoon.
(https://media.kvue.com/assets/KVUE/images/f8212fca-ba84-452f-a90d-b982e3bc2657/f8212fca-ba84-452f-a90d-b982e3bc2657_1140x641.jpg)
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(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/ErypR-0VkAI3UGF.jpg)
Damn Lyle, this is on point, and I love it! I love how this illustrator (I hesitate to call him a cartoonist) really tells it like it is!
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I so agree, Linda.
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Thank you Lyle, copied that to my FB page.
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Updated: 5:39 PM CST January 17, 2021
A group of demonstrators, several armed with rifles, gathered outside the Texas Capitol gates Sunday afternoon.
(https://media.kvue.com/assets/KVUE/images/f8212fca-ba84-452f-a90d-b982e3bc2657/f8212fca-ba84-452f-a90d-b982e3bc2657_1140x641.jpg)
I wonder if that's the group mentioned in an AP wire story I read this morning--or not? The AP story didn't specify exactly when, but it reported a group of "about a dozen demonstrators" at the Texas capitol building. One demonstrator, who had a bullhorn and an AR-15, supposedly claimed that he condemned the insurrection at the Capitol and did not support Trump.
I have to smile about the lone protestor at the Nevada capitol in Carson City. This guy was all by himself, and he held a sign that said "Trump Lost. Be Adults. Go Home."
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The Republicans have been calling Democrats snowflakes for going on 5 years.
From the past several months I guess we can see who the real snowflakes are.
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I hear Trump is unveiling his long awaited healthcare plan tomorrow.
The plan: He leaves office and we all feel better.
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I have to smile about the lone protestor at the Nevada capitol in Carson City. This guy was all by himself, and he held a sign that said "Trump Lost. Be Adults. Go Home."
"Like a lone voice crying in the desert."
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Ready for the slew of dozens of pardons he'll come up with today?
Laurence O'Donnell said last night that a President can issue "secret
pardons."
And only if someone is charged with something and they bring out the
pardon would anyone know about it. So, he says, you can't believe any
list of pardons that comes out today, as there could be more.
WTF? Why should that be allowed? He could grant himself one and we
wouldn't know about it. I can't say I've ever heard of such a thing.
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I hear Trump is unveiling his long awaited healthcare plan tomorrow.
The plan: He leaves office and we all feel better.
:laugh: :laugh: :laugh:
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WIth the state of our nation such as it is this morning, this line from All About Eve
popped into my head. Addison DeWitt says:
"The atmosphere in here is very Macbethish. What has or is about to happen?"
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(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EOk6b_yXsAkFu6v.jpg)
Happy Birthday, Pete!
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I think all of us would use the word ONLY in the following sentence:
Pete Buttigieg is only 39 years old today!
Pete Buttigieg’s Historic Cabinet Appointment Poised for Speedy Senate Confirmation on Thursday
https://www.pinknews.com/2021/01/19/pete-buttigieg-confirmation-hearing/
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Geaux Pete!
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I have just read on the Australian news that Joe Biden's nominee for Secretary of State has been testifying at his confirmation hearing
He announced he would appoint an LGBTQI+ envoy and allow US embassies to fly the Pride flag once again.
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The Republicans have been calling Democrats snowflakes for going on 5 years.
From the past several months I guess we can see who the real snowflakes are.
I thought that was a racial slur. ???
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I always considered it an assault on one's courage, stamina, and, to be sure, masculinity.
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^^^ It's a more recent slang term with a few meanings - depending on context. For instance, in IT, it means a "server which is unique and cannot be easily rebuilt or reproduced." The GOP right-wingers adopted it circa GoS as as derogatory referring to liberals or people who they perceive as easily offended, thin skinned, ... etc.. So be careful with the use.
"It's developed a new and decidedly less pleasant use as a disparaging term for a person who is seen as overly sensitive and fragile. In the lead-up to the 2016 U.S. elections it was lobbed especially fiercely by those on the right side of the political spectrum at those on the left."
from -> https://www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/the-less-lovely-side-of-snowflake
or -> https://archive.thinkprogress.org/all-the-special-snowflakes-aaf1a922f37b/ "But as 2016 dawned, snowflake made its way to the mainstream and, in the process, evolved into something more vicious. The insult expanded to encompass not just the young but liberals of all ages; it became the epithet of choice for right-wingers to fling at anyone who could be accused of being too easily offended, too in need of “safe spaces,” too fragile."
or -> https://www.gq.com/story/why-trump-supporters-love-calling-people-snowflakes
"There is not a single political point a liberal can make on the Internet for which “You triggered, snowflake?” cannot be the comeback. It’s purpose is dismissing liberalism as something effeminate, and also infantile, an outgrowth of the lessons you were taught in kindergarten. “Sharing is caring”? Communism. “Feelings are good”? Facts over feelings. “Everyone is special and unique”? Shut up, snowflake."
It's not far from being a racial slur and in times past, it was used in that context.
In nearly all cases, except when actually referring to a "snowflake falling from the sky" it is meant as an insult. I did not know it had been adopted by the far-right as slang until just now b/c we refer to those unique servers as "snowflakes or pets" in IT all the time. I guess I'll be changing my words now for sure. TY for posting that.
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I don’t think ‘snowflake’ has any racist connotations in Britain. Yes, it can be a slur on masculinity, but can equally used for women in the sense of oversensitivity, or not facing up to reality.
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I would often respond to online posters calling liberals snowflakes, with moderations here and there, with something like this:
"You know what happens when all of the snowflakes ban together? They melt and cause a blue wave."
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Since this is this last post on this page, here's a parting shot to Trump, from Bette Midler:
Goodbye, Donnie:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yRBe7DIS2q0&feature=emb_logo
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Biden/Harris Inauguration
Morning in America: Lincoln Project
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_cUmr0BJObI
(https://image.cnbcfm.com/api/v1/image/106825869-1611066051842-106825869-1610979991912-gettyimages-1297030368-4d423920-28c0-48fb-84be-3f7c970654ce.jpg)
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(https://www.washingtonpost.com/resizer/G_JUal7ba6NbYFvNp0e6QYGnFk8=/1484x0/arc-anglerfish-washpost-prod-washpost.s3.amazonaws.com/public/T6HD7BS2VMI6XKCJN6KCHJ277U.jpg)
For those that may not know, last night a memorial was given in front of the Lincoln Memorial reflecting pool, as part of the Biden/Harris inaugural ceremonies. Each lighted pole along the pool represented 1,000 people who have succumbed to COVID this past year. There were 400 of those poles. More than all of the US citizens lost during the fighting of WWII.
I sat in tears because of the loss, the beauty of the scene and mostly because of the stark fact that we now have a President and Vice-President with empathy toward all of our fellow Americans.
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Since this is this last post on this page, here's a parting shot to Trump, from Bette Midler:
Goodbye, Donnie:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yRBe7DIS2q0&feature=emb_logo
Great!
And to quote President Ford, "Our long national nightmare is over."
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Last night I could see the 56 spotlights projecting upwards from the Mall through our kitchen window.
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Excellent, Fritz!
(https://www.wsbtv.com/resizer/VUzQGAtkx8LcTJ48BX3ChiBxglM=/1200x675/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/cmg/AAALQCWBXBGIVFSGO3HA7PDFGU.jpg)
Last night, the Field of Flags, representing those unable to attend the inauguration today. And also preventing a talking point of how many people attended from the predecessor.
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This morning...
(https://www.abc27.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/55/2021/01/8141f3eaffa84cdc98588c63ad9f6532.jpg?w=2560&h=1440&crop=1)
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I loved that when Biden was giving his speech, the sunlight appeared...
(https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/images/ic/400xn/p094kz50.jpg)
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Yes, and it's been sunny here ever since then.
The flags are a nice touch, I wish it were possible to see them live, all the American and state flags that form such a colorful mosaic.
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^^^
More than one news commenter today has remarked that they wish those could be left up permanently.
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That would be wonderful. If not right there on the Mall, at least somewhere nearby and accessible.
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Whew! I might have missed it. I misunderstood the timing. I got the TV on just in time to see the Vice President sworn in. I did miss Gaga. :">
Did I mishear, or did the President make a sight flub in his oath of office?
Anyway, this morning there were many things to cheer us, but I was also cheered by the thought that from now on, when the Great Orange Satan is referred to at all (which I hope won't be much) , it will be as "former President." That must really piss him off. I've heard it used already. ;D
On a more sober note, I guess, while I was watching the inaugural address, I was remembering that even though they disagreed about a lot, the President and John McCain were great friends. I couldn't help thinking, What would John McCain have thought about the events in this nation since November, and especially what happened two weeks ago? I'm sure he would have been blazingly angry.
I admired John McCain, and if it's possible to miss a politician you never met and wasn't your Representative or Senator, I miss John McCain.
Sorry, I didn't mean to be a downer. :(
Did anybody see or hear? Were Cindy and Megan McCain there today?
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On a more sober note, I guess, while I was watching the inaugural address, I was remembering that even though they disagreed about a lot, the President and John McCain were great friends. I couldn't help thinking, What would John McCain have thought about the events in this nation since November, and especially what happened two weeks ago? I'm sure he would have been blazingly angry.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EsGWQtnVkAY9xQo.jpg)
P.S.: Jeff, anything you missed you can find on youtube.
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PBS has the Inauguration Parade Across America program posted on youtube here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=98BP_qex5YM
At least the first 90 minutes of it, because the host, Tony Goldwyn, says this at the end:
"There is more to come this evening."
And guess what? My friend, Martin Perea, is in the program!!! The song Martin appears in is called "You Get What You Give."
It begins at 1:17:03. Martin appears at about 1:19:51 or 52...right near the end.
He's next to the Capitol Records building in Hollywood, wearing a light blue or teal shirt!
I enjoyed watching the whole 90 minutes. But I recommend this if you don't watch all of it:
At 1:22:50 is a wonderful segment of people dancing in all parts of the USA to the appropriate
tune "Dancin' in the Streets."
Wonder what "more to come this evening" will be...
P.S.: There is an article on Rolling Stone today about the group New Radicals and the song
(You Get What You Give) and how it refers to the Bidens. The backstory is pretty interesting.
https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/new-radicals-you-get-what-you-give-inauguration-1116957/
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I enjoyed the Parade Across America, though it felt a bit rushed, understandably because they crammed in performances from all 56 states, district and territories. I'm looking forward to this evening's inaugural entertainment.
Yes, the dancing was really impressive.
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In re-watching the "Dancin' in the Streets" portion of the video, I noticed
that the "second" dancer in the sequence is dancing right in front of Video
West, where I used to work in West Hollywood! The camera is looking up
Larrabee Street. The dancer appears from the alley behind the building.
I know that no one else probably cares about that, but I thought I'd share. :)
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The dancer from here in Arlington performed in front of the Marine Corps War Memorial, a well known location.
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An interesting juxtaposition that I hadn't thought of before (from the Washington Post): It was a strange contrast to perhaps the most famous and beloved inaugural of modern American history, John F. Kennedy’s, 60 years ago. Then, an old poet recited verses to a young president. Now, a young poet recited verses to an old one.
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I also thought it was interesting that President Biden became the sixth-youngest senator in American history when he was elected to the U.S. Senate from Delaware in 1972, at the age of 29, and is now the oldest President of the U.S.
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I just loved the whole Inauguration today. I cried through a lot of it! Tears of happiness and relief and hope!
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Amen to that.
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An interesting juxtaposition that I hadn't thought of before (from the Washington Post): It was a strange contrast to perhaps the most famous and beloved inaugural of modern American history, John F. Kennedy’s, 60 years ago. Then, an old poet recited verses to a young president. Now, a young poet recited verses to an old one.
Yes, Robert Frost was the poet!
Did you know that...
Famously, the poem Frost recited wasn’t the poem Frost had prepared for Kennedy’s inauguration. He had written a poem entitled “Dedication” for the occasion, but when he took the stage, he couldn’t read it; the glare on the snow was too strong. So he recited “The Gift Outright,” which he knew by heart, instead.
Ooops!
Many people think reading a poem is a tradition, but only 4 President's have had a poem recited at their inaugurations.
I particularly liked Maya Angelou's. It's when I first became aware of her. I got to meet her once.
--Presidential Inauguration of Joe Biden, 2021: Amanda Gorman, “The Hill We Climb”
--Presidential Inauguration of Barack Obama, 2013: Richard Blanco, “One Today”
--Presidential Inauguration of Barack Obama, 2009: Elizabeth Alexander, “Praise Song for the Day”
--Presidential Inauguration of Bill Clinton, 1997: Miller Williams, “Of History and Hope”
--Presidential Inauguration of Bill Clinton, 1993: Maya Angelou, “On the Pulse of Morning”
--Presidential Inauguration of John F. Kennedy, 1961: Robert Frost, “The Gift Outright”
If one is interested, you can read all of these poems here, including the one Frost did not give:
Read Every Presidential Inauguration Poem Ever Performed (there are fewer than you think)
https://lithub.com/read-every-presidential-inauguration-poem-ever-performed-there-are-fewer-than-you-think/
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I was just reading the Maya Angelou poem again...the last verse is:
Here, on the pulse of this new day
You may have the grace to look up and out
And into your sister’s eyes, and into
Your brother’s face, your country
And say simply
Very simply
With hope—
Good morning.
It struck me that on that Saturday after the election when Biden first was declared the winner, and I went out
on the streets to celebrate with so many joyous people and I was cheering and greeting passersby on the sidewalk
and in cars passing by, that I was saying to these people, "Good morning," in that very same way Maya Angelou had
said it in that poem...very simply and with hope--"Good morning!" Now I've got chills!
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I just loved the whole Inauguration today. I cried through a lot of it! Tears of happiness and relief and hope!
Agree.
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Yes, Amanda Gorman's poem was very moving, and her delivery in voice and movement was impressive.
I got to know Richard Blanco's poetry from his reading in 2013, really like it. I printed out that poem and had it on my wall at work until I retired.
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Congratulations, dear friends! I hope your new President and Vice President will find the strength and inspiration to undo all the evil the orange menace did and have a fruitful and beneficial presidency for you all and the rest of the world!
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So happy for you all, and for all of us!
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Just imagine. A woman of color is "a heartbeat away from the Presidency." I would never have imagined I'd live to see that. I'm glad I have. :)
(I guess it's weird. Of course I mean no disrespect to the man or the office, but I don't think I'll ever be able to think of President Joseph R. Biden, Jr., as anything other than Joe. Maybe it's because to me the full name and title seems a bit pretentious for a person who strikes me as not the least bit pretentious. He may be just the most "average Joe" to hold that office in my lifetime. Maybe that's one of his strengths as President.)
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Happiness is just a guy named Joe.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3QDxiX_rXoY
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In his first day, President Biden has signed 17 Executive orders.
The story appears in the NYT, which you have to be a subscriber to read, so I'm not going to copy the article here.
It was written by Aishvarya Kavi.
Here is a list of what the orders are for.
Appointed Jeffrey D. Zients as the official Covid-19 response coordinator who will report to the president.
Restores the directorate for global health security and biodefense at the National Security Council, a group Mr. Trump had disbanded.
Reinstate ties with the World Health Organization after the Trump administration chose to withdraw the nation’s membership and funding last year. Dr. Anthony S. Fauci will be the head of the U.S. delegation to the organization’s executive board
Bolstered the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program that protects from deportation immigrants brought to the United States as children, often called Dreamers.
Revoked the Trump administration’s plan to exclude noncitizens from the census count.
Overturn a Trump executive order that pushed aggressive efforts to find and deport unauthorized immigrants.
Block the deportation of Liberians who have been living in the United States.
Ended the so-called Muslim ban, which blocked travel to the United States from several predominantly Muslim and African countries.
Halted construction of Mr. Trump’s border wall with Mexico. The order includes an “immediate termination” of the national emergency declaration that allowed the Trump administration to redirect billions of dollars to the wall.
Re-enter the United States in the Paris climate accords, which it will officially rejoin 30 days from now.
Revoking the permit for the Keystone XL pipeline.
Reversing the rollbacks to vehicle emissions standards.
Undoing decisions to slash the size of several national monuments
Enforcing a temporary moratorium on oil and natural gas leases in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge
Re-establishing a working group on the social costs of greenhouse gasses.
End the Trump administration’s 1776 Commission, which released a report on Monday that historians said distorted the role of slavery in the United States, among other history.
Revoked Mr. Trump’s executive order limiting the ability of federal agencies, contractors and other institutions to hold diversity and inclusion training.
Designated Susan E. Rice, who is the head of his Domestic Policy Council, as the leader of a “robust, interagency” effort requiring all federal agencies to make “rooting out systemic racism” central to their work.
Reinforces Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to require that the federal government does not discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity, a policy that reverses action by Mr. Trump’s administration.
Extend a federal moratorium on evictions and has asked agencies, including the Agriculture, Veterans Affairs and Housing and Urban Development Departments, to prolong a moratorium on foreclosures on federally guaranteed mortgages that was enacted in response to the coronavirus pandemic.
Continue a pause on federal student loan interest and principal payments through the end of September, although progressive groups and some congressional Democrats have pushed Mr. Biden to go much further and cancel up to $50,000 in student debt per person.
Established ethics rules for those who serve in his administration that aim “to restore and maintain trust in the government.” He has ordered all of his appointees in the executive branch to sign an ethics pledge.
Issued a freeze on all new regulations put in motion by his predecessor to give his administration time to evaluate which ones it wants to move forward.
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Breathing so much easier, not having to steel myself for bad news, at least not for a little while.
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In his first day, President Biden has signed 17 Executive orders.
Undoing decisions to slash the size of several national monuments
Good lord, I wonder what the heck that one was about???
And thanks for the list, Chuck, I was wondering what all of those were.
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Biden Has Already Fired Three of Trump’s Worst Appointees
by Mark Stern
JAN 20, 2021 6:45 PM
First, Biden terminated Michael Pack, who was confirmed to head the U.S. Agency for Global Media in June. Pack sought to transform the agency, which oversees the international broadcaster Voice of America, into a propaganda outlet for Trump—despite a statutory mandate that prohibits such political interference.
Second, Biden sacked Kathleen Kraninger, who was confirmed as director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau in 2018. Kraninger, who had no previous experience in consumer protection, immediately tried to undermine the agency’s role as a watchdog for the financial sector.
Third, Biden demanded the resignation of Peter Robb, who was confirmed as the National Labor Relations Board’s general counsel in 2017. During his tenure, he tried to limit employees’ free speech, give managers more leeway to engage in wage theft, hobble unions’ ability to collect dues, and prevent employers from helping workers organize. He also tried to seize near-total control of the agency by demoting every regional director and consolidating power in his office. If successful, this gambit would’ve given him unprecedented authority to bust existing unions and prevent new ones from forming.
On Wednesday evening, Robb announced that he would not step down voluntarily. Biden promptly fired him.
For further details read more here:
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2021/01/biden-michael-pack-kathleen-kraninger-peter-robb.html
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Good lord, I wonder what the heck that one was about???
I read something about this in The New Yorker some time ago. IIRC, some of the Monuments had oil within their bounds. The Great Orange Satan reduced the size of the Monuments so the oil-baring land was no longer within the Monuments' borders. That way his good buddies in the energy industry could get at the oil.
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Ah...thanks, Jeff!
(https://images.theweek.com/sites/default/files/247728_rgb_768.jpg)
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(https://images.theweek.com/sites/default/files/247781_rgb_768.jpg)
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This cartoon speculates on whether THE PRESS, will stop it's Trump fixation. This cartoonist's answer: No.
(https://images.theweek.com/sites/default/files/cjones01252021.jpg)
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(https://images.theweek.com/sites/default/files/20210115ednac-a.jpg)
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(https://images.theweek.com/sites/default/files/20210119edhan-a.jpg)
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(https://images.theweek.com/sites/default/files/20210219edshe-b.jpg)
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ALL of the above are fantastic, Lyle!!
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Good lord, I wonder what the heck that one was about???
And thanks for the list, Chuck, I was wondering what all of those were.
What was reversed, thank goodness. It included several sites sacred to Native Americans.
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/news/2017/12/trump-shrinks-bears-ears-grand-staircase-escalante-national-monuments/
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(https://images.theweek.com/sites/default/files/20210115ednac-a.jpg)
So true!
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Undoing decisions to slash the size of several national monuments
Enforcing a temporary moratorium on oil and natural gas leases in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge
Hallelujah!!
My heart has been bleeding for the NMs and even more so when I read about drilling plans in the ANWR.
It was also in the news last week that the T administration released vast tracts of protected federal forests for logging. I hope that is being reversed too.
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So true!
I completely agree.
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All I can say is YAY for everything that has been accomplished over 24 hours! Now I know that it is DEFINITELY NOT going to be this easy going forward, but this is a wonderful beginning!
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This is verrry discouraging to me:
Monarch Butterfly Population 'Plummeting Toward Extinction' in California
Also Monarchs in the midwestern “Corn Belt” are in danger because of pesticides sprayed on crops.
https://www.accuweather.com/en/weather-news/butterfly-population-plummeting-toward-extinction-in-calif/885475
(https://cms.accuweather.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/population-chart.png?w=632)
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Darn. They're not doing much better in the East either.
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What was reversed, thank goodness. It included several sites sacred to Native Americans.
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/news/2017/12/trump-shrinks-bears-ears-grand-staircase-escalante-national-monuments/
Yes, another huge giveaway to oil, big business which will lead to nothing but the spoilage of our national parks established by Roosevelt. Again, another checkbox the evil GOP bigots have been trying to "undo and undermine" since these were designated. Drill, drill, drill.
This was another last minute GOP check box - the greedy bastards
-> https://www.npr.org/2020/12/03/942052004/trump-administration-sets-last-minute-oil-lease-sale-for-arctic-wildlife-refuge
-> https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-01-06/secret-bids-opened-in-rare-auction-of-arctic-oil-drilling-rights
I hope that bitch is sent packing too. V.
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Speaking in the Senate a few hours ago, Senator Chuck Shumer makes a rather humorous faux pas:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JdY7yVYZMxw
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:laugh:
We certainly never have to worry about him inciting an erection.
Except of course perhaps to members of the base.
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Speaking in the Senate a few hours ago, Senator Chuck Shumer makes a rather humorous faux pas:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JdY7yVYZMxw
I laughed so loud that I woke Oliver up and scared him!! TOO FUNNY!!!
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I Was Duped
Jamie Ross - Jan. 22, 2021
Earlier this week, before Donald Trump left office in disgrace, he was heard consoling himself by saying that his fans still loved him in spite of everything. But it seems one of his most notorious and crazed supporters has abandoned him now that he no longer wields presidential power.
The legal representative of Jacob Chansley—better known as the “QAnon Shaman,” who burst into the U.S. Capitol wearing furs and Viking horns—has said his client feels cheated by Trump.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/qanon-shaman-jacob-chansley-disowns-trump-saying-he-was-duped
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Capitol rioters express regret for participating in unrest
after not getting a pardon from former President Trump
PJ Randhawa - January 21, 2021
The number of arrests associated with the riot at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 continues to grow.
On Wednesday, two men from Florida with ties to a far-right extremist group were arrested for taking part in the siege.
More than 116 people from around the country are now facing federal charges.
A few of those people arrested have ties to the Midwest region.
That includes Richard "Bigo" Barnett - from Arkansas - who was seen reclining with his feet on Nancy pelosi's desk during the unrest.
Closer to home, there's Emily Hernandez of Sullivan, Missouri.
"She's a 21-year-old girl and she's got her whole life ahead of her. She knows this was obviously a mistake and she's ready to move past it," said Ethan Corlija, Hernandez's attorney.
Hernandez turned herself into the FBI this week on charges of disorderly conduct, knowingly entering or remaining in a restricted building and disruptive conduct in the capitol buildings. Hernandez was released without bond. No date has been set for her next court hearing.
The FBI are also looking for a man seen in the same photo as Hernandez wearing a Blues hat. And he could be local as well.
https://www.wusa9.com/article/news/national/capitol-riots/capitol-rioters-express-regret-for-participating-in-unrest-after-not-getting-a-pardon-from-president-trump/63-7a04e9f1-4f72-4704-bd79-0e0ca09c1552
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Poor little snowflakes.
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LOL
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:D
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Larry King, legendary talk show host, dies at 87
(CNN)Larry King, the longtime CNN host who became an icon through his interviews with countless newsmakers and his sartorial sensibilities, has died. He was 87.
King hosted "Larry King Live" on CNN for over 25 years, interviewing presidential candidates, celebrities, athletes, movie stars and everyday people. He retired in 2010 after taping more than 6,000 episodes of the show.
https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/23/us/larry-king-dies-trnd/index.html
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Larry King had a cameo appearance as himself in Eddie and the Cruisers II, a movie reviled by just about everyone except me.
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BBC news show viewers 'gobsmacked' at X-rated object spotted on guest's shelf
By James Brinsford
There were eyebrows raised among viewers of BBC Wales Today on Tuesday evening, after a rather saucy looking object was spotted on screen.
BBC Wales was interviewing guest Yvette Amos via video-link when those watching became distracted by an eye-watering sex toy that was standing proud behind the interviewee.
With the coronavirus pandemic leaving many stuck at home as only essential journeys and those that have to go out to work being allowed to get out of their own four walls.
So, the BBC news show looked to see how women in Cardiff were being affected by the lockdown and what they have done to overcome any mental health issues that can become prominent during these unprecedented times.
https://www.mirror.co.uk/tv/tv-news/bbc-wales-today-viewers-gobsmacked-23391438
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Gregory Hinton shared this on his Twitter Feed.
Accidentally or Not, Brian Williams Just Dropped the Mic on Kevin McCarthy’s Bootlicking Meeting with Trump at Mar-a-Lago: WATCH
https://twitter.com/i/status/1355014337732210689
This is too funny.
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OMG!!! LOL!!!
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OMG!!! LOL!!!
I thought you might like this Lyle!. I never thought Brian Wiiliams had this sense of humor.
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:laugh: The wrong clip, yeah, sure! :laugh:
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“Captain Tom”, now Sir Tom, who raised £33,000,000 for National Health charities by walking 100 times round his garden just before his 100th birthday, has died from Covid and pneumonia.
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Darn. I liked him a lot.
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I saw this a couple of weeks ago and was going to post it, but time got away from me.
Pete Buttigieg Handles Ted Cruz in his DOT Nomination Hearing - Great We have Common Cause For Labor
Did Pete Buttigieg school Ted Cruz in his Senate hearing for Department of Transportation Secretary? You can decide. I watched it to see how Buttigieg performed. Tbh, it was fairly routine, sort of boring, and used a lot of transportation acronymns and references that I never heard of before.
Cruz questions at the 1:59.30 mark. I could not find a link that only showed Cruz. www.pbs.org/…
But then we get to Ted Cruz. He is his normal, detestable self. So fun to watch Mayor Pete, cool, calm, collected. Cruz goes on and on about Biden’s immediate cancellation of the Keystone Pipeline and loss of union jobs. Buttigieg reinforces Biden climate vision. Roughly transcribed or paraphrased. Link to a transcript www.washingtonblade.com/…
C: So the answer is somebody else will get a job.
B: The answer is we are eager to have people employed even if they are different union jobs. We believe we can do this through Biden’s climate vision proposal, though it will take time.
C: Talks about the recent approval of transport of liquified natural gas (LNG). Asks what Buttigieg thinks about it.
B: We want to take a closer look at it and take into account safety issues. I recognize natural gas is not the same as coal, but it is also not the same as hydroelectric power and we want to be balancing all these considerations as we go forward. (Love how Pete throws shade so nicely).
C: So you are saying that you would repeal the rule and stop the transport of LNG?
B: The best honest answer I can give you is I will be taking a hard look at it.
C: Well, that is disconcerting. Has Ted Cruz ever not had a rancid reply? (LOL. Pete basically says STFU, nicely, of course, imo)
C: Let’s move on to a different question. This concerns the highway trust fund, and that 3 states — TX, SC, & CO — pay more into the trust than they receive in funds for roads. For TX, it was $212 million less. “Senator Donnelly introduced a bill to reapportion the trust fairly. What do you think?” Cruz said in his nasty, deprecating manner.
B: Well, I will make sure to call Sen. Donnelly — he’s a good friend of mine — and learn more about this. Then we’ll take a hard look at it, too.
C: Goes into a rant about how the Democratic party under FDR was party of unions and blue collar workers. With cancellation of the Keystone Pipeline, Democrats are saying that we will eliminate your job and good luck in the future.
B: When the books are written about our careers, we will be judged by whether we did enough to stop the destruction of life and property. I’ve got to believe we can do both things. But Sen Cruz, if you and I can agree, and make a common cause for Labor, then that’s great. (BOOM! gotcha)
Sen Jon Tester asks questions immediately before Cruz and towards the end he compliments Buttigieg on his performance at the hearing and advises upcoming nominees to watch the 2 hours to learn how to do it right. Oh, my. Mayor Pete is usually a hard act to follow, imo.
First item for Pete Buttigieg’s statement was to introduce his husband, Chasten!
I bolded the last part.
It was so very good to see Cruz handed his A** on a platter, and so very politely as well. I hope Secretary Pete goes far!!!
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;D ;D ;D
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(https://media2.giphy.com/media/TjvzZzIawBexXIHa2o/giphy.gif?cid=ecf05e47l38y270gpq6ednpl7ve4zepibsmznvn5gltxjcgn&rid=giphy.gif)
Pete Buttigieg was confirmed as Secretary of Transportation by the Senate today.
The vote was 86-13, with one Senator not voting.
Worth seeing who those 13 are:
Those who voted against confirmation were all Republicans:
Sens. Richard Shelby and Tommy Tuberville of Alabama
Tom Cotton of Arkansas
Marco Rubio and Rick Scott of Florida
Roger Marshall of Kansas
Bill Cassidy of Louisiana
Josh Hawley of Missouri
James Lankford of Oklahoma
Tim Scott of South Carolina
Marsha Blackburn and Bill Hagerty of Tennessee
Ted Cruz of Texas (Last but not and yes, least.
Most of them have low scores, primarily zeroes, on the Human Rights Campaign’s Congressional Scorecard, which rates members of Congress on their support for LGBTQ+ rights (or lack thereof). Some were rated on their records in the U.S. House before joining the Senate, such as Marshall and Blackburn, and some have not been in elected office long enough to be rated (Tuberville and Hagerty). [I've talked about Tuberville here before. He's a zero and a Capital A Asshole.]
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The President himself is planned to swear him in later today.
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Ah, I was misinformed. The VP did it. And it was nice.
https://www.c-span.org/video/?508603-1/transportation-secretary-buttigieg-swearing-ceremony
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Thanks, Fritz, that did my heart good!
Do we know who that other man was that was there?
And Chasten held the Bible for Pete's swearing in, love it!
I've always liked Kamala Harris, ever since she very narrowly won the California Attorney General office the first time in 2010.
She was out front and outspoken in supporting marriage equality. I love that she's joyful (she laughs a lot) which there's been
an abundant lack of the last 5 years.
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Ah, I was misinformed. The VP did it. And it was nice.
https://www.c-span.org/video/?508603-1/transportation-secretary-buttigieg-swearing-ceremony
Thank you for the link. It was indeed very nice. 8)
As a foreigner to the US, I wasn't really aware about all this swearing-in going on. I'm also curious why all the oaths (of VP, ministers, and senators) are so much more detailed and longer than the presidential oath, which was the only one known to me previously.
Pete and Chasten are super serious about their mask wearing, that's certain. I like that about them too.
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As a foreigner to the US, I wasn't really aware about all this swearing-in going on. I'm also curious why all the oaths (of VP, ministers, and senators) are so much more detailed and longer than the presidential oath, which was the only one known to me previously.
The President's oath of office is actually included in the U.S. Constitution (Article II, section 1).
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"I do solemnly swear that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States."
Well, Trump assuredly did do that, he certainly executed the Office of President of the United States.
And if what he did was "to the best of his Ability," the voters need to re-evaluate their requirements.
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Randy Rainbow has a new video out concerning the new crazy Congresswoman.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jQ8ldD9wKmY
Also, The Lincoln Project has several new devastating and accurate videos out.
Check out their youtube page.
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Thanks, Fritz, that did my heart good!
Do we know who that other man was that was there?
And Chasten held the Bible for Pete's swearing in, love it!
I've always liked Kamala Harris, ever since she very narrowly won the California Attorney General office the first time in 2010.
She was out front and outspoken in supporting marriage equality. I love that she's joyful (she laughs a lot) which there's been
an abundant lack of the last 5 years.
Yes, the other man was the Second Gentleman, Kamala Harris' husband.
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Randy Rainbow has a new video out concerning the new crazy Congresswoman.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jQ8ldD9wKmY
Also, The Lincoln Project has several new devastating and accurate videos out.
Check out their youtube page.
He certainly won't have to worry about running out of material!
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Yes, the other man was the Second Gentleman, Kamala Harris' husband.
Ohhh...okay, thanks!
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I guess Secretary Pete is now a Roads Scholar.
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;D
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Historic news !
The Change or Suppression (Conversion) Practices Bill was passed by the upper house of the Victorian Parliament after a marathon debate last night.
Anyone trying to suppress or change another person's sexuality or gender identity faces up to 10 years jail or fines of almost $A10 000 if it can be proved beyond reasonable doubt that their actions caused serious harm.
The Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission will get new powers to deal with complaints that do not meet the criminal threshold and launch own motion cases into systemic issues as part of a new civil scheme for Victoria.
The Family Violencee Protection Act will also be amended to make gay conversion therapy a form of domestic violence.
The new bill is unprecedented because it covers not only medical, psychiatric or psychological conversion therapies, but informal religious gay and gender conversion practices that target individuals.
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That's great!!! Huge step forward!
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At least a few Republicans are willing to distance themselves from her whack-a-doodle theories.
House removes GOP Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene from committees
Dylan Stableford·Senior Writer
Thu, February 4, 2021, 4:44 PM
The House voted on Thursday to remove Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., from her committee assignments after Republican leadership failed to punish the freshman congresswoman’s embrace of bizarre conspiracy theories and endorsement of violence against Democrats.
The resolution to strip Greene from her seats on the budget and the education and labor committees passed 230-199, with 11 House Republicans joining Democrats in voting for Greene’s removal.
Those GOP members were Mario Díaz-Balart (Fla.); Brian Fitzpatrick (Pa.); Carlos A. Giménez (Fla.); Chris Jacobs (N.Y.); John Katko (N.Y.); Young Kim (Calif.); Adam Kinzinger (Ill.); Nicole Malliotakis (N.Y.); Maria Elvira Salazar (Fla.); Chris Smith (N.J.); and Fred Upton (Mich.).
In a fiery speech on the House floor shortly before the vote, Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., excoriated Republican leadership for ignoring Greene’s incendiary rhetoric. Hoyer displayed a poster showing one of Greene’s Facebook posts that included an image of her with an AR-15 alongside Democratic Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib above a banner that read “Squad’s Worst Nightmare.”
“They’re not ‘the Squad.’ They’re Ilhan. They are Alexandria. And they’re Rashida. They are people. They are our colleagues,” Hoyer said. “This is an AR-15.”
Hoyer pointed out that two years ago, House Republicans removed Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, of his committee assignments after he questioned publicly why the phrase “white supremacy” was considered offensive. (King was defeated by a primary challenger later that year and is now out of Congress.)
As a rule, every member of Congress is assigned to one or more committees. For a freshman, especially one in the minority, committee meetings are one of the few ways to exercise power or make a mark in Congress.
Greene, who has supported the QAnon conspiracy theory in the past and has a long history of making racist comments, was elected to the House in November, and promptly announced she would introduce a bill on her first day to impeach President Biden. (It’s unclear whether any fellow members supported the proposal, which has no chance of passing the Democrat-controlled Congress.)
Last week, Facebook posts unearthed by CNN showed Greene had supported calls for violence against prominent Democrats, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. In one post, from January 2019, Greene liked a comment that said a “bullet to the head would be quicker” to remove the House speaker.
Greene, who was not in office at the time, has said her social media accounts were sometimes handled by others.
Posts on Greene’s Facebook account also expressed support for baseless conspiracy theories that the school shootings in Newtown, Conn., and Parkland, Fla., were staged. (“Exactly!” she wrote in response to a post saying the 2018 Parkland massacre was a “false flag planned shooting.”)
Fred Guttenberg, the father of a slain Parkland student, posted a video of Greene harassing David Hogg, a former Parkland student and gun reform advocate, outside the U.S. Capitol.
In a floor speech ahead of Thursday’s vote, Greene insisted her conspiratorial views — including her belief that the 9/11 attack on the Pentagon never happened — were a thing of the past.
“These were words of the past and these things do not represent me,” Greene said before blaming the media for distorting her views, equating the press corps to QAnon and casting herself as a victim of cancel culture. She did not offer an apology.
The unprecedented vote to remove Greene from her committee assignments came a day after House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., said that her past statements “on school shootings, political violence, and anti-Semitic conspiracy theories do not represent the values or beliefs of the House Republican Conference.” But he did not announce any sanctions, saying instead that she had assured him in a private conversation that she understood the need to meet “a higher standard” as a lawmaker than as a private citizen.
“I hold her to her word, as well as her actions going forward,” McCarthy said.
He also claimed he didn’t know what QAnon is, despite saying in August that there was no place for it in the Republican Party.
McCarthy then criticized Democrats for “choosing to raise the temperature” in “their partisan power grab regarding the committee assignments of the other party.”
"It's so unfortunate. You would think the Republican leadership would have some sense of responsibility to this institution," House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said shortly before the vote.
In a Wednesday meeting with House Republicans, Greene attempted to distance herself from some of her past comments. She said that the school shootings were “real and awful,” and apologized for having subscribed to some QAnon conspiracy theories, according to attendees.
Those remarks satisfied McCarthy and her party colleagues, many of whom gave Greene a standing ovation.
But in an interview with the Washington Examiner published after her meeting with McCarthy, Greene seemed less contrite.
“And Kevin McCarthy and all these leaders, the leadership, and everyone is proving that they are all talk and not about action,” she said. “They’re just all about doing business as usual in Washington. And so what’s the difference between them and the Democrats? There isn’t a difference.”
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Is it a done deal, or does Senate have to vote too?
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No, that's purely a House matter, voting on their own rules.
So it's done, it would take a 2/3 vote to get her out, but she'll effectively be cut off from leadership, no committees. I expect she'll speak a lot, much to the embarrassment of the GOP.
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Excellant!
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I guess I need to remember all this repairing that is going to happen is going to be one step at a time, and I shouldn't get frustrated.
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Also, The Lincoln Project has several new devastating and accurate videos out.
Check out their youtube page.
This new one is worth pointing out:
The Squalid:
They tried to steal your democracy. Don’t forget what they did. Remember their names. They are... #TheSqualid.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0r2xzzHfw94
It's exact and also humorous. Ten politicians especially intent on destroying, well, anything they can.
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^^^
And things have gotten so bad, Moscow Mitch and Miss Lindsey didn't even get a role in the film.
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Christopher Plummer Dies: Oscar Winner & ‘Sound Of Music,’ ‘All The Money In The World’ Star A True Hollywood Legend
Christopher Plummer, who starred in The Sound of Music, won an Oscar for Beginners and was nominated for All the Money in the World and The Last Station, died peacefully today at his home in Connecticut, his family confirmed. Elaine Taylor, his wife and true best friend for 53 years, was by his side.
Along with becoming the oldest person to win an Oscar, Plummer also won a pair of Emmys and two Tonys during a nearly 70-year career.
Lou Pitt, his longtime friend and manager of 46 years, said; “Chris was an extraordinary man who deeply loved and respected his profession with great old fashion manners, self-deprecating humor and the music of words. He was a national treasure who deeply relished his Canadian roots. Through his art and humanity, he touched all of our hearts and his legendary life will endure for all generations to come. He will forever be with us.”
https://deadline.com/2021/02/christopher-plummer-dies-91-sound-of-music-all-the-money-in-the-world-star-1234688379/
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Top conservative lawyer says Constitution does allow for Trump impeachment trial
By Paulina Firozi
Feb. 8, 2021 at 7:10 a.m. MST
The Washington Post
Charles J. Cooper, a conservative constitutional attorney, says in an op-ed published in the Wall Street Journal on Sunday that Republicans were wrong to argue that it is unconstitutional to hold an impeachment trial for a former president.
All but five GOP senators backed former president Donald Trump in a vote late last month after Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) challenged the constitutional basis for the the Senate impeachment trial of a former president.
“Impeachment is for removal from office, and the accused here has already left office,” Paul argued.
The vote signaled that the trial proceedings scheduled to start Tuesday are likely to end with the former president’s acquittal on the charge that he incited the Jan. 6 Capitol riot that left five people dead, including a Capitol Police officer.
In the op-ed, Cooper points to a provision of the Constitution that states: “The president, vice president and all civil officers of the United States, shall be removed from office on impeachment for, and conviction of, treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors.”
“The trial’s opponents argue that because this provision requires removal, and because only incumbent officers can be removed, it follows that only incumbent officers can be impeached and tried,” he wrote. “But the provision cuts against their interpretation. It simply establishes what is known in criminal law as a ‘mandatory minimum’ punishment.”
He wrote that the argument would be “compelling” if removal from office were the only punishment, adding that the Constitution allows the Senate to disqualify those convicted of impeachable offenses from holding office again.
“Given that the Constitution permits the Senate to impose the penalty of permanent disqualification only on former officeholders, it defies logic to suggest that the Senate is prohibited from trying and convicting former officeholders,” Cooper said.
There is Senate precedent for trying people who have left office. The impeachments of Sen. William Blount in 1797 and Secretary of War William Belknap in 1876 both occurred after the men were no longer in office. Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) specifically cited Belknap’s case in his defense of the trial.
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Most of the GOP Senators have already made up their minds, though, and the constitutional aspect seems to be their best/only way to sidestep ruling on his guilt.
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All but five GOP senators backed former president Donald Trump in a vote late last month after Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) challenged the constitutional basis for the the Senate impeachment trial of a former president. “Impeachment is for removal from office, and the accused here has already left office,” Paul argued.
Anytime something out there is put forth, Rand Paul seems to be behind it. He's a doctor? Of what?
The only way this makes sense, is if they go through the trial and a lot of the Republicans say they just dismiss this whole trial as lunacy (which they're very much adhered to) and decide not to show up for the impeachment vote. There seems to be reason to believe that a 2/3 vote of the chamber is required for removal from office, but 2/3 of those PRESENT. Not 2/3 of the entire Senate body.
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Unfortunately true, Fritz. It's amazing how short sighted the GOP is. I thought they didn't want him to run in 4 years. Maybe it will come back to bite them in the a**.
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Most of the GOP Senators have already made up their minds, though, and the constitutional aspect seems to be their best/only way to sidestep ruling on his guilt.
^^^ The GOP rats are scurrying for ANY way out vs confronting the truth or TRUMP and his fanatics head on with the sedition he (and others) instigated for months and finally directed from that so-called "rally". All but a few are "afraid" of the Trumpers and have no backbone to do what's right for the country vs their own political motivations or the GOP party. The GOP Senators do not want to put on the record of voting against the GoS, nor do they want to vote for him.... if they no-show then the hurdle # to convict drops - here's hoping!
Yes Rand Paul is another GOP PoS who's right there with Mr. Cruz and Ms. Graham... my what a trio. Remember, he's an instigator to no end and was one of the first anti-maskers that caught COVID19 and escaped it's claws..... sadly. V.
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Meanwhile, California Governor Gavin Newsom now seems likely to be the subject of a recall election because a judge last month extended the period for gathering signatures for two months because, reasoning goes, it was harder to get signatures because of COVID restrictions. Even though most of it was being done online and through the mail anyway. Major funding is coming from wealthy Trump Republican donors.
Despite the highly publicized recall election of CA Gov. Gray Davis over 15 years ago, which was successful, recall elections overturning an incumbent Governor are extremely rare. It only happened one other time in 1921 in North Dakota. Remember when we had high hopes the recall election of Wisconsin's Governor Scott Walker would happen in 2012? It didn't. The CA constitution has had this recall system for voters since 1911 and it's been activated approximately once every ten years (11 times so far). These efforts draw publicity and rarely make the ballot. If they do they are usually defeated. Reagan was the subject of one recall effort in 1968.
Last October Governor Newsom had a 60% approval rating. The COVID situation has obviously been adversely affecting the state and the notion of recalling the Governor is letting a whole lot of people express their frustrations for everything that's frustrating all of us. And, of course, Newsom made headlines for attending a gathering last fall where he and the other guests were not wearing masks shortly after his speech mandating all Californians to wear masks. FAIL.
I am not in favor of a time and money wasting and distracting recall, but with all the problems everyone has right now, and frustrations galore, who knows how this volatility could play out. I think it's a distinct distraction from actually handling the problems occurring now. My biggest problem I see with CA's recall system is that anyone can get on the ballot to be a replacement for the recall subject. In 2003 there were 135 candidates on the ballot you could vote for to be the Governor if the recall was successful. Those included porn stars and Gary Coleman, a movie star and your next door neighbor. And the person with the most votes wins. There's no threshhold requirement.
Sheesh.
If one wants further background:
Why Do People Want to Recall Gov. Gavin Newsom? We Explain.
https://abc7news.com/recall-newsom-petition-gov-update-status-signature-count/10256979/
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Unfortunately true, Fritz. It's amazing how short sighted the GOP is. I thought they didn't want him to run in 4 years. Maybe it will come back to bite them in the a**.
Congrats on your 100,000th post!
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Congrats on your 100,000th post!
Thanks, Fritz!!!
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GOP Rep. Ron Wright dies following Covid diagnosis
By Clare Foran and Kristin Wilson, CNN
Republican Rep. Ron Wright of Texas has died, his congressional office announced in a statement Monday, saying that he had been admitted to the hospital after contracting Covid-19.
"Congressman Ron Wright passed away peacefully at the age of 67 on Feb. 7, 2021. His wife Susan was by his side and he is now in the presence of their Lord and Savior," the statement read. "For the previous two weeks, Ron and Susan had been admitted to Baylor Hospital in Dallas after contracting COVID-19."
Wright is the first sitting member of Congress to die after contracting Covid. In December, Congressman-elect Luke Letlow died after being diagnosed with the disease.
Wright's congressional office announced that he had tested positive for Covid-19 on January 21 with the congressman saying at the time in a statement, "I am experiencing minor symptoms, but overall, I feel okay and will continue working for the people of the 6th District from home this week."
House GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy said in a statement Monday, "Our hearts are heavy with the news of Ron's passing. Judy and I send our heartfelt prayers to Susan and their children during this very difficult time."
https://www.cnn.com/2021/02/08/politics/ron-wright-congressman-dies/index.html
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Branded
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PyDKqwI7yx0
The Case Against Donald J. Trump
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XLJdjViD6UE
Two excellent on point Lincoln Project ads from today.
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Great!
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The Senate has decided that the impeachment is constitutional.
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The Senate has decided that the impeachment is constitutional.
WOW! This is a surprise.
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WOW! This is a surprise.
6 GOP Senators voted for the constitutionality this time, one more than last week.
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but will they convict is the question.
It needs to be 67 votes to convict, correct?
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Yep. Highly unlikely, as many of the Senators are spooked that he'd threaten them and their families with bodily harm.
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^^^ And communicating "credible threats" is the hallmark of a dictator in the making and enough to get you arrested in many places. The only way to deal with that is head on. The problem is most of these these GOP senators are ball-less cowards afraid to confront the GoS and hit the issue head-on.
For those few that are - I salute your courage for saying enough GOP political BS. America has priority - not someone who incited a riot against congress. Hell, if Romney and Cheney can stand up to that SOB, then the rest of them can too.
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It seems exceedingly odd that one of his lawyers threatens civil war if they don't acquit his client of inciting insurrection.
https://www.thenewcivilrightsmovement.com/2021/02/trump-impeachment-attorney-threatens-senators-if-they-vote-to-convict-there-will-be-a-civil-war/?fbclid=IwAR3KHRcqxAimjt_csSdrvrjBWhtxUmtHceESJwZXgyL8r2BEOlT0QYgPgUk
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Back to the CIRCUS.........Season 2........... ;D
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^^^ What a threatening defense! I'm surprised any judge is not warning the the attorney that is paramount to threatening jury members. We know most of the GOPers are already ball-less.
If the country does not act accordingly on this matter, the next GOP SOB will push the lines even further and the rule of law is weakened for rule of GOP/Trump.
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But will they convict is the question.
It needs to be 67 votes to convict, correct?
Conviction requires a vote of two-thirds of Senators present on any article of impeachment.
So...67 if they all show up. If 90 showed up it would be 60.
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After watching a lot of the impeachment proceedings, I tell you what: If this occurrence by this President cannot end up in his conviction and removal from any further office then the Impeachment remedy the founders envisioned is simply null & void and we have no such remedy to remove a President from office. I doubt the founders ever envisioned the absolute inability of the Republicans we have now to disavow such blatant seditious acts and bury their head in the sand.
If these same people were in the Continental Congress they would never have voted to affirm the Declaration of Independence. And THAT needed EVERY SINGLE STATE to affirm the passage. 100% not just 2/3.
These people are beyond despicable.
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One thing I'd like the impeachment managers to state is: None of this would have happened, none of this would have occurred, if you'd have done the right thing the FIRST time. You didn't, and look what has happened. If you don't do the right thing this time, what will you then have brought upon this country yet to come?
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After watching a lot of the impeachment proceedings, I tell you what: If this occurrence by this President cannot end up in his conviction and removal from any further office then the Impeachment remedy the founders envisioned is simply null & void and we have no such remedy to remove a President from office. I doubt the founders ever envisioned the absolute inability of the Republicans we have now to disavow such blatant seditious acts and bury their head in the sand.
If these same people were in the Continental Congress they would never have voted to affirm the Declaration of Independence. And THAT needed EVERY SINGLE STATE to affirm the passage. 100% not just 2/3.
These people are beyond despicable.
Amen.
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^^^ Sadly, the GOP has lost it's way over the past 40 years - ever since they bought into Regan's Voodoo Economics. Today's GOP is only concerned doing what will win the GOP the next election rather than governing as they were elected to do by doing what's right for the country as a WHOLE. They have forgotten and dismissed their allegiances to the UNITED States of America and instead are clinging to a a populist demigod - aka the GoS, aka Donald J. Trump. Where are our pillars: John McCain, John Lewis, and many others who have stood against evils through their lifetime of service to our country?
The extreme constituents in both parties have forced every moderate in Congress out by creating fanatics who push polarizing agendas b/c they only see a zero sum game where I must win and you must lose to have meaning in their lives. The polarized Congress has lost their ability to compromise and create a win/win for our USA b/c somewhere, someone lied to them that compromise is losing or a sign of weakness. Sadly, until this "me-mine-me-mine" generation running the show retires, loses in office and is replaced by more moderate and sensible Congress men and women of conscience (we hope), I do not expect our quagmire to change in what's left of my lifetime.
I know that is so pessimistic and 1/2 empty and I don't like that either. My heart tells me, after what we saw get elected in 2016 and endured the carnage and wreckage of these last 4 years, it is clear the GOP is hell bent on re-making the USA into an oligarchy like existed before the Great Depression and then FDR's "New Deal with America" which pulled the country out of the quicksand. FDR's "New Deal" has encouraged and allowed everyone to dream and prosper for the past 70+ years. To reach that destructive end goal, there is NO LINE the GOP will not cross now - including treason, life-threatening rhetoric, sedition and sadly - worse.
Most of the United States of America and the world are watching our Senate trial. We are pondering the incriminating and undisputable evidence being presented - much of which we witnessed ourselves. Whether the GOP Senators have the "true grit" to examine the evidence and vote as they should for the United States of America vs. scurrying like rats for any cover is saddening, troubling and a reflection of how far lost they (we) have become. We are standing on the edge of a rocky, unstable and dangerous precipice with no safety rope, no free pass and no do-over. These elected Senators need to "make the decision history demands" for the country and for us all.
Stay safe, stay alive. Peace to all of you.
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^^^
It's possible that some...a few...one or two...might, but based on everything we know from them the past years, they'd rather go down with the ship. What's worse, I don't see how they think their fear of the base is a winning strategy. They've only gotten the popular vote for a president once in the last, what is it, seven elections, they lost the house in the mid-terms in 2018. They lost the Senate and the Presidency in 2020, they lost GEORGIA, and Arizona...and they're all like "Yes we're on the right course!"
At least others aren't ignoring his crimes. Yesterday, Fulton County, Georgia District Attorney Fani Willis opened an investigation that will look at evidence of Donald Trump's intentions when he interacted with Georgia officials. A Grand Jury will be convened by the end of the month. If convicted the penalty for Trump is a year in jail under Georgia law. And up to 40 other lawsuits in various states are under way.
Interview with the Fulton County, GA, District Attorney:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IQz_v2hmtHQ
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Saturday Night Live had as good a summary as any news organization of yesterday's travesty of justice in the United States Senate:
Trump acquitted by Senate 57 - 43. Well, like so many other men living in Florida, Donald Trump has once again escaped from Justice. This has to be the dumbest trial I've ever seen. Here's how dumb it was: The jurors who were deciding the case were the ones attacked by the defendant. The trial took place at the scene of the crime. And then right after the trial ended one of the jurors [Mitch McConnell] who voted to acquit Trump ran out and said "Someone's got to prosecute this guy. He did it! This man belongs in jail." I mean, whatever you're gonna do, if you're going to impeach a President for anything don't you think it's sending a mob to kill the Vice President? I feel bad for Pence. Forty-three of his work friends were like "Oh, come on, Mike, they only tried to hang you. Stop being such a drama queen." I think it would be hilarious if Biden now sent rioters back into the Capitol. And he was like: "What? You guys said it was fine."
If you'd like to watch it:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WBwY5FmAyIU
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So true.
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In the hope department: There is still an avenue being explored for banning Trump from any future political office.
Legal analyst Neal Katyal discusses how a clause in the 14th Amendment could be used to bar former-President Trump from holding public office in the future. Only a majority vote would be needed to set it in motion. Katyal says it may require a court process to decide on guilt or innocence.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z_ONtBJoDbE
Proceed Congress.
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One of the Republican Senators who voted to convict was Pennsylvania's Pat Toomey. Good for him.
Toomey has already announced that he will not seek reelection, so he had nothing to lose by voting for conviction. ::)
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The way Texas is going. All to show the libs.
https://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/539154-texas-mayor-who-told-residents-city-owed-them-nothing-amid
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The Republican party is really going off the deep end. Could you believe an elected official would say that you were not entitled to have your electricity on and that you yourself should do something about it. The Mayor basically said, "Not my job!"
The people who vote for these people bear at least some amount of culpability. That's like that guy from Pennsylvania who was online and talking about his Senator (Toomey) who said his vote was "the right thing to do" and the online guy said "We didn't send these people to Washington to do the right thing." :o
You can't make this stuff up.
Related: The Republicans are trying to make this power/electricity problem part of the culture war. (Sad.) Watch this:
Chris Hayes Debunks GOP, Right-Wing Media Lies About Texas Power Outages
Discussing the right wing attempt to turn Texas power outages into a culture war.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-96D-H3M0a8
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I heard Rush Limbaugh has died.
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(https://media2.giphy.com/media/ZD3oEy56F0o6s/giphy.gif)
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^^^^^ Yeah, the first thing out of my mouth was, "Oh Good!"!
I should feel bad about thinking this, but I don't.
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^^^
Reminds me of the song from A Chorus Line where a girl sings about a class she had,
she does her best and the teacher, Mr. Karp, calls her a nothing and the students follow
and she decides she doesn't need this teacher and his attitude and she gets out and takes
another class and gets away from that. Then one day she hears the news the teacher has
expired and she reflects a moment... "...and I felt nothing." Rush is Mr. Karp.
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^^^
Reminds me of the song from A Chorus Line where a girl sings about a class she had,
she does her best and the teacher, Mr. Karp, calls her a nothing and the students follow
and she decides she doesn't need this teacher and his attitude and she gets out and takes
another class and gets away from that. Then one day she hears the news the teacher has
expired and she reflects a moment... "...and I felt nothing." Rush is Mr. Karp.
A perfect explanation, Lyle. I would have the same reaction if Trump expired, except I'd say "thank God". It makes me realize how much of an impact he has had on me, in a very negative way, one I don't like.
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^^^^^ Yeah, the first thing out of my mouth was, "Oh Good!"!
I should feel bad about thinking this, but I don't.
As the saying goes, you should say nothing but good about the dead.
Rush Limbaugh is dead. Good.
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As the saying goes, you should say nothing but good about the dead.
Rush Limbaugh is dead. Good.
How I truly feel as well, Fritz.
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(https://qph.fs.quoracdn.net/main-qimg-fa3a65eee411a8586cbd920f8192521d)
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Nothing tells me more about what kind of person Limbaugh was than that kind Chuck, of all people, posted that gif.
I did read last night about those despicable and inhumane 'AIDS updates' on his radio show and I wanted to weep. What a horrid, horrid person. No wonder 'Good Riddance' was trending.
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^^^^ That *@(*@*( was responsible for creating and then ultra-fueling the basis of conservative right-wing radio arm of the GOP lies and hate machine. Karma, thankfully will give that bigoted man an eternity to make amends for his evil, hate-laced tongue! Anyone who sows such oats and preaches such acid hate, lies, and provocations deserves everything he was and is now reaping. There are no doubt more than enough lemming GOPers who are mourning in their cornflakes. From my vantage , he's certainly earned a nice warm seat - I hope in the hottest realms for eternity. That's enough brain-cells wasted on that poor excuse for a human. I shortened my original post b/c he does not deserve even the few words which remain. V.
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Nothing tells me more about what kind of person Limbaugh was than that kind Chuck, of all people, posted that gif.
I did read last night about those despicable and inhumane 'AIDS updates' on his radio show and I wanted to weep. What a horrid, horrid person. No wonder 'Good Riddance' was trending.
LOL!
Truth be told, I wondered about posting that. After all, Rush still has a family that is mourning him. However, the things he did were so beyond the pale to me and others, and in my opinion, our politics are in the state they are now because of him and people like him, so I don't regret posting it.
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Former US Senator Bob Dole announces he has stage 4 lung cancer. He is 97 yo.
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A throwback to when Republicans were still honorable.
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It's been a problem for a few decades with how to deal with a party, Republicans, who turned from being an opposition party to an obstructionist party.
There's always been an obstructionist bent to the party and Barry Goldwater himself, who was demonized as nuts back in 1964, recognized who was at the center of that--right wing evangelicals, and warned the party not to embrace them as a faction of their party. He warned if they were elevated they'd cause the party no end of trouble.
[SIDEBAR: In 1964 the Republicans slogan for Goldwater's campaign was "In your heart you know he's right." The Democrats countered with "In your guts you know he's nuts." Who could imagine Trump over 4 decades hence? Looking back on actually what Goldwater stood for, he was far from nuts. In 1972, Republicans similarly demonized McGovern.
P.S.: Even Hillary Clinton was a Goldwater Girl at that time. In 1993 when the issue of letting gays serve openly in the military was at the forefront of Clinton's first month in office, because he said he would get rid of that stigma in his campaign, Goldwater himself opposed what became the DADT disaster. He said, like Truman integrating the military, all Clinton had to do, as Commander in Chief, was to order it done. But Clinton was played by the Republicans into accepting the DADT "compromise" which would last for another two decades. Under Clinton, he also signed DOMA into law, feeling he wouldn't be re-elected in 1996 if he didn't. >:(]
Anyway, Goldwater rightly recognized having an evangelical base elevated to the Republican party would start making the party more intransigent. Evangelicals religious dogma has no room for compromise. If you oppose their views you are opposing their religion. It didn't help when Reagan came up with "Government cannot solve our problems, Government is the problem" and ushered in more of the evangelicals to the party, and the wave of right wing media types who became demonizers of anything Democratic. "Big D and little d." A party of grievance.
I remember when the Congress turned to the Republicans in 1994, with Newt Gingrich as House Speaker, and Rush, not only on radio, but a daily half hour syndicated talk show. I watched that on occasion and every day it seemed his mission was to take something Democrats said, or anyone on media, and twist it into why the Democrats were Demoncrats. He'd gleefully whip his audiences into a frenzy and basically see those two things as evil that needed to be eradicated. Nothing was up for discussion as to the merits. When a party's basic premise becomes "you are evil" what's to discuss except how to oppose you/get rid of you.
And second by second since, it's turned into a party with contradictory (hypocritical) views and a keep power at all costs attitude even if it means supporting unqualified cretins and embracing not only lies, but lunacy.
Right this minute, the American public is paying for National Guard troops to remain in Washington, D.C. because of another threat against the Republic from the insane Q conspiracists who think there's still a chance Trump will retake the Presidency on March 4th, because that was the original day that Presidents took office after an election. Did I say lunacy?
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This morning I read someone who reported that some poll or other reported that 60% of Republicans favor creation of a third party.
I say, Good for them! Let the Republican party split. It could be good for the Democrats. A third party was good for the Democrats in 1992 (Ross Perot), and it was good for the Democrats in ... 1912! (Teddy Roosevelt split the Republican party. Woodrow Wilson won the White House, and the Democrats took both the House and the Senate.)
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Trump Loses Supreme Court Appeal On Personal, Corporate Tax Returns
https://youtu.be/5LJl5gGGQGU
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Couldn't happen to a more deserving individual.
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Wonderful!
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Washington's Birthday...
Washington: "I cannot tell a lie."
Trump: "I'll make up for all of them. And then some."
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Washington: I cannot tell a lie.
Nixon: I cannot tell the truth.
The ex: I cannot tell the difference.
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The Lincoln Project skewers Ted Cruz:
Republicans want to keep Mexicans out of America but can't keep themselves out of Mexico.
Book your Mexican Getaway Now!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MOnGNSDlZJU
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^^^ Both of these have made my day! Orange jumpsuit would match the hair...
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I thought everyone would get great joy from this pronouncement. ;D
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I thought everyone would get great joy from this pronouncement. ;D
(https://i.pinimg.com/originals/5c/70/45/5c70453b2b3fe919755782751dc25f0c.png)
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How to Make a Schadenfreude Pie
by John Scalzi
My word, what is this dark and vaguely sinister-looking pie you see before you? Well, I’ll tell you. It’s the world’s first Schadenfreude Pie, the pie to enjoy while you are reveling in the horrible misfortunes of others. Why is there a Schadenfreude Pie? Because after I wrote the headline for a prior entry, I wondered to myself, “what would Schadenfreude Pie taste like?”
My guess: Dark. Rich. And oh so bittersweet.
And you know what? That’s exactly what it tastes like. Also — and this is really just a perfect but unintentional extension of the whole schadenfreude metaphor — you really only want a small slice; too much of this pie and it’ll sit in the pit of your stomach like a rock of judgment, pulling you down. Small slice? Excellent. Big slice? You’ll regret it. Just like schadenfreude itself.
Want a slice? Sure you do. Here’s how you make it.
https://whatever.scalzi.com/2006/09/26/how-to-make-a-schadenfreude-pie/
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The Lincoln Project skewers Ted Cruz:
Republicans want to keep Mexicans out of America but can't keep themselves out of Mexico.
Book your Mexican Getaway Now!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MOnGNSDlZJU
OMG!! Lyle, this is fantastic!!! i LOVE IT!!!
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^^^
:laugh:
Linda, I was wondering what you might have gone through had you still been there.
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Alas, in recent news, the Lincoln Project has come under fire as one of its founders, John Weaver, has been accused of inappropriate behavior and unwanted texts to a dozen or more people. (Men.)
I didn't find a good article or video about this yet, but here's a link to the Lincoln Project's official website with a statement about what's going on:
https://lincolnproject.us/news/statement-from-the-lincoln-project-february-15-2021/
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^^^
:laugh:
Linda, I was wondering what you might have gone through had you still been there.
I have no clue! Probably the same thing everyone else had, since the stupid GOP, in their infinite wisdom, thought it was a good idea to cut the state off from the rest of the country's power grid, just to line the pockets of the GOP. Damn I hope the people who live there sit up and take notice and get these absolute idiots (read a**holes) out of office. I think at some point I would have bought a gas powered generator and been OK.
I'm glad I left, and didn't let the door hit me in the butt on the way out.
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^^^
Thanks, Linda.
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Did Tiger get drunk or drugged-up again? Wild times for him! :o
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Did Tiger get drunk or drugged-up again? Wild times for him! :o
As of 21 minutes ago:
Weather was not a factor in the accident, officials said in a Tuesday news conference. There was no evidence of impairment, but the crash is under investigation, officials said.
Asked at the news conference whether Woods may have been on the phone at the time, Villanueva said investigators will have to ascertain whether distracted driving played a role.
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I didn't even hear about this accident.
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The lawsuits keep coming!
Dominion Voting Systems sues ‘MyPillow Guy’ for $1.3 billion
By Associated Press Feb. 22, 2021
Dominion Voting Systems filed a $1.3 billion defamation lawsuit Monday against the founder and CEO of Minnesota-based MyPillow, saying that Mike Lindell falsely accused the company of rigging the 2020 presidential election.
The lawsuit filed in federal court in the District of Columbia alleges that Lindell ignored repeated warnings from Dominion, a voting technology company that has filed similar lawsuits against Donald Trump lawyers Rudolph Giuliani and Sidney Powell.
Dominion accuses Lindell of repeatedly telling what the lawsuit labels the “Big Lie” that the company used its technology to steal the election from Trump.
“No amount of money can repair the damage that’s been done by these lies, which are easily disproved. Hundreds of documented audits and recounts have proven that Dominion machines accurately counted votes. We look forward to proving these facts in a court of law,” the lawsuit says.
Lindell, known as the “MyPillow Guy” from his TV commercials, told The Associated Press that he welcomed the lawsuit and said that the discovery process will prove him right.
https://www.staradvertiser.com/2021/02/22/breaking-news/dominion-voting-systems-sues-mypillow-guy-for-1-3-billion/
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After suing Mike Lindell, Sidney Powell, and Rudy Giuliani, Dominion says it will go after others who spread claims of election fraud — and it's 'not ruling anyone out'
Grace Dean - 02/24/2021
Dominion Voting Systems' CEO said the company would continue to take legal action against people who spread baseless claims that its voting machines were used to "steal" the 2020 US presidential election.
Dominion has already filed defamation lawsuits against MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell, the pro-Trump attorney Sidney Powell, and former President Donald Trump's personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani, seeking at least $1.3 billion in damages in each case.
Dominion CEO John Poulos told CNBC on Tuesday that the filing against Lindell on Monday was "definitely not the last lawsuit."
Dominion has sent cease-and-desist notices and warnings to preserve documents to more than 150 people, The Washington Post reported. This includes the media outlets Fox News, Newsmax, and One America News.
Asked whether the company would sue Fox News, Poulos said Dominion was "not ruling anyone out."
As conspiracy theories sprung up around the election, one posited that Dominion and Smartmatic, a rival election-technology company, developed technology that "flipped" votes from Trump to Joe Biden through a method developed with the regime of the late Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chávez.
The theory has been thoroughly debunked. But that didn't stop Powell and Giuliani from pushing elements of the theory while filing a series of failed lawsuits seeking to overturn the results of the election. Lindell has also spread misinformation about the machines, saying Dominion "built them to cheat."
https://www.businessinsider.com/dominion-voting-systems-machines-mike-lindell-giuliani-election-conspiracy-theory-2021-2
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^^^
They should. Those people need to be held accountable for: THE BIG LIE.
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I didn't even hear about this accident.
You must be the only one. Apparently news across the country really overdid it.
I was flabbergasted when I learned that at least one local station here, CBS2, was covering this all day. They pre-empted regular programs for 5 hours from noon to 5pm and then covered it longer on their actual local news from 5-6:30. Followed by CBS's National News with further coverage.
They covered it longer than the Capitol insurrection on January 6th.
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The largest tabloid in Norway ran three separate stories about it among their top stories at the same time. I was really baffled, figuring it deserved a small note in the corner at the most.
Honestly, I think we were actually experiencing a slow news day. Thank you to President Biden for bringing those back. 8)
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Honestly, I think we were actually experiencing a slow news day. Thank you to President Biden for bringing those back. 8)
;D ;D ;D
Yes, thank you!
If the X were still around, it would be all about him.
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Honestly, I think we were actually experiencing a slow news day. Thank you to President Biden for bringing those back. 8)
:laugh: It's nice to have them, right?
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Trump's tax returns and related records turned over to Manhattan district attorney
By Kara Scannell, Shimon Prokupecz and Devan Cole, CNN - February 25, 2021
Tax records that former President Donald Trump tried to keep secret for years are now in the hands of the New York district attorney.
Prosecutors obtained the records on Monday, just hours after the US Supreme Court denied Trump's last-ditch effort to keep the records private, a spokesperson for the district attorney said.
The millions of pages of documents, sources say, contain Trump's tax returns spanning from January 2011 to August 2019, as well as financial statements, engagement agreements, documents relating to the preparation and review of tax returns, and work papers and communications related to the tax returns.
Though the documents handed off from Trump's long-time accounting firm Mazars won't be released to the public because they're subject to grand jury secrecy rules, their delivery caps off an extraordinary 17-month quest by the former President and his lawyers to block investigators from obtaining the records.
New York District Attorney Cy Vance is investigating whether Trump and the Trump Organization engaged in tax fraud, insurance fraud and other schemes to defraud, including potentially providing false information to financial institutions or banks about the value of certain buildings and assets.
https://www.cnn.com/2021/02/25/politics/trump-taxes-mazars-vance/index.html
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Trump's tax returns and related records turned over to Manhattan district attorney
By Kara Scannell, Shimon Prokupecz and Devan Cole, CNN - February 25, 2021
Tax records that former President Donald Trump tried to keep secret for years are now in the hands of the New York district attorney.
Prosecutors obtained the records on Monday, just hours after the US Supreme Court denied Trump's last-ditch effort to keep the records private, a spokesperson for the district attorney said.
The millions of pages of documents, sources say, contain Trump's tax returns spanning from January 2011 to August 2019, as well as financial statements, engagement agreements, documents relating to the preparation and review of tax returns, and work papers and communications related to the tax returns.
Though the documents handed off from Trump's long-time accounting firm Mazars won't be released to the public because they're subject to grand jury secrecy rules, their delivery caps off an extraordinary 17-month quest by the former President and his lawyers to block investigators from obtaining the records.
New York District Attorney Cy Vance is investigating whether Trump and the Trump Organization engaged in tax fraud, insurance fraud and other schemes to defraud, including potentially providing false information to financial institutions or banks about the value of certain buildings and assets.
https://www.cnn.com/2021/02/25/politics/trump-taxes-mazars-vance/index.html
YAY!!!!!!
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In dog-napping news, Lady Gaga's dog walker was attacked and shot in the chest while two people tried to steal the three French bulldogs he was walking. The walker hung on to one of the dogs after he was shot, but the other two were taken.
The street this happened on, Sierra Bonita, in between Hollywood Blvd. and Sunset Blvd. is east of where my friend Ken lives. He relayed to me that that very morning he was walking his dogs (he does so very early) and that day he walked down Sierra Bonita and saw this dog walker walking the three French bulldogs. One of Ken's dogs does not like other dogs, so he crossed the road to the other side as they approached and his dogs and the French bulldogs were yapping at one another.
When you hear that someone "was shot in the chest" that sounds the worst, but apparently Lady Gaga's dog walker is recovering in a hospital. As of yet, no one knows if the thieves knew those dogs were Gaga's or not. A local channel (CBS2) did a report that dog thieves have been routinely stealing French bulldogs lately and they showed at least three security camera tapes of thieves doing just that, right out of peoples yards and even their arms in one case. (?)
Ken did not know that Lady Gaga lived around there or that he passed her dogs and the dog walker that morning until he read about this. When he wrote me about this he did say something amusing though when he was relaying this story to me. He said "Yes Gaga is a neighbor of ours, we superstars have to live close to each other." LOL! (Another superstar that lives in that neighborhood, or used to, is hosting SNL this weekend.)
Local news report (ABC7) about this: Security cam footage of the attack and you can hear the loud gunshot when the dog walker is hit.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IyFJaI87nEY
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So, I hear Gaga is offering a reward for the return of the dogs. She's not offering a reward for the person who shot the walker? I hope she is at least doing something for him, and I just haven't heard it/for some stupid reason it hasn't made the news back here. Otherwise, that's messed up.
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^^^^ She's offering $500,000 for the return of the dogs - no questions asked. Go figure that one... mighty powerful incentive to other crooks and thieves now. Bad idea.
https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/news/lady-gaga-french-bulldogs-koji-gustavo-b1807545.html
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So, at CPAC they've found a golden calf to worship befitting of their Deity.
https://www.cnn.com/2021/02/26/politics/trump-gold-statue-cpac-2021/index.html
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^^^ Fortunately, like those before them, they are forgetting the rest of that biblical story....
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^^^
I looked at that article, Fritz. Egads! I do hope most of the media refrains from covering him at the CPAC weekend.
Also, I'm changing the first word in CPAC to Crazy. So. shall it be.
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So, I hear Gaga is offering a reward for the return of the dogs. She's not offering a reward for the person who shot the walker? I hope she is at least doing something for him, and I just haven't heard it/for some stupid reason it hasn't made the news back here. Otherwise, that's messed up.
I haven't heard anything else, either.
^^^^ She's offering $500,000 for the return of the dogs - no questions asked. Go figure that one... mighty powerful incentive to other crooks and thieves now. Bad idea.
https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/news/lady-gaga-french-bulldogs-koji-gustavo-b1807545.html
That's what I thought when I heard about it. There has to be SOME questions asked. By someone.
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Gaga got her dogs back, I don't see where they say if the returnee was paid or not. Hmmmm?
On another note, the Biden Admin missed the boat on that Saudi mess! Why give the Crown Prince a 'pass' on his involvment? Business as usual when it comes to SA. For some reason we NEED them? Really? We have Israel to keep the Mideast in line, sorta, plus a couple other allies. Supposedly we don't NEED SA oil anymore. Whatever, I'm sure I am not seeing the WHOLE security-laden policy here when it comes to SA. But we NEED them.............. ;)
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^^^
Why is it when every new President comes into office, a month or less afterwards they have to bomb something?
Clinton did, Bush did, Obama did, Trump did, Biden did... Is it a habit?
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I hadn't heard about Gaga's dogs being returned until I read your post, Jonn. I looked up the latest info:
"A woman brought the dogs to the LAPD’s Olympic Community Police Station, just northwest of downtown, around 6 p.m," [FRIDAY] said Capt. Jonathan Tippet, commanding officer of the department’s elite Robbery-Homicide Division. Lady Gaga’s representative and detectives went to the station and confirmed that they were the dogs, Tippet said.
The woman who dropped off the dogs appears to be “uninvolved and unassociated” with Wednesday night’s attack, Tippet said. Her identity and the location where the dogs were found won’t be disclosed for her safety and because of the ongoing investigation, the LAPD said. Lady Gaga on Friday repeated her offer of a $500,000 reward for the return of her dogs with no questions asked. Tippet said since police were not involved in the reward, he did not know if the woman would receive it.
____________________________
My opinion...you cannot give anyone a reward IF they're the ones who committed a crime...and shot someone doing so, or if you were involved in the crime. That's why police want to handle ransom demands. Those affected are usually not thinking clearly and have no experience in these matters. (I know this wasn't a ransom case.) From the outside it's like "Whoever you are" gets 1/2 million dollars. If I were the dog walker, I'd be like, what do I get? Besides shot.
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Lyle, another one of those incidents where we 'apparently' will never KNOW the whole story. Indeed, why wasn't Gaga offering a reward to find the shooter?? Handing over that much cash to someone who returned the dogs, but isn't involved?? How did that even happen? Just tooooo many questions. As for her dog-walker? WOW! I hope he quits if she's not offering him the same compensation, you know? Course, we don't KNOW what she pays him normally, right? I mean he moved from NYC to Calif to keep walking her dogs, so the story goes.........LORD!! How will I sleep not knowing everything........ :P :laugh: :o
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Why is it when every new President comes into office, a month or less afterwards they have to bomb something?
Clinton did, Bush did, Obama did, Trump did, Biden did... Is it a habit?
Maybe they feel a need to demonstrate they've got, well, you-know-what.
None of them had any experience in foreign policy or foreign relations, did they? Maybe that has something to do with it?
Just wondering.
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Well worth remembering the delay, drag, delay is also part of the GoS legal maneuvering... draw it out long enough, they will lose interest or the crimes will be out of the legal statute. The bastards and GoS might still get away with all their evils - for now - at least until karma rebalances those scales of justice. Don't be surprised. The SCOTUS basically gave them another what 6 months of delays before the Feb ruling. The good news is the IRS has "unlimited" time to go after civil tax fraud but not criminal tax fraud. The difference is technical (see below) - too early, no coffee. I'm just praying, the GoS's arrogance will be the downfall....
-> https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/trump-s-tax-documents-are-new-york-prosecutors-clock-ticking-ncna1258998
-> https://www.goldinglawyers.com/civil-tax-fraud-vs-criminal-tax-evasion-whats-the-difference/
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I found this today on YouTube, and am still laughing about it! Please, please watch till the end!! It is so so good, so spot on and so very, very funny!! :laugh: :laugh:
https://youtu.be/ww1VMHLybrA
I LOVE Al Franken!! He is just the best!!
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Very apt!
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^^^ Bulls Eye!
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Indeed!
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So, a just released poll in Texas had this question on it:
Is the state's Pandemic response Too much, About right, Too little or Don't know / No opinion?
The public response:
Too much 12%
About right 32%
Too little 45%
Don't know / No opinion 12%
So the Governor yesterday decreed that in a week, there will be no response to the pandemic: Everything will be open and no mask mandate. (And apparently still no water or power for many.)
In the past two weeks, cases of COVID in TX are rising fast, so yeah, what to do? Give it a fighting chance in Texas, I guess.
The only more insane person in Texas government than Governor Abbott, is Lt. Governor Patrick. You'd think with the power
grid problems and pandemic response they'd be replaced next election, but you can't underestmate the pervasive stubborness
of Republican voters these days. They'll cut off their nose to spite their faces.
See no evil / Speak no evil / Hear no evil...just vote for evil.
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Citizen Trump In Trouble? Criminal Probe Moves To Grand Jury
https://youtu.be/d5gvVyooMO0
Hopefully this is just the first of many!!!
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Oh, I hope so
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^^^^ Get the GoS and Trump Orgs damn book-keeper before he "disappears..." to some non-extradite country courtesy of the GOP... and then bury their a$$ like they did Capone - Untouchable yeah..
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Senate passes Biden’s COVID relief bill along party lines,
sending legislation with $1,400 stimulus checks to House
Ledyard King, Bart Jansen, Nicholas Wu, Savannah Behrmann - 03.06.21
The Democratic-controlled Senate Saturday overcame Republican roadblocks and a debate that lasted beyond 24 hours to pass President Joe Biden's $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief package which would provide millions of Americans with $1,400 direct payments, billions of dollars for vaccine distribution, and funds to help reopen schools and colleges.
The chamber passed the bill following a session that began around 9 a.m. Friday and ended at approximately 12:30 p.m. on Saturday, aft a "vote-a-rama" of proposed changes from both parties. The final vote was 50-49 with all Republicans voting against the measure and all members of the Senate Democratic caucus supporting it. Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, was not present for the vote.
"It’s been a long day, a long night, a long year, But a new day has come," Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said. “We tell the American people 'help is on the way.'"
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2021/03/06/bidens-covid-stimulus-bill-passes-senate-legislation-heads-house/6886446002/
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Amanda Gorman says she was "tailed" by security guard on her way home: "This is the reality of black girls"
By Audrey McNamara - 03.06.2021
Amanda Gorman says a security guard followed her home on Friday night. The 22-year-old poet, who became the youngest inaugural poet in American history when she performed at President Joe Biden's inauguration earlier this year, says the guard said she looked "suspicious."
"A security guard tailed me on my walk home tonight," Gorman wrote on Twitter. "He demanded if I lived there because 'you look suspicious.' I showed my keys & buzzed myself into my building. He left, no apology. This is the reality of black girls: One day you're called an icon, the next day, a threat."
In a follow-up tweet she wrote: "In a sense, he was right. I AM A THREAT: a threat to injustice, to inequality, to ignorance. Anyone who speaks the truth and walks with hope is an obvious and fatal danger to the powers that be."
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Trump sends legal notice to GOP to stop using his name
By Rachael Bade and Tara Palmeri 03/06/2021
Lawyers for former President Donald Trump sent out cease-and-desist letters Friday to the three largest fundraising entities for the Republican Party — the RNC, NRCC and NRSC — for using his name and likeness on fundraising emails and merchandise, a Trump adviser tells Playbook.
We reported yesterday that Trump was furious that his name has been bandied about by organizations that help Republicans who voted to impeach him — without his permission. Trump, who made his fortune in licensing, has always been sensitive to how his name has been used to fundraise and support members, even while in office.
On Friday, the RNC sent out two emails asking supporters to donate as a way to add their name to a “thank you” card for Trump. “President Trump will ALWAYS stand up for the American People, and I just thought of the perfect way for you to show that you support him!” the email states. “As one of President Trump’s MOST LOYAL supporters, I think that YOU, deserve the great honor of adding your name to the Official Trump ‘Thank You’ Card.” A follow-up email was sent hours later to “President Trump’s TOP supporters” warning of a deadline of 10 hours to get their names on the card.
https://www.politico.com/newsletters/playbook/2021/03/06/scoop-trump-sends-legal-notice-to-gop-to-stop-using-his-name-492021
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^^^^ He's going to need that $ in his pockets for his legal bills... with all the lawsuits bearing down on him and his cronies and more to come...
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While there is light at the end of the tunnel, it's fragile and subject to change. These crazy GOP governors are unmasking their states when they should be imploring people to remain diligent, vigilant and not get cocky or lax or content. Many people think just b/c they have gotten vaccinated, they can go parading mask-naked thru public! Sorry folks, the vaccine and virus does not work that way. As long as the virus (and especially the mutants) remain rampant in any part of the world, we are 1 plane ride away from repeating with a different more virulent strain. We have to look no further than the yearly flu season for an analogy only COVID19 is much more deadly. So Brokies, please, get vaccinated with whatever vaccine is available ASAP. The sooner we reduce the incubation and hosting capabilities of COVID19, the fewer opportunities the virus has to mutate into more aggressive forms b/c those forms are what are surviving. This is the side of Darwinism which does not work in our favor.
I'm not trying to be "Joey downer" It is a nice day for a change in these parts and I see people getting careless. Until we see the trend lines keep descending at marked rate and not leveling off, we need to stay masked up - even when vaccinated, especially around people who are unvaccinated and/or have escalating risk conditions. We may see relaxing of the "obvious rules" and once teachers are vaccinated, I hope kids can return to school but with masks for now. Being vaccinated also does NOT mean we run into the nearest bar or start heading the restaurants for sit-down meals. Those remain some of the riskiest places and behaviors we can action.
FWIW, my medical assessment is I see wearing masks into 2022 (at least) being prudent until our city, state, country numbers show us community spread is declining and that the human race (worldwide), have the upper hand on COVID19. Masks are the most effective means to prevent transmission we have as has been proven repeatedly.
We need not look any further than what's happening in Europe, South America right now for the mutations. I hope our 3 main vaccines hold against these strains and I am sure companies are working to modify and enhance their vaccines and to prove they remain effective against these mutants.
https://abcnews.go.com/Business/wireStory/europe-staggers-infectious-variants-power-virus-surge-76296560 (https://abcnews.go.com/Business/wireStory/europe-staggers-infectious-variants-power-virus-surge-76296560)
I'd be careful. The current vaccines do not offer 100% coverage against infection. You might have a milder case and not end up in the hospital remember these number say like 85%.. that means that 15%... may contract a strong case. The other strong caution is once the variants establish a stronger foothold (and they will) only the J/J vaccine has been tested against some of these strains right now.
So while we all super fatigued with viral overload, I strongly recommend you refer to the areas infection rates to guide you. My brother claims to have visited his daughter at Christmas and they wore "masks"... I'm not sure what type of mask but he ended up + about 10 days later and at the hospital. According to him, no one there was obviously presenting symptoms but clearly someone was infected. So you never know.
Restaurants are major spreading vectors (dugggghhhh?) -> https://www.npr.org/sections/coronavirus-live-updates/2021/03/05/974024634/study-on-premises-dining-linked-to-increased-covid-19-cases (https://www.npr.org/sections/coronavirus-live-updates/2021/03/05/974024634/study-on-premises-dining-linked-to-increased-covid-19-cases)
Be careful. Stay safe, stay alive. V.
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The Washington Post
Republicans aren’t fighting Democrats. They’re fighting democracy.
By Dana Millbank
March 5, 2021
On the conservative Bulwark podcast this week, two admirable never-Trumpers marveled at what has become of the Republican Party since President Donald Trump’s attempt to overturn the election.
“I am a little amazed by the willingness to go just authoritarian, to really go anti-democratic,” Bulwark editor-at-large Bill Kristol said.
Columnist Mona Charen was likewise puzzled. “The attraction of authoritarianism, I don’t know, Bill,” she said. “I’m really at a loss.”
And I’m at a loss to understand their confusion. The Republican Party’s dalliance with authoritarianism can be explained in one word: race.
Trump’s overt racism turned the GOP into, essentially, a white-nationalist party, in which racial animus is the main motivator of Republican votes. But in an increasingly multicultural America, such people don’t form a majority. The only route to power for a white-nationalist party, then, is to become anti-democratic: to keep non-White people from voting and to discredit elections themselves. In short, democracy is working against Republicans — and so Republicans are working against democracy.
You don’t have to study demography to see that race is at the core of the GOP’s tilt toward the authoritarian. You need only look at what happened this week.
On Monday, the Georgia state House passed a bill brazenly attempting to deter Black voters. The bill proposed to scale back Sunday voting — taking direct aim at the longtime “Souls to the Polls” tradition in which Black voters cast their ballots after church on Sundays. The bill also would increase voter I.D. requirements — known to disenfranchise Black voters disproportionately — and even would make it illegal to serve food or drinks to voters waiting in long lines outside polling places; lines are typically longer at minority precincts.
Georgia Republicans clearly are hoping they can suppress enough Black votes to erase the Democrats’ narrow advantage that gave them both of the state’s Senate seats and Joe Biden its electoral votes. But Georgia is just one of the 43 states collectively contemplating 253 bills this year with provisions restricting voting access, according to a tally by the Brennan Center for Justice.
On Tuesday, the Supreme Court’s majority signaled it would be open to more such voting restrictions. In oral arguments, the conservative justices indicated they would uphold two Arizona laws that would have the effect of disproportionately disqualifying the votes of non-White citizens. One law throws out ballots cast in the wrong precinct, a problem that affects minority voters twice as much as White voters because polling places move more frequently in minority neighborhoods. The other law bans the practice of ballot collection — derided by Republicans as ballot “harvesting” — which is disproportionately used by minority voters, in particular Arizona’s Native Americans on reservations.
Representing the Arizona Republican Party in Tuesday’s argument, lawyer Michael A. Carvin explained why the party supports laws tossing out ballots: “Politics is a zero-sum game.”
It was a stark if inadvertent admission that Republicans have abandoned the idea of appealing to new voters.
Then, on Wednesday, House Republicans mounted lockstep opposition to H.R.1, a bill by Democrats attempting to expand voting rights. The bill would, among other things, create automatic voter registration, set minimum standards for early voting and end the practice of partisan gerrymandering.
In the House debate, Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), sounding like Trump, made unfounded claims of “voter fraud” and asserted that the law would mean “future voters could be dead or illegal immigrants or maybe even registered two to three times.”
“This,” McCarthy said, “is an unparalleled political power grab.”
So, in the twisted reasoning of this white-nationalist incarnation of the Republican Party, laws that make it easier for all citizens to vote are a power grab by Democrats.[/b]
The foundation of a white-nationalist GOP has been building for half a century, since Richard Nixon’s Southern strategy, through Ronald Reagan’s welfare queen and George H.W. Bush’s Willie Horton. But Trump took fear of non-Whites and immigrants to a whole new level.
Researchers have repeatedly documented that racial resentment is the single most important factor motivating Republicans and Republican-leaning voters. They have also shown that White evangelical Christians, a huge part of the GOP base and Trump’s most reliable supporters, are highly motivated by appeals to white supremacy. By contrast, Democratic voters — White and non-White — are primarily driven by their favorable views toward a multiracial America.
President Biden’s victory reveals the obvious political problem with the Republican move toward white nationalism: When voters turn out in large numbers, Democrats win. And the odds will only get worse for Republicans as racial minorities become the majority and the young, overwhelmingly progressive on race, replace the old.
This is why Republicans aren’t really fighting Democrats. They’re fighting democracy.
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Part of this COVID relief I can't understand at all, from the beginning!! My Daughter and her husband are both educators, they have NEVER been without a paycheck during this pandemic, never needed childcare either. YET, they have received the COVID stimulus checks every round! And they will again too. No sense to this at all, IMHO, you understand? The politicians did not put any forthought into these relief payments at all. Anyone who was still employed, or being paid through the PPP provision surely did not NEED the stimulus checks? Right? Makes no SENSE to me at all. Course I didn't get any of the stimulus payments, too rich I guess? lol......I told my kids to just put the money into their kids' college funds, or a vacation fund, courtesy of the STUPID politicians!! Or maybe it was intended to help jump-start the economy? I don't know, donate it to someone, or charity, that needed it MORE!? ;D
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After I get my 2nd vaccine shot here's what some of my friends and I are going to do, get together and have a party, WITHOUT MASKS, and lots of hugs!! Everyone invited will have to be past the safe timeline of their 2nd vaccine and fully SAFE from infection affects! I have listened to all the EXPERTS, and not ONE can say this is a risky gathering!! PERFECT, IMHO, everyone can prove, with their 'certifications' that they have been fully Vaccinated! A wonderful gathering! I can't wait! I haven't HUGGED anyone in over a YEAR now! We're all soooo excited to see each other now. My Daughter and her family, plus my Sister, have been the ONLY ONES in my bubble for a YEAR now.......it's just WILD to me........... ;D
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^^^ The article is a nice summary of what the GOP has been up to for nearly 20 years. Their strategy of voter suppression has only gotten more blatant once the GOP loaded SCOTUS basically gutted the Voting Rights Act and unleashed the hate again. How the bigoted evangelicals claim to be Christians is something karma will rebalance - eventually. IMHO, the white supremist, bigots, racists, all the evils we try to lesson, have learned to hide behind and shield themselves with the the "so-called" "religious protections" quite effectively. Whenever someone calls this out, they start screaming "freedom of my religion" This is something I predicted would happen 20+ years ago as the evangelicals grew more bold in what they would say and do to "get their way...." Unfortunately, with the 3 conservatives the GOPer rammed thru to SCOTUS under the GoS, we are in for a long tough road of lawsuits to restore balance to the country, and balance to the judicial system. Democracy needs balance. Anytime one party puts it fingers on the scales through voter suppression, gerrymandering, census suppression, court packing, it threatens the very foundations of democracy. Just look at the GOPs playbook for the past 30 years... and we have a textbook case in what not to do if you care about your country. Patriotic it is not! Selfish, greedy, autocratic, and hateful is what the GOP has become.
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A number of years ago now (2018), the conservative author David Frum said this about the GOP:
“Maybe you do not care much about the future of the Republican Party. You should. Conservatives will always be with us. If conservatives become convinced that they can not win democratically, they will not abandon conservatism. The will reject democracy.”
― David Frum, Trumpocracy: The Corruption of the American Republic
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A number of years ago now (2018), the conservative author David Frum said this about the GOP:
“Maybe you do not care much about the future of the Republican Party. You should. Conservatives will always be with us. If conservatives become convinced that they can not win democratically, they will not abandon conservatism. The will reject democracy.”
― David Frum, Trumpocracy: The Corruption of the American Republic
Wow, this certainly is a precursor to what is happening. Prophetic.
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^^^ Thanks Fritz... what Linda said!!
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The Washington Post
[...]
You don’t have to study demography to see that race is at the core of the GOP’s tilt toward the authoritarian.
[...]
Besides race, I'd also argue there's a certain amount of misogyny involved, too. The Republicans rarely target Schumer for any fundraising efforts, but Nancy Pelosi's a top target, as are the women of race in Congress...you know, the squad and AOC etc. There are plenty of Dem. men of various races in Congress...I don't see them targeted.
A man who sells merchandise to the Republicans at last week's CPAC event, said he couldn't give the anti-Biden stuff away, but that the Hillary and Obama items were flying off the shelves. Still! Wonder what the difference there is? Hmmm. Have you ever noticed that the most prominent women Republicans veer toward the crazy? Remember Palin and Michelle Bachmann? They now seem rather tame compared to Marjorie Taylor Greene and Lauren Boebert.
And whatever the Republicans are angry about or complaining about it always seems to come from a place of "somebody else is getting something that I'm not." Often coupled with the notion that they're paying for it, too. Women, various ethnicities, LGBT, Democrats, immigrants.
I pinpoint this sharp turn in the Republican party to be at their convention in 1992. While George H. W. Bush was calling for a "kinder, gentler America" and espousing the notions of volunteerism toward others in his "thousand points of light" speech, a significant portion of those at the convention were making grievance speeches about everything imaginable and it was a pretty nasty and mean convention. That was the year of Perot when 20% of voters turned toward "someone else." Two years later Limbaugh and Falwell were everywhere and Newt Gingrich continued the decline. Fast forward...
The Senate filibuster effectively requires a 60-vote super-majority for the passage of most legislation in the Senate, but reconciliation provides a process to prevent the use of the filibuster and thereby allow the passage of a bill with simple majority support in the Senate.
The above reconciliation process is allowed once a year (or session?), but since it was not used last time, the Democrats can do it twice this session! They already used this provision for the COVID relief bill and it's said Biden wants to use the second one with an infrastructure bill. While that is sorely needed, I'm of the opinion that it should be done for the House's HR1 bill. If legislation preventing Republicans from dominating voting infrastructure cannot be passed, Democrats are going to find it increasingly more and more difficult to win elections.
Senate rules need to be changed. ASAP.
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Part of this COVID relief I can't understand at all, from the beginning!! My Daughter and her husband are both educators, they have NEVER been without a paycheck during this pandemic, never needed childcare either. YET, they have received the COVID stimulus checks every round! And they will again too. No sense to this at all, IMHO, you understand? The politicians did not put any forthought into these relief payments at all. Anyone who was still employed, or being paid through the PPP provision surely did not NEED the stimulus checks? Right? Makes no SENSE to me at all. [...]
When the first round of checks last summer/fall ($400) was doled out. Who exactly was excluded? I thought everyone was to receive one.
I do see your point, but also I don't see how every single person's situation could be adjudicated as to whether they should receive the payment. I mean, there are unemployed children of wealthy people that could be having trouble, but also could get money from their wealthy parents. How would one know? There are people who plan for dire situations who might be equipped for handling something like this and those that spend everything they get on good times who are suddenly in a bad situation. Who should get it in those circumstances? I suppose there's just a general rule where some fall through the cracks on either end.
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I have never received a dime of the Stimulus payments. It's controlled by your AGI on your 2019 tax returns. That's the only real basis for distribution. My AGI was too high to qualify, so there you have it. ;)
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I've never had to worry about my AGI being too high. ;D
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A comment in this morning's Jennifer Rubin column in WaPo.
The best part of Biden is, he didn’t have to do this.
The death of his eldest son, the previews of the attacks on his only surviving son: These were more than enough to have kept so many from even entering the fray.
But Joe stepped up. Not for himself, but for the reason that we all hoped for, but had lost hope for, after the last four years.
He did it because his country needed him.
God bless him.
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^^^ CDC just updated the current guidelines on fully vaccinated vs mixing vaccinated and non-vaccinated. Read it carefully and all the way through! Be careful not to misinterpret the messages. There remains strong caution for mixing with unvaccinated people with underlying conditions. As a whole, we need to see these infection rates dropping consistently along with mortality figures..
https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/cdc-vaccinated-individuals-socialize-masks-distancing/story?id=76320421 (https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/cdc-vaccinated-individuals-socialize-masks-distancing/story?id=76320421)
It's good news with the caveat that the UK and other variants could change the directives depending on the mutations and how effective the 3 main US vaccines are against mutants.
"can safely gather around friends or family who are also vaccinated indoors without masks or social distancing, as well as visit with friends or family from a single household who aren't vaccinated but have a low risk of severe disease from COVID-19."
"But getting the vaccine does not mean you should travel or gather in large groups, according to the CDC, which says vaccinated individuals should still stick to guidance."
"In a group where some individuals are vaccinated and some aren't, Walensky said the recommendations are more complicated. CDC says it is low risk for vaccinated individuals to gather with unvaccinated individuals indoors without masks and social distancing, as long as the people who aren't vaccinated are at low risk of severe disease and no one in their household as at high risk."
"But in public, even people who have received the COVID-19 vaccine should continue to wear masks and maintain distance when in public, visiting with people at severe risk for COVID-19 disease who have not been vaccinated, or when socializing with groups of unvaccinated people from multiple households, even if they are at low risk of disease."
This is inline with what I posted earlier and as our understanding evolves on the mutants and the actual infections rates improves or worsens, this is subject to change. Overall, a good day!
Stay safe, stay alive! There is light!! Yeah... just verify it's not a COVID train... ;) and don't go getting all "cowboy" V.
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I wonder how long it will be before she says she was just joking, just like X did whenever he was caught.
https://www.joemygod.com/2021/03/qanon-rep-demands-us-end-foreign-aid-to-guam/
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Wow. Some added info is starting to surface on the origins of COVID19.
No one has doubted that the COVID19 originated in China. I’ve always suspected COVID19 escaped from the “Wuhan SARS/Bat Lab” and NOT the Wuhan animal market BS which was a total cover story. Based on my trusted reading sources, I also believe that this COVID19 was not genetically engineered as even with our best tech, there are always markers for genetic level tinkering.
I don’t, as a general rule, believe in coincidences.
I had no idea China and the US (prior to a moratorium in late 2014) had been f*@(@* with the infection gain vectors of existing highly dangerous SARS strains and they had located at least 3 strains which gain access to human cells via the common ACE2 protein. Did China ever stop? We do not know (and may never know) whether China continued engineering and experimenting. Wanna bet? Did one of their experiments unleash something unintentional? Very bad China!!!
I don’t, as a general rule, believe in coincidences.
Either way=$$Trillions$$$ in worldwide losses, on top of what may be ultimately and sadly be millions of graves + a highly infectious virus humanity may never be able to eradicate or fully control. Certainly the genie is out of the bottle. :(
However you feel about Rogin and "Politico" - this story is worth the longer read.
--> https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2021/03/08/josh-rogin-chaos-under-heaven-wuhan-lab-book-excerpt-474322 (https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2021/03/08/josh-rogin-chaos-under-heaven-wuhan-lab-book-excerpt-474322)
“This was just a peek under a curtain of an entire galaxy of activity, including labs and military labs in Beijing and Wuhan playing around with coronaviruses in ACE2 mice in unsafe labs,” the senior administration official said. “It suggests we are getting a peek at a body of activity that isn’t understood in the West or even has precedent here.”
I don’t, as a general rule, believe in coincidences. V.
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So, "Dog Bites Secret Service Agent" is news? (Also an occasion for various puns.)
"Secret Service Agent Bites Dog"--now that would be news! :laugh:
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If a Democratic President wearing a tan suit can make news....
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If a Democratic President wearing a tan suit can make news....
Or a Senator wearing mittens and an overcoat.
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Or a Senator wearing mittens and an overcoat.
HEH HEH! Yeah! :laugh:
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“This was just a peek under a curtain of an entire galaxy of activity, including labs and military labs in Beijing and Wuhan playing around with coronaviruses in ACE2 mice in unsafe labs,” the senior administration official said. “It suggests we are getting a peek at a body of activity that isn’t understood in the West or even has precedent here.”
I don’t, as a general rule, believe in coincidences. V.
Two people that study vaccines and China etc., that Bill Maher interviewed on his Real Time show earlier this year said they are of the opinion that most likely COVID19 was an experimental virus that escaped from the lab because natural viruses tend to be weaker when they mutate and this one's variants were not.
___________
I looked it up: It was the show on January 29 and the Interview was with Heather Heying and Bret Weinstein, evolutionary biologists and co-hosts of The DarkHorse Podcast. Their forthcoming book is “A Hunter-Gatherer’s Guide to the 21st Century.”
Here's the 9 minute segment:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZMGWLLDSA3c
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I wonder how long it will be before she says she was just joking, just like X did whenever he was caught.
https://www.joemygod.com/2021/03/qanon-rep-demands-us-end-foreign-aid-to-guam/
Brains are not her forté!
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Judge reinstates third-degree murder charge against ex-cop Derek Chauvin in George Floyd's death
Janelle Griffith - March 11, 2021
Hennepin County District Judge Peter Cahill has reinstated a third-degree murder charge against the former Minneapolis police officer accused of killing George Floyd.
Cahill granted the request from prosecutors to reinstate the charge after the former officer, Derek Chauvin, failed to get the state Supreme Court to block it.
Chauvin, who knelt on Floyd's neck for about nine minutes May 25, is already charged with second-degree murder, which carries a maximum sentence of 40 years, as well as second-degree manslaughter. The third-degree murder charge carries a maximum sentence of 25 years.
Cahill dismissed the charge last fall because he believed that the circumstances of Chauvin's case did not fit, but an appellate court ruling in an unrelated case established new grounds for it days before jury selection started. Cahill ruled at the time that a third-degree murder charge under Minnesota law requires proof that someone's conduct was "eminently dangerous to others," not just to Floyd.
Cahill said Thursday that he is now bound by a ruling, stemming from a recent decision involving the conviction of former officer Mohamed Noor, which stated that third-degree murder can be applied to acts directed toward a single person.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/judge-reinstates-third-degree-murder-charge-against-ex-cop-charged-n1260662
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Every living former president has urged Americans to get vaccinated in a new ad series — apart from Trump, who's demanding credit for the vaccine
Bill Bostock - 03/11/2021
Every living former US president has appeared in an ad campaign telling Americans to get vaccinated against COVID-19, apart from Donald Trump, who has instead released a statement demanding credit for the vaccine.
On Thursday, the nonprofit Ad Council released a public service advertisement starring Presidents Barack Obama, George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and Jimmy Carter.
"This vaccine means hope," Obama said in the video. "It will protect you and those you love from this dangerous and deadly disease."
Trump was conspicuously absent, though it's unclear if he was asked to join the campaign.
Hours before the campaign went live, Trump's personal office in Florida released a statement in which he claimed responsibility for the vaccines' existence.
https://www.businessinsider.com/former-us-presidents-urge-vaccinations-while-trump-demands-credit-2021-3
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In my own hometown!
:laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:
Bloomfield St. Patrick’s Day Display Delights Some, Offends Others
By TAP INTO BLOOMFIELD STAFF - March 11, 2021
With each holiday's arrival, one constant in Bloomfield is an imaginative scene on display in front of 226 Lakewood Drive
From elaborate Christmas displays to an essential workers tribute during the pandemic, resident James Joanow utilizes mannequins to help celebrate the upcoming holiday/event.
This year, for Saint Patrick's Day, the festive scene features 13 mannequins and the property and thousands of orange and green lights. According to Joanow, the theme is a "St. Patricks Day Disco Party." "At night, when the lights go on, I play all classic disco music. The display will be up till St. Patrick's Day on March 17th."
Pictures at link below.
https://www.tapinto.net/towns/bloomfield/sections/arts-and-entertainment/articles/bloomfield-st-patrick-s-day-display-delights-some-offends-others
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^^^
If there's offense to be found nowadays, not only will people find it, they'll email, Instagram and Tweet it all over the place.
Speaking of tweets: Trump FORCES His Way Back on Twitter
--DT essentially forces his way back on Twitter by publishing tweet-like letters which are then screenshotted and published to Twitter by Trump's family and friends, which is in practice a ban evasion.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MrWYg5ffbqM
It's really very pathetic. Not that there are any tears being shed over the cretin. Maybe he'll be doing it from jail soon.
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^^^ Those platforms should start: 1) warning those doing his bidding to stop... 2) If they do not, then ban them too. V.
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MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell Is Trying To Launch a Social Media Site, and It’s Already Resulted in a Legal Threat
Will Sommer -Politics Reporter
Asawin Suebsaeng - Senior Political Reporter Mar. 12, 2021
MyPillow founder and staunch Trump ally Mike Lindell plans to launch a social network of his own in the next few weeks, creating a haven for the kind of pro-Trump conspiracy theories that have been banned on more prominent social-media sites. On Lindell’s “Vocl” social media platform, users will be free to claim that a supercomputer stole the election from Donald Trump, or that vaccines are a tool of the devil.
Any new social media network faces serious challenges. But Vocl must grapple with a daunting problem before it even launches: a website called “Vocal,” spelled with an “A,” already exists.
On Thursday, lawyers for Vocal’s publicly traded parent company, Creatd, Inc., warned Lindell, in a letter reviewed by The Daily Beast, to change his social media network’s name and surrender ownership of the Vocl.com domain name. If Lindell refuses to change the name, he could face a lawsuit.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/mypillow-ceo-mike-lindell-is-trying-to-launch-a-social-media-site-and-its-already-resulted-in-a-legal-threat
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Let him be nibbled to death by ducks.
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100 arrested as spring break crowds hit Miami Beach despite the pandemic
By Natasha Chen and Susannah Cullinane - March 14, 2021
About 100 people have been arrested and two police officers injured as spring break crowds gathered in Florida's Miami Beach over the weekend, the city says.
Miami Beach Police arrested 30 people Saturday night, following Friday night's unruly crowds that resulted in two Miami Beach police officers being sent to the hospital with injuries, the police department said in a post on Twitter.
Friday night's incident involved a large crowd who were "disorderly and surrounding officers," another tweet said. Miami Beach police tweeted that they used pepper balls to disperse the group.
CNN affiliate WPLG reported that Miami Beach police officers are working 12-hour shifts.
The weekend's approximately 100 arrests included some for the seizure of weapons and drugs, city of Miami Beach spokeswoman Veronica Payssé told CNN on Sunday.
https://www.cnn.com/2021/03/14/us/fl-miami-beach-spring-break-crowd/index.html
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Two men arrested and charged for assaulting Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick
By Christina Carrega, Evan Perez and Katelyn Polantz, - Mon March 15, 2021
Two men have been arrested and charged for assaulting US Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick, who died after responding on January 6 to hundreds of rioters who stormed the Capitol, the Justice Department announced Monday.
Julian Elie Khater, 32, of Pennsylvania, and George Pierre Tanios, 39, of West Virginia, are alleged to have worked together to spray police, including Sicknick, with a toxic chemical spray during the Capitol riot. Khater called what was in the cannister "bear sh*t," according to court records, but the Justice Department on Monday said the spray is unknown.
Investigators had struggled for weeks to build a federal murder case in Sicknick's death as they pored over video and photographs to try to determine the moment in which he suffered his fatal injuries. Investigators determined that initial reports suggesting Sicknick had been struck with a fire extinguisher weren't true.
"Officers Sicknick, Edwards and Chapman, who are standing within a few feet of KHATER, all react, one by one, to something striking them in the face. The officers immediately retreat from the line, bring their hands to their faces and rush to find water to wash out their eyes," the FBI wrote in court papers, describing the melee caught on video.
https://www.cnn.com/2021/03/15/politics/brian-sicknick-capitol-riot-charges/index.html
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Vatican Says Catholic Church Cannot Bless Same-Sex Marriages
Bill Chappell - March 15, 2021
The Roman Catholic Church cannot bless same-sex marriages, no matter how stable or positive the couples' relationships are, the Vatican said on Monday. The message, approved by Pope Francis, came in response to questions about whether the church should reflect the increasing social and legal acceptance of same-sex unions.
"Does the Church have the power to give the blessing to unions of persons of the same sex?" the question asked. "Negative," replied the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which is responsible for defending Catholic doctrine.
The church says its answer regarding same-sex couples "declares illicit any form of blessing that tends to acknowledge their unions as such."
The message underlines the church's insistence that marriage should be limited to a union between a man and a woman, saying that same-sex unions involve "sexual activity outside of marriage." In the Vatican's view, same-sex marriages are not part of God's plan for families and raising children.
"The presence in such relationships of positive elements, which are in themselves to be valued and appreciated, cannot justify these relationships and render them legitimate objects of an ecclesial blessing," the statement said.
https://www.npr.org/2021/03/15/977415222/illicit-for-catholic-church-to-bless-same-sex-marriages-vatican-says
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Grrr.
I'm reminded of the British-French author Hilaire Belloc, who was in a church and an usher pestered him to go kneel in a pew. Belloc told him to go to hell. The usher replied, "I'm sorry, sir, I didn't realize you were Catholic."
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I'm not surprised by this. Change for the Catholic Church moves at a snail's pace.
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I get my blessings from God, not churches.
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When are people going to realize what ORGANIZED religion means? LORD!! Even though I was raised in the Church, and have attended most of my adult Life (mostly just because I LOVED singing in a group!), I never have been fond of ORGANIZED religion. Most of the BEST people in my Life never set FOOT in a Church, and that still holds true for me. Odd, don't you think? Most of my best and loyal friends DO NOT attend Church, or profess any single religion...........interesting........they are just all decent human beings, GREAT really! ;D
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^^^^ So sad, and so unfortunate - the damn conservatives are at it again..
I'm not trying to offend anyone's religion - freedom thereof or freedom from - I'm all in for to each his or her own - until they start trying to force their views or rules on the everyone else or start trying to codify their religious-based beliefs into law.
Each individual needs to make up their own minds what they believe and whether they believe in one or more "Gods" or supreme beings. After my philosophy classes in college, I realized that any religious dogma is dangerous - extremely dangerous. I agree too that I've known some great religious people who are accepting and would take a bullet for you. I've also known plenty of "my shit don't stink" bigots who dare to judge others based on "scriptures..." and would push you in front of that bullet to save themselves.
In the end, it doesn't matter whether it's the Catholics, Protestants, Muslims, Atheists, Mormons, or ..., Anyone professing to "know the mind of God" and "what God considers a sin" is is simply not possible by definition. Judge lest not you be judged? Anyone who professes to claim that God's creations are "mistakes" truly do not understand what they profess and are so is full of (*@(@(* . Religion has done far more evil in this world thru the ages than I think overall good for man. Millions dead from religious wars - people burned at the stakes for religious dogma, and on and on.
I would have loved to be able to write myself a 100% free-ride into the tax codes, have people just give me monies and write laws offering me almost unlimited legal protections. What a sweet mind-control ride by some very clever, people eons ago. Of course, YMMV. Spiritually is vastly different from Religion.
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Spiritually is vastly different from Religion.
^^^^
That.
That's always been my mantra.
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The last living man of the Juma people in Brazil has died from Covid-19.
[By Michael Astosizen]
March 14, 2021
Aruká Juma saw his Amazon tribe dwindle to just a handful of individuals during his lifetime.
Numbering an estimated 15,000 in the 18th century, his people were ravaged by disease and successive massacres by rubber tappers, loggers and miners. An estimated 100 remained in 1943; a massacre in 1964 left only six, including him.
In 1999, with the death of his brother-in-law, Mr. Juma, who like many Indigenous Brazilians used his tribe’s name as his surname, became the last remaining Juma male. The tribe’s extinction was assured.
Mr. Juma died on Feb. 17 in a hospital in Pôrto Velho, the capital of the Brazilian state of Rondônia. He was believed to have been between 86 and 90 years old. The cause was Covid-19, his grandson Puré Juma Uru Eu Wau Wau said.
As the last fluent speaker of the tribe’s language, Mr. Juma’s death means that many of the tribe’s traditions and rituals will be forever lost.
In 1998, under murky circumstances, federal officials removed Mr. Juma and his family from their land and brought them to Rondônia in hopes that they would marry into the related Uru Eu Wau Wau tribe as a way to partially preserve their culture.
But Mr. Juma suspected the move was intended to deprive his relatives of their land and sued to be returned, a process that dragged on for 14 years.
In the meantime, all three of Mr. Juma’s daughters married Uru Eu Wau Wau men. Mr. Juma also had a daughter with a member of that tribe, Boropo Uru Eu Wau Wau, from whom he separated in 2007. Mr. Juma’s first wife, Mborehá, died in 1996.
The Juma returned to their land in 2012. Mr. Juma was pleased, but some of his daughters’ husbands balked at living there. The grandchildren, who speak only Portuguese, had to return to Rondônia to attend school. Mr. Juma, who spoke no Portuguese, expressed frustration about being unable to communicate with his grandchildren and teach them the Juma traditions.
“These days, I feel alone and think a lot about back when there were many of us,” he told the photographer Gabriel Uchida, who spent time living among and photographing the Juma in 2016 for an article on the culture and lifestyle website Riscafaca.com. “We were many before the rubber tappers and the prospectors came to kill all the Juma people. Back then, the Juma were happy. Now there is only me.”
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Tanzania's President John Magufuli who urged citizens 'to pray coronavirus away' has died
By Bethlehem Feleke, Linus Kaikai and Amy Woodyatt, - March 18, 2021
Tanzania's President John Magufuli has died at a hospital in Dar es Salaam, the country's vice president announced in a televised address on Wednesday. He was 61.
"President John Magufuli died of a heart ailment that he has battled for over 10 years," Samia Suluhu Hassan said.
She added that the president had been receiving treatment at Mzena hospital since Sunday, and announced 14 days of national mourning. Hassan is now the acting president of Tanzania. While a date for her swearing-in has not yet been announced, she will be Tanzania's first female president.
Tanzanian President John Magufuli attended the inauguration of Incumbent South African President Cyril Ramaphosa on May 25, 2019.
After days of speculation that Magufuli was ill with Covid-19, the country's Prime Minister dispelled the rumors last week. Magufuli, who usually made weekly public appearances at Sunday church services, had not been seen since February 27, fueling reports that he was ill and was being treated abroad.
Kassim Majaliwa said he was surprised people were questioning the president's whereabouts, adding that the leader was "fine and continuing with his daily activities," as he spoke during a Friday prayer session at a mosque in the country's Njombe region, according to state broadcaster Tanzania Broadcasting Corporation.
https://www.cnn.com/2021/03/17/africa/john-magufuli-tanzania-death-intl/index.html
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Democratic lawmakers want companies to pay up for massive CEO compensation
By Sarah Ewall-Wice - 03/18/2021
At 45 major U.S. companies, the CEO took home 1,000 times — or more — what a median worker earned in 2019 and 2020, according to the AFL-CIO. Now, as many American workers are struggling to get by during the coronavirus pandemic, a group of lawmakers unveiled a new proposal to take on the extreme gaps between CEO and worker pay in the United States.
The "Tax Excessive CEO Pay Act" would penalize companies that pay CEOs or other highest paid employees 50 times more than the median pay for workers. If the median employee pay was $55,000 per year, a CEO could still make up to $2.75 million before the penalty kicked in.
While CEOs have always made more than rank-and-file workers, the ratio has ballooned in recent decades — and wages for top executives have increased dramatically faster than average workers'. The Economic Policy Institute found CEO compensation had surged 940% from 1978 to 2018 while the typical worker pay had risen only 12% over the same timeframe.
"Incredibly, if income inequality had remained the same as it was in 1975, the average worker in America would be making $42,000 more than he or she is earning," Senator Bernie Sanders, an independent from Vermont, said during a hearing Wednesday on income inequality. "Instead, as the number of billionaires explodes, the average worker in America is now making $32 a week less than he or she made 48 years ago."
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/ceo-compensation-median-worker-salary-penalty/
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Sheriff's office 'regret any heartache' for 'bad day' comment after Georgia spa killings
By David K. Li - March 18, 2021
An Atlanta-area sheriff's office on Thursday said it regrets "any heartache" caused by the comments of a department spokesman who said the suspect in the spa shootings that left eight people dead was having a "bad day."
The Cherokee County Sheriff's Office acknowledged that comments Wednesday by Capt. Jay Baker were "construed as insensitive," but the department insisted "they were not intended to disrespect any of the victims, the gravity of this tragedy, or express empathy or sympathy for the suspect."
Baker said the suspect told investigators "he was fed up, at the end of his rope" and that he "had a bad day, and this is what he did." Later Wednesday, it was revealed that Baker last March had shared a Facebook posting that promoted anti-Asian t-shirts.
"There are simply no words to describe the degree of human suffering experienced on Tuesday ... in our community and in Atlanta," Cherokee County Sheriff Frank Reynolds said in a statement on Thursday.
"I have known and served with Captain Baker for many years. His personal ties to the Asian community and his unwavering support and commitment to the citizens of Cherokee County are well known to many. Oh behalf of the dedicated women and men of the Cherokee County Sheriff's Office we regret any heartache Captain Baker's words may have caused."
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/sheriff-s-office-regret-any-heartache-bad-day-comment-after-n1261447
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He's sorry because he was caught.
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Apparently, he had a Facebook post, where he was pimping a t-shirt with the quarantine symbol on it
(https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/71dHwhnjS-L._AC_SY355_.jpg)
and then the charming slogan: "Covid 19 - Imported virus from Chy-na"
::) >:(
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Biden Administration To Meet Goal Of 100 Million Vaccine Doses On Friday
Alana Wise - March 18, 2021
President Biden said on Thursday that his administration would reach its initial goal of administering 100 million shots of the COVID-19 vaccines well ahead of his initial 100-day benchmark.
Biden said that the goal of 100 million shots would be achieved on Friday, which will be 58 days into his presidency.
He said he would announce his next vaccination goal next week.
"We need millions more to get vaccinated," Biden said, urging people to get the vaccine when it's their turn and to take other precautions to stop the spread.
https://www.npr.org/2021/03/18/978840432/biden-administration-to-meet-goal-of-100-million-vaccine-doses-on-friday
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12 Republicans vote against honoring Capitol police for protecting Congress
House voted 413-12 to award congressional gold medals to all members of Capitol force for their efforts on 6 January.
A dozen Republicans voted against a resolution honoring US Capitol police for their efforts to protect members of Congress during the insurrection on 6 January.
The House voted 413-12 on Wednesday to award congressional gold medals, Congress’s “highest expression of national appreciation”, to all members of the Capitol police force.
The Republicans who opposed this honor included Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, Matt Gaetz of Florida and Thomas Massie of Kentucky. They and other opposing members said they had problems with the text of the legislation.
The other Republicans who voted against the legislation were Andy Biggs of Arizona, Andy Harris of Maryland, Lance Gooden of Texas, Michael Cloud of Texas, Andrew Clyde of Georgia, Greg Steube of Florida, Bob Good of Virginia and John Rose of Tennessee.
All of the bill’s opponents, except for Massie, voted to object to state’s electoral votes in the presidential election in the hours after the insurrection.
They are all pieces of crap!!! >:(
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George Segal passed away at 87 years old. He passed away from complications from bypass surgery.
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Fascinating new excavation of a food shop at Pompeii (not for vegetarians!).
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/dec/26/exceptionally-well-preserved-snack-bar-unearthed-in-pompeii (https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/dec/26/exceptionally-well-preserved-snack-bar-unearthed-in-pompeii)
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It's amazing that these ruins are still being found, and so well preserved.
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There is a surprising amount of Pompeii as well as Herculaneum and Stabiae that has not yet been excavated. A good thing actually, since archaeological methods now are much better than when the buried cities were first discovered. I remember touring various sites in the Southwest in which the Park Service points out places purposely left untouched so that future scientists with presumably better methods could work on them. There is an entire national monument in southwestern Colorado, Yucca House, that has been left mostly unexcavated for this reason.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yucca_House_National_Monument
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Fascinating new excavation of a food shop at Pompeii (not for vegetarians!).
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/dec/26/exceptionally-well-preserved-snack-bar-unearthed-in-pompeii (https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/dec/26/exceptionally-well-preserved-snack-bar-unearthed-in-pompeii)
This is fascinating, Sara! Thanks for the link. The content was very informative.
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Larry McMurtry, 'Lonesome Dove' Novelist and 'Brokeback Mountain' Oscar Winner, Dies at 84
Larry McMurtry, the Texas-born novelist who authored Lonesome Dove, The Last Picture Show and Terms of Endearment and won an Oscar for co-writing the adapted screenplay for Brokeback Mountain, has died. He was 84.
McMurtry's death on Thursday was confirmed to The Hollywood Reporter by his rep, Amanda Lundberg. No other details were immediately available.
McMurtry was the author of 29 novels, including the Pulitzer Prize-winning Lonesome Dove, three memoirs, two collections of essays and more than 30 screenplays. He wrote five pages a day — no more, no less — on a manual typewriter.
His first published novel, 1961's Horseman, Pass By, set in Texas ranching country, became the 1963 Paramount drama Hud, starring Paul Newman, Melvyn Douglas and Patricia Neal. The movie rights were optioned by Newman and director Martin Ritt's Salem Productions "almost before the last period [was] put on the book," he author said. (Husband-and-wife team Irving Ravetch and Harriet Frank Jr. adapted his work and shared an Oscar nom.)
McMurtry received his first Oscar nomination (shared with director Peter Bogdanovich) for adapting his 1966 semi-autobiographical book for The Last Picture Show. The poignant 1971 film, about teenagers learning about sex, love and loss in the dusty town of Thalia, Texas, starred Timothy Bottoms, Jeff Bridges, Cybill Shepherd, Cloris Leachman and Ben Johnson (the last two won supporting actor Academy Awards).
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/larry-mcmurtry-lonesome-dove-novelist-brokeback-mountain-oscar-winner-was-84-1223879
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Oh how very very sad! The world has lost an amazing person and author. I know that Diana is really hurting!
MAY HE REST GENTLY IN PEACE.
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I don't know why, but I have never read any of McMurtry's writing, but I have loved many a film based on his works, like: Hud. The Last Picture Show. Terms of Endearment...and, of course, screenplays he's written. Thank you Larry.
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A high school friend of mine gave me the Lonesome Dove novel not that long after the miniseries aired. I read it avidly and thoroughly enjoyed it.
Eternal rest grant unto him, let perpetual light shine upon him. He brought great joy to all of us.
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^^^^ An American Icon who gave us much! R.I.P our dear friend. V.
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Congrats to VA for ending capital punishment!
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Yes! Fantastic!
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https://www.npr.org/2021/03/25/981242121/new-u-k-currency-honors-alan-turing-pioneering-computer-scientist-and-code-break
^^^
Alan Turing was a gay man, whose transformational work in the fields of computer science, codebreaking, and developmental biology, was still not enough to spare him the appalling treatment to which he was subjected
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^^^ Long, long overdue. As a "computer guy" Turing's contribution was mentioned but not really explained in depth during my college education in the US. I knew who he was and what he'd worked on but not the depth of this work. I also knew that the "death by suicide" always seemed (and still does) "too convenient for the time..." His treatment, when compared to the pillars of computer science he built and envisioned, is hard to believe but not difficult to understand for those times. Time does not make it any less acceptable then or today. I applaud the community for finally recognizing a brilliant man who saved millions of lives by making major contributions to computer science that ultimately helped end that awful war.
Sadly, similar and worse still happens today around the world b/c the PTB always need someone different than themselves to be the "bad actor."... hate and persecution of a minority by the majority is still with us. :(
"Turing was embraced for his brilliance and persecuted for being gay," Fleming said. "His legacy is a reminder of the value of embracing all aspects of diversity, but also the work we still need to do to become truly inclusive."
Stay safe, stay alive! V.
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https://news.trust.org/item/20210401114746-6e72l
^^^
Exactly 20 years ago, one lesbian couple and three gay couples tied the knot in Amsterdam's city hall - making history as the Netherlands became the first country to allow same-sex marriage
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What a great anniversary!!!!
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Virginia becomes 12th state to ban gay/trans panic defense
By Jo Yurcaba - April 2, 2021
Virginia has become the 12th state to ban the use of the “gay/trans panic” defense.
Gov. Ralph Northam signed a bill Wednesday against the defense, which has allowed those accused of homicide to receive lesser sentences by saying they panicked after finding out the victim’s sexual orientation or gender identity.
The bill passed the state House and the Senate in February.
The bill’s author, Democratic Delegate Danica Roem said she first became aware of the defense after Matthew Shepard, a gay man, was murdered in 1998, and the men who killed him used the defense in court, according to the American Bar Association. Then, in 2004, one of the four men who were convicted of killing Gwen Araujo, a trans teenager, also used it.
Roem was a college freshman and knew she was trans when she read about Araujo’s death. It terrified her, she said.
But what made her determined to introduce a bill to ban the defense in Virginia was a letter she has received from a 15-year-old LGBTQ constituent.
“He's out, and he sent me an email asking me to pass this bill, and I came to realize that in 2021, my out teenage constituents are living with the same fear that I did in 1998, after Matthew was killed, and that I did in 2002 after Gwen Araujo was killed,” Roem said. “And you think of how many other people will stay closeted because they have a fear of being attacked, let alone all the other fears that a closeted person who wants to come out has.”
https://www.nbcnews.com/feature/nbc-out/virginia-becomes-12th-state-ban-gay-trans-panic-defense-n1262933
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Virginia has improved considerably since the last Republican governor left in 2013.
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I'll say! (And good for Virginians not trying to oust Gov. Northam for a past mistake some time ago.)
I was curious as to what the other 11 states are:
The LGBTQ+ “panic” defense has been banned in:
California, 2014
Illinois, 2017
Rhode Island, 2018
Nevada, 2019
Connecticut, 2019
Maine, 2019
Hawaii, 2019
New York, 2019
New Jersey, 2020
Washington, 2020
Colorado, 2020
District of Columbia, 2020
Virginia, 2021
Legislation against the LGBTQ+ “panic” defense has been introduced, but not yet passed, in:
Pennsylvania, 2019 and 2020
Wisconsin, 2019
Texas, 2020
Iowa, 2021
Maryland, 2021
Nebraska, 2021
Florida, 2021
Oregon, 2021
New Mexico, 2021
Vermont, 2021
New Hampshire, 2021
Minnesota, 2021
Massachusetts, 2021
In July of 2018, The Gay and Trans Panic Defense Prohibition Act of 2018 was introduced by Senator Markey (D-MA) in the United States Senate and by Congressman Kennedy (D-MA) in the United States House of Representatives. The bill was reintroduced in the House and the Senate in June of 2019. Federal LGBTQ+ panic defense legislation has not yet been introduced in the 117th Congress.
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Thanks for the updates, Lyle! I'm surprised that Massachusetts hasn't passed it yet. They tend to be very progressive, and they were the first state to legalize same-sex marriage.
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I hadn't thought of that, Chuck, you're right!
I just noticed that the one Congressman and one Senator who introduced the bills in Congress are from MA. Maybe their strategy is to go national so it applies to everyone, I don't know.
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'A 10ft pole is not long enough': Matt Gaetz isolated in sex-trafficking scandal
The Florida Republican congressman Matt Gaetz appears increasingly politically isolated amid a spiralling scandal over a federal sex-trafficking investigation. Even for Donald Trump, one Republican political operative said, “a 10ft pole is not long enough”.
Federal prosecutors are reportedly examining whether Gaetz and a political ally facing sex trafficking allegations may have paid underage girls or offered them gifts in exchange for sex.
Few Republicans have rushed to offer any kind of support to Gaetz, a three-term conservative provocateur known for support of Trump, high-volume attacks, sometimes against those in his own party, and frequent media appearances.
The Associated Press reported that several lawmakers and aides who spoke on condition of anonymity said Gaetz’s prospects for remaining in Congress were complicated by his unpopularity in his own party.
The Daily Beast, meanwhile, reported that advisers were pleading with the former president to keep quiet. Trump was reported to have said the affair seemed “really bad”, though he also thought the allegations could be a “smear” against Gaetz.
“I don’t hope for anybody to be guilty of anything but it sounds like [Gaetz has] got a lot of explaining to do,” Barry Bennett, a longtime Republican operative and former Trump adviser, told the website.
“People underestimate Donald Trump’s political ear … For something like this, a 10ft pole is not long enough. The former president should stay as far away from this as possible.”
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/apr/03/matt-gaetz-republican-sex-trafficking-scandal
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^^^ I can only hope there's enough there to "lock him up" for a very long time - who knows.... maybe he's got some singing to do too.
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I hope so too!
and there are some that are calling out the way the media is covering the story.
it's been described as a "sexual relationship with a minor". People are saying that a minor can't legally consent, so it's rape.
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And again, from all we've seen the last years concerning Gaetz, is anyone surprised?
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Republican officials think themselves exempt from such laws.
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^ They are when the orange smurf can wave his pen and pardon anyone for any crime he wants....
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Republican officials think themselves exempt from such laws.
Well look how much orangeassity has gotten away with!!!
I saw an article today that he has 30 lawsuits pending against him. Most of the ones that the GOP allowed to be put on hold while he was president. Now he's not.
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^ They are when the orange smurf can wave his pen and pardon anyone for any crime he wants....
And even without X in charge, many Republicans simply think that laws meant to fight corruption simply do not apply to them. Or at least they act that way.
Which is why they have to be prosecuted.
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Mike Lindell Admits MyPillow Can't Get Back $65M in Revenue Lost Due to Trump Ties
By Jason Lemon - 4/4/21
MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell admitted in a recent interview that his company won't be able to get back all of the $65 million in lost revenue that has come as a result of his close ties to former President Donald Trump and its promotion of groundless conspiracy theories about the 2020 election.
More than 20 retailers have removed MyPillow products from their shelves since January, among them Sam's Club, Kohl's and Bed, Bath & Beyond. Lindell first told Insider in February that his company had lost $65 million in revenue.
In a follow-up interview published on Sunday, the MyPillow CEO said that chunk of change was not coming back.
"We obviously can't get that back, we're going to lose that," Lindell told Insider. However, he said the company is working on a strategy to recoup at least some of the loss. The businessman pointed to growing revenue from podcast and radio ads.
https://www.newsweek.com/mike-lindell-admits-mypillow-cant-get-back-65m-revenue-lost-due-trump-ties-1580966
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I'm sorry. I have zero sympathy for him. He deserves it. I feel sorry for his workers.
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Meanwhile: Dominion Voting Systems (DVS) has filed a $1.3 billion lawsuit against MyPillow and Lindell, saying that he spread false information that its voting machines rigged the presidential election.
I don't know if his pillows are anything special, but somehow he's made a fortune from it. Was this luck, because now he's a delusional laughingstock with his deep dive into non-existent voter fraud claims, which he still is insisting are facts. His mind has been so overloaded with this stuff that he's on the verge of insanity if you ask me. So he's doubling down on his delusions. Newsweek has another article about him: Mike Lindell Promises to 'Dump' New Election Fraud Evidence in Coming Weeks. In it Lindell claims Trump 'Will Be Back in Office in August'. He doesn't specify what office, but we can only hope he and Trump will be visiting some psychiatric offices. I mean, who does Lindell think he is? Does he honestly think people are going to hold up a man whose claim to fame is selling pillows as a source of election integrity? If he was serious about this at all he'd have used his money to fund real sources of integrity who could handle the job, and not do it as your own spokesman whose only credibility is selling pillows. He deserves what he gets, but we don't deserve what he's doing.
To say something like "he'll be back in office in August," is also simply ludicrous on the face of it. That's not how things work. It's completely delusional. It's a stupid thing to say. Newsweek: Stop giving him a platform. Let him sink on his own, or at least charge him money to print these things.
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Three earthquakes here after 4pm in the wee hours of the morning. A 2.5 and 3.0 and 4.0. Ruining a good night's sleep!
On second thought, that's so much better than ruining everything.
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Does he honestly think people are going to hold up a man whose claim to fame is selling pillows as a source of election integrity?
Of course he does. He drank the Cool-aide.
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Supreme Court dismisses lawsuit over Trump's Twitter account
Pete Williams - April 5, 2021
The Supreme Court on Monday tossed out a lawsuit over former President Donald Trump's Twitter account, after the Justice Department said the end of Trump's presidency made the case a dead letter.
The case arose after seven people responded critically to tweets on the president's now-banned @realDonaldTrump account and he retaliated by blocking them. They sued and won in the lower courts, which held that blocking individual respondents based on their viewpoints violated the First Amendment.
The Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit said the president's account amounted to a kind of public forum and often concerned official matters with contributions from White House staff members.
The Trump Justice Department urged the Supreme Court to reverse those rulings. While the president's tweets were sometimes official statements, his decision to block individual responses was a personal one allowed by any Twitter user, government lawyers contended.
But the night before President Joe Biden took the oath of office, the Justice Department asked the court to dismiss the case as moot and to vacate the lower court rulings, too.
https://news.yahoo.com/supreme-court-dismisses-lawsuit-over-135925303.html
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Three earthquakes here after 4pm in the wee hours of the morning. A 2.5 and 3.0 and 4.0. Ruining a good night's sleep!
On second thought, that's so much better than ruining everything.
Good point, Lyle. That's a lot of earthquakes and aftershocks.
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^^^
Last year we had three small earthquakes one night and I believe they were in the same area.
And I believe that same area is where fracking has been going on. I'll have to see how close they
were to each other if I can.
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Healing Spiritual Harms: Supporting Recovery from LGBTQA+ Change and Suppression Practices is a February 2021 report by. Australian researchers based on interviews with survivors of religious conversion practices or "counselling". It documents many issues that therapists and supporters need to understand. It is available online.
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Virginia just legalized marijuana
By German Lopez Apr 8, 2021
Virginia lawmakers on Wednesday enacted a marijuana legalization law, making the state the first in the South to legalize cannabis.
Under the law, adults 21 and older will be able to use and grow marijuana, starting in July. The state will also launch a legal, regulated market, with an expected launch in 2024. And it lets people with past marijuana convictions request lower penalties or for their records to be sealed.
Revenue from a new excise tax on marijuana will go toward education programs, equity initiatives, addiction treatment, and public health services.
The legislation came after a contentious, but relatively quick, legislative process. Gov. Ralph Northam (D) publicly backed marijuana legalization in November. After some back-and-forth, the Virginia House and Senate passed bills legalizing pot in February. Northam responded approvingly, but with amendments to the legislation. The legislature then approved the amendments, allowing the legislation to take effect with no further action from Northam.
In comparison, legislative battles over marijuana legalization dragged on for years in New Jersey and New York.
https://www.vox.com/2021/4/8/22307918/virginia-marijuana-legalization-law-bill-ralph-northam
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Matt Gaetz associate likely to strike plea deal, attorneys say
By Paula Reid, David Shortell and Mark Morales - April 8, 2021
Joel Greenberg, a central figure in the ongoing investigation into Florida Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz, is likely to strike a plea deal with federal prosecutors, his attorney and prosecutors said in court Thursday, potentially putting additional legal pressure on the congressman.
Greenberg's possible cooperation with the Justice Department could provide investigators with key details as they work to determine whether Gaetz broke sex trafficking or prostitution laws himself.
Gaetz has denied ever paying for sex and over the past week has sought to frame the allegations against him as the result of political bias in the justice system and the media. A federal prosecutor and Greenberg's attorney told a judge the deal was not finalized but there is an expectation that it could be resolved within weeks.
"We believe this case will be a plea," said assistant US Attorney Roger Handberg. Greenberg's attorney, Fritz Scheller, requested a plea date by May 15. If a plea is not reached, they could move to a trial in July.
https://www.cnn.com/2021/04/08/politics/greenberg-gaetz/index.html
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Virginia just legalized marijuana
By German Lopez Apr 8, 2021
Virginia lawmakers on Wednesday enacted a marijuana legalization law, making the state the first in the South to legalize cannabis.
Under the law, adults 21 and older will be able to use and grow marijuana, starting in July. The state will also launch a legal, regulated market, with an expected launch in 2024. And it lets people with past marijuana convictions request lower penalties or for their records to be sealed.
Revenue from a new excise tax on marijuana will go toward education programs, equity initiatives, addiction treatment, and public health services.
The legislation came after a contentious, but relatively quick, legislative process. Gov. Ralph Northam (D) publicly backed marijuana legalization in November. After some back-and-forth, the Virginia House and Senate passed bills legalizing pot in February. Northam responded approvingly, but with amendments to the legislation. The legislature then approved the amendments, allowing the legislation to take effect with no further action from Northam.
In comparison, legislative battles over marijuana legalization dragged on for years in New Jersey and New York.
https://www.vox.com/2021/4/8/22307918/virginia-marijuana-legalization-law-bill-ralph-northam
Nice, but I'm not planning on partaking.
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Capitol riot defendant flips to help prosecutors against Proud Boys
Katelyn Polantz - Wed April 7, 2021
At least one of the Capitol riot defendants has flipped against the Proud Boys, agreeing to provide information that could allow the Justice Department to bring a more severe charge against the group's leadership, according to an attorney involved in the case.
The development is the first indication that people charged in the insurrection are cooperating against the pro-Trump extremist group. Federal prosecutors have made clear they are focused on building conspiracy cases against leadership of the Proud Boys and paramilitary groups like the Oath Keepers.
Court records have made murmurs for weeks about cooperators and plea deals in the works, and prosecutors revealed that a rioter wearing an Oath Keepers hat was in talks to cooperate earlier this week.
Yet the cases are still in early stages. None of the defendants have pleaded guilty yet, and prosecutors have struggled at times to convince judges to perceive high-profile defendants as conspirators who organized the violence toward Congress on January 6 in advance.
What happens next is likely to follow the same pattern as in organized crime or drug investigations, with prosecutors pressuring knowledgeable defendants to become witnesses. Some may sign up to cooperate, and many of those charged are likely to plead guilty to avoid trial or more severe charges.
So far, around two dozen people associated with the Proud Boys have been charged with federal crimes related to the riot.
https://www.cnn.com/2021/04/07/politics/capitol-riot-flip-proud-boys/index.html
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Former Jets player Phillip Adams named as suspect in deadly South Carolina shooting, report says
Christine Fernando - 04/08/2021
A gunman in the Wednesday killing of five people in South Carolina was former New York Jets cornerback Phillip Adams, a source told the Associated Press.
A doctor, his wife their two young grandchildren were among those found Wednesday evening at a home in York County, South Carolina. They died as a result of gunshot wounds, according to the York County Sheriff's Office.
Officers identified a suspect in a nearby house after an hourslong search following what police called a "case of a mass shooting" Wednesday night. Police have not identified the suspect.
Adams' parents live near the doctor's home, and he has been treated by the doctor in the past, according to the AP's source, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to speak publicly. The source said Adams killed himself after midnight Thursday.
Dr. Robert Lesslie, 70, Barbara Lesslie, 69, and their grandchildren Adah Lesslie, 9, and Noah Lesslie, 5, were pronounced dead at the scene, according to the York County coroner's office. James Lewis, 38, was found dead outside. Lewis was working at the home at the time, police said.
A sixth person was injured and taken to a local hospital for serious gunshot wounds, York County Sheriff's Office spokesperson Trent Faris said in a press conference.
https://www.northjersey.com/story/sports/nfl/jets/2021/04/08/south-carolina-killings-suspect-found-phillip-adams/7138659002/?fbclid=IwAR0Wi_kMGtfbQjimRLSYZ2bwCIW7CR00nAps5HybtbvqTk-jeGDbJWIimF8
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On NBC News tonight, his father said that he thought his head had been messed up from playing football.
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'Matt Gaetz needs to resign,' says GOP Rep. Adam Kinzinger
By Dareh Gregorian - April 9, 2021
Rep. Adam Kinzinger of Illinois called for fellow Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida to resign on Thursday amid a federal probe into allegations that Gaetz was involved in sex trafficking.
Gaetz, who has not been charged with any crime, has repeatedly denied wrongdoing. He is also scheduled Friday to headline a dinner for Women for America First, a pro-Trump group, at the Trump National Doral in Florida.
"Matt Gaetz needs to resign," Kinzinger wrote in a tweet linking to a Daily Beast story about Gaetz, who's become enmeshed in an investigation into former Seminole County Tax Collector Joel Greenberg.
Greenberg has been hit with 33 charges in federal court in Florida, including stalking, wire fraud and sex trafficking of a minor. In a brief hearing in his case in Orlando on Thursday, Greenberg’s lawyer, Fritz Scheller, and federal prosecutors told the judge they expect him to strike a plea deal.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/matt-gaetz-needs-resign-says-gop-rep-adam-kinzinger-n1263607
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As Prince Philip dies at 99, tributes pour in for husband of Queen Elizabeth II
By Henry Austin - April 9, 2021
Britain’s Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, led the tributes to Prince Philip on Friday as the country — and the world — reacted to the death of Queen Elizabeth II's husband at the age of 99.
Speaking outside his home in London's Downing Street, Johnson said that Philip had “helped to steer the Royal Family and the monarchy so that it remains an institution indisputably vital to the balance and happiness of our national life.''
He said that Philip “was an environmentalist, and a champion of the natural world long before it was fashionable,” adding that he had “inspired the lives of countless young people” with his Duke of Edinburgh awards scheme.
"We remember the duke for all of this and above all for his steadfast support for Her Majesty the Queen,” he said. "Not just as her consort, by her side every day of her reign, but as her husband, her 'strength and stay,' of more than 70 years."
"And it is to Her Majesty, and her family, that our nation's thoughts must turn today, because they have lost not just a much-loved and highly respected public figure, but a devoted husband and a proud and loving father, grandfather and, in recent years, great-grandfather."
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/prince-philip-dies-99-tributes-pour-husband-queen-elizabeth-ii-n1263611
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Wonder if Harry and Meghan will attend the service? More fodder for the tabloids!! :o :o :o
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However expected this must be said to have been, I feel deeply sorry for Queen Elizabeth. Losing a spouse of so many years is a devastating blow to any person. My grandfather died less than two months after my grandmother passed unexpectedly - they had been married for more than 60 years. He lost his will to live on. And the same very recently happened with the elderly parents of a friend of mine.
I suppose that due to Covid the ceremonial surrounding the funeral will be scaled-back and restrained. I can't imagine Harry won't be there, but I hope Meghan uses her pregnancy as an excuse to stay away. Otherwise there will be an unpleasant media frenzy, no doubt about it.
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However expected this must be said to have been, I feel deeply sorry for Queen Elizabeth. Losing a spouse of so many years is a devastating blow to any person. My grandfather died less than two months after my grandmother passed unexpectedly - they had been married for more than 60 years. He lost his will to live on. And the same very recently happened with the elderly parents of a friend of mine.
Many years ago a friend of my family lost both her elderly parents within a week of each other.
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Sad news. I was two when he and the Queen were married so he's been a constant throughout my entire life. Somehow the stability and constant presence through all the massive changes and upheavals have helped. I don 't think that the Queen could have done what she has done so successfully without his support. He will be sadly missed.
I expect that Harry will come but I hope that Meghan has the sense to stay away. The histrionics have not gone down well while the Duke was so ill in hospital and the Queen was carrying on with her duties. :(
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I’m quite surprised how sad the news of his death has made me. I suppose it’s the “end of an era” feeling, and of a long, and I think very happy, marriage.
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Yes, they complemented each other very well.
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I hadn't been born when they married, but Queen Elizabeth became Queen the year I was born. It has truly saddened me that he is gone and she has lost him. May he rest in peace and may she have peace.
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Gaetz loses another staffer as fallout around investigation continues
By Ryan Nobles - April 9, 2021
Devin Murphy, the legislative director for Rep. Matt Gaetz, has resigned his post, making him the second staffer to leave the Florida congressman's office as the pressure continues to mount surrounding a federal investigation into sex trafficking allegations.
A source directly connected to Murphy said he left the job, not specifically because of Gaetz's legal troubles, but because the "media circus" surrounding the Republican made it difficult to accomplish "meaningful congressional work."
Gaetz's office did not respond to numerous inquiries about Murphy's employment status.
The New York Times first reported that Murphy had left Gaetz's office.
Murphy's decision comes after Gaetz's former communications director Luke Ball quit his job shortly after the FBI probe was revealed.
Gaetz has denied any wrongdoing and specifically said that he has never paid for sex or had sex with a 17-year-old as an adult.
cnn.com/2021/04/09/politics/another-gaetz-staffer-resigns/index.html
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House Ethics Committee Investigating GOP Rep. Matt Gaetz Of Florida
Barbara Sprunt, Deirdre Walsh - April 9, 2021
The House Ethics Committee announced Friday it has launched an investigation into alleged misconduct by U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz following a recent flurry of accusations against the Florida congressman, including illegal drug use and sexual misconduct.
"The Committee is aware of public allegations that Representative Matt Gaetz may have engaged in sexual misconduct and/or illicit drug use, shared inappropriate images or videos on the House floor, misused state identification records, converted campaign funds to personal use, and/or accepted a bribe, improper gratuity, or impermissible gift, in violation of House Rules, laws, or other standards of conduct," the panel's chairman, Rep. Ted Deutch, D-Fla., and ranking member, Rep. Jackie Walorski, R-Ind., said in a joint written statement.
The statement noted that the existence of the investigation "does not indicate that any violation has occurred."
The news comes as Joel Greenberg, an associate of Gaetz's and a former local Florida official, is expected to enter a plea deal, Greenberg's attorney said in court this week. Greenberg was indicted on charges including sex trafficking of a child. It's unclear what kind of information he may share about Gaetz.
https://www.npr.org/2021/04/09/985851957/house-ethics-committee-investigating-florida-gop-rep-matt-gaetz
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Remembering the Prince.
(https://scontent-iad3-2.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.6435-9/171699607_5359541654087260_8850651207337528552_n.jpg?_nc_cat=111&ccb=1-3&_nc_sid=730e14&_nc_ohc=C2sl24hqhm8AX9G0kvY&_nc_ht=scontent-iad3-2.xx&oh=d7ef609a5e12b0b0c46e8c6321ed3b79&oe=60970979)
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House Ethics Committee Investigating GOP Rep. Matt Gaetz Of Florida
Couldn't happen to a more deserving individual.
Also, duh, who couldn't see this coming months ago?
None of these MAGA maniacs try to hide anything; they're out in the open with their crazy and corruption.
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I’m quite surprised how sad the news of his death has made me. I suppose it’s the “end of an era” feeling, and of a long, and I think very happy, marriage.
I was three when they married so I do not remember but the death of the King when I was nearly 8 and then the coronation the following year are my earliest recollection of being affected by and interested in news headlines. I was very sad yesterday and, naturally, his death dominates our news. My sister has just told me of a documentary in Australia and how every photo shows the Queen smiling as she looks at Philip. I am so sorry for her. The Queen had his photo on her bedroom wall after they met when she was 13. They had met earlier at a cousin's wedding when she was 8. I am so glad to read that she was with him at the end.
Meghan cannot travel due to her pregnancy, just as well.
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Embattled Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz is denied a meeting with Trump
By Gabby Orr, Dana Bash and Kevin Liptak - April 11, 2021
Rep. Matt Gaetz, who's facing a federal investigation into sex trafficking allegations, was recently denied a meeting with Donald Trump at his Mar-a-Lago estate as the ex-President and his allies continue to distance themselves from the Florida congressman.
Two people familiar with the matter said Gaetz tried to schedule a visit with Trump after it was first revealed that he was being investigated, but the request was rejected by aides close to the former President, who have urged Trump not to stick his neck out to defend Gaetz. A spokesperson for Trump did not respond to a request for comment. Gaetz spokesman Harlan Hill said the congressman did not request a meeting with Trump this week.
"Rep. Gaetz was welcomed to Trump Doral this week and has not sought to meet with President Trump himself," Hill said in a statement to CNN, claiming that Gaetz has "been mostly relaxing with his fiancée this week during recess."
The interference by Trump's aides signals that Gaetz finds himself increasingly isolated as he weathers a potentially career-ending scandal just months after he offered to leave his plum job in Congress to join the 45th President's impeachment defense team. Trump has issued only one statement about Gaetz since the public first learned of the congressman's role in a sex trafficking inquiry at the beginning of April. In it, Trump denied ever receiving a blanket pardon request from the 38-year-old congressman and noted Gaetz's denial
https://www.cnn.com/2021/04/11/politics/matt-gaetz-donald-trump-denied-meeting/index.html
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GOP donors privately pan Trump’s ‘horrible’ RNC speech
By Tara Palmeri and Rachael Bade - 04/11/2021
A slew of well-heeled Republican National Committee donors descended on Palm Beach this weekend, excited to be schmoozed, eager for access to DONALD TRUMP and other potential 2024 nominees, but mostly interested in hearing how far their dollars would go toward winning back the Congress and White House.
Trump’s speech didn’t do any of that.
“It was horrible, it was long and negative,” one attendee with a donor in the room tells Playbook. “It was dour. He didn’t talk about the positive things that his administration has done.”
Instead, Trump used the final night of the retreat to talk about himself, his grievances and how he plans to enact retribution against those who voted to impeach him — which runs counter to the donors’ main objective of making sure their dollars go toward winning overall.
Trump’s biggest applause line, according to sources in the room, was when he said the GOP would win back the House 2022 and the presidency in 2024. He lavished praise on Florida Gov. RON DESANTIS, South Dakota Gov. KRISTI NOEM, and Wisconsin Sen. RON JOHNSON. But when he was harshly critical of people like former VP MIKE PENCE and Senate Republican Leader MITCH MCCONNELL, few people applauded.
Many major donors have been fed up with Trump’s antics since Jan. 6. While Trump was speaking, we spotted at least two — both of whom received prominent appointments during his administration — out dining with friends at a local restaurant in Palm Beach rather than sitting through the former president’s dinner at Mar-a-Lago.
https://www.politico.com/newsletters/playbook/2021/04/11/gop-donors-privately-pan-trumps-horrible-rnc-speech-492435
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Gaetz will soon become one of the boys who just served covfefe.
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Trump used the final night of the retreat to talk about himself, his grievances and how he plans to enact retribution against those who voted to impeach him.
I hope nobody was actually surprised by that. Were they seriously expecting anything else?
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The Gaetz business keeps reminding me, I'm sure I read something some time ago about a lawmaker from Florida who was suspected of an improper relationship with a teenage boy he had "adopted?"
And wasn't there some case from years and years ago about an older homophobic Representative from Florida who was caught with a young male hustler? (Maybe I've got the state wrong.)
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Instead, Trump used the final night of the retreat to talk about himself, his grievances and how he plans to enact retribution against those who voted to impeach him —
Anyone expecting something else than exactly this must have been living under a rock in distant woods these last five years.
The content of that speech was the most predictable event on earth.
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^^^
Exactly.
GOP donors privately pan Trump’s ‘horrible’ RNC speech
And nothing is going to change for these people if they only PRIVATELY criticize the cretin.
The pandering to him and his sycophants is a Republican pandemic. When will it ever break.
AND: Trump is still continuing the BIG LIE that he won the election. They do not seem to care if
he keeps spouting anti-democracy. If they can't denounce that, too, they all deserve what they get.
They're so interested in winning back power, but have absolutely no notion (or interest) of what
they want to do with that power. They just want it.
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Embattled Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz is denied a meeting with Trump
You know you're in trouble when Trump won't even applaud your corruption.
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^^^
Exactly.
And nothing is going to change for these people if they only PRIVATELY criticize the cretin.
The pandering to him and his sycophants is a Republican pandemic. When will it ever break.
AND: Trump is still continuing the BIG LIE that he won the election. They do not seem to care if
he keeps spouting anti-democracy. If they can't denounce that, too, they all deserve what they get.
They're so interested in winning back power, but have absolutely no notion (or interest) of what
they want to do with that power. They just want it.
Why on earth are they surprised?? ?? He's not acting or saying anything different than what he has been saying for the last 5 years!!! And you're surprise you stupid GOP robots?!
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^^^
Exactly. Exactly.
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Already last night there was a Protest in Philadelphia.
If Chauvin is acquitted, it's going to be last May and June all over again--an excuse for rioting and looting. I can already visualize windows boarded up again.
Selfish of me, but I just hope nothing happens before the 28th. That's when I'm supposed to get my second shot at a local pharmacy.
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That shooting of the black 20 year old ten miles from the trial...I mean, you wonder: Do police not think of their actions ESPECIALLY right now. A 26 year veteran mistakes her gun for a taser? I do believe she didn't intend to shoot him because of how she reacted and what she said. She sounded like it to me. (Doesn't excuse anything.)
Yes, of course, police reactions should not lead to shooting people for criminal misdemeanors. But I always ask, I don't think it's unrealistic to ask, why do the people who end up shot not do what the police are saying?
I hear that they're afraid, but surely if one escalates the police do, too. This guy started fighting with the officers and it led to him getting shot, just as so many of these things do. In this instance, the police know who this guy is. They had his name (ID) and his license plate number. What they were charging him with, or going to, wasn't worth being shot, so why didn't they let him go? They know who he is and where he could be found.
I try to put myself in the black person's situation. You see a lot of the surveillance or cam footage of these things and it all begins with the police telling someone what they want you to do and the person saying "I didn't do anything wrong." At that point it doesn't matter if you did or not. Until they're satisfied the police want you to do what they say. If you feel you've been violated when it's all over, treated badly, go from there, you can then do something about that, but not if you've been shot.
Is there something I'm missing here? Whenever I bring this up to anyone most immediately reply with "the police didn't have to shoot them for that (whatever it is)." I'm trying to go back to how it happens. And I see lots of it happening because the person does not initially do what "the police" are telling them to do.
What am I missing? With some of the things I've heard about police doing and also some police and former military being involved in the insurrection on Jan. 6th it makes me wonder if some want to stir all this up for some convoluted reasoning.
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If Chauvin is acquitted, it's going to be last May and June all over again--an excuse for rioting and looting.
Reminds me the time before the Rodney King verdict against the officers. And King wasn't shot. I'm wondering if protesting, rioting and looting won't happen only if it's the harshest sentence that can be handed down. Or if the defense appeals. Really who knows? I don't know how it can be reported accurately, but during the looting last year, there was definitely a difference (here in L.A. anyway) of the people who were looting and the serious BLM protesters. The news reporters were saying the same thing about the looters a couple nights ago in Minnesota: "The crowd is different than the ones who were out earlier," many were reporting. There ARE opportunists afoot.
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Reminds me the time before the Rodney King verdict against the officers. And King wasn't shot. I'm wondering if protesting, rioting and looting won't happen only if it's the harshest sentence that can be handed down. Or if the defense appeals. Really who knows? I don't know how it can be reported accurately, but during the looting last year, there was definitely a difference (here in L.A. anyway) of the people who were looting and the serious BLM protesters. The news reporters were saying the same thing about the looters a couple nights ago in Minnesota: "The crowd is different than the ones who were out earlier," many were reporting. There ARE opportunists afoot.
It was the same here, probably the same everywhere, opportunists taking advantage to commit criminal acts.
I remember the night it started here seeing live footage of somebody carrying an armload of clothes out through the window of a sporting goods store right behind the TV reporter. I said to myself that those clothes were going to end up on some street vendor's table. The looter was not stealing them for his own use--not that that would have made any difference. Looting is looting.
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And I see lots of it happening because the person does not initially do what "the police" are telling them to do.
I think Philando Castile did what he was ordered to do, and he was shot repeatedly anyway.
But I can see lots of reasons why people don't do as told. They mishear? They act irrationally due to fear of the police? (A fear that may be growing for every new case that happens, the George Floyd case not least.) They're drunk or high or angry or having a mental breakdown? Nothing of which should justify what amounts to them being summarily executed.
The police are the ones who should be able to keep their calm, gauge the situation rationally, and de-escalate.
I know I would be absolutely terrified and petrified if pulled over by US police, and I'm white. Seen from over here, where police are unarmed and do not drive around actively searching for black drivers whose cars have a tail light out or whatever, it's nearly incomprehensible what's going on in the US. Unless the answer is systemic racism, and it's difficult to conclude otherwise tbh.
I choose to believe that Chauvin will be found guilty as charged. Anything else would be a complete mockery of justice and a return to the days of poor Emmet Till.
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I have to say I agree with some of what Lyle posted on here about following police instructions. At least in the USA police have lethal weapons on their person. It's not just a billyclub anymore, not for a long time, maybe never! Anyway, that's what bothers me the most with some of the police shootings, why not simply follow instructions? Yet, I'm not a Black Man, I haven't lived my Life in fear of the Law. I haven't walked a mile, or a day in their shoes, so I can't say how I'd react then. IMHO, when a jury sees a person ignoring police requests, then resisting arrest, or worse, trying to flee the scene, they have a tough decision to make, right? I've never sat on a jury in a criminal case but I can imagine the pressure to reach the correct verdict in cases like this one.
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I agree with Gillian. Our police do not regularly carry guns either and they are usually very polite when they stop you for a traffic check. It is a long long time (1992?) since I was pulled over for speeding but I have been stopped for licence, car warranty checks and to be breathalysed.
Here it is the opposite. Early last year a young police officer was shot when he made a traffic stop. He was killed and his partner was wounded. The funeral was attended by the Prime Minister as well as the Minister for Police and of course the Police Superintendent. It was televised nationally and I was in tears. There were hundreds of police performing the Haka as the hearse drove round the football stadium.
Just this week, police were reprimanded because they stopped a car leaving a gang funeral and took a photo, without cause, of a Maori woman. The photo has been destroyed and an apology issued.
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Sadly, we crossed too many lines and violated too many trusts which lead to horrible outcomes as have been captured on police body-cams. I hope someday body cams will change the behaviors but sadly, I do not expect to see real change in my lifetime. There was another case in NC where a black army officer was pepper-sprayed for not following police orders which were aggravated by him wanting to get somewhere safer, well lit, to pull over. Can he be blamed for that in today's climate? WRT the female police officer in MN, many questions about whether deadly force should have been used (accidentally or on-purpose) to what was clearly resisting arrest and attempting to flee. The suspect had an outstanding arrest warrant and then started resisting arrest and then was attempting to flee. Should she have let him just drive off then pursue? At what speeds? Then things become a game of cat/mouse to where if I can flee, I'll get away with whatever. No answers - really.
There's a lot of healing needed and clearly, after the sob 45 surfaced rogue elements which had been buried, simmering for decades, we see again clearly that hate remains alive and well - especially in parts of the South where it never really died... only it ran underground and festered there for decades. Not easy. Never easy.
-> https://www.newsobserver.com/news/state/north-carolina/article250581594.html
V.
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Perhaps the outcome will depend on the judge's instructions to the jury as to what constitutes murder, as compared to manslaughter. But I still believe any verdict short of murder will result in rioting and looting all over the country.
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I think Philando Castile did what he was ordered to do, and he was shot repeatedly anyway.
That was also in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area as was the Floyd case last year and the current Daunte Wright case (Brooklyn Center), where the Floyd trial is taking place--ten miles from this occurrence. What is happening in that area. And the Mayor of Brooklyn center is a Liberian refugee.
By the way, I just read this Washington Post headline: A Minnesota Police Union Head Blames Daunte Wright’s Killing on His ‘Non-Compliance’. If that is true to any degree, to come out at this time and actually say that makes it sound like his killing was justified, which is not true.
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There was another case in NC where a black army officer was pepper-sprayed for not following police orders which were aggravated by him wanting to get somewhere safer, well lit, to pull over.
This happened in Virginia. I didn't even mention this one, because this was really bad. No excuse for anyone being treated like that. Again, though, the police (though acting really badly) were telling this guy to do something and he was not doing it. Supposedly they decided to pull this guy over because there was no license plate on the vehicle. There was a car dealer placard, though there actually was a temporary one from the dealer, because the driver just purchased this car, in the back window that the officers didn't see. Or ignored. When the driver expressed that he was afraid to get out of the car...when the officer said "You should be," I just about screamed. I surely can't believe officers are trained to say something offensive like that.
I didn't follow a policeman's orders once and got my foot stomped on by his horse. It was in 1991 when Gov. Wilson vetoed a bill that would end discrimination in the workplace for LGBT persons. And it was thought that it would be signed, but he did not and it turned into two months of street protests all around the city, culminating in a march on Sacramento. But in the first couple nights it was really intense. The Gov. was thought to be staying at the Century Plaza Hotel in Century City and masses of people were out in front demonstrating late into the night after various groups marched around the city all evening before that. The police decided late in the evening they were tired of this and began trying to move the crowd away from the hotel and down the street. There were several on horseback. They were insistently pushing the crowd to move, after they told us we'd have to, and the people in the back were occasionally getting hit with their batons. I ended up in that situation briefly and was struck across the back with one. Eventually, it was somehow understood in the crowd that we were going to march back to West Hollywood and we all marched down the street toward what was Santa Monica Blvd. and right before that was Little Santa Monica Blvd. which runs parallel to it for awhile before Little SMB veers into Beverly Hills.
The police did not want us going down Santa Monica Blvd., a main thoroughfare through the city, and was veering everyone down the less traveled and pretty empty Little Santa Monica. When I got to that area I noticed in the distance a Metro Bus coming and I decided that I was exhausted and had had enough for the night and decided I'd go to SMB and take the bus home. When I started to cross Little SMB to get there a cop on horseback said "No." He indicated I had to go down Little SMB. I just said, I'd had enough for the night and I'm going to go get the bus home and he said "Not gonna happen" and insisted I was not going to do that and began steering me away with his horse in front of me. I stopped and looked over toward the bus stop where there were several people standing and looking over at what was going on with the crowd and such and for some reason I started yelling to them, "The police won't let me get the bus, they won't let me come over and get the bus!" Some at the stop started yelling "Let him go, let him go." The cop pushed his horse toward me and the horse's foot stomped down on my ankle. I backed away (in the situation I wasn't feeling much of anything, but it hurt later on) and I stopped, wondering how I could get over there anyway as they kept pushing everyone east. At that moment a car that was going through the intersection to my left (west) toward SMB stopped and someone shouted my name out the window. I cannot remember who that was, but I think they might've said "come here" or something. So I darted in the opposite direction and ran around the back of the horses to the car and they gave me a ride home. I'm sure I knew who they were. Why I don't remember now...? I don't know what would've happened otherwise, as I was determined, in my head, I was going to try and get that bus that was coming.
The next morning, someone I worked with hadn't come into work. He was getting out of jail! Apparently he was driving through the Century City Plaza Hotel area and the police were making all the cars stop there and arresting everyone right out of their cars. (?) When they approached him he said he was just getting off work and trying to get home (not true) but they arrested him anyway and he spent the night in jail. In the morning he was trying to find out where his car was.
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What a wild story, Lyle!! hahaha.........didn't your parents ever tell you not to get in the car with strangers!!?? :o :P :laugh:
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Heh! Well...they did call my name! ;D
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Baaawwaaaahhhhaaaaaa!! I guess that'll DO IT for you!! ;D :P :laugh:
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So far, 5,800 fully vaccinated people have caught Covid anyway in US, CDC says
By Ben Tinker and Maggie Fox, CNN
Updated 2:06 PM ET, Thu April 15, 2021
(CNN)About 5,800 people who have been vaccinated against coronavirus have become infected anyway, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention tells CNN.
Some became seriously ill and 74 people died, the CDC said. It said 396 -- 7% -- of those who got infected after they were vaccinated required hospitalization.
This is the CDC's first public accounting of breakthrough cases, and the agency is searching for patterns based on patient age and gender, location, type of vaccine, variants and other factors.
"So far, about 5,800 breakthrough cases have been reported to CDC. To date, no unexpected patterns have been identified in case demographics or vaccine characteristics," the CDC told CNN via email.
About 77 million people in the US are fully vaccinated against coronavirus, according to a CNN analysis of CDC data. The CDC's reports on breakthrough cases will lag day-to-day reports of vaccines given, so many, if not most, of those breakthrough cases will have happened weeks ago.
Nonetheless, the total represents a very small percentage of those who have been vaccinated.
Breakthrough cases are expected. The vaccines are not 100% effective in preventing infections and as tens of millions of people are vaccinated, more and more such cases will be reported.
Pfizer/BioNTech's vaccine was 95% effective in preventing symptomatic disease in clinical trials, and earlier this month the companies said real-life data in the US shows the vaccine is more than 91% effective against disease with any symptoms for six months. Moderna's vaccine was 94% effective in preventing symptomatic illness in trials, and 90% effective in real life use. Johnson & Johnson's vaccine was 66% overall globally in trials, and 72% effective at preventing disease in the US.
CDC will be looking for clues about who is most prone to become infected despite having been vaccinated.
"Vaccine breakthrough infections were reported among all people of all ages eligible for vaccination. However, a little over 40% of the infections were in people 60 or more years of age," the CDC said.
Most, 65%, were female and 29% of the so-called breakthrough infections were asymptomatic. "CDC is monitoring reported cases for clustering by patient demographics, geographic location, time since vaccination, vaccine type or lot number, and SARS-CoV-2 lineage," the CDC said.
lus, samples from cases will be tested to see how many are caused by variants and if so, which ones.
"CDC has developed a national COVID-19 vaccine breakthrough database where state health department investigators can currently enter, store, and manage data for cases in their jurisdiction," the CDC said.
"Vaccine breakthrough infections make up a small percentage of people who are fully vaccinated. CDC recommends that all eligible people get a COVID-19 vaccine as soon as one is available to them. CDC also continues to recommend people who have been fully vaccinated should keep taking precautions in public places, like wearing a mask, staying at least six feet apart from others, avoiding crowds and poorly ventilated spaces, and washing their hands often."
Outside experts agreed.
The likelihood of these "very rare" infections depends on how much virus is circulating within a community, Dr. Kawsar Talaat, an infectious disease physician and assistant professor at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, told CNN.
"That's the whole point of getting to herd immunity," Talaat said. "Because once we get to a point where enough people in the community are vaccinated, then if somebody develops Covid in that community, the people around them are protected and it's much harder for that person to spread the virus to somebody else, and therefore the transmission stops."
Less transmission means fewer breakthrough cases, said Dr. Carlos del Rio, executive associate dean at Emory University School of Medicine.
"There is currently a lot of transmission in many parts of the country. Vaccines will help decrease that," del Rio said. "Get vaccinated as soon as you can and help control this pandemic."
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COVID-19 Breakthrough Case Investigations and Reporting ...
Vaccine breakthrough cases are expected. COVID-19 vaccines are effective and are a critical tool to bring the pandemic under control. However no vaccines are 100% effective at preventing illness. There will be a small percentage of people who are fully vaccinated who still get sick, are hospitalized, or die from COVID-19.
More than 75 million people in the United States had been fully vaccinated as of April 14, 2021. Like with other vaccines, symptomatic vaccine breakthrough cases will occur, even though the vaccines are working as expected. Asymptomatic infections among vaccinated people also will occur.
There is some evidence that vaccination may make illness less severe.
Current data suggest that COVID-19 vaccines authorized for use in the United States offer protection against most SARS-CoV-2 variants circulating in the United States. However, variants will cause some of these vaccine breakthrough cases.
CONTINUE READING HERE FOR THE COMPLETE ARTICLE FROM THE CDC:
https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/covid-19/health-departments/breakthrough-cases.html
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It may have been discussed in The Diner, but has everyone we know on the forum gotten their vaccines? All the people I know (here in L.A.) have gotten all their shots, a couple have one to go, and I know persons that have gotten each of the vaccines, Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson.
Does anyone know anyone that has gotten COVID? I don't know anyone personally, but I do know a friend whose mother (in Illinois) did.
It's so important that people get the vaccines, yet most of the news keeps harping on the rare aspects. A woman in the medical profession on TV was talking about the Johnson & Johnson news this week and said that there is more risk of side effects for women who take the pill. She was saying that there are more drugs that are riskier than the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. She said, have you ever seen those drug commercials they run on the news all the time. Over half the commercials are warning about possible side effects.
People who should get the vaccine but are already scared about it, don't need to keep hearing things that will make them more scared! They should be scared of getting COVID. If anything.
The last couple weeks when I hear or read the news, I hear a big dissonance. On the one hand it's "We're opening back up come one, come all," and the other is "cases are surging again." :-\
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Chuck and his family got Covid I think about 4 months ago.
The reason I mentioned the breakthrough cases is so people are aware that getting the vaccine is not a cure all, and to point out people still need to wear masks and be safe as you have shown above mentioning the opening up. I'm not trying to scare people into not getting the vaccine. The article from the CDC points out very strongly that if one does get a breakthrough case the person has a a high recovery rate without hospitalization and not dying if you've gotten the vaccine. For me being forewarned is forearmed.
Most people in the Diner and on LeBar have received both shots or have gotten the first shot and scheduled for the second. England is right up there with the US, however many European countries are falling dangerously behind in giving the vaccines, so it is affecting many European Brokies.
New Mexico has more than 57 percent of its adult population vaccinated with at least one dose of the vaccine, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. New Hampshire is the only state with a higher vaccination rate. Nearly 38 percent of New Mexico adults are fully vaccinated, more than any other state.
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I was just reminded by an article in WaPo to take a picture of the vaccine card to have it on the phone, and to save it on the computer and a couple of external drives, just in case.
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Except, of course, for Chuck, I don't know anyone personally who has gotten Covid, but I suppose I could know someone who has got it but I just don't know it.
I had my first shot on the 7th, and I go back on the 28th for the second. I'm a little concerned that I have a receipt, but I don't have a card. I also was not given an appointment for the second shot; I was told I need to call the day before, but that I'm guaranteed a shot.
Then again, I "jumped the line" for Pennsylvania and especially for Philadelphia. Some weeks ago, in the lobby of my building, I was talking with a neighbor who is in her 70s and had already been fully vaccinated. I mentioned that I had registered with both the city and with Jefferson University (medical school), where I get my health care, but both cases I didn't yet qualify (not old enough, no preexisting conditions).
My neighbor suggested I go to a local, small-ish Walgreens late in the day to ask if they had any "leftovers." We've been hearing about that happening in the city. It took me few weeks to get up the nerve to try it. Finally on the 7th I did. The pharmacist asked me if I wanted to get my shot "now," so of course I said, "Sure!" He gave me the shot. It's the Pfizer.
I can't imagine not getting vaccinated, though I have all along felt that people are placing too much faith in these vaccines because of the emerging of the variants.
However, it won't bother me if we end up needing to get an annual Covid shot just like an annual flu shot.
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^^^ Yeap... the data is pointing at least an annual with the data we have thusfar - at least with this Gen 1 of the Covid19 shot. Over time as more of the un-vaccinated people become infected, either darwin will sort it out or they will "get with the program..." ;)
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Hello!
As Linda said, my family and I all had Covid, we contracted it the week of Christmas. Mom, Dad and I recovered quickly, my brother Chris had a difficult time and was briefly hospitalized, but is fine now.
We all had our first vaccine (Moderna) on 3/31 or 4/1, and we are all scheduled for the second on 4/28 or 4/29.
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^^^ Correct. People who have been infected (and survived) will not remain protected for the long duration - at least that's what the current data has shown. Getting the vaccine remains recommended. Chuck, I've very glad your family is OK and recovering.
From the reports I've read thusfar, COVID is likely to become a once or twice a year booster depending on your individual risk levels. The SME will figure that one out soon enough, right now just suppressing these variants and waves is the focus worldwide. 3 million dead and counting... :( The current COVID vaccine generation 1 is not like the polio vaccine where immunity lasts your lifetime. So this baby is likely to be with us for a while.
To better understand the J/J issue and pausing in layman's terms, this is one of the best summaries I've found. It's about a 10 minute read. Summary below. -> https://www.wired.com/story/pausing-the-jandj-vaccine-was-easy-unpausing-will-be-hard/ (https://www.wired.com/story/pausing-the-jandj-vaccine-was-easy-unpausing-will-be-hard/) (If paywalled, try a different browser)
BLUF: "With just six events to work from, no one can tell if the fact that all of the people affected were women under age 50 is meaningful or not. Maybe it’s just coincidence, statistical noise. Or maybe young women are more vulnerable. If that’s true, their risk isn’t one in a million—because they were a smaller subgroup of vaccinated people overall, it’s orders of magnitude greater. Or maybe there’s some other risk factor, yet unidentified.
Now, maybe that risk is still worth it compared to getting Covid-19. That’s what European regulators concluded about the risks and benefits of the AstraZeneca vaccine, at least for certain groups of people. “I think the uniqueness of the constellation of symptoms and the fact that it has preferentially appeared in a group who is at lower risk of severe disease, that is driving some of the considerations,” says Natalie Dean, an biostatistician at the University of Florida. “It all comes back to a risk-benefit calculation, and these occur at the subpopulation level, not just at the whole population level.”"
"Regulators and vaccine researchers are still waiting for the most basic information about the mechanism behind the clots, the subpopulations that might be most vulnerable, and the real frequency of these dangerous clots.
The J&J and AstraZeneca vaccines both encode the “spike protein” on the surface of the virus that causes Covid-19. The vaccines serve up that bit of biochemical code to a person’s immune system via a different virus, specifically adenoviruses modified into “vectors” that’ll fly the virological cargo. That association—between blood clots and Covid vaccines that use an adenovirus vector—seems pretty clear."
V.
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Thanks for all that info everyone.
Yes, good points, Linda. Fritz, I hadn't heard about copying the vaccine card, thanks, makes a lot of sense. Chuck, I had no idea! I am glad to hear all are on the mend. (((((( Chuck & family )))))). Jeff, glad you took your neighbor's advice and did get the shot earlier! Vincent, the info about the J&J pausing reminded me of a very amusing Stephen Colbert this week where he does an interview with one of his female staffers (writer maybe) that is quite humorous and puts it into perspective.
If one is so inclined:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XrJ28KgLndY
(Laughter is the best medicine! :laugh:)
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Jeff, glad you took your neighbor's advice and did get the shot earlier!
Thanks. And wouldn't you know? Now that everyone is eligible, on Friday I had a notice from Jefferson university Hospital to schedule a shot.
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Fauci is now calling all the mass shootings, or shootings in general a pandemic in the USA!! Gee, where's he been the past what, 30 years?
It will never end it seems! :o
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It will never end it seems! :o
Of course it won't so long as the NRA has the GOP in their front pockets, as we know how the almighty dollar runs the Republican party.
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You know, I've started to wonder. It is said that people with mental health problems should not have access to guns. I don't dispute the point, but if you're a gun shop owner, how are you supposed to tell? How can you be expected to tell? There can be some signs of some forms of mental illness, but how should a gun shop owner be expected to recognize them?
Is it going to be necessary to have some sort of registry? It's true we have registries for sex offenders and (I think) felons, but would we want to go down that road for people with mental health problems? Who would do the reporting? What sort of mental health problem would prevent you from ever owning a gun? Will somebody who has been treated by a doctor for a transient case of depression be treated the same as someone with schizophrenia? Where are we going to draw the line?
Anybody have any ideas? Because I sure don't. :(
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I read an interesting article in the NYT today. And no, I'm not promoting more issues on top of the ones we already have, I just think it explains some things.
THE NEW YORK TIMES
April 19, 2021
By David Leonhardt
Why do so many vaccinated people remain irrationally fearful? Listen to the professor’s story.
A fable for our times
Guido Calabresi, a federal judge and Yale law professor, invented a little fable that he has been telling law students for more than three decades.
He tells the students to imagine a god coming forth to offer society a wondrous invention that would improve everyday life in almost every way. It would allow people to spend more time with friends and family, see new places and do jobs they otherwise could not do. But it would also come with a high cost. In exchange for bestowing this invention on society, the god would choose 1,000 young men and women and strike them dead.
Calabresi then asks: Would you take the deal? Almost invariably, the students say no. The professor then delivers the fable’s lesson: “What’s the difference between this and the automobile?”
In truth, automobiles kill many more than 1,000 young Americans each year; the total U.S. death toll hovers at about 40,000 annually. We accept this toll, almost unthinkingly, because vehicle crashes have always been part of our lives. We can’t fathom a world without them.
It’s a classic example of human irrationality about risk. We often underestimate large, chronic dangers, like car crashes or chemical pollution, and fixate on tiny but salient risks, like plane crashes or shark attacks.
One way for a risk to become salient is for it to be new. That’s a core idea behind Calabresi’s fable. He asks students to consider whether they would accept the cost of vehicle travel if it did not already exist. That they say no underscores the very different ways we treat new risks and enduring ones.
I have been thinking about the fable recently because of Covid-19. Covid certainly presents a salient risk: It’s a global pandemic that has upended daily life for more than a year. It has changed how we live, where we work, even what we wear on our faces. Covid feels ubiquitous.
Fortunately, it is also curable. The vaccines have nearly eliminated death, hospitalization and other serious Covid illness among people who have received shots. The vaccines have also radically reduced the chances that people contract even a mild version of Covid or can pass it on to others.
Yet many vaccinated people continue to obsess over the risks from Covid — because they are so new and salient.
CONTINUED BELOW.
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‘Psychologically hard’
To take just one example, major media outlets trumpeted new government data last week showing that 5,800 fully vaccinated Americans had contracted Covid. That may sound like a big number, but it indicates that a vaccinated person’s chances of getting Covid are about one in 11,000. The chances of a getting a version any worse than a common cold are even more remote.
But they are not zero. And they will not be zero anytime in the foreseeable future. Victory over Covid will not involve its elimination. Victory will instead mean turning it into the sort of danger that plane crashes or shark attacks present — too small to be worth reordering our lives.
That is what the vaccines do. If you’re vaccinated, Covid presents a minuscule risk to you, and you present a minuscule Covid risk to anyone else. A car trip is a bigger threat, to you and others. About 100 Americans are likely to die in car crashes today. The new federal data suggests that either zero or one vaccinated person will die today from Covid.
It’s true that experts believe vaccinated people should still sometimes wear a mask, partly because it’s a modest inconvenience that further reduces a tiny risk — and mostly because it contributes to a culture of mask wearing. It is the decent thing to do when most people still aren’t vaccinated. If you’re vaccinated, a mask is more of a symbol of solidarity than anything else.
Coming to grips with the comforting realities of post-vaccination life is going to take some time for most of us. It’s only natural that so many vaccinated people continue to harbor irrational fears. Yet slowly recognizing that irrationality will be a vital part of overcoming Covid.
“We’re not going to get to a place of zero risk,” Jennifer Nuzzo, a Johns Hopkins epidemiologist, told me during a virtual Times event last week. “I don’t think that’s the right metric for feeling like things are normal.”
After Nuzzo made that point, Dr. Ashish Jha of Brown University told us about his own struggle to return to normal. He has been fully vaccinated for almost two months, he said, and only recently decided to meet a vaccinated friend for a drink, unmasked. “It was hard — psychologically hard — for me,” Jha said.
“There are going to be some challenges to re-acclimating and re-entering,” he added. “But we’ve got to do it.”
And how did it feel in the end, I asked, to get together with his friend?
“It was awesome,” Jha said.
People always say that they will be glad when things get back to normal . I say they will not go back to the normal before Covid, but we will have a new normal.
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THE NEW YORK TIMES
April 19, 2021
By David Leonhardt
Fortunately, it is also curable. The vaccines have nearly eliminated death, hospitalization and other serious Covid illness among people who have received shots. The vaccines have also radically reduced the chances that people contract even a mild version of Covid or can pass it on to others.
Curable is not the correct word in this context, and the Times, and a Times writer, should know better. Vaccines do not cure diseases.
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^^^
I think, because his article was about people succumbing to the disease itself, and people's fears about the vaccine, that's what he meant by curable, because so far and last I heard, no one has succumbed to the disease itself who has been vaccinated.
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^^ The writer is also totally missing the heavily weighted, and often irrational, confirmation bias. This likely has more to do with people "doing as they please" vs doing the better thing for society and OTHERS. However, his point, and the fable from the law-professor and Judge is accurate and telling. People fear what they do not understand or what is "out of the ordinary" or out of THEIR realm of experiences. For instance, if I were to flip the tables and drop you into a 01/2021 world and you knew nothing about "before COVID19" and then I explained that 3500 US Citizens per day were dying of "CV19"... and that was "normal"... you'd probably accept that as "normal" and go from there. The same powerful argument can be use for "statistically, flying is safer than driving!" THAT depends on what element one is examining). Per mile traveled? - Most certainly. The likelihood of surviving when in a crash? Is NOT so much in favor for the plane. ;)
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/science-choice/201504/what-is-confirmation-bias (https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/science-choice/201504/what-is-confirmation-bias)
That's a good article with several messages:
- Wearing the masks even after vaccinated helps other's who may be UN-vaccinated be part of the group-think doing their part to stay alive.
- We still do not know if a variant will be able to bypass the built up immunity... so until the case loads drop to where the risk of infection from a current or unknown variant is low... do you really want to take that chance?
- Hell, just getting in the car to travel to the bar to visit the friend has a "irrational risk". Life is never risk-free. The irrational part would be never leaving the room or house when "reasonable" measures exist which can protect you within reason. AKA, seat-belts, driving the speed limits, compensating for bad weather or road, wearing a good mask, staying 6' apart, wearing a mask properly, getting vaccinated, listening to reasonable SME and not charlatans, ....
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Stay safe, stay alive! V.
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Lyle - be great to see what you think when you get there.
Love architecture!
Looks awesome.
Must be stunning!
Sadly, I did not make it there when I visited in 2015 even to see the grungy version... ;)
-> https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/story/2021-04-19/union-station-oscars-2021-ceiling-painting-renovations (https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/story/2021-04-19/union-station-oscars-2021-ceiling-painting-renovations)
V.
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^^^
I think, because his article was about people succumbing to the disease itself, and people's fears about the vaccine, that's what he meant by curable, because so far and last I heard, no one has succumbed to the disease itself who has been vaccinated.
If that's what he means, then it's still poorly written. We get "Covid feels ubiquitous," immediately followed by "Fortunately, it is also curable." If he meant the fear of the vaccine, he should have said so. He follows that statement with a list of things the vaccines have done. The Times should know better.
If vaccinated people still fear Covid, perhaps the news reports about things that have happened to people who have been vaccinated fuel that fear.
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All I know is that studies have found that people who consume lots of news are more fearful than those who don't.
So let's all lay off the news more!
It makes sense. In sweeps months, if there still is such a thing, local news will come up with most insane stories to get you to tune in. Long ago I remember our local CBS station doing a story about supermarket delis and did stories about the food not being kept at the right temperatures and the implements they worked with not being cleanly and a dozen other things. You'd have thought the Supermarket deli was the most dangerous place in the city. The next time I went to the market I wanted to get something from the deli and remembered all these things and was seriously hesitant about doing it and then I thought...I've been shopping at the store for two dozen years and buying things from the deli and never once had a problem. So yeah, news is frequently fear-based because it somehow makes people return to it. Maybe they think they need to know more or that it will be better or whatever. That's why early on I had read two-three articles about COVID and it was horrible and I decided to stop consuming so much about it. In fact, those initial things I was all worried about and afraid of turned out not to be that accurate.
Fox News is all about fear.
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Lyle - be great to see what you think when you get there.
Vincent, thanks for linking that article, I hadn't seen it. I'm more interested in the Oscars this year because of Union Station, than the movies that are nominated!
I must have a visit at some point!!!
(https://ca-times.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/9cee48c/2147483647/strip/true/crop/2539x3809+0+0/resize/840x1260!/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcalifornia-times-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F74%2Fa1%2F04b5869747038ed9ee43e74f6746%2Fla-photos-1staff-718124-et-painting-uncovered-union-station-jja-007.JPG)
Can't wait to go see it!
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When it comes to Guns in the USA, we have soooooo many per citizen now you should be able to arm the WHOLE Country!! It's insane, really! You want a Gun, you can find one just about anywhere, enacting Laws for background checks, etc, may just be a MOOT POINT by now.........just sayin'............ ;)
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^^^ Hi Lyle, Yes. This years Oscars will be partially shot there. I'm hoping they include wide panning shots or maybe even give a mini-tour or before/after/during segment during the show! From the photos I've seen, the building is stunning.
As for this year's films. We were commenting on Sunday, we've seen maybe 2 of the noms... and hell, I had not even heard of some of them. The COVID bluuuuurrr is taking it's toll. On the ++ side, maybe we will walk away with the better "must see" listing. Stay safe, stay alive! Peace. V.
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The verdict is supposed to be read at 4:30 Eastern.
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(https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/5db8d69b0534b659775a37f16720817011ac5c40eaeb2872462051b2ad158395.gif?fbclid=IwAR3k0ACSb_fsEJvBs0GIHLUfSSyFuyrwwi_2ByWMce48OLFbIKUw05hQtHc)
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Guilty on all three counts, and taken away in handcuffs.
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And soon the appeals will begin, for sure! :o
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IMHO, you understand(?), in the end, we have to wonder how ANY of these issues with LE and use-of-force, would have been avoided if the person, or persons, would have just followed the requests of LE initially. That's my issue in most of these high-profile cases. I have been in a situation where the LE was wrong, or at fault. I took them to court and won. Kept it off my record. But I followed LE requests at the time of the incident. I watch all these incidents now, and I ask myself, how different would the outcome have been if the person(s) had just complied with LE requests? Hmmmmmm? Body Cams are certainly part of the solution, but they need to be active at all times! ;)
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^^^ That's tough and I almost did not post this b/c this national wound and the many feelings remain too raw. It the moderator feels this post needs to be edited or removed, then go for it. It is not my intent to provoke. I'll explain the way I see things having grown up in one of those "southern states" - though not the worst of the bunch.
For many of us, we can never know or truly understand walking in the shoes of a black person in our "modern" country. We can only imagine and then our frames of reference are our memories which are unreliable for events outside our scope. While we can sort of understand, our "sort of" is colored by what should be, not what seems to be or sadly what is...
While I do understand the point, our history of too many police officers being members of hate groups rings true far too often. Within our lifetime we saw the voting rights act created to rectify the overt racism being used in many "southern states" to thwart voters of color. In that same lifetime, we saw the GOP finally figure out how convince SCOTUS to strike down the most protective parts of that still very much needed law. (Yet another horrible SCOTUS decision). With the "election of a white bigot in all but name" to the POTUS (45), we got a glimpse of the raging hatred still very much alive and well in this country. That hate has been hiding beneath the surface for decades and especially in those original rebellious confederate states where in fact, it never really died after the Civil War. Having gone to college in a southern University, I got a rude awakening not too long into my time there. There's a lot of work to do.
I do not have a or any answers outside of we, as a people, cannot tolerate or accept these behaviors. We cannot return to the "one-party (white) rule" as dispensed by the losing confederate states. We know that until the police departments identify and either remove or re-educate members of their force who harbor hate against the people they are sworn to protect and that's all people not just some people, people's trust is lost. There is no place for people with that attitude in modern society. Look no further than the event I posted earlier where the black army officer was stopped for not having a tag, which he clearly had, and things went badly.
WRT Mr. George Floyd's murder, had it not been for the young girl capturing the incident on her phone, the world would have likely not had the true story and that is frightening, no terrifying in the 21st century in the USA!! :( We do not have to reflect far back in our history for many instances where the local police were part of the problem. Watch "Mississippi Burning" which is loosely based on the true facts of what happened, for a chilling example of more people that complied with authority and ended up dead. There are FAR TOO many other examples - both known and likely never to be known..... -> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murders_of_Chaney,_Goodman,_and_Schwerner (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murders_of_Chaney,_Goodman,_and_Schwerner)
Sadly, events like the world witnessed with Mr. George Floyd's murder (and far too many others) are not a rare exception in a country where "all men (people) are created equal" Just my .02 from a path I can only imagine ------ but which I shouldn't have to.... ;(
Stay safe, stay alive. Peace. V.
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In the interest of learning, I find both of the above posts to be very valuable. I read Jonn's and I posted something similar earlier. I said that what I see in most all of the video there is of black men being killed in these incidents is that it starts with the person resisting law enforcement and then it escalates. Of course, the escalation should not cause people to be shot over these things.
But would it surprise you to know that according to statistics I read: "A police officer is 18 1/2 times more likely to be killed by a black male than an unarmed black male is to be killed by a police officer."
And in 2019, according to The Washington Post, the police killed 9 unarmed blacks. They killed 19 unarmed whites. In recent years, about 50 cops have been shot and killed annually in the line of duty.
So forgive me if I have trouble with the notion that the incidents we see many times, and we see them continually on a loop which enhances people's feelings that they happen more often than they do, are completely systemic.
If one accepts those statistics I wrote above, does that change anything?
I've always been fond of the saying, "If you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change."
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Below is something I read last summer when protests were happening all over the country. It was written by a black journalist:
Ostensibly, the protests are about the alleged epidemic of widespread and race-based police brutality against blacks and the lack of confidence, in the case of Floyd, that justice will be done. The problem with these assertions is that they are false, not supported by the data.
There is no epidemic of racist cops killing black suspects. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, police killings of blacks declined almost 80% from the late '60's through the 2010's, while police killings of whites have flatlined. Meanwhile, in 2017, according to the CDC's National Vital Statistics Reports, non-Hispanic blacks were eight times more likely to be a victim of a homicide (23.2 per 100,000) than non-Hispanic whites (2.9 per 100,000).
The No. 1 cause of preventable demise for young white men is accidents, such as car accidents and drownings. The No. 1 reason for demise, preventable or otherwise, for young black men, is homicide, almost always at the hands of another young black man. In 2018, there were approximately 7,400 black homicide victims, more than half of the nation's total number of homicides, while the black population is 13% of the U.S. total. Of that number, the police killed a little more than 200 blacks, and nearly all of them had a weapon or violently resisted arrest.
In recent years, the police have averaged killing about 1,000 Americans per year. Of that number, half are white and one-quarter are black, with the race of remaining suspects of another race or unknown. Of the approximately 1,000 killed by cops, less than 4% involve a white officer and an unarmed black man.
Recent studies not only find no systemic abuse of black suspects by the cops, but if anything, cops are more hesitant, more reluctant, to use harmful force against a black suspect than against a white suspect. The Manhattan Institute's Heather MacDonald writes: "Regarding threats to blacks from the police: A police officer is 18.5 times more likely to be killed by a black male than an unarmed black male is to be killed by a police officer." Last year, according to The Washington Post, the police killed nine unarmed blacks. They killed 19 unarmed whites. In recent years, about 50 cops have been shot and killed annually in the line of duty. So, more cops are killed each year than are unarmed black suspects.
Now what do we do?
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^^^ Yeap. Those hard stats should be higher on the our evening news play list. The real numbers do not support the unbalanced focus. But...that is not the narrative playing right now.
One contributing cause is there are simply too many guns loose in the country. Go examine the number of mass shootings just in 2021 if you want another horrifying statistic. Yet the GOP + NRA will have nothing, no compromise but "my right to my arms" I thought for sure Sandy Hook Elementary tragedy would break the NRA's and GOP's unrelenting deathgrip on anyone's right for gun ownership in this country. Nope... if anything they dug in deeper. So I look at all these stats and shootings and wonder well... fewer guns = fewer shootings? Could it be that simple? All this just makes my head hurt really bad. Need a break. IDK :(
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Civilians in the USA own more than 400 MILLION firearms! The population is around 330 million. Do the Math! The USA has more heavily armed Civilians than any other Country on this Earth! Civilians here have more firearms than all of the US Military! A well-regulated Militia? Oh, MY!
And people still wonder why there is SO much gun violence in this Country? They 'worry' about another Country, or immigrants invading our shores? Really? With basically every citizen armed, or could be, who would attempt an invasion? People from other developed Countries simply cannot understand our FASCINATION with guns. To be honest, I can't either. ;)
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Some people simply have to overcompensate for their inadequacies, perceived or actual.
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Some people simply have to overcompensate for their inadequacies, perceived or actual.
Only long, hard thing they ever get their hands on.
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DeSantis and the GOP controlled states are doubling-down with "anti-protest" laws where running over folks will be immunized so using a car as a deadly weapon, aka Charlottesville VA will be OK and not liable? Feels like more jim-crow tactics the GOP are pulling from that playbook. FL is fast becoming the putrid asshole of the south - unbelievable. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/21/us/politics/republican-anti-protest-laws.html (https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/21/us/politics/republican-anti-protest-laws.html) My condolences if you live there and disagree with these measures. Stay safe, stay alive. Stay the hell outta FL. Peace.
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On a +++ note... people are starting to make real changes to their lives after being locked down, beaten to a pulp by the COVID19 and living thru one of the worst presidencies in history. My much better 1/2 was telling me just this week a co-worker sold her house, packed up her car and dog and moved to Seatlle into a tiny 1 bedroom apartment. She drastically simplified her life and moved somewhere very much not red with crazies... ok maybe blue with crazies is not much better depending on your PoV. I'm starting to see more "brain-drain" at work too with more to come I am sure. People hunkered down to stay employed but getting vaccinated and the economy starting to recovery... it's time to re-think things, priorities, lives and do something positive and enjoyable with the rest of your life.
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/21/technology/welcome-to-the-yolo-economy.html?smid=em-share
Stay safe, stay alive. Peace.
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On a +++ note... people are starting to make real changes to their lives after being locked down, beaten to a pulp by the COVID19 and living thru one of the worst presidencies in history. My much better 1/2 was telling me just this week a co-worker sold her house, packed up her car and dog and moved to Seatlle into a tiny 1 bedroom apartment. She drastically simplified her life and moved somewhere very much not red with crazies... ok maybe blue with crazies is not much better depending on your PoV. I'm starting to see more "brain-drain" at work too with more to come I am sure. People hunkered down to stay employed but getting vaccinated and the economy starting to recovery... it's time to re-think things, priorities, lives and do something positive and enjoyable with the rest of your life.
I daydream about doing that, too, as I see retirement approaching in a few years, but it appears that simplifying your life is not a simple task. Maybe that's age-related? Seems like I have a lot of simplifying to do, including "de-accessioning" an enormous model train collection. I'm finding, too, that it takes time to simplify, and that's not easy to find when you're working full time, have a current home to take care of (and will need work before it can be sold), and have an elderly parent to watch over.
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Federal search warrant executed at Rudy Giuliani’s NYC apartment
WedED, Apr 28 20211 - Kevin Breuninger & Dan Mangan
Federal investigators executed search warrants Wednesday morning at the Manhattan apartment and office of Rudy Giuliani, the former mayor of New York City who was the personal lawyer of former President Donald Trump, NBC News reported.
The searches were part of a criminal investigation into Giuliani’s dealings in Ukraine, The New York Times reported first Wednesday, citing three people with knowledge of the matter.
FBI agents were escorted to Giuliani’s apartment by his doorman, a source close to the former mayor told CNBC.
They presented Giuliani with a warrant and requested “all electronic devices,” the source said.
Giuliani gave them one cell phone, one iPad and one laptop, according to the source. The agents left after about 45 minutes, the source added. The warrant for Giuliani’s office also authorized the seizure of electronic devices there.
A source told NBC that FBI agents also executed a search warrant at the Washington-area home of the Republican lawyer Victoria Toensing, who is close to Giuliani.
https://www.cnbc.com/2021/04/28/rudy-giulianis-nyc-apartment-searched-by-federal-investigators-report-says.html
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Federal investigators search Giuliani's home and office, and experts say it means he's in real trouble
Summer Meza - April 28, 2021
Federal investigators searched Rudy Giuliani's home and office in Manhattan on Wednesday, executing search warrants as part of an investigation into his business dealings in Ukraine, reports The New York Times.
The former New York City mayor and personal lawyer to former President Donald Trump is being investigated over possible illegal lobbying on behalf of Ukrainian officials and his efforts to dig up dirt on Trump's political rivals. "Executing a search warrant is an extraordinary move for prosecutors to take against a lawyer, let alone a lawyer for a former president," writes the Times. "While the warrants are not an explicit accusation of wrongdoing against Mr. Giuliani, it shows that the investigation has entered an aggressive new phase."
Experts agreed the search represented very serious stakes for Giuliani. Former U.S. attorney Harry Litman wrote that "this means that a magistrate judge has found probable cause to believe that [Giuliani's actions in Ukraine] were criminal." As the Times writes, "to obtain a search warrant, investigators need to persuade a judge they have sufficient reason to believe that a crime was committed and that the search would turn up evidence of the crime."
https://news.yahoo.com/federal-investigators-search-giulianis-home-181800026.html
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Is ANYONE going to watch Biden's Address to Congress tonight? I'm not much for those events! ;D
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Giuliani: Talk about someone who trashed his own reputation/legacy.
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Is ANYONE going to watch Biden's Address to Congress tonight? I'm not much for those events! ;D
I don't sit and watch these things, but I always get them on and listen while I'm doing something else. In other words I'm multitasking.
I'm afraid the whole time I kept thinking, That's nice, but it won't get anywhere thanks to Bitch McA _ _ hole and his minions in the Senate.
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^^^^ Depends on whether the Democrats use the GOPs low-life tactics against them - which the only one they dared not abolish is the Senate filibuster. Review what Moscow Mitch did blocking and then ramming thru GOP friendly judges and GOP sanctioned SCOTUS appointments. That SOB sat on 100's of Judges which should have been appointed under Obama. We now have a unbalanced the court system wrongly tilted in favor of GOP autocrats. Government works best when the parties are balanced - win some, lose some and mostly they must compromise. The current GOP elite bigots have dismissed compromise for the good of all the people as a zero sum game favoring the wealthy GOP only.
For things to change, "FOR the PEOPLE" and not just rich, white-bigot autocrats attempting to take over the country (yet again), WE the PEOPLE need to remove the GOP from power, undo their blatant election gerrymandering to help them remain in power, repeal these crazy State GOP voter suppression laws they are scrambling to enact and undo "Citizens-United" BS> and kick the GOP outta office one election at a time.
I will read a summary of Biden's message and I'll watch it as I recorded it. I got my 2nd Moderna yesterday and it's kicking in hard.
Stay safe, stay alive. V.
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^^^^^ congrats on the second shot!
Hopefully you'll feel better by tomorrow ♥️
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Is ANYONE going to watch Biden's Address to Congress tonight? I'm not much for those events! ;D
I did watch this last night. I usually watch these things because they're on when I'm eating dinner on the west coast. I never watched the Cretin's speeches because...why? Normally, a speech like Biden gave would be pretty lackluster, but it was so common sense and sane and empathetic and such a contrast to the Cretin's mentality of divisiveness, that I thought it just felt nice to have someone doing their job properly!
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I watched too, it's so nice to have a President who speaks in complete and coherent sentences. Not that the GOP would admit to that.
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I agree with you both, Lyle and Fritz, 'hunnerd percent.
And yet it made me sad to listen to him because I'm sure the Republicans will block all of it, especially if they take control at the next Midterms.
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Olympia Dukakis, Oscar Winner for 'Moonstruck,' Dies at 89
5/1/2021 by Duane Byrge , Mike Barnes
Olympia Dukakis, the dignified actress who received a supporting Oscar for her performance as Cher's nitpicking Brooklyn mother in Moonstruck, has died. She was 89.
Dukakis died Saturday in New York, her brother Apollo wrote on Facebook. "After many months of failing health she is finally at peace and with her [husband] Louis."
The late-blooming star also was known for her turn as Clairee Belcher, a woman of fiber and the elegant widowed friend of Ouiser Boudreaux (Shirley MacLaine), in Herbert Ross' Steel Magnolias (1989), and she portrayed a personnel director in Working Girl (1988) and a principal in Mr. Holland's Opus (1995).
Away from the big screen, Dukakis taught drama at NYU for more than 15 years and was a founding member of two regional theaters: The Charles Playhouse in Boston and the Whole Theater in Montclair, New Jersey.
Her husband of 55 years, stage and character actor Louis Zorich (Paul Reiser's father Mad About You), died in January 2018 at age 93.
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/olympia-dukakis-dead-moonstruck-oscar-winning-actress-89-1085431
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How sad. May she rest in peace.
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Newsmax apologizes for vote manipulation claims against Dominion leader
May 1, 2021 - By Dennis Romero
Facing a defamation lawsuit, conservative television outlet Newsmax on Friday apologized to Dominion Voting Systems security director Eric Coomer and backed off claims that he manipulated voting machines and counts to thwart the re-election of President Donald Trump.
"Newsmax has found no evidence that Dr. Coomer interfered with Dominion voting machines or voting software in any way, nor that Dr. Coomer ever claimed to have done so," it said in a statement. "Nor has Newsmax found any evidence that Dr. Coomer ever participated in any conversation with members of 'Antifa,' nor that he was directly involved with any partisan political organization." There has been no evidence that the election was rigged.
Coomer said in December that he received death threats after his photo, home address and details about his family circulated on right-wing websites. "It's terrifying," he said.
After the apology, which was posted on Newsmax's site and set to air on its cable channel, Coomer dropped the outlet from a defamation suit that also names the Trump campaign, onetime Trump lawyers Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell, conservative outlet One America News Network and others.
The suit, filed in Denver County, Colorado, court, is otherwise ongoing.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2020-election/newsmax-apologizes-vote-manipulation-claims-against-dominion-leader-n1266040?cid=sm_npd_nn_fb_ma&fbclid=IwAR0ODvErKEl0s9uGycFkpnJtU75bofTatpLRfQS3U9jVUvEZcSoQgKniHEk
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Being sued nudges them in the direction of the truth.
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Olympia Dukakis, Oscar Winner for 'Moonstruck,' Dies at 89
5/1/2021 by Duane Byrge , Mike Barnes
Olympia Dukakis, the dignified actress who received a supporting Oscar for her performance as Cher's nitpicking Brooklyn mother in Moonstruck, has died. She was 89.
Dukakis died Saturday in New York, her brother Apollo wrote on Facebook. "After many months of failing health she is finally at peace and with her [husband] Louis."
The late-blooming star also was known for her turn as Clairee Belcher, a woman of fiber and the elegant widowed friend of Ouiser Boudreaux (Shirley MacLaine), in Herbert Ross' Steel Magnolias (1989), and she portrayed a personnel director in Working Girl (1988) and a principal in Mr. Holland's Opus (1995).
Away from the big screen, Dukakis taught drama at NYU for more than 15 years and was a founding member of two regional theaters: The Charles Playhouse in Boston and the Whole Theater in Montclair, New Jersey.
Her husband of 55 years, stage and character actor Louis Zorich (Paul Reiser's father Mad About You), died in January 2018 at age 93.
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/olympia-dukakis-dead-moonstruck-oscar-winning-actress-89-1085431
And of course, Anna Madrigal.
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Dominion says they won't settle out of court, hope that remains the case.
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Dominion says they won't settle out of court, hope that remains the case.
I truly do too. I want people to learn that there are consequences to lying.
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^^^^ Not trying to be a smart ass. Yeap with the twist that ... those ass-wipes spreading all those lies and "disinformation" named in the defamations knew they were lying when they opened their mouths with that crap. They were playing a dangerous ROI game being stoked by pure evil players. They wagered and lost. Let's hope the "truth" about the real evil players since 2016 surfaces and many of those involved end up being snagged for their evil deeds. If not, I know from the many things I've seen in just my lifetime, karma rebalances the scales eventually - if not this life, then the next.... ;) Stay safe, stay alive. Peace. V.
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Yes, that's what's most galling, they all know they're lying.
Consequences must be paid.
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The problem with denials and retractions? People always remember what they heard first, in general, and that plants the seed of doubt on the denials/retractions that follow. IMHO, you understand? It's what's happening in this Country. The Big Election Lie? You repeat it often enough, some people start to believe it, or believed it from the outset. Same with the Anti-Vax crowd, no difference to me. Snopes has a LOT of overcome to convince some people of lies being told or spread.
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And of course, Anna Madrigal.
That’s who she’ll always be to me.
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^^^ 10-4. It is the familiar court play, "so you were lying then but you are telling the truth now??? Why should anyone believe you?" It taints everything that person has ever said or done.
Just like that lawyer now claiming that "no reasonable person would have believed what she was saying" as part of her defense in the defamation suits. WTF happened to honesty, and legal integrity? Did they stop teaching that in law school? Just unbelievable. STOP there.. before rant... ;) Stay safe, stay alive. Peace. V.
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That’s who she’ll always be to me.
I liked her a lot in AWAY FROM HER.
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The problem with denials and retractions? People always remember what they heard first, in general, and that plants the seed of doubt on the denials/retractions that follow. IMHO, you understand? It's what's happening in this Country. The Big Election Lie? You repeat it often enough, some people start to believe it, or believed it from the outset. Same with the Anti-Vax crowd, no difference to me. Snopes has a LOT of overcome to convince some people of lies being told or spread.
I agree with you. They remember the lie, not the retraction. And if you say something often enough and loud enough, people will believe it.
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Olympia Dukakis, the dignified actress who received a supporting Oscar for her performance as Cher's nitpicking Brooklyn mother in Moonstruck, has died. She was 89.
Rose Castorini--always and forever.
But I wouldn't call Rose a nitpicker. I think she's the most grounded character in the story--she knows who she is, and she has a clear view of life.
"If you love them, they drive you crazy because they know they can."
Odd maybe, but Moonstruck is not a movie I watch to make me feel good. It's a movie I watch when I am feeling good. Even I don't get that.
How can you not love a movie where the opening credits music is Dean Martin singing That's Amore? That brings a smile to my face before the movie even starts. ;D
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I agree, Jeff. Music, being the Universal Language, can literally SET THE TONE of a film right from the beginning. I love Songs and outtakes at the end of a film too! Two Songs can be the bookends to a film, and send a message through the lyrics at the same time, always gets me, in a dark theater the effect can be mesmerizing, IMHO! ;)
Oops, this isn't the Film Thread! :o
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Cheney slams Trump on 'big lie' over election
By Joseph Choi - 05/03/21
Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) on Monday shot back at former President Trump over his claims that the 2020 election was stolen, accusing those who spread the claim of “poisoning our democratic system.”
“The 2020 presidential election was not stolen,” Cheney tweeted. “Anyone who claims it was is spreading THE BIG LIE, turning their back on the rule of law, and poisoning our democratic system.”
Cheney's tweet came in response to a statement earlier Monday morning from Trump, who called President Biden's victory in the November 2020 election "the big lie."
"The Fraudulent Presidential Election of 2020 will be, from this day forth, known as THE BIG LIE!" Trump said in the statement.
The tweet from Cheney was noteworthy nonetheless given the scrutiny she is under within the House Republican Conference, which she chairs, over her criticisms of Trump.
https://thehill.com/homenews/house/551459-cheney-slams-trump-on-big-lie-over-election?fbclid=IwAR1pNgvrVDQdkW8xkoq1Pmw1W9Nk-18JPp7g7oPTKwOViYODKhjAkQTMioM
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While Liz Cheney is correct and I applaud her for standing up in that way, it seems a great deal of the rank and file Republicans just don't care enough to move on from it. They'd rather lie and cheat, actually turn their backs on the rule of law, and thereby poison the democratic system.
It is hard to govern. The GOP doesn't want to govern. They just want to argue, stir up the base with idiocies (they are false prophets) and remain in power by any means possible and lying is their path of choice. Their constant bowing and adherence to the golden calf in Miralago is objectively sad, but also extraordinarily dangerous.
They really need to be soundly roundly defeated at every possible turn.
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Like the X, they want to rule and reign, but not govern.
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Facebook Oversight Board upholds Donald Trump's suspension from the platform
(CNN Business)Facebook can keep blocking former President Donald Trump from using its platform, the social network's court-like Oversight Board said Wednesday in a landmark move that affirmed the company's decision to issue the suspension after the January 6 US Capitol riots.
https://www.cnn.com/2021/05/05/tech/donald-trump-facebook-account/index.html
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^^^
I am surprised! I had watched several news programs last night and they all surmised that it looked like his ban would be lifted, as long as some restrictions were adhered to.
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I just read that linked article and it seems like the board punted the decision back to Facebook.
"In applying a vague, standardless penalty and then referring this case to the Board to resolve, Facebook seeks to avoid its responsibilities," the decision said.
So, they threw it back to Facebook saying they need to: "Reexamine the arbitrary penalty it imposed on January 7 and decide the appropriate penalty," the board wrote in its decision. "This penalty must be based on the gravity of the violation and the prospect of future harm. It must also be consistent with Facebook's rules for severe violations, which must, in turn, be clear, necessary and proportionate."
The announcement from the board was likely a disappointment to Facebook, which had seemingly hoped that it could wash its hands clean of difficult decisions and deflect them to the Oversight Board.
Then the oversight board responded to the notion it had punted it back to Facebook: Oversight Board co-chair Helle Thorning-Schmidt pushed back against the characterization that the board had simply avoided making the tough call and deflected responsibly for the decision back to Facebook. "I don't think we are just passing the buck here," Thorning-Schmidt said, explaining that the board did make a decision to uphold the initial suspension, but believed that an indefinite suspension was not in accordance with Facebook's own rules.
"They can't just invent new, unwritten rules when it suits them," Thorning-Schmidt added. "They have to have a transparent way of doing this."
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Um, yes...they can invent new unwritten rules when it suits them. It's their company. They can do whatever they want. They invented the board in the first place.
Facebook doesn't want Government Oversight, but they don't want to oversee and fix the bad things Facebook lets happen, either. They also have a lot of arbitrary rules.
Of course, the former defeated President put out a statement, describing the decision as a "total disgrace" and "embarrassment."
And, as usual, he's really just talking about himself.
Last night I was listening to the arguments about this and many people, including other world leaders like Angela Merkel and Putin's political nemesis Alexei Navalny, have the idea that banning him from Facebook is a bad thing; a censorship issue. In the case of Trump, though, do you just let him spout his lies and foment his minions? You know he'd go right back on any of these platforms and lie about the election and disregard any restrictions he was supposed to adhere to. It's not like his views are within any bounds of political disagreement. It's all lies.
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Last night I was listening to the arguments about this and many people, including other world leaders like Angela Merkel and Putin's political nemesis Alexei Navalny, have the idea that banning him from Facebook is a bad thing; a censorship issue. In the case of Trump, though, do you just let him spout his lies and foment his minions? You know he'd go right back on any of these platforms and lie about the election and disregard any restrictions he was supposed to adhere to. It's not like his views are within any bounds of political disagreement. It's all lies.
Maybe somebody should remind Angie and Alexei that Facebook isn't the government. If Facebook doesn't want to let The Great Orange Satan play in its backyard, it can do that. It doesn't have to share its toys if it doesn't want to.
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Facebook Oversight Board upholds Donald Trump's suspension from the platform
(CNN Business)Facebook can keep blocking former President Donald Trump from using its platform, the social network's court-like Oversight Board said Wednesday in a landmark move that affirmed the company's decision to issue the suspension after the January 6 US Capitol riots.
https://www.cnn.com/2021/05/05/tech/donald-trump-facebook-account/index.html
Happy Dance!!!!
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And now the GOP is threatening Facebook, "You're going to be sorry.......!!"
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::)
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Are they going to hold their breath until the country turns blue?
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I thought the Republicans all left for that 'replacement' for Facebook anyway?
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So true on both counts, Fritz and Chuck.
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DeSatin and the FL GOP are ramming thru not only "jim-crow like" election restrictions in FL, they will now attempt to fine privately owned social platforms $250,000 a day if they cut off "FL politicians" LOL!
What happen to the GOP's ranting and raving about "big gov" ?? Hipocrites.
News Flash !! These are privately-owned enterprises.
Good luck winning that - but the end game is bigger - it's about staying in the news, staying relevant in the GoS's lunatic fringe base and above all raising $$ so they can do more of the above.
Oh DeSatin signed all this BS this AM: -> https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/gop-gov-desantis-signs-florida-election-bill-law/story?id=77530271&cid=clicksource_4380645_1_heads_hero_live_hero_image
https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2021/04/30/facebook-youtube-twitter-florida-ban-censor-trump-politicians/4897949001/
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/nod-donald-trump-florida-set-ban-big-tech-deplatforming-rcna784
https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2021/05/ron-desantis-josh-hawley-2024-attacking-big-tech
Stay safe, stay alive. Peace.
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(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/E05ZYcyVIAAfd2B?format=jpg&name=small)
A 20 Year Old Iranian Man Seeking Refuge Killed by His Own Family
https://www.out.com/crime/2021/5/10/killed-by-own-family-member-for-being-gay (https://www.out.com/crime/2021/5/10/20-year-old-man-reportedly-beheaded-family-being-gay)
i have no words
(but horrible feelings)
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Grrr.
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god damn. How awful.
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Will his death be chalked up to Culture, or Religion? Or both? :o
Sad indeed, either way........ :(
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So, Bill Maher is fully vaccinated against COVID-19, and now he's tested positive for it anyway.
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^^^
Yes, I saw that last night when I went to watch his weekly show last night:
(https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/524dc5c5e4b09484086fc271/1621013183894-O8C9KBHQK3OIV83W9P6D/ke17ZwdGBToddI8pDm48kJK4Mm1kch8SFO9ZNkN1NT97gQa3H78H3Y0txjaiv_0fDoOvxcdMmMKkDsyUqMSsMWxHk725yiiHCCLfrh8O1z5QHyNOqBUUEtDDsRWrJLTmFk_H6M1tkD9NpL7mXac0oVSXdFfjxR5AjcLwGSebOiGBsFzzcw3xKxvyC_6CFFG_/Press_Release_1080x1080_V1.jpg?format=500w)
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No vaccine is infallible and they've always said maybe 5%-10% of vaccinated people will still get COVID, but because you're vaccinated symptoms will be minor, or you'll be asymptomatic, and more importantly, no one who has gotten COVID after being vaccinated has succumbed to it, it's a life saver. That's huge.
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^^^ Be careful. While that's true for many/most, there's a subset who are immune-compromised or have some medical treatments such as cancer where their immune system is compromised, or suppressed (organ-transplants) so even a "breakthrough" would be dangerous. Yes this is a small subset of the human population but when it's your spouse, child, parent, loved ones, ... then it's not so small.
While I understand the nature of the CDC guidelines as trying to balance returning to "normalcy for the majority" (WTF that means...) of the US population, everyone still needs to understand the risks to those who may not be able to "stop wearing a mask" or maybe even get vaccinated - not by choice. With anti-maskers and anti-vaxers prancing around - many who could be and likely are asymptomatic, those ass*(@*(@ could infect and kill someone with their selfish, "my rights mean more than your life" piss-poor attitudes. :( So much for those "do unto others" evangelicals and so called "Christians"..... suffer a minor inconvenience to potentially save someone else's life!
Also, you should read how we now understand COVID is more of an aerosol which the physics says behaves totally different than we assumed and initially understood!! Some of the 6' guidance was based on decades old research which is now known to be not accurate. "Wired" may be pay-walled, try a diff browser. It's a longer 15 minute and a bit more technical read but worth it if you really want to understand how COVID19 spreads.
https://www.wired.com/story/the-teeny-tiny-scientific-screwup-that-helped-covid-kill (https://www.wired.com/story/the-teeny-tiny-scientific-screwup-that-helped-covid-kill)
FWIW, the "real" medical papers I'm reading tend state COVID19 is here to stay - at least for several years as the WORLD works thru vaccinations, variants, and understands more on controlling spreads. Of course, this is not "popular" as we focus on "getting more people vaccinated.. " Then, the next hurdle will be "keeping them vaccinated...." I get it and understand dealing with the fickle mostly uninformed public is tough. As more information surfaces - AKA, just like the Wired aerosols analysis, hopefully we will see more things happening in "indoor spaces". BTW, this example is not first time I've seen "recommendations carried forward for decades" based on assumptions or data from something that should have been re-examined in modern contexts. I can think of 2 other OTOMH without trying.
FWIW, several vaccine makers (I know moderna) are preparing "boosters" aka like the annual flu shots.
Until Darwin works thru these bat-shit crazy anti-maskers and anti-vaxxers we will continue seeing "pop-ups" and hot spots - though hoping not enough to overwhelm hospitals. Sadly, the unvaccinated and people at high risks even if they are vaccinated will die needlessly. It's hard to fathom anyone with a lick of common sense placing their heath and longer-term well-being (think long-COVID issues) over politically rooted lies and half-truths still being circulated. Much of the selfish uncaring public needs a real karma boom-a-rang and rebalance.
At this point, I'll continue wearing my gear when INSIDE and around people who IDK if they are vaccinated or not. The last thing we need is with mask requirements being relaxed, is being inside near someone huffing and puffing on exercise machine next to you which is an anti-vaxxer or anti-masker. That is a recipe for them spreading and more breakthrough cases. :( Sadly, all we can do for now is protect ourselves and stay the hell out of FL, TX and any other high rate areas.
Stay safe, stay alive. Peace. V.
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I totally, absolutely agree with you, Vincent! I gave two girls in the house who are under the age of 7 and who knows how long it'll be till they are vaccinated, so, as you said, we have no clue who out there is vaccinated, so I will continue to wear a mask.
Jonathan and Amy were out today, with masks, and they said that about 75% of the people still were wearing masks.
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I totally, absolutely agree with you, Vincent! I gave two girls in the house who are under the age of 7 and who knows how long it'll be till they are vaccinated, so, as you said, we have no clue who out there is vaccinated, so I will continue to wear a mask.
Jonathan and Amy were out today, with masks, and they said that about 75% of the people still were wearing masks.
Around here they're still not supposed to even let you through the door without a mask. For now the CD guidelines are making no practical difference.
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A lot of the businesses here have gone from Masks Required to Masks Recommended now. Not all, but most. My Fitness Center isn't going to the recommended phase for a while yet. But that's only for the public walk areas, you never had to wear your mask while using the machines or equipment with SD in place. Some people would walk on the track, or RUN on it, with Masks on, I couldn't do that! I'll be glad when the requirements are totally lifted here, sure, but continue to do my part for now.
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No vaccine is infallible and they've always said maybe 5%-10% of vaccinated people will still get COVID, but because you're vaccinated symptoms will be minor, or you'll be asymptomatic, and more importantly, no one who has gotten COVID after being vaccinated has succumbed to it, it's a life saver. That's huge.
^^^ Be careful. While that's true for many/most, there's a subset who are immune-compromised or have some medical treatments such as cancer where their immune system is compromised, or suppressed (organ-transplants) so even a "breakthrough" would be dangerous. Yes this is a small subset of the human population but when it's your spouse, child, parent, loved ones, ... then it's not so small.
I'm not sure what you mean exactly by "Be Careful. While that's true for many/most..." It's true that right now that "no one has succumbed to COVID after being fully vaccinated," according to the CDC's website. (Is the CDC info just for the U.S., or world-wide?) It's also true that they say on the website: "a small percentage of people who are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 will still get sick and some may be hospitalized or succumb from COVID-19", which is what you're implying might happen with those whose immune systems are compromised. "Will get sick." Yes. "May be hospitalized or succumb..." No one has yet.
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^^^ Sorry bad wording. I see now. Be careful with that "CDC general guidance" that "Masks are no longer required for those who are vaccinated." That's simply not accurate considering those groups I mentioned. So maybe they publish a modified set of guidelines for higher risk groups. Those of us with underlying higher risk conditions such as having an immune deficiency or if a person's immune system compromised simply cannot afford a "mild" COVID breakthrough infection.
For instance, when taking something like common oral steroids which are prescribed for many medical conditions, they suppress a person's immune system. Suppression on purpose from organ-transplants is another super high risk area for people. Radiation therapy is another. These groups should not risk getting infected. The CDC general guidance is also made for made "public consumption". I feel the general public does not consider these very real cases unless they know someone in these situations - so the generality is risky. In some cases, like someone taking oral steroids for a temporary condition, they may not think about that putting them at an increased risk unless they are very well informed. I know few people who actually read the "fine print" with medications. The CDC is likely simplifying these "corner cases" simply not to "confuse the public...." I know if I were taking immune suppressing medications, I would not stop wearing a mask until our general risk declines much, much lower than today. FWIW, I had an uncle who had heart transplants. You can never be too careful. I hope that helps. Sometimes I don't say things as well as I should. Stay safe, stay alive! Peace. V.
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Thanks, Vincent, I see what you're saying. I still wear my mask around. I mean, I've gotten used to it so I don't mind wearing it at this point and so why not? Also, here one is still required to wear it on public transportation and most places I go still want you to wear it inside, so it's not that much a different yet. I don't get how mask wearing got to be such a contentious issue with some people. Why would one resist keeping themselves and other safe and healthy. They won't wear a mask, but they'll carry guns around in fear of some hypothetical danger.
Stay healthy everyone.
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^^^ 10-4! I finally found an "official" CDC listing of all the people who "need to take added precautions"...
Just consider the # of people covered by these conditions... so when the news media reports the CDC says, "Masks are no longer required if you are fully vaccinated..." There should be a big "*" flashing on the screen!
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/need-extra-precautions/people-with-medical-conditions.html (https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/need-extra-precautions/people-with-medical-conditions.html)
I agree that the selfish, rightous attitudes of the anti-vaxxers, anti-maskers sure do not line "do unto".. so how they sleep at night is beyond me. I take great comfort in knowing the karma boom-a-rang will eventually land home.
V.
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This is not technically news, but I figured most here would get a kick out of this and a laugh!!
I just saw a portion of this EXTRA GUM commercial on TV right now. This is the complete commercial. Make sure to notice all the little things!! :laugh:
https://youtu.be/Gxm7Hu-IHJs
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This is not technically news, but I figured most here would get a kick out of this and a laugh!!
I just saw a portion of this EXTRA GUM commercial on TV right now. This is the complete commercial. Make sure to notice all the little things!! :laugh:
https://youtu.be/Gxm7Hu-IHJs
Great! Thanks!
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^^^^ Very nice. We are lucky with these vaccines. I'm betting many certainly feel like that. TY for posting! V.
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LGBTQ Lego.
(https://i.imgur.com/9Y8QVEj_d.webp?maxwidth=760&fidelity=grand)
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/may/20/everyone-is-awesome-lego-launch-first-lgbtq-set (https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/may/20/everyone-is-awesome-lego-launch-first-lgbtq-set)
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Nice!
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Super Lunar Event: Supermoon! Red Blood Lunar Eclipse! All Happening at Once – Here’s What It Means
By Shannon Schmoll - MAY 22, 2021
The first lunar eclipse of 2021 is going to happen during the early hours of May 26. But this is going to be an especially super lunar event, as it will be a supermoon, a lunar eclipse and a red blood moon all at once. So what does this all mean?
A supermoon occurs when a full or new moon coincides with the Moon’s closest approach to the Earth.
The Moon’s orbit around Earth is not perfectly circular. This means the Moon’s distance from Earth varies as it goes around the planet. The closest point in the orbit, called the perigee, is roughly 28,000 miles closer to Earth than the farthest point of the orbit. A full moon that happens near the perigee is called a supermoon.
So why is it super? The relatively close proximity of the Moon makes it seem a little bit bigger and brighter than usual, though the difference between a supermoon and a normal moon is usually hard to notice unless you’re looking at two pictures side by side.
https://scitechdaily.com/super-lunar-event-supermoon-red-blood-lunar-eclipse-all-happening-at-once-heres-what-it-means/
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Reps. Matt Gaetz and Marjorie Taylor Greene rally in Maricopa County to keep 'big lie' going
David Knowles - May 22, 2021
On Friday, Reps. Matt Gaetz and Marjorie Taylor Greene brought their “America First” road show to Maricopa County, the place that has become ground zero in the Republican effort to keep alive former President Donald Trump’s false claims about his 2020 election loss.
“So, let me just check and make sure with all of you: Who do you think won in Arizona on Nov. 3?” Greene, R-Ga., asked a crowd of roughly 800 people gathered at a hotel ballroom in Mesa.
The question prompted loud cheers and chants of “Trump, Trump, Trump!”
“You know that’s how we feel in Georgia too,” Greene, who wore a blue dress, said of another formerly red state turned blue in last year’s presidential election. “As a matter of fact, that’s how Michigan feels, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin. I think that’s how at least 74-plus million people feel.”
Honoring how people feel, it turned out, was the theme of the night. And no one’s feelings factored more importantly than those of the former president.
https://news.yahoo.com/reps-matt-gaetz-and-marjorie-taylor-greene-rally-in-maricopa-county-to-keep-big-lie-going-154601880.html
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The Shock Jock Texts That Could Be Critical in the Matt Gaetz Probe
Jose Pagliery, Roger Sollenberger - May 21, 2021
Text messages between Rep. Matt Gaetz’s wingman and a former Florida shock jock reveal how people with key information about an alleged underage sex ring were scrambling as the feds closed in—and they bolster the evidence in a growing scandal that could take down the congressman.
Gaetz associate Joel Greenberg was already under investigation when he had a private exchange with his one-time sports radio co-host, “Big Joe” Ellicott. In that exchange, conducted over the encrypted messaging app Signal and obtained by The Daily Beast, Ellicott expressed fear that others in their group of friends faced legal jeopardy for having sex with a 17-year-old girl.
Ellicott wrote that a mutual friend, a woman who figures prominently in Greenberg‘s Venmo transactions, “knew [the minor] was underage the whole time, had sex with her, and they both went [to] see other guys.”
Ellicott, who is Venmo friends with Gaetz and a number of women in the alleged sex ring, also acknowledged that “for other guys she brought ___ along to see, that could be trafficking,” using a nickname for the former teen. The Daily Beast has independently verified the young woman’s identity but is withholding her name.
https://news.yahoo.com/shock-jock-texts-could-critical-085354147.html
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I totally get that the wheels of justice turn at the speed of a slug, (with probably as much slime), but with this case and so many of the dozens of others against the orange one, what is taking so friggin' long?
It seems they have enough to force Greensburg to take a plea deal in exchange for testimony, what's the delay on the a**hole Gaetz?
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Rick Santorum Fired by CNN Over His Racist Comments About Native Americans
By David Badash - May 22, 2021
Rick Santorum, the Republican former U.S. Senator and presidential candidate, has been fired by CNN as its senior political commentator one month after his racist comments about Native Americans, including claiming there had been “nothing” in North America until white colonizers came.
“We birthed a nation from nothing. I mean, there was nothing here,” Santorum told students last month at an event hosted by the Young America’s Foundation, a right wing group with ties to former Vice President Mike Pence. “I mean, yes, we have Native Americans, but candidly, there isn’t much Native American culture in American culture.”
Huffpost’s Jennifer Bendery, who first reported on Santorum’s termination, in April called his remarks “as offensive as they are inaccurate.”
https://www.thenewcivilrightsmovement.com/2021/05/rick-santorum-fired-by-cnn-over-his-racist-comments-about-native-americans/?fbclid=IwAR2PNVTPqq_bVkscQv-Dk68jZD1irGxGXY7BFxEHBKQAiL85iiVAHrSjo6Y
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^^^
Reminds me of a joke I heard on an episode of Laugh-in I watched recently:
Squaw: "This land is my land, this land is your land...
And that sums up the history of the Indians in this country."
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I totally get that the wheels of justice turn at the speed of a slug, (with probably as much slime), but with this case and so many of the dozens of others against the orange one, what is taking so friggin' long?
It seems they have enough to force Greensburg to take a plea deal in exchange for testimony, what's the delay on the a**hole Gaetz?
I know what you mean. For people with absolutely no shame or self-awareness, things take so much longer. And now we have a huge electorate of people who won't hold them accountable.
Reps. Matt Gaetz and Marjorie Taylor Greene rally in Maricopa County to keep 'big lie' going
The only thing more cretinous than these two are those that support and applaud them. I saw some Arizona lady in the crowd talking to a reporter. She had stars in her eyes when she said this about Greene: "I absolutely just love her."
Revising that drug commercial from decades ago:
This is your brain:
(https://www.marketplace.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/GettyImages-501659684.jpg)
This is your brain on Trumpism:
(https://i.imgur.com/gmf5UHx.gif)
P.S.: Did you know there's a drag queen named: Lady Maga?
P.S.S.: Because of Watergate, almost every political scandal gets "gate" tagged after it. So why no Gaetzgate?
P.S.S.S.: I have a slogan for Marjorie Taylor's opponent in the next Congressional Election against her:
Greene
No Deal.
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Hopefully, sometime today, each of us will pause and remember why today 31 May is a National Memorial Holiday. Each year I reflect on all the people, their children, grandchildren, which we, the world will never know. So many lives, so many waves, so many possibilities - all lost because they answered the call of their country, our country. They did their duty as proud citizens - preserving the truth, protecting the rights, freedoms and safety we now hold dear.
On each Memorial Day, I have a memory in my mind's eye which I recall from when some friends and I visited the large Manassas Battlefield in Virginia when I was Junior in college. -> https://www.nps.gov/mana/index.htm (https://www.nps.gov/mana/index.htm)
It was early in the season and there were not many visitors there at that time. When we were walking around the battlefield's expanses, I suddenly was covered in chill-bumps and a wicked sense of déjà vu. I could not shake it until we left that hallowed ground and then that day was seared in my memory. About 10 years later, I was watching an episode of "The X-Files" where Mulder encounters his past life in the episode titled, "The Field Where I Died" -> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Field_Where_I_Died (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Field_Where_I_Died) or -> https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0751225/ (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0751225/)
That viewing re-triggered shivers ravaging throughout my body. I was having flashbacks to that day, those chill-bumps and the overwhelming feelings of déjà vu all those years ago while I was standing on that Manassas Battlefield. It finally made sense.
I've attached a few YT clips for pivotal elements from the episode.
The longer version (~ 5 mins) which explains more of the background -> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kldXC4rrOyQ (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kldXC4rrOyQ)
Shorter crux, with Mulder reading lines from "Paracelsus" by Robert Browning.
-> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l40myDtyaoI (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l40myDtyaoI)
-> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XgYJ-LOCxbc (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XgYJ-LOCxbc)
I visited the same battlefield a few years after that episode with my family and I found the déjà vu all over again. Makes you wonder for damn sure.
Stay safe, stay alive. Peace. Remember. V.
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Today, Memorial Day, remembering those who gave all of their tomorrows for our today.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Omd9_FJnerY
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Hopefully, sometime today, each of us will pause and remember why today 31 May is a National Memorial Holiday. Each year I reflect on all the people, their children, grandchildren, which we, the world will never know. So many lives, so many waves, so many possibilities - all lost because they answered the call of their country, our country. They did duty as proud citizens, to preserve the truths, protect the rights, freedoms and safety we now hold dear.
When I visited the Vietnam memorial wall, it awed me, choked me up--and then made me angry. What might all those people have done for this country if they hadn't been sent to die in the heat and the muck by a bunch of idiot politicians in Washington?
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^^^ I had a very strong reaction to our Vietnam Memorial. It was not the same déjà vu I had walking on the Manassas Battlefield. I also remember the "crazy controversy" that surrounded it being designed and built. Sadly, more cultural racism on full display.
The Vietnam War has impacted my family since I was small. I had a cousin who was an only child. He volunteered to "do his duty" for our country. He was killed in Vietnam by a sniper. We were close with his family as his mother was my grandmother's sister.
When I visited the Vietnam Memorial, I found his name etched into the wall. I took photos and a rubbing and then had them both mounted and framed. I presented them to my great aunt b/c she was too elderly to ever get to see them on the wall in DC. You know, she hung the frame on her wall, along with his other medals for decades. When she died a few years ago, I placed his medals and that framed work in her casket before they locked it. Those were hers and only hers.
Funny, I donated many of his and her personal papers to the State Archives. They were elated to receive materials from the Vietnam era as the archivist said so much has been discarded. She'd kept everything, his bicycle, clothes, toys, keepsakes, even the correspondence between she and her son on the daily operations on the farm. It was a chilling insight into that era.
Yeah - it was not long ago that classified papers were finally released showing how the US Govt deceived the American public for years about that *@(*@ war. :( Stay safe, stay alive. Peace. Remember.
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The Vietnam War has impacted my family since I was small. I had a cousin who was an only child. He volunteered to "do his duty" for our country. He was killed in Vietnam by a sniper. We were close with his family as his mother was my grandmother's sister.
I'm very sorry to hear about your cousin. I can't imagine what that was like for his mother.
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Moved, wrong forum.
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Dallas man pleads guilty to hate crime after targeting gay men on dating app
By Olafimihan Oshin - 06/03/21
A Dallas man pleaded guilty to a federal hate crime charge for targeting gay men on dating apps, according to a statement from the Justice Department.
The Department of Justice on Thursday issued a statement saying Daniel Jenkins, 22, on Wednesday pleaded guilty to his involvement in a scheme to target gay men for violent crimes. Jenkins was the last of four defendants to plead guilty to charges from the scheme.
According to court documents, Jenkins told authorities that he and other co-defendants used the gay dating app Grindr to lure their victims to a vacant apartment and other places in the Dallas area to commit robbery, carjacking, kidnapping and hate crimes in 2017.
https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/556712-dallas-man-pleads-guilty-to-hate-crime-after-targeting-gay-men-on-dating
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Good. More should.
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As a member of the American Legion, I'm glad to hear that the Legion official, who would not let LTC Kemter's remarks about black history and Memorial Day be heard, has been forced to resign.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2021/06/04/jim-garrison-resign-veteran-mic-cut-memorial-day/
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As a member of the American Legion, I'm glad to hear that the Legion official, who would not let LTC Kemter's remarks about black history and Memorial Day be heard, has been forced to resign.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2021/06/04/jim-garrison-resign-veteran-mic-cut-memorial-day/
apparently, that location is going to be closed permanently as well.
https://www.ktvh.com/news/national/legion-in-ohio-to-close-permanently-after-cutting-veterans-mic-during-memorial-day-speech
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And in their effort to silence LTC Kemter, they brought more attention to it and more shame upon themselves.
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California’s Assault Weapons Ban Overturned as Federal Judge Compares AR-15 to a Swiss Army Knife
by Timothy Bella | June 5, 2021 | Washington Post
A federal judge Friday night overturned California’s longtime ban on assault weapons, saying the state’s law was unconstitutional and that prohibiting such firearms for decades was “a failed experiment.” In a 94-page ruling, U.S. District Judge Roger Benitez of the Southern District of California said that sections of the state ban in place since 1989 regarding military-style rifles violate the Second Amendment. Benitez characterized the assault weapons Californians are barred from using as not “bazookas, howitzers or machine guns” but rather “fairly ordinary, popular, modern rifles.”
In his 94-page ruling, the judge spoke favorably of modern weapons, said they were overwhelmingly used for legal reasons. "Like the Swiss Army knife, the popular AR-15 rifle is a perfect combination of home defense weapon and homeland defense equipment. Good for both home and battle," the judge said in his ruling's introduction.
[YEE HAW!]
The judge said: "This case is not about extraordinary weapons lying at the outer limits of Second Amendment protection.
Hmmm...I wonder if the framers of the constitution were presented with the current hardware being fought over would not think them "extraordinary weapons."
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In Aotearoa New Zealand
Section 13A of the Summary Offences Act 1981 makes it an offence for every person who, in a public place, without reasonable excuse, has any knife in his or her possession. This offence provides for a maximum of three months imprisonment or a fine not exceeding $2,000
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I saw a movie from 1947 (Crossfire) where a police detective, trying to explain something to another, starts by saying, as a general accepted fact, "You know we have laws against carrying a gun, because they're dangerous..."
How far we've gone off track.
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As a member of the American Legion, I'm glad to hear that the Legion official, who would not let LTC Kemter's remarks about black history and Memorial Day be heard, has been forced to resign.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2021/06/04/jim-garrison-resign-veteran-mic-cut-memorial-day/
This was terrible, Fritz. I'm glad the state Legion took prompt action.
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apparently, that location is going to be closed permanently as well.
https://www.ktvh.com/news/national/legion-in-ohio-to-close-permanently-after-cutting-veterans-mic-during-memorial-day-speech
I can't figure out why the other members of that post got punished for something the one guy did. It doesn't sound like they other members of the Legion location got together to censor the speaker.
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I was wondering that too. Not sure why they took that action.
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Here's some news for those that keep up with Armie. I truly wish him well. ;)
https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/armie-hammer-enters-treatment-program-010028949.html
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Hoping for the best for him.
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Ned Beatty was not known as a leading man, but he made a career from supporting roles in some of Hollywood’s most enduring films, including “All the President’s Men,” “Rudy” and “Network.” Beatty died at 83.
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Yes, I remember him especially from Deliverance and Rudy.
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Yes, I remember him especially from Deliverance and Rudy.
I had forgotten about Deliverance.
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What a career and what a loss! Yeah Linda, I will never forget that "Deliverance" scene where he's forced to “squeal like a pig”. IDK until tonight's news that the "Deliverance" role was his first. WOW! V.
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In the little town of Lovettsville VA, pride flags were vandalized and stolen. Now more pride flags are flying than ever before in the town.
https://patch.com/virginia/leesburg/lgbt-pride-flags-stolen-destroyed-loudoun-county-police
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A thought, or question. Will Juneteeth now overshadow Pride Month? hmmmmm? :-\
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Most cities, at least, can do both.
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So my Mom's birthday is now a holiday!
(She would've been 100 years old today.)
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And in Joe Manchin's voting bill compromises is a provision to make Election Day another national holiday.
In decades past I was in favor of that. I was more in favor of changing election day to a Sunday when most democracies hold their elections. But with so many ways to vote now (unless the R's destroy them all) then
it doesn't seem as urgent or necessary.
There used to be laws on many books that bars would be closed on election day. So you could go vote for those that would drive you to drink later on, I guess. :)
Does anyone know any place that still requires bars to be closed on election day?
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Hard to get up-to-date info. This article dates from 2008.
https://www.distilledspirits.org/news/seven-states-still-force-prohibition-era-bans-on-election-day-alcohol-sales/
This might be a bit more up to date.
https://www.greenmatters.com/p/can-you-buy-alcohol-on-election-day
As of November 2020, only parts of Puerto Rico, as well as certain Alaskan jurisdictions, have Election Day dry laws in place. So if you live in Alaska or Puerto Rico, check your municipality's website or call your local bar or liquor store before attempting to head out for a drink. If you live anywhere in the U.S. besides those two places, you should be fine to pick up alcohol today.
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Sometimes a drink is the ONLY way to make through an Election cycle!! Just sayin'....... ;D :P :laugh:
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Happy Boitday Lyle's Mom dawlin hawt!
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A thought, or question. Will Juneteeth now overshadow Pride Month? hmmmmm? :-\
Most cities, at least, can do both.
In many years past Philadelphia has had its Odunde Festival (a celebration of African and African American culture) on the same day as Philly Gay Pride. There was never a problem or conflict.
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Happy Boitday Lyle's Mom dawlin hawt!
:) (((((( Fritz ))))))
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The Spectacular Failure of the MyPillow Guy’s Mask Operation
Roger Sollenberger - Jun. 20, 2021
MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell’s charity and business combo venture to make and sell COVID-19 masks has cost him millions of dollars, according to the increasingly far-right conservative figure.
Today his company is sitting on millions of unsold face coverings, which he now despises and wants to burn.
“I can’t give them away,” Lindell told The Daily Beast in a phone interview this week. “I tried to. No one wants the things anymore.”
Lindell, who claims to have retrofitted about 75 percent of MyPillow’s manufacturing line to sew cloth masks, said the machinery and space he’d invested in now sits idle and empty. The CEO estimates he was able to offload about 5 percent of his mask inventory, and that all told, the operation cost his company and him personally a combined $7 million.
“How many of those do we have, that we ought to just burn?” Lindell asked an aide during the interview. The assistant confirmed the number was about two million.
Lindell chalks up his losses to various parties, including “many bad people in the mask industry,” Google, the media, and politically motivated boycotts. But the biggest hit came when foreign competitors undercut prices and flooded the market.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/the-spectacular-failure-of-mypillow-guy-mike-lindells-mask-operation
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OH what a shame...... NOT!! I could not have happened to a more deserving guy! You reap what you sow!!
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MyPillow Guy’s MAGA Rally Rouses ‘Stop the Steal’ Truthers With Corn Dogs and Hate for Fox News
Jared Goyette - Jun. 13, 2021
At just over seven months since Donald Trump lost the presidential election, just how strong is the siren song of “stop the steal” conspiracy theories within the Republican base? An answer of sorts could be found in the thousands of people wearing Trump-themed “patriot” gear who streamed into a grass field on Saturday to attend a “free speech festival” organized by one of the leading lights of election fraud misinformation: MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell.
While Trump was scheduled to address the predominantly white crowd via Jumbotron, Lindell, who dubbed the event a “free speech Woodstock,” inexplicably threatened to end an interview with The Daily Beast when asked if the rally could be seen as a show of strength of the Trump movement generally.
“I’m the one who paid for this whole rally, I’m the one who put this on. I paid for everything out of my pocket,” Lindell said. “You asked me what it means? Every single person in this country, Democrats, Republican, everybody that has been canceled, just people in general, that have been canceled out. You can’t talk about machines, you can’t talk about election fraud, you can’t talk about vaccines… you can’t talk about anything or they cancel you out.”
But Trump was clearly on the mind, shirts, hats and signs of the attendees. There was a distinctive festival-like feel, with a line leading to a patriotic face paint tent (lots of reds, white and blues, with some fireworks), just down the way from a corn dog stand, itself located next to a parade float with large letters spelling out “Trump 2021.”
https://www.thedailybeast.com/mypillow-guy-mike-lindells-maga-rally-rouses-stop-the-steal-truthers-with-corn-dogs-and-hate-for-fox-news
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Rudy Giuliani, Sidney Powell, and Fox News have August date confirmed for court bid to dismiss $2.7 billion Smartmatic lawsuit
Kevin Shalvey - June 19, 2021
A New York Supreme Court on August 17 will hear arguments from Rudy Giuliani, Sidney Powell, and Fox Corporation in their bid for the dismissal of a $2.7 billion defamation case brought by Smartmatic.
The election-technology company said in its February complaint that the defendants - including Fox News and hosts Jeanine Pirro, Maria Bartiromo, and Lou Dobbs - spread disinformation about the November 2020 presidential election.
The arguments are set for 9:30 a.m. in front of Judge David Benjamin Cohen, according to the court.
Giuliani and Powell, lawyers for President Donald Trump, appeared on Fox News following the election to say the election had been rigged by Smartmatic and Dominion Voting Systems.
https://news.yahoo.com/rudy-giuliani-sidney-powell-fox-091415906.html
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The Spectacular Failure of the MyPillow Guy’s Mask Operation
Roger Sollenberger - Jun. 20, 2021
MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell’s charity and business combo venture to make and sell COVID-19 masks has cost him millions of dollars, according to the increasingly far-right conservative figure.
Today his company is sitting on millions of unsold face coverings, which he now despises and wants to burn.
“I can’t give them away,” Lindell told The Daily Beast in a phone interview this week. “I tried to. No one wants the things anymore.”
Lindell, who claims to have retrofitted about 75 percent of MyPillow’s manufacturing line to sew cloth masks, said the machinery and space he’d invested in now sits idle and empty. The CEO estimates he was able to offload about 5 percent of his mask inventory, and that all told, the operation cost his company and him personally a combined $7 million.
“How many of those do we have, that we ought to just burn?” Lindell asked an aide during the interview. The assistant confirmed the number was about two million.
Lindell chalks up his losses to various parties, including “many bad people in the mask industry,” Google, the media, and politically motivated boycotts. But the biggest hit came when foreign competitors undercut prices and flooded the market.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/the-spectacular-failure-of-mypillow-guy-mike-lindells-mask-operation
OH what a shame...... NOT!! I could not have happened to a more deserving guy! You reap what you sow!!
He's trying sheets now. I swear Saturday morning I saw a commercial on MeTV where he was hawking bed sheets.
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Oh geez. Why doesn't he just go away?
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The Pandemic Led To The Biggest Drop In U.S. Life Expectancy Since WWII, Study Finds
A new study estimates that life expectancy in the U.S. decreased by nearly two years between 2018 and 2020, largely due to the COVID-19 pandemic. And the declines were most pronounced among minority groups, including Black and Hispanic people.
In 2018, average life expectancy in the U.S. was about 79 years (78.7). It declined to about 77 years (76.9) by the end of 2020, according to a new study published in the British Medical Journal.
We have not seen a decrease like this since World War II. It's a horrific decrease in life expectancy," said Steven Woolf of the Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine and an author of the study released on Wednesday. (The study is based on data from the National Center for Health Statistics and includes simulated estimates for 2020.
https://www.npr.org/2021/06/23/1009611699/the-pandemic-led-to-the-biggest-drop-in-u-s-life-expectancy-since-ww-ii-study-fi
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:laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:
Rudy Giuliani suspended from practicing law in New York state
By Erica Orden, Veronica Stracqualursi and Katelyn Polantz, CNN - June 24, 2021
Rudy Giuliani, the former personal lawyer for former President Donald Trump who once held one of the legal profession's most prestigious jobs, was suspended Thursday from practicing law in New York state by an appellate court that found he made "demonstrably false and misleading statements" about the 2020 election.
In a ruling released following disciplinary proceedings, the court concluded that "there is uncontroverted evidence" that Giuliani, the former Manhattan US attorney, "communicated demonstrably false and misleading statements to courts, lawmakers and the public at large in his capacity as lawyer for former President Donald J. Trump and the Trump campaign in connection with Trump's failed effort at reelection in 2020."
Giuliani's "conduct immediately threatens the public interest and warrants interim suspension from the practice of law," the court wrote.
The suspension of his law license marks a precipitous fall for the former New York City mayor, once considered an accomplished and formidable force in legal circles. In recent years, however, Giuliani's reputation has suffered as he has come under criminal investigation by the office he used to lead, the Manhattan US Attorney's office, for possible illegal lobbying. He has denied wrongdoing.
https://www.cnn.com/2021/06/24/politics/rudy-giuliani-suspended-law/
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Rudy Giuliani skips Dominion, Powell, MyPillow-Lindell defamation case hearing after his law license gets revoked in NY
Kevin Breuninger - JUN 24 2021
Rudy Giuliani did not show up for a court hearing Thursday in a $1.3 billion defamation case against him that took place hours after his New York law license was suspended due to his alleged “false and misleading” claims about the 2020 election.
All the other major figures involved in the hearing — MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell, lawyer Sidney Powell, Dominion Voting Systems chief John Poulos and even famed attorney Alan Dershowitz — were in attendance, either in person or by phone.
But Joseph Sibley, Giuliani’s lawyer in the case, told a federal judge in Washington that he was the only person there representing Giuliani in his bid to have the defamation suit dismissed.
“It’s just me,” Sibley said at the start of the hearing.
Earlier on Thursday, a New York state appellate court suspended Giuliani, the 77-year-old former mayor of New York City and the onetime U.S. attorney for Manhattan, from practicing law in the Empire State.
In their searing order, a panel of five judges cited Giuliani’s “demonstrably false and misleading statements,” made in his capacity as former President Donald Trump’s lawyer and with the intention of bolstering the baseless narrative that the 2020 election was stolen due to widespread fraud.
https://www.cnbc.com/2021/06/24/rudy-giuliani-skips-dominion-powell-mypillow-lindell-hearing.html
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Couldn't happen to a more deserving individual.
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I know, right?
(https://i.ytimg.com/vi/IHb-7cA52Tw/maxresdefault.jpg)
8) 8)
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I like the good old German word Schadenfreude better! Especially when things are schadenfreudelicious!
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I have to say, I like the English one. ;D
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:D
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The Pandemic Led To The Biggest Drop In U.S. Life Expectancy Since WWII, Study Finds
A new study estimates that life expectancy in the U.S. decreased by nearly two years between 2018 and 2020, largely due to the COVID-19 pandemic. And the declines were most pronounced among minority groups, including Black and Hispanic people.
I do wish that articles like this one would stop using Systemic Racism or Institutional Racism terms because those have become buzz words that polarize people. Notice that line above that says "declines were most pronounced among minority groups, including Black and Hispanic people." Why not just stop at "minority groups?"
A lot of the vaccine hesitancy, when you see the maps, is in the southern states, comprised of a lot of poor and uneducated white people as well. (And delusional Republicans.) Why not use the words structural and/or systemic inequality. If we are interested in equality, single out the problems and solutions for all disadvantaged people and stop thinking of the problems as specifics instead of generalities because the wealth gap among the population is more of an inequality that needs addressing in this country, if I'm being clear about this.
This would also benefit gay people in these religious liberty cases the Supreme Court keeps taking. Religions should be accused of systemic inequality when they refuse services to LGBT persons for whatever reason they feel like, as though LGBT people are not part of their own religions, which many are. So the religions are basically discriminating against their own members.
(I'm thinking of the current case they have about the City of Philadelphia requiring the Catholic church not to discriminate against married LGBT persons in adoption cases, if they're using city funds. What's very weird about this is that they do not hesitate to place children with LGBT people who are not married. So they'd rather place children with single LGBT persons than committed married LGBT couples. Makes no sense.
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I do wish that articles like this one would stop using Systemic Racism or Institutional Racism terms because those have become buzz words that polarize people. Notice that line above that says "declines were most pronounced among minority groups, including Black and Hispanic people." Why not just stop at "minority groups?"
Could be bad writing, too, especially if that's a news article. These days never underestimate the power of a news reporter to be a bad writer. If the writer wanted to emphasize that (perhaps) Blacks and Hispanics suffered worse than other minorities (Native Americans, Asians), maybe "particularly" would have been a better word.
But I get your point.
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If somebody could write an opera about Nixon in China, somebody could write an opera about Giuliani's self-destruction.
I have no sympathy for the man, but I still feel what he's done to himself is tragic.
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The apotheosis of hubris.
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The apotheosis of hubris.
Right out of some ancient Greek drama.
Whom the gods would destroy, they first make mad.
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Judge sentences Derek Chauvin to over 22 years for murder of George Floyd
Crystal Hill - June 25, 2021
Former Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin was sentenced Friday to 22 and a half years in prison for the murder of George Floyd, more than one year after Floyd’s death sparked an international movement against police brutality.
Hennepin County Judge Peter Cahill, who presided over Chauvin’s murder trial, handed down a sentence of 270 months for charges of second-degree unintentional murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter in Floyd’s May 25, 2020, death. Chauvin received a credit of 199 days served in prison. A jury convicted him of the charges on April 20.
“What the sentence is not based on is emotion or sympathy,” Cahill said. “But at the same time, I want to acknowledge the deep and tremendous pain that all the families are feeling, especially the Floyd family. I’m not going to attempt to be profound or clever because it’s not the appropriate time. I’m not basing my sentence on public opinion. I’m not basing it on any attempt to send any messages.”
Chauvin faced significant prison time for Floyd’s death. The most serious offense, second-degree murder, carries a penalty of up to 40 years in prison, according to Minnesota law. The other charges, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter, can result in imprisonment of up to 25 and 10 years, respectively. Prosecutors wanted 30 years, while Chauvin’s attorney, Eric Nelson, asked for probation and time served. Floyd’s family wanted the maximum sentence.
https://news.yahoo.com/judge-sentences-derek-chauvin-to-22-years-for-murder-of-george-floyd-200220808.html
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Right out of some ancient Greek drama.
Whom the gods would destroy, they first make mad.[/b]
Jeff, this is so very true in his case. I believe he truly has lost his sanity.
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A judge expressed skepticism about arguments from Mike Lindell, Sidney Powell, and Rudy Giuliani, who want Dominion's defamation lawsuits against them dismissed
Jacob Shamsian Jun 24, 2021
A federal judge heard arguments on Thursday over whether to allow multibillion-dollar defamation lawsuits from Dominion Voting Systems to proceed against Rudy Giuliani, Sidney Powell, and MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell.
Over four hours of arguments, attorneys for each of the defendants tried to convince US District Judge Carl J. Nichols that Dominion's lawsuits over their clients' conspiracy theories about the 2020 election should be thrown out of court.
Dominion sued Giuliani, Powell, and MyPillow in three separate lawsuits filed in January and February, each one alleging $1.3 billion in damages.
Nichols did not issue an opinion from the bench at the conclusion of Thursday's hearing, opting to deliver a written opinion at a later date. Dominion has asked for a jury trial in each case.
Giuliani represented President Donald Trump as an attorney in lawsuits seeking to overturn the election results. Trump's election team fired Powell, but she filed four failed lawsuits on her own seeking to do the same. And Lindell — when all other efforts to overturn the election were unsuccessful — went on an extensive media tour alleging that Dominion had been manipulated by foreign actors and falsified the election results.
Attorneys for Giuliani, Powell, and Lindell have submitted a wide variety of legal defenses in recent months asking Nichols to throw out the lawsuits. They have argued that Dominion cannot prove their clients acted with "reckless disregard for the truth," and that a federal court in Washington, DC, was the wrong venue for the legal action.
https://www.businessinsider.com/judge-weighs-dismissing-dominion-lawsuits-against-rudy-giuliani-sidney-powell-mike-lindell-mypillow-2021-6
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A judge expressed skepticism
To put it mildly. :laugh:
Those lawsuits should not be dismissed. These three people have caused serious harm to the integrity of our election systems going forward and it all needs to be dealt with. These companies need to be vindicated from the idiocy of these three cretins and the cretins need to pay the price for their lies and mischief. To put it mildly.
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Could be bad writing, too, especially if that's a news article. These days never underestimate the power of a news reporter to be a bad writer.
You are correct about that. Almot anyone who writes about current events online is considered a journalist.
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To put it mildly. :laugh:
Those lawsuits should not be dismissed. These three people have caused serious harm to the integrity of our election systems going forward and it all needs to be dealt with. These companies need to be vindicated from the idiocy of these three cretins and the cretins need to pay the price for their lies and mischief. To put it mildly.
I completely agree. Hiding behind the "right of free speech" to spread outright lies and defame companies is wrong on so many levels.
I truly hope these cases are not dismissed, and when they go to court, they are found guilty and then dealt with.
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If somebody could write an opera about Nixon in China,
I'll go you one better. There was an opera written about the Jerry Springer show.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerry_Springer:_The_Opera
David Soul was in it. (There's clips of it on youtube.)
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I truly hope these cases are not dismissed, and when they go to court, they are found guilty and then dealt with.
Totally agree. The one thing we know about these people is that they will not give up their insanity unless forced to...and even then one wonders. They're like those birthday candles you blow out and they keep lighting back up.
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I'll go you one better. There was an opera written about the Jerry Springer show.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerry_Springer:_The_Opera
David Soul was in it. (There's clips of it on youtube.)
Now that you mention it, I remember hearing that someone wrote and opera about the Springer show.
David Soul's father was a Lutheran pastor. The family name was actually Solberg, or something like that. I haven't double-checked.
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Could be bad writing, too, especially if that's a news article. These days never underestimate the power of a news reporter to be a bad writer.
You are correct about that. Almost anyone who writes about current events online is considered a journalist.
My high school journalism teacher, who was also my composition teacher, must be turning in his grave.
Best teacher I ever had. Thanks to him, I was even able to write coherent compositions in exam "blue books" in college. My professors were astonished.
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Bill Cosby released after sexual assault conviction overturned by Pennsylvania Supreme Court
A previous prosecutor had decided not to charge the legendary comic, and he relied on that move to speak freely and give incriminating statements.
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court overturned the sexual assault conviction of Bill Cosby on Wednesday and ordered his release from prison after finding that he was denied protection against self-incrimination.
The court said that a prosecutor's decision not to charge Cosby, 83, opened the door for him to speak freely in a lawsuit against him and that testimony was key in his conviction years later by another prosecutor.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/bill-cosby-be-released-after-sexual-assault-conviction-overturned-pennsylvania-n1272748
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Donald Rumsfeld, The Controversial Architect Of The Iraq War, Has Died
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/jun/30/donald-rumsfeld-dies-us-defense-secretary
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Bill Cosby released after sexual assault conviction overturned by Pennsylvania Supreme Court
The court is basically saying that Cosby "reached a deal never to be charged." Which is ridiculous.
From the comments I've read online, the general public is taking this as he's free because he's not guilty, which is not true. He basically had the means and wealth to have lawyers keep nitpicking away at the law to find a technicality to get him off on.
It seems there's no justice/punishment for anyone the last five years.
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This won't surprise anyone with a brain or not in a cult:
Trump Ranks Among The Worst Presidents In History, According To Survey
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ngsZuhZMM0
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California Bans State Travel To Florida And 4 Other States
June 30, 2021
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
California added five more states to the list of places where state-funded travel is banned because of laws that discriminate against members of the LGBTQ community, the state attorney general announced Monday.
Democratic Attorney General Rob Bonta added Florida, Arkansas, Montana, North Dakota and West Virginia to the list that now has 17 states where state employee travel is forbidden except under limited circumstances. "Make no mistake: We're in the midst of an unprecedented wave of bigotry and discrimination in this country — and the State of California is not going to support it," Bonta said.
Lawmakers in 2016 banned non-essential travel to states with laws that discriminate against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people. The 12 other states on the list are: Texas, Alabama, Idaho, Iowa, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Kentucky, North Carolina, Kansas, Mississippi, Tennessee.
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We Just Got Our Clearest Picture Yet Of How Biden Won In 2020
NPR | All Things Considered | July 1, 2021
https://www.npr.org/2021/06/30/1011781661/we-just-got-our-clearest-picture-yet-of-how-biden-won-in-2020
We know that President Biden won the 2020 election. We just haven't had a great picture of how Biden won. That is until Wednesday, when we got the clearest data yet on how different groups voted, and crucially, how those votes shifted from 2016. The Pew Research Center just released its validated voters' report, considered a more accurate measure of the electorate than exit polls, which have the potential for significant inaccuracies.
There is some head scratching stuff in this article, but this is something I just don't get:
Women (especially white women) Swung Toward Trump
The idea that a majority of white women voted for Trump quickly became one of the 2016 election's most-cited statistics, as many Hillary Clinton supporters — particularly women — were outraged to see other women support Trump. While that statistic was repeated over and over, Pew's data ultimately said this wasn't true — they found that in 2016, white women were split 47% to 45%, slightly in Trump's favor but not a majority.
This year, however, it appears that Trump did win a majority of white women. Pew found that 53% of white women chose Trump this year, up by 6 points from 2016.
:o ??? :o :-X :o :-\ :o
I don't know what to say. If you were to brainstorm and try to imagine the worst person imaginable that would repel women the most and that would be someone they would never ever vote for, to me that IS Trump. And yet... What the heck am I missing?
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And to add insult to injury, the Supreme Court handed down rulings on a partisan vote.
They struck down a disclosure law in California so voters know where the money's coming from.
Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., called it a "dark, dark day for democracy."
"The Court That Dark Money Built just built dark money a home in our Constitution," he said on Twitter.
The Court also upheld Arizona's new voting restrictions. Justice Alito, who is my least favorite Supreme Court Justice, had a brilliant comment in writing the decision: "Just because voting may be 'inconvenient for some,' doesn't mean that access to voting is unequal."
The GOP In defending their restrictive laws even admitted THIS during the oral argument in the case: that the Republican Legislature's motive in enacting the Arizona voting restrictions was less anti-fraud and more political. Not having such restrictions "puts us at a competitive disadvantage," lawyer Michael Carvin said on behalf of the GOP. "Politics is a zero-sum game, and every law they get through an unlawful interpretations of Section 2 hurts us."
Alito never has hidden his partisanship. He's always displayed it proudly.
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Why does it always feel like it's constantly a battle for honesty, common sense, fairness, compassion, integrity, morality, principles, ethics, empathy, sincerity, impartiality...and truth...to be the norm now. Truth! "We hold these truths to be self-evident..."
They are not self-evident at this moment; in this time.
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When more than half the country believes the Big Lie about the election, truth isn't even truth anymore.
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Yeap, those 3 Justices that SOB and the GOP robbed, stole and shoved thru - we will be living with for the next 30-40 years as they tilt everything in the conservative directions. My stomach just nearly lost it when RBG died. I still believe she should have retired when the Democrates had full control so at that seat would have been safe. "We The People" - may never recover. I despise Alito as much as those three liars, bigots and clowns - if not more. He's the one who sat in Congress and shook his head negatively when Obama called them out that giving corporations the rights of people and allowing uncontrolled dark money into political campaigns would be a no-op. How he EVER got appointed as a Justice of anything is um-fathomable.
IMHO, every $ needs to be fully disclosed right down to individual who wrote the check or authorized the donation and there needs to be a reasonable limit on any and all donations. They made those original laws for good reason and they should have never been repealed - ever.
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It's more than half of Republicans I think, but not the country. But it's bad enough.
1 in 3 Americans Believe the 'Big Lie'
Analysis by Chris Cillizza, CNN Editor-at-large
Mon., June 21, 2021
https://www.cnn.com/2021/06/21/politics/biden-voter-fraud-big-lie-monmouth-poll/index.html
"Some men you just can't reach."
That famous line from the movie "Cool Hand Luke" kept echoing in my head as I paged through a new national poll conducted by Monmouth University. Here's why: 32% of respondents in that poll said that President Joe Biden only won the 2020 election "due to voter fraud." Which is stunning -- but not the worst part of the poll. Guess what percentage said that Biden won only because of election fraud in the November 2020 Monmouth poll? Answer: 32%. What about in the January 2021 Monmouth poll? 32%. And how about the March 2021 Monmouth poll? Yup -- 32%.
Nov. 2020 poll: 32%
Jan. 2021 poll: 32%
Mar. 2021 poll: 32%
Jun. 2021 poll: 32%
The consistency of belief that Biden won solely because of fraud speaks to the fact that one-third of the country simply cannot be reached by facts -- no matter how often they are presented by the mainstream media. Because it is a FACT that Biden won 81 million votes and 306 electoral votes. And it is a FACT that Donald Trump won 74 million votes and 232 electoral votes. It is a FACT that the the results in all 50 states and the District of Columbia have long been certified. It is a FACT that there is zero evidence -- turned up by federal or state officials -- that any widespread electoral fraud occurred anywhere.
The article gives 3 reasons why they can't be reached and concludes with:
What we are witnessing here is a remarkable abnegation of fact. A sacrifice of the truth at the altar of partisanship. A direct -- and ongoing -- threat to democracy.
[And today the Supreme Court's Arizona law ruling was against democracy.]
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I guess I've said before: Anybody who points out these facts, well, they're just part of the conspiracy that stole the election.
Of course, there are alternative facts, and the truth isn't the truth. :(
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Enjoy the 4th everyone!
Some old current events made new (in comic book form):
https://thenib.com/the-american-revolution-s-greatest-leader-was-openly-gay-baron-von-steuben/
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Yep. Conservatives will either say he wasn't gay or he wasn't that important to the Revolution. They lie to themselves as well as to others.
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Very cool comic! Thanks Lyle!
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You're welcome! :)
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Enjoy the 4th everyone!
Some old current events made new (in comic book form):
https://thenib.com/the-american-revolution-s-greatest-leader-was-openly-gay-baron-von-steuben/
This was wonderful, Lyle! Thanks for sharing it!!
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Thanks, Linda!
His memorial and park (a sprawling place where the community would often hold events during the summer, like the annual Volunteer Firemen's picnic) was about a mile from where I grew up. I can't imagine how knowing this stuff in high school might've changed my life, even if a little. I wonder what the community thinks of this information, or if they even know now.
And thank you, Ben Franklin!
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People have been known to simply ignore inconvenient facts.
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...or excuse them on a technicality...
(https://media.tenor.com/images/61942abfe3e591116577e0530a84cc20/tenor.gif)
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The court is basically saying that Cosby "reached a deal never to be charged." Which is ridiculous.
I'm sorry, but I disagree. If that deal couldn't be honored, then no grant of immunity would have to be honored either. The court may have ruled narrowly on Cosby's case, but I think if they had ruled against him, that the deal would not have to be honored, the decision would still be claimed as a precedent. Bruce Castor at least formerly had a good reputation from his years as D.A., but he made a huge mistake in this case.
Even Gloria Alred didn't sound as angry as I thought she would.
From the comments I've read online, the general public is taking this as he's free because he's not guilty, which is not true. He basically had the means and wealth to have lawyers keep nitpicking away at the law to find a technicality to get him off on.
Yeah, that pisses the hell out of me. It does NOT mean he isn't guilty, but, yes, people seem to be acting as if that's what it means, including, I'm sorry to say, from what I've seen, some of his victims. They are right to be angry that he's escaping punishment, but nobody is denying that he did to them what he did.
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I'm sorry, but I disagree.
Last week I listened to two lawyers discuss this on a program and they both thought the PA Supreme Court got it wrong. Sounded right to me, but I can't find a video of the discussion.
_____
Well, I did find a video that said what I said above, but it wasn't what I originally had listened to:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t2YKOVzpSyU
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BLUF: BC got released on a technicality regarding the honor of a DA's word and agreement. From my vantage, "a man's word" is an important underpinning of his life - especially for someone in a position of DA/power. Make no mistake, I feel deep empathy for his victims and I hope they have found paths of peace and have moved on with their lives.
WRT punishment, he's not gotten off and out of punishment completely. His image, reputation, legacy and family name is forever tainted. He will continue to be under public scrutiny the remainder of his life. Summarize all of that, plus the social stigma, plus the millions he's spent already trying to stay outta jail and I think he's still in a prison, and will continue to be so the remainder of his years in this life - just not one with bars. Let's also hope that karma balances the scales further.
Now can he maybe sue somehow for damages and &diety know what else? I'd expect his fancy lawyers are already working on those scenarios.
The ruling, while I do not like the results, sends a powerful message that a DA must honor such agreements, however as unpalatable they may be in hindsight, in perpetuity. That's a foundation of, and remains paramount for the Justice System of the United States.
Stay safe, stay alive. Peace. V
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BLUF: BC got released on a technicality regarding the honor of a DA's word and agreement. From my vantage, "a man's word" is an important underpinning of his life - especially for someone in a position of DA/power. Make no mistake, I feel deep empathy for his victims and I hope they have found paths of peace and have moved on with their lives.
WRT punishment, he's not gotten off and out of punishment completely. His image, reputation, legacy and family name is forever tainted. He will continue to be under public scrutiny the remainder of his life. Summarize all of that, plus the social stigma, plus the millions he's spent already trying to stay outta jail and I think he's still in a prison, and will continue to be so the remainder of his years in this life - just not one with bars. Let's also hope that karma balances the scales further.
Now can he maybe sue somehow for damages and &diety know what else? I'd expect his fancy lawyers are already working on those scenarios.
The ruling, while I do not like the results, sends a powerful message that a DA must honor such agreements, however as unpalatable they may be in hindsight, in perpetuity. That's a foundation of, and remains paramount for the Justice System of the United States.
Stay safe, stay alive. Peace. V
I agree, hunnerd percent. As odious as it may be that he's gotten out of prison, I think the court made the right decision.
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It only goes to the public's ever growing sense that if you are famous and/or can afford high priced lawyers, you can avoid punishment the average person has no way to avoid or get out of.
And that's what's happened here.
What's next?
Bill Cosby Planning Comedy Tour: ‘The World is Welcoming Him Back’
https://www.philinquirer.com/news/bill-cosby-released-whats-next-20210701.html (https://www.inquirer.com/news/bill-cosby-released-wife-future-plans-lawsuits-whats-next-20210701.html)
Newly freed from prison, Bill Cosby may be planning a stand-up comedy tour, according to his spokesperson. Andrew Wyatt told The Philadelphia Inquirer on Thursday that Cosby, 83, has been “been talking to a number of promoters and comedy club owners” and “is just excited the way the world is welcoming him back.”
Meanwhile, a Missouri man named Kevin Strickland has been in prison since 1978 for a triple murder that he did not commit. He was tried and found guilty by a jury. Since then, the eyewitness whose testimony was partlly responsible for his imprisonment has recanted her testimony saying that she was pressured to testify against him. Jackson County Missouri's top prosecutors have determined he is innocent. They are now calling for his release. The Jackson County Prosecutor’s Office has concluded this following a months long review of his case. The prosecutor’s office is not alone in calling for Strickland’s release. Federal prosecutors in the Western District of Missouri, as well as Jackson County’s presiding judge, Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas and members of the team that convicted Strickland four decades ago now all agree he deserves to be exonerated. The complete evidence of this is overwhelming.
Read here: https://www.kansascity.com/news/local/crime/article249595653.html
Missouri Governor Mike Parson has said his release will not be a priority for him, however. "I don't know whether he's innocent or not." Mike Parson released his pardon list on June 23rd and Strickland didn't make the cut. "I'm just not convinced he's innocent. Jumping the line for a pardon isn't a priority." He said there could be an opportunity for Strickland to appeal the conviction through new legislation. "The other thing we also realize is there’s legislation coming that's going to affect that case, and we're going to more than likely sign that into law. I won’t say that for sure because I’m always hesitant until it goes through the process."
If it is signed into law, Parson said it would give Strickland an avenue to appeal in August.
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Yeah, after 43 years, what's another few months/days/years in prison. Maybe Cosby could go to the prison as part of his comedy tour.
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^^^ I agree that the general public has a rightfully earned belief of "dollar justice" - especially after the horrible OJ debacle!
BC's release adds to all that.. BUT, the court's point is the agreements made with the prior DA are binding no matter how unpalatable they might be to his successor. It's no different that the GOS waltzing into office and not honoring NATO agreements b/c that SOB didn't like'm or perhaps Biden decided to rescind those horrible "pardons" the GOS bestowed on his friends and political adjuncts.
BLUF: I hope Karma re-balances our Justice Scales b/c BC was convicted by a jury of his peers with the evidence as presented.
I've been loosely following the unbelievable debacle in Missouri. It's another example of a horrible situation of injustice being metered by politics.
My thoughts have been if President Biden wanted, he could step in and end this one with a pardon. Maybe I'm missing finer detailsas for why maybe that's not happening as we type or not?
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Meanwhile, a Missouri man named Kevin Strickland has been in prison since 1978 for a triple murder that he did not commit. He was tried and found guilty by a jury. Since then, the eyewitness whose testimony was partlly responsible for his imprisonment has recanted her testimony saying that she was pressured to testify against him. Jackson County Missouri's top prosecutors have determined he is innocent. They are now calling for his release. The Jackson County Prosecutor’s Office has concluded this following a months long review of his case. The prosecutor’s office is not alone in calling for Strickland’s release. Federal prosecutors in the Western District of Missouri, as well as Jackson County’s presiding judge, Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas and members of the team that convicted Strickland four decades ago now all agree he deserves to be exonerated. The complete evidence of this is overwhelming.
Read here: https://www.kansascity.com/news/local/crime/article249595653.html
Missouri Governor Mike Parson has said his release will not be a priority for him, however. "I don't know whether he's innocent or not." Mike Parson released his pardon list on June 23rd and Strickland didn't make the cut. "I'm just not convinced he's innocent. Jumping the line for a pardon isn't a priority." He said there could be an opportunity for Strickland to appeal the conviction through new legislation. "The other thing we also realize is there’s legislation coming that's going to affect that case, and we're going to more than likely sign that into law. I won’t say that for sure because I’m always hesitant until it goes through the process."
If it is signed into law, Parson said it would give Strickland an avenue to appeal in August.
___
Yeah, after 43 years, what's another few months/days/years in prison. Maybe Cosby could go to the prison as part of his comedy tour.
I imagine that a--hole of a governor is a Republican, right?
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Re the Cosby case...if the reasoning for him to be freed is so obvious that everyone agrees it's the right decision, why did it take 15 years to reach this obvious conclusion?
<<< if the reasoning for him to be freed is so obvious that everyone agrees it's the right decision >>>
Even though "the ruling from a divided Pennsylvania Supreme Court split three ways on what should become of Cosby..." (from a Vox (https://www.vox.com/22557691/bill-cosby-pennsylvania-released-commonwealth-david-wecht-andrea-constand-metoo-sexual-assault) article).
And, of course, this whole mess stems from the lawyer, Bruce Castor, who was one of the pathetic attorneys trying to defend Trump in an impeachment trial, wouldn't you know.
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And, of course, this whole mess stems from the lawyer, Bruce Castor, who was one of the pathetic attorneys trying to defend Trump in an impeachment trial, wouldn't you know.
He was very well thought-of once. Sorta like Rudi Giuliani was. ...
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Trump once told a caller that Rudy Giuliani drank too much, was a loose cannon, and said 'a lot of s---' that wasn't true, new book says
Sonam Sheth - 07/08/21
Former President Donald Trump once told a caller in the days after the November 2020 election that he knew his personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani drank too much and often said things that weren't true.
That's according to "Landslide: The Final Days of the Trump Presidency," by Michael Wolff, an early copy of which was obtained by Insider.
Wolff painted a damning portrait of Giuliani as he was perceived by Trump's aides and even the president himself, to whom Giuliani remains deeply loyal.
"In the days after Giuliani's return, Trump, in a nearly reflective or perhaps slightly shamed moment, explained to a caller that he knew Rudy took a drink too many, and that he was a loose cannon, and that he said a lot of s--- that was not true," the book said. "But Rudy would fight. He could be counted on to fight even when others wouldn't. And, too, he would work for free."
https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-giuliani-drinks-too-much-and-says-untrue-things-book-2021-7
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Rudy Giuliani suspended from practicing law in Washington, DC
By Katelyn Polantz - Wed July 7, 2021
Rudy Giuliani's law license has been suspended in Washington, DC, after he temporarily lost his license in New York for pushing election lies and that state court system looks further into his case.
The appeals court in DC said Giuliani would be suspended from working as an attorney in the city "pending outcome" of his situation in New York, according to disciplinary court records.
Giuliani doesn't regularly practice law in court -- and hadn't for several years before representing then-President Donald Trump in 2020 in a failed legal bid to throw out the popular vote in Pennsylvania and other states. But the law license suspension is still a major blow to the former Manhattan US attorney and political figure, once considered an accomplished and formidable force in legal circles.
CNN has reached out to Giuliani for comment.
When the New York appellate court temporarily suspended his law license in that state, it said in its ruling that it concluded that "there is uncontroverted evidence" that Giuliani "communicated demonstrably false and misleading statements to courts, lawmakers and the public at large in his capacity as lawyer for former President Donald J. Trump and the Trump campaign in connection with Trump's failed effort at reelection in 2020."
https://www.cnn.com/2021/07/07/politics/rudy-giuliani-suspended-law-washington/index.html
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Couldn't happen to a more deserving individual.
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Couldn't happen to a more deserving individual.
I completely agree! :D
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This also applies to Trump:
Trump once told a caller [...] 'a lot of s---' that wasn't true, new book says
And regardless if what Giuliani said was true or not, this is the real reason Trump kept him around:
"And, too, he would work for free."
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Wait a minute...this is only temporary?
Rudy Giuliani's law license has been suspended in Washington, DC, after he temporarily lost his license in New York for pushing election lies and that state court system looks further into his case.
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And regardless if what Giuliani said was true or not, this is the real reason Trump kept him around:
"And, too, he would work for free."
Yeah, that line is so Trumpian.
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Wait a minute...this is only temporary?
Lyle, according to Reuters.com
The appeals court said Giuliani's temporary suspension could become permanent after a hearing by the attorney grievance committee that recommended it.
John Leventhal and Barry Kamins, two lawyers for Giuliani, said they were disappointed with the suspension but believed that after a hearing he would be reinstated as "a valued member of the legal profession that he has served so well."
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A judge put on hold Mike Lindell's lawsuit accusing Dominion of election manipulation
Jacob Shamsian - Jul 8, 2021
A federal judge in Minnesota has pressed pause on the pro-Trump pillow mogul Mike Lindell's lawsuit against Dominion Voting Systems.
US District Judge Patrick J. Schiltz's order, issued Wednesday afternoon, granted Dominion's request to put a hold on the case amid litigation in another lawsuit in Washington, DC.
Lindell sued Dominion in June to counter the voting-technology company's earlier lawsuit against him and his company MyPillow.
The CEO has pushed baseless conspiracy theories alleging Dominion flipped the results of the 2020 presidential election from then-President Donald Trump to then-Democratic nominee President Joe Biden. Dominion sued in April, alleging $1.3 billion in defamation damages and saying that Lindell's media tour for his conspiracy theories amounted to a marketing campaign for MyPillow.
Lindell's countersuit, now on hold, doubles down on the baseless election claims and alleges Dominion's lawsuit violated racketeering laws. Lindell has claimed his lawsuit will force the Supreme Court to overturn the 2020 election results and reinstate Trump as president, which is not possible under the US Constitution.
https://www.businessinsider.com/mike-lindell-mypillow-lawsuit-against-dominion-paused-2021-7
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He is such a total A**hole! >:D
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^^^
And also B - Zhole.
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This is how stupid Mike Lindell is: (and many others I should note)
Mike Lindell has claimed his lawsuit will force the Supreme Court to overturn the 2020 election results and reinstate Trump as president, which is not possible under the US Constitution.
And yet this guy and the other nutbags like Sidney Powell keep spreading this idiocy which Trump has sucked up and is now spreading. And HOW stupid is all this? Think of how stupid this is...not only can't Trump be reinstated as President in August by the Supreme Court under any law in the U.S., but this--this is the really STUPID part that makes these believers even more UNbelievable...the Supreme Court is in recess until, wait for it, the first Monday in October.
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In some good news, Michigan Senate Republicans did a study of the voter fraud claims people had made in their state and found nothing. One of their conclusions was that some are using voter fraud claims to raise money. This is illegal. The Republican led report says the MI attorney general (a Democrat) should look into this. The MI attorney general IS looking into it and may prosecute some of these Republicans involved in this. The bad news is that the Senate Republicans still said there were issues with MI voting laws and are nevertheless introducing legislation to effectively reduce access to voting.
A CBS News Report about it:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-XemLMSw5M
Rachel Maddow did a lengthier report on this last night, more info here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eRYygU5fOeY
She also profiled some actual voter fraud instances of Republicans who received misdemeanor fines or sentences for voting illegally and then two African American persons who voted mistakenly (one because his parole was not up for a couple weeks when he voted and a woman who was unaware of a rule governing how long one had to wait in her case) and they, of course, were arrested, put in prison and could face years in jail. (It's a bit more complicated than I've written, obviously.) The Texas attorney general, Paxton, himself under criminal prosecution, filed the warrant against the woman in a county where he knew that if the case was brought to trial the jury would be all white people. (Paxton's the one who got Republican Attorney Generals to sign on to a case to dismiss the electoral vote results in several states, that the Supreme Court threw out.)
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He is such a total A**hole! >:D
And he's still on TV in his own commercials flogging his own stuff--now it's sheets instead of pillows.
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In some good news, Michigan Senate Republicans did a study of the voter fraud claims people had made in their state and found nothing.
They're just RINOs who are part of the conspiracy that stole the election from the Great Orange Satan. ...
::)
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And he's still on TV in his own commercials flogging his own stuff--now it's sheets instead of pillows.
This is what makes me angry. The ads for his pillows are now priced at $29.99 instead of $69.99, which makes me think his pillows aren't selling. I'm very glad!!
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This is what makes me angry. The ads for his pillows are now priced at $29.99 instead of $69.99, which makes me think his pillows aren't selling. I'm very glad!!
I didn't know that. That's good news.
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And he's still on TV in his own commercials flogging his own stuff--now it's sheets instead of pillows.
And for an extra fee you can get KKK monogrammed on them.
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OUCH!! Really? lt's interesting to me, many Realtors, and those HGTV shows, STILL refer to the Primary Bedroom and Bath as 'The Master'...........odd, don't you think........? ;D
At least on the East Coast, the realtors have been referring to that location as the Primary Bed and Bath....... ;)
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He is such a total A**hole! >:D
(https://qph.fs.quoracdn.net/main-qimg-33ec45c4a0e93f9e6e3f21ddc8b97b87)
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God, he looks so smug in that picture.
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Indicted Trump Organization CFO removed as an officer from several company subsidiaries
By Kara Scannell, CNN - July 12, 2021
The Trump Organization has removed Allen Weisselberg, its chief financial officer, from officer positions at several of its subsidiaries, including Mar-a-Lago, after he and former President Donald Trump's namesake business were indicted for allegedly running a 15-year tax fraud scheme.
Weisselberg's role and title at the Trump Organization could change, but he will remain at the company, a source close to the Trump Organization told CNN. The source described Weisselberg's removal from the positions as "prudent corporate governance."
Weisselberg has pleaded not guilty to 15 state charges, including grand larceny.
Other subsidiaries that he has been removed from as an officer include the Trump Payroll Corp., which was also named in the indictment, Trump National Golf Club, Trump International Hotels Management and the Trump International Golf Club in Scotland, according to publicly filed corporation documents.
https://www.cnn.com/2021/07/12/politics/weisselberg-trump-organization-removed-officer-subsidiaries/index.html
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A federal judge skewered 'Kraken' lawyers for making 'fantastical' allegations of election fraud and failing to do the most basic due diligence
Sonam Sheth - 07/12/2021
A federal judge on Monday excoriated a group of Republican-aligned lawyers including Sidney Powell and L. Lin Wood over their legal efforts to overturn the 2020 election results.
US District Judge Linda Parker made the comments at a contentious hearing on Zoom whose purpose was to determine whether the lawyers should face sanctions.
Parker repeatedly criticized the attorneys as failing to do "minimal" research on the "evidence" they presented as part of their multipronged effort — which Powell called the "Kraken" — to nullify the election results in Michigan, Georgia, Wisconsin, and Arizona.
"The court is concerned that these affidavits were submitted in bad faith," Parker said.
After the so-called Kraken failed, Michigan and the city of Detroit filed complaints with the bar seeking punishment for Powell, Wood, and the lawyers who had signed on to their lawsuits, including Julia Haller, Howard Kleinhendler, Gregory Rohl, Brandon Johnson, Scott Hagerstrom, and Stefanie Lambert Junttila.
https://www.businessinsider.com/sidney-powell-lin-wood-michigan-lawsuit-sanctions-hearing-2021-7
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(https://qph.fs.quoracdn.net/main-qimg-33ec45c4a0e93f9e6e3f21ddc8b97b87)
Thanks Fritz!! Now I have a very descriptive new term for them!!
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"The court is concerned that these affidavits were submitted in bad faith."
Gee, ya think?
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I know, right?
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European Rights Court Orders Russia to Recognize Same-Sex Unions
Europe’s top human rights court has ordered Russia to recognize same-sex unions in a new ruling on Tuesday.
The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR)’s ruling came in response to complaints filed in 2010 by three Russian same-sex couples whose attempts to register their marriages in Russia were rejected.
The ECHR judges unanimously ruled that Russia violated Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights — the right to respect for private and family life — by not granting legal status to the couples’ unions, the court said in a press release.
The court ruled that Russia had an obligation to ensure respect for the applicants’ private and family life by establishing a framework for their relationships to be legally acknowledged and protected.
Although Article 8 does not explicitly oblige Council of Europe member states to recognize same-sex marriage, it does imply a need to strike a fair balance between same-sex couples’ needs and those of the community, the court said.
https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2021/07/13/european-rights-court-orders-russia-to-recognize-same-sex-unions-a74509
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You know that Putin will fight that tooth and nail. Not out of personal conviction, but to keep people's minds off the country's other troubles.
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Oh, I'm sure. He's not about to change that policy.
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How to Watch the Perseids Meteor Shower — the Ultimate Celestial Event of the Summer
Joelle Goldstein - July 13, 2021
Summer is quickly passing by — but not without the ultimate meteor shower event!
The 2021 Perseids Meteor Shower, which is considered to be the best meteor shower of the year, is expected to start lighting up skies on Wednesday, according to NASA.
Known for fireballs, which are larger explosions of light and color that last longer than an average meteor streak, the Perseids typically light up skies on warm summer nights, leaving "long 'wakes' of light and color behind them," the space agency reported.
NASA believes the "very fast and bright meteors" will be active through August 24, with a peak expected for mid-August. (EarthSky.org predicts the peak will be Aug. 11-13.)
Under ideal conditions, skywatchers may see approximately 50-100 meteors per hour with each meteor traveling at 37 miles per second, per NASA.
https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/watch-perseids-meteor-shower-ultimate-231444909.html
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I remember one time many years ago I got up very early and headed to a place called Sky Meadows State Park known for it's good views and relatively light-free skies. It was great to see so many meteors in the sky. After that I headed to work at Dulles, about halfway back to town.
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(https://qph.fs.quoracdn.net/main-qimg-b869d5882d319ba00d096305ee16372b)
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I get the point, but they're supporting the Cubans in Cuba to keep the votes of the Cubans in Florida. Typical Republican cynical self-interest. If it benefited them to condemn what's happening in Cuba, they would.
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Oh definitely.
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Donald Trump and Rudy Giuliani could face criminal investigation in Arizona over their attempts to overturn election
Alia Shoaib - 07/17/2021
Donald Trump and key allies could be facing a criminal investigation in Arizona for launching a campaign to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.
Last week Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs wrote to the state's Attorney General Mark Brnovich to urge him to launch a criminal investigation into Trump and his allies over the potential violations of state election laws.
Hobbs, a Democrat, made the request after reporting from The Arizona Republic revealed details of the high-pressure campaign launched by Trump and a number of his allies.
Hobbs wrote that Trump and individuals, including his personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani, Arizona GOP Chair Kelli Ward, and lawyer Sidney Powell, tried to influence Maricopa officials to stop the counting of ballots.
https://www.businessinsider.com/arizona-trump-and-giuliani-could-face-vote-recount-criminal-probe-2021-7
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Hope.
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I would love to see it happen!
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Hope.
I would love to see it happen!
I hope so as well, but it seems that whole group of criminals come out smelling like roses when it comes to any prosecution coming out of ANY of the illegal crap they pulled. I'm frustrated!!
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I heard this morning that a member of the U.S. Gymnastics Team (I didn't catch if the individual is male or female) has tested positive for Covid.
What I want to know is, Was this person vaccinated before leaving for Tokyo, or not? And if not, why not? Why was this person allowed to potentially put other athletes at risk? (Granted medical information is private, but I hope you get my point.)
They've all worked so hard to get there, and they had to wait an extra year, and now someone has jeopardized their chances to participate? This is not right.
They all should have been required to be vaccinated or prohibited from participating.
I'm sorry to say, I guess I'm in the camp of those who think these games should not be held. :(
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Jeff, I didn't find ANY info on if the athletes are required to have been vaccinated (which would seem like a no brainer to me), but I did find the person in question is a female gymnastics alternate. Alternates are sent to the games, but not used unless an official team member drops out for any reason.
I have noticed the usual media coverage has arisen the past couple weeks before these Olympics, where everything negative that can be said about hosting an Olympics and about the problems of the city and/or country that's doing the hosting are intricately spotlighted.
Of course, COVID is a particularly unique problem this time around. The other big attention getter is to wrap Global Warming around these Olympics and the dangers of competing in the higher heat and humidity in Tokyo with some news outlets reporting the athletes will be subjected to intense heat and humidity. (Which may be surprising to those participating in fencing, judo, volleyball, gymnastics, wrestling, basketball, table tennis, taekwondo, karate, handball, weightlifting and boxing. :laugh: ) I also read how these Tokyo Olympics will be so much hotter than the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, and then I found out those Olympics were held in October. The mean temperature for these games is projected to be less than it was in Athens, which had low humidity and Atlanta, which had high humidity.
I remember before the L.A. Olympics the news was all about what a nightmare the traffic would be and there'd be smog alerts and earthquakes! It was warm, I recall, but low humidity and there were NO traffic problems and no smog. I don't recall any earthquakes, either. Or Russians. ;D
According to what I was reading, the two coolest Summer Olympics of the last 4 decades were London in 2012 at an average temperature of 64.5 degrees, (my kind of weather!), and Sydney in 2000 with 63.7, but when they were held the last two weeks of September it was pretty much their beginning of Spring.
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Capitol rioter who breached Senate gets 8 months for felony
Michael Tarm - July 19, 2021
A Florida man who breached the U.S. Senate chamber carrying a Trump campaign flag was sentenced Monday to eight months behind bars, the first resolution for a felony case in the Capitol insurrection.
Paul Allard Hodgkins apologized and said he was ashamed of his actions on Jan 6. Speaking calmly from a prepared text, he described being caught up in the euphoria as he walked down Washington's most famous avenue, then followed a crowd of hundreds into the Capitol.
“If I had any idea that the protest ... would escalate (the way) it did ... I would never have ventured farther than the sidewalk of Pennsylvania Avenue,” Hodgkins told the judge. He added: “This was a foolish decision on my part.”
Prosecutors had asked for Hodgkins to serve 18 months behind bars, saying in a recent filing that he, “like each rioter, contributed to the collective threat to democracy” by forcing lawmakers to temporarily abandon their certification of Joe Biden’s 2020 election victory over President Donald Trump and to scramble for shelter from incoming mobs.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/man-faces-1st-sentencing-felony-042649116.html
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Better than letting him go without sentence, as the insurrectionists wanted, I suppose.
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Maybe this isn't lawful, but they should somehow not be let go if they still believe
the election was stolen.
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Maybe this isn't lawful, but they should somehow not be let go if they still believe
the election was stolen.
Supposedly he's saying now that Biden is the lawfully elected president, but who knows what he might say once he's released.
https://twitter.com/glennkirschner2/status/1417138317108391936?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1417138317108391936%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.joemygod.com%2F2021%2F07%2Fdc-rioter-gets-eight-months-in-first-felony-sentencing%2F
There are a series of tweets from reporters.
https://www.joemygod.com/2021/07/dc-rioter-gets-eight-months-in-first-felony-sentencing/
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thanks for those extra links, Fritzie.
I'm glad he's spending some time in jail, but I wish it was longer, because he's not going to do the whole 8 months.
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Twitter temporarily suspends Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene for vaccine misinformation
By Donie O'Sullivan and Paul LeBlanc, CNN - July 19, 2021
Twitter on Monday evening temporarily suspended Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene after she shared misinformation about Covid-19 and vaccines, a company spokesperson told CNN.
The Georgia Republican, who has a track record of incendiary rhetoric, will not be able to tweet for 12 hours due to Twitter's policy against people who repeatedly share misinformation.
The social media platform had labeled two tweets from Greene as "misleading" in recent days. If she continues to share misinformation about Covid-19 through her Twitter account, Greene could be suspended from the platform permanently.
The temporary suspension comes as the White House has struck a confrontational posture with social media platforms over the prevalence of misleading claims about coronavirus vaccines as cases tick up nationwide.
https://www.cnn.com/2021/07/19/politics/marjorie-taylor-greene-twitter-ban/index.html
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"The fascinating thing about this vision of the future from a German magazine in 1930 is not only did they envision smart phones and Facetime, but that they totally got the culture right: two people sitting at a table and ignoring each other while they look into their phones."
(https://scontent-iad3-2.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.18169-9/1319_10201646358100174_688075705_n.jpg?_nc_cat=106&ccb=1-3&_nc_sid=2c4854&_nc_ohc=lEIjdJxJn-cAX9Anw-Q&_nc_ht=scontent-iad3-2.xx&oh=cca48c2e0d78be2354f81ff1557de45b&oe=60FC2C21)
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Trump ally Tom Barrack charged with acting as an agent of a foreign government
By Erica Orden - July 20, 2021
Tom Barrack, a former adviser to former President Donald Trump, was charged Tuesday with illegal foreign lobbying on behalf of the United Arab Emirates for what federal prosecutors in Brooklyn described as an effort to influence the foreign policy positions of both the 2016 Trump presidential campaign and the subsequent incoming administration.
Barrack is charged in a seven-count indictment with acting as an agent of the UAE between April 2016 and April 2018. He is also charged with obstruction of justice and making false statements to federal law enforcement agents.
Barrack was the chairman of Trump's inaugural committee, and while some of the charged conduct concerns the presidential transition, it appears unrelated to the inaugural festivities.
According to the indictment, Barrack and two other men charged Tuesday -- Matthew Grimes of Aspen, Colorado, and Rashid Sultan Rashid Al Malik Alshahhi, a UAE national -- capitalized on Barrack's status as a senior outside adviser to the Trump campaign to "advance the interests of and provide intelligence to the UAE while simultaneously failing to notify the Attorney General that their actions were taken at the direction of senior UAE officials."
https://www.cnn.com/2021/07/20/politics/tom-barrack-arrested/index.html
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"The fascinating thing about this vision of the future from a German magazine in 1930 is not only did they envision smart phones and Facetime, but that they totally got the culture right: two people sitting at a table and ignoring each other while they look into their phones."
(https://scontent-iad3-2.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.18169-9/1319_10201646358100174_688075705_n.jpg?_nc_cat=106&ccb=1-3&_nc_sid=2c4854&_nc_ohc=lEIjdJxJn-cAX9Anw-Q&_nc_ht=scontent-iad3-2.xx&oh=cca48c2e0d78be2354f81ff1557de45b&oe=60FC2C21)
WOW! This is something!! How forward thinking.
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(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51324296592_613d674874_z.jpg)
We've talked in the past about Steve Grand. An openly gay singer who made waves with his first videos, "American Boy" and "Stay".
He posted this to his Twitter feed and Facebook account about a half hour ago.
I tested positive for COVID-19 today. I’m fully vaccinated.
I started experiencing symptoms last Friday, a day after I flew back from Ptown.
I say this not to alarm, but to notify anyone who had contact with me while I was out there. Considering the timeline, I believe I must have gotten it while in ptown.
I also want to remind folks that you still can get COVID after being vaccinated. I had both Moderna shots about 2 months ago.
Thankfully, and very likely because of the vaccine, my symptoms are very mild: dry cough, fatigue, but mostly, I just feel a little “off.”
Also, I want to apologize for having to cancel my last 4 shows in ptown. It broke my heart to have to do that but it clearly was a blessing in disguise, as I ended up having COVID.
Stay safe out there. If you are unvaccinated, have a look at the stats and the fact that the vast majority of COVID hospitalizations are those without the vaccine; some 99% of Covid deaths are those that are unvaccinated…take into consideration those who are unable to be vaccinated…
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As a follow up.
Boston urges Provincetown visitors to get tested for COVID-19, self-isolate
The Boston Public Health Commission said at least 35 COVID-19 cases in Boston residents have been traced back to a cluster in Provincetown, adding that the overwhelming majority of the patients were fully vaccinated.
The city's health commission issued new guidance Tuesday to all Boston residents who have traveled to Provincetown so far during the month of July and until further notice.
The city is telling visitors to the town to get tested for COVID-19 at least five days after returning, regardless of vaccination status or symptoms.
Boston health officials are also asking visitors to self-isolate and avoid groups or gatherings for at least five days and until they receive a negative COVID-19 test, regardless of vaccination status.
The new guidance comes 24 hours after Provincetown officials issued a public health advisory, following the recent uptick in COVID-19 cases.
https://www.wcvb.com/article/boston-urges-provincetown-visitors-to-get-tested-for-covid-19-self-isolate/37081934#
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Darn, that's a shame. Hope it's mild and that he doesn't suffer any long-term effects.
The transmission rate of the Delta variant is horrendous.
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^^^ People are underestimating DeltaV and our vaccine's ability to thwart DeltaV entry to cells. Going mask-less when we continue having a significant number of anti-vaxxers in the population is asking for trouble on break-thrus, escalating infection rates and further mutations. While most COVID19 cases may be "labeled mild" in the vaccinated, that does NOT mean they are less dangerous to the individuals - short or longer term. We just don't know for sure what "other effects" break-thru cases may cause down the road. We do understand that the virus attacks more organs than lung tissue so it could still call havoc and other longer term organ issues..... :(
I attended a funeral (one of those you MUST attend...) on 10 Jul near my home-town. Of the maybe 150 people there, 3 people (including me) had on masks and I was the only one wearing a true "N95". I was saddened but not surprised given it's political makeup feeds on a daily diet of "Fox Lies" and GOP radio propaganda.
My workplace is projecting to re-open in early September. I have very, very mixed feelings about that. For sure, I'm masking up and I might even fall back to my respirator since it's way more comfortable. Will see how all this plays. V.
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Mike Lindell is offering $5 million to anyone who can disprove his allegations of voter fraud - if they show up to his cyber symposium
Grace Dean & Hannah Towey - July 22, 2021
MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell, a staunch ally of former President Donald Trump and leading promoter of voter-fraud conspiracy theories, said he'd give $5 million to anyone who can disprove data that he claims shows election interference.
But there's a catch. To be eligible, you have to attend his upcoming cyber symposium, which is taking place in South Dakota between August 10 and 12.
And the event isn't open to the public, according to an ad for the event posted on Lindell's website Frank. Invitees include politicians, cybersecurity experts, and the media, though it will also be streamed for 72 hours on Frank.
Lindell said he wants the symposium to be the most-watched live event in history and is aiming for 1 billion people to watch it via his website, Salon's Zachary Petrizzo reported. He has reserved 800 rooms for the event, but few officials have said they will attend.
https://news.yahoo.com/mike-lindell-offering-5-million-145221602.html
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^^^^^
And of course he's going to say when nobody shows up to this, "See, they can't disprove it! ", not the fact that everyone has something better to do, like clip their toenail!!
What an absolute jacka**!
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Lindell [...] has reserved 800 rooms for the event, but few officials have said they will attend.
Well this is proof enough!!!
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Folks - buckle up and batten down the hatches. We are in for a rough, rough ride!
Here's the GOP's first run at overturning Roe v. Wade with those worthless last 3 SCOTUS appointments of the GOS/POS!
https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/mississippi-asks-supreme-court-overturn-roe-wade/story?id=79002802&cid=clicksource_4380645_1_heads_hero_live_headlines_hed
V.
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Conservative radio host hospitalized with COVID-19, urges vaccinations
By Lexi Lonas - 07/24/21
Conservative radio host Phil Valentine has been hospitalized after contracting the coronavirus, with his family saying he regrets not getting the vaccine.
His family said in a statement that he is suffering from “COVID Pneumonia” and is in the critical care unit. He needs breathing assistance but is not on a ventilator, Radio Online reported.
Valentine has hosted “The Phil Valentine Show” for years on WWTN, speaking to his audience for four hours on weekdays.
"Phil would like for his listeners to know that while he has never been an 'anti-vaxer' he regrets not being more vehemently 'Pro-Vaccine,' and looks forward to being able to more vigorously advocate that position as soon as he is back on the air, which we all hope will be soon," his family said in its statement.
https://thehill.com/homenews/media/564658-conservative-radio-host-hospitalized-with-covid-19-urges-vaccinations
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Man behind viral tweet 'I got 99 problems but a vax ain't one' dies of COVID-19 in SoCal hospital
A man who mocked COVID-19 vaccinations died this week at a Los Angeles-area hospital after contracting the virus.
Stephen Harmon was 34. Harmon died on Wednesday at Corona Regional Medical Center, about an hour's drive east of Los Angeles.
Stephen Harmon posted photos of himself in his hospital bed, wrote that he had pneumonia and critically low oxygen levels and was going to be intubated. In a tweet Wednesday, Harmon wrote: "Don’t know when I’ll wake up, please pray."
Three days before his death, Harmon tweeted: "If you don’t have faith that God can heal me over your stupid ventilator then keep the Hell out of my ICU room, there’s no room in here for fear or lack of faith!"
https://www.ktvu.com/news/man-behind-viral-tweet-i-got-99-problems-but-a-vax-aint-one-dies-of-covid-19-in-socal-hospital
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^^^ Karma is re-balancing their scales - sadly, too late for him to understand the error of his ways.
One of my most recent fears is how many kids are going to contract COVID, get very sick and some will die when forced back to school in FL, TX, MI, ... mask-less b/c their parent's are buying into the GOP / anti-vaxxer lies. I was floored with DEATHSantis on TV proclaiming "our children in FL need to breathe!" What he omitted was "and keep breathing!"... the bigoted arrogant SOB.
It was not too long ago that Polio ravaged this country and was every parent's nightmare diagnosis. Far too many of today's parents have never seen an "iron lung" and have zero concept of being paralyzed for life by a virus. They have forgotten what the Salk polio vaccine did to free the country and the world from this awful debilitating and deadly virus. BUT, I bet their parents and these kid's grandparents have not forgotten.
Where would the USA be if all the anti-vaxxer, fear-mongering, lies and GOP BS had been around then?
During the 1950's and 1960's WE understood our social responsibility and respect for other's health and our community well-being.
Now has the USG always done right by the public? No. So it's not a blanket of perfection...but damn this "I'm a bad-ass and no virus is going to get me!" or "My kids don't need your Faucci COVID vaccine!" is so far beyond my reality of understanding that you would risk your children's lives! Are these folks hearts and minds that warped and hardened by the GOP lies, dogma, and daily rhetoric?
Chuck, I agree. I temper my wishes and try not to go there. My soul hurts for the younger kids who will do what their parent's say and get sick and die as a result. It's just horrible when kids die. To temper that, I have to remember the scales of karma do not always seem fair when the innocent have to pay such high prices. That's beyond my control and well if you do believe in higher powers - maybe that's in play.
I'm guessing when people's children start getting deathly ill with COVID and some die, it might be a "too-late" wake up call...but then again, see the above posts with the religious fanatic: "If you don’t have faith that God can heal me over your stupid ventilator then keep the Hell out of my ICU room, there’s no room in here for fear or lack of faith!" Religious dogma always has a "out-of-the-corner"... V.
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Thank goodness those who denigrated the smallpox or polio vaccines back then didn't have a way to communicate with each other and feed each other's fears.
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I'm truly trying to censor my feelings on this matter, as I don't believe anyone should suffer or die, but I find it very hard to have sympathy for people like that, who blatantly opt to not listen to convention and spread misinformation.
I sometimes often wonder if this is our own way of evolving and 'thinning the herd'.
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There were marches in Australian cities yesterday (where new lockdowns have just started) and my sister has just told me that many had religious messages. As she said, it has now turned her completely off religion. We use to go to church together when I went over to visit her but not any more.
I know my church (Anglican/Episcopalian) is encouraging vaccination but they are anti euthanasia which was the final straw for me. I now believe the world would be better without any religions. I do not donate to any religious charities, there are many others now. I do like the music which is the only thing that attracts me to services a few times per year. (And in my early 20's I wanted to be a priest????)
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I'm truly trying to censor my feelings on this matter, as I don't believe anyone should suffer or die, but I find it very hard to have sympathy for people like that, who blatantly opt to not listen to convention and spread misinformation.
I sometimes often wonder if this is our own way of evolving and 'thinning the herd'.
The more this thing goes on, the more I believe this is truly the case. Even though I jokingly talk about Mother Nature getting even, no matter whether you call it Mother Nature, evolution, the earth, or by any other name, whatever force is at work here, I feel it can only be 'whatever label you give it's', way of reducing the population, helping to cleanse the earth before it is ruined beyond redemption.
I am by no means putting a religious connotation on this at all, just a natural cleansing of everything around us to help put nature back in balance. The human race certainly is not working towards this, so it has been taken out of our hands, so to speak
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Very much in line with the Gaia Hypothesis.
"Gaia Hypothesis
In 1970, chemist James Lovelock and his research partner Lynn Margulis (the wife of Carl Sagan at the time) proposed that the earth is a living being, self-regulating the elements to sustain life on it. This revolutionary hypothesis was seen as heretical, but has since been accepted as fact; a theory, no longer a hypothesis."
Although I do not agree with the last part, it is a theory not a fact.
https://www.gaia.com/article/meaning-of-gaia
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There were marches in Australian cities yesterday (where new lockdowns have just started) and my sister has just told me that many had religious messages. As she said, it has now turned her completely off religion. We use to go to church together when I went over to visit her but not any more.
I know my church (Anglican/Episcopalian) is encouraging vaccination but they are anti euthanasia which was the final straw for me. I now believe the world would be better without any religions. I do not donate to any religious charities, there are many others now. I do like the music which is the only thing that attracts me to services a few times per year. (And in my early 20's I wanted to be a priest????)
I don't donate to religious charities either. Like you said, there are so many others that could use the money.
As for euthanasia, I'm not sure that is a decision I would make, but I don't see why that option isn't open to others who would want it.
There is even a design for a "Euthanasia Coaster", a thrill ride that by the end of the ride, any riders on the coaster would be dead.
In 2010, it was designed and made into a scale model by Lithuanian artist Julijonas Urbonas, a PhD candidate at the Royal College of Art in London. Urbonas, who has worked at an amusement park, stated that the goal of his concept roller coaster is to take lives "with elegance and euphoria". As for practical applications of his design, Urbonas mentioned "euthanasia" or "execution". John Allen, who served as president of the Philadelphia Toboggan Company, inspired Urbonas with his description of the "ultimate" roller coaster as one that "sends out 24 people and they all come back dead".
The concept design of the layout begins with a steep-angled lift to the 510-metre (1,670 ft) top, which would take two minutes for the train to reach. Any passengers that wished to get off could then do so. From there, a 500-metre (1,600 ft) drop would take the train to 360 kilometres per hour (220 mph), close to its terminal velocity, before flattening out and speeding into the first of its seven slightly clothoid inversions. Each inversion would have a smaller diameter than the one before in order to maintain the lethal 10 g to passengers while the train loses speed. After a sharp right-hand turn the train would enter a straight, where unloading of corpses and loading of new passengers could take place.
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The more this thing goes on, the more I believe this is truly the case. Even though I jokingly talk about Mother Nature getting even, no matter whether you call it Mother Nature, evolution, the earth, or by any other name, whatever force is at work here, I feel it can only be 'whatever label you give it's', way of reducing the population, helping to cleanse the earth before it is ruined beyond redemption.
I am by no means putting a religious connotation on this at all, just a natural cleansing of everything around us to help put nature back in balance. The human race certainly is not working towards this, so it has been taken out of our hands, so to speak
Very much in line with the Gaia Hypothesis.
"Gaia Hypothesis
In 1970, chemist James Lovelock and his research partner Lynn Margulis (the wife of Carl Sagan at the time) proposed that the earth is a living being, self-regulating the elements to sustain life on it. This revolutionary hypothesis was seen as heretical, but has since been accepted as fact; a theory, no longer a hypothesis."
Although I do not agree with the last part, it is a theory not a fact.
https://www.gaia.com/article/meaning-of-gaia
I'm glad to see I'm not the only one who has had this idea. Brian, thanks for that link. I've never heard of the Gaia Hypothesis. Like you, I wouldn't consider it a fact, but very interesting.
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A long time ago, probably the 1980's, I outlined this theory to my advanced Geography students in a Catholic High School.
Later they came and complained to me, that instead of playing footy or whatever at recess they had sat and argued about it. I considered it one of my most successful lessons ever. ;D
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Bob Moses, civil rights legend, dead at age 86
By Rachel Trent - July 25, 2021
Civil rights legend Bob Moses died at age 86, according to a statement from NAACP President Derrick Johnson.
A cause of death was not immediately known.
Moses was born in New York City in January 1935 and grew up in Harlem, according to his biography on Stanford University's King Encyclopedia of civil rights figures. He earned a master's degree in philosophy from Harvard University in 1957.
In the late 1950's he began working on the civil rights movement, joining the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and traveling with the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee.
Moses was the architect of the 1964 voter registration campaign, the Mississippi Freedom Summer Project, among several other civil rights projects.
He was a leader in the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee in Mississippi when three civil rights workers were murdered by a group of men that included a Mississippi deputy sheriff. He also helped lead an ill-fated attempt to sit African-American delegates from Mississippi at the segregated 1964 Democratic National Convention.
https://www.cnn.com/2021/07/25/us/bob-moses-civil-rights-leader-death/index.html
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Meteor wows Norway after blazing through night sky
By Joshua Nevett - 07/25/2021
Norwegians have been left awestruck by a bright meteor that illuminated the night sky in the country's south-east.
Footage shows powerful flashes of light over Norway, followed by what witnesses described as loud bangs on Sunday.
Norwegian police say they received a flurry of emergency calls but there were no reports of injuries or damage.
A team of experts are hunting for the meteorite, which they believe landed in a forest near the capital, Oslo.
A meteor is a space rock that burns brightly after entering Earth's atmosphere at high speed. It becomes known as a meteorite if it survives its passage to the ground.
The Norwegian Meteor Network says Sunday's fireball was visible for at least five seconds after it appeared at about 01:00 local time (23:00 GMT).
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-57962384
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I saw this earlier and forgot to post - interesting? The GOS + WH buried it all. Now we are stuck with that lying SOB for the next 30 years.
https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/democrats-demand-answers-fbi-handled-brett-kavanaugh-inquiry/story?id=79015131
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Written in The New Yorker, 11/9/16:
All along, Trump seemed like a twisted caricature of every rotten reflex of the radical right. That he has prevailed, that he has won this election, is a crushing blow to the spirit; it is an event that will likely cast the country into a period of economic, political and social uncertainty that we cannot yet imagine. That the electorate has, in its plurality, decided to live in Trump's world of vanity, hate, arrogance, untruth, and recklessness, his disdain for democratic norms, is a fact that will lead, inevitably, to all manner of national decline and suffering. It's all a dismal picture and one that will scar the American nation long after this tragedy unfolds. But despair is no answer. To combat authoritarianism, to call out lies, to struggle honorably and fiercely in the name of American ideals--that is what is left to do. That is all there is to do.
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California And NYC Public Employees, As Well As VA Health Workers, Have New Vaccine Mandates
Nicole Fallert - July 26, 2021
In a bid to counter what some officials have described as a “pandemic of the unvaccinated,” the most populous US state, the country's largest city, and the first federal agency all announced on Monday new vaccine mandates for public employees.
The decisions by officials in California, New York City, and the Department of Veterans Affairs to require vaccines or proof of a negative test come as COVID-19 cases spike again across the nation, fueled by the highly contagious Delta variant, reopened businesses, and continued vaccine hesitancy among a minority of Americans. More than 97% of Americans currently being hospitalized with COVID-19 are unvaccinated, the CDC recently reported.
In California, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced that starting next month, all state workers, healthcare workers, and those who work in “high-risk congregate settings” will need to show proof of full vaccination or get tested once a week.
“We are now dealing with a pandemic of the unvaccinated, and it’s going to take renewed efforts to protect Californians from the dangerous Delta variant,” Newsom said in a statement.
https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/nicolefallert/covid-vaccine-requirements-california-new-york-veterans
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'We are now in crisis mode': Mayor of Florida county home to Disney World sounds alarm on surging Covid cases
By Devan Cole - July 27, 2021
The mayor of the Florida county that's home to Disney World and Universal Studios is sounding the alarm on a spike of Covid-19 cases in the area, saying the county is now in "crisis mode" as it grapples with its worsening infection rate.
"These numbers are extraordinary. We are seeing nearly 1,000 new cases in Orange County daily. Those are the numbers we saw at the highest peak last year," Mayor Jerry Demings, a Democrat, said Monday during a news conference. "So a thousand a day is extraordinary. We are now in crisis mode."
Urging the county's residents to get vaccinated, Demings added: "We, as a community, need to work together to slow the spread."
"Residents are still getting vaccinated, but at a slow pace. We need to move the needle faster. 61.59% of Orange County residents ages 12 and above have had at least one shot of the vaccine," he said.
https://www.cnn.com/2021/07/26/politics/florida-jerry-demings-covid-warning-amusement-parks/index.html
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“We are now dealing with a pandemic of the unvaccinated, and it’s going to take renewed efforts to protect Californians from the dangerous Delta variant,” Newsom said in a statement.
It's really beyond me that when you see the statistics showing that, with minuscule exceptions, everyone being hospitalized with COVID is unvaccinated, that you would not get vaccinated. Why should those people not be referred to as stupid idiots.
It's like someone's house is on fire, but they refuse to let the fire department put water on it.
(https://images.dailykos.com/images/969022/large/220207263_10221559702236854_7115364624905967012_n.jpg)
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(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/E68NaHTXsAIzLJx?format=jpg)
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“We are now dealing with a pandemic of the unvaccinated, and it’s going to take renewed efforts to protect Californians from the dangerous Delta variant,” Newsom said in a statement.
It's really beyond me that when you see the statistics showing that, with minuscule exceptions, everyone being hospitalized with COVID is unvaccinated, that you would not get vaccinated. Why should those people not be referred to as stupid idiots.
It's like someone's house is on fire, but they refuse to let the fire department put water on it.
(https://images.dailykos.com/images/969022/large/220207263_10221559702236854_7115364624905967012_n.jpg)
Way too true.
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(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/E68NaHTXsAIzLJx?format=jpg)
:laugh:
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Biden will announce vaccination requirement across federal government on Thursday
By Phil Mattingly and Jason Hoffman - July 27, 2021
President Joe Biden will announce on Thursday a requirement that all federal employees and contractors be vaccinated against Covid-19, or be required to submit to regular testing and mitigation requirements, according to a source with direct knowledge of the matter.
The announcement will come in remarks where Biden is also expected to lay out a series of new steps, including incentives, in an attempt to spur new vaccinations as the Delta variant spreads rapidly throughout the country. It will also follow the decision by the Department of Veterans Affairs to require its frontline health care workers to be vaccinated over the course of the next two months.
Biden alluded to the looming announcement on Tuesday.
"That's under consideration right now," Biden said, when asked if he would impose a vaccination mandate on federal workers.
https://www.cnn.com/2021/07/27/politics/vaccine-mandate-for-federal-employees-under-consideration/index.html
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^^^
I'm all for it, but you know what we'll be hearing...any number of lunatic responses from R's, right wing news etc. and shouts of my FREEDOM's being infringed and any other things they can ratchet up in crazy town.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/E7DkE0RWUAMg_M7.jpg)
If you google image search "If Titanic sank in 2021" you'll find several of these. Some are better, :D.
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GOP liaison to Arizona audit says he is resigning, won't be 'rubber stamp' on final report
By Allan Smith and Jane C. Timm - July 28, 2021
The Republican serving as liaison between the Arizona state Senate and the private company conducting a partisan ballot review said Wednesday he intends to resign, citing his inability to back the final product.
Ken Bennett, a former Arizona secretary of state, said he made the decision after it became clear he would not regain access to the Phoenix fairgrounds where the private company, Cyber Ninjas, continues its examination of millions of ballots cast last November in Maricopa County.
"Right now I’m the liaison in name only," he told conservative radio host James Harris Wednesday. "I don’t know if that makes me a LINO or what."
Bennett, who has been the public face of the review, was first barred from entering the audit site Friday after he shared some results with outside election experts, according to The Arizona Republic. Those experts told the paper that what they reviewed indicated the auditors' vote tally was in line with the results reported by the county.
"I’ve always tried to act as a man of integrity and honesty and I’m sure I don’t accomplish that all the time, but I cannot put a rubber stamp on a product I am being locked out of its development," he said Wednesday. "I’m going to step down today. I’ll issue a statement later for the press later this morning."
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/gop-liaison-arizona-audit-says-he-resigning-won-t-be-n1275285
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If he had any integrity, why was he a liaison to those people in the first place?
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very good question, Fritzie.
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^^^^ Far too many honest GOPers, assuming there are any left, have been conned by Donny-the-Con better known as the GOS, and hoodwinked by the .01% for more than 40 years to believe in their lies. Now toss in Russian meddling, Fox Lies, and FB social media it’s hard for them to know fact from fiction anymore living in the great lie bubble.
Stay safe. Wear a mask. Stay alive. Peace.
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That Arizona audit, going on as long as it has--imagine if they were actually counting votes to see who won in a real election? This is just one county in one state--but the game here is that they don't want to really find anything. It's a scheme to get people to support them whereby they make a lot of money pushing the lie and it doesn't ever really go away. (They have tallied 5.7 million dollars so far from pro-Trump groups. Why should they stop counting now when the money's still pouring in?) And they get people continually worked up into a frenzy about it along with taking their money.
The audit chugs on in self-induced darkness...
While the tabulation of the votes is supposedly complete, this week top Republicans in the Arizona Senate issued subpoenas demanding even more election materials from the county.
What’s the real objective here?
While in theory, audit proponents recognize their schemes will have no effect on a completely settled 2020 presidential outcome, millions of Trump voters have become convinced by viral misinformation that the audits will enable him to return to power as early as August. They will presumably have an enhanced sense of grievance against the “rigged election” when that doesn’t happen.
The ultimate objective of all this chicanery is to keep the “stolen election” lie alive long enough to make it a rationale for Trump’s next adventures, including a comeback bid if he decides that’s what he wants to do. The terrible damage he’s inflicted on the democratic institutions whose integrity he claims to cherish doesn’t seem to concern him.
https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/arizona-election-audit-explainer.html
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^^^^ Yeap, keep the weak minded lemming GOPers sending in cash all in support of "the big lie" and that doesn't happen if the "lie" does not stay in the news - especially the Fox Lies and other GOP news propaganda channels. Funny thing is if they find "nothing but maybe a few miscounted votes, it behooves them to keep "counting".... b/c if the outcome is really, "they were right all long" there goes the big lie at least in AZ... Hell, the county already has to spend millions of $ buying new voting machines as these have been totally out of the valid chain of custody. The damn GOPer should be made to pay for that... V.
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^^^^ Yeap, keep the weak minded lemming GOPers sending in cash all in support of "the big lie" and that doesn't happen if the "lie" does not stay in the news - especially the Fox Lies and other GOP news propaganda channels. Funny thing is if they find "nothing but maybe a few miscounted votes, it behooves them to keep "counting".... b/c if the outcome is really, "they were right all long" there goes the big lie at least in AZ... Hell, the county already has to spend millions of $ buying new voting machines as these have been totally out of the valid chain of custody. The damn GOPer should be made to pay for that... V.
you know that's not gonna happen.
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Trump’s false election fraud claims fuel Michigan GOP meltdown
By Nolan D. McCaskill - 07/30/2021
Joe Biden defeated Donald Trump by more than 150,000 votes in Michigan last November.
Trump and the Michigan Republican Party still aren’t over it.
The outcome — and the former president’s obsessive efforts to dispute it — has left the state party in disarray, raising questions about the GOP’s focus as it looks to unseat Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer in a top battleground state next year.
“From a staff and leadership perspective, I don’t know that top-notch professionals would want to go into this quagmire,” said Jeff Timmer, a former Michigan GOP executive director who opposed Trump. “Unless you’re going to talk crazy talk, they don’t want you there.”
Much of the trouble can be traced to the 2020 presidential election results, which Trump and his allies have alleged were marked by fraud without providing evidence.
https://www.politico.com/news/2021/07/30/michigan-gop-trump-election-fraud-501701
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'It didn't seem real': Family reunion leads to multiple breakthrough COVID-19 cases
By Katherine Cook - 07/31/2021
After it was postponed in 2020, Niki Marienburg’s family reunion had all the markings of being something special.
“We were excited to be together,” said Marienburg, who lives in Portland.
She and 28 other family members from around the country stayed in Sunriver for 10 days in late June. Most of the family members were fully vaccinated and Marienburg said no one wore masks.
“We had a great time,” said Marienburg. “It was so nice, we were all hugging each other because it's been so long.”
Two days after the reunion ended, Marienburg said a cousin texted family members that she felt sick before testing positive for COVID-19.
“It sort of snowballed and we got text messages from other people in the family who actually tested positive,” said Marienburg. “It was like one of those stories you hear on the news — like, it just seemed not real. It didn't seem true.”
https://www.kgw.com/article/news/local/real-family-reunion-leads-to-breakthrough-covid-cases/283-d1fc3b02-3a9e-4897-b384-ff235c8eb6cd
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I read that people (and businesses) who have been vaccinated and follow COVID protocol safety are starting to get fed up with all the covidiots. (Starting to?) They must be dealt with and the sooner the better. (And it's better for them, that's how insane this is.)
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I read that people (and businesses) who have been vaccinated and follow COVID protocol safety are starting to get fed up with all the covidiots. (Starting to?) They must be dealt with and the sooner the better. (And it's better for them, that's how insane this is.)
I believe that the covidiots are here to stay, just like Covid.
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I believe that the covidiots are here to stay, just like Covid.
They're starting to sound like Old Testament tribes: The Trumpites, the Covidiots--and the Scientologists?
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They're starting to sound like Old Testament tribes: The Trumpites, the Covidiots--and the Scientologists?
:laugh:
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The insanity of the Anti-Vax people is truly something I cannot fathom. I have done EVERYTHING asked by the CDC and other Gov't agencies, both Federal, State and Local. I got the vaccine too. I'm truly SICK of wearing a mask everywhere. And now, because of people who 'fear' the vaccine, or Gov't, we are nearly back to square ONE with this newest variant, Delta. Plus, more variants on the horizon. So people like me have to pay the price for all those who fear the vaccine, and Gov't. LORD! Where would we be if this happened during the Polio or Smallpox vaccine campaigns? HUH? I do all the COVID safety measures/recommendations, not for ME, but for my neighbors and fellow citizens. I just don't get it why we're in this current quagmire! >:( ??? ::) :"> :-\
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I hear you, Jonn. I see things on my FB feed by people, and I'm amazed by it. The sheer ignorance just blows me away.
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^^^^ $$ -Humanity has lost a true sense of a larger purpose, a true sense of community and our greater good for our neighbors!
All of these critical social elements have been purposely eroded and systematically destroyed by the greedy GOP - on purpose, over the past 50 years.
I said to myself more than a year ago, "until COVID starts killing people these Covidiots know (and care about) - quickly - it's not ever going to be "real" to them. Very sadly, until COVID starts killing innocent kids - it's not real to their parents either." I also hate to think this may be where the virus is heading but COVID ramping up the R0 infection vector is another warning shot over humanity. If COVID19/DeltaV morphs into something even more infectious and then morphs to more deadly, like Ebola, where people literally "melt" from the inside out and the kill rate is 90+%... that might finally create the human cooperation and a stampede to the generous "free" vaccination centers to get vaccinated. It will be a health crisis unlike we've seen - even to date - but we are heading there if people do not get vaccinated.
Sadly, ramping death rates in the un-vaccinated might open eyes, even in the GOP controlled states like FL where politicians like Death-Santis are running the show to their favor and base by creating more discourse instead of cooperation. Now those viral stats are escalating exponentially - just as the "fake" science predicted about the "fake" virus.
It troubles me greatly that a lot of innocent people will become infected and die unnecessarily in MO, AR, LA, MS, AL GA, SC, FL, TX - those very red GOP strangleholds.
Hospital corridors lined with patient beds and people on ventilators for months, and reports of people texting from their death beds, "I wish I'd gotten the damn shot..." is all portrayed as "fake news" and the social media titans have failed miserably to shut down the BS and lies, b/c any conflict amplifies their profits. If there was EVER a real conflict of interest, it's there.
I personally hope that the US Congress will muster up the balls to go after the social media giants and strip them of Section 230 protections. This will unleash a wave a legal suits against them - aka like the "big tobacco take-down" only this time, it's "Democracy" in the balance and people's lives.
The light at the end of our long COVID tunnel is no longer growing brighter. It will dim further until we as a people, as a community, as a country grit our teeth, get vaccinated, wear masks, and take the precautions necessary for the greater good. It's not that fracking difficult.
Stay safe, stay alive. Peace.
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You're right, and until those people have to pay some kind of price, they won't budge. From what I understand is the NFL has come up with "you have to be vaccinated" ...or... "you have to be tested every day", basically. One player said that more people have gotten the vaccine because it's a pain in the ass to be tested every day. It needs to happen on a national level. No vaccine, no flying on a plane, etc. (I understand that until the vaccine is taken off "emergency use" and put in to the regular use category (not sure of the terminology) that it can't be mandated widely.
-Humanity has lost a true sense of a larger purpose, a true sense of community and our greater good for our neighbors!
I was reading a recent book about WWII where one of the interviewees was talking about that period of time. Something she said caught my attention; she was saying, and keep in mind this was published 2-3 years ago..."back then the country's attitude, when the war came was a sense of duty. Duty to your country and duty to your fellow man to help out in the ways you could help out. And everyone did. It was a national emergency. There was a sense of collectiveness that we'd do what we had to do or, at the very least, one would do something. I get a sense now the national mood is all about 'rights'. Not rights as a whole, but 'my' rights. Mine trump yours. A person's rights are important, but one must not be selfish about your own rights when it comes to the public good."
All slowly eroded and destroyed by the greedy GOP politics - on purpose, slowly over the past 50 years.
It probably goes back even decades before that. A news magazine program I was watching a year ago was showing the roots of this back in the early 1900's. The basic premise is that the GOP hates Government, so that the extent they can get away with it, they don't want it to do anything. And, yes, that element of greed you mention has to be part of that. So the fact they don't want it to do anything, that's how they act when they're in power.
If one has any chance, whether online or with actual people one knows or comes in contact with, that supports the GOP, you must just pose this to them: What is the GOP offering you in exchange for the power they seek?
Maybe some of them will think about that. You never know what will stick.
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^^^
In that vein, you know what Republicans are offering the voters of California? A recall election that, if successful, would remove the Dem. Governor (Newsom) for less than one year prior to the next election for Governor. Estimated cost of this Republican coup attempt: $276 MILLION DOLLARS.
Registered Democrats outnumber registered Republicans, by 2-1, but, of course, R's are more enthusiastic about disruption and so I would not say this is a done deal. Because of a law, though, from 2019, because of the pandemic, it's still in effect that every registered voter will receive a ballot in the mail. If Dems can't fill out a ballot sent to them in the mail, then I give up.
A recent polls says that Californians do not approve of the recall of Newsom, but of those likely to cast votes, it's even split. (WTF?) And in these times, the uncertainties — notably over the pandemic, wildfires and power blackouts for now — mean nothing is certain.
The thing about the recall rules in this state...the thing that bugs me the most is...
The first thing you vote for is "Do you want to recall the Governor? Yes or No.
The second thing is... IF the vote is to recall the Governor, which candidate do you want to replace him? ...and this is the thing that bugs me the most... ANYONE can put their name on the ballot to be a replacement candidate. Normally, the party of the person who's Gov. doesn't want to put anyone on the ballot as it gives a sense of doubt about the person who IS trying to be recalled. So Republicans and attention seekers always vie to get on the ballot. There are 46 people on the ballot and the one with the most votes would be Gov. if the recall goes through. So who might that be this time? Larry Elder? Caitlyn Jenner? Angelyne?
Remember in the Georgia Senate race that the November election day vote had the top two candidates receiving less than 50% of the vote? If either had reached 50% they would've been Senator. But they went to a runoff between the top two. In this case in CA, theoretically, if the votes were pretty evenly split, you could win with 3% of the total vote. And a whole lot of people who vote NO on the recall don't even put down a choice. But even with 30% of the vote this would be rotten. And the CA Republicans have already started a disinformation campaign saying that you should just vote for one of the 46 candidates and not vote YES or NO. They say this will invalidate the vote, which IT WILL NOT. It just means that a vote will go to one of the Republican candidates and not against the recall.
This is maddening. Hopefully, it's needless worrying and it won't happen. A Governor being recalled has only successfully happened twice in the entire history of the U.S., but one of those was here in 2003.
Everything to Know about this CA recall is here, if you want to know about it:
https://www.latimes.com/politics/story/2021-07-30/newsom-california-recall-election-everything-to-know
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^^^ The quote is chillingly correct.
The people who lived thru the major WW and depression have a totally different "community attitude" and sense of duty for the country. The splinter is (and the quote is right there too) today is the GOP is making it all about "my rights" (via "states rights"). This is directly from the GOP's dogma and divisive playbook for the ~ last 100 years. There have been several TV series done on FDR's "New Deal" and why the uber rich (GOPers) hated the success of FDR's program to pull America out of the great depression! They thought they could do it better and get rich(er) doing it too! (Look for Ken Burn's special on FDR). The GOP despises FDR's New Deal then and NOW. Yes, you are correct... the GOP's conniving has a long history and it all started around FDR's "New Deal" when power was taken from the "industry titans", the Rockefellers, Vanderbuilts, JP Morgan, ... The GOP has been trying to "undo" TND ever since. With each passing year they sink lower and lower into the quagmire of no-morals and selling their souls to the devil.
During the past ~50 years, the GOP has made more "in-roads" into unraveling FDR's "New Deal", through various moves - starting with Regan's election (again based on voodoo economics lies) and selling the weak-minded GOPers that "government is the problem" (which is what they wanted to hear!!) Today, the GOP recently ravaged the voting rights act which kept shit like the Jim-Crow-like election laws from being enacted by states - which is now happening. They also stole 2 SCOTUS seats, held up 100's judicial appointments until they has the power to appoint GOP bigoted judges, they are/have laser-precisioning/ed gerrymandering state governments to keep themselves in power, where they gave themselves huge tax cuts, ... and the list goes on. Growl.. I need a good strong drink now! ;)
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You're correct, of course, and did you have that drink?
And you left out their pact with the religious fundamentalist crazies who they pander to for votes with their one-issue concerns...marriage equality (and LGBT issues) and abortion being the most common. (Even arch conservative Barry Goldwater warned against the party embracing those nut jobs. And if the conservatives didn't even listen to Barry Goldwater, you know how nuts they are. On hindsight, Barry had conservative views, but isn't the radical nut job he was painted to be.)
And Rupert Murdoch (a foreigner!) needs a reckoning.
I hear Joni:
Don't it always seem to go
That you don't know what you got 'til it's gone
They paved paradise and put up a parking lot.
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Goldwater was quite reasonable, especially by comparison to today's GOP. He has no objection to gay people in the Military, even way back when. He said something to the effect, "You don't have to be straight to shoot straight."
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Slight correction Lyle. Rupert Murdoch became an American citizen in 1985 and due to the law in those days had to give up his Australian citizenship.
You are welcome to him :D
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Slight correction Lyle. Rupert Murdoch became an American citizen in 1985 and due to the law in those days had to give up his Australian citizenship.
You are welcome to him :D
:laugh: :laugh:
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When I said Murdoch was a foreigner, I was thinking in terms of "immigrant" which riles up the Trumpists and yet they're attached to his news channel, but I see being a U.S. citizen didn't stop him from taking COVID refuge for himself and his family in Australia because the country was handling it better.
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(https://i.pinimg.com/236x/0c/1c/2d/0c1c2df627aa9a684dcb78eeb6be769d.jpg)
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Surprise, surprise!
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^^^ Blisteringly accurate.... Sadly - :(
Another vantage to consider is: one is used to sow terror and death to innocents, the other to prevent terror and death to innocents. Hmm, in a longer view, could karma be balancing the scales all these years later? Karma's timeline is quite long and can be inter-generational. Another Biblical analogy would be "reaping what your sow..." that they might recall.... better.... maybe.... long-shot. V.
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Target to pay 100% of college tuition and textbooks in bid to attract workers
Melissa Repko - 8/04/21
Target said Wednesday it will offer new perks to woo workers: a debt-free way to get a college degree and payments toward graduate programs.
Starting this fall, the big-box retailer said it will cover the cost of tuition, fees and textbooks for part- and full-time workers who pursue a qualifying undergraduate degree at more than 40 institutions. It will also fund advanced degrees, paying up to $10,000 each year for master's programs at those schools.
The national retailer is the latest company to dangle perks to attract job candidates in a competitive labor market. With the move, Target joins other retailers and restaurant chains — including Chipotle and Starbucks — that have programs that help employees pay for college. Walmart recently announced it would cover the full cost of college tuition and books for its employees, after previously requiring them to pay $1 a day.
https://www.cnbc.com/amp/2021/08/04/target-rolls-out-debt-free-college-degrees-to-woo-retail-workers.html
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Walmart recently announced it would cover the full cost of college tuition and books for its employees, after previously requiring them to pay $1 a day.
I actually think this is better, paying $1 a day, or paying something, requiring some commitment. People seem to value things more if they work for it, instead of it being given to them. Thoughts?
Plus, now I'm wondering, how does this work? What if you are a lousy employee and get fired? For example.
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I'm not sure how that would work, but that's an interesting question.
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Plus, now I'm wondering, how does this work? What if you are a lousy employee and get fired? For example.
Well, if you get fired from a job, you lose your benefits, so I image you would lose this one, too.
I guess if you're in, say, your third semester, and that's already been paid for, they won't pay for any more.
You would hope they wouldn't expect you to pay back what they've already paid.
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Well, if you get fired from a job, you lose your benefits, so I image you would lose this one, too.
I guess if you're in, say, your third semester, and that's already been paid for, they won't pay for any more.
You would hope they wouldn't expect you to pay back what they've already paid.
Yeah, that would be something to look for in the 'fine print'.
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I read this morning (I think it was from Reuters) that four police officers who responded Jan. 6 have since died by suicide.
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I read this morning (I think it was from Reuters) that four police officers who responded Jan. 6 have since died by suicide.
Yes, I've heard that as well.
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I hate to think how the religious right and the base will use this info to denigrate them.
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^^^ yeap there’s nothing they won’t do. So so sad. It breaks my soul that these national HEROES are not able to find their way through this darkness. Where’s their help? Their families should sue the GOP, GOS and anybody else who egged those SOB on. V
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Saw some of that crazy-ass interview with the Pillow Guy on CNN, GOOD GOD, what a messed-up mind he has live with everyday! :o
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Yeah, he's not in his right mind.
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And yet the true believers consider him a John the Baptist to the X's Jesus.
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Saw some of that crazy-ass interview with the Pillow Guy on CNN, GOOD GOD, what a messed-up mind he has live with everyday! :o
MyPillow Guy Punts Timeline for Trump Retaking Power as Conspiracy Theories Get Wackier
Kelly Weill - Aug. 03, 2021
The prophecy failed in December, in January, and in March. Twice.
But now, claim conspiratorial fans of Donald Trump, the fabled month is finally upon us. In August, some of the most fringe voices in the ex-president’s sprawling universe of followers and adjacent conspiracists still seem to think Trump will be reinstated.
That is, if the conspiracy theory’s author doesn’t reschedule again.
When Trump lost re-election in November, he and some of his more stalwart supporters insisted he would soon be reinstalled for a second term, perhaps following a review of votes (which ultimately confirmed Joe Biden’s victory) or an Inauguration Day military intervention (never happened) or even one of multiple alternate inaugurations in March (also did not happen).
Undeterred, a faction of Trump fans predicted that he would reclaim his throne this month. The baseless theory has piqued Trump’s interest, helped inspire at least two Homeland Security warnings about a heightened risk of far-right violence, and now appears to be driving far-right QAnon voices to connect Trump’s return with the latest coronavirus surge.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/mypillow-guy-mike-lindell-punts-timeline-for-trump-retaking-power-as-august-conspiracy-theories-get-wackier
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Watch a defensive Mike Lindell get fact-checked by CNN over his baseless claims that China hacked the election
Grace Dean - 08/06/21
MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell was fact-checked by a CNN reporter over his baseless voter-fraud claims on Thursday — and he wasn't happy about it.
Lindell said the reporter, CNN's Drew Griffin, was wrong, accused him of lying, and even offered him a hug.
Lindell has repeatedly challenged the integrity of the 2020 election. In an interview with Griffin, Lindell said he had proof that "100%" showed China hacked the election and changed votes from Donald Trump to Joe Biden.
Lindell said he would reveal his proof at a so-called "cyber symposium" due to take place in South Dakota next week.
https://www.businessinsider.com/mike-lindell-voter-fraud-election-donald-trump-biden-china-cnn-2021-8
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New guidelines will call for third COVID shot for vulnerable people
Cassidy Morrison - Sat, August 7, 2021
Biden administration officials are expected to change tack with a recommendation that immunocompromised people receive a third dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, facing pressure from vaccine experts who argue those patients are still vulnerable to the disease.
The administration is close to resolving just one part of the debate over the necessity of booster shots, the Wall Street Journal reported. The Food and Drug Administration expects to release updated clinical vaccine guidelines as soon as September, allowing for a third dose in the relatively small subset of people with fragile immune systems.
Federal health officials have also faced public pressure to issue guidelines for distributing third doses to people with fully functional immune systems, a move the World Health Organization condemned this week, citing dismal vaccine supplies in developing countries.
https://news.yahoo.com/guidelines-call-third-covid-shot-100200507.html
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Watch a defensive Mike Lindell get fact-checked by CNN over his baseless claims that China hacked the election
I saw this interview yesterday. The willingness of people to hitch their wagons to complete idiots is mind blowing, numbing and really infuriating.
In the interview, one of Lindell's specific claims in a Republican County (I forget the state) was about those vote tallies being hacked and changed. The CNN reporter went to the county and spoke to the woman, a Republican election official, and he asked her about this. Her reply was that this specific claim was impossible, because those votes were all hand counted and were never online anywhere so hacking was impossible.
But that won't deter Lindell or other crazies who "just know" what the truth is. "Facts? We don't need no stinking facts, we just know."
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We're back to masks indoors here in Philadelphia,
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I got my Recall Election Ballot in the mail today. It's so infuriating how much this one item election is costing the CA taxpayers up to $278 million dollars, for what? Even if the recall is successful there's another election for Governor--next year! Stupid ass Republicans.
Notable names you may know of the 46 names on the ballot to replace Gov. Newsom if successful: Caitlyn Jenner, Larry Elder and Angelyne.
On the ballot the names are listed along with party preference, if any, and occupation.
--There are 24 Republicans, 10 no preference, 9 Democrats, 2 Green Party and 1 Libertarian.
--There are 39 men and 7 women.
--There are 2 Republicans who want us to know they're fathers and 2 that want us to know they're mothers.
--There are 2 Republican pastors, 1 retail store worker and 3 farmers.
--One of those farmers is also a psychologist.
--2 replacement candidates are retired. ?
--1 Republican is a Multifamily Developer. Which may mean he's a bigamist.
--We also have 1 "Actor/Screenwriter/Producer", 1 musician, 1 Aircraft Mechanic/Actor (?), and 2 Entertainers.
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Now, really. What did they expect would happen in Afghanistan once the U.S. pulled out? Sheesh.
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^^^^ I have very very mixed feelings about this quagmire in that region. It has always felt like another version of Vietnam. Religious fanatics have no ends to their wars which have been playing out in that area for thousands of years. We do have a debt to help the people who helped the US and they should be evacuated bc staying means a certain death from what’s being reported. IDK how to balance these scales anymore. More than 2500 US Servicemen died and more than 20k were injured. After we got the evil one in hiding, mission accomplished…. Maybe should have been the end. Time will frame the perspective. Stay safe. Stay alive. V.
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^^^^ I have very very mixed feelings about this quagmire in that region. It has always felt like another version of Vietnam. Religious fanatics have no ends to their wars which have been playing out in that area for thousands of years. We do have a debt to help the people who helped the US and they should be evacuated bc staying means a certain death from what’s being reported. IDK how to balance these scales anymore. More than 2500 US Servicemen died and more than 20k were injured. After we got the evil one in hiding, mission accomplished…. Maybe should have been the end. Time will frame the perspective. Stay safe. Stay alive. V.
Absolutely!
Afghanistan has always been a graveyard of empires. The Russians couldn't win. The U.S. couldn't win. Even the British in the 19th century couldn't do anything with it.
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You can't win in the Mideast, not us, not any outside country. I don't believe it will ever happen. The conflicts in that region are just part of the Life there, always have been, always will be, IMHO, you understand? Religions and their wars......never-ending!! :o :o :o
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Never get involved in a land war in Asia.
I've read that in one form or another, that line has been around since World War II and his been attributed to Eisenhower, MacArthur, and Field Marshall Montgomery. Unfortunately it's become a kind of a joke since it's used in The Princess Bride, but it's probably still good advice--if people in power would listen to it.
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The Russians couldn't win. The U.S. couldn't win. Even the British in the 19th century couldn't do anything with it.
I remember watching a Frontline episode on PBS back when the U.S. was considering invading and occupying Afghanistan after 9/11. They detailed those above forays into that country from Britain and Russia. And a couple others through history. The program ended with a few comments written on the screen. The last one was something like, "In all of Afghanistan's history, not one occupying force has ever had a successful outcome."
And I thought, "and we're going to try? Noooo." I also thought that line was something I was going to remember.
We were there for twenty years spending our money, resources and the lives of too many citizens...and for what? We leave and within a month it's back to what it was. How is that worth anything that was put into it when twenty years is reversed in a month?
Scathing and accurate piece in The Atlantic:
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2021/08/afghanistan-your-fault/619769/
A couple excerpts:
Kabul has fallen. Americans will now exercise their usual partisan outrage for a few weeks, and then Afghanistan, like everything else in a nation with an attention span not much longer than a fast-food commercial, will be forgotten. In the meantime, American citizens will separate into their usual camps and identify all of the obvious causes and culprits except for one: themselves.
This - THIS - is why Biden had to pull us out. We cannot make policy in a country of enraged partisans who will take positions based on where they think the other guys *are not* standing. That kind of deranged partisanship is not worth one soldier's life.
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We were there for twenty years spending our money, resources and the lives of too many citizens...and for what? We leave and within a month it's back to what it was. How is that worth anything that was put into it when twenty years is reversed in a month?
What a waste. Especially of American lives. :(
Scathing and accurate piece in The Atlantic:
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2021/08/afghanistan-your-fault/619769/
A couple excerpts:
Kabul has fallen. Americans will now exercise their usual partisan outrage for a few weeks, and then Afghanistan, like everything else in a nation with an attention span not much longer than a fast-food commercial, will be forgotten. In the meantime, American citizens will separate into their usual camps and identify all of the obvious causes and culprits except for one: themselves.
That's already begun.
We cannot make policy in a country of enraged partisans who will take positions based on where they think the other guys *are not* standing.
Let's see. I can think of another country to which that assessment applies.
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^^^
Do you mean the U.S.? That's what the author meant, too, not Afghanistan.
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^^^
Do you mean the U.S.? That's what the author meant, too, not Afghanistan.
I read it as by implication.
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Well, this Afghan news finally got us off the Cuomo sage, not to mention the My Pillow guy and Trump moving back into the WH on Friday! Pete and Chasten are adopting a child, not sure THAT news will deflect from the Afghan thing though. How can you get approved for an adoption when you live in a DC one-bedroom rental? At least that's what I read about their home. Maybe they went out and bought a different place now? ;)
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^^^^
Happy news. And I’m quite sure Pete and Chasten can manage to provide suitable accommodation!
https://www.washingtonpost.com/transportation/2021/08/17/pete-chasten-buttigieg-parents/ (https://www.washingtonpost.com/transportation/2021/08/17/pete-chasten-buttigieg-parents/)
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Well, they still have the place in Indiana, too.
___
On a related note, in my circle of friends over the years, not one of them, and especially those that have been long time partners and/or gotten married, none of them have ever expressed the desire to have any children. Men or women.
Remember when Oprah got to the point when people were asking her all the time "Don't you want to have children?" and she expressed her opinion, "No, I don't," and some went berserk over her saying that.
I remember sometime a long time ago, a bumper sticker or poster of some kind I read that said, "God made gay people so that they'd be unburdened of children and have time to do a lot of things straight people can't." Or something like that!
I also remember an article once that was wondering why so many gay people were/are in the teaching professions and someone thought it might be that it was a way they could have children.
In society it seems someone is always asking people about having children, as though it's a requirement. I'm of the opinion that people DO want to have sex, but children? Some do/some don't.
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Whenever I hear someone talking about being childless and obnoxious questions from people, I send them this.
https://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/fl-xpm-1994-01-18-9401170266-story.html
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Where will Chasten and Pete live with a child? I understand they still have the house in South Bend, but that will hardly work with Pete in DC all the time, no? I worry! haha......not really! ;D
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Well, they still have the place in Indiana, too.
___
On a related note, in my circle of friends over the years, not one of them, and especially those that have been long time partners and/or gotten married, none of them have ever expressed the desire to have any children. Men or women.
Remember when Oprah got to the point when people were asking her all the time "Don't you want to have children?" and she expressed her opinion, "No, I don't," and some went berserk over her saying that.
I remember sometime a long time ago, a bumper sticker or poster of some kind I read that said, "God made gay people so that they'd be unburdened of children and have time to do a lot of things straight people can't." Or something like that!
I also remember an article once that was wondering why so many gay people were/are in the teaching professions and someone thought it might be that it was a way they could have children.
In society it seems someone is always asking people about having children, as though it's a requirement. I'm of the opinion that people DO want to have sex, but children? Some do/some don't.
And some want children and not the sex - at least the relationship!
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Well, they still have the place in Indiana, too.
___
On a related note, in my circle of friends over the years, not one of them, and especially those that have been long time partners and/or gotten married, none of them have ever expressed the desire to have any children. Men or women.
Remember when Oprah got to the point when people were asking her all the time "Don't you want to have children?" and she expressed her opinion, "No, I don't," and some went berserk over her saying that.
I remember sometime a long time ago, a bumper sticker or poster of some kind I read that said, "God made gay people so that they'd be unburdened of children and have time to do a lot of things straight people can't." Or something like that!
I also remember an article once that was wondering why so many gay people were/are in the teaching professions and someone thought it might be that it was a way they could have children.
In society it seems someone is always asking people about having children, as though it's a requirement. I'm of the opinion that people DO want to have sex, but children? Some do/some don't.
And some want children and not the sex - at least the relationship!
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And some want children and not the sex - at least the relationship!
True! LOL! ;D
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And some want children and not the sex - at least the relationship!
True! LOL! ;D
:o
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So much bad news. Thirteen Americans killed in Kabul. Devastating hurricane (worse than Katrina) in Louisiana. Covid worsening again. :(
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And Haiti.
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So now in my lifetime I've seen not one, but two, ignominious withdrawals from land wars in Asia that ultimately proved pointless at the cost of thousands of American lives lost.
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Not to mention, many more local allies' and local civilians' lives, and in the case of Afghanistan, the lives of many soldiers from Nato allies - including Norwegians.
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^^^^ What's the well known fact - stay the hell outta ASIA! Yes WE, very sadly, have had to learn this too with lost lives, destroyed families, and worse. We should have killed OBL and then left - game over. We attempted to do the right(er) thing and better the country's humanity and now it's right back to crazy religious fanatics running the show. Wow, always sounded like Vietnam all over again.
The people in these regions have been warring for 1000's of years and are not going to EVER change their ways or their fanatic religion. If they were not sitting on vast Oil reserves which has generated fabulous wealth for certain regions and elements, they would be no-where... which is where they are heading.
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So now in my lifetime I've seen not one, but two, ignominious withdrawals from land wars in Asia that ultimately proved pointless at the cost of thousands of American lives lost.
Same here, Jeff! I had siblings in Vietnam, several in fact. None of them could figure out the point of being there at all! Our country is GOOD at invading other countries, no doubt. But an EXIT plan? Not so good! As far the MidEast is concerned? It's always been a hotbed of religious/cultural Wars, since the beginning of time I think? No sense being there at all in the case of the USA, none! IMHO, you understand? ;D
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I believe I linked this article a couple weeks ago:
Afghanistan Is Your Fault
The American public now has what it wanted.
by Tom Nichols | The Atlantic
Kabul has fallen. Americans will now exercise their usual partisan outrage for a few weeks, and then Afghanistan, like everything else in a nation with an attention span not much longer than a fast-food commercial, will be forgotten. In the meantime, American citizens will separate into their usual camps and identify all of the obvious causes and culprits except for one: themselves.
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2021/08/afghanistan-your-fault/619769/
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People say we didn't learn the lessons from Korea and Vietnam. The Pentagon and politicians did: Keep it off the front pages. Don't involve the American public more than it needs to be. So absolutely no "draft." That was ended 50 years ago or so. The fifty years prior men were drafted for WWI, WWII (starting even before we were involved) Korea, Vietnam and in periods of peace time between Korea and Vietnam. Remember the publicity when Elvis was drafted? (Do you think this would have lasted TWENTY years if young people were subjected to being drafted?) They knew the uninformed American public wouldn't pay too much attention.
Can you imagine if we had a draft now? People get all enraged about the Government just asking (asking not enforcing) people to wear a mask for their own and others benefit.
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^^^ I for one, would like to see a 2 year "Universal Service Act" or "required to serve" re-created. Call it a draft if you want, for all able-bodied males and females - subject to certain classes. I recall there being something proposed in the early 2000's but never made it into law. I'd let you choose, serve either before or after college but it must be done after 18 and before 28. Don't want to, then do some time, or draft-dodge. (Oh BTW, no lame medical excuses like "bone spurs" either - no exceptions). Far too many people have forgotten the true costs of wars! Also, the public is not totally aware, we are paying for this one for decades b/c it was waged with BORROWED $!!!
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/americans-will-be-paying-for-the-cost-of-the-war-in-afghanistan-for-decades-11630071934 (https://www.marketwatch.com/story/americans-will-be-paying-for-the-cost-of-the-war-in-afghanistan-for-decades-11630071934)
V.
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The Supreme Court is at it again, chipping away at abortion rights, letting the new Texas law that the Governor pushed through a couple months ago stand while cases against it are being formed, instead of blocking it until it's legality is settled.
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/01/us/supreme-court-texas-abortion.html
The decision was 5-4 and you all know who the five are. All 4 of the dissenters, Chief Justice John Roberts, Stephen Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan, wrote reasoned explanations as to why they voted. The other 5. Nothing. (Of course, that's what in their heads.)
The five silent silencers: THEY DIDN'T EVEN SIGN THE OPINION.
Clarence Thomas
Samuel Alito
Neil Gorsuch
Brett Kavanaugh
Amy Coney Barrett
The really insidious part of this law is that it provides rewards to private citizens starting at $10,000 if they successfully turn in and prosecute anyone who gets or helps a woman in any way to get an abortion. Even if it's a family member providing advice or counsel.
And this is all coming from those that cry "you can't tell me what to do with my body and to wear a mask."
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^^^^^
That’s horrifying.
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Interesting to see how the Chief Justice voted.
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The vigilante nature of the enforcement of this law might come back to bite them in unforeseen ways.
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As I've said many times in my Adult Life, quit worrying over the President or Congress, the entity that affects your daily Life more than any other is US Supreme Court, they have the final say in many matters.
It will be a LONG time before the more liberal justices are in the majority.
You'd think Women everywhere would be outraged, but not so apparently. ???
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^^^ I saw this early this AM. The SCOTUS "shadow docket" is again, ripping away long hard fought rights without any oral arguments or discussions. If this does not kick the Dems to "expand the court" while they can, nothing will.
2 of the 3 Justices rammed thru by the insane GOP are all out religious bigots intent on returning the US to the 1950's with their BS doctrine. Next thing you know, women will be covering their faces, not allowed in the same rooms as men, banned from voting, and not allowed in schools. I saw one description of the TX lunacy as the "Texas Taliban" unleashed... I cannot think of a more apt description of the evil brewing in TX. FL, AL, GA, SC are not far behind.
It is truly a horrible day for the US, for women's rights, for pro-choice, for GBLTQ people, atheists, agnostics and minorities. We can be assured that since this "tactic" has "succeeded" it will be applied widely in other GOP controlled states and not just for abortion - voting rights, personal safety, pandemic masks, opening stores on Sunday when you MUST be in church, and anything else the evangelical bigots do not like will be in the cross-hairs. So much of separation of church and state as the lines are blurring again.
The GOP Texas lawmakers wrote the law to evade federal oversight by permitting (and encouraging) private citizens to police the public by the threat of bringing unlimited frivolous civil lawsuits, in state court, against anyone involved in an abortion, other than the patient. Husband, partner, neighbor, mother, father, clerk at the checkout counter, priest - ANYONE. Horrific Vigilantism was just silently approved by the SCOTUS. This is parallel to tactics the South promoted for decades after they lost the civil war. Remember the 1964 murders of James Earl Chaney, Andrew Goodman, and Michael Henry Schwerner? The two white men...laughing in court? Well here we are again - same playbook.
It's not going to be long before a GOP lunatic kills someone b/c it's his religious right to do so - intentionally. Growl... V.
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President Biden this morning:
"The Supreme Court’s ruling overnight is an unprecedented assault on constitutional rights under Roe v. Wade. Complete strangers will now be empowered to inject themselves in the most private of health decisions. The law does not even allow exceptions in cases of rape or incest."
President Biden issued a new statement slamming the Supreme Court ruling allowing the Texas abortion law to go ahead, saying it “unleashes unconstitutional chaos." The Supreme Court’s decision to allow Texas’ ban on nearly all abortions “insults the rule of law.” Biden directs a “whole-of-government” effort to address the ruling and to ensure access to abortion.
Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi:
"The Supreme Court's cowardly, dark-of-night decision to uphold a flagrantly unconstitutional assault on women's rights and health is staggering. That this radically partisan Court chose to do so without oral arguments or providing a full, signed opinion is shameful."
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^^^^ Absolutely, as I said, another "shadow docket" SCOTUS court ruling tilted by the 2 "never-should-have-been-appointed" white religious bigots... who did not have the courage to even sign the order. I hope this will solidify and unite the Democrats like never before. Stop arguing about BS and take on the GOP and stop letting these GOP MF get away with everything they possibly can. There is no line they have proven they will not cross to retain and take power unlawfully.
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Sen. Jeff Jackson, N.C. State Senate
"Just after midnight, we received a disastrous 5-4 Supreme Court decision that refused to block Texas' six-week abortion ban. This ruling immediately impacts Texas, but it also creates a roadmap for state legislatures across the country for rolling back reproductive rights."
I had to research Jackson to see if his statement was a call to arms or a warning. It's a warning.
The front page of his N.C. Gov. website:
Before politics comes principle. Without adhering to the basic principles of honesty and decency, there can be no political debate – and no political progress. As a soldier in the National Guard, a state Senator, a husband, and a father, commitment to those principles has been non-negotiable in my life. We may disagree on certain policies, but my primary mission is to represent the people of North Carolina with honesty and decency – and, hopefully, we can all agree on that.
There was a time that last sentence would just have read: My primary mission is to represent the people of North Carolina with honesty and decency. We can all agree on that.
Additionally, in January he announced he will be running for North Carolina's U.S. Senate seat in next year's election.
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FYI:
This easy to understand and readable short April, 2021, article from the American Bar Association discusses the meaning and rise of the "Shadow Docket", a term first coined in 2015.
Supreme Court “Shadow Docket” Under Review by U.S. House of Representatives
https://www.americanbar.org/scotus-shadow-docket-under-review/ (https://www.americanbar.org/groups/committees/death_penalty_representation/publications/project_blog/scotus-shadow-docket-under-review-by-house-reps/)
As the shadow docket has risen in prominence, it seems the merits docket has also shrunk, with the Court handing down only 53 merit decisions in its October 2019 term, the fewest since the Civil War. Though the pandemic did result in the postponing of ten oral arguments throughout 2020, the Court is still on pace to hand down only 56 merits opinions this term without such delays, implying that “the shadow docket appears to be increasingly competing with the merits cases for the Justices’ attention,” said Vladeck. Taking the “pressure off the shadow docket” and incentivizing the Justices to return their attention to the more deliberate, drawn-out procedures of the merits docket could be the key to reigning in the massive uptick in unsigned emergency orders, Vladeck explained to the House committee.
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How are things with the rain in your area Chuck?
________
take the "a" tRAIN?
Ida rather not.
(https://pyxis.nymag.com/v1/imgs/ded/529/b39351f80bc688b67c00821d75da894775-ida-subway.rvertical.w930.png)
Our infrastructures are not ready for climate change.
Our Republican politicians are not ready to even accept it.
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(https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/xeSf0V8WP1PpVfYYV_YFyT2agIA0II66JK4oG_KNBCygh512ZNCbxWjXK0_-12jp6wnjGA=s103)
^^^
The missing photo said:
"So what do we do when
the past three Supreme
Court Judges lied under
oath to get their seats?"
-
How are things with the rain in your area Chuck?
________
take the "a" tRAIN?
Ida rather not.
(https://pyxis.nymag.com/v1/imgs/ded/529/b39351f80bc688b67c00821d75da894775-ida-subway.rvertical.w930.png)
Our infrastructures are not ready for climate change.
Our Republican politicians are not ready to even accept it.
Ida’s path of destruction in N.J
By Karin Price Mueller
Roadways turned into rivers. Downed trees and power lines blocked roads and damaged houses. And at least three tornados touched down in New Jersey, with one ripping through a southern Jersey town, destroying at least 20 houses.
In one of the fiercest storms to hit New Jersey in recent years, Tropical Storm Ida delivered a knockout punch, wreaking havoc across the state as it took lives, flooded downtowns and caused untold millions of dollars in damage.
At least 23 people in New Jersey died from the storm, including four who died in an apartment complex in Elizabeth, Gov. Phil Murphy said at a late Thursday afternoon briefing on the storm. Others could be missing, he said.
The majority of the dead were people who were caught in their cars in rising flood waters, Murphy said.
https://www.nj.com/weather/2021/09/idas-path-of-destruction-in-nj-at-least-8-dead-epic-flooding-fierce-tornado-damage-houses-destroyed.html
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I consider myself lucky, I had no damage.
The streets by me were flooded, but the waters didn't reach my building. The intersection by my parents home flooded out, but like me, the waters didn't reach their home.
I had friends post pics from their homes, some cars had water up to their hoods / trunks.
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N.J. weather: Tornado hit Princeton during Ida’s wrath, boosting total to 7 twisters in region
By Len Melisurgo
The National Weather Service has now confirmed seven different tornadoes touched down in New Jersey and eastern Pennsylvania Wednesday night when the the remnants of Hurricane Ida triggered powerful thunderstorms that dumped torrential rain and caused widespread structural damage.
The latest tornadoes to be confirmed included one classified as an EF-0, which swirled through Princeton in Mercer County with top winds estimated at about 75 mph, the weather service said in a preliminary survey report Thursday evening.
An EF-0 is considered the weakest tornado on the Enhanced Fujita intensity scale, which ranges from 0 to 5.
The other newly confirmed twister was touched down in Upper Makefield Township in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. It wasn’t given an official EF rating yet, but the weather service said it will likely be one of the lower levels.
https://www.nj.com/weather/2021/09/nj-weather-tornado-hit-princeton-during-idas-wrath-boosting-total-to-7-twisters-in-region.html
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I consider myself lucky, I had no damage.
The streets by me were flooded, but the waters didn't reach my building. The intersection by my parents home flooded out, but like me, the waters didn't reach their home.
I had friends post pics from their homes, some cars had water up to their hoods / trunks.
Glad to hear you're all OK.
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Yes, indeed. Glad to hear that.
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I have friends and relatives in Texas. Yes, FRIENDS! I don't even KNOW what to say to them anymore. :o :o :o
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I have friends and relatives in Texas. Yes, FRIENDS! I don't even KNOW what to say to them anymore. :o :o :o
How about, "You should leave Texas"?
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How about, "You should leave Texas"?
:laugh: :laugh: :laugh:
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DoJ vows to protect women seeking abortions in Texas after radical state ban
Joanna Walters - Mon 6 Sep 2021
US attorney general Merrick Garland announced on Monday that the federal government will take action to protect those in Texas trying to obtain an abortion in the wake of the strictest anti-abortion law in the US taking effect last week.
The US justice department said that it will not tolerate violence against anyone seeking abortion services in the state and that federal officials are exploring all options to challenge the ban on almost all terminations, with new state law also empowering the public to enforce the law in a way critics decry as promoting vigilantism.
DoJ vows to protect women seeking abortions in Texas after radical state ban
Move by US attorney general Merrick Garland comes after strictest anti-abortion law in US took effect last week
US attorney general Merrick Garland.
US attorney general Merrick Garland. Photograph: Reuters
Joanna Walters in New York and agencies
@Joannawalters13
Mon 6 Sep 2021 15.10 EDT
US attorney general Merrick Garland announced on Monday that the federal government will take action to protect those in Texas trying to obtain an abortion in the wake of the strictest anti-abortion law in the US taking effect last week.
The US justice department said that it will not tolerate violence against anyone seeking abortion services in the state and that federal officials are exploring all options to challenge the ban on almost all terminations, with new state law also empowering the public to enforce the law in a way critics decry as promoting vigilantism.
Garland issued a statement that said the DoJ would “protect those seeking to obtain or provide reproductive health services” under a federal law known as the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (or Face) Act.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/sep/06/doj-texas-abortion-law-merrick-garland
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Jobless Americans left scrambling after pandemic unemployment benefits end
By Tami Luhby, CNN - September 6, 2021
April Stokes wants to go back to work.
An optician by trade, Stokes was employed at Henry Ford OptimEyes until the coronavirus struck and school closed for her two young children.
The family has been able to ride out the pandemic thanks to expanded federal unemployment benefits, which provided them with $1,152 every two weeks -- much less than Stokes was making before, but enough to survive.
Now, however, that vital lifeline has ended. Stokes isn't worried about her ability to find a new job, but finding one that can accommodate her children's schedules will be "next to impossible," she says. Child care in the Detroit suburb where she lives is severely limited, she said, and the nanny she trusted to pick up the kids in the afternoon prior to the pandemic is no longer available.
https://www.cnn.com/2021/09/06/politics/pandemic-unemployment-benefits-end/index.html
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US Capitol riot: 'QAnon Shaman' pleads guilty
Bevan Hurley - 09/06/21
Jacob Anthony Chansley could face up to 51 months in prison over the January 6 unrest at the US Congress. He has since turned his back on the QAnon conspiracy theory, his lawyer said.
An Arizona man who became one of the most recognized Capitol Hill rioters pleaded guilty on Friday to obstructing a US congressional meeting.
A mob of supporters of former US President Donald Trump had broken into the Capitol building on January 6 to try to stop Congress certifying Joe Biden as the new president.
Known as the "QAnon Shaman," Jacob Anthony Chansley was caught on camera shirtless, carrying a spear and sporting a horned fur hat during the violence. It became one of the images synonymous with the infamous day.
He has been a subscriber to QAnon, the far-right conspiracy theory blamed for fueling the unrest.
https://www.dw.com/en/us-capitol-riot-qanon-shaman-pleads-guilty/a-59082131
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I simply do not understand these things...
First Responders Not Rushing To Get Vaccinated
USA Today
Police officers and other first responders are among those most hesitant to get the coronavirus vaccine. No national statistics show the vaccination rate for America’s entire population of first responders, but individual police and fire departments across the country report figures far below the national rate of 74% of adults who have had at least one dose.
San Francisco firefighter Christopher Salas, 58, has nearly 28 years on the job. He plans to retire early instead of acquiescing to the city’s ultimatum to get vaccinated or get terminated. He said he believes in personal choice.
“I’m not an anti-vaxxer,” he said. “I have all my other vaccines. I’m just not taking this one.”
_________
Oh, ok. A plague is underway, and THIS is the vaccine you don't want to take??? Un-freakin-bellievable.
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(https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/001/223/019/0f4.jpg)
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^^^ I read the above quote WRT "I got all my vaccines but this one..." So you are a "selective" anti-vaxxer? Very difficult to explain logically. People at the most risk of contact with COVID-infected patients, who see what this virus is doing to their bodies first hand, can even consider not getting vaccinated. PPEs can go a long way, but it only takes a few virus particles to start the viral inferno. Sadly, after the holiday, packed football stadiums and other "events", we are going to have to learn again in a very sad and hard way in ~ 10-14 days COVID/DeltaV is playing to win. What saddens me most is when kids are dying and while that might be waking up those parents, there are still far too many who just do not get it. I think ALL news media should start reporting on hospital wards in the "anti-vaxxer" states (TX, GA, SC, FL) and showing people dying, showing kids dying, showing the temporary morgues full of bodies....
Simply unbelieveable. I guess the virus kill rate is going to have climb higher than it ever needed to be (again) to wake up the remaining covidiots.
Now are we done with vaccines and boosters... I think not. We are going to be lucky to stay on par or slightly ahead of the viral mutations as long as people keep acting like the only thing that matters is THEM - not their families' lives, not their friend's lives, not their neighbor's lives not their community, not their schools, not their hospitals, not their EMS, not anything but ME.
Oh we live in a sad moment in history right now. IDK how historians will write this chapter...but it reflects poorly on the American spirit or cooperation for betterment of all and not just a few. V.
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Jacob Anthony Chansley could face up to 51 months in prison over the January 6 unrest at the US Congress. He has since turned his back on the QAnon conspiracy theory, his lawyer said.
A rat deserting the sinking ship?
Ten to one he's not really sorry for what he did. He's just sorry he got caught.
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I think ALL news media should start reporting on hospital wards in the "anti-vaxxer" states (TX, GA, SC, FL) and showing people dying, showing kids dying, showing the temporary morgues full of bodies....
If somebody close to that firefighter dies, somebody he is close too and loves, he'll change his tune right quick.
How many news stories have I seen already where unvaccinated people in hospital wards with oxygen prongs in their noses lament, "I wish I'd gotten the vaccine"?
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A rat deserting the sinking ship?
Ten to one he's not really sorry for what he did. He's just sorry he got caught.
Bingo!
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^^^^ Amen! Each one of those convicted should have their US Citizenship revoked and deported to any country that will take'm.
Don't like Democracy, and prefer fascism, then get the hell out.
Now before you freak out about above, review the photo below very carefully. We think Jan 6 is finished and now making it's way through the courts.... my gut says that was the opening salvo, sadly.
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/proud-boys-blm-flag-us-capitol-b1915622.html (https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/proud-boys-blm-flag-us-capitol-b1915622.html)
To top it all, "Trump was my first love defense...." OMG IDK even know how to think about that ..... claim.
https://news.yahoo.com/qanon-shaman-bizarre-legal-defence-161436513.html (https://news.yahoo.com/qanon-shaman-bizarre-legal-defence-161436513.html)
Stranger and stranger dangerous times we live in... Stay safe, stay alive. Peace. V.
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"trump was my first love". Dude needs to learn what love is.
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"trump was my first love". Dude needs to learn what love is.
His "first love" did you-know-what to his you-know-what.
Too much of an idiot to realize he was used.
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^^^^ Amen! Each one of those convicted should have their US Citizenship revoked and deported to any country that will take'm.
Don't like Democracy, and prefer fascism, then get the hell out.
Now before you freak out about above, review the photo below very carefully. We think Jan 6 is finished and now making it's way through the courts.... my gut says that was the opening salvo, sadly.
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/proud-boys-blm-flag-us-capitol-b1915622.html (https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/proud-boys-blm-flag-us-capitol-b1915622.html)
To top it all, "Trump was my first love defense...." OMG IDK even know how to think about that ..... claim.
https://news.yahoo.com/qanon-shaman-bizarre-legal-defence-161436513.html (https://news.yahoo.com/qanon-shaman-bizarre-legal-defence-161436513.html)
Stranger and stranger dangerous times we live in... Stay safe, stay alive. Peace. V.
We still have Guantanamo, don't we? Maybe there's another use for that.
I have concerns about this Saturday.
Re: burning a Black Lives Matter flag? There is one hanging in front of my church. A few weeks ago, after the service, when a number of us were hanging out on the portico, some knucklehead was driving by, stopped, and yelled out his window, "Black lives don't matter." Our new rector, who is both young and Black, just shouted, "Have a nice day" back at him.
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To top it all, "Trump was my first love defense...." OMG IDK even know how to think about that ..... claim.
https://news.yahoo.com/qanon-shaman-bizarre-legal-defence-161436513.html (https://news.yahoo.com/qanon-shaman-bizarre-legal-defence-161436513.html)
He had a fondness for Trump that was not unlike the first love a man may have for a girl, or a girl for a man, or man for a man,” his lawyer, Mr Watkins said. “The first love always, always maintains a tender and soft spot in the heart of the lover.”
Bullpucky.
Mr Watkins also argued that Chansley has experienced mental health problems and had been “seduced” by Mr Trump.
I agree that Trump cultists have mental health problems. So does Trump.
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Fears Rise Over Disinformation in California's Recall Election
https://th.com/hillnews/state-watch/571196-fears-rise-over-disinformation-in-californias-recall-election (https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/571196-fears-rise-over-disinformation-in-californias-recall-election)
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^^^ the GOP bigots have learned well from their Russian comrades.
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Biden administration plans to sue Texas over near-total ban on abortion – report
Adam Gabbatt - Thu 9 Sep 2021
The Biden administration plans to sue Texas over the state’s extreme abortion law, which amounts to a near total ban on abortion, according to a report.
The Wall Street Journal reported that the justice department could file a lawsuit on Thursday, just over a week after the law came into effect.
Senate Bill 8, pushed through by Texas’s Republican-dominated legislature, bans abortion once embryonic cardiac activity is detected, which is around six weeks. Most women are not aware they are pregnant as early as that time.
According to the Journal the justice department will argue that the law, which offers no exceptions for rape or incest, “illegally interferes with federal interests”.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/sep/09/biden-administration-sue-texas-abortion-law
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It all comes back to my Original thought WAAAAAAAY back when, Why, oh WHY, are MEN deciding what WOMEN should do with their bodies? Makes no sense to me now, or back then! :o
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I completely agree with you.
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Is Amy Coney Barrett a man?
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Republicans like this issue because it gives them a certain set of voters that will vote on that issue alone.
The wrinkle causing the most problems for courts in this new law is that "it can only be enforced by private citizens bringing lawsuits against anyone that 'aids and abets' an abortion, rather than the government."
Since the law is in effect, every single Democrat should be on the lookout for Republicans who would be subjected to it, and act accordingly. Although the rich Republicans it might affect would just go out of state, but since they are Texas residents, could a private company be sued? In other words if Ted Cruz flies his daughter out of state, could you sue American Airlines for transporting her across state lines to get an abortion? Even if they didn't know they were aiding and abetting that? The Republicans are good at pernicious lawmaking.
A new survey says that Democrats are energized over this particular abortion rights issue 2-1 over Republicans. Maybe this will backfire for electoral purposes.
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9-1-1 remembrances will be in order for tomorrow, but I don't personally want to delve back into that too much, even though on streaming services there's a dozen new documentaries about it. It's a mindset that I'd rather stay out of. There's enough real life things going on.
I did hear that the current and all the former Presidents are doing something in remembrance of the day.
--President Bush is visiting the Flight 93 crash site in Pennsylvania and hosting a screening of a new documentary about it at his Presidential Library.
--President Obama is attending a 9/11 remembrance at ground zero in New York City.
--Bill Clinton will also be visiting the New York City WTC site during Saturday's remembrance.
--Jimmy Carter, due to his age, will deliver a few remarks privately from his home.
--President Biden plans to visit all three crash sites that occurred on 9/11.
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--Trump's plan for Saturday...
(https://i.insider.com/61382096eedea900193d7fc7?width=750&format=jpeg)
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Is Amy Coney Barrett a man?
No, she's a Catholic.
(But so is POTUS. ??? )
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9-1-1 remembrances will be in order for tomorrow, but I don't personally want to delve back into that too much, even though on streaming services there's a dozen new documentaries about it. It's a mindset that I'd rather stay out of. There's enough real life things going on.
I have such mixed feelings. I don't want to be disrespectful of the dead, but I don't want to be forced to focus on it, either. I cannot imagine myself watching a documentary about it. I will not forget that day, but I don't want to relive it, either.
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^^^ Yeap, it's a can of snakes that needs to be beheaded carefully and completely sooner than later.
It's grounds for dismantling a working democracy and returning the USA to corrupt vigilantism. Of course, the southern former Confederate states would like nothing more than to "get their way again" - hoods and all. This is TX poking the hive to see if they get stung... the other red GOP controlled states will follow-suit if they win. It's much more dangerous than just abortion - though..
"Although the rich Republicans it might affect would just go out of state, but since they are Texas residents, could a private company be sued? In other words if Ted Cruz flies his daughter out of state, could you sue American Airlines for transporting her across state lines to get an abortion?"
If the vigilantes can "sue the Lift/Uber driver", then they can sue the airline pilot flying the plane, the ticket agent checking her in, the stewards if they serve her water or food, the McDonalds person serving her a burger, ... Hell they could even sue the air traffic controller guiding the plane or perhaps even the power company for providing electrical power to the clinic or water company... or HVAC company servicing the place. There's no limit to the quicksand and that may very well be it's undoing.
Pile it on b/c it's ANYONE in the USA can sue, not just native TX. V.
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No, she's a Catholic.
(But so is POTUS. ??? )
SEVEN of the current Supreme Court Justices are Catholic. There's also a distinct regional bias when it comes to appointing justices. There are rarely any justices who were born or lived their lives mostly West of the Mississippi.
John G. Roberts - Roman Catholic (born NY, lived mostly D.C.)
Brett Kavanaugh - Roman Catholic (born lived D.C.)
Neil Gorsuch - (observers are not sure if he considers himself Catholic or Episcopalian) (born CO, lived CO)
Clarence Thomas - Roman Catholic (born GA, lived DC)
Stephen G. Breyer - Jewish (born CA. lived MA)
Samuel A. Alito, Jr. - Roman Catholic (born lived NJ)
Sonia Sotomayor - Roman Catholic (born lived NY)
Elena Kagan - Jewish (born lived NY)
Amy Coney Barrett - Roman Catholic (born LA lived DC)
The biggest change we need to the Supreme Court is term limits. The founding fathers didn't envision justices living 10-20-30 years longer as they do now. And each President should be able to nominate only 1 per term. (Possibly two.) And however it needs to happen, politicans like Moscow Mitch shouldn't be able to prevent a President from picking a nominee and having them confirmed.
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^^^ Term limits are a must have!
> No single justice should EVER serve more than 20 years in SCOTUS.
> No president should be able to appoint more than 1 Judge to SCOTUS per TERM.
> When a Justice leaves the court either by death or retirement, then the sitting president appoints the next justice period. No creating BS rule by either party.
> The US Senate cannot make up rules as they go to get their way and block or confirm appointments.
Level the playing field and make the all play by the same rules. V.
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And however it needs to happen, politicians like Moscow Mitch shouldn't be able to prevent a President from picking a nominee and having them confirmed.
The blatant, shameless political hypocrisy still makes me want to throw up (even though it doesn't really surprise me): Don't let Merrick Garland even be considered because it was an election year, but rush through Coney Barrett because it was an election year.
McConnell should have a fit of apoplexy. Then we'll all have a party. ...
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A sigh of relief. It always felt like this was a big waste of money and time that no one wanted, but you can never underestimate the cretins nowadays...
California Gov. Gavin Newsom Beats Back GOP-Led Recall, Cruises to Victory; Sweeps Election
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/californians-decide-governors-fate-republican-backed-recall-2021-09-14/
California Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom handily beat back an effort to oust him from office in Tuesday's special election, overcoming a Republican campaign to unseat him over his liberal policies on immigration, COVID-19 and crime.
Newsom, a first-term governor beset by challenges including the COVID-19 pandemic, extreme drought and severe wildfires, boosted turnout among Democrats with a flurry of late campaigning and easily overcame the move by Republicans to recall him.
By late Tuesday, returns showed Newsom easily winning a majority of support from voters who said he should remain in office. Television networks projected Newsom had defeated the recall effort about 40 minutes after polls closed on Tuesday.
As of midnight PT, with 2/3 of the votes counted the results are:
Should Gov. Gavin Newsom be recalled?
September 14, 2021
Voter choice: Yes, replace him
Vote percentage: 34.0%
Total votes: 3,110,655 votes
Voter choice: No, keep him ✓ winner
Vote percentage: 66.0%
5,753,093 votes
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Heard that on the Today show this morning. Very good news indeed.
A sigh of relief. It always felt like this was a big waste of money and time that no one wanted, but you can never underestimate the cretins nowadays...
California Gov. Gavin Newsom Beats Back GOP-Led Recall, Cruises to Victory; Sweeps Election
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/californians-decide-governors-fate-republican-backed-recall-2021-09-14/
California Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom handily beat back an effort to oust him from office in Tuesday's special election, overcoming a Republican campaign to unseat him over his liberal policies on immigration, COVID-19 and crime.
Newsom, a first-term governor beset by challenges including the COVID-19 pandemic, extreme drought and severe wildfires, boosted turnout among Democrats with a flurry of late campaigning and easily overcame the move by Republicans to recall him.
By late Tuesday, returns showed Newsom easily winning a majority of support from voters who said he should remain in office. Television networks projected Newsom had defeated the recall effort about 40 minutes after polls closed on Tuesday.
As of midnight PT, with 2/3 of the votes counted the results are:
Should Gov. Gavin Newsom be recalled?
September 14, 2021
Voter choice: Yes, replace him
Vote percentage: 34.0%
Total votes: 3,110,655 votes
Voter choice: No, keep him ✓ winner
Vote percentage: 66.0%
5,753,093 votes
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Whew.
Defeating the governor would have just encouraged the crazies, not that they need much encouragement.
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^^^ While that's great news for CA... (I was on edge)... sadly, it is my understanding that due to CA's very low recall count % rules, the GOP asswipes can start it all over again. Sort of like - unlimited harassment supported by unlimited, unreported dark $. We need to get all the dark, unreported $ outta politics and dismantle these hiding donors. V.
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A sigh of relief. It always felt like this was a big waste of money and time that no one wanted, but you can never underestimate the cretins nowadays...
California Gov. Gavin Newsom Beats Back GOP-Led Recall, Cruises to Victory; Sweeps Election
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/californians-decide-governors-fate-republican-backed-recall-2021-09-14/
California Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom handily beat back an effort to oust him from office in Tuesday's special election, overcoming a Republican campaign to unseat him over his liberal policies on immigration, COVID-19 and crime.
Newsom, a first-term governor beset by challenges including the COVID-19 pandemic, extreme drought and severe wildfires, boosted turnout among Democrats with a flurry of late campaigning and easily overcame the move by Republicans to recall him.
By late Tuesday, returns showed Newsom easily winning a majority of support from voters who said he should remain in office. Television networks projected Newsom had defeated the recall effort about 40 minutes after polls closed on Tuesday.
As of midnight PT, with 2/3 of the votes counted the results are:
Should Gov. Gavin Newsom be recalled?
September 14, 2021
Voter choice: Yes, replace him
Vote percentage: 34.0%
Total votes: 3,110,655 votes
Voter choice: No, keep him ✓ winner
Vote percentage: 66.0%
5,753,093 votes
This was the first news story I read this morning when I got up. I had seen a story late yesterday that the early voting showed that Newsom was going to have a large win, but it was good to see it for sure when I woke up.
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https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/sep/17/prince-philip-duke-edinburgh-will-secret-90-years-queen-dignity
I don't get this....I really don't.
He was either as rich as Croesus .....or poor as a church mouse !
Which ever way... this is the only reason that could embarrass
the Queen to my way thinking.
The secrecy as stated is to protect the Queen....and the Public interest !
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Pro-Trump Rally Expecting 10,000 Attendees Sees Only a Few Hundred Show Up
By Jason Lemon - 9/12/21
Organizers of a Kentucky rally in support of former President Donald Trump featuring several prominent allies and conspiracy theorists expected some 10,000 people to show up this weekend. Instead, less than 300 were in attendance when local journalists attempted to cover the proceedings.
The "We the People Reunion" was held at the Muhlenberg County Agriculture & Convention Center Fairgrounds in Powderly, Kentucky, on Friday and Saturday. MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell, retired General Michael Flynn, attorney Lin Wood and others were among the featured speakers, according to the event and ticket page online.
Local channel WFIE 14 News sent a team to shoot video at the event on Friday but was later asked to leave, according to a report broadcast by the NBC News affiliate. The news channel reported that promoters had expected a crowd of about 10,000 people but less than 300 were in attendance from what their journalists saw. Event organizers reportedly refused to speak to WFIE about the rally.
https://www.newsweek.com/pro-trump-rally-expecting-10000-attendees-sees-only-few-hundred-show-1628299
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Trump campaign knew lawyers’ voting machine claims were baseless, memo shows
By Alan Feuer - September 21, 2021
Two weeks after the 2020 election, a team of lawyers closely allied with President Donald Trump held a widely watched news conference at the Republican Party’s headquarters in Washington. At the event, they laid out a bizarre conspiracy theory claiming that a voting machine company had worked with an election software firm, financier George Soros, and Venezuela to steal the presidential contest from Trump.
But there was a problem for the Trump team, according to court documents released Monday evening.
By the time the news conference occurred Nov. 19, Trump’s campaign had already prepared an internal memo on many of the outlandish claims about the company, Dominion Voting Systems, and the separate software company, Smartmatic. The memo had determined that those allegations were untrue.
The court papers, which were initially filed late last week as a motion in a defamation lawsuit brought against the campaign and others by a former Dominion employee, Eric Coomer, contain evidence that officials in the Trump campaign were aware early on that many of the claims against the companies were baseless.
https://www.bostonglobe.com/2021/09/21/nation/trump-campaign-knew-lawyers-voting-machine-claims-were-baseless-memo-shows/
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https://www.newsweek.com/pro-trump-rally-expecting-10000-attendees-sees-only-few-hundred-show-1628299
That's just fake news from the mainstream media. You know there were actually thousands upon thousands of Trump supporters there, and the rally was a huge success, and they're going to take back the White House in 2024 because the 2020 election was stolen.
R-i-i-i-ght. ...
And everybody in attendance got a Maga cap and a My Pillow. ...
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Pro-Trump Rally Expecting 10,000 Attendees Sees Only a Few Hundred Show Up
By Jason Lemon - 9/12/21
Organizers of a Kentucky rally in support of former President Donald Trump featuring several prominent allies and conspiracy theorists expected some 10,000 people to show up this weekend. Instead, less than 300 were in attendance when local journalists attempted to cover the proceedings.
The "We the People Reunion" was held at the Muhlenberg County Agriculture & Convention Center Fairgrounds in Powderly, Kentucky, on Friday and Saturday. MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell, retired General Michael Flynn, attorney Lin Wood and others were among the featured speakers, according to the event and ticket page online.
Local channel WFIE 14 News sent a team to shoot video at the event on Friday but was later asked to leave, according to a report broadcast by the NBC News affiliate. The news channel reported that promoters had expected a crowd of about 10,000 people but less than 300 were in attendance from what their journalists saw. Event organizers reportedly refused to speak to WFIE about the rally.
https://www.newsweek.com/pro-trump-rally-expecting-10000-attendees-sees-only-few-hundred-show-1628299
Hope the county was wise enough to get the money in advance.
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Trump campaign knew lawyers’ voting machine claims were baseless, memo shows
Which is why they absolutely need to be prosecuted.
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I keep hoping it happens, but the way things seem to go, it won't.
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So Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp went down yesterday? What a pity for Mark Zuckerberg. ...
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yes, they were down. I don't have accounts with Instagram or WhatsApp, and I don't check FB during the day, so I didn't notice. lol
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What's really striking me funny about this is that it happened at the time there has been a story arc on my favorite TV show, 9-1-1, that revolved around a cyber attack. :laugh:
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This is quite technical but basically what was seen from outside the evil empire by Cloudflare -> https://blog.cloudflare.com/october-2021-facebook-outage/ (https://blog.cloudflare.com/october-2021-facebook-outage/)
The public will likely NEVER know the truth...
So anyone think it was a coincidence that the FB whistleblower segment aired on Sunday's "60 Minutes" and she's testifying today before Congress? Nothing would make me happier than regulators take ass-wipe Suckerberg down a few notches and a few billion $. The company is essentially defrauding investors by concealing information... just like "Big Tobacco" did... Watch that 60 Minutes episode if you want to understand more of what they have been doing for years. Just evil, pure evil.
If you use FB and love it, that's fine... just understand that YOU and your DATA, ARE THE PRODUCT that is being SOLD. Suckerberg and his cronies have built an empire getting filthy rich pulling this BS. They need some serious regulation and liability exposures to bring them in check - nothing else will. I hope the next time Suckerberg is summoned to Congress, and starts with his smokescreens and lies, they rip him a new one... Same goes for the other "social media" ass-wipes. Growl.
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I did happen to see that Facebook segment on 60 Minutes. There's always been something about Facebook that's made me want to stay away from it, even though some friends keep saying I should get on it for various reasons, but there's always something that comes up that makes me glad I am not associated with it, like what I heard on the 60 Minutes segment.
You can see it here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Lx5VmAdZSI
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There's always been something about Facebook that's made me want to stay away from it, even though some friends keep saying I should get on it for various reasons, but there's always something that comes up that makes me glad I am not associated with it.
That's exactly been my experience. Every time I think I should give in and join Facebook, I hear some horrible story that makes me glad I'm not on it.
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^^^
I also keep thinking I spend, or waste, depending on how you look at it, enough time on the computer anyway without getting into that besides!
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I also keep thinking I spend, or waste, depending on how you look at it, enough time on the computer anyway without getting into that besides!
Same here.
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I watched this segment on 60 Minutes last night about synthetic media...or deepfakes.
If you think people believe in all sorts of strange, and completely incorrect, things now, wait'll this technology invades the world and causes everyone not to believe that anything is fact or real. It's a technology that could disrupt societies in ways heretofore unimaginable. It's something to be aware of if you don't know about it at the very least. I kind of new what a deepfake was and now I do.
https://youtu.be/Yb1GCjmw8_8
I was imagining a scenario where cameras capture something that happens between people. Whatever it is. Then people use this technology to make a second version of it and they both look real, but one is not. And some news outlets, like OAN (One America News) or Newsmax or Fox, only show that unreal one to people. And those who trust or only watch one of those networks...that's what they'll believe.
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Not only that, have you all learned this recently:
How AT&T Helped Build Far-Right One America News
https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/usa-oneamerica-att/
As it lauded former President Donald Trump and spread his unfounded claims of election fraud, One America News Network saw its viewership jump. Reuters has uncovered how America’s telecom giant nurtured the news channel now at the center of a bitter national divide over politics and truth.
One America News Network Is Funded Almost Entirely by AT&T
https://www.adweek.com/tvnewser/one-america-news-network-is-funded-almost-entirely-by-att/491082/
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What's next?
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Colin Powell, first Black US secretary of state, dies of Covid-19 complications amid cancer battle
https://www.cnn.com/2021/10/18/politics/colin-powell-dies/index.html
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A good man. I'm glad he came around to realize that his original party had changed in ways unsatisfactory to him.
And I expect the antivax people will crow that he caught it even though he was vaccinated, as if the vaccine is not effective unless it's 100% sure.
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I agree, Fritz. He was an upstanding man. Thought for himself and admitted to his mistakes. RIP.
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I agree, Fritz. He was an upstanding man. Thought for himself and admitted to his mistakes. RIP.
Exactly. True integrity there.
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In-N-Out | Covid policies | Anti-LGBTQ
IN-N-OUT is a chain of hamburger restaurants in California. I've never eaten at one or gotten takeout, I really think because I've never been in much of a proximity of one to do so. But last Monday a friend and I were in the neighborhood of the one across the street from Hollywood High School. We stopped off at that one and got a burger and fries to eat at his house. I really liked my burger.
Then there's been news the last couple days about a couple of San Francisco IN-N-OUT's that were refusing to check if their in dining patrons had proof of covid vaccination cards. So they were fined. Then IN-N-OUT's chief legal and business officer, Arnie Wensinger, put out a statement saying they weren't going to be put in the position of policing their customers and other such statements about Government over-reach, etc.
Los Angeles County will be instituting the same/similar policies soon. So now it's become a political thing arguing about Government and freedoms and whatever.
I looked up their website today and you could email them, so I did. What I wrote:
This is in regard to the recent statements from IN-N-OUT's chief legal and business officer Arnie Wensinger, about the company's reaction to stores in San Francisco being fined for not checking the covid status of indoor dining patrons as currently required there.
This is on your website's COMMUNITY page: "The community is what has shaped In-N-Out Burger since 1948. As part of our mission statement, we are committed to assist all communities in our marketplace to become stronger, safer and better places to live."
If you don't want to follow temporary rules in this time of a covid pandemic, rules designed to keep "communities stronger and safer and better places to live" then I no longer want to be a patron of your restaurant.
A good friend of mine who lives in San Francisco sent me a couple articles from the San Francisco Chronicle, about things which I did not know:
In-N-Out Burger is Not Only Anti-Vaccine. They Also Support Anti-LGBTQ Politics
by Tony Bravo | October 21, 2021
https://datebook.sfchronicle.com/food-drink/shocked-by-in-n-out-burgers-anti-vaccine-mandate-stance-you-shouldnt-be
Bay Area's In-N-Out Fanboying Should Have Ended Long Before Vaccine News
by Soleil Ho | Oct. 20, 2021
https://www.sfchronicle.com/food/restaurants/article/Bay-Area-s-In-N-Out-fanboying-should-have-ended-16549959.php
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Hi Lyle,
I can access the first article just fine, and read it, but the second article requires one to subscribe, so can't access that one.
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^^^ Yeap. Thanks for posting! They are almost as bad as the Chick-fil-A bigots. I refuse to eat at Chick-fil-A ever again after I learned details… I guess I’ll be marking these clowns off my list if I’m ever near one again. V.
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According to the news tonight, they've found and identified the remains of Brian Laundrie, the man who was a "person of interest" in the death of Gabby Petito.
The remains were positively identified by dental records.
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According to the news tonight, they've found and identified the remains of Brian Laundrie, the man who was a "person of interest" in the death of Gabby Petito.
The remains were positively identified by dental records.
I wonder if anybody is actually surprised that he's dead?
I figured that was going to happen as soon as he disappeared.
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^^^ My last thought on this person was, "Well did he self-inflict _or_ did someone "else" swiftly deliver "some eye-for-eye justice" he deserved for killing his girlfriend? Either way, his game is complete. Karma most certainly re-balanced his scale swiftly.
Stay safe, stay alive. Peace. Later - V.
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I expect that a number of critters in the wildlife refuge found him nutritious.
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It may be hard to figure out how he died since the remains have been under water all this time.
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Hi Lyle,
I can access the first article just fine, and read it, but the second article requires one to subscribe, so can't access that one.
Bay Area's In-N-Out Fanboying Should Have Ended Long Before Vaccine News
by Soleil Ho | Oct. 20, 2021 [Soleil Ho is The San Francisco Chronicle’s restaurant critic. Email: soleil@sfchronicle.com]
When I first visited San Francisco many years ago, a friend took me to In-N-Out Burger as a rite of passage — to show me the real California. I remember thinking that it was fine. Then she told me to look at the small print on the fry boat: “Proverbs 24:16,” which points to the Bible verse, “For a righteous man falleth seven times, and riseth up again; But the wicked are overthrown by calamity.” That’s some heavy stuff for such limp fries to carry, I thought.
It’s strange how a company so open about its Evangelical bent has maintained its popularity in liberal enclaves throughout California, including the Bay Area, a place that’s often lambasted by national media as a liberal dystopia with commie pinko politics. Since the 1980s, when second-generation company president Rich Snyder took charge of In-N-Out from his parents, Esther and Harry Snyder, the verses have been a quiet part of the branding. In recent years, billionaire owner Lynsi Snyder, who also founded a militaristic ministry dedicated to training an “army” to conduct “spiritual warfare” against demonic entities, added more Bible references to the food packaging.
Now, it’s coming to light that In-N-Out leadership has been refusing to enforce Bay Area counties’ vaccine-proof mandates in their restaurants, which ask establishments that have indoor seating to check vaccine cards. The company’s recent stance on the oppressiveness of vaccine mandates puts everyone who walks into the restaurants’ doors in danger. Vaccine checks matter for indoor dining because COVID-19 is transmitted via aerosols emitted from the mouth: Unvaccinated people are much more likely to get ill in those contexts, and they’re much more likely to bring the virus outward into their communities from there.
The restaurant’s leadership just doesn’t care. They don’t care about their workers, and they don’t care about you. Clearly, the business is comfortable with its outsider politics and ethos, especially since being outspoken hasn’t hurt sales yet. In 2018, California Democratic Party head Eric Baumann called for a boycott of the burger chain after it was revealed in a state filing that the company donated $25,000 to the California Republican Party; the boycott was met mostly with shrugs. Research firm Technomic estimated that in 2020, the chain garnered more than $1 billion in sales — an almost 10% increase from the year before.
But I have to wonder, as a diner who doesn’t want to get COVID-19 — how is In-N-Out, of all places, worth all of this trouble? To be frank, I can empathize with people wanting to ignore all of the abstract, even unethical stuff about a company when the product they create is really great. Living by your ethics is one of the more impossible things about modern life, and I don’t necessarily want to blame anyone who just wants to buy the things they can afford. I get it, I really do.
Yet what is the deal with In-N-Out Burger? On an elemental level, the food is terrible. The fries taste like they’ve been merely bathed in a warm tub of grease rather than actually fried. So they’re made fresh-to-order: The effort comes off as a waste. And no, don’t tell me to just get them well-done, because they simply end up with the texture of cardboard. The burger itself, while famously made from fresh beef chuck ground by In-N-Out’s own butchers, tastes generic. To fix them, you ask to douse these things in secret sauce — essentially rebranded Thousand Island dressing — which does nothing to address the dishes’ inherent flaws. Perhaps it’s the sense of membership that one gets from knowing the things on the “secret menu” and having your favorite order feel custom-made. However, you can literally find the details anywhere you look ... even on the official website.
The fact that so many Californians find In-N-Out’s whole shtick so appealing speaks to the fact that sentimentality is irrational. The burger chain has successfully wormed its way into the hearts of generations of people here; to love In-N-Out, from the sweaty fries to the paper hats, is to be truly “of” this place. But California’s food culture has so much more going for it than this: roadside taquerias all over the state, incredible small-time burger pop-ups and affordable, wholesome food, even in San Francisco. It’s time to deprogram yourself. In-N-Out sucks. Get over it.
In-N-Out violated the vaccine mandate in Contra Costa County, too
___________________________________________________________________________________________
Me/P.S.: The first (and only?) time I had one their burgers was this past Monday. The fries were fries. I did like the burger, though.
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It may be hard to figure out how he died since the remains have been under water all this time.
I hope a 'gator got 'im.
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I hope a 'gator got 'im.
That's a good possibility, although from the way the authorities talk, this is not an established waterway, but just one that had water in from heavy rains. Of course there are plenty of wild critters in a wildlife area. It may be too difficult to obtain the cause of death with just a partial skull and skeleton.
The notebook they found had been exposed to the water, but they are going to try to salvage it.
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Thanks so much for the article, Lyle!! ♥️ I really wanted to read what it said. I agree with the author. I can't figure out the fandom of the place either. I had eaten there a few times when I lived out there, but was never overly impressed. I think Whataburger is hands down better burgers and fries.
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I hope he suffered.
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On our local news last night they stated that 75% of all Californians have gotten both of their Covid vaccine shots.
Another 2.5 million have gotten one shot.
2 million have gotten booster shots. (I did yesterday.)
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WOW, my heart is breaking for her! This could not happen to a more deserving "(@(*@(* person...." Too bad she didn't triple down for even more of that stockpile of ill-gotten "family $"...
http://rssfeeds.usatoday.com/~/671337696/0/usatodaycommoney-topstories~Betsy-DeVos-family-claims-million-con-with-investment-in-health-care-startup-Theranos/
Karma re-balances those scales in many ways. Here we have one con artist taking her prey - another con artist - to the cleaners and then the latter getting "extra greedy...." and doubling down!
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Karma re-balances those scales in many ways. Here we have one con artist taking her prey - another con artist - to the cleaners and then the latter getting "extra greedy...." and doubling down!
There's a movie in there somewhere.
Sometimes I worry about karma, but that's for another time and another place.
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Read this and tell me people are not incredibly stupid.
https://gizmodo.com/nft-rocks-1847508926 (https://gizmodo.com/people-are-shelling-out-six-figures-for-nft-rocks-1847508926)
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Yes, they're very stupid!
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And I've got an NFT of a bridge in Brooklyn they could buy for even less! :laugh:
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:laugh:
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So Virginia's getting a Repub governor.
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^^^ very disappointing... but if the dems don't get off their collective asses and get these bills passed and people working, 2022 is going to be awful. All this dithering from the two lead asswipes needs to end. Get with the program or get the hell outta the way and stop blocking progress. The progressives need to tone down their crap too.. plenty of blame to spread around. The *@(@* GOP now controls what 28 of the 50 Governor Statehouse which can only mean more bad....
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What happened, Fritz? What's your perspective?
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The GOP victory in Virginia, powered by robust turnout in conservative rural counties, improved support in the suburbs, and a message focused on the economy and alleged anti-white bias in school curriculum, will likely serve as a blueprint for Republicans looking to recapture the House and the Senate next year.
“It’s time to hit the panic button, because the base is not motivated," Democratic pollster Cornell Belcher said, calling the loss "catastrophic" for Democrats.
In Virginia, white women swung back toward the GOP by 15 percentage points compared to 2020, while Black turnout was down in some key places.
_________________
PLUS: This is what the Republicans do best: Get their voters riled up about an issue that really doesn't affect them in any meaningful way. Like gay marriage. Or bathroom bills. Their voters then vote for them and the R's go on to do the usual disastrous things they never talked about, but never seem to suffer any consequences. In this election Critical Race Theory was that issue:
The race was stoked by conservative alarmism about critical race theory, an until-recently obscure academic discipline taught in universities. Republicans say the issue could be central in future campaigns across the country. Youngkin made education the centerpiece of his campaign, capitalizing on parental frustration with school closures
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Plus McAuliffe made a huge gaffe in the final debate and a campaign slogan for his opponent.
"I don’t think parents should be telling schools what they should teach."
Nothing presses Republicans buttons like telling them they shouldn't do something, because then that's exactly what they'll do.
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Very disappointed. Youngkin somehow struck a chord with some people, even a very anti-X neighbor has fallen under his spell, though she's loath to admit it.
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NJ is very close, the last time I checked.
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IMHO, what happened in some of the elections this week? People are sick and tired of the Dems fighting amongst themselves in DC, and probably elsewhere. I know I am sooooooo tired of it. Doesn't matter, IMHO, if people may realize that Repubs never really DO anything to improve the lives of the commonfolk (read: the non-ultra Rich), they are just tired of the Dems bickering over silly stuff. It's telling that so many Repubs won elections. Same here in my area, the MAGA crowd won over more sensible Dem choices. City Councils, School boards, it's very telling for next year's election cycle. Scary, too! :o :o :o
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^^^^^ Yeap. We handed them a slim majority with an expiration date. The GOP has mastered the lie, divide, fear and conquer tactic for the past 40 years and used it well in VA. I’m tied of Manchin and Sinema and the damn progressives gumming up the works snd being stupid greedy trying to get their way vs what’s best for the party AND country. The Dems did this same shit bickering over ACA so much, for so long they nearly didn’t get it through. Stop bickering snd start ALL pulling the rope in the same direction. It’s clear the GOP has also mastered the unity play by sticking together bc that’s the only hope they have of stalling what the Dems are trying to do. All I feel is Manchin. Sinema and the damn progressives best fall in line and get those bills passed and stop holding up progress. No one is going to get everything they want but doing nothing is giving the GOP exactly their goal. Wake up cut the BS. Growl.
A good summary. https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/virginia-election-manchin-sinema-midterms-b1951054.html (https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/virginia-election-manchin-sinema-midterms-b1951054.html)
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No one is going to get everything they want but doing nothing is giving the GOP exactly their goal. Wake up cut the BS. Growl.
That's a good definition of political compromise, but I'm afraid it's already too late.
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Judge rejects another Trump attempt to slow down documents from going to House January 6 committee
By Katelyn Polantz
A federal judge on Wednesday night said she would not help former President Donald Trump as he attempts to buy time in his argument to keep secret records from his presidency, pointing him instead to an appeals court to seek help.
Judge Tanya Chutkan's latest decision comes a day after she ruled against Trump in a historic case regarding access to records from his presidency sought by the House select committee investigating the January 6 attack on the US Capitol.
Trump, the judge said, cannot "do an end run around" her decisions to try to win the case by forcing a delay, just because he's appealing.
https://www.cnn.com/2021/11/10/politics/trump-documents-january-6-committee-executive-privilege-case/index.html
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Giuliani says in deposition he 'didn't have the time' to verify election claims: CNN
By Caroline Vakil - 11/05/21
Rudy Giuliani, who served as Former President Trump's personal attorney, said during a deposition in mid-August that he “didn’t have the time” to look into whether reports of election fraud were credible, CNN, which obtained deposition tapes, reported Friday.
Giuliani is being sued by Dominion Voting Systems after he and other defendants connected to the former president repeatedly made claims, without evidence, that the 2020 election was rigged by Dominion Voting Systems in favor of Joe Biden.
“We had a report that the heads of Dominion and Smartmatic, somewhere in the mid-tweens, you know 2013, 2014, whatever, went down to Venezuela for a get-to-know meeting with [President Nicolás] Maduro so they could demonstrate to Maduro the kind of vote fixing they did for [former President Hugo] Chavez," Giuliani is shown saying during his deposition footage.
https://thehill.com/regulation/court-battles/580278-giuliani-says-in-deposition-he-didnt-have-the-time-to-verify
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Judge Tanya Chutkan's latest decision comes a day after she ruled against Trump in a historic case regarding access to records from his presidency sought by the House select committee investigating the January 6 attack on the US Capitol.
Too bad she's not a Trump appointee. That would have made her ruling perfect.
She's an Obama appointee, appointed to the bench in 2014.
Maybe they'll try to argue she's not a legal judge because she was born in Kingston, Jamaica.
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The state of some things:
--I just read a couple things; one is about a doctor in Oklahoma talking about Texas' abortion bill relating that 75% of his patients are from Texas. (Does the snitch law care where abortion services from TX residents are gotten?)
--Another about a SoCal City who's had to pay out almost 23 million dollars in unbudgeted money because of COVID illness due to so many firefighters who won't take the vaccines. (I think we need to start shaming people, particularly men, who won't get the vaccines as cowards. 'Fraidy cats.)
--And I saw a 60 minutes segment about a new Missouri law that bans Missouri state agencies from working with Federal agencies in solving gun crimes which has resulted in criminals getting away with gun crimes. It's another state law that gets citizens to enforce it because they'll get monetary compensation. (Like Texas' abortion law.) The Missouri bill's sponsors say that the law is fine, the Missouri police departments just don't understand it. Missouri police are now also all quitting when their service time is up and aren't being replaced because, well, who would want to work under conditions like this? The two Missouri lawmakers who sponsored the bill and got it passed were interviewed and I swear, they looked like crazed gun owners with that possessed look in their eyes. (And the latest headlines out of Missouri? Behold: Three Missouri Cities in Top Ten for Most Violent Crime Rate in the Entire U.S.)
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Trump, the judge said, cannot "do an end run around" her decisions to try to win the case by forcing a delay, just because he's appealing.
I don't think I'm alone in stating that I've never found him appealing.
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The state of some things:
--I just read a couple things; one is about a doctor in Oklahoma talking about Texas' abortion bill relating that 75% of his patients are from Texas. (Does the snitch law care where abortion services from TX residents are gotten?)
I could be wrong, but I think it does. If you catch someone crossing the state line to have an abortion, you can collect the money.
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They'll rethink that the next time someone crosses a state line to buy a weapon that's illegal in the state fled.
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Liverpool explosion: Three arrested under Terrorism Act after car blast at hospital
By Sue Paz & Doug Faulkner
A taxi carrying one passenger pulled up just before 11:00 GMT - as a national two minutes' silence for Remembrance Sunday was due to begin - and exploded.
The passenger was declared dead at the scene and is yet to be formally identified.
The male driver was injured and is in hospital in a stable condition.
Detectives from Counter Terrorism Police North West said three men - aged 29, 26 and 21 - were detained in the Kensington area of the city.
They said they were continuing to keep an open mind about the cause of the blast and were working with Merseyside Police as the investigation continued "at pace". The security service, MI5, is also assisting.
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-59285235
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Pope Francis again calls for climate action. U.S. bishops have been all but silent
Eric McDaniel - 11/14/21
Pope Francis on Sunday once again urged political and business leaders "to act now with courage and vision" to care for the planet and its people in the face of the global climate crisis. His remarks, made at St. Peter's Square at the Vatican, came just hours after the close of a two-week United Nations climate change summit in Glasgow, Scotland.
The pope has been insistent about the importance and urgency of climate action, six years ago dedicating a major document — known as Laudato Si' — to the importance of environmental stewardship.
It was also the primary topic of discussion at President Biden's meeting with Francis at the Vatican last month.
By contrast, Catholic bishops in the United States have generally been mum or misleading about climate change in their messaging to their congregations.
https://www.npr.org/2021/11/14/1055679802/pope-francis-again-calls-for-climate-action-u-s-bishops-have-been-all-but-silent
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Pope Francis again calls for climate action. U.S. bishops have been all but silent
Their mouths are full.
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Their mouths are full.
(https://c.tenor.com/cgwLPrG5GpkAAAAd/tyler-uks.gif)
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Sandy Hook families win legal victory against Alex Jones in defamation case
By Sarah Jorgensen - November 15, 2021
Sandy Hook families suing InfoWars founder Alex Jones have won a case against him after a judge ruled against Jones who has failed to comply with the discovery process.
Jones and entities owned by him were found liable by default Monday in a defamation case against them.
Connecticut Superior Court Judge Barbara Bellis cited the defendants' "willful noncompliance" with the discovery process as her core reasoning behind the ruling. She specifically noted that they had not turned over financial and analytics data requested multiple times by the Sandy Hook family plaintiffs.
"All the defendants have failed to fully and fairly comply with their discovery obligations," Bellis said at the virtual hearing.
Judge Bellis said that she had held off scheduling Monday's sanctions hearing "in hopes these problems would be corrected" by the Jones defendants.
https://www.cnn.com/2021/11/15/media/alex-jones-sandy-hook-defamation-legal-victory/index.html
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Trump ally Steve Bannon released from custody pending trial on contempt of Congress charges
By Zachary Cohen, Hannah Rabinowitz and Chandelis Duster - November 15, 2021
Steve Bannon won't be detained before trial on charges of contempt of Congress after he failed to comply with subpoenas from the House committee investigating January 6.
Bannon, a former adviser to former President Donald Trump, appeared in federal court for the first time Monday. He will be arraigned on Thursday.
Prosecutors did not seek to detain Bannon before trial. Under conditions approved by the judge, Bannon agreed to weekly check-ins, to surrender his passport, provide notice of any travel outside the district and seek court approval for travel outside the continental United States.
Each count carries a minimum of 30 days and a maximum of one year in prison and a fine of up to $100,000.
Before his court appearance, Bannon turned himself in Monday morning at an FBI field office in Washington. He was met by a swarm of media and was defiant when addressing TV cameras outside the building, saying, "We're taking down the Biden regime."
https://www.cnn.com/2021/11/15/politics/steve-bannon/
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Their mouths are full.
:laugh: :laugh: :laugh:
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IMHO, Nothing is going to happen to Bannon. The next court appearance is before a Trump-appointed Judge. It basically a Misdemeanor charge anyway. ;)
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'QAnon Shaman' Jacob Chansley sentenced to 41 months in prison for role in US Capitol riot
By Hannah Rabinowitz and Katelyn Polantz - November 17, 2021
Jacob Chansley, the so-called "QAnon Shaman," was sentenced to 41 months in prison for his role in the US Capitol riot.
The Justice Department had asked for Chansley to receive a harsh sentence as a way to set an example among the January 6 rioters, and prosecutors have positioned Chansley as emblematic of a barbaric crowd.
Since then, Chansley gained fame as the "QAnon Shaman," a figure known in the fringe online movement and for widely shared photos that captured him wearing face paint and a headdress inside the Senate chamber.
Judge Royce Lamberth has had Chansley held in jail since his arrest, despite his multiple attempts to gain sympathy and his release.
https://www.cnn.com/2021/11/17/politics/jacob-chansley-qanon-shaman-january-6-sentencing/index.html
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Listening to news programs this week this line that Lily Tomlin's Edith Ann said back in the 70's sprang to the forefront of my mind:
"I do not make things up; that is lies. But the truth can be made up if you know how. And that's the truth."
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Jacob Chansley, the so-called "QAnon Shaman," was sentenced to 41 months in prison for his role in the US Capitol riot.
My opinion? None of those convicted so far have gotten long enough terms. I'm sure none of them are sincerely sorry for what they did or have truly come to understand that it was wrong. They're all just sorry they got caught.
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So Kyle Rittenhouse has been acquitted of all charges.
An article in The New Yorker months ago made it sound like he should have been locked up till the end of his days.
Something just doesn't seem right to me here, but I do think this: His immature, 17-year-old brain couldn't and didn't think through the ramifications of carrying an assault weapon into a situation like that. Yeah, it's fine and exciting to think about carrying a rifle to protect property against looters and criminals, but what happens when you actually pull the trigger? This is not a game. This is the real life of real people you're messing with.
Second Amendment advocates can got to hell, as far as I'm concerned. A 17-year-old isn't mature enough to be running around with an assault weapon. And I think that's literally: I think I read somewhere that the brain isn't completely mature until sometime in your 20s? Or was it even later?
When I was a teenager, my father took me shooting a few times, but I was always under his adult supervision. Maybe it would be OK for Kyle Rittenhouse to learn to use even an assault weapon under adult supervision. He was not under anybody's supervision that night.
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I was really disgusted by that result, I was hoping there would be some sort of circumstances for his actions.
If he was black, and had shot and killed two people, he's be in jail now.
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^^^^ I agree. While we were not privy to the trial evidence as presented in court... I read that the Judge in the case was practically steering the jury to an acquittal on all charges. How a 17 year old can have an assault rifle in his possession but still not be a legal adult even old enough to drink alcohol or a beer in most states... is unfathomable insanity.
While I respect the "jury's verdict" I do question, especially in this case with two people dead, whether "justice was served". My gut says karma has much re balancing of his scales to do at some point in this man's life.
Now, we best hope that the 3 white men who killed the young black man (Arbury) in GA best not walk away with no pain. As one person said, it was a lynching - just no rope and another case of people "provoking a situation" which did not need to happen.
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My opinion? None of those convicted so far have gotten long enough terms. I'm sure none of them are sincerely sorry for what they did or have truly come to understand that it was wrong. They're all just sorry they got caught.
I have really loved the fact that the two or three who covered their faces said and posted on social media, that they wouldn't get caught. All of them got arrested because their co-conspirators turned them in when the co-conspirators got arrested.
A real situation will always expose a fake friend.
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If he was black, and had shot and killed two people, he's be in jail now.
No, he'd be dead. Would never have left that place alive.
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Very true, Gillian
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I was really disgusted by that result, I was hoping there would be some sort of circumstances for his actions.
If he was black, and had shot and killed two people, he's be in jail now.
Had he survived.
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It was pointed out that it was against the law for the 17 year old to BUY an assault rifle, but not against the law to carry one.
Some are confident that the law was followed and a correct verdict was reached, but that the laws need to be changed.
My opinion is that with absolutely no punishment of any sort, this kid has not learned any lesson at all. His statement after the verdict was that he thought it was a correct verdict because "I didn't do anything wrong."
He thinks he didn't do anything wrong.
The judge went out of his way to praise the jury saying they "were wonderful to work with." He also said that his remarks "shouldn't be taken as commentary on the verdict itself." In such a case as this does the judge not have any common sense to say things like that, either? He seems to have steered this toward this verdict, especially when early on he dismissed two minor offenses that might have provided a scintilla of remorse to the defendant if they'd stood: Judge Schroeder dismissed a misdemeanor weapons possession charge and a non-criminal curfew violation prior to deliberations.
After the trial, the defendant's lawyer said his client "just wants to get on with his life." I guess that's why his client is sitting down for an interview with Tucker Carlson on Monday that will be part of a documentary about the case to be aired in December.
Just getting on with things. Nothing to see here.
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My opinion is that with absolutely no punishment of any sort, this kid has not learned any lesson at all. His statement after the verdict was that he thought it was a correct verdict because "I didn't do anything wrong."
He thinks he didn't do anything wrong.
This reminds me of a program I saw once about raising teenagers. A psychologist was interviewed about understanding the mind of teenagers and he said, as best as I recollect, "You know how many parents, when confronted with some things their teens do that they can't believe they did, ask 'what were you thinking?' Well, that's the point. Teenagers aren't thinking. Properly, yet, anyway. Their minds aren't fully formed and they haven't had the experience(s) yet to know the consequences of what they're doing. That's why they need their parents still."
Exactly.
_________________________________________________________________________
Bill Maher's comment on his Real Time show last night: "If you don't know the story, Kyle Rittenhouse is a teenager. From Illinois. Who traveled to Wisconsin, because like all teenage boys, he watches too many comic book movies; he thinks he can be The Avenger; which is a bad combination with guns."
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It was pointed out that it was against the law for the 17 year old to BUY an assault rifle, but not against the law to carry one.
In her sermon this morning, the preacher at my church quoted another clergy person: "What kind of a society allows a 17-year-old to run around with an AK-47?"
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In cases like this, I really wish we could have transcripts of the jury deliberations. I'd really like to see how they justified their verdicts. The truth is, if I were in a jury pool, I would not be on the jury. They'd ask me my opinion of guns and the like and I'd tell them and I would be dismissed as a juror because I wouldn't be impartial. In this case, impartial means you have to approve, be open-minded, of people carrying AK-47's around, because if you don't, you're going to get kicked off the jury.
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Thank God!
All 3 men guilty of murder in the killing of Ahmaud Arbery
By Eliott C. McLaughlin, Devon M. Sayers, Alta Spells and Steve Almasy, CNN - November 24, 2021
A jury Wednesday found three White men charged in the killing of Ahmaud Arbery, a 25-year-old Black man, guilty on multiple murder counts, as well as other charges.
The verdict, delivered by nine White women, two White men and one Black man, came after more than 11 hours of deliberation spanning two days. It followed eight days of testimony, involving 23 witnesses.
Arbery's parents appeared alongside civil rights stalwarts outside the courthouse following the verdict. They praised the prosecution and supporters who joined the family in their fight for justice for their son, whose killing drew national outrage and helped cast a spotlight on other racially driven crimes around the country.
https://www.cnn.com/2021/11/24/us/ahmaud-arbery-killing-trial-wednesday-jury-deliberations/index.html
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Cuomo is GONE from CNN!! WOW.........what a change for the network! Top-rated show and all........who will fill that timeslot now? ::)
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Yes, I was surprised when I heard that the other day.
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Bob Dole has died. He was 98.
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I was just reading that. Sending good thoughts to his family at this time.
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I'll never forget seeing him get up from his wheelchair to salute at George H. W. Bush's funeral.
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I'll never forget seeing him get up from his wheelchair to salute at George H. W. Bush's funeral.
Both being World War II veterans.
https://youtu.be/Q5bjTferxAU
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White House announces US diplomatic boycott of 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing
By Allie Malloy and Kate Sullivan, CNN - December 6, 2021
The Biden administration will not send an official US delegation to the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing as a statement against China's "ongoing genocide and crimes against humanity in Xinjiang," White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Monday.
US athletes will still be allowed to compete in the Olympics, but the administration will not be sending government officials to the games. The same policy applies for the Paralympic Games, which are also taking place in Beijing.
The White House is looking to send a "clear message" that the human rights abuses in China mean there cannot be "business as usual," Psaki told reporters at a White House briefing.
The move marks an escalation of pressure by the US on China over allegations of forced labor and human rights abuses in China's western region of Xinjiang, particularly against the Uyghur population and other ethnic and religious minority groups.
https://www.cnn.com/2021/12/06/politics/us-diplomatic-boycott-winter-olympics
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'Defeated' Mike Lindell Ends 96-hour TV Marathon After Failing to Gain Support
By Gerrard Kaonga - 11/29/21
Mike Lindell ended a 96-hour online marathon entitled, Thanks-a-thon, after failing to gain strong support for his Supreme Court case.
The MyPillow CEO has long been a fervent supporter of former President Donald Trump and has continued to make baseless claims that the 2020 election was rigged in favour of President Joe Biden and that he would file a lawsuit.
Despite providing no evidence for widespread election fraud, Lindell claimed he would have the support of multiple states' attorneys in general as he hoped to take this issue to the Supreme Court.
The 60-year-old claimed he would have this support by Thanksgiving, a deadline he set himself, but he did not receive it and the lawsuit was not filed.
By the end of the marathon, Mike Lindell appeared defeated, according to viewers, and in his final words asked the people to take action.
https://www.newsweek.com/mike-lindell-marathon-end-thanks-thon-donald-trump-election-1653886
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The Biden administration will not send an official US delegation to the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing as a statement against China's "ongoing genocide and crimes against humanity in Xinjiang," White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Monday.
US athletes will still be allowed to compete in the Olympics, but the administration will not be sending government officials to the games. The same policy applies for the Paralympic Games, which are also taking place in Beijing.
Wise move. I think Jimmy Carter's total boycott of the 1980 Moscow Summer Olympics was unwise at best, foolish at worst. Not only that, the U.S. was one of the only countries who has participated in every Olympics, both winter and summer, except for 1980.
To date: Participants in every single Winter Olympics
Austria, Canada, Finland, France, Great Britain, Hungary, Italy, Norway, Poland, Sweden, Switzerland, United States
To date: Participants in every single Summer Olympics
Australia, France, Great Britain, Greece, Switzerland
Both: France, Great Britain, Switzerland
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'Defeated' Mike Lindell Ends 96-hour TV Marathon After Failing to Gain Support
This guy is stupider than the orange cretin. What a total idiot. Every serious news organization needs to stop giving him the time of day. Non-serious, too.
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My reaction to this news item today is "Duh."
A Huge Study of 20 Years of Global Wealth Demolishes the Myth of
'Trickle-Down' and Shows the Rich are Taking Most of the Gains for
Themselves
https://www.businessinsider.com/how-bad-is-inequality-trickle-down-economists (https://www.businessinsider.com/how-bad-is-inequality-trickle-down-economics-thomas-piketty-economists-2021-12)
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^^^
It just occurred to me, that the above headline seems to acknowledge that everyone knows the "trickle-down" idiocy is a fraud calling it a myth, and yet our government and others seem still ruled by the myth, because wealthy people get into Government to keep it going. Or else, I mean and the wealthy influence the lawmakers.
Voters (especially GOP voters): Please ask the people you have to choose from to vote for:
What are the candidates offering you in exchange for the power they seek?
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People want to celebrate Bob Dole. Yes, he was a War Veteran, and badly injured too. His 'previous' Wife nursed him back to health, a long arduous process too! I believe she was a nurse herself. After that dedication, he divorced her. No, I don't know the details of that either. He was a HUGE supporter of Richard Nixon, even AFTER Watergate, imagine that? He married Elizabeth, which only helped to solidify his power image in DC. They were often called by the Press, the POWER COUPLE in DC. My, oh My!! The 'story' in Kansas was that His daughter with his first Wife was a lesbian, but did Bob Dole do ANYTHING to further basic human rights, or protection for that community?? Do you know? Today it's said she was/is married with 2 kids. But there is no mention of Bob Dole having grandkids, so I don't know! He was a War Hawk too. Yet he is celebrated for being nonpartisan, working across the aisle, as they say. The only time he did ANYTHING for Kansas was if it benefited his own Senate career. He never would have been elected President, or VP. He was FAR tooooo acidic for that. He also supported Donald Trump for President, twice! :o..I knew his Sister personally. Interesting Woman. Even though she had a good career of her own in Real Estate, she just couldn't resist the pageantry of being in DC with Bob. I guess one can get caught up in all that, no? She loved her Brother, but didn't necessarily embrace his politics, or choices in Life. There you go, a little tidbit of family info! ;D
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The Victorian state parliament in Australia has amended the Equal Opportunity Act to ban religious schools from sackling LGBTIQ+ teachers and expelling LGBTIQ+ students because of their sexuality, gender identity, marital or parental status. Religious organisations that receive government funding are banned from refusing services to LGBTIQ+ people.
Tasmania, Queensland and the Australian Capital Territory already have similar laws.
The Federal government has introduced a Religious Discrimination Bill which will override these State and Territory laws.
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We need that here in the US. I suspect it happens more frequently than reported.
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Absolutely. 100% separation of Church and State b/c it's an evil, slippery slope. Any org who takes public tax dollars should NOT be allowed to discriminate with public monies.
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US passes 800,000 Covid deaths – highest in the world
The US death toll from Covid-19 has passed 800,000, a once-unimaginable figure seen as doubly tragic given that more than 200,000 of those lives were lost after vaccines became available last spring.
The figure represents the highest reported toll of any country in the world, and is likely even higher.
The US accounts for approximately 4% of the world’s population but about 15% of the 5.3 million known deaths from the coronavirus since the outbreak began in China two years ago.
The grim milestone comes as the world braces for rise in cases of the new Omicron variant, with the World Health Organization (WHO) warning it was spreading at an unprecedented rate.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/dec/15/a-terrible-tragedy-us-tops-800000-covid-deaths-highest-in-the-world
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Trump suffers big court loss in his bid to keep his tax records secret
By Tierney Sneed, CNN - December 14, 2021
A federal judge on Tuesday dealt a blow to former President Donald Trump's bid to keep his tax returns from Congress, ruling that the Treasury Department could disclose them to the House committee that requested them more than two years ago.
The decision stems from the case initially brought by House Ways and Means Chairman Richard Neal against the Treasury Department under the Trump administration, when the department rebuffed his request for the returns under a law that allows disclosure of an individual's tax returns to the committee.
With the new administration, the Justice Department changed its posture in the case, and on Tuesday, District Judge Trevor McFadden, a Trump appointee, granted requests from the department and the House to dismiss the case.
McFadden also put the opinion on hold for 14 days to give Trump the opportunity to file his expected appeal.
https://www.cnn.com/2021/12/14/politics/trump-irs-disclosure-tax/index.html
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Scientists Develop a New Molecule That Blocks COVID-19 Infection
By AARHUS UNIVERSITY DECEMBER 14, 2021
A research team at Aarhus University has developed a new molecule that attaches to the surface of SARS-CoV-2 virus particles. This attachment prevents the virus from entering human cells and spreading the infection.
The newly developed molecule belongs to a class of compounds known as RNA aptamers and it is based on the same type of building blocks that are used for mRNA vaccines. This makes them much cheaper and easier to manufacture than the antibodies that are currently used to treat Covid-19 and to detect viral infection using rapid antigen tests.
An aptamer is a piece of DNA or RNA that folds into a 3D structure that can recognize a specific target molecule of interest. By attaching itself to the virus surface, the RNA aptamer prevents the Spike protein from serving as a key that allows the virus to enter a cell.
Hence, the RNA aptamer is not a new type of vaccine but a compound that can potentially stop the virus from spreading in the body once someone is exposed to the virus.
https://scitechdaily.com/scientists-develop-a-new-molecule-that-blocks-covid-19-infection/
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Our Governor in California is turning the U.S. Supreme Court's rulings against them.
He sent out this press release:
Using Texas Law to Stop Gun Violence in California
If the Supreme Court wants to let private citizens in Texas sue to stop women from getting an abortion, then we are going to use that precedent to save lives from gun violence in California.
Here is the truth:
The right to abortion is a constitutionally protected right. But the Supreme Court allowed Texas legislators to circumvent that protection.
So I am going to work with the legislature and Attorney General to create and pass a bill that would allow private citizens to sue anyone who manufactures, distributes, or sells an assault weapon or ghost gun kit or parts in the State of California.
I’d like to know if you agree. I am looking for a lot of support backing me up.
If the most efficient way to keep these weapons off our streets is to add the threat of private lawsuits, then let’s go. That’s what we’re going to do.
More soon.
Gavin Newsom
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What a great idea, Lyle. I wish I still lived in California. I would really support this whole think. I really like his thinking on this!
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I think it's a great idea!
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^^^ Sorry, I modified this posting to clarify why I think this is BS. I agree with you Chuck b/c this latest power chess game is going to have proceed that way to eventually end the madness....
The downside in this "tit-for-tat" game is this BS opens the door for states (or locals) to nullify the power of the Federal judiciary and Congress on ANY federally granted right or protection.
BLUF: Any state government (or local for that matter), allowed to operate under this lawlessness doctrine, may decide they do not like “gay marriage” and nullify that Federal ruling. Essentially any law or right can be nullified by locals. Don’t like voting rights - same deal. Don't like making accommodations for the disabled or handicap - same deal. Don't like inter-racial marriage - same deal. Don't like the option to not to have a religious denomination such as "Christian" - same deal. Don't think women should be allowed to own property or vote - same deal. Believe that GBLTQ people should be locked up and stoned - same deal.
It is a very slippery slope to legal chaos and lawlessness. The People and SCOTUS best wake up!! Those 3 most recent "Justices" appointed by the GoS (two of which should never been seated), and their "originalist dogma + doctrine" were rammed through by the GOP to with a goal to eviscerate Federal control (and Federally secured rights) to the states (and others) to do as they please. The "White Southern Democrats" attempted a similar legal strategy after the Civil war to suppress and control former slaves. Here we are again - repeating that same story only this time it is the GOP corrupted with "hard-right-wing bible-thumping evangelicals" who believe their right to their "religious dogma" supersedes all else! Mark my words, if they get any chance, they will enshrined their beliefs into "moral law..." (aka "Evangelical Talaban")
Pay close attention to the chess pieces on the board now happening in GOP controlled states. Voting suppression being marketed and sold by the GOP and Fox Lies as "voter integrity laws" in 19+ states the GOP dominates. The GOP is actively removing independents from election boards (GA) and gerrymandering districts into their favor even when the actual census population counts do not support such jiggery-pokery! The idea that a GOP controlled state govt can choose to send "state electors" of their liking (GOP) vs. electors actually representing the people's vote to elect a POTUS is being promoted wildly and is THE basis for the Jan 6, 2021 coupe attempt! The GOP miscalculated in Nov 2020 that honest people would just ply and bend-over to their will to retain power. "Can't you find me just 11,000 votes?" Now - the GOP is rapidly fixing their mistakes for 2022 and 2024 by tightening their grip on elections in many many ways using their boots on the scales and necks of honest people who were doing a most excellent job. The GOP's intent is to create a GOP-controlled one-party political system in key southern states (yet again) and then usurp control of both the Federal government and GOP packed Judiciary. It took 3-4 generations to undo all this in the South after the Civil War.... and here we are again. This chess game has been "in-play" out since 1980's when Regan was first elected. Each and every step carefully coordinated by truly evil people. The last play was the GOP pursuing and successfully dismantling the "voting rights act" which gave the DOJ oversight to those southern states b/c of their past horrible acts WRT to voters. Once that pin fell, they are now free to do as they choose.
Danger! Will Robinson! Danger! At some point the buck stops....where?
It’s the same slippery slope Scalia, whom I disagreed with most often, warned about a few years before his death on several occasions.
https://www.scotusblog.com/2011/04/argument-recap-scalia-guarding-the-slope/ (https://www.scotusblog.com/2011/04/argument-recap-scalia-guarding-the-slope/)
https://www.wsj.com/articles/BL-LB-45400 (https://www.wsj.com/articles/BL-LB-45400)
...plus many others..
V.
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Which is one reason why the Supremes will favor the Mississippi law over the Texas one big time.
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BLUF: Any state government (or local for that matter), allowed to operate under this lawlessness doctrine, may decide they do not like “gay marriage” and nullify that Federal ruling. Essentially any law or right can be nullified by locals.
South Carolina tried that in the 1830s. It was called "Nullification," and essentially it meant that if South Carolina disliked a federal law, it could "nullify" it and overrule the federal government. Andrew Jackson was president at the time, and he didn't stand for that BS.
Jackson did some terrible things (ref.: The Trail of Tears), but that's not my point, and I'm not here to argue about that. The point is, he didn't stand for South Carolina claiming it could overrule the federal government.
And nobody today has the b_ alls to stand up and say, "No, you can't nullify federal law."
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It is a very slippery slope to legal chaos and lawlessness.
We already have legal chaos and lawlessness with Dems trying to stop the Reps from their insanity. That's why we're in a lot of the mess we're in now--the Republicans are relying on legal chaos to get their own way. It's why the Orange Cretin never has gotten in much trouble--his pursuit of legal chaos is rooted in everything he's ever done. So pushing back in ways that they don't like or ways that hurt them has to be an option. When you can get away with anything in pursuing legal chaos that IS lawlessness. So both sides have to play right now. Unless there's a better idea, but I haven't heard any.
It's why I've stopped reading and watching much news the past couple months. Everything you read or watch points to doom and gloom, but there is never any talk of what can we do about it. I'd love to watch a news program that aired the current news and then had a segment at the end that said, "Here's the items we've covered in the news today and now we're going to highlight some things you can do to change direction." (or to support the changes beingmade in some news stories.) It would make people more hopeful to at least know there are things one could do.
Here's a simple one--after news about rising COVID cases:
"What can you do to help stop the spread?" Take the vaccines. :)
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^^^ Yeap, I agree. Night after night of depressing news: Delta, Omicron, 800K dead, SCOTUS cases, ... it's just too much to bear. I've even started skipping the mostly balanced "ABC Nightly News". I agree, we are in a precarious position in our democracy we've not seen since the 1860's civil war - which was then all about slavery (wealth) and control of those former slaves (minority). Today, the stakes are just as high. This time the current battle is about control of wealth (again) and suppressing the ever growing non-caucasion populous. Make no mistake... the root issues are the same.
V.
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I'm reminded about how during the Civil War the French used the American struggle for survival to invade Mexico, and the US could do nothing about it. Despite the GOP lip service about support for Taiwan and Israel, I would expect those countries to be invaded and disposed of if the US is once again in a similar situation. In effect, the GOP would be doing the work of America's enemies.
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^^^ Absolutely. It's damn difficult to fight wars on multiple fronts flying solo.
> Does anyone really believe the GoS weakening/badmouthing of NATO allies was without end-game plan?
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And Pennsylvania has Dr. Oz--Dr. Oz!--running for the Senate, already airing commercials.
Whenever I hear him say "they" "have taken away our freedom and not kept us safe," I want to strangle the S.O.B.
And as a doctor he's a quack and a snake oil salesman.
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I like two of the people running for the Democratic nomination: Your Lieutenant Governor, John Fetterman, and Rep. Conor Lamb.
If anyone could handle Oz's rhetoric it would be Fetterman. From what I've seen of him he's no nonsense, to the point and doesn't suffer fools gladly.
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Joe Manchin has EXCEEDED his 15 minutes of fame!! :o :o :o
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Exactly.
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Joe Manchin has EXCEEDED his 15 minutes of fame!! :o :o :o
FAR FAR FAR exceeded... he's now being courted by the devil's right hand, Moscow Mitch to "switch sides" Simply unbelievable!! With a 50/50 split, when will the Dems learn it's 100% unity or nothing - stop the squabbling and pass what you can. When you have more margins, you can squabble about more or less progressive items. V.
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Joe Manchin has EXCEEDED his 15 minutes of fame!! :o :o :o
Joe Manchin is in it for Joe Manchin, and to hell with his constituents.
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I like two of the people running for the Democratic nomination: Your Lieutenant Governor, John Fetterman, and Rep. Conor Lamb.
If anyone could handle Oz's rhetoric it would be Fetterman. From what I've seen of him he's no nonsense, to the point and doesn't suffer fools gladly.
Fetterman won't suffer fools at all, let alone gladly.
I'm at my dad's for the holiday. The editorial in yesterday's hometown newspaper practically crucified Oz, pointing out his past idiocies. It also bluntly accused him of being a carpetbagger whose principal home is in New Jersey and whose Pennsylvania "address" is his mother-in-law's house.
He's no longer the co-author of the medical column the local newspaper runs.
I still want to strangle the SOB when he says, "They've taken away our freedom and haven't made us safer."
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Sad way to end a sad year: Betty White has passed, a few weeks short of her 100th birthday. :(
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Sad way to end a sad year: Betty White has passed, a few weeks short of her 100th birthday. :(
I have this posted to my FB page, regarding Betty White, and everyone wanting her to make it to 100. I did not come up with this idea, it was a screen capture of a tweet.
If you go by years, Betty White lived to be 99.
However, if you go by days, the answer initially looks like she lived 99 years and 348 days, for a total 36,483 days. That is based on a year being 365 days long. Betty lived through 24 leap years, where there was a extra day. If you add those extra days to that total, she was 36,507 days old. If you divide that by 365, that makes her 100 years and 7 days old when she died.
So technically she made it to 100.
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Once she turned 99, you can say she was in her 100th year.
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One of my aunts died when she was 99, but she wouldn’t have wanted to go on any longer. She wasn’t well and had had enough.
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I read today that she died peacefully in her sleep. She was ready to go.
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The Ohio solicitor general is making an argument against vaccine mandates before the Supreme Court. Unfortunately he has to make it remotely, as he has contracted COVID-19:
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/supreme-court/ohio-solicitor-general-makes-anti-vax-case-supreme-court-remotely-n1287158
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The Ohio solicitor general is making an argument against vaccine mandates before the Supreme Court. Unfortunately he has to make it remotely, as he has contracted COVID-19:
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/supreme-court/ohio-solicitor-general-makes-anti-vax-case-supreme-court-remotely-n1287158
I guess they would have mandated that he wear a mask to get into the building?
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I guess they would have mandated that he wear a mask to get into the building?
And he would have to be tested:
https://www.supremecourt.gov/announcements/Fall_2021_argument_COVID_protocols.pdf
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I guess they would have mandated that he wear a mask to get into the building?
And he would have to be tested:
https://www.supremecourt.gov/announcements/Fall_2021_argument_COVID_protocols.pdf
No doubt the irony would be totally lost on him.
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The killer of Scott Johnson in Sydney in 1988 has been convicted of his gay hate murder after he changed his not guilty plea to guilty. He will be sentenced in May.
Scott Johnson was a mathematician who had qualified for his PhD. He had moved to Australia in 1986 on a student visa to live with his Australian partner Michael Noone.
It took more than 30 years of campaigning by his family and the community and three inquests to overturn the finding that Scott Johnson's death was suicide.
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The killer of Scott Johnson in Sydney in 1988 has been convicted of his gay hate murder after he changed his not guilty plea to guilty. He will be sentenced in May.
Scott Johnson was a mathematician who had qualified for his PhD. He had moved to Australia in 1986 on a student visa to live with his Australian partner Michael Noone.
It took more than 30 years of campaigning by his family and the community and three inquests to overturn the finding that Scott Johnson's death was suicide.
I was going to ask why it took so long , but you explained it. What a terrible travesty if justice for him, his partner and his family!!
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The Newspaper report is telling and the concluding paragraph is very moving
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/the-truth-at-last-loving-brother-s-defiance-vindicated-20220113-p59o4c.html
A little confusing as both murderer and victim are named Scott.
And chilling that there could have been as many as 80 others.
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OK, I'm confused. Biden can't impose mask mandates on companies with more than 100 employees, but he can impose them on health care workers? Do I have that correct? Has anybody read the Supremes' ruling?
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Have you noticed that most of the rulings from the Supreme Court lately are unsigned? Even those partisan justices >:D don't want any of their names on the rulings they're making.
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I don't think the general public notices stuff like that, Lyle!! When I tell people SCOTUS has control over, or affects their lives much more than Congress or the WH, they look at me like I'm from another Planet!! Jeez!!! :o :o :o
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So now the Repukes and Cruz are saying Biden has gone BONKERS, leaving out ALL other qualifying SCOTUS potentials because he's promised a Black Women the job?! Hmmmm? Even though Black Women only makeup 7% of the total population of this Nation. They have completely FORGOTTEN Reagan's PROMISE to name a WOMAN to SCOTUS if he got the chance, which he did! So, he LEFT OUT all the White Men qualified for the seat?! Yes, he did! LORD, how those Repukes forget the History of their OWN party!! ;D ;D ;D
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They consider hypocrisy a virtue.
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So, can the Great Orange Satan pull a Grover Cleveland and come back in '24?
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If he can, then we've lost the American experiment.
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God, I hope not.
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^^^^ The GoS and his lemmings are fund-raising enough $$$ to try unless they are locked up treason. ... this chess match ain't over folks - sadly. V.
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If he can, then we've lost the American experiment.
I'm a pessimist. I'm afraid it's lost already.
Somebody somewhere said January 6 wasn't the end. It was only the beginning. I'm afraid next time there will be shooting. I hope the military stays loyal to the Constitution.
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Somebody somewhere said January 6 wasn't the end. It was only the beginning. I'm afraid next time there will be shooting.
There already was shooting on January 6.
And two bombs planted that fortunately did not detonate.
(And we still don't know, publicly anyway, who did that.)
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One has the choice NOT to be a pessimist.
I never, or try never to, posit* anything that I do not want to occur. It does no good to do things like that.
posit
verb
1. assume as a fact; put in position; place
2. put forward as a basis of argument
noun
3. a statement which is made on the assumption that it will prove to be true
Doing things like that also means one is not likely going to try and do anything, even the most basic thing, to prevent what you don't want to occur.
Jeff, I cannot think you actually believe being a pessimist is a good thing.
So, for you: (And everyone else...we can all use reinforcements!)
How to Stop Being Pessimistic: 10 Positive Thinking Tips
https://bwcs.com/how-to-stop-being-10-tips/ (https://brainwavecareers.co.za/how-to-stop-being-pessimistic-10-positive-thinking-tips/)
Or...
You've Got to Ac-cent-u-ate the Positive
https://www.webmd.com/accentuating-a-positive-attitude (https://www.webmd.com/balance/features/accentuating-a-positive-attitude)
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There already was shooting on January 6.
And two bombs planted that fortunately did not detonate.
(And we still don't know, publicly anyway, who did that.)
I think the source meant a lot more shooting, like, an entire right-wing militia group shooting, staging a full-on armed assault, not just one or two or three individuals.
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Jeff, I cannot think you actually believe being a pessimist is a good thing.
I believe it's a realistic thing.
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It's sad to me to think that you'd rather be entrenched in pessimism, regardless if you think it's realistic or not. Scientific studies show that it's healthier to be optimistic.
I say entrenched because we've had this discussion on a couple other occasions. And you don't budge or waver about it at all. Of course, we could also get into an even broader discussion:
(https://i.ytimg.com/vi/u6oBjcWZ_PY/maxresdefault.jpg) ...but let's not.
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It's sad to me to think that you'd rather be entrenched in pessimism, regardless if you think it's realistic or not. Scientific studies show that it's healthier to be optimistic.
I say entrenched because we've had this discussion on a couple other occasions. And you don't budge or waver about it at all. Of course, we could also get into an even broader discussion:
(https://i.ytimg.com/vi/u6oBjcWZ_PY/maxresdefault.jpg) ...but let's not.
No, let's not.
I simply cannot believe anyone can be optimistic about the state of American politics, not after the last five years and an attempt to overthrow our system.
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Imagine if Stacey Abrams was pessimistic, for example.
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Imagine if Stacey Abrams was pessimistic, for example.
Yeah, well, I'm not Stacey Abrams. I'm an aging (not to say older) gay white male voter.
She didn't win, did she?
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Not yet.
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I thought maybe this was going to turn into a Couch Session, or Group Therapy? :P :laugh:
Either way, I'm IN! ;D
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I thought maybe this was going to turn into a Couch Session, or Group Therapy? :P :laugh:
Either way, I'm IN! ;D
Why? Do you need some? ;)
Hope for the best, expect the worst--and prepare for it. I've said that here before, and I'm saying it here again.
I actually got a pitch for money from Stacey Abrams. Girlfriend, we have our own races to worry about here in Pennsylvania, so don't go asking me for money for your race down in Georgia.
Pessimistic people have a more realistic view of the world as it is.
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(https://hips.hearstapps.com/hmg-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/images/close-up-of-two-pennies-royalty-free-image-1594826248.jpg)
I actually got a pitch for money from Stacey Abrams. Girlfriend, we have our own races to worry about here in Pennsylvania, so don't go asking me for money for your race down in Georgia.
That's a perfectly justifiable attitude as long as you did give money to the races you support in PA. However, one might find in an election there was no doubt who would win a certain race, so you could find that a donation that might help someone in another state, and that would benefit you as well, could/would be warranted.
Hope for the best, expect the worst--and prepare for it. I've said that here before, and I'm saying it here again.
IMO, expecting and preparing for the worst negates hope or any preparation for a positive outcome. It's one sided. I always read or hear that a balance is required for optimal health.
(Isn't helping an outcome you want to happen better than preparing for one you do not?)
Pessimistic people have a more realistic view of the world as it is.
The Magic That Happens When We Stop Equating Pessimism With Realism
https://ascentpublicationcom/9480a5481540 (https://medium.com/the-ascent/the-magic-that-happens-when-we-stop-equating-pessimism-with-realism-9480a5481540)
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That's a perfectly justifiable attitude as long as you did give money to the races you support in PA. However, one might find in an election there was no doubt who would win a certain race, so you could find that a donation that might help someone in another state, and that would benefit you as well, could/would be warranted.
So far I haven't heard of any Democrats running for anything here, which seems strange. I've seen only commercials for Republicans, including the odious Dr. Oz.
IMO, expecting and preparing for the worst negates hope or any preparation for a positive outcome. It's one sided. I always read or hear that a balance is required for optimal health.
I disagree. Preparing for the worst does not mean you do nothing but sit down and wait for it. Perhaps it would be better phrased as "Work for the best, but expect the worst--and prepare for it," but I've never heard it phrased that way.
And I'm not talking about my health. I'm talking about the health of our nation and our democracy.
(Isn't helping an outcome you want to happen better than preparing for one you do not?)
One needs to do both.
The Magic That Happens When We Stop Equating Pessimism With Realism
https://ascentpublicationcom/9480a5481540 (https://medium.com/the-ascent/the-magic-that-happens-when-we-stop-equating-pessimism-with-realism-9480a5481540)
Perhaps I'm not getting her, but it seems to me that she's also talking about one's personal life, and it still sounds pollyanna-ish to me. "I'm grateful for my steaming cup of coffee." Oh, please.
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Canary in the coal mine.
A couple decades ago when the Florida recount was underway in 2000, a good percentage of the press from the Republicans was that Gore was cheating in the vote count and how if he won it would be because of fraud. Sound familiar? A button from that time.
(https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/wuMAAOSwwH9hWMr3/s-l1600.jpg)
And this book was written:
(https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/41DudDU5SzL.SR160,240_BG243,243,243.jpg)
The Washington Times is a conservative daily paper founded in 1982. Bill Sammon is currently a Fox News managing editor and a vice president for the network.
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What I've heard about Pessimists is that they have the advantage over the rest of us, because being that way, they'll never be disappointed in the results! I guess? ;D
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What I've heard about Pessimists is that they have the advantage over the rest of us, because being that way, they'll never be disappointed in the results! I guess? ;D
Sure enough.
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Canary in the coal mine.
Maybe a slightly different canary. or a slightly different coal mine:
"Let me tell you the whole truth: if ever Fascism should come to America, it will come in the name of 'freedom.'"
--Thomas Mann
I don't have a date for the quotation. It appears in an article about Mann in the Jan. 24 issue of The New Yorker. Mann was at Princeton from 1938 to 1942.
I've also recently acquired a copy of American Fascists: The Christian Right and the War on America, by Chris Hedges. It was published as far back as 2006. I haven't yet read it (I'm kind of scared to), but what I have read on the jacket makes it seem frighteningly prescient.
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What I've heard about Pessimists is that they have the advantage over the rest of us, because being that way, they'll never be disappointed in the results! I guess? ;D
I'm sure some pessimist probably came up with that. They'll also never work to try and change things because they don't expect it will do any good. If one is a pessimist, they focus all their energies and concentration on a lot of negative things. How is that a healthy way to be? I remember this quote I heard once, "“No one knows enough to be a pessimist.”
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Love this story - so often we hear about environmental disasters, we don't often hear the good news of people preventing it from happening:
https://wide-reach.xyz/shell-blocked-by-south-african-villagers-from-seismic-gas-exploration/
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Love this story - so often we hear about environmental disasters, we don't often hear the good news of people preventing it from happening:
https://wide-reach.xyz/shell-blocked-by-south-african-villagers-from-seismic-gas-exploration/
This is a great story, Michael!! Thanks for sharing it! It definitely shows people helping and caring about the environment.
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What an uplifting read! Thanks, Michael!
“These companies can come and go, but we live with the consequences of what they do,”
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I'm sure some pessimist probably came up with that. They'll also never work to try and change things because they don't expect it will do any good. If one is a pessimist, they focus all their energies and concentration on a lot of negative things. How is that a healthy way to be? I remember this quote I heard once, "“No one knows enough to be a pessimist.”
I need to look that one up, Lyle!! ;D
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^^^ Interesting discussion. I had to think about an appropriate post for a bit b/c it was a challenging question.
I've been labeled everything from a "hopeless romantic" to "type-A (on steroids)" to "pessimist" to "alarmist" to "asshole", to "dutiful/reliable", to "ADHD" to "Hyper" to "glass half-full and empty", "crazy / insane" "futurist (years ahead of the rest)", ... and many, many others - some of which cut deeper than others.
For me, in my own mind's eye, whether I'm any of those "labels" evaporates to the subject at hand a/o situation a/o who.
If it is something/one I:
> have little or no control over, or it's not in my "wheelhouse", then pessimism might dominate.
> am really interested in, then it might be the "Type A".
> am passionate about, well "Type A (on steroids)".
> close to my heart, my soul, then "hopeless romantic with some ADHD tossed in for good measure."
> that's just gotta be done (sweeping floors, shoveling shit, dirty jobs, washing dishes, voting your conscious, ....) then "Type A + dutiful son"
Our lives, perceptions, outlooks and beings are facets of the same stone - all parts stone which cannot easily be cleaved off or the stone is forever altered.
V.
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This is a great story, Michael!! Thanks for sharing it! It definitely shows people helping and caring about the environment.
Thanks Linda and Chuck!
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New HIV Variant Discovered: May be More Infectious and Severe
The COVID-19 pandemic has shown that mutations in a virus can significantly change a pathogen’s infectiousness and severity of disease.
Now, new research from the University of Oxford finds a new variant of HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, that is potentially more infectious and could more seriously affect the immune system.
So far, 109 people, most of whom live in the Netherlands, have the variant.
The new strain, called the VB variant, damages the immune system, weakening people’s ability to fight everyday infections and diseases much faster than the previous HIV strains, scientists say.
It also means that people who contract the new variant may develop AIDS faster.
https://www.healthline.com/health-news/new-hiv-variant-discovered-may-be-more-infectious-and-severe#New-HIV-variant-causes-illness-twice-as-fast
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^^^ Sadly. As the "general public" has/is being educated with SARS/COVI19, virus genetics mutate as they attempt to survive in hosts - always. They play by Darwin's rules too.
This is no different than the general public over using antibiotics on bacteria and creating resistant strains which escape the Rx actions by different means. It's our and the world's challenge to contain those viruses or bacteria outbreaks and study them for new weaknesses. We must harness what we learn to improve our counter-measures whether is HIV, COVID19, Annual Flu, MRSA, TB, ...
I hope the PTB really get the challenge. V.
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Hello everyone,
Don't mean to interrupt the conversation, but just wanted to let you know about some updates our server is going to be running.
CrocWeb will be performing maintenance on "server11" this Monday, February 14, 2022.
Date: Monday, February 14, 2022
Time: 10:45PM – 11:45PM EST
Expected Service Interruption: 5 - 10 minutes
It may take longer than that estimated time, so if you attempt to access the forum at that date and time, and it's down, that is the reason.
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A gay cowboy song is being used to interrupt communications by the antivax protesters in Canada.
https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-news/anti-vax-trucker-convoy-porno-metal-ram-ranch-1297926/
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Well, if the writer of the song is okay with it...?
That article mentions: "echoing the actions of leftist trolls in the United States who infiltrated Stop the Steal groups last year, rebranding them to “Gay Socialists for Trump.”
I don't know if I'm comfortable with "gay whatever" used to disrupt extreme conservative groups because those groups don't like it. Doesn't that indicate a lack of respect from those using those things as weapons, too?
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As Clarence Darrow once said, "All men have an emotion to kill; when they strongly dislike some one they involuntarily wish he was dead. I have never killed any one, but I have read some obituary notices with great satisfaction."
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This is good news, and yet is still sounds very complex and not very practical. Still...progress!
A Woman Is Cured of H.I.V. Using a Novel Treatment
New York Times
Feb. 15, 2022
A woman of mixed race appears to be the third person ever to be cured of H.I.V., using a new transplant method involving umbilical cord blood that opens up the possibility of curing more people of diverse racial backgrounds than was previously possible, scientists announced on Tuesday.
Cord blood is more widely available than the adult stem cells typically used in bone marrow transplants, and does not need to be matched as closely to the recipient. Most donors in registries are of Caucasian origin, so allowing for only a partial match has the potential to cure dozens of Americans who have both H.I.V. and cancer each year, scientists said.
The woman, who also had leukemia, received cord blood to treat her cancer. It came from a partially matched donor, instead of the typical practice of finding a bone marrow donor of similar race and ethnicity to the patient’s. She also received blood from a close relative to give her body temporary immune defenses while the transplant took.
Researchers presented some of the details of the new case on Tuesday at the Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections in Denver, Colo.
Article continues here:
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/15/health/hiv-cure-cord-blood.html
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Oh, that is great news!
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Privilege.
https://www.newsweek.com/jenna-ryan-says-denied-basic-human-needs-like-phone-while-jail-1-6-1680989
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::)
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Jeez Louise. Talk about a nut job.
I don't remember hearing anyone preaching or spreading the word of God on 1-6. Plenty of taking God's name in vain though.
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Apparently she doesn't even know what torture means:
"I could not share any of this until now--now that I'm out of prison and the risk of torture is over. YES I was tortured in prison."
She also never thought she'd be going to jail:
The real estate agent said in March last year that she wouldn't serve jail time because she is white. She tweeted that she had "blonde hair white skin a great job a great future... sorry to rain on your hater parade. I did nothing wrong."
This is what amounts to "good news" in the Republican Party these days:
Republicans Split on Whether Jan. 6 Was 'Legitimate Political Discourse'
38% -- illegitimate form of political discourse
33% -- legitimate form of protest
28% -- don't know/no opinion
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A Ukrainian-American perspective on the doing in Ukraine. The one interviewed is a classmate of mine from Innsbruck days.
https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2022/02/21/ukrainian-american-voters-eye-on-russia-00010148
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He is truly evil.
Trump praised Putin's justification to invade Ukraine as 'genius' and 'savvy'
Bryan Metzger and John Haltiwanger
Business Insider
Former President Donald Trump praised Vladimir Putin in a podcast interview on Tuesday, describing the Russian president's justification for invading Ukraine as "savvy" and "genius."
In an appearance on the "Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show," Trump said Putin's recognition of the independence of the Ukrainian breakaway republics of Donetsk and Luhansk — two-thirds of which are controlled by Ukraine and are not recognized by most other nations but backed by Russia — was a smart move.
"I went in yesterday, and there was a television screen, and I said, 'This is genius.' Putin declares a big portion of the Ukraine — of Ukraine — Putin declares it as independent. Oh, that's wonderful," Trump said when asked about the news. "I said, 'How smart is that?' And he's going to go in and be a peacekeeper."
Article continues online:
https://www.businessinsider.com/donald-trump-vladimir-putin-ukraine-invasion-justification-genius-savvy-2022-2
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They're both truly evil.
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They're both truly evil.
Indeed.
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They are both assholes, and I hope Karma gives them both what is coming to them.
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So if Putin next gets some few gun-toting folks of Russian heritage up in Alaska to declare they'd rather be Russian, because after all Alaska used to be Russian, and thereupon declares Alaska an independent nation and comes along with his 'peacekeeping' forces, would Trump think that was really smart too?
It is nearly inconceivable to me, in this fraught and highly explosive situation, where Nato should speak as one and the European Nato countries really need to know they can trust the US, that Trump gleefully vades in like this. Is he so sure that if the world burns, he won't burn too?
(I am not paying much mind to his self-serving opinions, such as they are, but I am worried that he speaks for large parts of the Republicans and the US population. That would be truly troubling.)
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(I am not paying much mind to his self-serving opinions, such as they are, but I am worried that he speaks for large parts of the Republicans and the US population. That would be truly troubling.)
Yes, he does speak for large parts of the Republicans and the U.S. population. Pennsylvania has a primary election coming up this spring. It's a closed primary, and currently, as far as know, there are only two candidates for the Republican nomination for the U.S. Senate (Toomey is retiring). At least, I've seen commercials for only two. One is the odious Dr. Oz. The other is someone named Dave McCormack (not sure of the spelling), and he is truly frightening. He's positioning himself for everyone between Philadelphia and Pittsburgh who voted for Trump, and I've seen one commercial that actually shows him standing next to Trump. He is truly frightening.
(2/24/22--edited a bit to clarify, adding a point I forgot. ::) )
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Thank you for responding, Jeff. This is truly worrisome. :-X
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This seems like a good question to ask:
https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2022/02/is-vladimir-putin-sane.html
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I'm willing to bet not.
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I'm willing to bet not.
I was listening to some "Putin watchers" the other day and they were shocked by that speech he gave earlier this week. They said it was rambling and he sounded angry and petulant.
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they were shocked. That says it all.
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This Guardian analysis is really illuminating on the question and also rather frightening; Decision to invade raises questions over 'sense of reality' (https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/feb/24/putin-russian-president-ukraine-invasion-mental-fitness)
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Thanks Gillian, that's right on point. I think he has lost it, and it's very concerning (to say the least).
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As sane as the X, which is of course not saying much. Maybe that's their source of mutual attraction.
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I have a question that I've been wondering about a lot these last couple of days, but I have not seen it mentioned on any news or elsewhere. I was wondering whether you Americans here might know the answer.
The first impeachment of Trump came because he, among other things, withheld military aid from Ukraine in order to make president Volodymyr Zelensky announce an investigation into the Bidens and to promote a discredited conspiracy theory that Ukraine, not Russia, was behind interference in the 2016 presidential election. This seems like such a long time ago, but it was only a couple of years. What I am wondering, is: Did Ukraine ever get that military aid, or did Trump permanently withhold it?
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I have a question that I've been wondering about a lot these last couple of days, but I have not seen it mentioned on any news or elsewhere. I was wondering whether you Americans here might know the answer.
The first impeachment of Trump came because he, among other things, withheld military aid from Ukraine in order to make president Volodymyr Zelensky announce an investigation into the Bidens and to promote a discredited conspiracy theory that Ukraine, not Russia, was behind interference in the 2016 presidential election. This seems like such a long time ago, but it was only a couple of years. What I am wondering, is: Did Ukraine ever get that military aid, or did Trump permanently withhold it?
Good question - I had to look it up. The $391 million in military aid was released in September 2019.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/12/us/politics/ukraine-aid-white-house.html?module=inline
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Thank you!
ETA: I remember thinking at the time, when the info about that telephone convo with president Zelensky came out and images of his meeting with Trump, that he, a stand-up comedian newly turned president, was likely out of his league and caught in a position so difficult I couldn't imagine how he'd handle it without bending to Trump's corrupt demands. Turns out Pres. Zelensky is made of much tougher stuff than I could envisage - he's standing up to another currupt strongman president alright.
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It's just sickening and frightening, what's happening in Ukraine.
BTW, today I came across a statement that certainly applies to the Great Orange Satan: "Take a simpleton and give him power and confront him with intelligence--and you have a tyrant."
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Nice moment on Saturday Night Live
at the start of last night's episode.
(https://i.ytimg.com/vi/IjE4_h0t7qI/hq720.jpg?sqp=-oaymwEjCOgCEMoBSFryq4qpAxUIARUAAAAAGAElAADIQj0AgKJDeAE=&rs=AOn4CLA9MxUwHrYVp7IZxgILFo9ZLaRwOg)
Ukraine Cold Open - SNL
Ukrainian Chorus Dumka of New York performs "Prayer for Ukraine" in the opening of Saturday Night Live.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IjE4_h0t7qI
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^^^That was incredibly beautiful.
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I've been wondering about the danger to the troops fighting in Chernobyl. Apparently it depends on if they are being decontaminated afterward:
https://taskandpurpose.com/analysis/military-nuclear-experts-explain-dangers-fighting-chernobyl/
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Putin is leaving dead Russian troops on the battlefield, and the Ukrainians have asked the Red Cross to repatriate the bodies:
https://www.nbcchicago.com/news/national-international/icrc-asked-to-repatriate-bodies-of-soldiers/2770222/
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The Ukrainian press is predicting that Putin will try to hide the death toll from the war in the COVID-19 deaths:
https://euromaidanpress.com/2022/02/27/russias-massive-covid-19-deaths-may-help-putin-hide-ukrainian-war-losses/
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Geez.....he's an animal. Where's an assassin when you need one?
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Geez.....he's an animal. Where's an assassin when you need one?
Fingers crossed Chuck. I doubt leaving bodies on the battlefield is going over well with his military command.
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Fingers crossed Chuck. I doubt leaving bodies on the battlefield is going over well with his military command.
Yeah, that's a big level of disrespect.
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I read yesterday that at least a dozen of the pictures Putin is having released are not of the current invasion.
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I read yesterday that at least a dozen of the pictures Putin is having released are not of the current invasion.
Well he learned how to lie while he was in the KGB, so it's not a big surprise he would do that.
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I wonder whose flag they'll be flying in 2024.
(https://scontent-iad3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t39.30808-6/274517432_7122203997821008_7010889018155679156_n.jpg?_nc_cat=103&ccb=1-5&_nc_sid=730e14&_nc_ohc=lTuNWbmv0sEAX-mpIzM&_nc_ht=scontent-iad3-1.xx&oh=00_AT9Fc5pdkd0Oq5aXLUGZ2s_2J8oUHy21vqodpw73NxqxyA&oe=6222A081)
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Amazon is closing a bunch of their brick and mortar/bookstore outlets. It was a dumb idea to begin with: they destroyed all loyalty to bookstores and then opened bookstores.
https://www.reuters.com/business/retail-consumer/exclusive-amazon-close-all-its-physical-bookstores-4-star-shops-2022-03-02/
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Amazon is closing a bunch of their brick and mortar/bookstore outlets. It was a dumb idea to begin with: they destroyed all loyalty to bookstores and then opened bookstores.
https://www.reuters.com/business/retail-consumer/exclusive-amazon-close-all-its-physical-bookstores-4-star-shops-2022-03-02/
It was a dumb idea, I almost never order books from Amazon, I like going to the bookstore and wandering around. I often find books that I had no idea of buying, they just catch my eye.
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It was a dumb idea, I almost never order books from Amazon, I like going to the bookstore and wandering around. I often find books that I had no idea of buying, they just catch my eye.
Exactly. People who like bookstores don't like Amazon, and vice versa. It depends on if you're in it for information or economy.
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This is why I'm a TOTAL FAN of local libraries!! Why BUY a Book, unless you are going to donate it after reading? I mean, I have been in other houses where people have literally HUNDREDS, if not THOUSANDS of Books, displayed all over, or in a dedicated special Library Room........just shelves and shelves of BOOKS!! WTH? I donate ALL my purchased books, always. And these are books given to me as 'gifts'........haha.......once I read a book, I RARELY, if EVER, go back to read it again! Just my way.......yet, people still do this. I have a dear friend who came up with a very novel idea for bookshelves and a library room in her house. She stuck FAKE book facades on those shelves.........it's hilarious in a way, hundreds of fake book covers........all over.....it totally looks real though. You'd never know unless you went to pull a book off the shelf. haha......what a surprise!! :o :o :o
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Exactly. People who like bookstores don't like Amazon, and vice versa. It depends on if you're in it for information or economy.
The only time I've ordered a book from Amazon is if it's one I can't seem to find in a bookstore. I have a few bookstores nearby, that's where I go first.
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Bookstores are great to me, and usually I end up purchasing something, then get home and WONDER why I didn't just wait for it to show up in my local library??!! :P :laugh:
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I prefer library books, my local bookstores are very expensive. I will see something there and then find it online (preferable NZ companies not Amazon) for half the price.
However I have just ordered the book that Chuck included in the latest Daily Sheet "From Outside the Closet" by an Australian author but the NZ bookshop will import from UK for $44. I have purchased on Amazon for $28 including postage.
My local library does have a range of Gay theme books but it may be years until they purchase this, if ever.
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As I am a librarian you will get no argument from me regarding the use of libraries for books and other media.
However, the article I posted was about Amazon closing bookstores and I was just pointing out that it is not surprising that their bookstores were closing because people who use Amazon for books do not value bookstores.
Regarding the owning of books, I would say that there are a variety of reasons for that. Some have sentimental reasons for owning them and others are very handy to have around for reference. When I write I often refer to books in my collection
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I RARELY, if EVER, go back to read it again! Just my way.......yet, people still do this.
Yes, some of us do. Re-reading a book you enjoyed is like visiting with a dear friend. :)
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Yes, some of us do. Re-reading a book you enjoyed is like visiting with a dear friend. :)
Nicely put. I have often re-read books.
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Nicely put. I have often re-read books.
If I re-read a mystery novel that I haven't read in, like, 20 years, it's like reading a brand-new story. It's been so long that I don't remember whodunnit. :laugh:
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If I re-read a mystery novel that I haven't read in, like, 20 years, it's like reading a brand-new story. It's been so long that I don't remember whodunnit. :laugh:
Like listening to old time radio shows on Sunday nights and on XM Radio. I might recognize the story but can't remember the culprit. Occasionally it is the butler! But when it is they frequently make some joke about it.
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Like listening to old time radio shows on Sunday nights and on XM Radio. I might recognize the story but can't remember the culprit. Occasionally it is the butler! But when it is they frequently make some joke about it.
Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men? :)
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the shadow knows!
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There used to be a dozen bookstores of varying kinds within walking distance of my place. Now: zero. Not to mention three outdoor newspaper and magazine stands with reading material. The Century City Shopping Center where I'd go for movies a lot used to have a great bookstore I'd always visit before or after a movie. (Or in between movies!) They also had the Rand-McNally store which was a specialized bookstore of travel, maps and such. Hollywood Blvd. had several bookstores with, obviously, an emphasis on Hollywood and the entertainment business as well as L.A. history. (There was one left, last I knew, that had set up a Go Fund Me page during the pandemic, I'm not sure it's even still there.) And, of course, Virgin Megastore, where I worked for a time, also had a separate bookstore on the first level.
Chuck said it: "I like going to the bookstore and wandering around. I often find books that I had no idea of buying, they just catch my eye."
Yes! Also, if you frequented certain stores you had a relationship with the employees. A nice social and friendly rapport. You could get recommendations, unlike Amazon's asinine tracking system that will tell you something like: People who bought this book ("Of Mice and Men") also bought: "The Joy of Sex." Ohhhhhh...okay. ???
Video stores were the same kind of thing that's also disappeared. Used to be dozens of them almost anywhere.
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With the loss of bookstores, record stores and video stores we have eliminated a large segment of the public commons. It's very sad.
In a particular context (and because I write about lgbtq history) it is why I find the oft quoted notion that we "don't need gay bars" to be so very reductionist.
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Might I suggest to the committee that they bring earplugs that day?
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/trump-jr-fianc%C3%A9e-ex-fox-news-host-kimberly-guilfoyle-gets-jan-6-subpoena/ar-AAUzIso?ocid=entnewsntp&fbclid=IwAR3I9awfnr0pZy0unDRm_KT47EOeVi2pbX1PZMWzk2mr25XXTpKRafgY6VA
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That's right, kids! Make yourselves heard!
Thousands of Florida Students Walkout to Protest ‘Don’t Say Gay’ Bill
By Jacob Ogles - March 03 2022
Students across Florida have organized class walkouts on Thursday to protest the proposed “don’t say gay” bill under consideration by the Florida Legislature after an image spread on social media calling for students and schools to participate in the statewide action.
A student at Colonial High School in Orlando, Dariel Cruz Rodriguez, shared footage from a protest held at the school. In it, a female student takes to the microphone to denounce the legislation, that would limit discussion of gender identity and sexual orientation in Florida schools that aren’t deemed as “age appropriate” by the state.
“Schools are a safe space away from home, especially for LGBTQ+ students who don’t receive that kind of support at home,” she said. “Gender identity is not taboo. It’s not something we should ignore or take away from our primary schools.”
And that’s not the only place protests are occurring.
https://www.advocate.com/news/2022/3/03/thousands-florida-students-walkout-protest-dont-say-gay-bill?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=news&fbclid=IwAR1VaQ8urVqGtXb2mo3ZDInsG-wJcSs6KXR0U8A2rA7cRKXoafVacYrV7sM
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With the loss of bookstores, record stores and video stores we have eliminated a large segment of the public commons. It's very sad.
Very true.
In a particular context (and because I write about lgbtq history) it is why I find the oft quoted notion that we "don't need gay bars" to be so very reductionist.
Around here they still seem to be going strong. There are six of them within a three-block walk of my place.
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Around here they still seem to be going strong. There are six of them within a three-block walk of my place.
That's wonderful! But it doesn't seem to be the case elsewhere:
https://bostonreview.net/articles/samuel-clowes-huneke-death-gay-bar/
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Around here they still seem to be going strong. There are six of them within a three-block walk of my place.
That's wonderful! But it doesn't seem to be the case elsewhere:
https://bostonreview.net/articles/samuel-clowes-huneke-death-gay-bar/
Of course, it's also true that one pre-Pandemic Saturday night, I walked into my Usual Watering Hole, and there were three young guys, seated about six feet apart at the bar--and all of them staring at their (expletive deleted) phones. >:(
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Of course, it's also true that one pre-Pandemic Saturday night, I walked into my Usual Watering Hole, and there were three young guys, seated about six feet apart at the bar--and all of them staring at their (expletive deleted) phones. >:(
I totally do not get why people of whatever age do this!! Why go out and pay to sit around a table and do whatever they do on their phones when you can stay at home and do it?!
Michael and I used to talk about this all the time when we went out to eat together. There would be 3 or 4 tables of people at tables, on their phones, not interacting at all. WHY for God's sake?!?!?!
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Such a phenomenon was even foreseen by a German magazine back in the 1930's.
(https://external-preview.redd.it/nl-phn3cUAJuVxhYq3D-3Jh_O4Zd-BbZTBudQMALo0I.png?auto=webp&s=4bddee0154c18e92b70647f48a4644cb6e9359e5)
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Of course, it's also true that one pre-Pandemic Saturday night, I walked into my Usual Watering Hole, and there were three young guys, seated about six feet apart at the bar--and all of them staring at their (expletive deleted) phones. >:(
I totally do not get why people of whatever age do this!! Why go out and pay to sit around a table and do whatever they do on their phones when you can stay at home and do it?!
Michael and I used to talk about this all the time when we went out to eat together. There would be 3 or 4 tables of people at tables, on their phones, not interacting at all. WHY for God's sake?!?!?!
Such a phenomenon was even foreseen by a German magazine back in the 1930's.
(https://external-preview.redd.it/nl-phn3cUAJuVxhYq3D-3Jh_O4Zd-BbZTBudQMALo0I.png?auto=webp&s=4bddee0154c18e92b70647f48a4644cb6e9359e5)
It's so ridiculous to see people doing that. I specifically make it a point not to touch my phone when I'm out with someone.
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Quite simply, people are addicted to their phones. I've seen programs and read many articles and there's some documentaries about it. People essentially live on their phones. There are many who cannot sleep unless they have their phone with them. Just last night I was listening to a news program discussing how Instagram's programs are designed to keep feeding one's impulse to watch it by feeding the user more and more of their interests so they essentially can't stop using it. It uses some kind of algorithms that are better than others who do this at present. Of course, younger people are susceptible to all this.
I've noticed this everywhere. People aren't really present when they're, say, on a bus or walking down the street or walking their dogs. They're still online. I mentioned to someone the other day in an email that I saw them for the first time in a long time when I was coming back from an errand and they said, "Why didn't you say hello?" I said, "I did, but you were on your phone and didn't hear me." They didn't really believe me. They didn't think they wouldn't've heard me.
When people attend tapings of tv shows, and this has been going on for two decades, they have to say on the tickets that you are not allowed to bring in cellphones. If they do, they have to give the cellphones to someone at a checkpoint and retrieve them when they leave.
It may be the way things are, but...but what? ???
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When people attend tapings of tv shows, and this has been going on for two decades, they have to say on the tickets that you are not allowed to bring in cellphones. If they do, they have to give the cellphones to someone at a checkpoint and retrieve them when they leave.
It may be the way things are, but...but what? ???
I've been in church services where somebody's phone has gone off. In the middle of a church service. ...
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We always get a request at the beginning of mass to turn off ringers on cell phones or other electronic devices.
I usually remember. But one time my sister forgot at a Christmas Eve vigil mass in New Orleans, and right at the moment of consecration her phone went off, to the tune of When The Saints Go Marching In.
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:laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:
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We always get a request at the beginning of mass to turn off ringers on cell phones or other electronic devices.
I usually remember. But one time my sister forgot at a Christmas Eve vigil mass in New Orleans, and right at the moment of consecration her phone went off, to the tune of When The Saints Go Marching In.
Oh man, Fritz!! I never laughed so hard!! :laugh:
I bet she was mortified, but I can't stop laughing!! :laugh:
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She was at the time, but she soon saw the humor in it. And the priest was very forgiving! (He's a family friend)
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Last evening I had a ticket for the Philadelphia Ballet's production of Swan Lake. Commonly the artistic director, Angel Corella, will make some remarks before the program begins. Last night was no exception--except for what he had to say. The young woman who danced the lead role (Odette/Odile) is from Ukraine. You can't help but think she must have family caught in that horror, but you'd never know from her performance. Corella asked for a moment of silence, which we observed, and he also said there was an insert in the program with a list of things that could be done, but there was no insert in my copy.
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The Navy found a way to get around a judge.
https://news.usni.org/2022/03/08/navy-says-destroyer-is-out-of-commission-after-florida-judge-blocks-removal-of-unvaccinated-co
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^^^ I'm not so sure. It read like he's still in command of the ship. CLEARLY, this federal judge has stepped over a clear line of stare decisis to support the BS 1993 RFA. That legislation is nothing more than a shield / free pass for bigots to discriminate however they please and hide behind their "religious freedoms". (I cannot wait until these clowns figure out they could create a set of "bi-laws" organize a "religion" and create a "Nazi" religious basis for all the pure evil we know they represented then with Hitler and now and be protected by the 1993 RFA.)
"Giving the courts the ability to interfere with command decisions could be corrosive and detrimental to national security, Fidell said."
“But I think it sets a big precedent that the military is bound by the law, and the military has to honor the Religious Freedom Restoration Act,” Staver said."
"By ordering that these two Plaintiffs be kept in command (in the case of Navy Commander) or be placed in command (in the case of Lieutenant Colonel 2), the Court improperly took control of the Navy’s and the Marine Corps’ command assignments, stepping beyond its constitutional limits and improperly stepping into the role of those officers entrusted to run the military,” according to the motion,..."
" “Now, we’re in a position where an officer who refuses the minimal demands of personally getting behind a management decision, he’s protected,” Fidel said. “But Capt. Crozier gets fired. This is upside down.” "
How can the Navy's, a command structure reporting to DOD and POTUS, command decisions be thwarted by a sitting federal judge? Send their MPs in, arrest his ass and remove him from command. If these enlisted members don't like the rules, retire, resign, and find something else more productive to do that sue our armed forces. They need to damn well remember who their employer is... There's more going here than we know, I fear.
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^^^
Worrying.
That lawyer is also, obviously, against abortion and gay rights. Wasn't it those religious bigots who for decades kept harping that allowing gay people into the military would be disruptive to our armed forces. It's they who are the disruptors. As proven once again. Most of these imbeciles are the defeated orange potus' most loyal supporters.
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(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/ECsCOU_VUAA2uwt.jpg)
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(https://williams68.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/Sipress-HowtoStaySaneasaCartoonistinTrumpland_02-690.jpg)
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:laugh:
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Oh my... William Hurt is gone. Sounds like prostate cancer metastasized to his bones. :(
Guys - keep a yearly check on your PSA levels.
-> https://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/wireStory/william-hurt-star-broadcast-news-body-heat-dies-83425783 (https://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/wireStory/william-hurt-star-broadcast-news-body-heat-dies-83425783)
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Oh my... William Hurt is gone. Sounds like prostate cancer metastasized to his bones. :(
It will do that. :(
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Hope.
Opinion: Putin could do for American democracy what he did for NATO unity
https://wapo.st/3KN2AEt
(Article should be accessible to all)
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That was optimistic. Personally, I cannot imagine the likes of Ted Cruz, Marjorie Taylor Greene and Lindsey Graham ever looking out for anyone than themselves, democracy be damned if it earns them a buck. There seems to be so many such persons. But I am not American, so what do I know...
What I myself have been wondering, is if Putin has done to Russian 'Democracy' what he did to American democracy - ie. whether this war sows internal discord and even hatred between groups - specifically those who oppose the war and are or will be appalled when they learn the truth (mostly younger folks), and those who support their president and refuse to believe that there is a gruesome war, even when presented with evidence. Might Russia by and by tear itself to pieces from the inside like the US has been doing? And how will the economic sanctions impact this?
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Hope.
Opinion: Putin could do for American democracy what he did for NATO unity
https://wapo.st/3KN2AEt
(Article should be accessible to all)
Dare to dream!
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China’s Covid spike worsens
March 15 2022 - Evelyn Cheng
China’s worst Covid-19 outbreak since the initial wave of the pandemic worsened Tuesday with a major factory city ordering production halts.
Recent outbreaks in 28 provinces have infected more than 15,000 people and stem primarily from the highly transmissible omicron variant, China’s National Health Commission said Tuesday, according to state media. China has 31 province-level regions.
Although the northern province of Jilin accounts for most of the cases, the latest outbreak has hit major cities such as the financial center of Shanghai and technology manufacturing hub Shenzhen.
https://www.cnbc.com/2022/03/15/china-covid-spike-worsens-dongguan-factory-center-locks-down.html
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Anyone else remember similar current events like this?
(https://ca-times.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/fc82e54/2147483647/strip/true/crop/2588x2537+0+0/resize/840x823!/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcalifornia-times-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F44%2Fdb%2F99413ff04e1c883975ff84d1dd5f%2Flonghairs-1966.jpeg)
March, 1966: Students protest outside Palisades High School. (Los Angeles Times)
Fifty-six years ago this week, a group of about 50 male students picketed Palisades High to protest school officials’ demand that they cut their hair before being readmitted to classes.
The Times wrote on March 8, 1966, that as the “longhairs” were picketing, members of the school’s football team ripped up their signs, in full view of the school’s dean of boys. In the following days, things got a little hairy. The paper reported on March 13 that the school was facing “charges that the administrators had permitted a goon squad of school athletes to break up a demonstration by long-haired students” as well as a threat of legal action by “both the American Civil Liberties Union and one irate parent.”
But — at that point, anyway — school officials were standing firm. One said the school had no choice as kids had begun “showing up with impossible hair-dos. And I mean impossible. Some of them had hair … swept to one side and curled over the ear. Some had bleached streaks in their hair; some had bangs down to their eyebrows. We had to do something.”
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Yes, I remember those days well.
And now some of the latter-day football players who would have ripped the signs have long and unusual hair.
Never really let mine grow all that much until studying in Austria, and then again especially after discharge from the Army. A little overcompensating.
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I began teaching in 1966. A few years later the DP instructed me to pull out of assembly any boy with hair over his collar. My hair was well over my collar. Fortunately for me, he also instructed the head teacher Science to do the same. He refused so it was easier for me, a junior teacher, to also refuse.
I use to advise the students to wash their hair regularly.
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Senate Votes To Make Daylight Savings Time Permanent
The U.S. Senate voted unanimously on Tuesday to make Daylight Savings Time permanent, a move supporters say would make winter afternoons brighter and end the twice changing of clocks.
https://www.joemygod.com/2022/03/senate-votes-to-make-daylight-savings-time-permanent/?fbclid=IwAR3MIx_TfNHMtpNco5QmMI15b-bbydA--VpKjMdmXdVgNui9-JS5vFhsle0
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Thank WHOEVER!! I've always hated DST!! :o :o :o
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let's see if it passes
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Senate Votes To Make Daylight Savings Time Permanent
The U.S. Senate voted unanimously on Tuesday to make Daylight Savings Time permanent, a move supporters say would make winter afternoons brighter and end the twice changing of clocks.
https://www.joemygod.com/2022/03/senate-votes-to-make-daylight-savings-time-permanent/?fbclid=IwAR3MIx_TfNHMtpNco5QmMI15b-bbydA--VpKjMdmXdVgNui9-JS5vFhsle0
It will also make winter sunrises come a lot later (like, 8:30-ish or so later around the winter solstice), but that never seems to enter into the discussion.
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If they do it, I'd rather it be left at Standard Time, not DSL.
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Tornado Hits Home of Florida’s ‘Don’t Say Gay’ Lawmaker
https://www.queerty.com/tornado-lawmaker-20220315 (https://www.queerty.com/tornado-hits-home-floridas-dont-say-gay-lawmaker-20220315)
I think it was (https://i.pinimg.com/736x/4c/7b/77/4c7b775d91156ae73a6493406b08ffff--pin-up-photos-john-waters.jpg) intervention!
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I saw that the other day, and smirked. LOL
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By massacring children, Putin is clearly trying to provoke the West into making a wider conflict. He's a madman who will not hesitate to use nuclear weapons; he's just crazy enough to believe that Russia would survive a nuclear war.
I live in the heart of a major East Coast city. I'm beginning to wonder if I should be preparing a list of things to take with me if I have to evacuate.
Of course, I could just be incinerated, so I wouldn't such a need a list.
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Not 1941. March 2022.
(https://qph.fs.quoracdn.net/main-qimg-a02ba5eaa53641bc3b4c54d8e6e4c76c-lq)
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Not 1941. March 2022.
(https://qph.fs.quoracdn.net/main-qimg-a02ba5eaa53641bc3b4c54d8e6e4c76c-lq)
I have been surprised that the Russians have not (yet) destroyed the Ukrainian rail system. I would have thought that would have been a high priority target.
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I have been surprised that the Russians have not (yet) destroyed the Ukrainian rail system. I would have thought that would have been a high priority target.
I don't know the degree to which the Ukrainian army transports troops and armaments by rail. I assume that would be the main reason for Russia to destroy the railways.
But IMO, the above picture shows their reason for not destroying them. Millions of refugees are moving westwards out of Ukraine, many travelling wholly and partly by rail. I assume that rapid movement serves Russia well; - Nato countries must deal with the humanitarian, practical, and financial cost of millions of displaced people, and it frees up space for Russians to move into Ukraine. In the Soviet Union, displacing whole populations or ethnic groups by cruel means, and then moving Russians in to take over, happened in several cases - and Putin has apparently been stewing over previous Russian empire/Soviet "greatness", so maybe this is one idea he thinks worthwhile. :-\
In my view, all war is in reality a fight over resources. The blather about Ancient Russian greatness etc. is just nationalistic window dressing - what Putin intends is taking over large swathes of rich farmland, and opening up for settling Russians there. With the climate crisis looming, arable land becomes ever more important. The more ethnic Russians, the stronger Russian grip on the area. In that context, it might seem worth it to keep the trains westward running....
All that assumes there is calculated logic behind the ongoing madness. I'm actually beginning to have my doubts.
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Though I would expect that a good part of all the new weaponry Ukraine is getting from Western countries is being transported from the Polish border by rail.
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An interesting take by Michael Jeffers in the Washington Post:
"The reason the west limits entering into this fight directly is to make Putin feel very weak. He is fighting only Ukraine and he is losing. If he were fighting a larger allegiance then he would look strong. We, the west, must give all we can to Ukraine to be the victor for it is the only way to make Putin truly a failure at home and not create a super villain for him to battle on with."
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That's an interesting POV. I am not sure that initially, that was the West's thoughts on it, I think they had expected the Russian army to be much more effective vs. the much smaller Ukrainian one, especially since Ukraine has so few fighter jets. (And there was real fear over here at least that Putin might actually use nuclear weapons if Nato got directly involved.) But by now, that WaPo view may very well factor into the considerations. The Ukrainians have surprised everyone.
I am very worried how the optics of this looks from Kremlin. What may Putin do to 'save face' and actually not be seen to be humiliated or to lose? I think he'll stop at very little. But one can perhaps hope for a palace coup...
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^^^ He needs some of his "special "hot" tea"...
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This is very interesting in terms of informing teens and other youngsters:
https://www.theverge.com/c/22971491/ukraine-tiktok-influencers-russian-invasion
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In my view, all war is in reality a fight over resources. The blather about Ancient Russian greatness etc. is just nationalistic window dressing.
I don't think it is window dressing. I think he really does want to reconstruct the old Russian Bloc. Crimea and Ukraine were "historically" part of Russia. (I believe Catherine the Great took Crimea from the Turks, but it's been, oh, 40 years since my last Imperial Russian history course.) If I were in the Baltic States, Poland, Romania, Hungary, etc., I'd be very concerned.
I'm not good at dealing with news on my phone, but yesterday I saw an article--I believe it was from the Atlantic--where the author contended that armed intervention by NATO would save Putin. He could then claim that Mother Russia was under attack by the West, that would rally Russians, and that would prop up his own regime. I agree; I think by deliberately attacking civilian targets, he's trying to provoke a military response by NATO. What else can he do? He can't admit defeat.
Actually, even though I'm not in the old Russian Bloc, I'm concerned.
All that assumes there is calculated logic behind the ongoing madness. I'm actually beginning to have my doubts.
Exactly.
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^^^ He needs some of his "special "hot" tea"...
(https://scontent-iad3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t39.30808-6/275238992_7199784853396255_1003696916583008882_n.jpg?_nc_cat=111&ccb=1-5&_nc_sid=dbeb18&_nc_ohc=NLHE6s4o4uUAX9aKqE4&_nc_ht=scontent-iad3-1.xx&oh=00_AT_eSJb4_D4EI-beAZHYYoerlWQPikKgjIJ04WmfeQNljQ&oe=62394D27)
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Author and Political theorist Francis Fukuyama joins MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell to discuss how he thinks the war in Ukraine ends. Not in this clip segment, but in the introduction on the show it was said that everything he's written about Russia and how things have played out with Russia over the past many years has come to fruition.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aevAtJ9HQ80
This guy offers sensible assessment that's as reassuring as it gets.
(Although MSNBC's headline for the clip is click bait of the opposite kind.)
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^^^ Thanks for posting that link. I can only hope he's assessing the situation correctly.
Fritz yeappers! His homemade "hot" tea would be karma of a special kind...
But then we gotta wonder, "devil you don't know?"
The world now watches China...
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The world now watches China...
The news reports I've seen made it sound like Biden threatened the president of China with "consequences" if he helps Putin.
If true, probably not a good idea, Joe.
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I don't think it is window dressing. I think he really does want to reconstruct the old Russian Bloc. Crimea and Ukraine were "historically" part of Russia. (I believe Catherine the Great took Crimea from the Turks, but it's been, oh, 40 years since my last Imperial Russian history course.) If I were in the Baltic States, Poland, Romania, Hungary, etc., I'd be very concerned.
I just read a story from Reuters that said more or less the same thing--that NATO needs to be concerned, and is concerned, about the Baltic states.
I also saw a TV news report that the agricultural output of Ukraine is far more important to Europe than I knew.
Every morning I am praying--I mean that literally: praying--for the people of Ukraine. This is not going to end well. Putin--like somebody else we all know and hate--will not be able to accept defeat. He could not stand to be humiliated in the eyes of the world that way.
And what's anybody going to do? I guess unless attacked, nobody's going to risk a World War III except Putin himself, so there's no way to stop him. This is like when I was a very small child and we were all terrified of the Russians. Anybody else around here old enough to remember "duck and cover drills" in elementary school?
Has anybody heard or read anything about the number of casualties the Ukrainian forces are taking?
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I also saw a TV news report that the agricultural output of Ukraine is far more important to Europe than I knew.
Yes. Grain for bread, grain for farm animal fodder. The predictions I have seen are that disruptions in export from Ukraine and Russia will cause significant increases in grain prices not only in Europe, but around the world - with potential famine in poor countries, as the rich ones can afford to pay to import what grain is available.
Every morning I am praying--I mean that literally: praying--for the people of Ukraine.
I say this most sincerely: Thank you.
I agree with you about where this is going, and I fear for Ukraine and for the entire western world - the entire world, rather.
Has anybody heard or read anything about the number of casualties the Ukrainian forces are taking?[/font][/size]
No. Earlier on, Ukraine gave numbers, but not in a while, that I have seen. They do give numbers for Russian military dead, which likely are exaggerated, and Ukrainian civilian dead, which to me seem very small given what we know about the situation in Mariupol, for instance. I suppose Ukrainian authorities have no proper way of counting civilian casualties in the middle of this mayhem, where major parts of the population moreover are on the run and millions have left the country.
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Yes. Grain for bread, grain for farm animal fodder. The predictions I have seen are that disruptions in export from Ukraine and Russia will cause significant increases in grain prices not only in Europe, but around the world - with potential famine in poor countries, as the rich ones can afford to pay to import what grain is available.
When I taught Geography I described USSR, specifically Ukraine, as the bread basket of Europe.
Ukraine produces about 25% of the world's grain crops. Australia, although it produces about 15% and, unlike the Northern Hemisphere countries, has just had a bumper season, can only take up a small proportion and there are supply chain bottlenecks.
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Bitcoin Mining Difficulty Drops for Second Time in March
After a consistent increase since November, the difficulty of mining a bitcoin(BTC) block dropped 0.35% on Thursday. A Data form information platform Glassnode shows mining difficulty dropped 1.5% on 3rd March.
The hash rate difficulty adjusts automatically relative to the computing power of the network, to keep the time between each mined block relatively stable at 10 minutes. The bItcoin mining dropped from 248 exhash/second (EH/s) to 216 EH/s on March 17, according to Glassnode data.
As energy prices increase globally, we get to see more ASICS fall off the network, Whitt Gibbs, Compass Mining founder, and CEO told CoinDesk in a Telegram message on Friday. This drop is due to unprofitable miners unplugging ASICS (application-specific integrated circuits).
Electricity prices are increasing across the world as one of the largest exporters of fossil fuels, Russia, is enslaved in a war with Ukraine, and global energy supply chains are served by sanctions.
The Kazakh miners going offline due to electricity shortages and government crackdown on illegal mining caused the drop, Jaran Melleerud, a researcher at Oslo-based Arcane Research, said by CoinDesk.
Kazakh authorities said on March 15, that they seized almost $200 million of equipment from crypto mining operations as they crackdown on illicit mines. Miners legally operated in Kazakhstan had their power cut off at the end of January, and the government struggled with energy shortages.
The HashrateIndexes prices per TH for rigs with medium efficiency, Mellerud said that Kazakh government should have seized around 3 TH/s worth of mining rigs, equivalent to 1.5% of bitcoin’s hash rate. North American miners continue to plug in new machines, “the withdrawal capacity from Kazakhstan is currently limiting bitcoin’s hashrate growth”.
Bitcoin price prediction
https://coinpedia.org/price-prediction/bch-bitcoin-cash-price-prediction/
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Extreme volatility and potential downside in the price of BTC creates risks to the profitability of Bitcoin miners. In addition, global governments can potentially follow China’s lead in outlawing cryptocurrency mining because it is creating energy shortages, contributing to climate change and threatening the stability of fiat currencies.
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Madeleine Albright, first female secretary of state, dies at 84
Madeleine Albright, the first woman U.S. secretary of state, who helped steer Western foreign policy in the aftermath of the Cold War, has died. She was 84 years old.
Her death was confirmed in an email to staff of the Albright Stonebridge Group, a global strategy firm founded by Albright.
https://www.koat.com/article/madeleine-albright-dead/39517113
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Very sorry to hear about this. I was hoping she'd survive to see the downfall of Putin.
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Very sorry to hear about this. I was hoping she'd survive to see the downfall of Putin.
Yes that would have been great.
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I hadn't heard that. damn.
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Yes. The whole world lost one of THE GREAT Statespersons today. Suggest reading all she accomplished - phenomenal.
RIP Albright. History will speak well of you.
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Sad news. A long life well lived. Inspirational and impressive.
It's a little thing, maybe, but I loved how Sec. Albright used pins and brooches to send subtle (or not so subtle) messages. It speaks of a playful and creative mind. I had a look now through the collection of her many and varied brooches, it truly is a treat to get to see these:
Read her many pins! (https://readmypins.state.gov/)
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I was hoping she'd survive to see the downfall of Putin.
At the moment I'm hoping everyone on earth lives to see the downfall of Putin, if you get my drift.... :-\
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At the moment I'm hoping everyone on earth lives to see the downfall of Putin, if you get my drift.... :-\
Амінь.
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A potentially drunk sports car driver drives into a homeless encampment and kills 4 people. That says about all you need to know about wealth, poverty and survival in America:
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/4-killed-sports-car-driver-24-crashes-oregon-homeless-camp-police-say-rcna21785
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Death toll rises to 6 after 80-vehicle pileup in Pennsylvania caused by snow squall
Cady Stanton - Wed, March 30, 2022
The death toll from an 80-vehicle pileup on a Pennsylvania highway Monday has risen to six people, state police reported Wednesday.
Police also said 80 vehicles were involved in the crash — 39 commercial and 41 passenger vehicles — up from previous estimates of more than 50. The names of those who died have not been released.
The crash occurred around 10:30 a.m. Monday as a snow squall — an intense, short-lived burst of heavy snowfall accompanied by gusty wind — blinded drivers and led to a fiery crash on Interstate 81 near Minersville, about 100 miles northwest of Philadelphia.
Police reopened the interstate just after midnight Wednesday, according to a tweet from Pennsylvania State Police spokesman David Beohm. The collision closed all lanes of I-81 north in Schuylkill County at the time and highway message boards were redirecting traffic.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/death-toll-rises-6-80-153500146.html
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A potentially drunk sports car driver drives into a homeless encampment and kills 4 people. That says about all you need to know about wealth, poverty and survival in America:
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/4-killed-sports-car-driver-24-crashes-oregon-homeless-camp-police-say-rcna21785
I went looking for updates on this, the prosecutor says the driver was drunk, I'm guessing that was confirmed.
https://www.npr.org/2022/03/29/1089448276/driver-killed-homeless-people-salem-oregon
The father of one of the victims (a 29 year-old woman) is being called a racist because he made statements that the drive could flee to Mexico if he were released on bail.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10663793/Family-drunk-driver-slaughtered-four-Oregon-homeless-camp-brand-victims-father-RACIST.html
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An interesting take on the attack on the Russian fuel depot recently.
"Was the missile attack on a Russian fuel depot false flag or Ukrainians taking the ball into the opposition half?
"“False flag" makes no sense at all. Russia is already attacking totally unprovoked, so it's not like they need a pretext. Nor do they need it for domestic propaganda since it's a lot easier to just make shit up.
"A Ukrainian attack makes perfect sense and is good propaganda domestically, and doesn't hurt them internationally. Only now they're saying it wasn't them, and I've seen reports saying it's the wrong type of helicopters.
"Having now eliminated the impossible, my dear Watson, we are left with the explanation that the Russians attacked their own installation in order not to have to keep attacking! They seem to be refusing orders by making sure they don't have the supplies to obey."
It would be fascinating were this to be the case.
https://www.quora.com/profile/Mats-Andersson-16
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Magic no more? DeSantis questions Disney's special operating city in Florida
By Rob Wile - April 2, 2022
Imagine if Disney had to go through its local planning and zoning board to build a new castle. Or if it suddenly had to rely on Orange County, Florida, and other local jurisdictions to pick up its trash.
Or if it could no longer sell its own bonds to build roads in its parks.
That's what could happen if some Florida legislators get their way.
On March 30, Spencer Roach, a member of Florida's House of Representatives who represents State House District 79, tweeted that he and other legislators were continuing to discuss repealing a special legislative act that created the Reedy Creek Improvement District. It's the unique zone — believed to be among the only example of its kind in the U.S. — in which Disney's largest theme park and resort operates in the Sunshine State.
The discussions came in response to Disney’s new opposition to Florida House Bill 1557, dubbed the “Don’t Say Gay” bill by critics, which restricts the teaching of sexual orientation or gender identity.
https://www.nbcnews.com/business/consumer/reedy-creek-disney-world-special-district-history-desantis-rcna22551
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I expect Disney Corporation lawyers will fight it tooth and nail.
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I hope they do, and I hope they win!
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What I want to know is since she can see Russia from her state, why didn't she warn us about Putin?
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/sarah-palin-is-running-for-congress-former-alaska-governor/
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You don't betray allies.
Especially allies that have something on you.
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Russia has been suspended from the UN Human Rights Council. 2/3 of votes, abstentions don't count.
(https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/e237a1388d765f6e44f6b72846da332968b1739a7a1aeba9901dde41d2819396.jpg)
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93
25
58
17
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Too bad it can't get kicked off the Security Council.
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Marjorie Taylor Greene Is the New Karen
Jimmy Kimmel struck a nerve with Marjorie Taylor Greene this week, prompting some tweets from the congresswoman in which she said she’d filed a threat report with the Capitol Police.
She called the police. Not only did she call the police, she called the same police she voted against giving a congressional gold medal to for defending our Capitol against the insurrection she helped incite on Jan. 6. That’s who she called — the people she wanted to defund.”
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You'd think the 'Gazpacho police' would be more suited to her needs. ::) ::) ::)
But I guess she and her ilk haven't quite managed to establish a Gestapo v2 just yet...
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A telling article about how the war is affecting Russian culture.
Open to all readers.
https://wapo.st/3NYsBCZ
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^^^ Thank you for posting that - enlightening, but sad and maddening read. V.
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Another article about how the war is affecting people in Russia.
Also open to all readers.
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/09/world/europe/putin-ukraine-russia.html?unlocked_article_code=AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACEIPuomT1JKd6J17Vw1cRCfTTMQmqxCdw_PIxftm3iWka3DJDm4TiPsSGYyMvErQf617apwrwiiaQppcM6UmRfp_i_VCJFdsQk-ovp6A0twjEhkClLiSDCkwzo6fGvcx6yPrZW20b7YmlOy15E6IdWfvUPDA1XEhcxI285AzaV352XAJzq2SFrYi3MJsnqt0XuAMTjYAYyaAvPHoGk8-bI3ANkeAn1FwD-JJWjjTnsqe7qYDcWhSCVHHSnB-5QUs-Y8WeYNXbOukcUlWKIepiq4RC2doMI6uG5UzIoPXnL9vurTKwgeeFTSpb38r3C2qDFhaeUDacg&smid=url-share
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This lady is tough.
"My name is Irina. I'm 98 years old. I survived the Holodomor (Great Famine caused by Stalin), Hitler and the Nazis. I will survive Putin and his locusts. Slava Ukraini"
(https://qph.cf2.quoracdn.net/main-qimg-a6d13661500d2711e175ae6730bfe3e8)
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Great lady!
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I truly hope Irina survives to see the end with a victory for Ukraine.
Ever since I found out about the Holodomor many years ago, it has seemed obvious to me that the Ukrainians would never voluntarily submit to becoming part of Russia again. Something so gruesome and malicious settles in the national psyche and informs it for centuries.
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Yes indeed.
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Neptune be praised!
https://news.usni.org/2022/04/13/russian-navy-confirms-severe-damage-to-black-sea-cruiser-moskva-crew-abandoned-ship
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Its former name was Slava. How interesting.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_cruiser_Moskva
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Neptune be praised!
https://news.usni.org/2022/04/13/russian-navy-confirms-severe-damage-to-black-sea-cruiser-moskva-crew-abandoned-ship
(https://www.virginiabeach.com/sites/default/files/staceys_king_neptune_statue_va_beach_pic.jpg)
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Nice Guardian Turtle.
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Fascinating. The Russian warship Moskva, which went up in flames earlier today, is actually the same ship that the Ukrainian forces on Snake Island early in the war told to go perform various unmentionable acts upon itself.
If Russian reports are true (I know, highly unlikely), and the munitions did explode rather than it being attacked by Ukrainian missiles, the ship will have in fact carried out the orders of the Ukrainian guards.
Poetic justice.
(https://cdn.dribbble.com/users/1954378/screenshots/17602099/_______-_______-________4x.png)
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What a great time to issue a stamp commemorating the Ukrainian response to the Russian warship attack on Snake Island, the day before the ship was sunk.
https://www.jpost.com/international/article-704096
https://www.npr.org/2022/03/13/1086371078/ukraine-russian-warship-postage-stamp
"An interpreter for NPR says the famous phrase quite literally translates to English as an expression that doesn't quite exist in English."
I'm enjoying this series of incidents including the sinking entirely too much.
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i suppose it is the logic of war that after Bucha and Mariupol, it feels difficult to have much compassion for the young Russians who are being used by Putin as mere cannon fodder. There's no humanity in their behaviour. I wonder how many were REALLY killed when the Moskva exploded and sank.
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I expect we won't find out till long after, if ever.
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Everybody knows I'm a pessimist when it comes to politics, but the commercials I'm seeing for Republicans vying for their party's nomination for governor of Pennsylvania or senator I find truly frightening. They're all tying themselves to Trump (even Bill McSwain, who touts himself as a Trump-appointed federal prosecutor--even though Trump wouldn't endorse him because--I admit to his credit--he wouldn't buy into the Big Lie that the election was stolen). One ends a commercial with people holding Trump banners behind him; this guy calls liberals "idiot socialists." Another has a son with cerebral palsy; he's exploiting his own child, saying raising that child will make him a better governor.
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^^^ yeap the shitstorm has been playing in NC for 3+ weeks. Their campaign slogan should be let's all "Bend (or Bow - your preference) over for Trump" white/cis/het all day long.
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Now here's something that I've hear absolutely nothing about: Belarusian anti-war resistance.
Apparently it's pretty strong - much stronger than in Russia. And I first read about it in Wikipedia.
Here's an article from Open Democracy:
https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/odr/why-belarus-is-yet-to-join-russias-invasion-of-ukraine/
And here's the wiki that lead me there:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belarusian_involvement_in_the_2022_Russian_invasion_of_Ukraine#Belarusian_opposition_to_the_invasion
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Thanks for that link, Michael. Good news.
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Another has a son with cerebral palsy; he's exploiting his own child, saying raising that child will make him a better governor.
Here's another example of what I consider child exploitation for political purposes. One of the Republican candidates has a commercial condemning the supposedly conservative Dr. Oz for liberal activities, Fair enough, but the commercial includes a brief clip of Dr. Oz interviewing a male-to-female transsexual child--calling Dr. Oz's action "a doozy." This is a child we're talking about here. If I were her parents, I'd sue. (Maybe they've already been paid off--which I would think is awful, too, as they would be conniving at the exploitation of their own child.)
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No endorsement implied, but Dr. Oz should fight back with comments or commercials calling out his opponents use of child exploitation as being "a doozy." And I haven't heard that word used since Shirley Booth used it often on Hazel. Republicans keep redefining low behavior. Just when you think they can't get any worse. Worse appears.
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(https://scontent-muc2-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t39.30808-6/278917324_5061093280634918_8251627953999430496_n.jpg?_nc_cat=102&ccb=1-5&_nc_sid=730e14&_nc_ohc=ymJ2aQjwxzcAX-lBgMc&_nc_ht=scontent-muc2-1.xx&oh=00_AT8vGPrHToSM0aDW8QaVzBoA3UH7Bz4YA9BxS7rSGb2DMw&oe=626BCB65)
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Zelenskyy should get a Nobel, or something.
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That Macron and Le Pen cartoon reminds me that I read that Macron's victory (thank God!) was "significantly lower" than it was last time. Then I looked it up and he won 58.2% of the vote. The U.S. has rarely had a Presidential election winner with that high a percentage.
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For France's standards, this is pretty low indeed. Last time (in 2017), he won 66 to 34 %.
And in France, there are two election rounds. Normally, in the 2nd round, the distance between the candidates should be considerably higher than it was yesterday.
But of course, it could have been worse.
Anyway: He'll have five difficult years in front of him, facing a huge block of extreme left voters and another of extreme right voters. The center is almost empty. There is no traditional left or right wing party anymore, he got rid of them. The main problem is that his party consists mainly of him alone. There is no prominent personality next to him, in his own party.
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Interesting; thanks.
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While Putin is being a beast and we have the threat of Le Pen there are still good things happening in Europe. This just in from Slovenia:
https://www.euractiv.com/section/elections/news/slovenia-heading-for-progressive-government-after-historic-victory-against-conservatives/
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Yay!
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I'm so glad to read this, Michael. Thanks! Let's hope it keeps heading that direction, because I sure have my doubts about the US.
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I'm so glad to read this, Michael. Thanks! Let's hope it keeps heading that direction, because I sure have my doubts about the US.
I hear ya! I only heard about this as an aside on a news program.
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Well...if they had it, it appears it didn't work:
https://www.maritime-executive.com/article/lost-russian-cruiser-moskva-may-have-carried-a-piece-of-the-true-cross
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Maybe a relic from Lenin's body might have done them more good.
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Maybe a relic from Lenin's body might have done them more good.
Only if you contain it in a circle of salt, I would imagine.
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On the latest front in what I am coming to think of as "The Eastern War":
https://news.yahoo.com/why-russia-is-dragging-the-moldovan-region-of-transnistria-into-war-200709637.html
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I think I have gained some understanding of Putin's bizarre claim that the Ukrainian government is made up of Nazis.
The April 18 issue of The New Yorker contains an article about controversy over creating a memorial at Babyn Yar in Kyiv, where the Nazis murdered thousands and thousands of Jews. One of the critics of the projects suspects that somehow Putin and "his imperial agenda" are behind the memorial. That claim itself may seem bizarre-it's too complicated for me to try to explain in a post; I'm not sure I follow the argument. But anyway, the author then has occasion to discuss Russia's memories of World War II, and the role the war plays in the Russian national myth. The author writes:
"The U.K., the U.S., France, and many other Allied countries look back on the war with a sense of both tragedy and victory, but the triumphalism in Russia is more pronounced. Now Russian leaders brand real or imagined challenges to their power as Nazis."
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"In his most explicit condemnation of a Russian official since the war on Ukraine began, Prime Minister Naftali Bennett spoke out against Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s claim that Hitler was part Jewish."
"Bennett said on Monday that “lies like these are meant to blame the Jews themselves for the most terrible crimes in history, which were committed against them, and thus free the oppressors of the Jews from their responsibility.”
“As I’ve already said, no war today is the Holocaust nor is it like the Holocaust,” Bennett stated. “The use of the Holocaust of the Jewish people as a political battering ram must be stopped immediately.""
https://www.jpost.com/international/article-705643
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Antisemites just can't help themselves. Their true colors shine forth.
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This will be earth shattering. And it says that privacy is not in the constitution, which could affect the availability of birth control and same-sex marriage:
https://www.politico.com/news/2022/05/02/supreme-court-abortion-draft-opinion-00029473
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shit
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I saw that and - well, what is there to say? - A lot!
This was the very reason Trump's two last Supreme Court Judges were selected, and they are delivering.
A massive, massive step back for women's rights and personal freedom. Feels like we'll have to fight the fights of the last hundred years all over again. The potential implications for same sex marriage is making this even bleaker.
I was wondering, with the US midterms coming up, how will this affect that? Will it see support rallying for the Democrats?
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Once the Reactionary Right gets Roe overturned, they will go after same-sex marriage--I've said that all along--but Obergefell was decided on the basis of the Due Process and Equal Protection clauses of the 14th Amendment, not on a right to privacy.
However, Roe was decided on the basis that the Due Process clause provides a right to privacy.
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^^^ I saw this breaking last night just a few mins after Politico posted it. I just wilted with the implications but am not surprised. I did not sleep well at all.
The GoS and his lynch men made no secret that they were "stealing" 2 SCOTUS appointments that should have been Obama's and then Biden's. They arrogantly placed their fingers on the "Scales of Justice" in the most inappropriate ways. Then, those 3 ass-wipe appointments lied and mislead to Congress and Senators about respecting "stare decisis" (and other things) in order to secure their seats for the next 30+ years!
Yeap - screwed. With the GOP in gerrymandered control, again the GOP has it fingers on scale with these "originalists appointments". This has been the white-bigoted GOP's plan since early Reagan and they are finally at the cusp of bringing back horribly clorox and clothes-racks and young women dying from botched, back-alley procedures in those "GOP/Red" states.
I read some deeper analysis of this draft and that *@(@* Alito says something along the lines that this opinion is focused ONLY on abortion and nothing more. Good-bloody luck keeping that genie in the bottle. Remember too he's the *@(*@* that unleashed to "Citizens United". I still remember him being caught on camera during Obama's State of Union speech mouthing off.
Now that the bible-thumping bigots have a taste of their top progressive roll-back, the country can look forward to many more "buck-shot" cases being brought at the state levels with ultimate direction at this SCOTUS. Nothing is safe now - nothing! Voting rights, these clowns already gutted that and they intend will finish those off soon-enough. Inter-racial marriage, birth control, gay marriage, women's rights, interstate commerce, interstate travel, (so you travel across state lines to get an abortion...) you might be arrested when you return. and a host of other progressive federal granted rights are at exceptionally high risk now.
A very stunning day in America but this is a pre-lude to the actual decision and several others pending from this session.
Update: Robert's acknowledging this draft is very real just confirms what's OTW - intentional release or not. He's more concerned with "who leaked it" vs the impact. What a legacy. I feel so wilted today. 50+ years of progress flushed by a "politically-backed" SCOTUS with more OTW. I also recommending reading the draft - if you can stomach it. V.
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Once the Reactionary Right gets Roe overturned, they will go after same-sex marriage--I've said that all along--but Obergefell was decided on the basis of the Due Process and Equal Protection clauses of the 14th Amendment, not on a right to privacy.
However, Roe was decided on the basis that the Due Process clause provides a right to privacy.
Thanks for that Jeff. I am happy that the Equal Protection clause is in there too for Obergefell. I do expect that they will try to go after Lawrence v. Texas as that is right to privacy through due process. And much like the trigger laws for abortion there are residual Sodomy laws that still exist in something like 14 states.
I think they might go after Lawrence first and then say that there can be no institution privacy right guaranteed to an illegal act. We’ll see.
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I saw that and - well, what is there to say? - A lot!
This was the very reason Trump's two last Supreme Court Judges were selected, and they are delivering.
A massive, massive step back for women's rights and personal freedom. Feels like we'll have to fight the fights of the last hundred years all over again. The potential implications for same sex marriage is making this even bleaker.
I was wondering, with the US midterms coming up, how will this affect that? Will it see support rallying for the Democrats?
There are several articles out speculating on how this will impact the midterms, but the most important thing regarding that will be turnout. We’ll know better after the actual decision is released and the states react.
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With regard to a right to engage in acts of sodomy in private between consenting individuals, I wonder if anybody would bring up Griswold v. Connecticut and Eisenstadt v. Baird? Griswold recognized that married couples had a right to privacy, but it was based on the Fourth Amendment prohibition of unreasonable search and seizure.
I think there are arguments to be made, but that doesn't mean they'll prevail.
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From Alito's opinion: (Thanks George W. Bush.)
“The inescapable conclusion is that a right to abortion is not deeply rooted in the Nation’s history and traditions. On the contrary, an unbroken tradition of prohibiting abortion on pain of criminal punishment persisted from the earliest days of the common law until 1973.”
Well, I guess we should go back to slavery again, too, then since slaves' freedom was not deeply rooted in the Nation's history and traditions. Also, most of the time that Alito is referencing, women did not have a lot of rights.
___________
Does anyone else hate that pollsters ask people if they are "Pro-Choice" or "Pro-Life?"
Because one can be BOTH of those things.
___________
Biden called this decision "radical". A word Republicans keep using against Democrats. Democrats need to keep repeating this. Concervative radicals.
___________
Items from the article:
“Alito’s draft opinion explicitly criticizes Lawrence v. Texas (legalizing sodomy) and Obergefell v. Hodges (legalizing same-sex marriage),” Joseph wrote. “He says that, like abortion, these decisions protect phony rights that are not ‘deeply rooted in history.’ ”
--
"Alito's draft opinion overturning Roe and Casey approvingly cites Clarence Thomas' debunked claim that abortion is a tool of eugenics against Black people."
--
"Americans are far more likely to succumb from childbirth than from an abortion. Forcing patients to carry unwanted pregnancies will result in more maternal mortality. But Alito completely erases women from his draft opinion. He just doesn’t care."
--
"Alito's disgust for Planned Parenthood v. Casey obscures the fact that Casey struck down exactly one law: a mandate that married women notify their husbands before terminating a pregnancy. When Casey is formally overruled, states will be free to enact such laws once again."
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___________
Does anyone else hate that pollsters ask people if they are "Pro-Choice" or "Pro-Life?"
Because one can be BOTH of those things.
___________
Yes. Plus, who's going to deny being in favor of life?
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There are several articles out speculating on how this will impact the midterms, but the most important thing regarding that will be turnout. We’ll know better after the actual decision is released and the states react.
Thank you for responding. I suppose, once the decision is released, there will be a deluge of bad news from one State after the other.
From Alito's opinion: (Thanks George W. Bush.)
“The inescapable conclusion is that a right to abortion is not deeply rooted in the Nation’s history and traditions. On the contrary, an unbroken tradition of prohibiting abortion on pain of criminal punishment persisted from the earliest days of the common law until 1973.”
Wow. That's nearly an unbelievable statement to have to read as a woman living in 2022. If this viewpoint had been upheld through the years, women wouldn't be able to vote either. And, as you say, slavery would be legal. :o. All societal progress since the Constitution would be non-existent. What kind of Neanderthal view is this, and in the SCOTUS...
Does anyone else hate that pollsters ask people if they are "Pro-Choice" or "Pro-Life?"
Because one can be BOTH of those things.
I have never understood why Pro-life seems to have become the accepted term in general discussion in the US. I'd call the viewpoint anti-abortion, which is what it is. (In Norway these people are always defined as 'abortmotstandere' ie. 'people who oppose the right to abortion.)
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Two things - first, Gillian, here is a discussion from Fivethirtyeight regarding what striking down Roe v. Wade would mean for the midterms:
https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/the-supreme-court-could-strike-down-roe-v-wade-what-would-that-mean-for-the-midterms/
Second, in 1972, when I was a freshman in college, I worked on Proposal B to legalize abortion in Michigan. I have a hard time believing we've regressed so much that we're in that era again:
https://ballotpedia.org/Michigan_Abortion_Legalization_Initiative,_Proposal_B_(1972)
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^^^ I should note, btw, that 1972 was also the year I came out (it was a big year). I've always believed that bodily autonomy is as related to reproductive freedom as it is to gender identity or sexual orientation. I am the last of 9 children that my mother carried to term. She had 14 pregnancies in total. I have always thought of this as being the illogical result of religious notions that you should have "as many children as god wants you to." It is tantamount to gynecological slavery. I also experienced having one of my schoolmates "disappear" when she was 14 years old, because she was pregnant. She only made it back into school a few years later, and graduated later than the rest of her class. It seemed barbaric then, and seems worse now.
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I have never understood why Pro-life seems to have become the accepted term in general discussion in the US. I'd call the viewpoint anti-abortion, which is what it is. (In Norway these people are always defined as 'abortmotstandere' ie. 'people who oppose the right to abortion.)
I agree with you about "Pro-Life." It really annoys me.
(I'll had here, parenthetically, that I have the same annoyance--rising to anger--at what the word Evangelical has come to mean. Excuse me. Evangelical means "preaching the Gospel." I was raised in a mainstream Protestant tradition that has styled itself "Evangelical" forever. Evangelical does not mean "right-wing social conservative," yet that's what it has come to mean. I suppose those denominations have appropriated the term for themselves.)
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Two things - first, Gillian, here is a discussion from Fivethirtyeight regarding what striking down Roe v. Wade would mean for the midterms:
https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/the-supreme-court-could-strike-down-roe-v-wade-what-would-that-mean-for-the-midterms/
Thank you. This was a good and illuminating read.
Two points in particular stood out to me;
Of course, on the other side of the aisle, several blue states where Democrats are in power are expanding abortion access, making it easier and cheaper to get an abortion. We’re already seeing some of those efforts.
The bottom line is that if Roe were overturned, it would be incredibly chaotic — which is saying something, because it’s already tumultuous — and would likely involve more Texas-style laws where citizens file vigilante lawsuits.
This makes me shudder. It's many steps towards Gilead. It seems so barbaric that women will have to go to any length to hide an unwanted pregnancy, that they cannot trust anyone in their own community, that they risk being ratted out by virtual 'bounty hunters'. All the more will women's health and lives be at risk, because unsafe abortions will happen in secret and alone, and women will be fearful of seeking medical help if such an unsafe procedure develops into dangerous and life-threatening conditions...
Even if the right to free abortion is not under threat in my own country, I feel this US regressive development very deeply.
Dare I say it, I ultimately think this isn’t going to be something that Democratic politicians feel a lot of pressure around until abortion rights are actually gone in half the country and people start to see what that means.
I fear this is all too true. Women's lives are directly at stake here. And not just because of the return to secret quackery and coat hangers. Perhaps especially in the US, where litigation is so commonplace, hospitals will err severely on the side of caution even is situations that are directly life-threatening for women needing abortions. It's difficult not to think of Savita Halappanavar's tragic and unnecessary death, which ultimately swayed the Irish to vote to legalize abortion.
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It's difficult not to think of Savita Halappanavar's tragic and unnecessary death, which ultimately swayed the Irish to vote to legalize abortion.
It is, isn't it? And yet it took weird manipulations because of devolution to change the laws in Northern Ireland, right across the border, on both abortion and same-sex marriage.
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Stephen Colbert's monologue last night about this situation was great. They edited all those justices confirmation hearing answers that "Roe v. Wade was settled law" together so their lies are transparent for all to see.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gJCGAA4VYT8&t=82s
While making fun of Sen. Susan Collins being surprised she was lied to.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mgzZ0Jg3-4c
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^^^^ Seething, accurate and bullseye. I am sure there's already a film in the works about the lies ALL 3 of those SOB told, to congress, under oath to secure this now "lifetime appointment". Karma's going to be a real bitch...
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Unfortunately karma is one of those things I see little evidence for in reality, much like the afterlife, the rapture or the rising of the proletariat.
What I suspect we are left with in the U.S. is an interregnum period with a patchwork of privacy laws in the states and an attempt by the revivified right wing to attempt to pass a federal abortion ban:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/alisondurkee/2022/05/02/republicans-will-try-to-ban-abortion-nationwide-if-supreme-court-overturns-roe-v-wade-report-reveals/?sh=5ed586923eda
I also suspect that given Alito's opinion regarding a lack of guarantee of privacy rights in the constitution that we will be facing a variety of attempts to roll back rights associated with privacy:
https://www.politico.com/news/2022/05/03/supreme-court-abortion-privacy-rights-00029871
Apparently his views have been known long enough for legal students to write papers about it. In this one it mentions that not only are same-sex marriage rights as issue, but also warrantless wiretaps and the rights of prisoners to avoid torture:
https://digitalcommons.law.seattleu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1600&context=sjsj
I suspect that the testimony of the 3 justices in their confirmation hearings will cause a lot of press, but not much of a significant legal nature. They will be full of sound and fury, but much as the Bard says, in the end they will signify nothing.
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An interesting message from Pope Francis to Patriarch Kirill:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/05/04/patriarch-kirill-pope-francis-russian-orthodox-church-ukraine/
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Well I'm glad he lost, but it's weird that people like this are even considered legitimate candidates:
https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/nation/dem-flips-michigan-seat-after-gop-candidates-rape-comments/
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His comments were disgusting. Thank God he lost.
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As usual I was only paying half attention to TV news yesterday, but I heard somebody--the Trumpite who won in Ohio?--say the Great Orange Satan should fire the whole bureaucracy and replace them with "our people."
I don't think he can, and it's certainly blowhard rhetoric, but nevertheless the thinking--such as it is--behind that rhetoric truly frightens me.
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Vance in Ohio was an interesting writer and expressed anti-Trump feelings before he went over to the dark side and became such a suck up.
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Vance in Ohio was an interesting writer and expressed anti-Trump feelings before he went over to the dark side and became such a suck up.
Did you read "Hillbilly Elegy" Fritz?
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Did you read "Hillbilly Elegy" Fritz?
Fraid not, just read a lot about it.
Some residents of southern Ohio apparently thought he was very unfair to them in the book, though since X gave them the go ahead, apparently all is forgiven. Or at least until Vance gets the blame for something else and X will claim that he never supported him.
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I'm seeking others opinions about this topic. This is the second time in a very short period of time in which Madison Cawthorn has been seen in a compromising position with another man. My question is not about his sexuality as such, I'm wondering if you think that he is of the ilk that thinks that it's funny to make fun of gay people. That's the vibe I'm getting. Here's the latest:
https://smokymountainnews.com/news/item/33554-graphic-video-appears-to-show-rep-cawthorn
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Fraid not, just read a lot about it.
Some residents of southern Ohio apparently thought he was very unfair to them in the book, though since X gave them the go ahead, apparently all is forgiven. Or at least until Vance gets the blame for something else and X will claim that he never supported him.
Okay, thanks. I've been meaning to read it (or probably listen to it in audiobook form) for a while, because I grew up in a similarly socioeconomic area and I've been interested in his take on things like the opioid epidemic, but particularly because it seems to avoid the nexus of rural religion and stigma regarding sexuality.
As for opinions about the book by people in Southern Ohio (and the area) there was a good C-SPAN program on that:
https://www.c-span.org/video/?459961-1/appalachian-reckoning
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Unfortunately karma is one of those things I see little evidence for in reality, much like the afterlife, the rapture or the rising of the proletariat.
What I suspect we are left with in the U.S. is an interregnum period with a patchwork of privacy laws in the states and an attempt by the revivified right wing to attempt to pass a federal abortion ban:
....
I suspect that the testimony of the 3 justices in their confirmation hearings will cause a lot of press, but not much of a significant legal nature. They will be full of sound and fury, but much as the Bard says, in the end they will signify nothing.
Morning Michael! Thanks for the links and I agree - mostly with the links.
Our current SCOTUS is on a path to "return more power to the states" in many ways by using the logic set forth by that *@(@* Alito and his band of GOP "originalist" in tow now. This is exactly the "long game" the GOP has been playing since Regan. Lying about "trickle down BS and giving tax cuts to the 1% every chance they could and starving the federal govt of funding is all they really give a shit about. They sided with the religious-right / evangelicals only to get their votes. They cannot see the forest for the trees. Members of my own family are complete idiots to believe this MAGA-crazy GOP gives a rat's a$$ about them - just their votes. (Hint: They surely are not in the 1%).
Alito's BS about "longstanding recognized rights..." my a$$ and his quackery that this ruling does not apply to any other "rights" is BS he's attempting to pass as "legally solid reasoning". He's reaching for top-shelf logic while standing on a 3 legged stool! Next thing we know, this SCOTUS will be striking down Obergefell/Hodges, the right to marry, women's right to vote, voting rights for all (they are already gutting that...), equality in many forms, the right to privacy - ALL under the veil (lie) of "returning that right to rights to the state" to rig as they may please. Just watch play out as long as these "bible-thumpers" have a chance to turn the US into a "Christian Authoritative State" they are running that play. The next thing, they will be "burning folks at the stake" and calling for "the Old Testament" punishments - eye for an eye, cutting off ears, arms and fingers. I can hardly wait until they push to make divorce illegal. In their dogma, once married, always married - make due.
From my POV, ALL the GOP SCOTUS appointments, especially these last 3 GOS SCOTUS a$$wipes, blatantly lied, under oath to Congress, to secure those 3 seats. Don't get me started about Moscow Mitch's contortions to hold up and then ram thru two of the three nominations. While there ought to be a way to find these 3 in "contempt of Congress" and remove each of them b/c they "clearly lied to get" seat, sadly I've seen no path so we, the public, are royally fracked for the next 30+ years. Same thing with that POS - Thomas. He should have never, ever had that seat. Hill was telling the truth then (and now) and that was another Circus.
As for karma, I'll respectfully, disagree. One of my most recent examples of karma rebalancing the scales is the infamous "Bernie Madoff" and his family - or what's left of it. I've also seen, first-hand, karma rebalancing with people I've known 30-40 years. Not that it is a perfect metered justice, but for me, and my experiences, it helps me knowing that these "people" might "get away" with something today - but payback will be a bitch - with claws. I've see karma claw back a few times in this life and this generation or the next - that payment will be due.
-> https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/what-happened-bernie-madoff-s-family-where-ruth-madoff-others-n1264077 (https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/what-happened-bernie-madoff-s-family-where-ruth-madoff-others-n1264077)
Later, V.
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John Waters take on the subject...a 10 second clip from his film Desperate Living:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1gaGhy07ZbU
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Fraid not, just read a lot about it.
Did you see the movie?
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Did you see the movie?
I didn't even know there was one!
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Morning Michael! Thanks for the links and I agree - mostly with the links.
Our current SCOTUS is on a path to "return more power to the states" in many ways by using the logic set forth by that *@(@* Alito and his band of GOP "originalist" in tow now. This is exactly the "long game" the GOP has been playing since Regan.
Well he certainly is an originalist, that's for certain. He cites Matthew Hale, one of the judges from the witch trials:
https://blogs.loc.gov/law/2021/10/sir-matthew-hale-and-evidence-of-witchcraft/
As for karma, it's part of a belief system - and Buddhism, Hinduism and Jainism all have their various flavors of it. But if you're talking about Bernie Madoff wouldn't the more appropriate belief system be Judaism and wouldn't his punishment be seen as the wrath of G_d?
https://www.jpost.com/opinion/editorials/vengeance-and-bernie-madoff
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Next thing you know Alito will be admitting spectral evidence.
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^^^ In Madoff's instance, yes. "Wrath of "God"" is a very appropriate PoV since Judaism was Madoff's religious dogma. Yes, many organized religions / "belief systems" incorporate the concept of "karma" though by many different names, examples and teachings. Karma's core tenant and idea that some force, greater than we understand, will eventually re-balance the scales of life this individual has their fingers on, remains the stark delivery vehicle for "justice" metered in this life, the next life or perhaps onto the family in ways and means we also do not understand. Madoff destroyed thousands of lives and did wave-rippling damages to everything he touched with lies and deception - all the while living "VERY high on the hog...." I'd say losing both his son's lives, his once good name, his wife is banished to obscurity (I still don't believe she had _no clue_ WTF was going on...) is still not enough. That quote was accurate, he will be remembered as: "name Madoff will henceforth, as The New York Times aptly put it, "become synonymous with greed and fraud." and maybe that's the final tilt.
Yes, Judge Alito, IMHO, is one of those looney-tune "originalist" (all total BS)... who's believes they are too damn educated and smarter than everyone else - aka, "their crap don't stink!" LOL. His legacy is now sealed by his warped understanding of today's reality and where the depravity really lies is within himself and the MAGA GOP. His and the GOP's goal, again since Regan was elected, has been crystal clear. Folks have been warning for 20+ years what the GOP was "up-to" and sadly the Democrats, for some reason beyond my understanding, just didn't think the GOP could/would get to this point, crossing many "red-lines" to get this "at all costs". Fingers on so many scales and fair play - be damned.
Once the GOP dog catches this bus, it won't stop until "we the people" demand these blatant political SCOTUS appointments cease AND our US Congress priority returns to cooperating together vs. this insane zero sum game the GOP and other extremes have lead us to now. There also needs to be a legal method to remove Judges who lie to Congress - now that the GOP has clearly played that card and crossed that line. Senators Collins and Murkowski will have to live with their "gullible decisions" to tow-the-line for these 3 clowns and "trust" what turns out to be a bunch of hungry wolves guarding the hen house of democracy and truth.
-> https://www.politicususa.com/2018/09/22/collins-and-murkowski-are-in-deep-trouble-if-they-vote-for-kavanaugh.html
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This is an interesting analysis of the war in Eastern Ukraine, and goes into how the Ukrainian army could cut off thinly stretched units of the Russian army. It may be a bit too hopeful, but it's an interesting take (from a militaristic viewpoint that is):
https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidaxe/2022/05/05/an-advancing-ukrainian-army-just-showed-us-how-the-war-with-russia-could-end/?sh=24e26c943c5b
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Hope.
A group of famous folk singers from the 60's including Peter and Paul (without Mary), Holly Near and Tom Paxton have sung a song called Ukrainians All in support of the people and nation.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DSwxoJHJ4EI
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This is an interesting analysis of the war in Eastern Ukraine, and goes into how the Ukrainian army could cut off thinly stretched units of the Russian army. It may be a bit too hopeful, but it's an interesting take (from a militaristic viewpoint that is):
https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidaxe/2022/05/05/an-advancing-ukrainian-army-just-showed-us-how-the-war-with-russia-could-end/?sh=24e26c943c5b
This was a very informative and interesting article, Michael. Thanks for the link. I hope it's more truth than conjecture.
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I didn't even know there was one!
It came out in 2020. It got a couple Oscar nominations, including Glenn Close for Supporting Actress. Amy Adams was also very good in it.
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This was a very informative and interesting article, Michael. Thanks for the link. I hope bits more truth than conjecture.
I hope so too! Thanks Linda.
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Sinn Féin has won the most seats in the Northern Ireland Assembly and Michelle O'Neill is on track to become the First Minister of Northern Ireland:
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-60786728
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I love this. If only.
Putin dies and goes to hell, but after a while, he is given a day off for good behaviour. So he goes to Moscow, enters a bar, orders a drink, and asks the bartender: “Is Crimea ours?”
“Yes, it is.”
“And the Donbas?”
“Also ours.”
“And Kyiv?”
“We got that too.”
Satisfied, Putin finishes his drink, and asks: “Thanks, how much do I owe you?”
“Five Euros.”
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LOL! But unfortunately, quite unrealistic. I mean - *Putin* showing good behaviour?!? ::)
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Today is Norway's and Europe's liberation day. The day has been remembered with ceremonies, including in the town where I live. As usual, there were commemoration ceremonies by the war graves, also by those of Soviet Russian soldiers who fell in our town and were buried here (The German occupiers held a lot of Russian POWs in camps in many Norwegian towns and townships). I noticed that this year, the wreaths and flowers placed by the Soviet Russian memorial were all wrapped in the yellow and blue of Ukraine...
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Good that they're doing it that way.
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Someone I know is driving across the country with her husband, and a cat, periodically sending photographs with captions. This one made me laugh: "Signs of Spring- There are really only two seasons across most of the US - roadwork and snowplow."
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:laugh:
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Pete Buttigieg's must-see speech
Pete Buttigieg just surged into the spotlight with the speech of the year on abortion.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ysZYwjuFes
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Go Pete!!!!
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^^^ Well said. The commentary summed it up well... "this is about the GOP imposing the beliefs of a small-group of far-right Christian Fascists Theocrats"... aka the (*@(*@* bible-thumping evangelicals on the other 70% of the population. V.
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"Almost too stupid for words..." Uh...yep.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/trump-has-a-conspiracy-theory-about-hurricanes-that-is-almost-too-stupid-for-words-ex-staffer/ar-AAX7NkO?ocid=entnewsntp&cvid=b8c45031592a4b5a9ec21ecbd06208c1
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Almost, but considering the source.....
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No idea how accurate this is, but I wouldn't put it past him.
https://www.emmanuelsblog.com.ng/2022/05/russia-accuses-ukrainian-of-using-black.html?m=1
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(https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/91rvU6-ukeL._AC_UL600_SR600,600_.jpg)
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https://www.indiatimes.com/trending/wtf/ukrainian-witches-to-perform-ritual-to-topple-vladimir-putin-565565.html
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Meanwhile, in more effective types of counter-combat, Ukrainian forces destroyed several pontoon bridges and the better part of a full Russian battalion's armaments and equipment (and probably killed many Russian soldiers) earlier this week. One Ukrainian spokesperson states that it seems the Russians are tragically using their own as mere cannon fodder, and looking at the images from this battle one would once more tend to agree. I wonder whether the cruel and utterly inexcusable inhumanities carried out by Russian soldiers in many Ukrainian front cities and townships, not least Bucha and Mariupol, have to do with the Russian troops being caught between a rock and a hard place and seeing no way out for themselves no matter the eventual fortunes of this war?
In any case, there are many photos (taken the day before yesterday) of the botched river crossing's aftermath in This Article (https://www.vg.no/nyheter/utenriks/i/34GvjX/ukraina-skal-ha-oedelagt-flere-titalls-russiske-stridsvogner-ved-elv) which unfortunately is in Norwegian, but the images speak for themselves.
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https://www.indiatimes.com/trending/wtf/ukrainian-witches-to-perform-ritual-to-topple-vladimir-putin-565565.html
Apparently it didn't work. :(
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Apparently it didn't work. :(
It's too bad, isn't it?
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Give them time.
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I'm having one of my spells.
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(https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/91rvU6-ukeL._AC_UL600_SR600,600_.jpg)
Oh look! Something for the Supreme Court to quote about abortion.
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There's good reason to worry about what is happening in elections in the United States...and it doesn't involve conspiracy theories:
https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/usa-election-breaches/
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Oh look! Something for the Supreme Court to quote about abortion.
God, I would never want to supply them with any help!
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There's good reason to worry about what is happening in elections in the United States...and it doesn't involve conspiracy theories:
https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/usa-election-breaches/
Well, in a way it does, as it seems most of the people involved in the election breaches believe in them.
That was a longer article than I'd thought it might be; worrying in itself. And it seems all the money Mike Lindell's made on his pillows is going to fund a lot of this. Why can't he be federally charged with something.
And perhaps the strangest thing in that article is the photo of a billboard with the slogan: EAT MEAT. Vote Republican.
I read this April article in The Atlantic:
WHY THE PAST 10 YEARS OF AMERICAN LIFE HAVE BEEN UNIQUELY STUPID
It’s not just a phase.
by Jonathan Haidt | The Atlantic
It's quite illuminating, but: It's not pretty.
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2022/05/social-media-democracy-trust-babel/629369/
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I've been reading an article in the May 9 New Yorker that's a first-hand account of the work of volunteer medics in Ukraine, and it includes a description of conditions in Bucha after the Russians pulled out. It's horrifying and terrifying. Apparently some of those Russian troops are just teenagers.
When I read the accounts of survivors, I kept thinking of Kyle Rittenhouse, and I think nobody should kid themselves that it can't happen here. We've had one civil war; I see no reason why another isn't possible, given the state of our politics (and the talk I hear from right-wing candidates for senator from and governor of Pennsylvania). Give a bunch of teenage boys automatic weapons, add beer and hard liquor, and you can have another Bucha.
They probably thought it was fun to shoot old people in the head. I bet they even laughed.
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Who boy...I thought the "Hillbilly Elegy" stuff was toxic:
“We are going to break up the big tech companies, ladies and gentlemen. We have to do it,” J.D. Vance hollered at a rally for Donald Trump in Ohio last weekend. “You cannot have a real country if a bunch of corrupt scumbags who take their marching orders from the Communist Chinese tell us what we’re allowed to say and how we’re allowed to say it.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/29/opinion/jd-vance-senate.html?action=click&module=RelatedLinks&pgtype=Article
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What he's advocating is reminiscent of the Great Simplification that happened after the first nuclear holocaust in A Canticle for Leibowitz.
https://www.shmoop.com/study-guides/literature/a-canticle-for-leibowitz/analysis/simplification
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“We are going to break up the big tech companies, ladies and gentlemen. We have to do it,” J.D. Vance hollered at a rally for Donald Trump in Ohio last weekend. “You cannot have a real country if a bunch of corrupt scumbags who take their marching orders from the Communist Chinese tell us what we’re allowed to say and how we’re allowed to say it.”
In other words, you need to be allowed to spout any kind of conspiracy and racism and violence advocacy you want.
Incidentally, today is the Pennsylvania primary election, and the racism and Trumpism being spouted by all the candidates vying for the Republican nomination for governor or U.S. senator are truly frightening.
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In other words, you need to be allowed to spout any kind of conspiracy and racism and violence advocacy you want.
Incidentally, today is the Pennsylvania primary election, and the racism and Trumpism being spouted by all the candidates vying for the Republican nomination for governor or U.S. senator are truly frightening.
Barnette is a total loon.
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I hope no one minds that I asked Chuck to change the name to include 2022.
And I'll just say that I am not gay shaming Madison (so there Clay) but I do hope he gets to go home and spend more time with his cousin.
https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/davidmack/madison-cawthorn-attacks-anti-gay-democrats
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I hope no one minds that I asked Chuck to change the name to include 2022.
I'm sure no one would mind!
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And I'll just say that I am not gay shaming Madison (so there Clay) but I do hope he gets to go home and spend more time with his cousin.
You're not alone on that.
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I find all this so strange. Our Deputy Prime Minister and Treasurer is openly gay and this week is the face of the government with Jacinda isolating at home with Covid. He has been acting Prime Minister in her absence overseas. He will be handilng down the budget in parliament tomorrow, probably the most important day of the year in parliament.
His sexuality is rarely a source of comment.
I found this on Wikipedia
In his maiden statement (given on 9 December 2008), Robertson alluded to his sexuality as a part, but not the whole, of his identity:
I am proud and comfortable with who I am. Being gay is part of who I am, just as is being a former diplomat, a fan of the mighty ... Wellington Lions, and a fan of New Zealand music and New Zealand literature. My political view is defined by my sexuality only inasmuch as it has given me an insight into how people can be marginalised and discriminated against, and how much I abhor that. I am lucky that I have largely grown up in a generation that is not fixated on issues such as sexual orientation. I am not—and neither should others be.
In a 2012 interview with Guyon Espiner, he hit out at the suggestion that being gay could prevent him from understanding the concerns of ordinary New Zealanders:
That’s one of the things that irritates me the most. How can you say that? That someone won’t understand New Zealanders because they’re gay. I understand all sorts of things about being a New Zealander. I understand what happens when your dad goes to prison. I understand what it’s like when the All Blacks lose. You know? I understand what it’s like when you’re trying to work out if you’ve got enough money to do [renovation] to the house? It’s bullshit.
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An interesting development on Russian State TV yesterday. The article is accessible to all.
"He urged Russians not to take “informational sedatives.” "
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/17/world/europe/russian-state-tv-ukraine-invasion.html?unlocked_article_code=AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACEIPuomT1JKd6J17Vw1cRCfTTMQmqxCdw_PIxftm3iWka3DIDm8diPsSGYyMvErQf617apwpwi-ARdZHdaQzTeB_i_NBelFuUQCppJbBmZIbKj40roT1Xn8z29iFe4EExgLQTzvzLvZjlvr4tgiaMTO0DLrYg3UhIVkxpI9uIVyhxXBZxKvaGrR0is112P8kUZ4sEj0BNHaarrK_XUUFTdaMbR7Y4wI1WPgIGm2A2I7BtM9TNVlaGlnET3hg4Goj6NI6OdkfP6z3LxJIa9OpyPxKSTQudNH1csV3E4vElLxqsqrPrgiPzqe0xfY2FqZXuNDUo_lConex4RxwSshSemoz1Os&smid=url-share
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Thank you for making this article available to us. I did watch most of the clip it is based on, until the woman hosting it drove me away with her crass propaganda lines.
From the article, I noticed it says that the commentator in question previously has praised the Russian effort, and that in comments on his Telegram channel posted only a week ago (!), he said that military theorists for years to come would study the special operation as something “unique.”
I wonder if he's trying to act the Oracle of Delphi in saying something so IMO ambiguous. I am reminded of the story of King Croesus, who asked the oracle if he should attack Persia, and was told: “If you cross the river, a great empire will be destroyed.” Viewing this as a good omen he went ahead with the invasion, but the great empire that was destroyed was his own. The oracle might perhaps just as well have told him that military experts would be studying his invasion for a long time as something unique....
I feel that while Western media is thoroughly reporting on the developments and horrors of the invasion from day to day, it is becoming the 'new normal' in a way, and people in Western Europe seem to be less stressed about it. New political issues are stealing attention too - from cost of living to the UK/Ireland Brexit issues. I worry that the emerging complacency is dangerous and that an unforeseen escalation of the war may happen suddenly - just like in the previous two world wars. Even though Russia is not ATM achieving its aims, they have time and Western distraction on their side, and a seeming willingness on the part of Putin&cronies to send untold young men from poor districts and minorities into their meat grinder. I worry about what China and India might do too, in the somewhat longer run.
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I hope no one minds that I asked Chuck to change the name to include 2022.
Or it could be changed to "2017 - present" !
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And I'll just say that I am not gay shaming Madison (so there Clay) but I do hope he gets to go home and spend more time with his cousin.
https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/davidmack/madison-cawthorn-attacks-anti-gay-democrats
This guy should never have been elected. (But you can say that about all of the Republican candidates now.) I remember when he was running for the house seat in 2020 he was using the fact he was paralyzed in an auto-accident for self-promotion in false based claims:
--He created the narrative picture that he was a bright, young man headed to the U.S. Naval Academy until he was severely injured in an auto crash. His campaign literature said: “Madison was homeschooled in Hendersonville and was nominated to the Naval Academy by Rep. Mark Meadows in 2014, however, Madison’s plans were derailed that year after he was nearly killed in a tragic automobile accident that left him partially paralyzed and in a wheelchair." But in a 2017 sworn deposition, Cawthorn admitted his application to the academy had already been rejected before the crash. The campaign did not comment, despite repeated requests.
--In that same campaign, Cawthorn said that he had trained in wheelchair racing for the 2020 Summer Paralympics, but subsequent investigation showed that he never competed at all, much less at a single qualifying level and was not involved in any team.
But his constituency voted for him, because, you know, the "R" after his name. That's all that the current party needs to know. (R for "Rotten".) Madison's mantra is his idol's line: "...and they let you get away with it." They meaning the current Republican voter.
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Other than the name and the video of him humping that guy's head, I knew nothing of Madison Cawthorne until I read--I think it was--that Buzzfeed article--not even that he needs to use a wheelchair.
He is one sick puppy. I make no excuses for him, but I do pity anyone who is that f _ _ ked up.
Meanwhile, as of the noon TV news that I saw, Dr. Oz and Dave McCormick are in a dead heat for the Republican nomination for Toomey's Senate seat. :o
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It could be worse. It could have been Barnette. Do we start referring to PA as the land of Oz now?
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It could be worse. It could have been Barnette. Do we start referring to PA as the land of Oz now?
Alabama is much more likely; remember James Carvill? After all, here we cling to guns and religion. But as far as I've heard, he hasn't won it yet. The man's a carpetbagger. I don't know who will be worse, him or Dave McCormick; actually, it might be McCormick. Oz might be too busy being a celebrity to do much of anything, no matter what he's said in his campaign ads.
I'm surprised that John Fetterman won the Democratic nomination for the Senate. I thought he was done-for when he had a stroke last week. I've already seen speculation that he might be someone who appeals to people who followed the Great Orange Satan.
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I don't know who will be worse, him or Dave McCormick; actually, it might be McCormick. Oz might be too busy being a celebrity to do much of anything, no matter what he's said in his campaign ads.
Worse, you mean, if they ended up winning in the fall. That definitely would be DM.
I'm surprised that John Fetterman won the Democratic nomination for the Senate. I thought he was done-for when he had a stroke last week. I've already seen speculation that he might be someone who appeals to people who followed the Great Orange Satan.[/font][/size]
I wasn't surprised he won, but rather surprised by how much he won over Conor Lamb. Fetterman got 59%. Yes, he might appeal to people that follow the GOS, but only because he's got that strongman type of personality. R's seem to favor that more than what the person would do in office. Not lately, but I've seen Fetterman quite a few times on MSNBC programs and he seems like an old school scrappy Democrat that'll bring the fight to his opponent in the fall. I've also seen Lamb many times and think he'd have been a great Senator, too, but that last name may have done him in, in this cycle.
Who did you vote for Jeff? (Obviously you don't have to answer that, but I thought I'd make the query.)
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This was the best news I heard out of Pennsylvania today:
Push to Make PA an Open Primary State Has Voters Checking Yes in Approval
https://localPenn21news.com/news/push-to-make-pa-an-open-primary-state (https://local21news.com/news/local/push-to-make-pa-an-open-primary-state-has-voters-checking-yes-in-approval)
The bill is expected to be voted on in the Senate next month, if passed it would move to the House and then to the governor’s desk.
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I wasn't surprised he won, but rather surprised by how much he won over Conor Lamb. Fetterman got 59%.
Yes, that surprised me, too--especially since the man was in the hospital recovering from a stroke. But that margin of victory may be why it's already being speculated that he could win over Trump voters.
Yes, he might appeal to people that follow the GOS, but only because he's got that strongman type of personality. R's seem to favor that more than what the person would do in office.
Me, I don't care how or why he appeals to them, only that he does. ;D
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This was the best news I heard out of Pennsylvania today:
Push to Make PA an Open Primary State Has Voters Checking Yes in Approval
https://localPenn21news.com/news/push-to-make-pa-an-open-primary-state (https://local21news.com/news/local/push-to-make-pa-an-open-primary-state-has-voters-checking-yes-in-approval)
The bill is expected to be voted on in the Senate next month, if passed it would move to the House and then to the governor’s desk.
I'm not convinced. Depending on how you look at it, or how you're affiliated, it could backfire. I would be concerned it could turn this into a one-party state.
Of course, if it passes, Wolfe still has to sign it. He's leaving office, so he has nothing to lose by vetoing it if he wants to.
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A longer read on LONG COVID and the too real implications far beyond one's health - sobering read for those who still want to "chance it".
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/this-isnt-just-gonna-go-away-long-covid-is-crashing-the-retirement-hopes-of-many-americans-11652961935?mod=retirement (https://www.marketwatch.com/story/this-isnt-just-gonna-go-away-long-covid-is-crashing-the-retirement-hopes-of-many-americans-11652961935?mod=retirement)
V.
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I'm not convinced. Depending on how you look at it, or how you're affiliated, it could backfire. I would be concerned it could turn this into a one-party state.
Of course, if it passes, Wolfe still has to sign it. He's leaving office, so he has nothing to lose by vetoing it if he wants to.
From what I understand, now in PA you have to be affiliated with the R or D party to vote in the primary and Independents, a larger and larger portion of state electorates, have no say. It will allow Independents to vote in the D or R primary and give them a say and wouldn't that dilute the hard R votes?
I'm a registered independent and was able to vote in the D or R primaries, whichever I wanted to and I often voted in the R to try and get better R candidates. Now CA has primaries where all candidates for the same office are lumped together: D's, R's, I's and what have you, and the top 2 run against each other in the fall, no matter if they are from the same party, which has happened, even in one of our Senate races.
___
Kamala Harris was one of our Senators and when she became V.P. our Governor appointed Alex Padilla to fill out her term, which ends in January next year. The rules, in CA anyway, is that in the next election (this year) the voters have to elect someone to fill that office and they are immediately sworn in after the election is official. This is a big waste of time as this term is up in January next year. So if it's someone else who wins, they will be the Senator for approximately two months. I feel like voting for someone else just because.
And, as we know how voters are in following directions on ballots, because of this election to fill out the term, we have TWO Senate primaries on the ballot this June for the same seat. And there are columns of names for each one. I worry some will pick Padilla on one category and think they aren't allowed to on the second one, or...because the names are in multiple columns, will vote in each column which will void the ballot for that office.
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From what I understand, now in PA you have to be affiliated with the R or D party to vote in the primary and Independents, a larger and larger portion of state electorates, have no say. It will allow Independents to vote in the D or R primary and give them a say and wouldn't that dilute the hard R votes?
I'm a registered independent and was able to vote in the D or R primaries, whichever I wanted to and I often voted in the R to try and get better R candidates. Now CA has primaries where all candidates for the same office are lumped together: D's, R's, I's and what have you, and the top 2 run against each other in the fall, no matter if they are from the same party, which has happened, even in one of our Senate races.
Yes, we have a "closed" primary. Independents cannot vote. While I see which way the arc is bending, and I know I'm behind it, I'm not troubled by the Independents being unable to vote in it. It *should* be a party choosing its own candidates--at least, I guess that was the original idea. Otherwise, why don't we just do away with primaries altogether?
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A little good news for the planet from Australia:
https://www.cnn.com/2022/05/21/australia/australia-election-results-morrison-albanese-intl-hnk/index.html
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Always good to start the day with good news!
I hope they are able to follow through on their promises on climate change actions.
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Always good to start the day with good news!
I hope they are able to follow through on their promises on climate change actions.
It is not just the possibility of better climate change policies. Labor is only marginally better than the Liberal/National Coalition. However, depending on the final results, Labor will need to take notice of the increased number of Green Party members and the independent women who have also campaigned on climate change.
The best thing is seeing the end of Prime Minister Morrison. A religious bigot who was also a misogynist. Think Trump lite.
He voted against same sex marriage and was never happy it passed. The only woman he openly supported was one who campaigned viciously against trans women in sport. She lost.
In his final speech he thanked the work of the army during the pandemic but no mention of nurses and doctors etc
The sad thing is the better members of his party, the moderates, have largely lost their seats including two gay partnered men.
I have never understood gay men being involved with conservative parties. I guess they think they can make a difference but it rarely happens. They probably spoke up for women, queers and climate change in the party rooms with little success but then they lost most when the electorate turned against the party.
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The sad thing is the better members of his party, the moderates, have largely lost their seats including two gay partnered men. I have never understood gay men being involved with conservative parties. I guess they think they can make a difference but it rarely happens. They probably spoke up for women, queers and climate change in the party rooms with little success but then they lost most when the electorate turned against the party.
We have a few organizations like that here, for 'conservative' gay people.
The most well known is The Log Cabin Republicans.
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Just saw this on France24 today - women presenters on Afghan TV will be required to wear face scarves:
https://www.france24.com/en/middle-east/20220522-taliban-decree-forces-afghan-women-tv-presenters-to-cover-faces-on-air
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Guess this would qualify as a hot topic.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/05/24/handmaids-tale-burn-proof-auction/
If it doesn't work, this unrestricted one should.
https://wapo.st/3LGHzLK
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^^^ Yeap. Thanks for the link!
Atwoods "Handmaid's Tale" is as chilling as Carson's "A Silent Spring" - both visionaries of their times. We, as a people, have slowly realized Carson is right but we have yet to fully act on Atwood's warning.
"Handmaid's Tale" sums today's MAGA evangelical infested GOP (and a few choice words I omitted) desire for everyone. "Keep'm barefoot and pregnant" as I once heard.... The WAPO article is OTM. We, as a people, should be wise enough to heed Atwood's and Carson's warnings.
From the WAPO article summary: "The story takes place in a version of the United States where a fundamentalist religious group has overthrown democracy, assassinated the president and most of Congress, and stripped women of nearly every right, including reading. In the patriarchal society, women are relegated to being dutiful, subservient wives or, for the fertile nonbelievers, enslaved people to the religious upper class with the sole purpose of bearing children for the man of the house."
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^^^
There is a movie from 1992/3 that barely caused a blip on the radar when it came out, though these are some of the actors in it: Jeff Daniels, Steve Zahn, Betty Buckley, Frederic Forrest, Linda Hunt, Austin Pendleton and Graham Greene.
It's titled "Rain Without Thunder." The title comes from a quote by Frederick Douglass, which appears on the screen in the movie: "If there is no struggle, there is no progress. Those who profess to favor freedom and yet avoid confrontation, are people who want crops without plowing up the ground; they want rain without thunder and lightning; they want the ocean without the roar of its waters."
The film is 85 minutes long and the plot is: "It's the year 2042 and the threat is real...women are going to prison for terminating their pregnancies. An investigating reporter is determined to reveal the truth behind the convictions."
When I saw it back in 1992/3, thirty years ago, who knew it was a true story which, at that time, took place 50 years in the future?
This review quote is from an online user who wrote it in 2006:
Scary because it could come true -- I think that most of the people who don't like this movie don't know a little bit of the background regarding one reference - Margaret Atwood's book (and movie) The Handmaid's Tale. Notice that Linda Hunt's character is from the Atwood Society. Without that reference, I'm not sure everyone can understand the full weight of this film.
Moreover, I think anyone who wants to really know if this film has a basis in reality should just look at what's happening (slowly, but apparently surely) in the USA regarding abortion laws today. Yes, this could happen in the USA and that makes it the most scary movie I've ever seen.
A must-see for anyone who is interested in abortion issues (although anti-choicers will certainly call it bunk).
__________
I looked up where it might be seen (streamed) if one wanted to: It's available on Amazon Prime, Paramount+, Tubi and EPIX for starters.
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I just learned about another teenage gunman, this one in Texas; shooting many children, happening less than a week after another teenager's mass shooting in Buffalo, NY.
And with each incident I'm reminded that in all 50 US states, you must be at least 21 years old in order to purchase alcohol. It is also a criminal offense in all 50 states to make false statements (including fabricating ID's) in order to purchase alcohol.
But a teenager wants a gun? No problem! Because we all know teenagers always make good judgments about everything; no parent has ever said to their teenagers "What were you thinking?" because why would they need to?
I am going to avoid the news about this because I am so tired of the ritual of handwringing and assinine* talk that goes on after the continual mass shooting events in this country where absolutely nothing is done about the issue in any capacity, even a miniscule one.
*purposely left the second "s" in the spelling.
Kyle Rittenhouse is currently suing the media for portraying him in a bad light. Maybe he'll get together with these two shooters and they can have a mass class action suit.
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(https://i.ytimg.com/vi/Pc7o79G6zuw/hqdefault.jpg?sqp=-oaymwEjCOADEI4CSFryq4qpAxUIARUAAAAAGAElAADIQj0AgKJDeAE=&rs=AOn4CLAJcWY3okv45n8ROqkFnLxptQMP2Q)
Fed up?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bR3XHwp-VBM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZqR4QF4uU0s
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At 18 you can't buy a beer but you can buy an assault rifle. That's messed up.
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^^^^ Heartbreaking. Disturbing and there are no words to describe how each one of these wounds our country.
As the coach speaking reminded us - "we are being held hostage by 50 GOP senators in DC..." from doing **anything** to curb the abilities of folks to buy arms - especially AR-15 assault-style weapons. It's just a horrible situation for those families and the lost lives - the shattered mothers.
Until the voters in this country force a change in DC, there will be no change. DC is grid-locked and has been held hostage by the gerrymandering GOP now for 20+ years They doing everything from lying, cheating and gerrymandering to the max to retain that power. "We the People" are the only ones that can force this change and with the gerrymandering, they have their thumbs on those scales too.
Until the current MAGA infested bigoted GOP is run out of DC, and fairness and compromise restored to the US Senate and US House - nothing is going to change for "We the People".
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We are being held hostage by 50 GOP senators in DC."
Plus Joe Manchin. >:(
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At 18 you can't buy a beer but you can buy an assault rifle. That's messed up.
Bartenders can be sued for serving "too much" (over-serving) alcohol to those who subsequently cause car accidents*; those who sell guns to those who abuse them cannot**. >:(
*Legal Risks Bartenders Face for Over Serving Alcohol
https://www.alcohol.org/laws/over-serving/
**Gun Store Liability
https://www.legalmatch.com/law-library/article/gun-store-liability.html
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If anyone hears people, especially politicians, start talking about mental health as an issue related to why there's gun violence, people must start to retort that it's the mental health of Republicans that needs to be looked into as to why they aren't doing anything about it and why they don't want to and we should remove them from office.
Yesterday, Ken Paxton, the Texas State Attorney General, said this: "We can't stop bad people from doing bad things. They're going to violate murder laws. They're not going to follow gun laws. I've never understood that argument."
:o :o :o
I gotta say LAWS ARE POINTLESS is a bold position for the ATTORNEY GENERAL. It sounds like he just announced The Purge.
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So after what happened in TX, the Senate just left town yesterday for a recess. They might as well because they don't do anything anyway. But Schumer was going to call for a vote on a gun bill, you know, to get the Republicans on record as to where they stand at least, but decided not to because "it wouldn't have passed anyway." Sometimes that guy is just so ineffective. He might have just said, "If at first you don't succeed...bye-bye."
It's sad when the so called "news" gives you less context about what's going on in this country than the late night talk show hosts do. And the news is so bleak so often that I've taken to learning about what's going on in this country from them because at least they can make you smile and think here and there while doing it.
I recommend watching Jimmy Kimmel's opening remarks from Wed. night. At some point, when tragedies like this happen, he's started commenting on them before the studio audience arrives. If one isn't inclined to watch you might at least want to check out the montage of Republican idiocy about gun issues, starting with the intro at the 5 minute mark.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OF_GofUF_y4
And Seth Meyers provides a history lesson in this must see video; a reminder that things didn't used to be this way and that they don't have to continue this way:
Seth takes "A Closer Look" at the powerful forces and leaders behind the decades-long fraud that convinced people it's their constitutional right to own arsenals of military-grade weaponry.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VS3cAOEVTss
Things we don't think about: When you hear Republicans talk about mass shootings you notice they always find a way to put out the notion that gun laws or restrictions won't work. That it's futile to even try and stop the now astounding fact that guns are the number one cause of demise of children in America. But, as it's pointed out in this video:
When the recent Supreme court abortion story broke the Senators all quickly passed legislation to expand security for protecting the families of Supreme Court Justices. "When they want to protect someone, they are capable of doing it quickly."
In the words of the fictional Howard Beale, if we in this country, all of us, aren't "as mad as hell and aren't going to take it anymore" then we have given up and let those who won't even protect the children among us win.
Every voter with children must ask: "Is the person I'm voting for interested in protecting my children and/or my children's children?" And what action have they taken to demonstrate this? Ask "what are you offering in exchange for this power you seek?"
Did I mention that gun violence is now the number one factor in the children of America's life expectancy?
This cannot stand.
I say make a plan to do SOMETHING. Of course, voting out those who won't do anything is a given. But something else, too. A donation of any kind to a group working towards a goal, for example, is doing something. You're giving energy to those who know how to do more than we can. Groups like Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, or the Everytown for Gun Safety Action Fund. Staying silent is not an option now. IMO. Thanks for listening.
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I was visiting my father for the weekend. This morning I took him to church. I suppose the pastor wasn't the only preacher to include gun violence in his sermon this morning. When he mentioned those who keep insisting that the problem isn't guns, that we need better mental health care in this country, the thought popped into my head, I won't disagree with anybody that we need better mental health care, but I would bet that if we came up with some way of detecting people who needed care, were mentally unstable, were a threat, etc., the same people would start screeching that this was a threat to liberty, etc.
Hypocrites. They're all hypocrites.
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We had a terrible event a year ago in one of our local supermarkets. A guy with a mental health problem, but no record of violence, took a set of knives off the shelf and began stabbing a lady.
People went to help and one, an off duty corrections facility officer, was nearly killed as the knife went close to his heart. He did not realise until too late that the fellow had a knife in each hand. In all 5 people went to hospital, including the store manager.
Headline national news, just revived as the court case was a week or so ago.
None were killed. Bystanders were able to hold him down in the end and the police station is across the car park from the store. I cannot help but think what the result might have been if he had easy access to a gun.
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This was from 4 years ago, but is truer than ever.
(https://i.etsystatic.com/16983100/r/il/54ebfe/1654163754/il_794xN.1654163754_sl2o.jpg)
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Hardly a Hot Topic I know, but I was pleased to learn that the National Spelling Bee still exists. It seems like a throwback to a much simpler time.
I'm a little surprised that apparently kids are still being taught to spell. I figured their devices would do it for them.
I saw the winner on TV this morning. She's an 8th Grader, but she came across to me more like a college graduate. She talked about saving some of her winnings to invest in the stock market! :o
Just a few days ago I had just about given up hope. I'm on the email list for Craig Johnson, who writes the Longmire novels. In a recent email he wrote about something providing him with the impetuous to write. That's not a spelling error, but if a professional writer can't tell the difference between impetuous and impetus, what hope is there for ordinary folk?
I came very close to writing him back.
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Heh! Jeff, and others, when did it become the thing, when people talk about a certain decade like the seventies or eighties, to write it 70s and 80s? It was always 70's and 80's until some point.
I thought maybe it changed due to using email, twitter and the like as it's easier and an apostrophe's took up a character or two.
I recently mentioned this to a friend, that I cannot write it like "70s" -- it just looks wrong to me. When I mentioned it to him he said, "Don't write 70's to my friend, that's as big of an annoyance to him as the wrong you're/your or their/there/they're! His reasoning is that an apostrophe is for a contraction (you're/haven't/don't) or to indication possession, and that neither of those are happening in the way we write decades."
After that exchange I went online and looked at writing and grammar "style guides" which, I found, can be somewhat contradictory I discovered. Someone even commented that guides are just that, "guides," and are not written in stone.
Turns out they are not all the same as I read that although most people seem to write it as 80s or 90s now, most all of these guide and grammar places say that if you write the decades without the 19 in front of it, you should write it like this: '80s and '90s. Well, THAT I have never seen, at least recently. Though it makes sense: Like in a contraction, the apostrophe takes the place of a missing letter or letters, in this case numbers. And to confuse further, there are a couple of these places that say: Use numerals for decades in formal texts (“the 1990s”). In informal and creative writing, you may use either words or figures (“the nineties” or “the 1990s”). Names of decades may be abbreviated in informal writing (“the ’90s”). An apostrophe before the s is unnecessary, though not incorrect (“1990s” or “1990’s” ). (?!?!?) Another sight was explaining that writing a decade as 90's, for example, that the apostrophe does actually indicate possession as the decade possesses all of the years in the group, like the 90's, meaning 91-99. Sheesh! I looked these things up for clarity and I really just got more confusion. ??? :-\
I am not reading any more about this for now. ;D
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Well, I'd hesitate to say it was "always 70's and 80's" because I think it would always depend on which style guide you consulted.
According to The Chicago Manual of Style, the guidebook of the University of Chicago Press and widely used by writers and editors, you just add an "s": 1930s, 1990s.
So I would use '70s and '80s. Again this comes from Chicago, which also says that if you choose to spell out the decade, then you use "eighties and nineties." I can't remember not seeing '70s and '80s, with the apostrophe replacing the "19."
This is not new. My copy of Chicago goes all the way back to 1993.
Guides are indeed guides. People tend to think these things are definitive, but they aren't. In college I had, I think it was, three professors who wanted their papers written according to three different style manuals. One wanted Kate Turabian, one wanted the Modern Language Association, and I forget what the third wanted. That taught me: It doesn't matter what you do, as long as you do it consistently, because none of them were objectively right or wrong.
The New Yorker is using "eighties and nineties" in running text. I find that annoying. For myself? If for some reason I have a need to write the decades, I'm treating them as proper nouns and capitalizing them: Eighties and Nineties.
What gets me is the now-almost universal "from 2020--2022." No. In this I do follow Chicago. It's either "from 2020 to 2022," or it's "2020--2022."
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Well, it's been a weekend for mass shootings. One happened about 13 blocks from my place. Twelve people were shot, and three have died. There were two shooters. Last I heard, they both got away. One dropped an assault rifle as he ran.
That was not two knuckleheads who were firing at each other. That was two guys who wanted to kill people.
My thought? If they wanted to kill a lot of people, why not wait till today? It's Pride day, right in my neighborhood, with huge numbers of people packed together in a small area.
From time to time I've thought that I wouldn't be surprised to die from a bullet to the back of my head as I sat in church some Sunday. No doubt my church is known as a gay church (it's Episcopalian, but it might be that gay parishioners outnumber the straight ones) in the heart of our gayborhood, and our new minister is both very out and also African American. Tailor made for a mass shooting incident.
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That was not two knuckleheads who were firing at each other. That was two guys who wanted to kill people.
Actually, according to the news report I heard at noon today, it was four knuckleheads who did the shooting. There is video of the four fighting before the shooting started. They were shooting at each other. Also, a day or two ago we had a funeral for a 9-year-old boy who died of a gunshot wound to the head. The shot was presumably aimed at his father.
Meanwhile, I forgot to mention, we now have Dr. Oz as the Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate from Pennsylvania.
We also have a Republican gubernatorial candidate who would not allow abortions for any reason--not rape, not incest, not to save a woman's life. I guess if he wins that means in Pennsylvania, don't get pregnant unless you're prepared to die.
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Watch this very funny, but shouldn't be, Bill Maher segment from Friday's Real Time.
Talks about politicians political ads and stupidity.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6dMOfwUP0F0
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Watch this very funny, but shouldn't be, Bill Maher segment from Friday's Real Time.
Talks about politicians political ads and stupidity.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6dMOfwUP0F0
Yes it is funny but oh so very true. I don't think they teach geography in school anymore. I know that Lilia's second grade teacher emphasized language arts and reading, which is all well and good, but she did very litte math with them, thus Lilia got behind in math. I have to work this summer with her to get her up to speed for third grade!
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A question on Quora.com. Seems legitimate.
Does Russia have the manufacturing capacity to produce pieces of the True Cross as quickly as they’re lost in the Special Military Operation?
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Shootings come to libraries in the bay area:
https://abc7news.com/san-jose-shooting-hillview-branch-library-sjpd-hopkins-drive-sj-news/11933894/?fbclid=IwAR0SqNAjFUvmju65ql2pTF67k_fXyTonlvMYuqt_K7mO0bJDUv-ao3ldeDs
It's a gang heavy area of San Jose, but still, first library shooting I've ever heard of (there have been knifings).
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Слава Україні!
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/jun/06/ukrainian-partisan-attacks-surge-russia?fbclid=IwAR15xKM_G0U3hYtivDTxmWOM6wXRZgytBaNwriQRvU2dYRlBokYmXk--Q48
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Shootings come to libraries in the bay area:
https://abc7news.com/san-jose-shooting-hillview-branch-library-sjpd-hopkins-drive-sj-news/11933894/?fbclid=IwAR0SqNAjFUvmju65ql2pTF67k_fXyTonlvMYuqt_K7mO0bJDUv-ao3ldeDs
It's a gang heavy area of San Jose, but still, first library shooting I've ever heard of (there have been knifings).
God, no where is safe.
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Слава Україні!
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/jun/06/ukrainian-partisan-attacks-surge-russia?fbclid=IwAR15xKM_G0U3hYtivDTxmWOM6wXRZgytBaNwriQRvU2dYRlBokYmXk--Q48
Right on.
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God, no where is safe.
The shootings are terrible, and they'll continue to get worse until the GOP disenthralls themselves from those who profit from them.
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People need to vote all politicians out of office who will not do anything about it, regardless of party.
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Here's some royal news I can get behind:
https://edition.cnn.com/2022/06/08/africa/belgian-king-congo-regret-intl/index.html
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Well, this evening's telecast hearing of the January 6 committee was quite interesting.
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Well, this evening's telecast hearing of the January 6 committee was quite interesting.
It's really extraordinary and fascinating.
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Agree with you guys. I just have this overwhelming feeling that those who need to pay attention to it just don't care. Cults don't care about the wrongheadedness they're participating in.
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yes, and a cult is a very good explanation of what they are.
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Agree with you guys. I just have this overwhelming feeling that those who need to pay attention to it just don't care. Cults don't care about the wrongheadedness they're participating in.
Absolutely.
Meanwhile, we have that group in Idaho that was preparing to attack the Gay Pride celebration.
I keep hearing spokespeople say they were going to "riot." No, they were not going to "riot." They were going to kill faggots.
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Oh, that was in Idaho? I'd heard about that, but didn't know it was in Idaho. I don't know why so many people are concerned with things that really have no bearing on their own particular lives. It's like they peruse social media just to find things to be offended about. The gay population of Idaho is such a threat to them! Seriously. Why don't they get upset with climate change that does have a bearing on their own lives?
An article said "Chat logs depict Patriot Front as a tiny white supremacist group reliant on vandalism and fake social accounts to promote its message." Did anyone in the group get the message that white people can be gay, too?
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An article said "Chat logs depict Patriot Front as a tiny white supremacist group reliant on vandalism and fake social accounts to promote its message." Did anyone in the group get the message that white people can be gay, too?
I think I heard it was in Coeur d'Alene. And I think "gay" is the operative word here. Do you think they would think a gay person is OK just because they're white?
These people hate everyone who isn't just like themselves.
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An article said "Chat logs depict Patriot Front as a tiny white supremacist group reliant on vandalism and fake social accounts to promote its message." Did anyone in the group get the message that white people can be gay, too?
Emphasis on tiny ! I guarantee 98% of them have tiny d**ks and participate in this crap to make themselves feel big for what they lack in the package department!
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Emphasis on tiny ! I guarantee 98% of them have tiny d**ks and participate in this crap to make themselves feel big for what they lack in the package department!
That's why these people like assault rifles. They can get their hands on something long and hard. ...
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I think I heard it was in Coeur d'Alene. And I think "gay" is the operative word here. Do you think they would think a gay person is OK just because they're white?
These people hate everyone who isn't just like themselves.
If not too much like themselves.
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That's why these people like assault rifles. They can get their hands on something long and hard. ...
Another good point, Jeff!!
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The long war between Canada and Denmark is finally over. (Free access)
https://wapo.st/3Hq7WoD
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Oh, that was in Idaho? I'd heard about that, but didn't know it was in Idaho. I don't know why so many people are concerned with things that really have no bearing on their own particular lives. It's like they peruse social media just to find things to be offended about. The gay population of Idaho is such a threat to them! Seriously. Why don't they get upset with climate change that does have a bearing on their own lives?
Well, for one thing, I'm sure they don't believe in it.
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Well, for one thing, I'm sure they don't believe in it.
and, if they do, they see it as something that will be bad in the future, when they're dead, so it's not their issue.
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^^^ Most certainly. GOP politicians spew fear about minority people they do not and care not to understand only to stoke anger. Part of the role of democracy, Congress and society is to protect the minority from the tyranny of the majority.
WRT to climate change, the GOP's game plan for years is "not my problem" (aka, I'll be long dead when it is a problem)...
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and, if they do, they see it as something that will be bad in the future, when they're dead, so it's not their issue.
WRT to climate change, the GOP's game plan for years is "not my problem (aka, I'll be long dead when it is a problem)...
Which is idiotic in the extreme if they've got children and/or grandchildren and can hope for descendants. It will affect them.
No, they really don't believe in it.
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Modern conservatives' children are lucky if their parents care about them, much less subsequent generations.
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I think the notion is that they're only responsible for getting them born. Once they're here it's not something they have to worry about.
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^^^^ Yeap, they are the most destructive and narcissistic group, and considering most of them were hippies, I still find that astounding.
It's all about, me, me, me, me and to hell with anyone else.... As for the future generations - "Oh, they will figure out some technical solution by the time it becomes a real problem..." There's no reasoning with total idiots - especially those cloaking themselves in religious fanaticism.
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^^^ Most certainly. GOP politicians spew fear about minority people they do not and care not to understand only to stoke anger. Part of the role of democracy, Congress and society is to protect the minority from the tyranny of the majority.
WRT to climate change, the GOP's game plan for years is "not my problem" (aka, I'll be long dead when it is a problem)...
Except that it is a problem now. These high and mighty a**holes who sit on their thrones in DC absolutely don't care what happens to anyone but themselves and how they can get reelected.
I almost wish what happens in the movie "2012" would happen now.
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There are some crazy folks in Otero County!
https://apnews.com/article/2022-midterm-elections-biden-hector-balderas-presidential-new-mexico-2786f37f1c50107fdf7a63fda89ba9a4
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There are some crazy folks in Otero County!
https://apnews.com/article/2022-midterm-elections-biden-hector-balderas-presidential-new-mexico-2786f37f1c50107fdf7a63fda89ba9a4
Yeah, you got that right!! The guy is supposed to be sentenced tomorrow.
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^^^ More absolutely "bat-shit crazy forever-idiots" sowing chaos into the election system. Since takeover at the top failed, now it's takeover from the bottom - it's all part of the GOP's long-term plan with yet more and more BS and conspiracy lies. If "We", the American people don't wake up and vote and remove these ass-wipes from office and/or lock them up for treason, we are going to be in a world of hurt come 2024. These lower-level moves are all part of the GOP's longer-term strategy to delay, lie, cheat and steal, in any way possible their way into permanent political power. Everything from gerrymandering to school boards to election officials is under assault by these bat-shit crazy ass-wipes who have been thoroughly indoctrinated by 24/7 Fox Lies and other right-wing media outlets for years. Just watch and listen to the Jan 6 commission's findings.... the big ? is will they (We) take action against all those involved and not just the "foot soldiers" doing time for their crimes. I won't believe we will until I see certain high-levels in handcuffs. Watergate and Nixon were just the warm-up compared to these levels of crime.
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In that article there is a headline link to another article, and who among us is surprised at what it says:
Election Deniers Quiet on Fraud Claims After Primary Wins
https://apnews.com/article/2022-midterm-elections-b73b98ca48734b0499e8c160bdd408a7 (https://apnews.com/article/2022-midterm-elections-us-supreme-court-donald-trump-texas-ohio-b73b98ca48734b0499e8c160bdd408a7)
I feel the frustration (in Vincent's above post) all the time. How do we get all Democrats to vote and also change the minds of conservatives and 1/2 the Independents?
It's like Chicken Little is running around saying the sky is falling, and there's proof that it is, but no one seems very concerned about it.
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Share this article with people, maybe it will help.
I read this April article in The Atlantic:
WHY THE PAST 10 YEARS OF AMERICAN LIFE HAVE BEEN UNIQUELY STUPID
It’s not just a phase.
by Jonathan Haidt | The Atlantic
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2022/05/social-media-democracy-trust-babel/629369/
And if you want to go back even further, for even more context of how we got here,
here's an Atlantic article from 2001:
One Nation, Slightly Divisible
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2001/12/one-nation-slightly-divisible/376441/
(21 years later we laugh at the word "slightly" in the title.) :(
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This is an interesting article on whether or not the hearings will make any difference:
https://www.propublica.org/article/january-6-hearings-public-opinion
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Here's your latest social distancing advice:
https://nypost.com/2022/06/16/cdc-issues-bizarre-tips-for-sex-while-having-monkeypox/
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Here's your latest social distancing advice:
https://nypost.com/2022/06/16/cdc-issues-bizarre-tips-for-sex-while-having-monkeypox/
Oh my!!
(hold the left button on the mouse down, and drag the mouse, to see the hidden text)
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention earlier this month issued a list of safe activities for sexually active patients to engage in. Among the recommendations are avoiding kissing and “having sex with your clothes on or covering areas where rash or sores are present.”
Patients and prospective patients are also advised to “wash your hands, fetish gear, sex toys and any fabrics” after having sex and “masturbate together at a distance of at least 6 feet, without touching each other and without touching any rash or sores.”
The odd guidance invoked New York City’s bizarre recommendation that sexually active people use “glory holes” during the coronavirus pandemic to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
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^^^^^ WOW!!
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Yes, that was my point about social distancing
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^^^ The Atlantic article is spot on. Long read and well worth the time to understand how "social media" has plunged us into factions. It all goes back to "S"uckerberg's crap and corporate greed. ;)
"But by rewiring everything in a headlong rush for growth—with a naive conception of human psychology, little understanding of the intricacy of institutions, and no concern for external costs imposed on society—Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and a few other large platforms unwittingly dissolved the mortar of trust, belief in institutions, and shared stories that had held a large and diverse secular democracy together."
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^^^
That's one of the paragraphs that stood out to me, too, Vincent. Now he's trying to move on and and be the cult leader of META. Have you seen those commercials?
If one wants, go to youtube and search "meta commercials." There's one longish one with
"S"uckerberg
and in it he says "You're going to feel like you're really there with other people."
Think about that. You're not going to be there, anywhere, with people on Meta. You're going to be by yourself. No actual people are there. You're just going to feel like there are. (What happens when that feeling wears off? And you realize you're alone?) I think he has as much emotional abandonment from his father that Trump had and they're both ruining lawki. Technology has been increasingly separating human contact, even when humans are together. Who wants to be around MZ? These commercials all have a very unwelcome Orwellian feel to them. Have we not learned anything from that novel? Or Citizen Kane. Let's remake that and call it Citizen Zuckerberg. His mansion full of objects will be him in his metaverse with all the virtual things he's collected around him to make him feel wanted.
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Website of a new student originated movement:
https://www.logoffmovement.org/themission
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Website of a new student originated movement:
https://www.logoffmovement.org/themission
I hope this movement takes off, and catches hold.
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Facebook is what you get when you take one immature college boy who is not one of the Cool Kids and let him play around with tech.
Maybe if he could have gotten laid more in college the nation wouldn't be in this mess.
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:laugh:
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^^^ People using FB should really take a deeper dive into how and why "The Facebook" was created to understand WTF the real purpose behind creating it was...! What changed? Not a lot other than various folks on the platforms determined how to monetize these addictive apps by essentially "stealing" personal information, preferences, likes, name-address-books, under the guise / illusion of you are "getting something free!" All the while, they were (and still are) laughing all the way to the bank profiting off and making the platforms even more addictive.
And if this doesn't get your attention... -> https://themarkup.org/pixel-hunt/2022/06/16/facebook-is-receiving-sensitive-medical-information-from-hospital-websites (https://themarkup.org/pixel-hunt/2022/06/16/facebook-is-receiving-sensitive-medical-information-from-hospital-websites)
By default, these health care systems using these trackers are in essence sharing protected HIPPA data without a patient's permission. The "CSO" should be in a very _HOT_ seat b/c even basic IP information is considered PII by HIPPA. Growl... the lengths these bastards will go.
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I hope this movement takes off, and catches hold.
Agree! Just one of the things written on that website by a young person; sounds so refreshing:
Hi! Throughout my whole life, I’ve always felt like I didn’t belong in the right century. Unlike what seemed to be the case for a lot of people my age, I’ve always disliked phones and social media and the ways it’s begun to take up so much of our everyday lives. For the fall of my sophomore year of high school, I went abroad to a program where I didn’t have access to any technology for three months. The program showed how amazing life could be without phones and taught me how to live in the moment with the people around me. Since then, I’ve always felt like "I" was alone when it came to my views on phone use and social media until I heard about Log Off. I’m so excited to be joining as a writer for the blog and to share my stories and experiences with everyone.
A lot of us forget that young people nowadays don't know what it was like before this technology took over everyone's lives. I remember reading an article, and this was 15-20 years ago, that asked a survey question to people: "Besides weapons of war & violence, what one thing do you wish had never been invented?" By a huge margin, the answer was "cell phones."
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(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FVgp0bnUEAEva01.jpg)
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^^^ Social media and other "technology" consumes as much _time_ as we "allow them to". Remember the over-riding theme in CMBYN is all about our limited time as beings on this earth.
Cellular phones made valuable contributions to our lives. If you had a "dumb" phone, which I did for years, I could always turn it off and did. Today's "smart phones" are not as easy. The evolution from dumb to smart(er) was a given step. It's more about what we personally "allow and how we use these tools" + the unscrupulous nature of the "social media barons" that is troublesome. We all get to make those choices - though for kids, I think, it's more dangerous longer term.
What's most troubling to me is social media and the addictive algorithms those barrons developed and deploy to "literally addict" people to using them. Why? Providing eyeball time = $$$ in the social media barons pockets. If social media was classified as a drugs, those asswipes would have been locked up long ago as the "social media cartel". V.
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Life, at least in the USA, is sooooo FUCKED-UP anymore.........I don't know what to say?!! Stop that octogenarian(lobbyest) influence in Congress, let the common-sense YOUNGER ones in........if there are any around??!! ;D ;D ;D
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I saw a survey which related, that by pretty big margins, voters in the U.S. do not want the Cretin or President Biden to run for office again.
So...now what?
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I saw a survey which related, that by pretty big margins, voters in the U.S. do not want the Cretin or President Biden to run for office again.
So...now what?
Well, I'm glad to know so many don't want the Great Orange Satan, but I don't think Biden should run for re-election, either.
V.P. Harris should throw her hat in the ring.
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I would vote for Kamala Harris in a heartbeat.
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(https://qph.cf2.quoracdn.net/main-qimg-3e345403d29f24a82e266b553bc9d226)
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Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade, ending 50 years of federal abortion rights
Dan Mangan - Kevin Breuninger - JUN 24 2022
The Supreme Court in a 6-3 decision on Friday overturned Roe v. Wade, the landmark ruling that established the constitutional right to abortion in the U.S. in 1973.
The court’s controversial but expected ruling gives individual states the power to set their own abortion laws without concern of running afoul of Roe, which had permitted abortions during the first two trimesters of pregnancy.
Almost half the states are expected to outlaw or severely restrict abortion as a result of the Supreme Court’s decision, which is related to a highly restrictive new Mississippi abortion law. The laws will affect tens of millions of people around the country, who may have to cross state lines to seek reproductive health care.
Other states plan to maintain more liberal rules governing the termination of pregnancies.
Supporters of abortion rights immediately condemned the ruling, while abortion opponents praised a decision they had long hoped for and worked to ensure. Protesters descended on the Supreme Court on Friday to speak out against a decision that will upend decades of precedent in the U.S.
https://www.cnbc.com/2022/06/24/roe-v-wade-overturned-by-supreme-court-ending-federal-abortion-rights.html
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^^^
The day after the Supreme Court's striking down New York's gun control law.
(https://ic.pics.livejournal.com/real_lawyer/10502141/1309962/1309962_300.png)
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Meanwhile, this week Mike Pence said this: "No President in my lifetime has lied as often as Joe Biden."
Proving that sanctimonious Mike Pence is also a liar.
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Roe v. Wade - The Supreme Court issued that ruling in January, 1973. I was in college and I don't remember anything regarding it, at the time. No one talking about it. I don't recall any articles about it in the college newspaper. Not mentioned in any classes I was taking. I remember more press and discussion about 1972's Maude episode about abortion. Curious.
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Meanwhile, this week Mike Pence said this: "No President in my lifetime has lied as often as Joe Biden."
Proving that sanctimonious Mike Pence is also a liar.
There goes any credit he had with me for his actions January 6.
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Roe v. Wade - The Supreme Court issued that ruling in January, 1973. I was in college and I don't remember anything regarding it, at the time. No one talking about it. I don't recall any articles about it in the college newspaper. Not mentioned in any classes I was taking. I remember more press and discussion about 1972's Maude episode about abortion. Curious.
Which goes to show that back then more people paid attention to Bea Arthur than they did to SCOTUS.
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^^^ As far as I will EVER be concerned, the GOP (Moscow Mitch + his GOP asswipes) STOLE 2 SCOTUS seats that belonged to Democratic Presidents when they blocked Garland's nomination 6+ months before an election and then rammed thru that glossy bigoted bitch with just _DAYS_ before the 2020 election. On top of that, they all 3 LIED under OATH to Congress and the American People WRT stare decisis and "Roe v. Wade" was settled law! Poor Susan Collins and the others who "took them at their word...." So why doesn't Congress (or the People) petition to remove these lying asswipes from that bench? A: Lifetime appointments and THAT needs to change to no more than 10 years PERIOD.
Once a party starts thumbing the "Scales of Justice" (and chance) to their favor and doing the wrong things for the country as a whole by essentially cheating (gerrymandering, packing courts, lying, planning to overthrow elected government, denying voters rights, rescinding general rights, ...) - "We the People" are in for a world of hurt. Some are saying, "...that RBG should have retired earlier, when a Democratic appointment was assured, then we would not likely be here today - overrun with 5 Christian Right (Taliban) bigots serving on the most powerful court in the land - 2 of which were appointed "out-of-order"..." On some level I agree. The women in this country have just been told "their place is a 2nd class citizen" who are unable to make choices for themselves. I sure hope it's a huge wake-up call for mid-terms and 2024... get off your asses folks and vote these GOP ass-wipes out.
Un-frakking believable!.... when in almost the same breath, this same BS court rules that the State of NY cannot regulate firearms but any State can regulate women's choice and even possibily regulate a women crossing state lines to get medical care?
The contortions Alito (and the rest of the SCOTUS Taliban) bent over to get that should get him locked up for indeceny.
Today is first day of yet more GOP-sanctioned chaos.
Mark my words, and that SOB Thomas has already alluded to "what's next" in the GOP's cross-hairs: marriage equality, equal rights, contraception, inter-racial marriage (hmmm... he mysteriously didn't refer to that now did he...?) - anything founded on the "right to privacy" and anything these SOB GOP "Textualists / Originalists (aka Christian Right bigots)" don't like or approve of is ...NEXT.
-> https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/policy/courts/thomas-reconsider-protecting-contraception-same-sex-marriage (https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/policy/courts/thomas-reconsider-protecting-contraception-same-sex-marriage)
I hope to live long enough to see all 3 of these SOB removed or replaced for lying their way into those seats.
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I was going to write something, but there's so much about this, and this week, that's infuriating...where does one begin?
When you have an election official from Arizona testifying in the January 6 hearing that when he was pressured by the Cretin, Giuliani and all their other associates to do things that would help overturn the election, he adamantly refused to do any of it because it went against the oath he took when sworn into his office. Then the next day he was asked a question by a reporter and his answer was: "If Trump ran for President again he would vote for him." Why? "Because I like his policies."
These religious right people, and he is one, always prove that their moral compass is flawed. I mean, what kind of moral compass do you have if you'd still vote for a candidate who tried to stage a coup and overthrow the Government of the United States? That you'd support someone for office that took oaths like you did and broke every one of them. But we all know that the religious right is really morally bankrupt. All you have to look at is the candidates they support. It's akin to people saying they supported Mussolini because he got the trains to run on time.
As for the Supreme Court, how can the Senators that have to confirm them ever believe a thing any one of them says in their hearings when they blatantly lie.
“I trusted Justice Gorsuch and Justice Kavanaugh when they testified under oath that they also believed Roe v. Wade was settled legal precedent and I am alarmed they chose to reject the stability the ruling has provided for two generations of Americans.” Manchin wrote that in a statement yesterday.
"I believe he has learned his lesson." Remember Susan Collins saying that after the Cretin had been impeached. The first time? And how she was considered a crucial vote on Kavanaugh and waited months before announcing her decision in a 45-minute floor speech. Shortly after she made that speech, Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin announced he, too, was voting for Kavanaugh.
The Senate vote was 50-48.
We may think Collins and Manchin are naive in these matters, but why shouldn't we believe nominees to the Supreme Court wouldn't lie in their hearings?
Senator Collins said in a statement Friday that she had received assurances from Kavanaugh and Gorsuch that Roe v. Wade was an established legal precedent. “Throwing out a precedent overnight that the country has relied upon for half a century is not conservative,” she said. “It is a sudden and radical jolt to the country that will lead to political chaos, anger, and a further loss of confidence in our government.”
So what recourse is there then? With lifetime appointments? Supposedly justices can be impeached. But in this case couldn't the justices say "I was persuaded by Alito's arguments," or something?
And these two aren't the only ones. Clarence Thomas deserves impeachment with his coup supporting wife's behavior that should have had Thomas recuse himself from several cases. And Alito is a smug a-hole, which has always been my opinion of him. But smug a-holes are all running for Republican offices. It now seems to be a requirement.
It's easy to be so discouraged and I don't know how some politicians "keep hope alive", but Amy Klobuchar is one of them and you can always look to her to find some glimmer of hope:
"We can change this," she says:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=etpCdTHCJV0
It IS easier to feel despair and hopelessness about things because you don't have to do anything.
Doing something requires more energy. There are those that can inspire us to do something.
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Oslo Shooting: Norway Attack Being Treated as Islamist Terrorism
Police Say Gunman goes on rampage at gay bar before Pride parade
https://www.world-news.com/-europe-61933817 (https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-61933817)
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Meanwhile, in Turkey/Türkiye
https://www.france24.com/en/middle-east/20220626-turkish-authorities-arrest-dozens-in-istanbul-over-banned-pride-march
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^^^ All just sickening and disheartening. Peace be with them and their families.
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So much is happening lately, how can one keep up. Did anyone even notice another Supreme Court Decision this week in Vega v Tekoh?
The Supreme Court ruled that:
"a person cannot sue a police officer under federal civil rights laws for violating their Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination by failing to provide a Miranda warning."
:o
Reponse by Brett Max Kaufman, senior staff attorney with the ACLU:
“The warnings mandated by the Supreme Court in Miranda have been part of the fabric of law enforcement interactions with the public for more than 60 years. By denying people whose rights are violated the ability to seek redress under our country’s most important civil rights statute, the Court further widens the gap between the guarantees found in the Constitution and the Bill of Rights and the people’s ability to hold government officials accountable for violating them.”
“We fought for the Supreme Court to recognize these rights, and we’ll keep fighting to make sure our country lives up to the Constitution’s guarantees.”
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In order to process a lot of the overwhelming news lately, I waded through a lot of youtube selections this weekend. Sometimes when you learn things of HOW something happens and how it comes to be it can temper feelings of helplessness about things, or give some idea of what is or can be done about something one doesn't like or keep something from happening to things one does approve.
That's why I just went through all of them and am going to post a few of the ones I think people on the forum might be interested in. Hope they're useful...
--How we got here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZ_jKXcB87w
Rachel Maddow takes one through the last 50 years from when the abortion ruling first came down in Jan. 73 to how it became a partisan issue. (It wasn't always partisan? No.) Around 15 minutes. Recommended. Know the history.
______
--Inside The 'Roe' Decision: Why Alito's Ruling Can't Be Taken At Face Value
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EZ8o2DtVn8Q
Legal Correspondent Ari Melber breaks down the wide-ranging legal implications of this ruling, explaining how the ruling could be weaponized against other rights. 12 minutes.
______
--[This week's] Supreme Court's rulings are not conservative, they're radical
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_rLiPQ-bnX0&t=2s
Fareed Zakaria argues the Supreme Court's ruling, which overturned Roe v. Wade, is not conservative because it reversed years of precedent.
_____
--MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell explains that Republican judges on the Supreme Court share a dangerous Trumpian characteristic: they are incapable of being embarrassed by what they don’t know or understand.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uJJqHTIFV2w
______
--Texas Is Showing What Happens If Democracy Is Dismantled
Last week at Texas' GOP convention the party embraced far-right, anti-gay rhetoric.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ydg0TV0-Wao
Founder of Country Over Party, Matt Dowd and writer-at-large for the Bulwark, Tim Miller, react to the Texas GOP showing what happens when the “crazy is let loose” in the Republican Party. 8 1/2 minutes.
______
--THIS MIGHT SURPRISE :o those of us who think the Republican pArty's been over-run by the religious right:
A New York Times essay by conservative writer Nate Hochman argues that even as the Supreme Court's Roe v. Wade ruling has occurred this week and is viewed as the culmination of a multi-decade quest to make selected religious tenets the foundation of American law, Hochman argues that many Republicans are moving away from politicized religion in the party and that the religious right’s power is going up in flames in Trump dumpster fire. (So crazier is taking over crazy, I guess.) 10 mins.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i_ja8sl5R5Y
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--Optimism (and "what can be done, what can we do") from Senator Amy Klobuchar.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fmCcU09StWE&t=10s
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Also, I have always cringed when I hear NRA and gun advocates who believe that if there's a mass shooting that someone else around with a gun (which they've called "a good guy with a gun") -- that they would be able to somehow just shoot the "bad guy" (and also are somehow trained to know exactly who the bad guys are...etc.
So it was great to come across this video segment from The Daily Show with Trevor Noah.
Jordan Klepper Debunks The “Good Guy with a Gun” Argument
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DHuA0BEsUzI
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It's now also OK for a public school football coach to kneel down on the 50 yard line and pray.
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^^^^ Lyle, the above links are really good. TY!
Yeap - another "conservative" vote softening our clearly established stare decisis boundaries between "separation of church and state" and "freedom of (from) religion." I think I understand their reasoning but it's all in nuisances b/c they are walking on a razor's edge to protect their own beliefs.
Anyone can say a prayer whenever and where-ever they want - OK whatever floats your boat. However, when that's done 1) at the 50 yard line on 2) publicly owned football field, 3) by a coach (who's being paid with public funding) and who is 4) serving in a public school capacity, 5) which makes other people uncomfortable due to the coercion to "participate" then -> that separation line is very blurred.
Theses whack "Justices" are and have been increasing bending WAY over since their appointments to protect the bat-shit crazy evangelical's aka Christian's "so called right" to do and offend however and whenever they please - all in the name of "religious freedom". Have they NO respect for views other than their own? "Hell no! and we don't really give a sh!t!!" is the message in this ruling. (I expect more extremes to come...)
As much as disliked Scalia and his legal reasoning, he warned us on many occasions of this very danger years before he died... and here we are at the edge of this cliff.
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Lyle, I record Ari and Rachel (when she's on now!) everyday......Ari is a Lawyer so he brings some substance to every subject. Rachel, I've always likes because she covers issues that aren't ALWAYS Front Page news, and delves into the backgrounds on issues. You know? It reminds me of the MEANWHILE segment of Colbert's show!! ;D ;D ;D
As a side note: I'm being "whatever' here, but with Ari's shows, it strikes me that he ALWAYS has MORE racially diverse guest commentators than any other news show. It could be just my imagination here, but let's face it, only about 13% of the USA population is Black, right? Yet he constantly has more Black guests/commentators than any other news show I record........it's just an observation on my part though! ;D ;D ;D
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I should not have the January 6 hearing on TV because I'm working here, but I just heard Mark Meadows' deputy say she helped a valet clean up the mess in the dining room because Trump threw his lunch against the wall when he didn't get his own way.
Must have been a cheeseburger because she described seeing catchup on the wall.
Doesn't a 2-year-old behave that way?
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^^^^ Lyle, the above links are really good. TY!
Vincent, thank you, glad to know some of this was useful.
I was surprised about the Miranda decision. If it's a law and you aren't informed of it as required, there is no recourse for someone? That makes no sense. I thought the court upheld a case once where a plaintiff was not given their Miranda rights. Of course, we don't have much of a court now. We have court jesters.
___
Alito: Roe vs. Wade is now overturned.
Public: Surely you jest.
Alito: I'm not jesting. I'm divesting.
And stop calling me Shirley.
Public: Eff you.
___
If a policeman in West Hollywood arrested me I'd be given my Carmen Miranda rights.
(https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSpcWjZtj__BxgFXrLazV0hCajLsCEiKhtwcA&usqp=CAU)
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Wouldn't mind being the one doing the restraining.
(https://scontent-iad3-2.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t39.30808-6/290681603_5173400989361808_2175640123800708620_n.jpg?_nc_cat=104&ccb=1-7&_nc_sid=730e14&_nc_ohc=27yQP724HCUAX_rjSu4&tn=fOug_COkyw__PRBi&_nc_ht=scontent-iad3-2.xx&oh=00_AT9lDd5cijYLCETsaS-_N5el5DSI2aqDhwG4LI180yEa_A&oe=62C132C0)
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Fritz!!! LOL!
If you were the one doing the restraining the other guy might be on the fritz.
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Lyle, I record Ari and Rachel (when she's on now!) everyday...
What is her schedule now? She is/was leaving at some point. This year I search out news I want info about, but have rarely just tuned in as it's so overwhelming a lot of the time, especially if you keep hearing it repeated over and over.
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Fritz!!! LOL!
If you were the one doing the restraining the other guy might be on the fritz.
;D ;D ;D
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If you have never seen Alito speak, watch this video. He was asked to give a speech in 2020 to the conservative Federalist Society (the group that supplied Trump the names of judges they wanted to be appointed to the court). Keep in mind it's quite rare for Supreme Court Justices to speak anywhere and this is where he chose to. Alito talked about the law and COVID restrictions and decided to talk about something else still bugging him. The Obergefell ruling.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8FnJsXHyQSY
I also include this text from the video, but don't just read it, watch/hear him speak the words.
Alito: You can't say that marriage is between one man and one woman. Until very recently that's what the vast majority of Americans thought. Now it''s considered bigotry. That this would happen after our decision in Obergefell should not have come as a surprise. Yes, the opinion of the court included words meant to calm the fears of those who cling to traditional views on marriage. But I could see, and so did the other justices in dissent, where the decision would lead. I wrote the following: I assume that those who cling to old beliefs will be able to whisper their thoughts in the recesses of their homes, but if they repeat those views in public they will risk being labeled as bigots and treated as such by governments, employers and schools. This is just what is coming to pass. One of the great challenges of the Supreme Court going forward will be to protect freedom of speech.
___
Apparently, he doesn't know the definition:
bigotry - noun
obstinate or unreasonable attachment to a belief, opinion, or faction; in particular, prejudice against a person or people on the basis of their membership of a particular group. "the difficulties of combating prejudice and bigotry"
Alito is dismayed because the definition of bigotry is accurately portraying how the people he doesn't think deserve to be called bigots, are actually bigots. They are obstinate and unreasonable about gay people in general, not only about marriage equality. What else can you call it but prejudice when they keep trying to hold the line against anything that gay people accomplish and reverse the accomplishments already gained. I mean, the Supreme Court in the 80's went so far as to grant the IOC the right to the word "Olympics" because gay groups were calling their newly created sports event the "Gay Olympics." (Although, as lawyers pointed out, "Olympics" had been used in many other ways by individuals and groups and the IOC never cared about those which had been used previously. It was that word "Gay" that prompted their bigotry.)
Let's see what Alito's words would've been if he'd been talking about the 1967 Supreme Court decision Loving v. Virginia which struck down laws against interracial marriage.
Alito: You can't say that marriage is between two people of the same race. Until very recently that's what the vast majority of Americans thought. Now it''s considered bigotry. That this would happen after the decision in Loving v. Virginia, should not have come as a surprise. Yes, the opinion of the court included words meant to calm the fears of those who cling to traditional views on marriage. The decision in Loving v. Virginia was unanimous. I would've dissented. I assume that those who cling to old beliefs will be able to whisper their thoughts in the recesses of their homes, but if they repeat those views in public they will risk being labeled as bigots and treated as such by governments, employers and schools. This is just what is coming to pass. One of the great challenges of the Supreme Court going forward will be to protect freedom of speech.
If after reading/watching this post do you really think the words he recently spoke after the abortion decision, about not having any interest in revisiting Obergefell, have any validity?
I keep thinking about this, that I have posted before:
One thing that stood out to me, it's alarming really, in this whole series about gay people working for their civil rights is what the film critic and historian B. Ruby Rich (some of you may remember her from one of the extras on the original Brokeback Mountain DVD's) ...at the end of Episode 5: The Culture Wars she says...and I wrote it down to make sure I quote it exactly...
"Who do I think will win the culture wars? We will of course. And then they'll come back after us again next year and the year after and the decade after because we've been fighting this battle decade after decade after decade after decade.
We'll win. And then we'll forget about it, go back to our lives, and then they'll come back with knives in the dark because they will not let go. Their ideology is that fierce and that frail...that they can't let us be."
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This occurred a few months ago, but I jut saw it.
(https://img.ifunny.co/images/b67cc42497c6a6989ce0fc8a476d41d28d70381cf04eaedbbcfca569a3f23a1a_1.jpg)
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What is her schedule now? She is/was leaving at some point. This year I search out news I want info about, but have rarely just tuned in as it's so overwhelming a lot of the time, especially if you keep hearing it repeated over and over.
Sorry for the late response, Lyle!! She is on every Monday night now, not sure HOW long that lasts. Plus she's been doing the 'special' coverage of the Jan 6th hearings, when they occur. I know her 'every Monday' schedule runs through the Summer, not sure what happens after that though............ :o
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Chris Hayes on the parallels between mob riots during Reconstruction (including the Wilmington insurrection of 1898) and the January 6th riots:
"Chris Hayes: We tend to think about January 6th as unprecedented. But as we learn more, it looks like a pre-existing script in American political life. It is not one we are taught in school, but this blueprint has existed in this way, particularly in the South after the Civil War."
https://www.msnbc.com/all-in/watch/how-trump-s-coup-plot-followed-a-pre-existing-script-in-american-history-143126597887
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If Justice Thomas is looking for someone to challenge the Sodomy laws, he has a willing participent in A.G. Paxton in Texas:
https://www.kxan.com/lgbtq/justice-thomas-seeks-case-to-challenge-lawrence-v-texas-ruling-paxton-evaluating-new-territory/
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More on A.G. Paxton and the Texas sodomy ruling:
https://www.vice.com/en/article/akedna/texas-ag-ken-paxton-sodomy-laws
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Can't help but wonder what makes them so eager.
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They're:
drunk with power
definition
1. a form of mental illness marked by delusions of greatness, wealth, or power.
2. an obsession with doing extravagant or grand things.
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^^^ Yes... I read today that SCOTUS seems "overly eager" to now take on cases they would not have touched before. These *@*@ SOB want to undo as much progress was they can before someone figures out how to remove those two lying bastards from the bench.
^^^ The above is very, very troubling, indeed.
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Well, here's some hot news I learned last evening:
Attorney General Merrick Garland has benign prostatic hyperplasia.
;D
OK, of course that's not funny if you're him. I believe the real point of the story is that the deputy attorney general will be in charge of things while Garland is under general anesthesia,
But the article did share details of his condition. ;D
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^^^ Yes... I read today that SCOTUS seems "overly eager" to now take on cases they would not have touched before. These *@*@ SOB want to undo as much progress was they can before someone figures out how to remove those two lying bastards from the bench.
^^^ The above is very, very troubling, indeed.
It’s Hard to Overstate the Danger of the Voting Case the Supreme Court Just Agreed to Hear
by Richard L. Hasen
Slate | June 30, 2022
The Supreme Court on Thursday agreed to hear Moore v. Harper, an “independent state legislature” theory case from North Carolina. This case has the potential to fundamentally rework the relationship between state legislatures and state courts in protecting voting rights in federal elections. It also could provide the path for election subversion in congressional and presidential elections.
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2022/06/supreme-court-dangerous-independent-state-legislature-theory.html
________
Now they're hearing cases on THEORIES!
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Of course now here in Pennsylvania we have a Repub candidate for governor who has smugly pronounced that as governor he can unilaterally decertify any voting machines he wants (if he doesn't like the results)--and that means Philadelphia and Pittsburgh.
Incidentally, this buffoon was at the Capitol January 6.
The Democratic ads attacking this buffoon are playing up his opposition to abortion and gay marriage. Typically Democratic bad idea. This is Pennsylvania. I know my people. The farther away you get from Philadelphia and, I presume, Pittsburgh, the more likely people are to agree with him on those issues. Reminding them of that is a bad idea.
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It’s Hard to Overstate the Danger of the Voting Case the Supreme Court Just Agreed to Hear
by Richard L. Hasen
Slate | June 30, 2022
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2022/06/supreme-court-dangerous-independent-state-legislature-theory.html
Now they're hearing cases on THEORIES!
^^ Yes this is a very, very dangerous case which makes me really believe all this is too part of the GOP's plan to take over the country. The castrating of "Federal Voting Rights" by SCOTUS was the first alarm bell b/c they could not get around that. Now, this case(s) will further weaken federal and state voter rights and more-so voter protections across the country. It will empower corrupt state legislators to "choose as they please" and ignore the will of the people's votes.
Folks, we are reverting to pre-civil war mentality, all engineered by the GOP, Moscow Mitch, The Federalists BS, to create corruptly sanctioned and gerrymandered state electors which will have limitless power to put who THEY see fit into office.. and this case puts that beyond the reach of the courts. Sadly, if these a$$-wipes gain the power to ignore the will of the voters... hang on, b/c we might as well be back to April 1861.
"The theory in this extreme form is that the state constitution as interpreted by the state supreme court is not a limit on legislative power. This position would essentially neuter the development of any laws protecting voters more broadly than the federal Constitution based on voting rights provisions in state constitutions. "
The GOP is positioning itself at the state level to monkey-wrench the Federal 2024 elections.... Not going to be pretty. I'm not an alarmists but it doesn't take a rocket scientist to see this plan in play. Voters better wake up.
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A recommended, chilling read outlining the BS used in both rulings by these "originalists conservatives" cases this week. More overturns to come as the GOP is lining up cases to dismantle us back to 1860's. "A right to privacy" - all depends on what sex you are and what "god" you worship and BTW, that "privacy cone of protection" now extends as far as man wants... Un-frakking REAL for ya?
-> https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2022/06/supreme-court-women-rights-versus-men.html (https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2022/06/supreme-court-women-rights-versus-men.html) Should make you very -> >:(
"As the conservative supermajority that controls the Roberts court careens through the remainder of this term, take note of which types of people deserve “privacy” and spiritual dignity, and the right to be let alone, and which do not. Notice who is cast as a fully realized spiritual being, and who is denied a life worthy of religious expression. More and more these new definitions will track sectarian imperatives, archaic race and gender assumptions, and subjective ideas about religious sincerity. These inquiries will reinstate the most retrograde ideas about who matters and who doesn’t, what freedom looks and feels like for different kinds of people, who gets to move freely and confidently through the world, and who must live in fear of government restrictions. Women and people of color will not prevail in these new hierarchies. Alito’s new test freezes constitutional rights in 1868, a time when dignity and privacy followed only some people and eluded many more."
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The GOP is positioning itself at the state level to monkey-wrench the Federal 2024 elections.... Not going to be pretty. I'm not an alarmists but it doesn't take a rocket scientist to see this plan in play. Voters better wake up.
Of course. Whenever they don't like the outcome of an election, they'll cry "corrupt" or "stolen." In practice here in Pennsylvania that will mean the loss of my vote because they will always cry "corrupt" or "stolen" about votes in Philadelphia.
Meanwhile, what I am about to say is not nice, and I know it, so be warned.
Remember that woman who said the overturn of Roe is a victory for "white life"? (Like Hell that was a slip of the tongue. ... Or, rather, a slip that betrayed her true feelings. ...)
I've been thinking: All those racists who wanted to overturn Roe--did they never stop to think that with the majority of abortions being sought by women of color, overturning Roe would contribute to their great fear--more babies of color being born?
Not only are they racists, they're also morons.
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Unintended consequences.
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I usually like our Independence Day holiday. I am not feeling so patriotic this July 4th.
(https://s3-eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/cartoons-s3/styles/product_detail_image/s3/Flag%20bearers%2016.4%20x%2011.8.jpg)
I'm attending a friend's gathering today. I'll often wear some patriotic coloring on a day like today to something like this, but I feel more like wearing pride colors or the like, like I did earlier this month, so that's what I'm going to do.
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I just read an article concerning Katie Porter, the great Democratic House Representative of CA's 45th Congressional District. This district is usually Republican and she won it narrowly in 2018. In 2020 she held onto it with roughly the same margins. The article says that because of redistricting, this year 2 out of every 3 voters in the district will be (or could be) unfamiliar with her name on the ballot.
An example of California's "fair" redistricting rules, while red states just draw them to get maximum/assured representation. In any case, if Katie Porter, one of the best new(ish) Represenatives in the house from anywhere in the U.S., doesn't get re-elected based on her performance FOR THE PEOPLE of her district (and the U.S.) there is even less hope than we can even dare imagine.
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When there's lots of dispiriting news, I try to find something in the news that's hopeful and also try to find something I can actually do about things, even if it's the littlest thing...something.
So on easy thing I can do today is to share this video of someone who is in a position to fight back against that which is happening nowadays.
California Governor Gavin Newsom is airing a re-election campaign ad (today) in Florida--and on Fox News! He is posting videos on the Cretin's Truth Social platform. I was peripherally aware of this. Watch this video.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s3VMLFuFfJk
All people, especially Democrats, need to start fighting back. Why do I even have to say that. The Republicans keep steamrolling everyone, including their own voters. Holding the line is not working. It seemed every day of Obama's and Trump's Presidency that Mitch McConnell was out there on the news working the voters, alarming Democrats and being praised by the Reprehensibles. Where is Chuck Schumer?
Find ways to be optimistic! Feeling good is empowering.
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Despite the title of this youtube video (most youtube titles are geared to press one of your buttons so you'll click on it) 7 1/2 minutes of this 11 minute segment is a worthwhile overview and discussion (two people) of the Supreme Court's decisions the past week and their menu of coming attractions.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4xQUHVxZiyU
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It's often said that a letter to those in the Government is worth more than a phone call or tweet or email because you've taken the time to express your thoughts in a more meaningful way. I really feel like writing a separate letter to each of the 6 Supreme Court InJustices and the 3 Justices. What's your opinions? Would that be worthwhile in any way. More than just me venting my thoughts?
In my mind when I think about writing a letter to some of them my first thought is to just write down FUCK YOU and be done with it.
My letter to any of the 6 would require much more restraint than I'd want to express and more than any judicial restraint they ever exercise, so maybe I'll write a letter and also just send an F.Y. postcard.
Thoughts?
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In California:
COVID Strains Fuel Spread Across State
Officials warn about the weeks ahead with ultra-contagious BA.4 and BA.5 subvariants.
Los Angeles Times | by Rong-Gong Lin II and Luke Money
In a sign of how a coronavirus wave continues to spread across California, two-thirds of the state’s counties are in the “high” COVID-19 community level — a status at which the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends universal masking in indoor public spaces. [L.A. County is not in the medium range currently.]
Health officials are warning of concerning weeks ahead as two ultra-contagious Omicron subvariants — BA.4 and BA.5 — continue to spread. Experts believe that the subvariants — which are not only especially contagious but are capable of reinfecting those who have survived earlier Omicron infection — are a major factor behind the persistence of coronavirus transmission across California.
https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2022-07-04/ultra-contagious-ba-4-and-ba-5-omicron-subvariants-fuel-coronavirus-spread-across-much-of-california
or
http://enewspaper.latimes.com/infinity/article_share.aspx?guid=902a822e-d5d0-4703-a0ef-f0b887ac5e93
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There's so much news going on that some major news slips through the radar when it wouldn't ordinarily. Apparently The San Francisco Bay Area has California’s highest rate in the state. A more condensed city, perhaps, than say, L.A. or San Diego? I guess I'll be more active than I am already in wearing a mask. Lately, I have seen little mask wearing the places I go. Except where required, like public transportation.
I've been in an Uber twice this month; well, June. (Do not use Uber's much FYI, they were ordered for me as a way to save time for something.) Although, when you order one it says a passenger "must agree to wearing a mask," but both times the drivers were not. ?
As Vincent always helpfully offers, "Stay safe."
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^^^^ That's a very worthwhile video to bring people up-to-speed on what these "Justices" *@(@*@ are doing with their "orginalists" BS.
Yeap, they are making up shit to justify their rulings.... Now if it would only play on "Fox Lies"... V.
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Just saw the news: According to Variety, James Caan has died. He was 82.
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May he always be remembered as the Sex Pest PM:
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/chris-pincher-sex-allegations-boris-johnson-b2115837.html
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Has anyone read this novel?
Seems like any of us might've come across this the last several years, unless I missed it.
It Can’t Happen Here is Sinclair Lewis’s cautionary tale about the fragility of democracy; it is an alarming, eerily timeless look at how fascism could take hold in America.
Written during the Great Depression, when the country was largely oblivious to Hitler’s aggression, it juxtaposes sharp political satire with the chillingly realistic rise of a president who becomes a dictator to save the nation from welfare cheats, sex, crime, and a liberal press.
Called “a message to thinking Americans” by the Springfield Republican when it was published in 1935, It Can’t Happen Here is a shockingly prescient novel that remains as fresh and contemporary as today’s news.
This particular edition was printed in 1970:
(https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/91O14SwJsSL.jpg)
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From the back cover:
(https://cdn8.openculture.com/2018/07/18215732/cant-happen-here.jpg)
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A 2017 edition:
(https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/91O6idIwiIL.jpg)
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^^^ Sounds like the GOP's playbook. No I've not read this one! May be too close to our current realities.
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Some time ago (for 99 cents), I picked up a used copy of a book called American Fascists: The Christian Right and the War on America, by Chris Hedges. The title pretty much says it all. It was published in 2006. The text on the back of the jacket says that when the author was a student at Harvard Divinity (as far back around 1980 or so), his ethics professor warned about "Christian Fascists" wanting to basically take over the government and the country. The professor warned his students that the "ideological inheritors" of Nazis in America "had found a mask for fascism in patriotism and the pages of the Bible." This is exactly what has happened. I have not had the nerve to read the book. I bought it, but I'm afraid it will be too upsetting.
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Even far right conservative Barry Goldwater in the 1960's was adamant that the Republican Party stay away from these people. He said something to the effect that they're nuts or crazy. Barry Goldwater would seem liberal to today's Republican party.
(For example, he was all for Clinton just mandating that gay & lesbians be allowed in the military. I recall him on TV saying that he, Clinton, is the Commander in Chief. All he has to do is go in the Oval Office and "command" it. The Congress need have no say in it. Maybe the current Supreme Court will try to undo this, too.)
Why is it that so many people are drawn to the far excesses of toxicity. Toxic people, cults, religions, drugs, guns/weapons, the internet, conspiracy theories, gambling, etc.
There's so much to enjoy in this country and all many want to do is find the things that aren't enjoyable.
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It certainly shows how empty their lives are, and they want to share this emptiness.
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IMO this country desperately needs a John McCain, but I don't think people like him exist anymore.
I am currently reading a profile of the odious Ron DeSantis in the June 27 issue of The New Yorker. The author quotes the chief of staff of a former Republican governor of Florida. The former chief of staff says, "There always was an element of the Republican Party that was batshit crazy. ... [W]e did what every other Republican candidate did: we exploited them. ... They could grumble, but their choices were limited. So what happened? Trump opened Pandora's box and let them out. And all the nasty stuff that was in the underbelly of American politics got a voice. What was thirty-five percent of the Republican Party is now eighty-five per cent. And it's too late to turn back."
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^^^ That's a reasonable estimate. 85+% of the GOP IS bat-shit crazy now and almost all of it has forgotten about honor, truth, reputation.....
They have lost it in their quest for a zero-sum game where the GOP must win the pissing contest at any cost - people, lives, democracy. You are right, all the "good GOP" has been hounded out of the party by folks who lap up "Fox Lies" 24/7. They have forgotten how to compromise and that winning while cheating, lying, stealing, and killing is about as dishonorable as one can live. V.
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^^^
I am glad some of those you speak of are actually speaking up and trying to make some others see the light.
Yesterday I read that several of the other candidates who were running for the Rep. nomination for Governor in the Pennsylvania primary banded together and are urging people to vote for the Democrat. In Missouri, the former Governor of Missouri, Eric Wright, who was forced to resign because of allegations of sexual misconduct and campaign finance violations...of course decided that wasn't anything to keep him from another office and his constituency chose him in the Primary to run for Senator. He put out an insane campaign ad complete with gun violence and crazed ideology. A friend of his sat down and recorded a video to him, calling him to resign. That he knows better than this.
Both of these are addressed in Lawrence O'Donnell's segment last night: America's Future is on the Ballot in Pennsylvania. And "the electoral college is a big part (if not all) of the problem". Worth seeing:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-QCRaZeA6nk
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I don't know if in general people really understand the gravity of things right now. One doesn't want to be alarmist, but how do you convince people there's more at stake than worries of inflation, lack of baby formula and the price of gas and such. Last time I chatted with my sister I was talking about some of these other things and she didn't seem to care or think it was that urgent. I was trying to get across that people have to take these things seriously BEFORE it's too late. I said the red flags are popping up all over the place. What do you think all those red flags are for? Is someone throwing you a parade?
It brought to mind that short scene in Titanic when one of the crew is telling a woman they have to put on their life jacket and go out on deck because of the situation and she resists, then makes her maid stay behind to get the room warm because she wants a cup of tea when they return.
People really do see what they want to see, but that means people who are not concerned think others are seeing things incorrectly.
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Pete Buttigieg has switched his state residency from Indiana to Michigan. This has long term electoral implications (including that he could now run for the House, Senate or statewide offices in Michigan and be more likely to get elected than he would in Indiana). It could, of course, also point to red and blue American segregating into separate camps:
https://www.politico.com/newsletters/west-wing-playbook/2022/07/07/sec-pete-goes-pure-michigan-00044487
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^^^ IDK how to convince people who _think_ the events swirling around the GoS, the GOP and January 6, do not "matter to them!" Far too many people today appear to take "democracy for granted" and "don't seem to believe - or want to believe" the GoS and the GOP was (and is) trying to overthrow democracy and the USG and install him and his family into permanent power.... I've heard "Oh that can't happen here...." Well it almost did and the GOP's still planning, conniving and preparing for their next round.
The wise but fragile canaries have been singing even since the 2000 "chad" debacle in Florida in 2000 which handed the GOP another 4 years in the White House - courtesy of some of the same players still pulling strings, conniving and lying to the American people on today's stage which got that SOB "elected". I still say if ever their was a "recount"... it should have been in 2016!
We can all encourage people to vote and vote their hearts and minds for the right thing and not the BS being fed the country for 20+ years by Fox Lies and other right-wing propaganda machines. V.
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^^^
I find troubling the fact that the country now accepts our divisions so readily...and personally, especially the red state/blue state meme. I was thinking back in my days when I never actually thought of other places (or states) in the United States as something political. They were just other places in the United States with their own histories and varied interests. It seems to me around 2000 when this became a uniform identifier. I recall many Presidential election nights when networks used varying colors between them for identifying states won by a party. One year ABC used blue and yellow. Uniformity may cause less confusion when covering an election, but it also actually separates people's attitudes causing one to think of other places as political enemies and regarding your own particular state as something rigid that could never change, as though it has to be red or blue now.
And this has also led to paying overdue attention to the few states labeled swing states. Presidential candidates visit those states constantly giving them more attention than rightly deserved in most cases. Up until 2000 I didn't mind that the electoral college format existed because it didn't matter that it did. (And it actually shouldn't have mattered in 2000 with the Florida debacle.) But it's been increasingly clear with Republicans actually using it to win Presidential elections and now using their gerrymandered majorities to make laws to control elections in their states which the Supreme Court seems inclined to let them do, that it's a mess that needs to be reckoned with.
______
I just happened to look and see if there's anything online about the origins of thought on "red states and blue states," and Wikipedia has quite a bit of useful info about it.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_states_and_blue_states
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https://www.politico.com/newsletters/west-wing-playbook/2022/07/07/sec-pete-goes-pure-michigan-00044487
Interesting article, including the latter part with other noteworthy items of interest.
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(https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/Qv4lR0rj2CNmBiCEfmw38NHbjTVBr_SBCwycvSdB1nP4X9UoACP4ccQcJzAPgEn1TB3fJg=s1660)
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Re: The Pennsylvania gubernatorial race:
A couple of days ago I read an article that stated the Josh Shapiro, the Democratic candidate, is vastly outspending the Republican Doug Mastriano. I've been seeing plenty of ads attacking Mastriano (and as of Friday I've started seeing ads attacking Dr. Oz, too), but I haven't seen a one add either supporting Mastriano or attacking Shapiro.
On the other hand, I don't know how these things work. I'm wondering if the Republicans are simply not running ads in the Philadelphia market because they're considering it a Lost Cause: Why waste money on a city and region you know is going to go for your opponent? Philadelphia is a Democratic city, and Shapiro is from Montgomery County, one of the western suburbs.
The last time I visited my dad, in not-quite-the-center-of-the-state, I saw commercials attacking Mastriano, but none supporting him.
That man is truly frightening. The attack ads have a clip of him quite smugly saying that as governor he can decertify any voting machines he wants--and you know that would mean machines in Democratic Philadelphia. Effectively I could lose my vote.
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(https://cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/tronc/ERKUL6X5JFBT7IOOX3PFH3RK44.jpg)
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(https://mediacloud.theweek.com/image/upload/s--X-WVjvBW--/f_auto,t_content-image-full-desktop@1/v1656518734/20220628edbbc-a.jpg)
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(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FXSV0OxUIAA7zRW.jpg)
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Morton's Has Been Flooded with Phone Calls and Fake Reservations After
It Said Brett Kavanaugh Had a 'Right' to 'Eat Dinner' Without Protestors
Gathering Outside
July 9 | Business Insider
https://www.businessinsider.com/kavanaugh-dinner-mortons-swamped-calls (https://www.businessinsider.com/brett-kavanaugh-dinner-mortons-swamped-calls-fake-reservations-roe-overturn-2022-7)
A steakhouse chain is being flooded with phone calls and fake reservations over its defense of Associate Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh's "right" to "eat dinner" at one of its restaurants, where demonstrators gathered outside to protest his support of overturning Roe v. Wade.
Morton's has sent a memo to its restaurant managers telling them to brace for more backlash to its remarks defending the jurist, Politico reported Saturday. Kavanaugh was one of five justices who voted last month to overturn Roe, the landmark 1973 decision that legalized abortion in the United States and afforded a constitutional right to the procedure.
"Currently we are experiencing a massive wave of negative response to our comments yesterday as well as being bombarded at the local level with phone calls and fake reservations on Open Table," Scott Crain, the SVP and COO of Morton's, wrote to restaurant managers in an email obtained by Politico.
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The overturning of Roe v. Wade really has brought out the crazies. Now I understand a pregnant women in Texas (where else?) is fighting a ticket she got for driving alone in an HOV lane by claiming that her unborn child counts as a person, so she wasn't alone in her vehicle.
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News on Russian journalists in exile in Germany broadcasting on youtube:
https://www.dw.com/en/germany-russian-journalists-in-exile/av-62416659
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The overturning of Roe v. Wade really has brought out the crazies. Now I understand a pregnant women in Texas (where else?) is fighting a ticket she got for driving alone in an HOV lane by claiming that her unborn child counts as a person, so she wasn't alone in her vehicle.
Why don't I find this surprising!?!?
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The overturning of Roe v. Wade really has brought out the crazies. Now I understand a pregnant women in Texas (where else?) is fighting a ticket she got for driving alone in an HOV lane by claiming that her unborn child counts as a person, so she wasn't alone in her vehicle.
I saw that online last night, it will be interesting to see if she actually wins.
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I saw that online, too. That woman is a total Karen.
Judges better slam this down quickly unless they want copycat lawsuits ad infinitum all over the country.
High-Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) lanes, also known as carpool or diamond lanes, are designed to get other people out of driving their own cars into shared vehicles and reduce traffic on our highways. A fetus can't drive nor are they taking up any additional space. It's not in the spirit of the law to let pregnant women drive by themselves in a carpool lane. Wasting time and money in courts for this kind of thing just so this Karen can avoid having to drive in the lanes she's required to is asinine. Anyone trying this should have an extra fine imposed.
This isn't the first time this has happened. I recall several instances over the years with a case like this. One judge just laughed at the plaintiff and threw her out of the courtroom for wasting his time. Jeff is right that it's a thing again because of the Supreme Court Ruling.
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And you know that the Religious Right groups will support her.
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^^^ Blinded by their own dogma... as sure as hell. What's next? The bible-thumpers will be declaring any woman's eggs and any man's sperm theirs to command as well? But wait... they already do - at least for those folks they deem "acceptable..." *@(@* @
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And now they're headed somewhere where "you can check in any time you want, but you can never leave", so there's poetic justice.
https://www.kcra.com/article/3-accused-of-trying-to-sell-stolen-handwritten-lyrics-by-the-eagles-including-hotel-california/40603623
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Jeff is right that it's a thing again because of the Supreme Court Ruling.
Of course, another thing is, What's going to happen to childless couples who were looking to IVF to have children? Are all those fertilized eggs in the petri dish persons?
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Texas is trying to overturn the Affordable Care Act (yes, again). Because apparently that pro-life thing applies to the HIV and HPV viruses:
https://www.politico.com/news/2022/07/26/texas-obamacare-std-hiv-00047724
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So while they are cherry picking - let's add coverages for metformin, asthma inhalers, insulin, blood-pressure, Alzheimer's and a host of other disease prevention drugs and measures to their listing. I want my religious freedom to object to anything "I" don't like (or moreso, want to pay for) too. Who's to say, "that's not MY sincerely held religious belief??" All this is more BS A.Scalia warned the country about that there has to be a line and it's a very dangerous cliff.
Let'm all just fend for themselves and make due. These &diety damn "religious freedom" BS fanatics want to have their cake and eat it too. MF! I say we should cut off ALL federal $$$ (including Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, Highway, disaster, ....) for everything going to every damn one of those states and let'm suck on that sink hole for a while. They will be fleeing those back-water swaps quick-enough.
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What is truly bizarre about the notion that you should not fund medications which would allow other people to "sin" is that it both negates the notion of forgiveness and casts aside the whole "love your neighbor as yourself" notion.
Taking their documents at face value the entity which they claim to be following forgave prostitutes and sent them on their way with a "go and sin no more" admonition. If this is your belief structure why wouldn't you want people to remain healthy so that they could seek forgiveness, if that's what you believe the ultimate goal is. Their application of the doctrine lacks internal logic.
Likewise, if you believe that you should "love your neighbor as yourself" aren't you wishing illness on yourself if you wish it on your neighbor? Of course maybe the people who follow this logic (or lack thereof) believe they are part of an elect and the "sinners" are already damned. But if that were the case then it would do no further harm to allow them medication. It baffles me.
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What is truly bizarre about the notion that you should not fund medications which would allow other people to "sin" is that it both negates the notion of forgiveness and casts aside the whole "love your neighbor as yourself" notion.
Yes, they seem to have missed that part of the Gospel. That seems to be a besetting sin among these people.
That crossed my mind early in the pandemic when, against my better judgment, I took my father to a farmers' market because he really wanted to go. Many of the stands in the market are operated by "Plain" people, Amish and Mennonites. Only two young Mennonite women were wearing any protection (those face shields). None of the others were wearing anything. I so wanted to say to these people, That's OK if you believe God will spare your life from this terrible sickness, but shouldn't you be wearing a mask out of love for your neighbor?
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Texas is trying to overturn the Affordable Care Act (yes, again). Because apparently that pro-life thing applies to the HIV and HPV viruses:
https://www.politico.com/news/2022/07/26/texas-obamacare-std-hiv-00047724
why am I not surprised by this? The narrow-mindedness and bigotry never ceases to amaze me.
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That's OK if you believe God will spare your life from this terrible sickness, but shouldn't you be wearing a mask out of love for your neighbor?
Well exactly. It's sad really.
None of the others were wearing anything.
That sounds more like the Doukhobors instead of the Amish and Mennonites.
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That sounds more like the Doukhobors instead of the Amish and Mennonites.
:laugh: :laugh: :laugh:
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:laugh: :laugh: :laugh:
I wondered if you'd peek in and see my joke Fritz!
For those of you who aren't up on your Canadian religious minority history:
https://archive.macleans.ca/article/1932/9/1/naked-truth
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^^^ It's called "cherry-picking the scriptures".
These bat-shit crazy religious fanatics just love to cherry-pick Bible scriptures and then equate only those they want into their religious dogma they spew forth as "religious freedoms". This "religious freedom" BS can be used against anything anyone does not like and/or agree with. That's why it is so dangerous warned A.Scalia. Eventually it leads to a bunch of religious fanatics in control aka a Taliban-like situation. Don't think that can happen here in USA? Best think again.
Part of the problem is few to no one, so far, has been or is willing to stand up to these asswipes and draw lines saying this is where your BS "religious freedom" starts and stops. Which is IMHO, is literally at the end of your outstretched fingertip from your body. What you do for yourself is your business... but don't try to tell other's how to live their lives and you certainly don't get to impose your religious BS on everyone else - EVER. As a prime and simple example, anyone here remember most "blue laws" were only just removed from the books in the South in the mid-1980s? Yeah, that cannot happen right? Tick-tock, tick-tock. -> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_law (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_law)
I've always been firmly in the "Live and let live" camp where good fences make good neighbors. Peace.
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https://archive.macleans.ca/article/1932/9/1/naked-truth
LOL.. gotta love it!! Ah! So it IS MY (selfish) "religious freedom" to parade around fully naked, because "well, that was the "dress" of Adam and Eve (and therefore it must be good-enough for ME)!!" (aka, more cherry-picking). I wonder how long it would be before neighbors complained and those true fanatics / believers were charged with public indecency and then soon un-employed. My, my... the insanity swirls around the drain - around and around we go... TY. Peace.
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^^^ It's called "cherry-picking the scriptures".
Sure enough, but everybody does that. Even Jesus' disciples did that to prove he was the Anointed One.
Never mind. ...
Of course, this always reminds me of that wonderful episode of The West Wing where President Bartlett shut down a Laura Ingraham-type character by running down a whole list of things mandated by Scripture (e.g., killing your children if they disrespect you).
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^^^ Yeap, great example. Cutting off the hands of thieves, cutting out the tongues of liars, publicly stoning those committing adultery, or out-of-wedlock sex, forever-married meaning no divorces ever b/c those married in the sight of "god" are forever joined. Just a ton of BS, these fanatics choose to ignore while they cherry-pick others. All a bunch of hell-bound hypocrites and they don't even know it. Karma, baby karma! V.
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Well yes, if you believe in hell I suppose so.
The reason they cherry pick the bible is because it's so huge that there's a little of everything in there. So there are talking donkeys (Balaam's donkey) and men who G-d has kill his daughter because...well because he's in charge and he said so (Jephthah).
So what Jeff says is entirely true - everybody who quotes that book cherry picks, because there is so much in there, and they claim it's the literal word of the almighty. It would be like if the Edda had to be followed literally, or if Grimm's Fairy Tales was what we based our culture on. That's why no one knows that Jephthah killed his daughter because God said so and everyone knows that Abraham spared his son because God said so. God is apparently kind of inconsistent.
Oh, also why they run around saying that life is sacred and a gift from God and ignore that God told Joshua to leave nothing alive that breathes (Joshua 10:40).
If you don't cherry pick that stuff it's so internally inconsistent that it will drive you nuts.
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10-4! Absolutely - cherry picking is a fanatic's art! What troubles me is WTF people don't call the lunatics out on BS. Usually arguing with bible-thumping fanatics becomes a "debate" on theology... but the core tenants of "the scriptures" are less debatable. Eye for an eye, tongue for liars, public stoning for adultery and a host of other sins. .. and so forth. I don't see these quacks lining up Supreme court cases (yet) to revoke "divorce" now that there's a full religious voting contingent installed in SCOTUS. I'll say it again, organized religion nothing more than a cunning con-$ machine based on soothing "scriptural" opium for the masses.
Yes, what matters is these lunatics certainly believe in "a hell" or they could not believe in "a heaven". So when they take their last breath... I surely hope (at least it's a comfort to myself) that "karma" will collect. V.
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(https://scrappybook.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/n-1658324464p8l4c-250x299.jpg)
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:laugh: So true!
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I remember someone on TV showing a notice inside one of her boxes she ordered that was packed with those styrofoam peanuts. The warning notice said, "Do not eat the styrofoam packing materials even if covered in a cream sauce." :laugh:
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NBC News
Judge dismisses Trump's 'immunity' claim in Jan. 6 lawsuits
Dareh Gregorian and Daniel Barnes
Tue, August 2, 2022 at 12:15 PM
A federal judge on Tuesday denied former President Donald Trump's bid to dismiss three lawsuits brought by police officers injured in the Jan. 6 riot, rejecting his assertion that he is "absolutely immune" from the claims.
The lawsuits, brought on behalf of four U.S. Capitol Police officers, seek to hold Trump liable for emotional and physical injuries they sustained when a pro-Trump mob stormed the Capitol and disrupted the electoral vote count.
“In nearly identically worded motions, President Trump has moved to dismiss all three actions on one ground: he is absolutely immune from suit because the acts complained of fall within the 'outer perimeter' of his presidential responsibilities,” U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta wrote in his brief ruling.
The judge noted that he had rejected similar arguments by Trump in other Jan. 6 lawsuits this year. "The court does so again," Mehta wrote.
Dareh Gregorian and Daniel Barnes
Tue, August 2, 2022 at 12:15 PM
A federal judge on Tuesday denied former President Donald Trump's bid to dismiss three lawsuits brought by police officers injured in the Jan. 6 riot, rejecting his assertion that he is "absolutely immune" from the claims.
The lawsuits, brought on behalf of four U.S. Capitol Police officers, seek to hold Trump liable for emotional and physical injuries they sustained when a pro-Trump mob stormed the Capitol and disrupted the electoral vote count.
“In nearly identically worded motions, President Trump has moved to dismiss all three actions on one ground: he is absolutely immune from suit because the acts complained of fall within the 'outer perimeter' of his presidential responsibilities,” U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta wrote in his brief ruling.
The judge noted that he had rejected similar arguments by Trump in other Jan. 6 lawsuits this year. "The court does so again," Mehta wrote.
Related video: Trump backs 'Eric' in Mo. Senate primary with more than one 'Eric'
Scroll back up to restore default view.
The earlier ruling held that Trump’s alleged actions in provoking the riot “entirely concern[ed] his efforts to remain in office for a second term” and did "not fall within the 'outer perimeter' of a president’s official responsibilities," a finding Mehta reiterated Tuesday.
Trump's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Trump is already appealing the judge's February ruling in the other cases.
In a legal brief filed last week, Trump’s lawyers urged the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia to find that Mehta wrongly concluded that courts should look at the contents of a president’s remarks when they decide whether immunity applies. “Examining the contents of a tweet or speech constitutes an intrusion on the executive,” they said.
Trump's lawyers contended that by questioning the results of the election in the weeks before Jan. 6, 2021, and on the day itself, Trump was exercising a president’s ability to use the bully pulpit and was “engaged in an open discussion and debate about the integrity of the 2020 election.”
Mehta had found that Trump’s actions “do not relate to his duties of faithfully executing the laws, conducting foreign affairs, commanding the armed forces, or managing the Executive Branch,” adding, “They entirely concern his efforts to remain in office for a second term. These are unofficial acts.”
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Congratulations Kansas!
https://www.npr.org/sections/2022-live-primary-election-race-results/2022/08/02/1115317596/kansas-voters-abortion-legal-reject-constitutional-amendment
Voters in Kansas decide to keep abortion legal in the state, rejecting an amendment
LAWRENCE, Kan. — Voters in Kansas rejected a proposed state constitutional amendment Tuesday that would have said there was no right to an abortion in the state, according to The Associated Press.
Kansas was the first state to vote on abortion rights since the U.S. Supreme Court handed down its ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson's Women's Health Organization.
The vote, for now, preserves access to abortion in Kansas and serves as a rebuke to the regional trend of states significantly restricting access. Since the overturning of Roe v. Wade, Kansas has become an abortion destination for people from other states.
[article continues online]
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And they forced the vote to be during a primary thinking that the low turnout and high motivation would insure that they would prevail.
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Congratulations Kansas!
https://www.npr.org/sections/2022-live-primary-election-race-results/2022/08/02/1115317596/kansas-voters-abortion-legal-reject-constitutional-amendment
Voters in Kansas decide to keep abortion legal in the state, rejecting an amendment
LAWRENCE, Kan. — Voters in Kansas rejected a proposed state constitutional amendment Tuesday that would have said there was no right to an abortion in the state, according to The Associated Press.
Kansas was the first state to vote on abortion rights since the U.S. Supreme Court handed down its ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson's Women's Health Organization.
The vote, for now, preserves access to abortion in Kansas and serves as a rebuke to the regional trend of states significantly restricting access. Since the overturning of Roe v. Wade, Kansas has become an abortion destination for people from other states.
[article continues online]
I'm so very glad to hear this, Michael!! Thanks for posting this. I've been trying to keep up but I have been busy elsewhere trying to slay the dragon of healthcare, with not much luck unfortunately.
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And they forced the vote to be during a primary thinking that the low turnout and high motivation would insure that they would prevail.
I was wondering about this, Fritz.
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waking up and seeing the stories that Auntie and Michael posted is a great way to start the day.
;D
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I must say that Kansas vote surprised me. Now, who's going to claim it was corrupt?
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I'm so very glad to hear this, Michael!! Thanks for posting this. I've been trying to keep up but I have been busy elsewhere trying to slay the dragon of healthcare, with not much luck unfortunately.
It made my night, Linda! I was surprised - I actually started tearing up when I turned on the news and that was the first thing I heard. I didn't realize it had affected me that emotionally, but I guess the drip drip drip of watching rights get worn away got to me.
And Fritz is right - they scheduled this so as to keep people from voting on it. The best news that I heard was that a whole bunch of people registered as "unaffiliated", which meant they weren't voting for party primary candidates, just on the proposition. And the turnout was as high as some Presidential primaries!
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I must say that Kansas vote surprised me. Now, who's going to claim it was corrupt?
It'll be tough to do that with all of the unaffiliated registrations - but I don't doubt that they will try!!!
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Good old unintended consequences.
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I must say that Kansas vote surprised me. Now, who's going to claim it was corrupt?
Oh they will anyway, Jeff. When ANYTHING doesn't go their way, they will scream foul! >:(
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It'll be tough to do that with all of the unaffiliated registrations - but I don't doubt that they will try!!!
Yes, Michael, they'll just say that the Democrats 'stuffed the ballot box' with 'supposed' unaffiliated votes!!
It's really gotten bad when so many of us can pinpoint exactly what arguments the idiots are going to come up with.
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Yes, Michael, they'll just say that the Democrats 'stuffed the ballot box' with 'supposed' unaffiliated votes!!
It's really gotten bad when so many of us can pinpoint exactly what arguments the idiots are going to come up with.
Welcome to idiot-palooza.
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I heard about a group in TX that has banded together and formed a PAC and I believe there are commercials as well trying to diminish support for the Governor and his policies. The group is called Mothers Against Greg Abbott and you may notice what that acronym is: M.A.G.A.
I looked them up and they have a website:
https://mothersagainstgregabbott.com
On the front page:
Mothers Against Greg Abbott State PAC is a group of Texas Mothers, Fathers, Uncles, Aunts, and Grandparents who want change for Texas Families. We are a diverse group of Texans who are a mix of Democrats, Moderate Republicans and Independents who are ready to work together for change for Texas. We know that change isn’t going to come from the left or right but from those of us in the middle. While we don’t agree on every topic, we all agree that we need change in Texas in 2022 if we want Texas families and communities to thrive again.
Bravo!
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(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/E-qNHT4XMAERx2C?format=jpg)
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There's a part of me that hopes they waste money trying to find fraud, and turning up empty. ;D
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Except they don't really have to find any fraud, they just have to say they do without proof, and a substantial minority of voters will believe them.
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Alex Jones concedes Sandy Hook massacre was "100% real" as he testifies at defamation trial
Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones testified Wednesday that he now understands it was irresponsible of him to declare the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre a hoax and that he now believes it was "100% real."
Speaking a day after the parents of a 6-year-old boy who was killed in the 2012 attack testified about the suffering, death threats and harassment they've endured because of what Jones has trumpeted on his media platforms, the Infowars host told a Texas courtroom that he definitely thinks the attack happened.
"Especially since I've met the parents. It's 100% real," Jones said at his trial to determine how much he and his media company, Free Speech Systems, owe for defaming Neil Heslin and Scarlett Lewis. Their son Jesse Lewis was among the 20 students and six educators who were killed in the attack in Newtown, Connecticut, which was the deadliest school shooting in American history.
But Heslin and Lewis said Tuesday that an apology wouldn't suffice and that Jones needed to be held accountable for repeatedly spreading falsehoods about the attack. They are seeking at least $150 million.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/alex-jones-trial-testimony-sandy-hook-massacre-100-percent-real/
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^^^
AMEN! I hope that jury and this and subsequent rulings bleeds that *@#(@*@ arrogant SOB Jones dry / broke - for everything he, any businesses he's associated with, offshore accounts and everything legally owned by him or shit he's hidden. He (and others) need to be made REAL examples of .... Leave him with a pile of sh1t nothing to chew on.
OTOH, sadly he will still probably "get away with more than he should" ..... When people knowingly do crap this like this... there needs to be serious civil and other penalties like years of mandatory jail time for such unacceptable behaviors. And on top that, I sure hope karma reaps the rest... :) V.
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Apparently there is more to the Alex Jones story.
Alex Jones Lawyer Accidentally Sent Cell Phone Records to Sandy Hook Lawyer
By Zoe Strozewski - 8/3/22
A lawyer representing a Sandy Hook family in the defamation damages trial of Alex Jones revealed in court Wednesday that attorneys for the far-right Infowars host shared years worth of his text messages.
Attorney Mark Bankston asked Jones if he was aware that 12 days prior, his lawyers "messed up and sent me an entire digital copy of your entire cell phone with every text message you've sent for the past two years, and when informed, did not take any steps to identify it as privileged or protected in any way?"
Bankston said that these messages "fell free and clear into my possession" as of two days ago and that they proved Jones lied to him when he said that he didn't have any text messages about Sandy Hook. He again asked Jones if he knew that this had happened, and Jones responded that he told Bankston the truth.
"This is your Perry Mason moment," Jones told the lawyer, referring to the television series about the fictional criminal defense lawyer. "I gave [the lawyers] my phone."
https://www.newsweek.com/alex-jones-lawyer-accidentally-sends-cell-phone-records-sandy-hook-lawyer-1730653
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That's what you call schadenfreudelicious.
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Yes, Michael, they'll just say that the Democrats 'stuffed the ballot box' with 'supposed' unaffiliated votes!!
This is the sort of thing that terrifies me about the Republican candidate for governor of Pennsylvania. An ad attacking him has video of him very smugly announcing that as governor he can decertify any or all voting machines in the state. That means the Democratic strongholds of Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. That means my vote as a Philadelphia resident.
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Exclusive: Jan. 6 Committee Prepares to Subpoena Alex Jones’ Texts, Emails
By ADAM RAWNSLEY & ASAWIN SUEBSAENG - 8/3/22
The January 6th House committee is preparing to request the trove of Alex Jones’s text messages and emails revealed Wednesday in a defamation lawsuit filed by victims of the Sandy Hook massacre, Rolling Stone has learned.
On Wednesday, Sandy Hook victims’ attorney Mark Bankston told Jones that his attorney had mistakenly sent Bankston three years worth of the conspiracy theorist’s emails and text messages copied from his phone..
[continues online]
https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/alex-jones-cell-phone-jan6-committee-subpoeana-1392270/
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Oh, the bad news keeps piling up for Alex. Love that for him.
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I am so very very happy about this! Another article I read about this says that the lawyer for the parents will be turning the file over to the Jan. 6 committee, barring the presiding judge ruling not to. But I don't think that's going to happen!!
https://youtu.be/Z2GuStEjAw4
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And this is just the compensatory phase of the trial against Jones. They still have to decide the punitive part (i.e., to punish him for what he did).
And he could face perjury charges as well:
https://www.insider.com/experts-alex-jones-could-face-perjury-charges-jail-lawyer-gaffe-2022-8
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^^^ LOL maybe his "highly-paid" lawyer's "gaffe" is karma just getting warmed up for what's OTW.... ;)
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Of course, he immediately turned right around on that sh*th*l* that he pretends is a radio show to loudly proclaim that he didn't do it intentionally, that he was given bad information.
Bullshit. By whom?
::)
LOCK HIM UP!
Meanwhile, I'm enjoying watching Dick Cheney call the Great Orange Satan a coward.
I wonder if Cheney has any influence on Wyoming voters?
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I was wondering about the Cheney influence in Wyoming. You'd think it would remain pretty strong, but the state GOP, which remains in overwhelming control in that underpopulated state, seems to have gone completely over to the dark side.
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I wonder if Cheney has any influence on Wyoming voters?
I was wondering about the Cheney influence in Wyoming. You'd think it would remain pretty strong, but the state GOP, which remains in overwhelming control in that underpopulated state, seems to have gone completely over to the dark side.
I'm hoping that it's strong, and it works to get some of the garbage out of there.
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^^^ On a ++ note - at least until the MAGA crazies try to take this over too... It's about damn time.
https://abcnews.go.com/US/orleans-renews-search-missing-remains-victims-notorious-1973/story?id=86693414 (https://abcnews.go.com/US/orleans-renews-search-missing-remains-victims-notorious-1973/story?id=86693414)
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^^^ On a ++ note - at least until the MAGA crazies try to take this over too... It's about damn time.
https://abcnews.go.com/US/orleans-renews-search-missing-remains-victims-notorious-1973/story?id=86693414 (https://abcnews.go.com/US/orleans-renews-search-missing-remains-victims-notorious-1973/story?id=86693414)
Yes indeed.
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Alex Jones ordered to pay $45.2M more over Sandy Hook lies
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — A Texas jury on Friday ordered conspiracy theorist Alex Jones to pay $45.2 million in punitive damages to the parents of a child who was killed in the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre, adding to the $4.1 million he has to pay for the suffering he put them through by claiming for years that the nation’s deadliest school shooting was a hoax.
https://apnews.com/article/shootings-austin-texas-violence-e067a8bc031ce48be0810764c7bb3c18
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I've heard that there's a cap on such damages in Texas of $750K; anyone know if this is correct?
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You just NEVER KNOW with Kansas, do you??! ;D :o :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:
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^^^ -> https://www.reuters.com/business/media-telecom/jury-alex-jones-defamation-case-begin-deliberations-punitive-damages-2022-08-05/ (https://www.reuters.com/business/media-telecom/jury-alex-jones-defamation-case-begin-deliberations-punitive-damages-2022-08-05/)
Sadly, per above, it appears so. Jones' lawyer admitted that was their strategy, "to minimize compensatory damages " knowing there's a cap on punative per person - all along. I still gotta think that the suing attorneys also knew this - so maybe there's yet another play coming to milk that SOB dry. At least one of his LLCs has already declared bankruptcy to shelter itself. IMHO, the PTB, courts and juries, should seize everything he or anyone connected to him owns if _any_ $ from his years of lies contributed to or paid for it - claw-back to the max. Karma.
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This could have fascinating consequences.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/08/08/trump-mar-a-lago-search-fbi/
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I saw a story today that the Jan 6th Commission has received Alex Jones' texts.
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The noose tightens.
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This could have fascinating consequences.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/08/08/trump-mar-a-lago-search-fbi/
A comment: "I would hate to be Trump’s servants tonight. There will be a lot of ketchup soaked food to clean off the walls."
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(https://scontent-iad3-2.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t39.30808-6/297297473_10221672148209152_2785923678744135232_n.jpg?_nc_cat=106&ccb=1-7&_nc_sid=dbeb18&_nc_ohc=qZDFNDB8HHkAX9tN9Cr&_nc_oc=AQlhizjIhrwu8h0HTJg9V5mc0xkN8J7wXxY1Vc-xrm0QkENMDMlGke5EVvTOCnVarzY&tn=fOug_COkyw__PRBi&_nc_ht=scontent-iad3-2.xx&oh=00_AT9mgodt3ScNMeTWWljXtSkJ_uvqE7aTGtbrtb-I0oJ0ow&oe=62F63F15)
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:laugh:
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I read this in the NYT article. I love how he says 'how dare they illegally invade the home of the President of the United States just like some third world country?!'. I just love it!!
Well maybe they'll get him for this since everything else seems to run right off his back!!
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"Gym" Jordan has put in his two cents (and been roundly mocked):
HuffPost
Rep. Jim Jordan’s Judiciary Tweet Mocked For Struggling With Basic Legal Concepts
Ed Mazza
Mon, August 8, 2022 at 11:24 PM·4 min read
A Twitter account overseen by Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) is receiving new attention for struggling with basic legal concepts after it railed against the search warrant executed on the Florida home of former President Donald Trump.
[article continues online]
https://www.yahoo.com/news/rep-jim-jordan-judiciary-tweet-062441252.html
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^^^
Rightly mocked as he's a member of the House Judiciary.
It seems every Republican and partisan news channel (Fox, duh) was echoing this same talking point, wanting to foment the base which is already fermented. They like to get their base riled, and they're always roiled to begin with.
Big government is out to get you. Your sainted golden calf is being attacked unjustly...it's all so disgusting.
In the stream of tweets mocking GJ, leave it to Mrs. Bowers and Randy Rainbow to have the best ones:
Mrs. Betty Bowers
@BettyBowers
If they can investigate Donald Trump for a crime, they might be able to investigate YOU for a crime!!!!
The unspeakable horrors of being a criminal!!!!
___
Randy Rainbow
@RandyRainbow
Literally none of our pee tapes are safe.
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I do believe I heard somebody say, If you have nothing to hide, why take the Fifth?
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^^^ LOL it was the very SOB himself.... worthless POS.
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This makes me feel ill:
The Washington Post: FBI searched Trump's Mar-a-Lago residence for classified nuclear documents
https://www.cnn.com/2022/08/11/politics/trump-mar-a-lago-search-nuclear-classified-documents/index.html
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This makes me feel ill:
The Washington Post: FBI searched Trump's Mar-a-Lago residence for classified nuclear documents
https://www.cnn.com/2022/08/11/politics/trump-mar-a-lago-search-nuclear-classified-documents/index.html
The whole state of this nation makes me feel ill. I just read one New Yorker article about how the Far Right is taking over Wisconsin. There is another article I haven't yet read about how, apparently, they've already taken over Ohio.
I'm confident they'll be taking Pennsylvania this November.
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I'm confident they'll be taking Pennsylvania this November.
I wish you wouldn't acquiesce so easily.
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I agree that the midterms are concerning. However election cycles come up every 2 or 4 years. A nuclear half-life is measured in hundreds of thousands of years. American elections could indeed end our democracy - a horrible prospect. A nuclear accident or war could have untold effects on the planet up to and including the ending of human life on earth.
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I wish you wouldn't acquiesce so easily.
No offense, but I think I know my state and my people better than you do. James Carvill was rude but correct in his characterization of Pennsylvania.
I don't think the Democrats are pounding hard enough against Dr. Oz (U.S. Senate) and Doug Mastriano (governor)--who will no doubt disenfranchise Philadelphia and Pittsburgh (Democratic strongholds--at least Philadelphia is).
They're pointing out that Mastriano was at the Capitol January 6. I think they should be playing that as, He tried to overthrow the government of the United States and end our democracy.
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I agree that the midterms are concerning. However election cycles come up every 2 or 4 years. A nuclear half-life is measured in hundreds of thousands of years. American elections could indeed end our democracy - a horrible prospect. A nuclear accident or war could have untold effects on the planet up to and including the ending of human life on earth.
And that's not impossible.
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And that's not impossible.
Indeed. I've been feeling this throughout the Russian invasion of Ukraine and even (though less) in the Chinese reaction to the Taiwan visit, but knowing that there are documents that were beyond classified in Mar-a-Lago is a further concern, particularly since the ex-President's followers have sent bombs through the mail and attacked FBI offices. These are weapons which are too dangerous to leave in the hand of crazy people.
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No offense, but I think I know my state and my people better than you do.
Maybe so, but are you just giving in?
___
Are you talking about James Carville saying "Pennsylvania is Pittsburgh in the west, Philadelphia in the east, with Alabama in between?"
___
I don't think the Democrats are pounding hard enough against Dr. Oz (U.S. Senate) and Doug Mastriano (governor)--who will no doubt disenfranchise Philadelphia and Pittsburgh (Democratic strongholds--at least Philadelphia is).
They're pointing out that Mastriano was at the Capitol January 6. I think they should be playing that as, He tried to overthrow the government of the United States and end our democracy.
There is reason for some optimism in the polls. In mid-June the latest average polling in these two races was as follows:
SENATE GOVERNOR
48.2 -- Fetterman 48.2 -- Shapiro
43.8 -- Oz 45.3 -- Mastriano
As of the August 2nd polling:
SENATE GOVERNOR
49.0 -- Fetterman 49.8 -- Shapiro
38.3 -- Oz 41.5 -- Mastriano
Fetterman increased his average by 0.8% whereas Oz was down 5.5%
Shapiro increased his average by 1.6% whereas Mastriano was down 3.8%
There are three months to go before the elections and polls can change, of course, but Democrats don't need to pound harder on said issues, unless polling starts to negatively change and/or until closer to the election to solidify support, I would say.
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Maybe so, but are you just giving in?
Why do you always assume I do nothing but sit around and wring my hands? I've contributed to Fetterman's campaign--I'm surprised I haven't heard from Shapiro's people; I'd contribute to his campaign, too.
___
Are you talking about James Carville saying "Pennsylvania is Pittsburgh in the west, Philadelphia in the east, with Alabama in between?"
Yes, and that's a pretty fair assessment.
___
There are three months to go before the elections and polls can change, of course, but Democrats don't need to pound harder on said issues, unless polling starts to negatively change and/or until closer to the election to solidify support, I would say.
I disagree. And polls can lead to complacency.
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Why do you always assume I do nothing but sit around and wring my hands? ___
Jeff, I don't know if I've thought about what you do or not, but you don't talk about that. Two examples; what you talk a lot about is:
Everybody knows I'm a pessimist when it comes to politics.
I'm a pessimist. I'm afraid it's lost already.
And in my experience:
[Pessimists] also never work to try and change things because they don't expect it will do any good. If one is a pessimist, they focus all their energies and concentration on a lot of negative things. [...] I remember this quote I heard once, "“No one knows enough to be a pessimist.”
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Well, thinking a cause is lost doesn't mean you go down without a fight. Yes, I think Pennsylvania is lost, but that doesn't mean I won't contribute to the candidates I think will lose, or, worse yet, won't vote at all. Who knows? You might actually win. I just don't expect that to happen.
As for "No one knows enough to be a pessimist," I think that's just unrealistic.
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Should you be wondering about the "who?" in relation to the nuclear documents that were found this week:
https://www.newsweek.com/donald-trump-saudi-arabia-nuclear-mar-lago-raid-washington-post-1733182
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One other thing about the Mar-a-Lago break in - it makes clear what this was all about:
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/11/25/chinese-trespasser-at-trumps-mar-a-lago-resort-sentenced.html
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They took his passports.
https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-claims-fbi-agents-took-his-passports-during-raid-2022-8?amp
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Maybe Putin or Bolsonaro will issue one for him. For a small campaign contribution, of course.
That is the current word for bribe.
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They took his passports.
https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-claims-fbi-agents-took-his-passports-during-raid-2022-8?amp
No going overseas to escape. ;D
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Maybe Putin or Bolsonaro will issue one for him. For a small campaign contribution, of course.
That is the current word for bribe.
Baksheesh
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Maybe Putin or Bolsonaro will issue one for him. For a small campaign contribution, of course.
That is the current word for bribe.
Perhaps his friend MBS can help.
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I will say this much about him: he knows how to excite people who don't like him. Apparently the DOJ has returned the passports. He was just whining.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/trumps-passports-returned-mar-lago-search-doj-official-says-rcna43192
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I will say this much about him: he knows how to excite people who don't like him. Apparently the DOJ has returned the passports. He was just whining.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/trumps-passports-returned-mar-lago-search-doj-official-says-rcna43192
Oh, he excels at that.
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WHAT? DID YOU SAY SOMETHING?
[actually this is very cool]:
https://www.yahoo.com/news/over-counter-hearing-aids-expected-141603488.html
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Yes, that is very cool. I hope they're affordable for everyone.
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Yes, that is very cool. I hope they're affordable for everyone.
Seems they will be Chuck:
"New FDA guidelines are poised to upend the hearing aid market in the U.S., dropping the cost of devices by as much as 90% for those with mild to moderate hearing loss."
https://publichealth.jhu.edu/2021/the-hearing-aid-revolution-cheaper-and-easier-to-get
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Seems they will be Chuck:
"New FDA guidelines are poised to upend the hearing aid market in the U.S., dropping the cost of devices by as much as 90% for those with mild to moderate hearing loss."
https://publichealth.jhu.edu/2021/the-hearing-aid-revolution-cheaper-and-easier-to-get
Nice. It's good to see when something is done right. I was hoping that the push for $35.00 Insulin would go through, but of course, it didn't. >:(
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So, just in case you didn't think the people who didn't believe in COVID could get any crazier - apparently brain effects can last up to 2 years afterward:
https://time.com/6207214/covid-19-brain-impact/
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The gift of owning the libs that keeps on giving.
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^^^ There have been several studies, from reliable medical journals, showing COVID19 can persist in some people infected for a very long time. They have also learned that the virus attacks more than nasal and lung tissues. It targets similar cell-structures in other body organs such as the heart, brain, kidkeys.
When I hear people dismiss COVI19 as "just the flu", I bite my tongue. Yes, maybe that view was a valid based on our understanding "earlier on" mainly because we didn't have the data to say otherwise.
As each day passes, we learn more about this virus. My personal opinion, at this point, based on the extensive research I've read is this is an insidious virus that attacks more than our lung cell structures.
It reminds me of the common childhood chicken-pox which after the initial infection buries itself into nerve tissues only to re-emerge decades later as the shingles. Remember when the first kid to get the chicken-pox the mothers would take their kids around/over to expose their kids to "get this over with...." It would rage through whole schools like that.
https://www.heart.org/en/news/2022/03/31/after-covid-19-experts-say-watch-for-these-potential-heart-and-brain-problems (https://www.heart.org/en/news/2022/03/31/after-covid-19-experts-say-watch-for-these-potential-heart-and-brain-problems)
Anyway, keep reading from reliable medical journals, and make up your own mind. I know what the scientist are discovering and telling us. We can choose either listen or ignore them - at our own peril.
Stay safe, stay alive. Later. V.
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I agree with you, Vincent. I think there is A LOT that is still unknown about CV-19, and naysayers and anti-vaxxers make it more difficult to get the word out, or be believed.
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Very early on I said something very similar to my sister, Vincent. She's not quite Faux News only, but she (as is most of my family) is Republican and therefore were skeptical early on (so not crazy enough to listen to Fox only, but still crazy). She was reacting to my commenting on a bunch of students in East Lansing who came down with C-19 after visiting a bar early on:
https://www.clickondetroit.com/news/local/2020/07/11/184-coronavirus-covid-19-cases-now-linked-to-outbreak-at-east-lansing-bar/
She said, "those kids aren't sick, they're just positive for the virus." I told her that aside from infecting other people, we had no idea what this virus could do long term, and I pointed to examples of polio (post-polio syndrome), HPV and chickepox/shingles. She came around, and she was never an anti-vaxxer (though she knew them), but it took several of her friends in getting it in Florida (she's a snowbird).
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I don't understand the mentality of refusing a vaccination.
I've been getting the flu vaccine each fall, and now get the CV-19 one as well.
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Especially the ones refusing vaccines that have been around for decades, like polio.
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You know, when people on the left call the Trump supporters fascists they often get confronted with Godwin's law. So what does it mean when the Trump supporters actually praise Hitler?
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/09/nyregion/carl-paladino-hitler.html
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I don't understand Antifa as a pejorative. Doesn't it stand for "anti-fascism"? Who's not against fascism--or at least who won't say they're not against fascism? Or do I misunderstand the term (always a possibility)?
(I do understand how TGOS and his cultists use the term. If I do understand the term correctly, then it figures the cultists would use it having no idea what they're saying.)
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Meanwhile, way down south in the land of Tom Cotton...
Not to bring up someone we don't want to be reminded of, but Sarah Huckabee-Sanders is running for Governor of Arkansas.
If Arkansas voters elect her, they deserve what they get. Remember when she was asked about the orange cretin's fitness for office and she replied: “If he was unfit, he probably wouldn’t be sitting there and wouldn’t have defeated the most qualified group of candidates the Republican Party has ever seen,” she said, calling him “an incredibly strong and good leader.”
Makes you wonder if she'd have said the same thing about Hitler?
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That would have been quite fitting, for her to say so.
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Makes you wonder if she'd have said the same thing about Hitler?
She didn't have to. Her boss did it for her.
I am currently reading an article in the August 15 issue of The New Yorker called "Trump's Last General." TGOS once complained to John Kelly, "You fucking generals, why can't you be like the German generals?" When Kelly asked him which generals, TGOS responded, "The German generals in World War II." Kelly pointed out that German generals tried to kill Hitler three times. TGOS's response to that was, "No, no, no, they were totally loyal to him."
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I don't understand Antifa as a pejorative. Doesn't it stand for "anti-fascism"? Who's not against fascism--or at least who won't say they're not against fascism? Or do I misunderstand the term (always a possibility)?
(I do understand how TGOS and his cultists use the term. If I do understand the term correctly, then it figures the cultists would use it having no idea what they're saying.)
It does indeed stand for anti-fascism, but the use as a pejorative (outside of the use by right wing media) has, when I have heard it used, had more to do with the people who claim the term and appear at demonstrations - usually in hoodies with black bandanas around their faces. I've been at such demonstrations and found these protestors to be violent and chaotic, which is kind of the point as they're anarchists. They were in the 90s and early 2000s sort of a precursor (in action, if not in ideology) to the paramilitary violence that we have now seen on the right with the Proud Boys, the Oafkeepers and their ilk. To be clear antifa protestors have never shown up with AK47s and they haven't tried any nonsense like kidnapping governors, but the burning barricades and smashing of windows can be scary. They're one of those groups that I've often had the feeling "please don't be on my side" about.
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One additional comment about antifa and paramilitaries: part of my feelings about this may come from my ancestry, Ulster Irish. The notion of people taking the law into their own hands, whether they be on the left or on the right, is really disturbing to me. We have seen where that can lead in Northern Ireland. So whereas I agree that the right wing media complex is really ginning up fear when it comes to the folks in the hoodies and black bandanas, I still think that it's not a great idea for people to be going out and taking extra-legal means to address their grievances. Granted, people on the left are no where near as dangerous as right wingers when it comes to this, and we've basically had a home grown industry of surveilling them under the late J. Edgar Hoover, so it's not a surprise that the right is much more dangerous. They've been doing it ever since the rise of the KKK. Basically, a pox on both their houses.
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Germany is introducing a hydrogen powered train:
https://www.dw.com/en/german-train-line-switching-fully-to-hydrogen/a-62907198
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Thanks for those posts about Antifa, Michael.
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Germany is introducing a hydrogen powered train:
https://www.dw.com/en/german-train-line-switching-fully-to-hydrogen/a-62907198
Hope this works well.
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Thanks for those posts about Antifa, Michael.
You bet Jeff. The two friends that I had who were involved in this sort of thing (they've moved, and I'm still in touch with one) always struck me as being people who were involved in working out their aggressions at protests. I saw one get in fistfights with Contras at Central American protests in the 80s. To say that this sort of attitude turned me off is an understatement. I'm on the left end of politics, they're no denying it. But I have no desire to engage in street warfare. It's always seemed juvenile and at the very least problematic.
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There is a really good timeline from the New York Times of communication between the National Archives and the former administration regarding the missing documents - and it starts BEFORE HE LEFT OFFICE!!! So he moved the documents to Mar-A-Lago after the archivists were already asking about it. BTW, if you don't have a subscription you should check your local library - that's how I get access:
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/26/us/politics/trump-documents-search-timeline.html
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I read an article today that said that many of the Republicans who were so vocal about the search and seizure of the papers are now suddenly very quiet and talking about other things when the information has come out from the redacted reports. Also the pumpkin head is pissed at his lawyers. There are many who have said that he should never have pushed for this to be made public as it was really going to hurt him. Looks like this is happening. I certainly hope so. He deserves everything that is coming to him and I hope it is sooner than later.
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I read an article today that said that many of the Republicans who were so vocal about the search and seizure of the papers are now suddenly very quiet and talking about other things when the information has come out from the redacted reports. Also the pumpkin head is pissed at his lawyers. There are many who have said that he should never have pushed for this to be made public as it was really going to hurt him. Looks like this is happening. I certainly hope so. He deserves everything that is coming to him and I hope it is sooner than later.
Yes, I want to see retribution for everything he's done.
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Yes, I want to see retribution for everything he's done.
I had to laugh at this news article headline I saw today:
Some Conservatives Fear Trump Could Face Real Legal Jeopardy
...as though these people are just discovering something new about the orange cretin that sane people have known for decades about this guy.
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From the NYT article:
Some of Mr. Trump’s advisers have been telling him for months that he needs to return the documents. But other allies, including Tom Fitton of Judicial Watch, have been telling Mr. Trump that he is entitled to keep the documents and never should have been pushed to return them. One adviser, Kashyap Patel, a former senior Trump administration official, offers a defense for Mr. Trump’s handling of the material, telling the right-wing news site Breitbart that the former president had declassified it.
I see that Tom Fitton and Kashyap Patel like to spout things to Trump without providing any legal basis for them. That must be why Fitton uses the word entitled -- believing oneself to be inherently deserving of privileges or special treatment -- as his rationale. This "Judicial Watch" is a slick group. Their slogan is: Judicial Watch - Because no one is above the law!
Tom Fitton is the president of this organization, self-described as "a conservative, non-partisan educational foundation [if they were really non-partisan, why say you're conservative?], which promotes transparency, accountability and integrity in government, politics and the law. Through its educational [more accurately this word should be "indoctrination"] endeavors, Judicial Watch advocates high standards of ethics and morality in our nation’s public life and seeks to ensure that political and judicial officials do not abuse the powers entrusted to them by the American people. Judicial Watch fulfills its educational [indoctrination] mission through litigation, investigations, and public outreach.
All of the above would be grand if that were true, but any sane person would not be covering for the orange cretin or an advisor to any U.S. President if, indeed, you were really interested in those stated goals of this organization. In any case, I'd be wary of any organization whose first priority in fulfilling one's goals is litigation.
The Republicans are always saying they have to "take back America", speaking of entitled. What can be more divisive than saying something like that. I personally don't think of our country in terms of us vs. them. When one side thinks like that, though, us vs. them, what do you do about it?
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The thing which is driving me bonkers is that they ARE defending him - even with their silence. You know that if a Democrat had done this they would be asking for an execution. It's maddening.
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I rarely say "oh Miss Thing shut up" about a sitting Senator. I did this weekend.
https://thehill.com/homenews/sunday-talk-shows/3619050-graham-predicts-riots-in-the-streets-if-trump-prosecuted-over-classified-docs/
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Uh oh! Someone alert Chuck! I had no idea there was zombie ice!
https://apnews.com/article/science-oceans-glaciers-greenland-climate-and-environment-9cd7662658ebbeaba05682352de8aa87
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I rarely say "oh Miss Thing shut up" about a sitting Senator. I did this weekend.
https://thehill.com/homenews/sunday-talk-shows/3619050-graham-predicts-riots-in-the-streets-if-trump-prosecuted-over-classified-docs/
Then let the riots begin if that's what it takes. What a POS this wretch is.
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I rarely say "oh Miss Thing shut up" about a sitting Senator. I did this weekend.
https://thehill.com/homenews/sunday-talk-shows/3619050-graham-predicts-riots-in-the-streets-if-trump-prosecuted-over-classified-docs/
Wouldn't it be fun if someone caught him with an escort? ;D
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That would make me so happy!
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They're so nice and cuddly. Access open to all.
https://wapo.st/3R0aa1Y
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I rarely say "oh Miss Thing shut up" about a sitting Senator. I did this weekend.
https://thehill.com/homenews/sunday-talk-shows/3619050-graham-predicts-riots-in-the-streets-if-trump-prosecuted-over-classified-docs/
Wouldn't it be fun if someone caught him with an escort? ;D
That would make me so happy!
We already know he bottoms for Trump. ...
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It's my fervent hope that he does not have any sort of satisfaction of that sort. He has repeatedly said that he's not gay, which I accept in that being gay assumes a certain level of consciousness (which is beyond him, I am sure). Homosexual perhaps, but gay...no.
Oh, and I'm with Lyle. If it takes riots in the streets then that's what it takes. That would have an interesting effect on the elections this fall I would expect. One of the number one concerns of voters these days is the stability of our democracy. Riots would do nothing to comfort anyone I would think.
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Lawrence: Sen. Graham Hits Rock Bottom With ‘Riots’ Threat Over Trump
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PiiFS6qNCXI
This is well worth watching from all the other political noise on air lately.
One commenter wrote: This clip - specifically Lawrence's rational assurance that we needn't fear rabid masses taking to the streets - is a much needed bridge over troubled waters and should be widely shared.
I know someone offering a 12 minute video to watch these days feels like telling them they should read a thousand page book, but I think you'll find it worthwhile.
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Hope that the Ukrainians are doing more stuff like this.
Ukraine lures Russian missiles with decoys of U.S. rocket system
https://wapo.st/3x4ajJZ
"People who are taught how to think outfox people who are taught what to think."
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Lawrence: Sen. Graham Hits Rock Bottom With ‘Riots’ Threat Over Trump
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PiiFS6qNCXI
This is well worth watching from all the other political noise on air lately.
One commenter wrote: This clip - specifically Lawrence's rational assurance that we needn't fear rabid masses taking to the streets - is a much needed bridge over troubled waters and should be widely shared.
I know someone offering a 12 minute video to watch these days feels like telling them they should read a thousand page book, but I think you'll find it worthwhile.
Very good, and so true. Criminal confederates is an apt description from the FBI.
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I'm at work, so I can't watch it right now. Is Eydie Gormé in the video?
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I'm at work, so I can't watch it right now. Is Eydie Gormé in the video?
Should we blame the insurrection on the bossa nova?
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Lawrence: Sen. Graham Hits Rock Bottom With ‘Riots’ Threat Over Trump
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PiiFS6qNCXI
This is well worth watching from all the other political noise on air lately.
One commenter wrote: This clip - specifically Lawrence's rational assurance that we needn't fear rabid masses taking to the streets - is a much needed bridge over troubled waters and should be widely shared.
I know someone offering a 12 minute video to watch these days feels like telling them they should read a thousand page book, but I think you'll find it worthwhile.
It was definitely worth watching, Lyle! Very interesting and so very true as to what he is saying and worth heating. I definitely watched the whole thing! Thanks for posting it!!
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I really wonder if you could get voters in South Carolina to watch something like this, how would they feel about it?
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Speaking of Lawrence, Steve... My friend who works in a Beverly Hills restaurant says Steve Lawrence comes in occasionally with some others, sometimes with Carol Burnett, sadly, however, he has dementia.
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Should we blame the insurrection on the bossa nova?
Nowadays in Brazil it’s more likely you should blame it on the Bolsonaro
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Speaking of Lawrence, Steve... My friend who works in a Beverly Hills restaurant says Steve Lawrence comes in occasionally with some others, sometimes with Carol Burnett, sadly, however, he has dementia.
I have always thought it was sad that people with dementia aren’t pleasantly out of it. More often they seem upset.
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Should we blame the insurrection on the bossa nova?
Nowadays in Brazil it’s more likely you should blame it on the Bolsonaro
Still fits the rhythm. ...
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Then let the riots begin if that's what it takes. What a POS this wretch is.
The Gelatinous Creature from the Mar-a-Lagoon.
Not mine, it was a comment in WaPo about the X.
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I guess it's not odd considering that Putin is an ally of 45, but it seems like the VOA is providing information to those behind they hayseed curtain:
https://www.voanews.com/a/fbi-justice-department-routinely-prosecute-misuse-of-classified-documents/6694887.html
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The first Alaska Native has just been elected to the House:
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2022-election/democrat-mary-peltola-defeats-sarah-palin-special-election-become-firs-rcna45756
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Hope that it's repeated in November.
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Hope that it's repeated in November.
From your lips to God's ears.
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The first Alaska Native has just been elected to the House:
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2022-election/democrat-mary-peltola-defeats-sarah-palin-special-election-become-firs-rcna45756
And Sarah Palin can go home and look at Russia from her house. ;D
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And Sarah Palin can go home and look at Russia from her house. ;D
And pine for a similar strongman to rule our nation.
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And she blames the Rank Choice Voting system used for this election for her defeat.
Blame what you want, but you lost.
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And she blames the Rank Choice Voting system used for this election for her defeat.
Blame what you want, but you lost.
Tom Cotton has attacked it, too. What a surprise. ...
I'm sorry, but it depresses me to look to the future. Whenever a Republican loses, it will be the same old song--the fault is the system, the election was stolen, and so forth--and the cultists will, of course, believe it.
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If people like Palin and Cotton say things like that, then they should be asked by reporters, "If the candidate you support won, would you still feel that way? Would you speak up about it?" Or more bluntly they could be asked, "You feel that way because the candidate you support lost, correct?" If they answer, no, then ask them their reasoning behind why they think that system is bad. I believe that a lot of these politicians wouldn't keep saying things like they do if they had to explain their words. And how hollow is their speech? Alaska is run by Republicans. The voters of Alaska voted in this system. It was on their ballots. It wasn't imposed on them. Another example of Republicans not trusting the voters. Cotton could also be asked, "Does this mean you don't trust the voters of Alaska, because they voted in this election system. I'm surprised Palin didn't also condemn mail in voting, because that's how that election was held.
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^^ Yeap. Standard GOP tag lines: "It's corrupt." "It's been rigged" "...." all until they win something, then everything's perfectly legit. SCUM of the earth they be.
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Once when I was visiting my dad, I saw letters to the editor in the local newspaper where the writers asked the local Republican politicians how it was that the presidential election was stolen but their elections weren't when they were on the same ballot.
I think one reason people like Cotton and Palin don't get asked those questions is because they won't speak to reporters from the responsible mainstream media--because, after all, those reporters are against them and not "fair and unbiased." We're seeing that here in the case of the odious and dangerous gubernatorial candidate Doug Mastriano.
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Sounds like Joe has declared war on the MAGAs. We'll see what happens next.
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^^^ Actually, all higher-profile DEMS should being taking the fight to them. Go after the bat-shit crazy GOS-loving MAGA worshipers. Call them out and that includes Obama and Clinton. To this day I still partially blame Obama for not campaigning more on behalf of Clinton and letting that POS get "elected."... Remember folks, it was ~ 80K MAGA votes, in key counties, that put that SOB in office to begin with.
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About Obama campaigning more for Hillary Clinton--it wasn't necessarily his call. The Presidents who campaign for their successor's usually do what the successor's campaign wants them to do. In 2000, Bill Clinton was ready to campaign all over the place for Gore, but his then recent scandal was deemed problematic and could possibly lose Gore votes, so the Gore campaign kept him on a leash. So...would Gore have done better if Bill Clinton had done more campaigning. The real answer is "Who knows?"
And in BOTH cases, Al Gore and Hillary Clinton received more votes, and the butterfly ballot in Florida alone cost Gore Florida.
Remember in the Florida debacle when the Republican mantra was hand counting ballots was flawed and you "had to trust the impartial voring machinery?"
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Important news...look who's back:
https://www.npr.org/2022/09/02/1120738987/jehovahs-witnesses-first-door-to-door-visits-since-pandemic
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Important news...look who's back:
https://www.npr.org/2022/09/02/1120738987/jehovahs-witnesses-first-door-to-door-visits-since-pandemic
why did they stop in the first place? Wouldn't God protect them?
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Important news...look who's back:
https://www.npr.org/2022/09/02/1120738987/jehovahs-witnesses-first-door-to-door-visits-since-pandemic
YES! I read this earlier. I knew the pandemic was good for something. Luckily we live out in the county with the houses far apart and not in a neighborhood so I don't think we have to worry about them too much here...... Thank God!
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Important news...look who's back:
https://www.npr.org/2022/09/02/1120738987/jehovahs-witnesses-first-door-to-door-visits-since-pandemic
why did they stop in the first place? Wouldn't God protect them?
YES! I read this earlier. I knew the pandemic was good for something. Luckily we live out in the county with the houses far apart and not in a neighborhood so I don't think we have to worry about them too much here...... Thank God!
Not too long ago I actually got a phone call from a person I assumed to be a JW. That's why I have caller ID and voice mail.
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why did they stop in the first place? Wouldn't God protect them?
Evidently not. They probably thought that Covid was stronger than God. Of course they would have NO ONE answer the door during the height of Covid.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QOkSvLqkafU
In my little town in upstate NY, with only a few hundred people in the village, we used to get visits from Jehovah's witnesses. In 2008 when Prop 8 was on the ballot, they were canvassing the streets of West Hollywood (!) urging people not to vote Yes on it.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QOkSvLqkafU
In my little town in upstate NY, with only a few hundred people in the village, we used to get visits from Jehovah's witnesses. In 2008 when Prop 8 was on the ballot, they were canvassing the streets of West Hollywood (!) urging people not to vote Yes on it.
Jeez. Well I guess one goes to the heart of things. I wonder if they really thought they would change minds there?? ??
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1 suspect in mass stabbing in Canada found dead, the other is still missing
By Elizabeth Wolfe, Artemis Moshtaghian, Jamiel Lynch and Holly Yan, CNN
Mon September 5, 2022
Damien Sanderson, one of the suspects in a mass stabbing in Saskatchewan, Canada, that left 10 dead and 18 injured, was found dead Monday morning on the James Smith Cree Nation in a heavily grassed area near a house, according to Royal Canadian Mounted Police Assistant Commissioner Rhonda Blackmore.
Sanderson had injuries that were not believed to be self-inflicted, Blackmore said.
Myles Sanderson, Damien's brother, may be injured and seek medical attention, Blackmore added. "Even if he is injured, it does not mean he is not still dangerous."
Blackmore said Myles has a lengthy criminal record that involves both persons and property crimes and she told the pubic not to approach him if he is seen.
Earlier authorities said the suspects were believed to have been traveling in a black Nissan Rogue with Saskatchewan license plate 119 MPI, while noting it was unclear whether they may have changed vehicles. The vehicle was seen in Regina with two people in it.
https://www.cnn.com/2022/09/05/americas/saskatchewan-canada-stabbing-monday/index.html
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Boris Johnson makes defiant exit as Liz Truss set to take over as U.K. PM
Sept. 6, 2022 - By Associated Press
Prime Minister Boris Johnson left his Downing Street office for the last time on Tuesday before heading to Scotland to formally offer his resignation to Queen Elizabeth II.
The scandal-hit British leader, who announced his intention to step down two months ago, is expected to meet with the queen in the late morning at her Balmoral estate to begin the transfer of power to Liz Truss.
Truss, who was named leader of the ruling Conservative party on Monday, will be appointed prime minister during her own audience with the queen a short time later.
Speaking outside No. 10 Downing Street, Johnson said his policies had given the country the economic strength to help people weather the energy crisis before he signed off his typical bluster.
“I am like one of those booster rockets that has fulfilled its function,’’ Johnson said before getting into a car and leaving the gates of Downing Street for the last time as prime minister. “I will now be gently re-entering the atmosphere and splashing down invisibly in some remote and obscure corner of the Pacific.’’
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/boris-johnson-liz-truss-take-uk-pm-queen-elizabeth-rcna46376
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Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight.
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It seems that one thing we all have in common, no matter what country we are in, is that we don't like our politicians.
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This made my day!
New Mexico county commissioner and Cowboys for Trump founder removed from elected office for role in US Capitol riot
By Hannah Rabinowitz, Holmes Lybrand and Scott Bronstein, CNN - Tue September 6, 2022
A New Mexico judge on Tuesday removed January 6 rioter and Cowboys for Trump founder Couy Griffin from his elected position as a county commissioner for his role in the US Capitol attack.
The ruling was the result of a lawsuit seeking Griffin's removal, which alleged that he violated a clause in 14th Amendment of the Constitution by participating in an "insurrection" against the US government. He had been convicted of trespassing earlier this year.
The historic ruling represents the first time an elected official has been removed from office for their participation or support of the US Capitol riot. It also marks the first time a judge has formally ruled that the events of January 6, 2021, were an "insurrection."
The disqualification comes after unsuccessful challenges by liberal-leaning groups against prominent Trump supporters in the US House of Representatives and Trump-backed candidates for state offices across the country.
https://www.cnn.com/2022/09/06/politics/couy-griffin-new-mexico-january-6/index.html
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This made my day!
New Mexico county commissioner and Cowboys for Trump founder removed from elected office for role in US Capitol riot
By Hannah Rabinowitz, Holmes Lybrand and Scott Bronstein, CNN - Tue September 6, 2022
A New Mexico judge on Tuesday removed January 6 rioter and Cowboys for Trump founder Couy Griffin from his elected position as a county commissioner for his role in the US Capitol attack.
The ruling was the result of a lawsuit seeking Griffin's removal, which alleged that he violated a clause in 14th Amendment of the Constitution by participating in an "insurrection" against the US government. He had been convicted of trespassing earlier this year.
The historic ruling represents the first time an elected official has been removed from office for their participation or support of the US Capitol riot. It also marks the first time a judge has formally ruled that the events of January 6, 2021, were an "insurrection."
The disqualification comes after unsuccessful challenges by liberal-leaning groups against prominent Trump supporters in the US House of Representatives and Trump-backed candidates for state offices across the country.
https://www.cnn.com/2022/09/06/politics/couy-griffin-new-mexico-january-6/index.html
Yes this is heading the news here in NM. I am thrilled this has happened. And of course he is crying foul! The county he was county commissioner of is red and was won by Trump in both election. He is a conceited SOB.
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Yes this is heading the news here in NM. I am thrilled this has happened. And of course he is crying foul! The county he was county commissioner of is red and was won by Trump in both election. He is a conceited SOB.
Of course he's crying 'foul'. He can't accept defeat.
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Of course he's crying 'foul'. He can't accept defeat.
What po's me is that he didn't serve any real time.
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1 suspect in mass stabbing in Canada found dead, the other is still missing
By Elizabeth Wolfe, Artemis Moshtaghian, Jamiel Lynch and Holly Yan, CNN
Mon September 5, 2022
Following up, the caught the second murderer.
Saskatchewan authorities locate and arrest mass stabbing suspect Myles Sanderson
By Amir Vera, Eric Levenson and Nouran Salahieh, CNN - Wed September 7, 2022
The suspect in the mass stabbing in Canada was taken into custody Wednesday after a three-day manhunt, according to a tweet from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in Saskatchewan.
The RCMP tweeted Myles Sanderson was taken into custody around 3:30 p.m. local time. Sanderson had been considered by police to be "armed and dangerous."
"There is no longer a risk to public safety relating to this investigation," RCMP tweeted.
Sanderson's arrest comes three days after 10 people were killed in the mass stabbing, and additional 18 people were injured. The victims ages ranged from 23 to 78 years old, authorities said.
Sanderson and his brother, Damien Sanderson, were identified as suspects shortly after the attacks. Damien Sanderson was found dead a day after the attacks with injuries that were not believed to be self-inflicted, police said.
Myles Sanderson was wanted on a warrant for three counts of first-degree murder, one count of attempted murder and breaking and entering into a residence.
https://www.cnn.com/2022/09/07/us/saskatchewan-canada-stabbing-wednesday/index.html
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This is very concerning. The far-right Neo-Nazi Sweden Democrats are coming in second in Swedish election polls:
https://www.dw.com/en/neo-nazi-background-hounds-sweden-democrats/a-45344978
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My guess is Queen Elizabeth II is dying. It's reported that her doctors are "very concerned" about her health, and the family seems to be gathering at Balmoral.
That seems to be the way these things work. First they say they are "very concerned" about the monarch's health rather than say the monarch is dying.
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This is very concerning. The far-right Neo-Nazi Sweden Democrats are coming in second in Swedish election polls:
https://www.dw.com/en/neo-nazi-background-hounds-sweden-democrats/a-45344978
God, they're everywhere. It's so disheartening.
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Queen Elizabeth II, Britain's longest-reigning monarch, dies at 96
SEPTEMBER 8, 2022 / 2:34 PM / CBS NEWS
Queen Elizabeth II, Britain's longest-reigning monarch and one of the most enduring royal personalities the world has known, has died at the age of 96. Buckingham Palace confirmed that the queen died Thursday at Balmoral Castle, her official residence in Scotland.
"The Queen died peacefully at Balmoral this afternoon. The King and The Queen Consort will remain at Balmoral this evening and will return to London tomorrow," the palace said in a statement, referring to the new monarch, Elizabeth's eldest son, now known as King Charles III, and his wife Camilla.
"The death of my beloved Mother, Her Majesty The Queen, is a moment of the greatest sadness for me and all members of my family," Charles said in a statement on Thursday. "We mourn profoundly the passing of a cherished Sovereign and a much-loved Mother. I know her loss will be deeply felt throughout the country, the Realms and the Commonwealth, and by countless people around the world. During this period of mourning and change, my family and I will be comforted and sustained by our knowledge of the respect and deep affection in which The Queen was so widely held."
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/queen-elizabeth-ii-dies-age-96-britains-longest-reigning-monarch/
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"President Joe Biden said Thursday he plans to attend the funeral for Queen Elizabeth II, a monarch he is remembering as a "great lady."
"Yes," Biden told reporters Friday when asked whether he planned to attend the funeral, details of which have not been announced by Buckingham Palace.
"I don't know what the details are yet but I will be going," Biden said in Ohio, where he was traveling for the groundbreaking of a computer chip factory."
https://www.cnn.com/2022/09/09/politics/biden-queen-funeral/index.html
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Since King Charles is Constitutionally limited in his expression of personal opinions, I wonder what his equivalents of the Queen's brooches, hats and clothing color choices will be.
"My favorite story about Queen Elizabeth was that on day one of Trump’s visit to England, she wore a brooch gifted to her by President Obama."
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"My favorite story about Queen Elizabeth was that on day one of Trump’s visit to England, she wore a brooch gifted to her by President Obama."
I only read that yesterday. Wonderful.
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And another wonderful story, from the Washington Post.
A favorite story about the queen that is doing the rounds on social media involves the time when she was asked by an American tourist who was hiking near her Balmoral estate in the Scottish highlands: Had she ever met the queen?
“I haven’t,” said the queen. Then she pointed at her protection officer Richard Griffin and said he “meets her regularly.”
After the hiker grilled Griffin on what the queen was like — “Oh, she can be very cantankerous at times, but she’s got a lovely sense of humor,” he replied — the hiker asked for a photo with the bodyguard and handed the queen a camera. (She happily obliged.)
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Aside from wondering which of his predecessors of the same name this King Charles will be like this is the other thing I've wondered most about:
https://www.npr.org/2022/09/09/1121986624/queen-elizabeth-death-corgis
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Since King Charles is Constitutionally limited in his expression of personal opinions, I wonder what his equivalents of the Queen's brooches, hats and clothing color choices will be.
"My favorite story about Queen Elizabeth was that on day one of Trump’s visit to England, she wore a brooch gifted to her by President Obama."
And there was no way in hell he ever would have picked up on the nuance if something like this. He doesn't have the brains for it. If course he doesn't have the brains for much of anything.
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Aside from wondering which of his predecessors of the same name this King Charles will be like this is the other thing I've wondered most about:
https://www.npr.org/2022/09/09/1121986624/queen-elizabeth-death-corgis
I certainly hope they don't separate them. These dogs have been a pack for years and separating them after losing their momma will be devastating.
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Proud Boys and founders of online 'Murder the Media' group plea guilty to Jan. 6 charges
By Holmes Lybrand - September 9, 2022
Two members of the Proud Boys who founded an online group named "Murder the Media" pleaded guilty on Friday to obstructing the certification of the electoral college vote at the US Capitol on January 6, 2021.
Nicholas Ochs -- an "Elder" in the Proud Boys who founded the group's Hawaii chapter -- and fellow Proud Boy Nicholas DeCarlo traveled from Texas to Washington DC the day before the riot, which they participated in together, according to the plea agreements.
"We're not supposed to be here, this is beyond the fence," Ochs told DeCarlo as they arrived on the West Front of the Capitol during the attack, according to court documents.
"(W)e're all felons, yeah!" DeCarlo said.
According to the plea agreement, both men threw smoke bombs at a line of police officers -- though DeCarlo said he forgot to pull the bomb's pin -- before traveling inside the Capitol, smoking cigarettes in the Crypt and later meeting up with Proud Boys sergeant-at-arms Ethan Nordean, who has been charged separately with seditious conspiracy alongside several other leaders of the far-right group.
https://www.cnn.com/2022/09/09/politics/murder-the-media-proud-boys-guilty/index.html
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Concentric Circles of Chicanery
I read a brief story synopsis that first referenced the NYT's reporting:
A Federal Grand Jury in Washington is examining the formation of -- and spending by -- a fund-raising operation created by (I cannot type his name over and over so henceforth I refer to him as "the orange cretin" or OC) after his loss in the 2020 election as he was soliciting millions of dollars by baselessly asserting that the results had been marred by widespread voting fraud.
The fact that he did this is NOT news. We know he was doing this. We knew it while he was doing it. The news is that there's now a Federal Grand Jury probe. This particular fact was infuriating to a reputable Government legal expert. ANOTHER PROBE of the orange cretin's crimes?
He used this term about the OC and his modus operandi: Concentric Circles of Chicanery. I love it: Concentric Circles of Chicanery.
This is what he said:
This might sound surprising coming from a former career prosecutor, but sometimes I want to scream ENOUGH with the NEW investigations. I mean, yes, we have to investigate all crimes of (the OC) but this new investigation is the big rip-off of him basically stealing money courtesy of his PAC, as the Jan. 6th committee has also been looking into, but is this going to distract us from the
--investigation of his theft of classified documents, which has seemed to distract us from his
--launching an armed insurrection against the capital, which has seemed to have distracted us from his
--election fraud in Georgia (find me 11,780 votes) and all of that has certainly distracted us from his
--bribery and extortion of President Zelensky, his
--ten counts of obstruction as was documented in the (OC) Russia report, his
--campaign finance crimes with Michael Cohen at the beginning of it all
--that he used to steal the presidency...
...at some point can we tell the department of justice to just finish what you started?
Just return one indictment against someone who's been criming in the broad light of day!
AMEN!
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Christian Nationalism.
Does anyone think Marjorie Traitor Greene really knows what it means? Or knows about much of anything except pushing buttons?
I watched a Rachel Maddow show some weeks ago with a little history lesson about it; maybe even linked it on this thread, not sure, but yesterday I watched this quite informative CNN video from John Avlon's program about this topic: Christian Nationalism is Not Christianity.
The current Magamesses are so confused about everything they just state they are RIGHT and you're wrong. They don't know what else to do. But we need to know why this C. Nationalism is rearing it's ugly head (it has before) and I recommend this video. A little over 10 mins. This is what the discussion is about:
The United States is seeing the rise of Christian nationalism and how it's deeply impacting today's political climate, especially with the far-right. Amanda Tyler, the executive director of the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty and the lead organizer of the Christians Against Christian Nationalism campaign, has studied the roots of Christian nationalism. Tyler joins Reality Check's John Avlon to discuss how Christian nationalism is used as a political ideology to merge one's faith with partisan politics.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vZukWuT9lcA
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Leading figures of a number of denominations signed on to this statement. I got this from my church's weekly newsletter because one of the signatories is Michael Curry, the presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church.
(Some people might remember he made a sensation when he preached at Harry and Meghan's wedding.)
As Christians, our faith teaches us everyone is created in God’s image and commands us to love one another. As Americans, we value our system of government and the good that can be accomplished in our constitutional democracy. Today, we are concerned about a persistent threat to both our religious communities and our democracy — Christian nationalism.
Christian nationalism seeks to merge Christian and American identities, distorting both the Christian faith and America’s constitutional democracy. Christian nationalism demands Christianity be privileged by the State and implies that to be a good American, one must be Christian. It often overlaps with and provides cover for white supremacy and racial subjugation. We reject this damaging political ideology and invite our Christian brothers and sisters to join us in opposing this threat to our faith and to our nation.
As Christians, we are bound to Christ, not by citizenship, but by faith. We believe that:
People of all faiths and none have the right and responsibility to engage constructively in the public square.
Patriotism does not require us to minimize our religious convictions.
One’s religious affiliation, or lack thereof, should be irrelevant to one’s standing in the civic community.
Government should not prefer one religion over another or religion over nonreligion.
Religious instruction is best left to our houses of worship, other religious institutions and families.
America’s historic commitment to religious pluralism enables faith communities to live in civic harmony with one another without sacrificing our theological convictions.
Conflating religious authority with political authority is idolatrous and often leads to oppression of minority and other marginalized groups as well as the spiritual impoverishment of religion.
We must stand up to and speak out against Christian nationalism, especially when it inspires acts of violence and intimidation—including vandalism, bomb threats, arson, hate crimes, and attacks on houses of worship—against religious communities at home and abroad.
Whether we worship at a church, mosque, synagogue, or temple, America has no second-class faiths. All are equal under the U.S. Constitution. As Christians, we must speak in one voice condemning Christian nationalism as a distortion of the gospel of Jesus and a threat to American democracy.
“As followers of Jesus, his command to love our neighbors means neighbors of every type, of every faith, not just our own. Through our baptism and in our democracy, we are called to a way of love that creates a community in which the dignity of every human being is recognized and respected, and where all can have an equal say in the governing of our civic life. The violence, intimidation and distortion of scripture associated with “Christian nationalism” does not reflect the person and teachings of Jesus Christ, and so I stand with fellow leaders in the Christian community and call for a better way.”
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"Remember, remember, when you vote in November,
Republican treason and plot.
We see no reason, why Republican treason
should ever be forgot."
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Slava Ukraini! Victory will be Ukraine's.
President Zelenskyy spoke to Russia on his official Telegram account on 11-September-2022 [I don't know who the translator is]
"Do you still think we are one people? Do you still think you can scare us, break us, force us to make concessions? Don't you really get it? Don't you understand who we are? What we stand for? What we are all about?
Read my lips:
Without gas or without you? Without you.
Without light or without you? Without you.
Without water or without you. Without you.
Without food or without you? Without you.
Cold, hunger, darkness and thirst are not as frightening and deadly for us as your friendship and brotherhood.
But history will put everything in its place. And we will be with gas, light, water and food...and WITHOUT you!"
Original Ukrainian:
Ви досі думаєте, що ми «адін народ»?
Ви досі думаєте, що зможете нас налякати, зламати, схилити до поступок?
Ви справді так нічого й не зрозуміли?
Не зрозуміли, хто ми? За що ми? Про що ми?
Читайте по губах:
Без газу чи без вас? Без вас.
Без світла чи без вас? Без вас.
Без води чи без вас? Без вас.
Без їжі чи без вас? Без вас.
Холод, голод, темрява й спрага – для нас не так страшно й смертельно, як ваші «дружба й братерство».
Але історія все розставить по місцях.
І ми будемо з газом, світлом, водою та їжею.. і БЕЗ вас!
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That is an amazing writing, Fritz! Thanks for posting it!
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Isn't it though! Worthy of Churchill.
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Definitely!!
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"Remember, remember, when you vote in November,
Republican treason and plot.
We see no reason, why Republican treason
should ever be forgot."
A stick and a stake for Democracy's sake?
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The Queen's bees have been informed of her death. Access open to all.
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/13/world/europe/bees-queen-elizabeth.html?unlocked_article_code=p6MDZPwUh728OUNlyhI3weTem3FjbfGzFZGZA3v9MFIvIBOPM-0NfZaj5Iwlq0wEkc7IMMgESWfllXAnkvSGGVY9CBEzSEqezMn_zAA2RDercIgAGmw29v8-qD9fmnYuV1ukGaPS_-bv37BQACOgdn2eNqXuzU7ja885p4C5Kp4ymC2gHt-T70z53mNMZu1CYz8O35BEUOUBBAmSjf0P_0iNE_KGwIieTppfK4cyAdPvp9p2nYmUs6xkNXdHkpaeIkBNRrDakOnLgJZD9-lDQY5DrTc18TAjzSWOavZTtSynP_fkOfB5DszM78lzJHdmDjXFxK4mgqnZWhHRcPqUgpYtNg&smid=share-url
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The Queen's bees have been informed of her death. Access open to all.
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/13/world/europe/bees-queen-elizabeth.html?unlocked_article_code=p6MDZPwUh728OUNlyhI3weTem3FjbfGzFZGZA3v9MFIvIBOPM-0NfZaj5Iwlq0wEkc7IMMgESWfllXAnkvSGGVY9CBEzSEqezMn_zAA2RDercIgAGmw29v8-qD9fmnYuV1ukGaPS_-bv37BQACOgdn2eNqXuzU7ja885p4C5Kp4ymC2gHt-T70z53mNMZu1CYz8O35BEUOUBBAmSjf0P_0iNE_KGwIieTppfK4cyAdPvp9p2nYmUs6xkNXdHkpaeIkBNRrDakOnLgJZD9-lDQY5DrTc18TAjzSWOavZTtSynP_fkOfB5DszM78lzJHdmDjXFxK4mgqnZWhHRcPqUgpYtNg&smid=share-url
I think this is a lovely tradition.
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This is who is running for Senate in New Hampshire:
https://www.wmur.com/article/nh-primary-source-bolduc-blasts-liberal-socialist-pansies-in-new-15-second-tv-ad/33590304
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This is who is running for Senate in New Hampshire:
https://www.wmur.com/article/nh-primary-source-bolduc-blasts-liberal-socialist-pansies-in-new-15-second-tv-ad/33590304
Can't help but wonder what they're trying to hide.
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I hope he losses "bigly" and it's a complete embarrassment for him.
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Fox host Sean Hannity has probably been the most loyal servant to Donald Trump, and he attempted to prove his loyalty during his program this week. Unfortunately for Sean, he decided to show his viewers a scrolling list of all of the major investigations that Trump has faced, including ones that he's currently facing, basically showing everyone how corrupt the former President really is - and reminding people of scandals that they had forgotten.
Russia Collusion Investigation
Crossfire Hurricane Investigation
DC Investigates Inaugural Funds
New York Investigates Inaugural Funds
New Jersey Investigates Inaugural Funds
Emoluments Clause Investigations
Ways and Means Tax Investigation
The Orange Cretin's Hotel Lease Investigation
Foreign Gifts Investigation
Fulton County DA 2020 Election Investigation
NAACP Michigan Voting Rights Act Investigation
Classified Documents Mar-A-Lago Raid
House Oversight Classified Materials Investigation
January 6th Committee Investigation
DC AG Investigation Into January 6th
January Impeachment Investigation
Ukraine Phone Call Impeachment Investigation
Hush Money Payments Investigation
Michael Cohen Pardon Investigation
Bank Official Seeking an O.C. Job Post Investigation
White House Security Clearance Investigation
The O. C.'s Net Worth Investigated In House
Use of Private Email By Jared and Ivanka
Investigations Into Communications With Putin
Money Laundering Investigation
Saudi Arabia Nuclear Adventure Investigation
NY AG O. C.'s Property Values Investigations
Manhattan DA Property Values Investigations
Westchester DA O. C.'s Property Values Investigations
Orange Cretin's Pac / Truth Social Investigation
Inflated Insurance Claims Investigation
Save America Pac Investigation
---
And I suspect this is just the tip of the iceberg.
But when oh when do any consequences come to this human slimeball?
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Michigan GOP Co-Chair Meshawn Maddock Makes Homophobic Slur
at U.S Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg in Tweet
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WnsJWE3a100
Pete Responds to Question about the tweet at the beginning of this video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T0obJaJ2cyg&t=10s
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These 2 charts show America's Christian majority is on track to end
Michael Levitt - September 17, 2022
Eliza Campbell had spent her entire life as a practicing member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
She was born in Utah, a state in which the majority of residents belong to the church, and attended Brigham Young University, a private institution owned and operated by the church.
"It's part of your whole professional network, your whole emotional community," she said. "Basically, it touches every facet of your life."
Then, two years ago, after nearly three decades, Campbell left the church.
She is one of a growing number of Americans who were raised Christian but are disaffiliating from the religion.
https://www.npr.org/2022/09/17/1123508069/religion-christianity-muslim-atheist-agnostic-church-lds-pew
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Scientists hail autoimmune disease therapy breakthrough
Ian Sample - 15 Sep 2022
Five people with severe autoimmune disease have become the first in the world to receive a groundbreaking therapy that uses genetically altered cells to drive the illness into remission.
The four women and one man, aged 18 to 24, received transfusions of modified immune cells to treat severe lupus, an autoimmune disease that can cause life-threatening damage to the heart, lungs, brain and kidneys.
The treatment drove the disease into remission in all five patients, who have now been off lupus medication for between three and 17 months. Doctors say the apparent success raises hopes for tackling other autoimmune conditions such a rheumatoid arthritis and multiple sclerosis.
Lupus, or systemic lupus erythematosus, develops when the immune system mistakenly attacks healthy tissues and organs. The causes are not well understood, but researchers believe it may be triggered by viral infections, particular medicines, and changes in the body around puberty and the menopause.
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2022/sep/15/scientists-hail-autoimmune-disease-therapy-breakthrough-car-t-cell-lupus
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Hope.
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It would be great if it works on other diseases, and gives others relief.
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These 2 charts show America's Christian majority is on track to end
Michael Levitt - September 17, 2022
Eliza Campbell had spent her entire life as a practicing member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
She was born in Utah, a state in which the majority of residents belong to the church, and attended Brigham Young University, a private institution owned and operated by the church.
"It's part of your whole professional network, your whole emotional community," she said. "Basically, it touches every facet of your life."
Then, two years ago, after nearly three decades, Campbell left the church.
She is one of a growing number of Americans who were raised Christian but are disaffiliating from the religion.
https://www.npr.org/2022/09/17/1123508069/religion-christianity-muslim-atheist-agnostic-church-lds-pew
In 2018
"Almost half (48.6 percent) of New Zealanders stated they had no religion in the 2018 census and 6.7 percent made no declaration"
I still chose Christian Anglican then, it was hard not to do so after 70 years but I will not in 2023.
I still love the music and ceremony but now think it is all fairy tales. I removed the instructions for an Anglican burial in my will a few months ago and now have just left instructions for my executors that there be no ceremony of any kind, just a meet up in a cafe.
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Mind your ZZZZs people!
"Can we prevent depression in older adults by treating insomnia?"
"Depression is common among older adults. By some estimates, more than 10% of adults over the age of 60 have struggled with major depressive disorder (MDD) within the past year. There are a number of symptoms of MDD, including depressed mood, loss of interest in pleasurable activities, difficulty concentrating, thoughts of worthlessness or guilt, thoughts of death or suicide, fatigue, sleep disturbances, unplanned weight loss/gain or a change in appetite, and slowed or agitated movement."
https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/can-we-prevent-depression-in-older-adults-by-treating-insomnia-202202162687
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I did not know Belgium had done this until I saw it on France24 today:
Sex workers celebrate as Belgium is the first EU country to decriminalise sex work, hoping to blaze a trail for other countries
BRUSSELS, May 31 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Glitter glistened on Maxime Maes' cheeks as he stepped forward to deliver his speech, flashing a smile across the room, and shouted to the partying crowd, "We won!"
The celebration - bringing together sex workers, government officials, social workers and campaigners - was the culmination of a 30-year push to decriminalise the buying and selling of sex in Belgium.
Maes, a sex worker turned campaigner, said he had given everything to get the law changed and the party - in a small Brussels arts venue - was the first time it felt real.
"When people said, 'Yes, yes, it's voted, we won,' it was like, I don't know, all my words were crushed," said Maes, his voice juddering with nervous laughter at the recollection.
"I felt a big emotion and I cried."
Belgium is the first country in Europe to decriminalise sex work, which supporters say will allow sex workers to set their own terms, and could reduce exploitation and violence, and make it easier to access medical services.
more here:
https://news.trust.org/item/20220531082544-4c697
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At first I did a double take until I saw "EU"
NZ was the first country in the world to decriminalise sex work way back in 2003
I do not know how up to date this statement is from the NZPC | Aotearoa New Zealand Sex Workers' Collective
"It is not against the law to work as a sex worker or operate a brothel, nor is it against the law to pay for sexual services. However, it is against the law for any third party to facilitate anyone under the age of 18 into sex work. It is also illegal to do sex work if you are visiting New Zealand on a temporary visa.
New Zealand is the only country in the world with a law which aims to uphold the human rights of sex workers and to decriminalise prostitution. This country’s decriminalised approach is known as The New Zealand Model."
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I wish he had not said that the pandemic is over. I'm still wearing a mask at work and on public transit, and you feel weird enough doing it without this.
https://www.cnn.com/2022/09/19/politics/biden-covid-pandemic-over/index.html
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I felt the same way when I heard that.
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Yes. The government announced here a week ago that masks are not mandatory anymore except in health situations such as GPs, pharmacies and hospitals. I still wear mine most places but now seem to be in the small minority, not much more than 10%. It is most unpleasant, makes me feel conspicuous.
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For the first time a U.S. health organization is calling for routine anxiety screening in people under 65:
https://www.cnn.com/2022/09/20/health/anxiety-screening-uspstf-wellness/index.html
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For the first time a U.S. health organization is calling for routine anxiety screening in people under 65:
https://www.cnn.com/2022/09/20/health/anxiety-screening-uspstf-wellness/index.html
Oh, that's interesting. It's like someone has finally decided that having the public tend to their mental health is important.
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Yes. The government announced here a week ago that masks are not mandatory anymore except in health situations such as GPs, pharmacies and hospitals. I still wear mine most places but now seem to be in the small minority, not much more than 10%. It is most unpleasant, makes me feel conspicuous.
I specifically think one should wear them on Public Transportation. (So I do. Have you seen some of the people at times on public transportation?)
On our local West Hollywood Shuttle, they still require it. Not the weekend shuttle (Pick Up bus) though.
The AMPAS Museum still requires masks for the museum and the screenings. (I went to one a couple weeks ago.)
And my friend who follows Broadway and such says that ever since the mask mandate was lifted by the NY Governor within the last couple weeks, Broadway shows have had a lot of trouble with cast members out for COVID reasons. (One might say, "Duh.") Lea Michelle, who waited her whole life to be the lead in a Broadway production of Funny Girl, did 4-5 performances and then was out.
The Metropolitan Opera (NY) wrote a little article in one of the trade papers saying that if you want to curb that problem, do what they do, require wearing a mask. They said that they have not had one person in their entire
production schedule who has come down with it because they require audiences to wear a mask.
Remember this scene in Outbreak:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wy-w1-g7OvY
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This is worth watching!
https://youtu.be/d2dNFpbo-iw
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^^^ "You can't have your cake and eat it too!" :laugh:
It's a very good explanation of the contorted dance his *@(@*@ lawyers are using / doing to obfuscate and delay, delay, delay. All hoping the GOP regains control of congress. If they do not, then I'll have some hope that people are waking up and the GOP was unsuccessful in putting more fingers on the scales with election tampering. Pay close attention to the Jan 6 recent recommendations.
Remember, Moscow Mitch and the GOP have packed our courts over the past 8+ years and now they packed SCOTUS with more GOP endorsed, non-qualified, perjured, lying through their teeth "judges" The result: I have little faith in these "GOP packed courts" actually locking that SOB or anyone else up in that .01% crowd. Oh they are going to keep convicting and lock up those that puppets who stormed the capital. But those senators and those on-high that planned, paid for and instigated this too will either flee the country or manage to buy their way out of any serious prison time.
The other thing to remember is the orange evil SOB lawyers will not stop appealing until he exhausts every court in the land or until he finds a "judge" idiotic enough to be favorable to the outcome he wants - aka more "judge shopping".
I will _never_ be satisfied until that frakking, SOB (and his cohorts) are "charged with a real crime" (in state or preferably federal courts) AND are convicted. I'd frame a picture of that SOB (and any of his cohorts - bannon, carlson, that bitch in FL who paid for the Jan 6 "rally") ..in an orange jumpsuit to perfectly match his orange a$$ fake tan.
Unreal - my gut says, these highly-paid (by the GOP) lawyers are up to something low-handed for sure. (delay, delay, delay, ...)
My solace is knowing these .01% asswipes might escape real Justice but they will never escape karma. V.
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I specifically think one should wear them on Public Transportation. (So I do. Have you seen some of the people at times on public transportation?)
On our local West Hollywood Shuttle, they still require it. Not the weekend shuttle (Pick Up bus) though.
The AMPAS Museum still requires masks for the museum and the screenings. (I went to one a couple weeks ago.)
That's why I'm working at home permanently. I would have to take public transportation to and from the office. It does seem that by working at home I can generally live on a schedule that works better with my own biorhythms, but it's not just Covid that's a concern. (I had my fifth shot on Saturday.) I haven't had a cold since the winter of '19-'20, and I'm sure that's because I'm not traveling in crowded buses or subways.
I still wear a mask in cabs and on the train. Most people don't seem to wear them on the train anymore.
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This is worth watching!
https://youtu.be/d2dNFpbo-iw
Judge Sirica! Now there's a blast from the past. I like that some legal process felt normal for a change.
Thanks, Linda...
"You can't have your cake and eat it, too." I never really understood that line. I know the intent, but I'd always ponder, aren't you supposed to have the cake to eat it? In any case, now from this video I know where it came from and the original line: "A man cannot eat his cake and have it still." -- John Davies of Hereford
The intent is the same, but that wording makes sense to me!
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The New York attorney general has just sued the Great Orange Satan.
It's a civil suit, unfortunately not a criminal indictment.
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^^^ Sadly, the GOS will probably buy his way out. He needs an orange jumpsuit + Bernie Madoff's cell in Butner, NC! His family, every stinking one of them kids and "in-laws", if they were involved in Jan 6 or other evils, need their own comeuppance too! I have faith. Karma balanced Madoff - eventually. V.
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^^^ Sadly, the GOS will probably buy his way out. He needs an orange jumpsuit + Bernie Madoff's cell in Butner, NC! His family, every stinking one of them kids and "in-laws", if they were involved in Jan 6 or other evils, need their own comeuppance too! I have faith. Karma balanced Madoff - eventually. V.
Karma better hurry the hell up. ...
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One of the problems with karma is that it is directly related to the belief in reincarnation, at least in the religions which espouse it (which means it doesn't need to hurry up, it might sort itself out in the next lifetime):
https://www.hinduamerican.org/blog/5-things-to-know-about-karma-and-reincarnation
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Judge Sirica! Now there's a blast from the past. I like that some legal process felt normal for a change.
Thanks, Linda...
"You can't have your cake and eat it, too." I never really understood that line. I know the intent, but I'd always ponder, aren't you supposed to have the cake to eat it? In any case, now from this video I know where it came from and the original line: "A man cannot eat his cake and have it still." -- John Davies of Hereford
The intent is the same, but that wording makes sense to me!
You're welcome, Lyle. John Davies words make a lot more sense than what we say today.
I have to take the current news at my own pace which means for me to listen to these YouTube videos when my head is in the right space to be able to deal with these issues. I'm not listening to the local news at all, except for the weather forecasts (which they get wrong more times than not >:( ) because of all the political election ads.
A lot is happening now, and is starting to snowball for the orange Satan, so it really is easier to listen to these videos. I hope the trend continues. I LOVED the first meeting of Rump's lawyers and the special master. He is no one's fool and is telling it like it is!
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Unreal - my gut says, these highly-paid (by the GOP) lawyers are up to something low-handed for sure. (delay, delay, delay, ...)
No, Vincent, the lawyers are being paid for by the 'Stop the Steal" funds he is still raking in. And the people he is getting the money from don't give a s**t.
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No, Vincent, the lawyers are being paid for by the 'Stop the Steal" funds he is still raking in. And the people he is getting the money from don't give a s**t.
... Yes + many others. "Stop the Steal", "Build the Wall", ... many sources and all lies. Remember too, the RNC has been paying the GOS's "legal bills" for a long time. Surely all trying to protect their own a$$es.
BLUF: Walks like GOP, quacks like GOP -> ALL "GOP" -> https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/the-republican-party-is-paying-millions-for-trumps-legal-bills-heres-why (https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/the-republican-party-is-paying-millions-for-trumps-legal-bills-heres-why)
;) V
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One of the problems with karma is that it is directly related to the belief in reincarnation, at least in the religions which espouse it (which means it doesn't need to hurry up, it might sort itself out in the next lifetime):
https://www.hinduamerican.org/blog/5-things-to-know-about-karma-and-reincarnation
10-4. I've always believed karma may take years or decades, but karma will rebalance those scales.
That's why I loved that Star Wars line, "Patience young padawan..."
The *&@(@* GOS sins, lying, cheating, stealing, ... are great in scope and number. Karma has lots of rebalancing work. Peace. V.
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One of the problems with karma is that it is directly related to the belief in reincarnation, at least in the religions which espouse it (which means it doesn't need to hurry up, it might sort itself out in the next lifetime):
https://www.hinduamerican.org/blog/5-things-to-know-about-karma-and-reincarnation
Thanks. I was being facetious--or trying to be--because somebody needs to be punished for bad deeds now, in this lifetime.
Perhaps we can hope he will come back as one of those devices you use to pick up dog waste, or something similar.
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I have said all along that pumpkin head is certifiably insane!! This just is one more thing that proves it!!
Trump and his allies have accused the search of being politically motivated, and the former president told Fox News host Sean Hannity on Wednesday evening that he could declassify sensitive documents just “by thinking about it.”
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^^^
I heard that, too. I mean, that's one of the most insane things he's ever said, and there is quite the list. Lists.
In that same interview, another insane thing he said: He believes the FBI and Department of Justice raided his Mar-a-Lago residence to look for former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's emails.
Because, well, why not?
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I have to take the current news at my own pace which means for me to listen to these YouTube videos when my head is in the right space to be able to deal with these issues. I'm not listening to the local news at all, except for the weather forecasts (which they get wrong more times than not >:( ) because of all the political election ads.
I agree about listening to the news less. The most election ads I've seen here are not for candidates, but for and against propositions on the ballot. California really needs to do something about the way ballot propositions get onto our ballots.
Background: In 2000, there was a ballot proposition to allow in person gambling (propositions like to use the word "gaming") like casinos and such, by some Indian tribes. The ads for these propositions were all about how Indians have been mistreated over the centuries and deserve this as some sort of reparation. I did not vote for this because of this: On the profits they would make from this, NO STATE TAXES would be required to be paid. At the time the state was doing well. By 2008 when the state wasn't this looked like a really bad outcome.
Now: We currently have two propositions about gambling on the ballot. Out of state gambling interests got lawyers to write a proposition that allows CA to allow gambling online. But it's being framed as helping "all the poor Indian tribes that don't benefit from the 2000 proposition." Since May/June the gambling interests and the Indians with Casinos interest have so much money that they've been airing commercials practically around the clock against each other. (And on every streaming service, and youtube videos, etc.) These commercials aren't coming from the point of "should we allow online gambling" -- they are presented as being about helping the poor Indians, stopping homelessness in the state etc. No, the Propositions are for FanDuel and Draft Kings, two out of state online gambling companies, to make millions (or more) profits off CA. 90% of the revenue is going to the sports betting companies, not to help Californians in any way.
Look at this fact: Proponents of legalizing sports gambling have poured more money into this year’s California proposition campaigns than any other proposition in the state’s history. Two dueling propositions, 26 and 27, will appear on the statewide November ballot. The propositions ask voters essentially the same question: Should sports gambling in California be legalized? The main difference between them is how sports gambling would be allowed.
Most propositions on the ballot have raised under $10 million each, according to the California Secretary of State’s Office. Meanwhile, Prop 26 and Prop 27 raised hundreds of millions.
It's all insane. Good news is that the most recent poll shows voters would defeat this Proposition. I think voters are just voting NO on having these commercials in their face constantly. Fine with me.
Proposition 30
We also have this proposition. All the ads talk about how it will fund resources for firemen in the state and help with global warming, which may turn out to be just scre tactics, because I saw an ad against this Proposition from our Governor, Gavin Newsom, that says to vote NO on it because the ride share company Lyft has written it to make themselves millions of dollars, not to really do what the ads say it is. I did not know this.
We need to put a proposition on the ballot to outlaw out of state money interests trying to cash in on Californians to benefit themselves or California millionaires and politicians putting things on the ballot because they pay people to get the petitions for these things signed for their monetary gain.
Or their stupid whims. Remember this one from 2018?
Look what I get to vote on this year.
A billionaire with money to waste has gotten a ballot initiative to qualify for the next election, to separate California into three states.
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/63/Cal3_map.svg/220px-Cal3_map.svg.png)
Anyone with sense in their head knows that this will never happen. It's actually been tried before. Not once. Not ten times. Not even a hundred times. There have been at least 220 efforts to hack California up into smaller states, with at least five just since 2000.
This billionaire actually tried to get a proposal on the ballot in 2016 to break the state up into six separate states. This time he had the law proposal written so that it changes a statute, instead of a constitutional provision, so it required a lot less signatures to get on the ballot. Second, it is written so that the state does not have to give consent, it's written so that the consent of the people is implied if it passes, so it would go directly to Congress which is required to approve such a thing.
As far as I can research, nearly all of the "break California up" proposals are started by Republicans and usually businessmen. It's so contradictory when you think that Conservatives are always railing against big government, less government is better, or no government, and yet instead of one Governor they think three would be better? Instead of two Senators they'd like to have 4 more? It makes no sense.
If it passed I guess I might be living in Lo-Cal. :D
Or Medi-Cal.
One of the most complicated things in California that would cause the most trouble ever if this really happened would be the hugely intricate and labyrinthine laws regarding the water rights in this state. I can't imagine.
And just like another so-called billionaire you might know, he has his own college: Draper University.
The State Republican party at their recent convention even said NO to this.
The only poll that was done about this was asked once before it was confirmed as a ballot proposition.
72% said NO.
18% said YES.
10% were undecided or just don't like to answer polls.
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The proposition system in California is badly broken. It's a way for deep monied interests to get around the legislature. If what they were proposing was good for the state they would be able to get someone to sponsor a bill.
Both of the gambling proposals, 26 and 27, are worthless. Who wants people spending money on gambling on their phones? It seems like a really good way to bankrupt people.
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^^^
Exactly.
Hopefully people will see through the ads. Up until recently all the ads were presented as if they weren't even proposals about gambling, just that they were bills to help deal with homeless, housing, poor Indian tribes, etc. and that's why you should vote for them. It was as if the gambling wasn't even an issue. I hope the electorate is paying attention. There's enough ways to gamble for those who really want to.
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I've never heard of Ray Epps.
This hasn't gotten much attention that I know of. The House and Senate frequently have hearings on things that don't get, or usually warrant, any attention. In a hearing a day or two ago, Democratic Congressman Jamie Raskin was asked, by Republican Rep. Thomas Massie (PA), to respond to a repeatedly debunked conspiracy theory about a Trump supporter named Ray Epps, who Massie and other extremist Republicans have accused of being an FBI plant. Raskin let him have it.
Raskin's response should be how everyone treats these MAGA people and their idiocy. Watch:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yKoS_xi2_ss
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January 6 rioter who chased Capitol police officer near Senate chambers found guilty on all charges
By Andrew Millman and Holmes Lybrand - September 23, 2022
Douglas Jensen, a January 6, 2021, rioter at the forefront of a group that chased US Capitol Police Officer Eugene Goodman near the Senate chamber, was found guilty by a Washington, DC, jury Friday evening on charges related to the attack.
Jensen was found guilty on each of the seven charges brought by the government, including assaulting, impeding or resisting an officer and obstructing an official proceeding, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years – though the sentencing guidelines for Jensen will likely be far lower. Five of the charges were felonies and two were misdemeanor offenses.
During the trial, Jensen’s attorney, Christopher Davis, told the jury that before January 6, Jensen had fallen down an internet “rabbit hole” and became a follower of the conspiracy theory known as QAnon. As part of it, Jensen believed that during the riot, officers would begin arresting elected officials who opposed President Donald Trump’s efforts to stop the certification, Davis said, including Vice President Mike Pence.
https://www.cnn.com/2022/09/23/politics/douglas-jensen-guilty-qanon-january-6-trial/index.html
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^^^
I heard that, too. I mean, that's one of the most insane things he's ever said, and there is quite the list. Lists.
In that same interview, another insane thing he said: He believes the FBI and Department of Justice raided his Mar-a-Lago residence to look for former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's emails.
Because, well, why not?
The ones that have been erased and no one can find them.
What an absolute nut job!!
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Who wants people spending money on gambling on their phones?
Wait. Seriously. You can't do this in California? Because back here you can't escape TV ads for gambling aps for phones--including several, I'm sorry to say, that starred Drew Brees.
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Wait. Seriously. You can't do this in California? Because back here you can't escape TV ads for gambling aps for phones--including several, I'm sorry to say, that starred Drew Brees.
Yes, I see them all the time here in NJ.
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Wait. Seriously. You can't do this in California? Because back here you can't escape TV ads for gambling aps for phones--including several, I'm sorry to say, that starred Drew Brees.
Nope. Drive 'em crazy too. We're a big market.
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I guess these laws make a distinction between sports betting and gambling, which seems like the same thing to me, but according to Betting USA, a website that keeps track of state by state laws regarding such things, says: As sports betting has swept across the country, 35 states allow some form of this, internet casino games (online gambling) have grown much more slowly. It's currently legal in only six states: Connecticut, Delaware, Michigan, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia. Online horse racing betting is legal in most US states.
The website has separate links for each state as to what is allowed there if you'd like to check yours out. (For information purposes. I'm not encouraging anyone to gamble.)
https://www.bettingusa.com/states/
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[...] ...back here you can't escape TV ads for gambling aps for phones... [...]
I would so hate this.
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So it looks like old Vlad is getting more than he bargained for:
https://www.vox.com/2022/9/25/23370489/russia-military-mobilization-ukraine-war-putin
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So it looks like old Vlad is getting more than he bargained for:
https://www.vox.com/2022/9/25/23370489/russia-military-mobilization-ukraine-war-putin
I've been seeing stories of Russian men fleeing the country in order to avoid Putin's draft. I haven't seen any figures of how many have left, but I would imagine it is a sizeable number.
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I've been seeing stories of Russian men fleeing the country in order to avoid Putin's draft. I haven't seen any figures of how many have left, but I would imagine it is a sizeable number.
Part of the problem is that they are trying to draft people who are ethnic minorities and people in rural areas. In some places it's pretty easy to slip across a border into Mongolia or Azerbaijan. I was reading about a mixed martial arts guy from Dagestan who left the country. Those people aren't stupid. Vlad just wants cannon fodder.
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This is also interesting. Catholics are now in the majority in Northern Ireland:
https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2022/9/23/shifting-demographics-stirs-debate-on-northern-irelands-future
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An interesting take on what the mobilization will do to the Russian economy:
https://fortune.com/2022/09/26/russian-economy-die-by-winter-says-economist-vladislav-inozemtsev-putin-mobilization/
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^^^ We can hope Putin's actions plunges all of Russia into a serious-enough depression for the Russian people to hoist Putin and his cronies on sticks in the square...
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^^^ We can hope Putin's actions plunges all of Russia into a depressions for then Russian people hoist Putin and his cronies on sticks in the square...
Well the author of that piece is predicting that Putin will be out by this winter. We'll see.
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I'm glad I have no loved ones in Florida.
This morning a weather reporter on the Today show said bluntly that if you have a house near the beach and you don't leave, "You're gonna die."
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Surprise!
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crime/maryland-man-found-dead-in-his-home-surrounded-by-over-100-different-snakes-some-venomous/ar-AAT1aaA?ocid=entnewsntp&cvid=92068e9da15746eb8df543102c9adea2
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:o :o
Damn.....I can't imagine having 1 snake, much less 100! I don't have anything against retiles, my niece had a few iguanas not long ago, but poisonous snakes are a different story.
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:o :o
Damn.....I can't imagine having 1 snake, much less 100! I don't have anything against retiles, my niece had a few iguanas not long ago, but poisonous snakes are a different story.
I'd say he was obsessed, but I probably have that many plants in my place.
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Surprise!
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crime/maryland-man-found-dead-in-his-home-surrounded-by-over-100-different-snakes-some-venomous/ar-AAT1aaA?ocid=entnewsntp&cvid=92068e9da15746eb8df543102c9adea2
Oh cheese and crackers, jeez Louise, oh biscuits.....and any other nice way of saying HOLY SHIT!!!!!
I'm going to dream about this tonight!!! ***SHUDDERS***
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I'd say he was obsessed, but I probably have that many plants in my place.
Yeah but they're not going to bite you and fill you with venom unless you are raising plants other than orchids and related!!
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"Snakes. Why did it have to be snakes?"
--Indiana Jones
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There was a scene in last week's L&O:OC that this brings to mind.
Elliot: "Do you want to go check in there?"
Sergeant: "Noooo..."
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On my recent trip to North Queensland, I travelled on the Savannahlander, an historic train. I knew the driver kept snakes and often brought them on the trip. Before the trip I met a couple who had just done the trip and they told me he had a carpet snake on board (harmless). On their trip he was unable to stop the train at one point and ran over a taipan which is generally considered the most venomous snake in the world. They said he was almost in tears.
I was glad he did not bring a snake on my trip even though harmless. He told us about the snakes he keeps at home, both venomous and non-venomous, do not know if he has 100. Before he became a train driver (actually a tourist guide cum train driver), he was a zookeeper and specialised in snakes.
Found an article about driver Will
https://www.theexpressnewspaper.com.au/latest-news/savannahlander-comes-full-circle
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The influx of high-tech Russians may have a big impact on the Central Asian nations:
"After leaving often well-paying jobs and families in Moscow and Vladivostok, Russia, and many places in between, tens of thousands of young Russians — terrified of being dragooned into fighting in Ukraine — are pouring into Central Asia by plane, car and bus.
The influx has turned a country long scorned in Russia as a source of cheap labor and for its backward ways into an unlikely and, for the most part, welcoming haven for Russian men, some poor, many relatively affluent and highly educated — but all united by a desperate desire to escape being caught up in Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine."
https://www.yahoo.com/news/russians-fleeing-draft-unlikely-haven-115630368.html
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Unintended consequences.
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Unintended consequences.
It looks like some smart people are leaving. Let's hope that it will have a positive impact on the region.
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Yeah but they're not going to bite you and fill you with venom unless you are raising plants other than orchids and related!!
Well...probably not!
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Well...probably not!
:laugh: :laugh: :laugh:
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This is not just right it's smart (politics wise):
Biden Pardons Thousands of People Convicted of Marijuana Possession Under Federal Law
The president urged governors to follow his lead for people convicted on state charges of possession.
WASHINGTON — President Biden on Thursday pardoned all people convicted of marijuana possession under federal law and said his administration would review whether marijuana should still be a Schedule 1 drug like heroin and LSD, saying that “makes no sense.”
The pardons will clear about 6,500 people who were convicted on federal charges of simple possession of marijuana from 1992 to 2021 and thousands more who were convicted of possession in the District of Columbia, officials said ahead of the president’s announcement.
Mr. Biden urged governors to follow his lead for people convicted on state charges of simple possession. The number of convictions under state laws vastly outnumbers those who have been charged with a violation of federal laws, limiting the overall reach of the president’s actions on Thursday.
Article continues online:
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/06/us/politics/biden-marijuana-pardon.html
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See? Palin was right! You can see Russia from Alaska!
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/immigration/two-russians-flee-alaska-small-boat-ask-asylum-rcna51082
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This is not just right it's smart (politics wise):
Biden Pardons Thousands of People Convicted of Marijuana Possession Under Federal Law
The president urged governors to follow his lead for people convicted on state charges of possession.
WASHINGTON — President Biden on Thursday pardoned all people convicted of marijuana possession under federal law and said his administration would review whether marijuana should still be a Schedule 1 drug like heroin and LSD, saying that “makes no sense.”
The pardons will clear about 6,500 people who were convicted on federal charges of simple possession of marijuana from 1992 to 2021 and thousands more who were convicted of possession in the District of Columbia, officials said ahead of the president’s announcement.
Mr. Biden urged governors to follow his lead for people convicted on state charges of simple possession. The number of convictions under state laws vastly outnumbers those who have been charged with a violation of federal laws, limiting the overall reach of the president’s actions on Thursday.
Article continues online:
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/06/us/politics/biden-marijuana-pardon.html
This is great news!
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This is great news!
It is and I like the humorous spin the Borowitz Report put on it too:
https://www.newyorker.com/humor/borowitz-report/biden-releases-marijuana-offenders-from-prison-to-make-room-for-trump-administration
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See? Palin was right! You can see Russia from Alaska!
Palin 2008: "I can see Russia from my house."
Palin 2022: "I can see Russians in my house."
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It is and I like the humorous spin the Borowitz Report put on it too:
https://www.newyorker.com/humor/borowitz-report/biden-releases-marijuana-offenders-from-prison-to-make-room-for-trump-administration
:laugh: :laugh: :laugh:
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It is and I like the humorous spin the Borowitz Report put on it too:
https://www.newyorker.com/humor/borowitz-report/biden-releases-marijuana-offenders-from-prison-to-make-room-for-trump-administration
I got the biggest laugh I've had for awhile at this!! I'm glad they're making room!!
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I got the biggest laugh I've had for awhile at this!! I'm glad they're making room!!
Glad you liked it!
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Gosh, he sounds like some people who used to hang around these parts:
"Christian Walker admits he is attracted to men, but says he is not gay. He made that perfectly clear this year in another of his video rants. "Pride month is starting so I'd like to announce to everyone that I'm NOT gay. I'm attracted to men but I refuse to identify with the rainbow cult," he said."
https://www.marca.com/en/lifestyle/us-news/2022/10/05/633cc0baca47414f1e8b460e.html
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Methinks he doth protest too much?
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"Christian Walker admits he is attracted to men, but says he is not gay. He made that perfectly clear this year in another of his video rants. "Pride month is starting so I'd like to announce to everyone that I'm NOT gay. I'm attracted to men but I refuse to identify with the rainbow cult," he said."
::) ::) ::)
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::) ::) ::)
S’okay, I don’t identify with him either. I think the proper response is “thank you!”
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This VOA article indicates that if Russia continues to fail in Ukraine that Putin might fall:
https://www.voanews.com/amp/latest-developments-in-ukraine-oct-7/6779798.html
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I have to admit that when I heard about the Kerch Strait bridge opening my immediate thought was, "what a target for someone who wants to make a point about Crimea being Ukrainian" and now it has happened:
https://www.cnn.com/2022/10/08/europe/crimea-bridge-explosion-intl-hnk/index.html
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This VOA article indicates that if Russia continues to fail in Ukraine that Putin might fall:
https://www.voanews.com/amp/latest-developments-in-ukraine-oct-7/6779798.html
I have to admit that when I heard about the Kerch Strait bridge opening my immediate thought was, "what a target for someone who wants to make a point about Crimea being Ukrainian" and now it has happened:
https://www.cnn.com/2022/10/08/europe/crimea-bridge-explosion-intl-hnk/index.html
Things are not going well for Putin. What a wonderful birthday gift for him! ;D
Do you really think he can 'fall'?
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Things are not going well for Putin. What a wonderful birthday gift for him! ;D
Do you really think he can 'fall'?
Overthrown is probably a better term, and yes. Russian rulers have been overthrown in the past - it's how the Soviet Union came into existence, and it's how Catherine the Great came to power (she overthrew Peter III) as well as Ivan VI. Khrushchev was removed during the Soviet Union as well.
It would have to come from the military though, so who knows what they would wind up with - it could wind up being worse. People are discussing this:
https://www.cnbc.com/2022/03/30/can-putin-be-overthrown-russias-leader-has-sought-to-prevent-a-coup.html
Unfortunately the smartest folks talking about it say that it's unlikely:
https://foreignpolicy.com/2022/09/13/russia-ukraine-war-end-of-putin-predictions/
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Yesterday was Putin's birthday.
https://twitter.com/OleksiyDanilov/status/1578636142055870464
And a song for the Crimea River it spanned.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gCGNYJOrebA
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Overthrown is probably a better term, and yes. Russian rulers have been overthrown in the past - it's how the Soviet Union came into existence, and it's how Catherine the Great came to power (she overthrew Peter III) as well as Ivan VI. Khrushchev was removed during the Soviet Union as well.
It would have to come from the military though, so who knows what they would wind up with - it could wind up being worse. People are discussing this:
https://www.cnbc.com/2022/03/30/can-putin-be-overthrown-russias-leader-has-sought-to-prevent-a-coup.html
Unfortunately the smartest folks talking about it say that it's unlikely:
https://foreignpolicy.com/2022/09/13/russia-ukraine-war-end-of-putin-predictions/
Oh God, I hope if he is overthrown, it's not worse.
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Oh God, I hope if he is overthrown, it's not worse.
Well you know what they say: it's always darkest before things are totally blacked out. Or something like that.
The problem would be that if he were overthrown the military would probably be in charge. Of course on the up side there might be anarchy in Russia and they would be too busy with their own population to mess with other countries. It seems more likely that Belarus would get a new leader:
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2022/10/belarus-volunteers-fighting-ukraine-invasion/671242/
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The Ukrainian Post Office is about to come out with a commemorative stamp about the bridge.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/ukraine-mocks-russia-with-crimea-bridge-blast-commemorative-stamp/
https://twitter.com/smelyansky_igor/status/1578657065786306560?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1578657065786306560%7Ctwgr%5Eb077dbb69ef4239fc68873f65491562ee3592436%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.timesofisrael.com%2Fukraine-mocks-russia-with-crimea-bridge-blast-commemorative-stamp%2F
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This is disturbing, particularly in light of the Nord Stream sabotage. Is this Vlad?
https://www.npr.org/2022/10/09/1127739900/germany-trains-sabotage
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Good Lord, I can't believe that ANYONE thought this was a good idea.
Female daycare worker is FIRED after shocking video emerges of her terrifying 'bad' toddlers by screaming at them in Halloween mask, as she posts groveling apology and claims stunt was just a joke
By Vanessa Serna - 7 October 2022
A Mississippi daycare worker apologized after she was fired following the release of a video that showed her wearing a horrific Halloween mask to scare misbehaving toddlers.
The Lil' Blessing Childcare worker in Hamilton, who referred to herself as CeeCee, spoke out in an emotional 19-minute Facebook video following the release of footage showing her scare children who were 'bad' for not cleaning up.
In one of the horrific videos that surfaced on social media earlier this week, CeeCee is seen grabbing children who were running away in terror and getting inches away from their faces.
'It wasn't meant to harm anybody and it wasn't ill-intentioned,' CeeCee said in the video. 'The teachers asked me if I would do it or if they could use [the mask] to get their class to listen or clean up . . . I'm not a child abuser.'
CeeCee has worked at the daycare center for almost four years, since she was 16. She said all the teachers knew her plan; the school's owner did not.
'I did not go in there at my own discretion. As in, I didn't go in there with intentions to literally traumatize those children,' she said, adding that the students either laughed, cried or stared blankly at her.
'I expected them to react the way they reacted when I did it,' CeeCee said.
(story includes images of the screaming, crying kids, as well as the video that was posted to Facebook)
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11292945/Female-carer-FIRED-shocking-video-emerges-screaming-bad-toddlers-mask.html
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Imagine all the things that went on in the past, before there were no cell phones, security or surveillance cameras, anything of the sort...or the technology to instantly disperse it to the world.
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You're very right on that.
I've heard people talking about how there seems to be an increase in behaviors that most wouldn't want to be a part of, and I wonder if it's really increasing, or if it's a case that it's always been high, it's just that there are cameras catching it now.
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I suspect the latter.
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I think so, too, Fritz.
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I totally agree. Most of this stuff would never have been caught back before cell phone cameras. It was always he said/she said, I said/they said
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Remember when teachers in school classrooms, would separate the bad apples, because if they were together they'd be apt to cause trouble, feeding off each other's bad behavior, so to speak. Well, the internet has brought all these kinds of people together where they don't think they're doing anything wrong.
"How could I be doing something wrong? Look at all the others who think like I do?" The internet is an enabler in and of itself. And now we hear if/when some a-hole billionaire (EM) buys Twitter he says he will put the biggest instigator of all back online in service of Free Speech.
People with wealth don't care about these menial things because they can just move or buy off or hire or whatever they need or build rockets to leave the planet. Who are some of the biggest jerks out there now, people with money, or who pretend they have money.
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"How could I be doing something wrong? Look at all the others who think like I do?" The internet is an enabler in and of itself. And now we hear if/when some a-hole billionaire (EM) buys Twitter he says he will put the biggest instigator of all back online in service of Free Speech.
I'm seeing political commercials--I forget for whom--but there is mention of rich people flying away in their own private spaceships. I'm pretty sure that's a slap at EM.
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I came across this video in my numerous searching through YouTube about various issues happening now. It is very interesting to see how history is repeated, whether we remember if from our history lessons or not.
'The Trumpiest Time In American History Before Trump'
https://youtu.be/v9aoo2Fi8UE
It is the interview of Adam Hochschild who wrote 'American Midnight: The Great War, a Violent Peace, and Democracy's Forgotten Crisis'., which looks at the period between World War I and the Roaring Twenties. The main character is Woodrow Wilson.
It looks like a really fascinating book and shows that this is not the first time this country has gone through what it is going thru today. Listen to what he says about Wilson's looks and demeanor and his comment about how terrible things don't happen only from a loudmouthed demagogue, but also from someone who was very dignified and professorial in appearance.
It's a very interesting video, worth listening to, and I'm going to look for the book.
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^^^
Interesting, thanks! There's another instance of something like that I heard tonight:
Tonight Rachel Maddow was talking about her new podcast on her show and also on The Last Word: MSNBC's Rachel Maddow and Lawrence O'Donnell discuss Maddow's new podcast, "Ultra," shedding new light on an existential threat to America and American democracy long forgotten by history.
It involves a Governor of North Dakota who refused to leave office, with the help of other Republicans and supported by Hitler connections. Later on the voters of that state elected him to the U.S. Senate! The Senators had to decide whether to seat him or not.
Here's The Last Word segment: (10 minutes)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-hoHrp8H4gU
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I'm sure you're aware of Alabama Senator Tommy Tuberville's racist remarks he made at a rally for the orange satan. Like many things now, shocking and not shocking.
I've written about this guy before.
Alabama has a new Republican Senator, Tommy Tuberville.
Which of the following is true about the new Senator?
a.) He doesn't know what the Voting Rights Act is about.*
b.) He doesn't correctly know the three branches of U.S. Government.
c.) He is a former football coach.
d.) He said his father, A WWII veteran, was a part of liberating Paris from socialism and communism.
e.) Asked which Senate committees he'd like to serve on his reply was, "The obvious ones."
f.) He said yesterday: "I think it still is still up in the air who’s going to be the president."**
I think you know where I'm going with this.
g.) All of the Above.
*The VRA, Voting Rights Act, materialized because of events in HIS OWN STATE of Alabama.
**He also said about that: "I remember in 2000 Al Gore was president, United States president elect, for 30 days – 30 days – and after 30 days, it got to the Supreme Court and the Supreme Court says, no, George Bush is going to be the president." [He's a Senator! He doesn't even know this simple election history.]
[...]
This is your new Senator Alabamians! Congrats.
Alabama Media Group's Kyle Whitmire noted, "With three weeks left before the election, Tuberville's campaign strategy was to say as little as possible. No debates. No interviews. No nothing. Tuberville was in hiding." The columnist added, "f a campaign won't let its candidate speak openly because he can't do so without saying dumb things that hurt his chances of winning the election, what the heck is going to happen when he's in the United States Senate?"
I guess we found out. He's racist, ignorant, an election denier.
He's also anti-semitic and homophobic. He was one of these 13 Senators who voted against Pete Buttigieg's confirmation. All Republicans. (Surprised?) And all southerners, too, I just noticed. Well, maybe not Kansas.
Sens. Richard Shelby and Tommy Tuberville of Alabama
Tom Cotton of Arkansas
Marco Rubio and Rick Scott of Florida
Roger Marshall of Kansas
Bill Cassidy of Louisiana
Josh Hawley of Missouri
James Lankford of Oklahoma
Tim Scott of South Carolina
Marsha Blackburn and Bill Hagerty of Tennessee
Ted Cruz of Texas (Last but not and yes, least.)
Marjorie Traitor Greene, what is your I.Q.?
(https://www.gannett-cdn.com/presto/2022/04/23/USAT/55147cd6-6d9f-43ec-b88a-a718f66647c0-GTY_1240155805.jpeg)
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I really want to get the book about Wilson and read it. I am assuming that all this stuff wasn't taught in history classes when I grew up. Maybe they do now, I'm not sure. To be perfect honest, I don't think they teach history at all in the schools now! :(
Thanks for the Maddow link, Lyle. I'll watch it tomorrow.
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I'm sure you're aware of Alabama Senator Tommy Tuberville's racist remarks he made at a rally for the orange satan. Like many things now, shocking and not shocking.
His qualification for serving in the Senate (aside from his support for the Great Orange Satan) was having been a football coach.
So of course Herschel Walker is eminently qualified to serve in the Senate. ...
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I really want to get the book about Wilson and read it. I am assuming that all this stuff wasn't taught in history classes when I grew up. Maybe they do now, I'm not sure. To be perfect honest, I don't think they teach history at all in the schools now! :(
Thanks for the Maddow link, Lyle. I'll watch it tomorrow.
"Ultra" sounds like something I would very much like to "read," just like the Hochschild book, Linda, both fascinating history that's been lost to history. But I really am not into podcasts. The people I know who like podcasts are usually those who drive a lot and can listen to them in their cars. I just can't find the impetus to sit down and just listen to one, for whatever reason. Maybe if I ever tried one on a subject that interests me, I'd love it and want to do it again, but so far I have not been moved to do it.
And about these two different history topics... I'm wondering, does it give one any comfort that our country has gone thorugh similar things like we are living through now and come out on the correct side of them? One might say yes, it gives hope that we will get through these times in a positive outcome, but then -- nothing is guaranteed. We cannot live through these things and not try, in some way, to participate in the outcome because nothing is guaranteed.
We don't know about, or forget about, this kind of history because it did not ultimately alter our democracy. So lessons can be learned from the history and we're lucky to have people like Hochschild and Maddow to bring it to our attention.
It's the "participation" part that always stumps me. Just because we know about it, what is it a person can do? I take voting as a given, and the meager donations (money and/or time) I've given to help a candidate or two seems inadequate. But maybe it's that those two things - voting and a donation - can add up to a lot when multiplied by x number of people doing the same thing.
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Sometimes I don't think I want to know what's going on.
There's a guy named David Pakman and he hosts podcasts, or radio shows or something -- I see some of his videos on his youtube channel. He will interview maga politicians running for office sometimes and answer some of the maga r's who call in on his comment line and he does it all in a calm and collected manner so he's not one of these people shouting his thoughts at others or shouting down someone who might be shouting at him.
But the level of insanity in the maga party is truly disturbing. He'll try to talk to these people and it often comes across as though they've been hypnotized. The disturbing part is that many people write in and ask him how these people's minds can be changed and there is no real answer to that because they really are that far gone. And, of course, they don't think they are.
I don't know if I should link any examples. Maybe this one...there's a woman running for Congress in CA's 14th district against Dem. Congressman Eric Swalwell.
-- Alison Hayden, Republican candidate running in California's 14th District, joins David to discuss her candidacy, her views on the 2020 election, Donald Trump, MAGA, and more
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SBVoya2nGCE
What's most disturbing is that many (many millions apparently!) R's think like this and they aren't the showy/noisy crazies that we most often see.
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Wilson was a truly vile person.
https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2015/11/20/9766896/woodrow-wilson-racist
I plan on listening to the Maddow podcast. I listen to podcasts instead of radio or TV. Not as much as I would like, but still.
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Wilson was a truly vile person.
https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2015/11/20/9766896/woodrow-wilson-racist
A man of his times, I guess...
"...and he was a racist by the standards of the 1910s, a period widely acknowledged by historians as the "nadir" of post–Civil War race relations in the United States."
The Wilson House, now a museum, in Washington, D.C., acknowledges this on their website:
https://www.woodrowwilsonhouse.org/wilson-topics/wilson-and-race/
One paragraph:
Though Wilson did not officially direct the implementation of these segregated policies, he welcomed them under the guise of the argument that it would reduce “friction” among government workers. But as William Monroe Trotter put it, just before Wilson kicked him out of the oval office for protesting these disgraceful policies, “We [had] appealed to you to undo this race segregation in accord with your duty as President and with your pre-election pledges to colored American voters. We stated that such segregation was a public humiliation and degradation, and entirely unmerited and far-reaching in its injurious effects. . . .”
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Wilson was a truly vile person.
https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2015/11/20/9766896/woodrow-wilson-racist
Ditto on the Fat Pumpkinhead !
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Alex Jones Ordered to Pay Sandy Hook Victims’ Families Nearly $1 Billion
Alex Jones cheers as he watches multimillion verdict against him live on Infowars show.
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/alex-jones-sandy-hook-verdict-infowars-b2201555.html?amp
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Alex Jones Ordered to Pay Sandy Hook Victims’ Families Nearly $1 Billion
Alex Jones cheers as he watches multimillion verdict against him live on Infowars show.
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/alex-jones-sandy-hook-verdict-infowars-b2201555.html?amp
I love reading this! I'm sure, however, the families will never see a single dime, but I love that it happened to him.
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I'll just leave this right here....
https://www.cnn.com/2022/10/11/asia/new-zealand-farmers-cow-sheep-burps-climate-intl-scn
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I'll just leave this right here....
https://www.cnn.com/2022/10/11/asia/new-zealand-farmers-cow-sheep-burps-climate-intl-scn
Not sure why this is so newsworthy. As the article says 50% of NZ's emission of greenhouse gases come from agriculture. Despite its small size, Aotearoa/NZ is the world's 12th largest agriculture producer, the top exporter of lamb and venison, the largest dairy product exporter in the world, and one of the main exporters of beef, kiwifruit, apples and seafood worldwide.
Until now farmers have been exempt from the emission trading scheme. 82% of our electricity comes from renewable resources, 100% here on the South Island. Uptake of EVs is going quite well. I bought a hybrid vehicle in February and now only consume 50% of my previous petrol costs.
As usual, a few redneck farmers make news headlines but most farmers accept this must happen and are only negotiating over the details of the scheme. Even the opposition parties are generally on board
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I love reading this! I'm sure, however, the families will never see a single dime, but I love that it happened to him.
This is just exactly what I was thinking. >:(
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Pumpkinhead will be subpoenaed:
The House Jan. 6 committee plans to vote to subpoena former President Donald Trump for testimony during Thursday’s hearing, AP sources say.
How much you want to make a bet he'll never testify in front of them?!?!
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Of course he won't. When that happens, everyone should remind his supporters that Hillary sat for HOURS in person and testified on Benghazi.
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Of course he won't. When that happens, everyone should remind his supporters that Hillary sat for HOURS in person and testified on Benghazi.
11 hours:
https://www.npr.org/sections/itsallpolitics/2015/10/22/451012235/clinton-endures-an-11-hour-grilling-before-benghazi-committee
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Pumpkinhead will be subpoenaed:
The House Jan. 6 committee plans to vote to subpoena former President Donald Trump for testimony during Thursday’s hearing, AP sources say.
How much you want to make a bet he'll never testify in front of them?!?!
I never bet against sure things.
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Well, I'm surprised at this!
Supreme Court rejects former President Donald Trump’s request to intervene in Mar-a-Lago documents fight
By Ariane de Vogue and Katelyn Polantz - October 13, 2022
The Supreme Court on Thursday rejected an emergency request from former President Donald Trump to intervene in the dispute over classified documents seized from his Mar-a-Lago estate in August.
Trump had asked the justices to reverse a federal appeals court and allow a special master to review about 100 documents marked classified, a move that could have opened the door for his legal team to review the records and argue that they should be off limits to prosecutors in a criminal case.
But in a brief order, the court denied the request. There were no noted dissents.
For now, the documents will stay out of the reach of the special master.
The court’s decision steers the court away from the political fray at a time when approval ratings of the 6-3 conservative-leaning court have dipped to new lows and liberals, including President Joe Biden, have attacked the legitimacy of the institution. The order was issued during the hearing of the House select committee’s investigation of the January 6, 2021, US Capitol attack.
https://www.cnn.com/2022/10/13/politics/supreme-court-trump-mar-a-lago/index.html
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I'm sure there will be many who object to the Parkland killer getting life imprisonment instead of the death penalty, but this way it's unlikely that he will wind up in years of appeals. Better for him to be shuffled off to prison and forgotten about like the loser that he is I think.
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Wisconsin Senator Ron Johnson Draws Laughter From Debate Audience
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5bhKJwobzRk
(2 mins.)
This corrupt and inane maga Senator needs to go. I hope his opponent (Mandela Barnes) draws votes.
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Supreme Court rejects former President Donald Trump’s request to intervene in Mar-a-Lago documents fight
Apparently the orange cretin was not happy about this.
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Lindsey Graham is deperately trying to get out of testifying for his treasonous role in the orange cretin's crusade to find 11,000 more votes in Georgia. He's been taking it to court after to court so as not to testify. Has anyone thought to ask Sen. Lindsay if he is so innocent, why not just testify? Methinks he doth protest too much.
I also noticed he said: "Here’s an idea: If you want to hurt OPEC, why not produce more oil and gas here in America?"
Better yet, why not start moving away from fossil fuels to renewable energy?
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I wish Lady Maga was up for de-election this year.
(https://scontent-lax3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.6435-9/103574964_2602748513281752_1812051355856656445_n.jpg?_nc_cat=108&ccb=1-7&_nc_sid=730e14&_nc_ohc=Ub6OR0Jr7YkAX9Vvl47&_nc_ht=scontent-lax3-1.xx&oh=00_AT-A7T3WY3PlvDKfETvW5WVITKN2iHmFUkPK2y5Z-HvV9w&oe=636D31E1)
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My goodness! Catholic schools have gotten rougher!
https://www.yahoo.com/gma/5th-grade-teacher-arrested-admitting-113031887.html
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My goodness! Catholic schools have gotten rougher!
https://www.yahoo.com/gma/5th-grade-teacher-arrested-admitting-113031887.html
:o
That's sick. How did this individual manage to get into the education system?
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:o
That's sick. How did this individual manage to get into the education system?
Well it's not like she was trying to read books that the parents didn't want, so they probably thought it was okay. WWJD after all, right?
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Well it's not like she was trying to read books that the parents didn't want, so they probably thought it was okay. WWJD after all, right?
I can't think of any way that any parent could justify this behavior, but I'm sure there are those out there who would make the effort to justify it.
It's infuriating.
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"In 1973, when a fire in UpStairs Lounge, a gay bar in New Orleans, Louisiana, killed 32 people, some of the families did not even come forward to claim the bodies of the victims. That’s how stigmatized gay people were. Today, same-sex marriage (or equivalent) is legal in most of the civilized world. Only the most bigoted still rail against it. The Overton window has moved."
I had not heard of the Overton window before.
http://wordsmith.org/words/overton_window.html
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I have never heard of that term before either. Interesting!
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Leslie Jordan has passed:
https://variety.com/2022/tv/obituaries-people-news/leslie-jordan-dead-will-and-grace-american-horror-story-1235412784/
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Well damn. I'm so sorry to hear this.
I remember seeing him for the first time, in Sordid Lives. He was so funny, and talented. He'll be missed.
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Well damn. I'm so sorry to hear this.
I remember seeing him for the first time, in Sordid Lives. He was so funny, and talented. He'll be missed.
He was amazing and had buckets of talent. Sorry he died at 67, it seems young.
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I read about this today as well. I was really sad to hear about this. They are saying a one car accident. I remember hearing about the videos he had online during the shut down for Covid. I listened to a few of them and they were very funny. He had a wicked sense of humor, but you never knew it because he presented it with such gentle down home presence. He also told it like it was! He will be missed.
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Today with the selection of a new woman to replace an outgoing member of parliament, in NZ, 50% of the members of parliament are women.
I checked the world figures (September)
Rwanda 61.3
Cuba 53.4
Nicaragua 51.7
United Arab Emirates and Mexico 50
NZ( in September) 49.2 but now also 50
Australia 38.4
UK 34.6
USA 28.4
It has taken a while, NZ was the first full nation (there were other states earlier) to give women the vote in 1893
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(https://img.zeit.de/wissen/geschichte/2022-10/grossbritannien-premierminister-rishi-sunak-vorgaenger-collage/wide__1000x562__desktop)
Earl Grey, Margaret Thatcher and UK's new hope
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Leslie Jordan. For those who didn't know, he's had a regular role on Mayim Bialik's TV sitcom Call Me Kat, which is in it's third season. Also in the cast Swoosie Kurtz and another gay man, Cheyenne Jackson.
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Today with the selection of a new woman to replace an outgoing member of parliament, in NZ, 50% of the members of parliament are women.
I've always been supportive of more women in office, but I should've been more specific...now we have Marjorie Traitor Greene, Kari Lake, Lauren Boebert, Marsha Blackburn, Joni Ernst, Michelle Steel (Stop the Steel), Kay Ivey, Kristi Noem...to name a few of the craziest Maga people in office.
It gets better: New York Times writer Robert Draper said Marjorie Traitor Greene mentioned numerous times that talks with Trump are ongoing about her running as his V.P. choice.
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They go together well.
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I read about this today as well. I was really sad to hear about this. They are saying a one car accident. I remember hearing about the videos he had online during the shut down for Covid. I listened to a few of them and they were very funny. He had a wicked sense of humor, but you never knew it because he presented it with such gentle down home presence. He also told it like it was! He will be missed.
He will indeed. I'm wondering if he didn't have a heart attack in his car.
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Someone tell the people in the tv thread:
https://english.elpais.com/science-tech/2022-08-24/too-much-tv-time-could-mean-a-higher-risk-of-dementia.html?outputType=amp
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^^^
The first thing on this page link made me laugh.
(https://images.english.elpais.com/resizer/ayEPVTYB3a-wnzAE8vrDaLVVnQg=/828x0/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/prisa/LRE5KVNBZVFWLFBLWLZAMYJASY.jpg)
A man looks at a television screen at home.
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The cat is saying "help me!"
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My Congressman is Adam Schiff and I don't/didn't pay any attention to who is running against him, as I am voting for him, but when I went to vote a few days ago I noticed the opponent's name is, written exactly like this:
G "Maebe A. Girl" Pudlo
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The closer we come to Election Day, the nastier the Fetterman/Oz commercials are becoming. What a surprise--not!
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In news of the ironic sort Putin is having a ghoulish celebration of the season by stealing the bones of 18th century imperialists from Kherson:
https://amp.brisbanetimes.com.au/world/europe/why-russia-stole-potemkin-s-bones-from-ukraine-20221028-p5btpo.html
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I can't imagine living in a state like you do, Jeff, where the races are competitive and nasty and so are all the advertisements. In California, we have a Governor's race and a Senate Race and they are so non-competitive that I have seen NO advertising from the Democrat or Republican sides.
I am trying to tune out the news because of the nastiness and angst and anxiety of it all. They came up with the idea decades ago of having candidates approve their own messages, but the Supreme Court's allowing PAC money to make commercials has rendered that quaint. I think even if PACs make commercials supporting or not supporting other candidates, the candidate they are, in effect, supporting, should also have to approve those.
This year the political commercials in that vein are so juvenile that they are insulting to anyone with half a brain. Of course, the T-party doesn't even have half a brain now.
This morning I read that two million Californians have voted already. I put my ballot in a drop box several days ago and I got a notice yesterday it had been accepted at the registrars office and already counted!
Does anyone else here, does your state or county use BallotTrax?
I just looked up your state, Jeff. Only one county in your state uses it: Mercer County. Do you know where that is?
https://www.ballottrax.com/wheresmy ballot (https://wheresmyballot.com)
Only 8 states completely use it, I see: California, Colorado, Georgia, Hawaii, Nevada, North Carolina, Rhode Island, Utah...and D.C.
Thirteen other states have at least one county that uses it, and in one state, just a city: Alaska, Arizona, Illinois, Florida, Missouri, New Jersey, Maryland, Michigan, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia.
If you don't know what it is--Ballot Trax informs you when your ballot is on the way to you in the mail. If you mail it, it tells you when the ballot gets to the election center. If you put it in a drop box it tells you when it gets picked up from the box and also when it gets to the election center. It also tells you when it has been accepted and counted. (It may work somewhat differently in other states, I don't know.)
I've always liked to watch the election returns and see how things go, but I think I'm skipping that this year; I don't know.
I'd like to think when people are voting they come to their senses and support democracy and overthrow the election deniers and their ilk. Realize that democracy is the most important thing on the ballot.
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In news of American political violence, when the attacker broke in to the Pelosi home last night and attacked the speaker's husband with a hammer he was yelling "Where is Nancy? Where is Nancy?"
https://news.sky.com/story/attacker-was-looking-for-nancy-pelosi-when-he-hit-her-husband-with-hammer-and-shouted-where-is-nancy-12732537
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In news of American political violence, when the attacker broke in to the Pelosi home last night and attacked the speaker's husband with a hammer he was yelling "Where is Nancy? Where is Nancy?"
https://news.sky.com/story/attacker-was-looking-for-nancy-pelosi-when-he-hit-her-husband-with-hammer-and-shouted-where-is-nancy-12732537
I was reading about this today, this is insane. thank god he's expected to make a full recovery.
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Yet they insist that the Democratic side is engaging in all the violence.
They take lessons from their leader Putin in attributing what they do to the other side. Of course both take lessons from their spiritual godfather back in Germany in the 30's.
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Or the Bosnian Serb who shot Archduke Franz Ferdinand and started World War I. They all suck eggs, to use a phrase my father used.
Personal political violent attacks are the province of the deranged. That's not to say they can't have huge effects - they started two world wars.
Paul Pelosi is in surgery. His attacker hit him in the head repeatedly with a hammer. He's expected to live, although what sort of life they're not saying.
Needless to say this is all pretty disturbing. I've been thinking for a while that it might be time to leave the U.S. Even San Francisco is no longer safe.
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The closer we come to Election Day, the nastier the Fetterman/Oz commercials are becoming. What a surprise--not!
Jeff... I wish all voters in PA would watch this segment from Lawrence O'Donnell's program after the Senate debate in PA has turned on the fact Fetterman is recovering from a stroke.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A2y6hxPgFdw
MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell explains why the “painful to watch” reaction to Pennsylvania’s Senate debate between John Fetterman and Mehmet Oz ignores the history of illness & disability in the Senate and White House.
Trouble is, what PA voter is going to watch something like this, or listen for several minutes? Much of our electorate these days just reacts without thought, discussion or any critical thinking.
There are people in the Senate (right now) that have had a stroke. Dick Cheney had heart attacks. Herschel Walker has Dissociative Identity Disorder, he uses that to explain past violent behavior, but experts in mental health say “D.I.D. does not cause violent behavior.”
Of course the T-party is going to use this against Fetterman, but why are friendlier news organizations helping them?
We all need to get together and manifest a miracle for election day. Isn't there some prayer things about two or more people that gather in his name ask and you shall receive? Let's all get together here on this thread/forum and ask and let the receiving come forth.
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Mercer County is out in the western part of the state. I think. ...
I don't know how it's done, but Philadelphia County (which is the same as the City of Philadelphia) sends emails first that your ballot is on the way, and then when it's been received. I hand-carried mine to the elections office at City Hall last week, and I've received notice that it has been received.
My dad watched the debate. He thinks Fetterman "cooked his own goose" in the debate. I suspect he's right. The race is tight. Mehment Oz is nothing but a carperbagger.
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I think the attitude toward Fetterman in the debate by many people is exactly like Trump doing this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PX9reO3QnUA
And the Lawrence O'Donnell segment refutes all of that and more.
Why aren't Democrats fighting this perception that the R's are using? R's did the same thing when Hillary Clinton had a problem during her Presidential campaign in 2016, when she was seen getting in her van and fainting, or nearly fainting or getting light headed, whatever...
https://thehill.com/blogs/pundits-blog/presidential-campaign/295393 (https://thehill.com/blogs/pundits-blog/presidential-campaign/295393-yes-hillary-almost-fainted-im-a-doctor-and-its/)
The R's pounced on this and flooded every media vacancy they could that she was about to meet her fate and wouldn't be able to be President and would lose all of her faculties and she'd be a blubbering idiot and on and on incessantly. Like they're doing now with Fetterman. Even some more liberal leaning news avenues are fueling those flames. WTF people?
You've got a Senate candidate in Georgia with 100 times more problems than Fetterman and Dems can't find a way to overwhelmingly beat that, either? Most voters that need to be reached now are sheep and if the Dems aren't pouring all the reasons they should vote for Fetterman into their heads they're going to believe the faulty bullying memes the R's are pouring in there. A lot of people are drawn to bullying as a sign of strength. Dems have to show at least the strength of the support for their candidates.
Is your Dad voting for Fetterman? Regardless of anything else?
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Is your Dad voting for Fetterman? Regardless of anything else?
Voted would be the word. We've both submitted our mail-in ballots. In any case we don't get specific. (He really surprised me when he actually told me he had voted for Trump--but wouldn't vote for him again.)
One of the latest Fetterman commercials I've seen features his parents--who describe themselves as "Trump-voting Republicans"! The point of that ad is that Fetterman is a Pennsylvanian born and bred, and Oz is not.
I've also read somewhere that Georgia Repubs don't give a damn about Herschel Walker's paying for abortions, being unqualified, and so forth--as long as they can get a Repub in to take control of the Senate.
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Viva Lula!!!
https://www.cnn.com/2022/10/30/americas/brazil-election-polls-open-intl/index.html
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Hope it holds. You know Bolsonaro's people will be as accepting of defeat as X's.
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Hope it holds. You know Bolsonaro's people will be as accepting of defeat as X's.
Indeed. I hope there isn't violence. Bolsonaro liberalized the gun laws in Brazil and there are a LOT of guns there now.
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He's such an X wannabe, like X is a Putin wannabe.
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He's such an X wannabe, like X is a Putin wannabe.
And they all prove the Hannah Arendt quote about the banality of evil.
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(https://bobbiblogger.files.wordpress.com/2011/10/handout.jpg)
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I've also read somewhere that Georgia Repubs don't give a damn about Herschel Walker's paying for abortions, being unqualified, and so forth--as long as they can get a Repub in to take control of the Senate.
I guess I shouldn't actually be too critical of that attitude. I realized today that I don't care if John Fetterman has some residual issues from his stroke. I just want a Democrat in Toomey's seat.
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Well two good things happened today.
Judge dismisses Mark Meadows' challenge to House January 6 committee subpoena
Supreme Court says Lindsey Graham must testify in grand jury Georgia election probe
Of course this does not cancel out that asshat Clarence Thomas putting a stay in the orange asshat's having to turn his income tax records over to the government.
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"Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel."
---Samuel Johnson
I could name a few. ...
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I've also read somewhere that Georgia Repubs don't give a damn about Herschel Walker's paying for abortions, being unqualified, and so forth--as long as they can get a Repub in to take control of the Senate.
I guess I shouldn't actually be too critical of that attitude. I realized today that I don't care if John Fetterman has some residual issues from his stroke. I just want a Democrat in Toomey's seat.
There's a big difference in those two things. Fetterman is a qualified candidate and Walker is anything but.
I have a relative who lives in North Carolina and we don't really talk/communicate a lot. I found out back in 2016 they supported Trump and I was really shocked and they were very antagonistic this last go 'round about Biden -- "can't stand him" -- somehow they learned to "hate" him and one day I just went off and and said, "I don't care whether you like Biden or not. That's fine. You don't have to like him at all, but what you should care a great deal about is that the candidates you do support are at the very least, qualified to hold that office."
I try to think of that whenever I get into political discussions with anyone now. Try to stay away from the actual candidate, the person, and ask things like what are their qualifications that you like or what are they going to do for you, the city, state, county, country or whatever that you like. Many times I have found people stymied. They know how to say "I don't like so and so or I do like so and so, but ask them something else and they're stumped.
It might be a small thing, but I like to feel as though it might be a seed that gets planted and could help in some way. Like Apple's, over 20 years ago, slogan: Think Different.
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The political ads here are hateful and downright false, and even though several of the ads have been proven to be lies, they are still running.
A radio station DJs here said that they would like to hear ads that the candidate tells what they are going to do for the state, their district and the people, instead of attacking the other candidate. This would be very refreshing.
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The political ads here are hateful and downright false, and even though several of the ads have been proven to be lies, they are still running.
Just curious what kinds of things are being said about New Mexico politicians?
The fact that a candidate's ads are now supposed to be affirmed by the candidate themself -- "I approve this message" -- PAC ads do not and because of the Supreme Court's Citizen United decision they are ever more prevalent and dishonest. (Corporations are, after all, people.) ???
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A radio station DJs here said that they would like to hear ads that the candidate tells what they are going to do for the state, their district and the people, instead of attacking the other candidate. This would be very refreshing.
That should be amended a little bit to say "they would like to hear ads that the candidate tells what they are going to do for the state, their district and the people" -- and HOW they plan to do it.
The Race for Mayor in Los Angeles is very close. (Karen Bass and Rick Caruso) Rick Caruso was a former Republican who changed his status to Democrat early "this year." The real estate developer has changed his party registration four times in the last 11 years, shifting twice between Republican and no party preference before re-registering as a Democrat about eight months ago. He recently aired an ad to persuade people to vote for him, even though he's been associated with the R party. The ad begins, "You may have heard that I used to be a Republican." He then goes on to recite all the reasons he left the R party that any Democrat would want to hear. Is it true? I don't know.
They both run many ads that say "what" they're going to do; because people want them to do things, especially about the homeless situation in many areas. But I want to know "how" they're going to do this. What's the plan. Caruso has a lot of energy and a more bullish attitude than Bass, who often seems way too laid back to me in the way she answers questions which comes off as a "more of the same" kind of attitude.
I have a friend who talks to me a lot about this race. He was leaning toward Caruso. Last week he found out that Caruso's real estate business or whatever it's called, owns a popular restaurant, or at least the property, in "The Grove" section of L.A. in the Fairfax area. (My friend works in a Bev. Hills restaurant.) The restaurant is called Maggiano's and has been there since The Grove opened. (Caruso's campaign headquarters are actually at The Grove, according to his commercials.) My friend recently found out that Maggiano's is going to close because Caruso's business is raising their rent to $100,000 a month!!! The restaurant cannot deal with that. So for all the talk about supporting workers and their plight, his business is forcing unemployment on everyone associated with Maggiano's...because they have to (?) raise the rent that much? (There's a commercial there for you Karen Bass.)
Anyway, I do not have to vote in this race, I'm in L.A. County, but not the city (I'm in WeHo). But I sure see the commercials for all of it.
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If your restaurant has to pay rent of $100,000 a month, you are paying 1.2 million dollars a year in rent! My friend says his restaurant in "Beverly Hills" pays $35,000 a month.
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Just curious what kinds of things are being said about New Mexico politicians?
Well the biggest one is the local CBS weatherman, Republican, running against the Democratic Governor. His nastiest one is how she let all these repeat offenders out of prison, and one they highlighted is a guy who was a repeat offender who threatened his girlfriend from prison. He was let out and proceeds to kill his girlfriend. Yes this was such a case, but they failed to tell the truth that it was the previous Republican governor who did this.
Three separate TV stations had experts who were fact checking the truthfulness of the political ads proving that it was the previous Republican governor, not the current one. Even the station he used to be the meteorologist for proved it was a lie.
He also milked a minor break in of his house back 8 years ago (once again during the previous Rep. Governor) as the reason why he wants to become governor. His wife did the ad for this, and even though it happened 8 years ago, they had her all mussed up like it had just happened and with voice trembling telling how she and her girls had to call from the closet as the guy was in the house. The truth is they came home to the house after it had been broken in to. All according to the police report.
He ran for the US Senate from the state in 2020 and had his a** handed to him. Typical Republican a**hole.
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Well the biggest one is the local CBS weatherman, Republican, running against the Democratic Governor. His nastiest one is how she let all these repeat offenders out of prison, and one they highlighted is a guy who was a repeat offender who threatened his girlfriend from prison. He was let out and proceeds to kill his girlfriend. Yes this was such a case, but they failed to tell the truth that it was the previous Republican governor who did this.
We get the same thing about Fetterman. I did not know this, but apparently as lieutenant governor he's head of the parole board. He wants to let murderers out of prison. ...
Then we get an actual police officer reporting that Fetterman voted with law enforcement 90% of the time.
(Oh, but he didn't vote with them 10% of the time. ...)
I get a kick out of the ads that don't say "Vote for Oz"; they just say "Don't vote for Fetterman."
Of course, they're all lies and half-truths.
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I've gotten to the point I just mute the political ads or if it's recorded, I just fast forward till I get back to the show. You know if they just spent some of this money that they spend on these ads on things that really need the money, we'd have less ads and less problems.
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Thanks, Linda, the R's are always scaring their voters about, well about everything, but specifically crime, usually black crime and about cities run by Democrats and if you can throw in an illegal immigrant the more the merrier. However, the Republicans are gaslighting their voters again to gain power.
For example. The Top Ten States with the highest per capita homicide/murder rates (for every 100,000 people) are:
20.50 - Mississippi
15.79 - Louisiana
14.32 - Kentucky
14.20 - Alabama
14.00 - Missouri
10.72 - South Carolina
10.70 - New Mexico
10.50 - Georgia
10.29 - Arkansas
09.90 - Tennessee
Notice that, except for one, they're all in RED states.
It's not CA or NY:
6.1 - California
4.7 - New York
Watch this segment from Chris Hayes' ALL IN program from a day ago:
The Myth Of Crime As A Big-City, Blue-State Problem
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z2jaMScgNsw
The question is, and it's maddening, but why don't the DEMS ever ALL get behind the same message and keep repeating it as the R"s do?
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Jeff, Biden and Obama will be in Philadelphia on Saturday. (All three of you?)
Turn out the vote!
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The race to find who is the better man
Between Ehmet Oz and John Fetterman
If your choice is Ehmet
I have to condemn it
Between those two John is much better than.
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Jeff, Biden and Obama will be in Philadelphia on Saturday. (All three of you?)
I'll never tell. ... ::) :laugh:
Did you or anybody hear what Joe had to say last night? I forgot about it and had the Phillies game on (which was sort of a waste of time ... ::) ).
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Did you or anybody hear what Joe had to say last night?
Here's a link to the speech, Jeff.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJfFPaKiew4
I made the mistake of reading some R or Maga comments on the speech. How do you fight this insanity? An example:
God willing, the Republicans will get in and stop this lunatic. Tucker (Carlson) suggested that Biden may be enabling a Chinese plot to take over North and South America. It may sound crazy, but someone subverted the recent election in Brazil, leaving the country in turmoil. A similar action may be planned for America. His speech was all about "accepting the outcome of the election," regardless of the truth. It was not about ensuring a free and fair election. No, his interest is in controlling the public, not in offering a legitimate election. Just be quiet and obey or you will destroy our perfect Democracy. Guilt and fear mongering... this sounds a fascist, trying to steal an election.
This was a pretty typical R/Maga response. But Conservative Columnists like National Review's (smug) Rich Lawry don't seem to mind that people who read their articles rant and rave like this.
These headlines show you the state of things:
CNN
Biden sends a stark warning about political violence ahead of midterms:
'We can't take democracy for granted any longer'
National Review
Biden's Speech Was the Worst of Both Worlds
The New York Times
Biden Seeks to Put Democracy Front and Center:
In Speech, Biden Warns That America’s Democracy Is in Peril
Fox News
Biden ridiculed for 'despicable' speech on 'threat' to democracy: 'What delusion looks like'
CNN’s King praises Biden speech, says Democratic critics are having 'silly Washington conversations'
North Carolina-WBT
By ignoring political violence by the Left, Biden’s speech lacks credibility
PBS Newshour
Biden calls on voters to save democracy from lies, violence
And an accurate assessment: (which I'll link)
Arizona Republic AZCentral
How Biden's speech was covered differently by Fox News, CNN, MSNBC
"Biden's speech was 'sharp and urgent' or 'pretty ridiculous.' Cable news couldn't decide"
https://www.azcentral.com/story/entertainment/media/2022/11/02/joe-biden-address-fox-news-cnn-and-msnbc/8251147001/
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So, if you read a lot of the MAGA/Rep. viewpoints they're all pounding their chests and declaring victory and steam rolling any opinions other than that, using their bullying strongman tactics as usual, while what are the Democrats doing? Here's a great headline people who want Democracy to succeed will just love to read:
Biden Takes Heat from His Own Party Over ‘Democracy’ Speech
...sheesh...
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Jeff, Biden and Obama will be in Philadelphia on Saturday. (All three of you?)
Turn out the vote!
___
The race to find who is the better man
Between Ehmet Oz and John Fetterman
If your choice is Ehmet
I have to condemn it
Between those two John is much better than.
Biden is/was here today.
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I made the mistake of reading some R or Maga comments on the speech. How do you fight this insanity? An example:
God willing, the Republicans will get in and stop this lunatic. Tucker (Carlson) suggested that Biden may be enabling a Chinese plot to take over North and South America. It may sound crazy, but someone subverted the recent election in Brazil, leaving the country in turmoil. A similar action may be planned for America. His speech was all about "accepting the outcome of the election," regardless of the truth. It was not about ensuring a free and fair election. No, his interest is in controlling the public, not in offering a legitimate election. Just be quiet and obey or you will destroy our perfect Democracy. Guilt and fear mongering... this sounds a fascist, trying to steal an election.
There is no fighting it--which is why I'm both depressed and frightened.
You could turn that post right around and fling it right back at the Orange-MAGAists (No, his interest is in controlling the public, not in offering a legitimate election. Just be quiet and obey or you will destroy our perfect Democracy. Guilt and fear mongering... this sounds a fascist, trying to steal an election.)--and how do you think they'd react to that?
And what do some Democrats do? Criticize Joe. >:(
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^^^^ The GOP has slowly eroded Trust since "horrible, trickle" Reagan was elected in the 1980s. That's the first time I really "took notice" of what was happening in politics. They continue "cutting taxes" and defunding government as a solid way for them to remain "in control" and now with the "election deniers (unless they win)..." We are in for a rough, rough ride. It's amazing what propaganda and lies can do to "normal civilized" people but angry MAGAs are in a whole class by themselves - too stupid to realize they are being played by the biggest con and con-man (outside Madoff) in many many years.
The crime numbers posted earlier are no surprise - the GOP's strangulation hold on those states speaks loudly - yet people keep right on voting for them.... the raw definition of insanity.
V.
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Since 2015 when Maga4Satan started running for President I have never ever watched one of his rallies, I've only seen clips offered by news programs. The clips are TOO MUCH so I never would think to watch one. Regrettably:
I WATCHED ONE LAST NIGHT.
There's a guy named David Pakman who I know from youtube videos which come across like radio shows (they probably are) where he talks and sometimes interviews people and takes calls or comments on things. I know that he'll often "host" these Maga4Satan rallies and make comments as to what's going on in them as they are happening.
He did this one at a Trump rally in Iowa. (He's not at the rallies, just shows the Live Feed that's provided.) The only reason I am at all glad I watched it is that I now know that Trump may actually be Satan. Or he needs an exorcism. The crap that he spews forth to these people is insane. That they take it all in and believe it is even more insane. I can't even describe the level of singular minded evil as how Trump comes across.
Iowa Sen. (for 42 years) Chuck Grassley was even there licking the devil's ass and praising him. If I had any respect for Grassley, even an iota, it has disappeared completely. The amount of profound immorality and wickedness on display from these people is mind-numbing and the fact that there's a ready and eager throng of worshippers to accept it is even more crushing. (Though they in fact look bored most of the time.)
I wouldn't even have gotten through this at all if it weren't for Pakman's asides, comments and refutations of what one is listening to were offered here and there.
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Trump may actually be Satan. Or he needs an exorcism.
Oh, he needs to be exorcised, all right. Just maybe not in the way Linda Blair was. ::)
(If you don't hear any more from me, you'll know I've been exorcised.)
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I'm brooding over this line today from All About Eve, uttered by Addison DeWitt:
"The atmosphere in here is very MacBeth-ish. What has...or is about...to happen?"
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I'm brooding over this line today from All About Eve, uttered by Addison DeWitt:
"The atmosphere in here is very MacBeth-ish. What has...or is about...to happen?"
"Fasten your seatbelts. It's going to be a bumpy night."
(You saw that coming, didn't you? ;D )
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:D
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(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Dk2-zDbUcAErzSu.jpg)
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In a speech for a New York State Democrat running for COngress, Bill Clinton summed up perfectly the current Republican Party. Bill Clinton:
"The Republicans are pretty simple, actually, and they're pretty straight forward. They say: I want you to be very miserable."
"And I want you to be very angry."
"And I want you to vote for us and we'll make it worse, but we'll blame it on them."
"You couldn't make this up."
"That's their strategy."
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Maybe many have forgotten, or some aren't old enough to even know, but there used to be a joy in campaigning for office. Candidates would love to campaign for their ideas and how to go about solving problems for the betterment of society. Opponents would be judged on their ideas and if they were any good. Personal attacks were few and far between and weren't designed to demean, but to enlighten.
Since the Republicans won both houses of Congress in 1994 and the ascension of Newt Gingrich and his ilk, they've turned their attention to attack and demean, confuse and obfuscate, win at all costs...
[And it doesn't help that the rise of social media and all that it encompasses has spread this unfortunate situation. It's like when you were in grade school and teachers would separate the trouble makers in class to keep order and peace and lessen their influence. The internet has brought all of these people together.]
Early on when I became of age and began voting, there's one important thing I have always taken into account when voting for someone. The best politicians have a sense of humor. The Republicans increasingly have lost, or even worse, discarded, all sense of humor. You know why? You've heard the adage, "There is truth in humor." There is little of truth in the current Maga party of trolls and cretins and their advocates like Fox News and that ilk. It's what I quoted Bill Clinton saying about them above, "I want you to be miserable. I want you to be angry."
Don't ever vote for any politician who has no sense of humor. There is truth in humor and if they have no sense of humor they have no sense of truth, either.
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Amen.
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When Pete Buttigieg ran for office in 2020, he initiated a list of things that he and everyone involved with his campaign and vision for the future abide by. Each of his topics was headed by a single word:
(https://images.milledcdn.com/2020-01-24/YvsT3ggYsG1tglaq/Mu_f77pxJBXA.png)
I loved that he included "Joy." I can't think of anything better that politicians and candidates could embrace while seeking elective office and especially if succeeding. Joyous people are going to be leaders we want in office. I hope there are some Republicans somewhere that adhere to these things, but can any of us readily name one of them? Using Clinton's speech the first three words on their list would be Misery - Anger - Blame.
Joy - from the Buttigieg campaign:
Amid the great challenge we have accepted, let us be joyful. We are
privileged to be in the very center of the most important conversations
in the world. We are assembling a team of wonderful human beings.
Along the way we will all get many opportunities to lift one another
up and lift up those we encounter. An American election is our greatest
civic and democratic ritual. It will shape us but we can shape it, too.
Let us shape it, partly, by spreading the joy of working for our beliefs.
Let us hope that voters are choosing people with JOY to represent them today so that HOPE will prevail when the sun rises tomorrow morning.
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Maybe many have forgotten, or some aren't old enough to even know, but there used to be a joy in campaigning for office. Candidates would love to campaign for their ideas and how to go about solving problems for the betterment of society. Opponents would be judged on their ideas and if they were any good. Personal attacks were few and far between and weren't designed to demean, but to enlighten.
Since the Republicans won both houses of Congress in 1994 and the ascension of Newt Gingrich and his ilk, they've turned their attention to attack and demean, confuse and obfuscate, win at all costs...
I expect there always was some nastiness, but certainly not to the extent we have today. Remember Lee Atwater and Willie Horton?
I always thought there was some poetic justice--or karma--in that Atwater died of a brain tumor.
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Good God, they're at it already, and the polls haven't even closed. According to Reuters, the Great Orange Satan and his minions are already claiming that problems with vote counting machines in Arizona are evidence of election fraud by the Democrats.
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The only election fraud that will be occurring is out of the mouths of Satan and his ilk.
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So sorry Jeff, I know how much you were looking forward to Mastriano and Oz....
:laugh: :laugh: :laugh:
Just kidding! Congratulations!
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^^^
;D
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While the Democrats performed better than anyone was expecting, especially a mid-term election with the party in power, the House and Senate are still not decided and that's what we need; at least to hold on to one of them. Although the House is so close, and this was a complete surprise, it doesn't look like it will happen, but we won't know, it won't be certain, for quite awhile. States that report slowly, a week or more (Nevada and Arizona) and California (weeks) are involved in this.
The Senate. Again, !, Arizona and Nevada are involved. Mark Kelly looks likely in Arizona, but Nevada? At the moment Cortez Masto is behind (ugh) but there's still 20% vote to come in from Clark County, the county Las Vegas is in. Plus there seems to be some delays in the mail in ballot count in two heavily populated counties; I don't know the reason. Fingers crossed. If both of those Senate seats can stay blue, the Senate would be 50-50, and then Georgia's run-off election between Warshock (49.4%) and the embarrassing Walker (48.5%) would not be as important to control of the Senate. If it comes down to the GA race, I'm afraid the R's there will pull out all the stops to take control of the Senate, but who wants to go through another month of this "election?"
I was shocked to see California voter turnout so low. It could alter somewhat, but right now it stands at 25.4% WTF? It was over 80% in the 2020 election. L.A. County's turnout this time? 23.4%. And every registered voter in CA is sent a ballot. That means 4,310,000 people collectively wasted a whole lot of paper in L.A. county.
How's Katie Porter doing in her race in a newly drawn district? As of right now:
U.S. House of Representatives District 47 - Districtwide Results
100.0% ( 534 of 534 ) precincts partially reporting as of November 9, 2022, 9:44 a.m.
Candidate Votes Percent
Katie Porter 84,614 50.3%
Scott Baugh 83,676 49.7%
She's ahead by 938 votes. :o
And since the house is so close, Dem races in CA could be doubly important and with such a ow voter turnout...
Like this one:
U.S. House of Representatives District 13
Candidate Votes Percent
Adam Gray (D) 34,512 49.9%
John Duarte (R) 34,715 50.1%
The Democrat is losing by 203 votes. Hope there's Dem mail in votes to come in.
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For the first year ever, all of the results of the California Propositions on the ballot were decided the way I voted on them! And none of them were close.
Yes 65% - No 35% State Measure 1 - Constitutional Right to Abortion
Yes 30% - No 70% Prop. 26 - Gambling on Tribal Lands
Yes 17% - No 83% Prop. 27 - On line gambling in CA
Yes 61.5% - No 38.5% Prop. 28 - Public School Arts and Music Education Funding
Yes 30% - No 70% Prop. 29 - Regulates Kidney Dialysis Clinics
Yes 41% - No 59% Prop. 30 - Tax to Fund ZEV/Wildfire Programs
Yes 62% - No 38% Prop. 31 - Prohibition on Sale of Certain Tobacco Products
Also of interest:
In 2014 a gay man who came to the U.S. as a child with his family from Peru, ran for Mayor of Long Beach. He won and won a second term in 2018. This year he ran for a House seat in Congress:
United States Representative, 42nd District
Robert Garcia 48,410 63.80%
John Briscoe. 27,467 36.20%
So we have a new (married) gay Congressman in the house.
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NATIONALLY:
Congrats to John Fetterman and the people of Pennsylvania for electing him!
A big thumbs down to the voters in Wisconsin for closely re-electing the abominable Ron Johnson to the Senate. He's a grifter. An idiot. An insurrectionist. His opponent was caring. Smart. Classy.
What's the matter with Texas. Why can't Beto get traction there? Over Abbott? OMG. And Florida, too.
A big thumbs down to Brian Kemp's victory speech against Stacy Abrams. He was so Kontemptuous toward her. A big thumbs down to Kevin McCarthy's speech about how they're going to send Nancy Pelosi back to CA. (Even though if she isn't House Speaker she still won her Congressional seat you asshole.)
Lots more voters ballot splitting votes in state elections between parties.
The race for Los Angeles Mayor is too close to call between Karen Bass and Rick Caruso; and now I have to go to the dentist. :-X
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While the Democrats performed better than anyone was expecting, especially a mid-term election with the party in power, the House and Senate are still not decided and that's what we need; at least to hold on to one of them. Although the House is so close, and this was a complete surprise, it doesn't look like it will happen, but we won't know, it won't be certain, for quite awhile. States that report slowly, a week or more (Nevada and Arizona) and California (weeks) are involved in this.
The Senate. Again, !, Arizona and Nevada are involved. Mark Kelly looks likely in Arizona, but Nevada? At the moment Cortez Masto is behind (ugh) but there's still 20% vote to come in from Clark County, the county Las Vegas is in. Plus there seems to be some delays in the mail in ballot count in two heavily populated counties; I don't know the reason. Fingers crossed. If both of those Senate seats can stay blue, the Senate would be 50-50, and then Georgia's run-off election between Warshock (49.4%) and the embarrassing Walker (48.5%) would not be as important to control of the Senate. If it comes down to the GA race, I'm afraid the R's there will pull out all the stops to take control of the Senate, but who wants to go through another month of this "election?"
I was shocked to see California voter turnout so low. It could alter somewhat, but right now it stands at 25.4% WTF? It was over 80% in the 2020 election. L.A. County's turnout this time? 23.4%. And every registered voter in CA is sent a ballot. That means 4,310,000 people collectively wasted a whole lot of paper in L.A. county.
How's Katie Porter doing in her race in a newly drawn district? As of right now:
U.S. House of Representatives District 47 - Districtwide Results
100.0% ( 534 of 534 ) precincts partially reporting as of November 9, 2022, 9:44 a.m.
Candidate Votes Percent
Katie Porter 84,614 50.3%
Scott Baugh 83,676 49.7%
She's ahead by 938 votes. :o
And since the house is so close, Dem races in CA could be doubly important and with such a ow voter turnout...
Like this one:
U.S. House of Representatives District 13
Candidate Votes Percent
Adam Gray (D) 34,512 49.9%
John Duarte (R) 34,715 50.1%
The Democrat is losing by 203 votes. Hope there's Dem mail in votes to come in.
New Mexico had one of the highest midterm voting in history. It showed as all the major races remained Blue. Our Governor won by 7 percentage points over the Orange Minion weatherman. I think his lies came back to bite him in the a**.
We only have 3 Congressional Districts. Two have been Democratic for awhile, but one has been Republican. The counts went back and forth all night and early this morning, it looked like the Republicans would keep it. I just found out that after all the votes were counted, the district went Blue. I am so very very happy about this. And doubly excited that the governor was reelected. YAY.
The Navajo Nation's current president was defeated and a new one was elected, with the first woman elected as the Nation's vice president.
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I wonder if the Navajo Nation might finally accept same-sex marriage.
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I'm sorta surprised they don't. I know they used to accept "two - spirited" people, so I assumed they were more open to that.
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At least on TV westerns, the Navajo Indians were of the more Republican type Indians. :)
Not like the more Democratic Iroquois or Algonquins.
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New Mexico had one of the highest midterm voting in history. It showed as all the major races remained Blue. Our Governor won by 7 percentage points over the Orange Minion weatherman. I think his lies came back to bite him in the a**.
We only have 3 Congressional Districts. Two have been Democratic for awhile, but one has been Republican. The counts went back and forth all night and early this morning, it looked like the Republicans would keep it. I just found out that after all the votes were counted, the district went Blue. I am so very very happy about this. And doubly excited that the governor was reelected. YAY.
The Navajo Nation's current president was defeated and a new one was elected, with the first woman elected as the Nation's vice president.
Nice to hear the good news from the southwest, Linda! I've always wondered...maybe you have an insight? Why has New Mexico, sandwiched between Texas and Arizona, always been very Dem friendly in elections? Certainly noticeably different than the other states in the Southwest. I mean, even Shirley MacLaine lives there! Heh!
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Hi all. Today is my Friday, so I'm all messed up on the days. The family is going camping today thru Sunday and taking the dogs, so YAY for me!! I hope everyone is having a good THURSDAY!! :P
Who hasn't been messed up in one way or another lately!!! ??? :-\
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First ND beating Clemson, then LSU beating Alabama, then the election, now this. It's been a good week.
https://thehill.com/homenews/media/3729130-wall-street-journal-labels-trump-biggest-republican-loser/
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The Democratic strategy to back Republican nut jobs appears to have worked:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/siladityaray/2022/11/09/democrats-boosted-far-right-gop-candidates-in-battleground-states-and-its-paying-off/?sh=212bd59a5e08
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This 2003 article from the WaPo (which doesn't appear to be behind a paywall) explains the evolution of Navajo attitudes:
"With the arrival of Western religious influences, Navajo families began to hide away homosexual relatives or encourage them to live as heterosexuals, Thomas said.
"The nadleeh were very much a part of Navajo culture right into the late 1800s," said Thomas, who is also a gay tribal member. "Now we have children and grandchildren who dismiss [nadleeh] as part of Navajo culture. It was . . . relegated to something that was part of Western culture and not Navajo."
https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/2003/11/30/gay-navajos-seek-place-amid-tradition/e950f732-a3b3-4f0b-bd4d-1dfe25edfed2/
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Here is the wiki on LGBT rights on the Navajo nation:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LGBT_rights_in_the_Navajo_Nation
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2014 NPR article on same-sex marriage and the Navajo nation:
https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2014/01/09/261048308/states-may-recognize-same-sex-marriages-but-navajo-nation-wont
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The GOP gets what they ask for, whether they want it or not.
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2014 NPR article on same-sex marriage and the Navajo nation:
https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2014/01/09/261048308/states-may-recognize-same-sex-marriages-but-navajo-nation-wont
Hope that changes eventually.
There are relatively few tribes that ban marriage. And those that do should know better, but the missionary position still holds sway.
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Hope that changes eventually.
There are relatively few tribes that ban marriage. And those that do should know better, but the missionary position still holds sway.
There are people working on changing it....
https://www.azmirror.com/2022/07/15/navajo-people-advocate-for-bill-to-recognize-same-sex-marriage-on-navajo-nation/
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There are relatively few tribes that ban marriage.
Actually they're all over the map on this:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Same-sex_marriage_in_tribal_nations_in_the_United_States
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I mean, it seems that there are 12 or so tribes that specifically ban same-sex marriage, all the rest permit it on tribal land or will recognize it performed elsewhere.
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The thing that I notice is that some of the largest tribes are the ones that ban marriage. The Navajo is the 2nd largest tribe in the U.S. (behind the Cherokee) and the Choctaw are in the top 5 population wise. What is hopeful is that the Cherokee initially banned same-sex marriage, but it was overturned by their A.G. So things are changing. What's weird, though, is that there seems no rhyme nor reason to who does and doesn't allow it. The Chickasaw and Choctaw are originally southeastern, the Navajo are originally from Canada and migrated to the southwest, the Lummi and the Kalispel are northwestern. It is, quite literally, all over the map.
You are right that there are lots of tribes that allow same-sex marriage, but population wise some of the biggest ones don't.
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The Democratic strategy to back Republican nut jobs appears to have worked:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/siladityaray/2022/11/09/democrats-boosted-far-right-gop-candidates-in-battleground-states-and-its-paying-off/?sh=212bd59a5e08
I'm surprised that they took this risk. It could've really backfired. However, I'm glad it didn't, and I hope that the Republicans will realize that these types of candidates don't have the appeal that they think they do.
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I'm surprised that they took this risk. It could've really backfired. However, I'm glad it didn't, and I hope that the Republicans will realize that these types of candidates don't have the appeal that they think they do.
It was scary Chuck! I remember when they backed John Gibbs against Peter Meijer. I was horrified! Look at his "issues" page:
https://www.votejohngibbs.com/issues
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It was scary Chuck! I remember when they backed John Gibbs against Peter Meijer. I was horrified! Look at his "issues" page:
https://www.votejohngibbs.com/issues
Good lord.
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I personally don't like that strategy. It's not a guarantee and I hope that it's not attempted again.
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Yes, I don't care for it either. Too dangerous.
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It was really scary! If it had failed as a strategy we would have had a bunch of nut-jobs in congress.
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Kevin Conroy, who played Batman on the animated series, has died:
"Conroy most recently wrote “Finding Batman,” which was showcased as part of DC Pride 2022 earlier this year. Conroy was openly gay, making him the only openly gay actor to portray Batman. “Finding Batman” recounted the actor’s experience playing the Caped Crusader while also coming to terms with his own sexuality."
https://variety.com/2022/tv/news/kevin-conroy-dead-batman-voice-actor-cancer-1235430429/
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It was really scary! If it had failed as a strategy we would have had a bunch of nut-jobs in congress.
You mean more so than the ones who are already there!?!?
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You mean more so than the ones who are already there!?!?
That's a tough call, but probably. That Gibbs guy was bizarre!
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It wasn't just the senate and house - there were many state legislature gains as well:
https://www.axios.com/2022/11/11/state-legislatures-governors-democrats
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Democrat Mark Kelly defeats Trump-backed Blake Masters in Arizona
By Ja'han Jones - Nov. 11, 2022
Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly of Arizona has won re-election, overcoming a challenge from Blake Masters, a 2020 election denier backed by former President Donald Trump, NBC News projects. The win brings Democrats one seat closer to control of the Senate.
Most polling leading up to Election Day showed Kelly with a consistent but increasingly narrow lead over Masters, who was running his first political campaign ... and it showed.
Masters exhibited no command over his messaging whatsoever. He praised the Unabomber, the murderous terrorist whose violent acts spanned nearly two decades. Masters frequently cited ideologues who oppose democratic governance. He's said racial diversity at the Federal Reserve is the source of U.S. economic problems. He’s promoted the racist "replacement" theory that claims nonwhite migrants are part of a plot to destroy America. He’s blamed “Black people” for the United States’ gun violence problem. He’s parroted baseless conspiracy theories about Trump being cheated out of the 2020 election by nefarious officials in the government.
https://www.msnbc.com/the-reidout/reidout-blog/mark-kelly-wins-arizona-senate-election-2022-midterms-rcna53204
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Rep. Boebert is locked in an unexpectedly close race. Some constituents say they're tired of a 'mini Trump.'
Deon J. Hampton - Fri, November 11, 2022
In the heart of Colorado’s 3rd Congressional District, a rural region spanning much of the southwestern part of the state, some people who voted for Republican U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert two years ago said they were fed up with what seemed like her desire to grab the national spotlight over fighting for them.
The Donald Trump loyalist's surprisingly close race against little-known Democrat and former Aspen city councilman Adam Frisch has become one of the nation's most closely watched midterm election battles over a seat most political observers thought Boebert would win easily.
As of Friday morning, Frisch trailed Boebert by 1,122 votes in the U.S. House race. The nonpartisan Cook Political Report had rated the district as solidly Republican ahead of Tuesday’s election. Trump won the district twice, capturing 53.1% of the vote in 2016 and 52.9% four years later.
The results of the Boebert-Frisch showdown are likely to lead to a recount as control of the House hangs in the balance. Under state law, an automatic recount is required when a margin of victory in an election is less than or equal to 0.5% of the winner’s vote. Losing candidates may also request a recount at their own expense.
Apple Gibson, 69, of Pueblo County, who is registered as independent, said she usually votes Republican but not this time around.
“Her loud mouth; she’s a mini Trump. That was a turnoff,” Gibson said when asked why she switched her vote this time. Gibson said she believed Boebert wanted to create jobs at the expense of the Rocky Mountain region's natural beauty and landscape.
https://news.yahoo.com/rep-boebert-locked-unexpectedly-close-225140765.html
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Cortez Masto draws closer to Laxalt in Nevada Senate race
By Natalie Prieb - 11/11/22 7:59 AM ET
The Nevada Senate race has continued to tighten in the days since the Nov. 8 election, with Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) narrowing Republican Adam Laxalt’s lead late Thursday night.
At the time of writing, the incumbent senator trails Laxalt by just under 9,000 votes, giving him just a 1-point lead over her at 49 percent to 48 percent with 10 percent of votes in the state that still need to be counted. The counties with the highest number of votes still outstanding are Republican-heavy Lincoln County and Democratic-leaning Washoe County.
Democrats were concerned going into the midterms that a favorable political climate for Republicans, as well as the role that inflation has had on the economy in tourism-heavy Las Vegas, would hurt Cortez Masto in the race. Though the election is still too close to call, the senator is now within serious striking distance of Laxalt, raising Democratic hopes that she could still squeeze out a win.
https://thehill.com/homenews/3730786-cortez-masto-draws-closer-to-laxalt-in-nevada-senate-race/
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Hope.
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Rep. Boebert is locked in an unexpectedly close race. Some constituents say they're tired of a 'mini Trump.'
Deon J. Hampton - Fri, November 11, 2022
In the heart of Colorado’s 3rd Congressional District, a rural region spanning much of the southwestern part of the state, some people who voted for Republican U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert two years ago said they were fed up with what seemed like her desire to grab the national spotlight over fighting for them.
The Donald Trump loyalist's surprisingly close race against little-known Democrat and former Aspen city councilman Adam Frisch has become one of the nation's most closely watched midterm election battles over a seat most political observers thought Boebert would win easily.
As of Friday morning, Frisch trailed Boebert by 1,122 votes in the U.S. House race. The nonpartisan Cook Political Report had rated the district as solidly Republican ahead of Tuesday’s election. Trump won the district twice, capturing 53.1% of the vote in 2016 and 52.9% four years later.
The results of the Boebert-Frisch showdown are likely to lead to a recount as control of the House hangs in the balance. Under state law, an automatic recount is required when a margin of victory in an election is less than or equal to 0.5% of the winner’s vote. Losing candidates may also request a recount at their own expense.
Apple Gibson, 69, of Pueblo County, who is registered as independent, said she usually votes Republican but not this time around.
“Her loud mouth; she’s a mini Trump. That was a turnoff,” Gibson said when asked why she switched her vote this time. Gibson said she believed Boebert wanted to create jobs at the expense of the Rocky Mountain region's natural beauty and landscape.
https://news.yahoo.com/rep-boebert-locked-unexpectedly-close-225140765.html
This makes me extremely happy and hopeful!!
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In one of our House races, a usual Republican win, was won, after a 24 hour of back and forth leads, by the Democrat. I believe this was an unexpected win for the House that the pundits weren't expecting. I haven't heard much about it nationally. The other 2 races were won by Democrats, but this is usually the case.
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^^^ With such a close race, if she wins she's going to be even more intolerable.
A normal candidate in that scenario would reflect and make a speech about how they're going to do better for their constituents, but Maga and normal = water and vinegar.
_______
Colorado: Newly re-elected gay Colorado Governor Jared Polis, who won by a lot, was on Real Time last night. He previously served in the House of Representatives and I've known about him since then, but I've never actually seen him or heard him speak/talk or anything. He is so down to earth and focused on doing his job and such. He has great ideas about how to move his state and the country forward. He's what we used to think of as a very normal politician, that it took me surprise, so I am happy to have acquainted myself with him further.
Hmmm...Real Time is done in Los Angeles. Wonder where he is today?
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It wasn't just the senate and house - there were many state legislature gains as well:
https://www.axios.com/2022/11/11/state-legislatures-governors-democrats
I'd been learning about this the last couple days.
In the article, this made me laugh: What we're watching: Arizona, where Republicans have a narrow two-seat majority in both chambers, was another top target for Democrats. It's still early in the state's vote-counting process, but Democrats told Axios they're hopeful their winning streak will continue there.
Early? We all know Florida's voting system in 2000 was a mess. It took a month for final tallies and returns. After 2000 they vowed to straighten it out so they wouldn't be a laughingstock. Well, they're still that, but they did resolve their voting system such that the past many elections their returns have come in quickly and rather efficiently and so whatever's happening in Florida, the results are known pretty quickly.
I don't know if Florida has early voting or because it's pretty Republican (Miami-Dade even went for DeSantis) they have a lot of voter suppression or rules that would allow mail in votes to come in after election day, or even if they have mail in voting, but I do know the registered voting population of Florida and Arizona is such:
Registered voters:
Florida: 14,461,755
Arizona: 4,143,929
So Florida's results are known or projected on election night, but we're still figuring out Arizona so long afterwards when they have at least ten million less voters in the state?
Of course, we generally don't care about this if the votes are such that results can be projected early, but day by day waiting for this important information must be grueling on the candidates involved. Or not, I don't know. But if you watch programs that report every little vote count that comes in hour by hour, day by day, it sure gives people who've been skeptical of how votes are counted to keep conspiracy theories going. Especially if they hear the term "curing ballots."
Wouldn't you know the increasingly abominable Lindsay Graham is the one to spout one yesterday:
Senator Lindsay Graham Inexcusably Claims Without Evidence Voter Fraud in Nevada Senate Election
https://electionlawblog.org/?p=133057
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Re: Blake Masters
Masters exhibited no command over his messaging whatsoever. He praised the Unabomber, the murderous terrorist whose violent acts spanned nearly two decades. Masters frequently cited ideologues who oppose democratic governance. He's said racial diversity at the Federal Reserve is the source of U.S. economic problems. He’s promoted the racist "replacement" theory that claims nonwhite migrants are part of a plot to destroy America. He’s blamed “Black people” for the United States’ gun violence problem. He’s parroted baseless conspiracy theories about Trump being cheated out of the 2020 election by nefarious officials in the government.
I know this guy's a piece of work, but jumpin' Jehoshaphats! -- you'd think if you knew anything about running for political office, the one thing you would not due is praise a person who sent anonymous bombs to unsuspecting people.
And yet over a million people voted for him.
I guess some voters don't know that, either.
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Cortez Masto draws closer to Laxalt in Nevada Senate race
[...]
At the time of writing, the incumbent senator trails Laxalt by just under 9,000 votes, giving him just a 1-point lead over her at 49 percent to 48 percent with 10 percent of votes in the state that still need to be counted.
At the time of my posting here:
...the incumbent senator Cortes Masto trails Laxalt by just under 9,000 962 votes... :-X
What to Know About the Outstanding Votes in Nevada
https://www.cnn.com/2022/11/12/politics/nevada-votes-what-to-know (https://www.cnn.com/2022/11/12/politics/nevada-arizona-votes-midterms-what-to-know)
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"Hmmm...it would take a lot less time to count these votes if we didn't have to read the ballots sideways."
(https://media.cnn.com/api/v1/images/stellar/prod/221111191502-02-election-worker-ballots-maricopa-county-111122.jpg)
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At the time of my posting here:
...the incumbent senator Cortes Masto trails Laxalt by just under 9,000 962 votes... :-X
What to Know About the Outstanding Votes in Nevada
https://www.cnn.com/2022/11/12/politics/nevada-votes-what-to-know (https://www.cnn.com/2022/11/12/politics/nevada-arizona-votes-midterms-what-to-know)
Oh, praying and fingers crossed! Please please please!
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Yes. Yes. Yes.
I am with you! Prayers and fingers from me, too!
Please please please!
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A Nevada Republican strategist told CNN on Saturday [today] that the mood inside Laxalt’s campaign was “awful” and that different factions of the candidate’s operation have begun the internal blame game, feeling it is a forgone conclusion that Cortez Masto will take the lead soon.
When asked by CNN to describe the mood inside Laxalt’s campaign, the strategist said, “Shocked and depressed.”
Laxalt on Saturday acknowledged his narrowing lead over Cortez Masto in the too-close-to-call race, tweeting that the mostly mail-in ballots being counted were favoring Democrats by higher margins than expected.
“This has narrowed our victory window. The race will come down to 20-30K Election Day Clark drop off ballots,” Laxalt tweeted.
“If they are GOP precincts or slightly DEM leaning then we can still win. If they continue to trend heavy DEM then she will overtake us,” he added.
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I can't read the article, but the New York Times is saying that mail ballots from around Las Vegas are going to put democrats in the lead.
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Tell you what. I've started to wonder, with his attacks on other Republicans, especially those who may challenge him, is the Great Orange Satan moving closer and closer to shooting himself in the foot? Everything I'm reading lately makes me feel like he's becoming an increasingly desperate man, afraid of losing control.
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^^^ If he wants to shoot himself in the foot or any other place, I am perfectly fine with that! :P
It's been great the past few days to hear on news programs, not only Democrats of course, but Republicans and Fox News call Trump a loser.
We knew it long ago, they're just realizing or admitting it.
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At the time of my posting here:
...the incumbent senator Cortes Masto trails Laxalt by just under 9,000 962 votes... :-X
A correction...oops...it's 862 votes.
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Tell you what. I've started to wonder, with his attacks on other Republicans, especially those who may challenge him, is the Great Orange Satan moving closer and closer to shooting himself in the foot? Everything I'm reading lately makes me feel like he's becoming an increasingly desperate man, afraid of losing control.
Hope!
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Catherine Cortes Masto has just been re-elected to her Senate seat in Nevada!
4932
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I saw the news from Michael Flanagan on his FB page! My night has been made! :)
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I hope that X won't be able to help himself and will insist on campaign for Walker in Georgia, giving one of his trademarked lucid speeches.
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I hope that X won't be able to help himself and will insist on campaign for Walker in Georgia, giving one of his trademarked lucid speeches.
Given how lucid Walker's speeches are it could be very entertaining.
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;D Exactly!
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Catherine Cortes Masto has just been re-elected to her Senate seat in Nevada!
4932
I meant to write more in this post above, like that the Attorney General race (Aguilar) had also been called, but Spectrum was acting up and then went down in Los Angeles right then and was out for 12-14 hours!
That 4932 number, I beleive, is how many votes Masto was ahead in that vote update. The first time she's ever been ahead in that race since the vote returns started coming in last Tuesday. "It's not where you start it's where you finish." ;D
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No one really knows how Masto winning her Senate seat will affect the run-off in Georgia with Warnock and Walker.
It's obviously a different race with the Dems not needing it to secure the Senate majority, so GA Republicans don't have the excuse to vote for Walker to keep the Senate in Republican hands. I am assuming there are Republicans who really would rather not vote for Walker without that caveat. At least I hope so.
If you recall, in 2020 both Georgia Senate Races were up for election. One a full six year term and the other a two year term to fill out the vacant seat where the other Senator had been appointed to a Federal position and left the seat. The runoff election was held two months later on January 5th. John Ossoff won the six year seat and Raphael Warnock the two year seat.
Now, why do you suppose the runoff this year is only a month later, a little less actually, than last time when it was two months? I found out that it's because Brian Kemp wanted the run-off period changed in the election reform package that Georgia adopted after the 2020 election. Along with things like his voter suppression measures and arresting people if they give water to people waiting in lines to vote acts, he didn't like that in 2020 that the Democrats went around those two months and registered new voters, particularly voters who turned 18 in those two months and were then eligible to vote. Shortening the period gives the Democrats less time for things like that. That's the kind of person Brian Kemp is.
We can hope GA Republican voters are demoralized with the red wave that wasn't and won't vote.
We can hope GA Democrats are feeling good about winning and want to keep on winning.
We can hope the message gets out to all GA voters how really awful a candidate Walker is.
We can hope I shut up now. :-X
I really like Raphael Warnock. He is truly interested in helping his constituents. He's spiritual in the best way. He's kind and thoughtful. He has a way with words, I love this quote of his: "A vote is a prayer about the kind of world we want to live in. And our prayers are stronger when we pray together."
I heard an interesting statistic. If Raphael Warnock wins the run-off election, it will be the first time ever that every incumbent Senator running for re-election in the U.S. has won their seat.
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"A vote is a prayer about the kind of world we want to live in. And our prayers are stronger when we pray together."
Amen.
You know that there were quite a number of Georgia Republicans who voted for Walker only to deny a Democratic majority in the Senate, so they have a lot less inclination to vote for a person of his character, not to mention race, when it won't count as much.
(Thanks for this quote, I copied it for my FB page)
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It can be a prayer. It can also be a curse. I've cast both kinds.
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The margin in the Az governor's race is getting tighter, but the number of ballots remaining is getting smaller, so it still looks like Hobbs might win....
https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/politics/elections/2022/11/13/arizona-governor-election-latest-results-katie-hobbs-kari-lake/10693283002/
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Hope.
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"Dave Wasserman of the nonpartisan Cook Political Report said after the latest vote drop Sunday that it’s “extremely tough to see how Kari Lake (R) wins now.”
Lake gained ground in Maricopa county with 54 percent of the nearly 100,000 votes reported Sunday evening, but that’s not by a wide enough margin to close the gap with Hobbs. As of Sunday night, Lake needs 58 percent of all remaining votes to win, according to AZ Central."
https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/3733721-hobbs-lead-over-lake-narrows-with-93-percent-of-votes-counted/
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Fingers crossed for Hobbs!
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Fingers crossed for Hobbs!
Me too!
Katie Porter is ahead by about 5000 votes too.
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Thanks for the articles, Lyle and Michael! Great information!!
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You know that there were quite a number of Georgia Republicans who voted for Walker only to deny a Democratic majority in the Senate, so they have a lot less inclination to vote for a person of his character, not to mention race, when it won't count as much.
I'd heard that, too.
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Colorado-03:
(last vote update was Nov. 10 | 11:39pm ET)
(D) Adam Frisch
(R) Lauren Boebert
Boebert currently leads by 0.4 points. 99% of the vote is in. The best guess is that there's approximately six to seven thousand votes left to come in. It's a mix of mail-in, overseas votes, cured ballots and other odds and ends, so how they might lean is not determined.
If there were 6,000 Frisch would have to win 68.75% of those votes. 66.07% If there are 7,000. If the final tally is within 0.5 points, there will be a recount. It stands at 0.4 as noted above. However, as we've seen in 2020 with unnecessary recounts galore prompted by the Republicans disbelief that Biden could have won, if someone is ahead going into a recount, it's quite rare the opponent overcomes that. It's a high bar, but we can hope.
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Arizona election 2022: Hobbs holds lead over Lake after final major Maricopa County tally
Arizona Republic 11/14/22
Democratic nominee for governor Katie Hobbs held her lead over GOP nominee Kari Lake Monday evening following Maricopa County’s final big ballot tally. New ballot tallies were also released Monday by Pinal, Apache, Pima, Yuma and Cochise counties.
https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/politics/elections/2022/11/14/arizona-election-2022-live-updates-across-state/10672948002/
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They're not all calling it yet, but NBC has called the Arizona Governor's race for Hobbs (Calvin is very happy):
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2022-election/democrat-katie-hobbs-defeats-maga-favorite-kari-lake-high-stakes-race-rcna55172
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(Calvin is very happy):
:laugh: so am I
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CNN is calling it now too:
https://www.cnn.com/2022/11/14/politics/katie-hobbs-arizona-governors-race/index.html
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Stick a fork in her, she's a Thanksgiving turkey:
https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/politics/elections/2022/11/14/katie-hobbs-elected-arizona-governor-defeating-kari-lake/10700050002/
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Good.
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Good.
45 has an almost perfect record in this election Fritz! He picked ALL the losers.
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wonderful!!
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They're not all calling it yet, but NBC has called the Arizona Governor's race for Hobbs (Calvin is very happy):
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2022-election/democrat-katie-hobbs-defeats-maga-favorite-kari-lake-high-stakes-race-rcna55172
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/f800eb2992970a0e92443da43f0dcf49d39e5f54775adc6e47efab69bb07d95a.gif
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(https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/5f22b3a32502c571d5c0ae8ddbdba14022dff8d0ff3eea88f2e71a8416a46d9a.jpg)
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I truly found Ms. Lake obnoxious in every way. An election denier, a conspiracy believer, and MAGA all the way, not to mention she looked like a Barbie Doll. I don't see that being a beauty queen and a Fox news anchor qualifies you to be a governor of any state. >:(
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Well she certainly wasn't a very deep lake. I just posted this over in the LGBT News thread, but I didn't know she had totally revamped her personality for the campaign:
https://www.advocate.com/politics/2022/6/21/drag-queen-calls-out-az-gubernatorial-kari-lake-candidate-over-hypocrisy
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(https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/5f22b3a32502c571d5c0ae8ddbdba14022dff8d0ff3eea88f2e71a8416a46d9a.jpg)
This guy needs to go away too.
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This guy needs to go away too.
More than that, he needs to be ignored. Why is he always talked to--maybe it's more of the nightly talk shows doing it because he is so insane; I guess news people don't really go to him for soundbites.
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This is great Fritz!
(https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/f800eb2992970a0e92443da43f0dcf49d39e5f54775adc6e47efab69bb07d95a.gif)
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he would never go down with that ship. lol
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[...] NBC has called the Arizona Governor's race for Hobbs [...]
Right after the race was called for Hobbs, Lake tweeted:
@KariLake
Governor candidate, AZ
Arizonans know BS when they see it.
1 hr. ago:
(will Lake concede)
The Washington Post
Reality waits to see if it has a new supporter
26 mins. ago:
National Review
Kari Lake: My Campaign Hasn't Given Up the Fight!
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^^^
She needs to change her name to Karen.
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The Democratic strategy to back Republican nut jobs appears to have worked:
https://www.forbes.com/2022/11/09/democrats-boosted-far-right-gop-candidates-paying-off (https://www.forbes.com/sites/siladityaray/2022/11/09/democrats-boosted-far-right-gop-candidates-in-battleground-states-and-its-paying-off/?sh=212bd59a5e08)
I didn't know Lake was one some Dems were helping in the primaries, too; I saw this:
(This was from last July.)
Trump-backed Kari Lake gets a hand from an unlikely source in Arizona: Democrats
https://www.nbcnews.com/election/trump-backed-lake-democrats/ (https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2022-election/trump-backed-kari-lake-gets-hand-unlikely-source-arizona-democrats-rcna38084)
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ARIZONA
MAGA Media Is Melting Down Over Kari Lake’s Loss
Donald Trump, Fox News, and others are in disbelief that the election denier lost the Arizona gubernatorial race, alleging fraud and foul play
NOVEMBER 15, 2022
https://www.rollingstone.com/lake-loss-causes-maga-media-meltdown/ (https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/kari-lake-loss-causes-maga-media-meltdown-1234630917/)
P.S.: Despite the on air Fox News people melting down, remember that Fox News itself has called the race for Hobbs.
Oh the irony. Maybe they'll go from denialism to de-nihilism.
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Russian missiles have killed two in Poland. Y'all ready for WWIII?
https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-war-zelenskyy-kherson-9202c032cf3a5c22761ee71b52ff9d52
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I'm sure they'll say that Ukrainians fired them.
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Oh well. This happened too, which may help:
https://www.cnbc.com/2022/11/12/colorado-just-legalized-magic-mushrooms-an-idea-thats-growing-nationwide.html
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I suppose somebody somewhere has done a cartoon of the Great Orange Satan as a toddler throwing a tantrum because he's not getting his own way? Increasingly, that's what he makes me think of. I've been thinking of Nancy Pelosi's comment after a meeting with him, "I know a tantrum when I see one."
He is pathetic, really.
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Holy smoke!
https://www.joemygod.com/2022/11/mormon-church-endorses-marriage-equality-bill/
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They asked Urim and Thummim no doubt.
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Glad they cooperated!
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I love this story:
"Timothy Morales, a teacher, was trapped in the southern Ukrainian city during the occupation. To evade Russian troops, he rarely ventured out, switched apartments and pretended to be Irish."
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/16/world/europe/american-teacher-kherson-ukraine.html
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Knowing the Orange Cretin's daily reading habits include Rupert Murdoch's New York Post, the OC must've really been boiling over when he saw today's edition:
(https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/11/dvdv.jpg)
Just that little banner at the bottom. And now everyone else is calling the O.C. "Florida man." LOL!
And worse! For more info "see page 26!" The O.C. must be a blood orange color today.
Not even using his name...the one thing OC Florida Man loves seeing and hearing more than anything.
Even Fox News cut away from his speech last night. Ouch!
Here's the MSNBC Morning Joe people making light of Trump this morning: (1 min.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a-N5lZaWjJI
And on CNN, Maggie Haberman's reaction to the Florida Man and how he must be feeling: (9 mins.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6EC_5QeBIJ4
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I liked it, too. He was very ingenious and made it through. The idea that he was Irish was inspired, you ask me. ;)
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I love that the Post called him Florida Man. ;D It sounds like the speech was not very different from what he's said a million times before or energized. He's angry, not eager to start a new campaign. Haberman got it right when she said he was doing this to get attention, to protect himself from the investigations, and to reclaim the power of the office.
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Good comeuppance.
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I hope this goes nowhere, and becomes an embarrassment for him.
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If he wanted to run as an independent after failing to get the Republican nod, there's little we could do to stop him.
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Have others seen the video of Herschel Walker making a speech to his supporters and interrupting himself to inform them that a werewolf can kill a vampire, sharing plot details of a movie he saw late at night. He then told the audience that he'd thought vampires are cool, but now he doesn't want to be a vampire, since a werewolf could kill him. I gather the video is on YouTube and many other places. Let us hope that Georgia voters are paying attention.
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I expect that white Georgia Republicans who have a tendency even toward genteel racism will find an excuse not to vote this time.
Though the truly committed white evangelicals would find a way to vote for him over a preacher who is of the wrong race.
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Yes Jenny, I saw that. It came after another bizarre/off-the-wall discussion of why gas-guzzlers were green. I'm hoping that now the Senate is decided that there will be less of a motivation to vote for the embarrassing candidate.
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Canada is getting ready to legalize medical assistance in dying for chronic untreatable mental illness. It's causing a very interesting discussion, including whether or not some psychiatric patients are being pressured and if managed care is trying to get rid of patients that are costing them too much. However, if you're going to consider mental illness to be another chronic illness it makes sense in my opinion to consider it:
https://nationalpost.com/health/canada-mental-illness-maid-medical-aid-in-dying
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Lauren Boebert's race is still not called, but it appears it's so close it's heading for a recount.
US House · Colorado
Colorado · District 3
The Associated Press
Reporting: 2 hrs. ago
99% reporting
Lauren Boebert (R) 50.1%
163,758 votes
Adam Frisch (D) 49.9%
163,207 votes
That's a difference of only 551 votes!!!
Gore lost the Presidency by 537 votes in Florida in 2000.
As much as we'd like to have hope here, as I mentioned when writing about this some days ago, recounts hardly ever change who's ahead. They didn't with Gore in Florida. They didn't in the myriad recounts for President undertaken by Maga insanity in 2020.
In fact, a few days ago I wrote that Frisch was behind by, I believe it was 1126 votes and I frankly am amazed that number has dwindled to 551! It's so infuriating he couldn't be ahead. Damn. So close. And yet so far.
The worst part is that this will not chasten Lauren Boebert, no, it'll have the opposite effect.
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Lawrence O'Donnell had a House candidate from Connecticut on his program two nights ago. In his district when the vote totals were officially announced the R & D candidates each had the exact same vote total. :o
Can you imagine? So, there was a recount and the recount total gave the D candidate 1 more vote than the R candidate. ONE vote.
I am glad the D candidate won, but you gotta just wonder in amazement about this. If I'd have lost by one vote I'd want to have a dozen more recounts and see what happened. How did just 1 vote go missing? And other queries.
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There's an article out how GERRYMANDERING cost the Democrats the house in this close election. And three seats lost can be attributed to the U.S. Supreme Court.
(Court not partisan, John Roberts? How's your dismantling of the Voting Rights Act going?)
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^^^ Yeap the GOS-tainted lying SCOTUS appointments are worthless PoS hell bent on dismantling equal protections we've fought so hard to secure over decades. Every stare decisis decision they can dismantle is now at-risk to keep the *@(@*@ GOP in power. As far as I'm concerned, until at least two of those GOS-stolen appointment SOB are replaced - today's SCOTUS is full of illegitimate, unqualified GOP operatives masking as "judges..." V.
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I wake up this am to be greeted by another insane move by the spoiled child Musk, reinstating the GOS's Twitter account - &diety help us all... That SOB is as bat-shit crazy as they come to the point of not seeing the forrest for the trees. I'm sure he'd probably re-instate Hitler's Twitter account - if he could. -> https://abcnews.go.com/US/elon-musk-trumps-twitter-account-reinstated/story?id=93638796 (https://abcnews.go.com/US/elon-musk-trumps-twitter-account-reinstated/story?id=93638796)
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Mass shooting at LGBTQ nightclub in Colorado Springs leaves at least 5 dead, 18 wounded
By Eric Levenson and Andy Rose - November 20, 2022
An armed 22-year-old entered an LGBTQ nightclub in Colorado Springs, Colorado, just before midnight Saturday night and immediately opened fire, killing at least five people and injuring 18 others, before patrons stopped and disarmed him, police said Sunday.
The suspect in the shooting at Club Q was identified as Anderson Lee Aldrich, according to Colorado Springs Police Chief Adrian Vasquez. He used a long rifle in the shooting, and two firearms were found at the scene, he said.
At least two people inside the club confronted and fought the gunman and prevented further violence, Vasquez said. “We owe them a great debt of thanks,” he said.
The incident lasted just minutes. Police received numerous 911 calls starting at 11:56 p.m., officers were dispatched at 11:57 p.m., an officer arrived at midnight and the suspect was detained at 12:02 a.m., police said. A total of 39 patrol officers responded in all, police said.
https://www.cnn.com/2022/11/20/us/colorado-springs-shooting-gay-nightclub/index.html
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Glad that patrons stopped him before he could do further harm. Otherwise we'd be hearing from the Religious Right and others about how helpless gay people are in the face of danger.
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numerous 911 calls starting at 11:56 p.m., officers were dispatched at 11:57 p.m., an officer arrived at midnight and the suspect was detained at 12:02 a.m.
And think of this: They stopped him in just minutes (as above) and he'd already killed five people and injured at least 18.
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As for the OC being reinstated to Twitter:
"Without the tweets, I wouldn't be here," he once told the Financial Times.
MEDIA TAKE NOTE: You can IGNORE it.
Maybe Elon Musk will be good for Twitter...in the sense that he might be it's demise.
Anyone remember Friendster or MySpace?
__________
As for another Billionaire, Jeff Bezos, who recently pledged to give away most of his $121 billion dollar fortune...I know one thing he could do...pay taxes on it.
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Anyone remember Friendster or MySpace?
MySpace is still around:
https://www.vox.com/the-goods/2019/3/18/18271088/myspace-music-deleted-internet-archive-flickr-tumblr
Facebook is very handy for distributing my articles. I also go there to find music recommendations. It's entirely true that it skews old, but I write history so that's fine with me.
As for being at websites where there aren't a lot of people...well, we are posting on a site dedicated to a movie that was released in 2005. I really don't need to be on TikTok.
I found this article about FB hilarious - and much of it I agree with.
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/19/opinion/facebook-meta-twitter.html
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So will they get to do a "Reality Television" show from prison?
https://edition.cnn.com/2022/11/21/entertainment/todd-chrisley-julie-chrisley-sentenced/index.html
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Chrisley Behind Bars!
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So this isn't official yet, because it's under .5% and there will be an automatic recount (which is good), but this is good news:
https://kjzz.org/content/1827159/kris-mayes-defeats-abe-hamadeh-arizona-attorney-general-race
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^^^
That is good news. I hadn't realized that race hadn't been called yet.
You know my mantra in selecting whom to vote for: Don't vote for anyone who does not have a sense of humor, or who never, or hardly ever, smiles.
(https://media.kjzz.org/s3fs-public/styles/special_story_images_aspect_switcher/public/field/image/Kris_Mayes_Abraham_Hamadeh.jpg?itok=rG_APwOZ)
...even if they're attractive...
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^^^
That is good news. I hadn't realized that race hadn't been called yet.
You know my mantra in selecting whom to vote for: Don't vote for anyone who does not have a sense of humor, or who never, or hardly ever, smiles.
(https://media.kjzz.org/s3fs-public/styles/special_story_images_aspect_switcher/public/field/image/Kris_Mayes_Abraham_Hamadeh.jpg?itok=rG_APwOZ)
...even if they're attractive...
I was thinking the exact same thing, Lyle!! Look for the non constipated smile and no tenseness around the eyes! They are the ones to vote for! Oh, and no ORANGE!!
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This just in:
Supreme Court Permits House Democrats to Obtain Trump’s Tax Returns
In a terse order, the Supreme Court rejected the former president’s request that it block the Treasury Department from turning over the files.
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Hope they can get some good info out of it before the next session of Congress.
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This just in:
Supreme Court Permits House Democrats to Obtain Trump’s Tax Returns
In a terse order, the Supreme Court rejected the former president’s request that it block the Treasury Department from turning over the files.
I didn't think that would happen.
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I didn't think that would happen.
Will they get them before the R's take over in the house?
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Oh, and no ORANGE!!
:laugh:
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Hey! Guys/gals, I'm new here...well, haven't followed for more than a decade I think. Where do everyone hang out? Give me a quick update primer for where to look when I get here to see who's chatting about what.
Speaking of Arizona, I can't tell you the relief when Katie Hobbs won. I was so bummed that she wouldn't that my friend in San Diego had to call and let me know!
Chris Mays will have an automatic recount, and with so few votes between them anything could happen.
Don't tell anyone, but in the last election, I got TWO ballots! I don't know exactly how it happened, but I had voted one way for the marijuana legalization and wanted to vote the other way. Somehow I got on the registration page and re-registered, so they sent me out another ballot. I can't be sure, but I believe the second ballot had the same ID number as the first. So I voted the other way that time, all the rest of my votes staying the same. In AZ they send you a text when they get your ballot, a text when they have verified the signature, and a text when the voted was counted. I LOVE the system. Oh, didn't get two ballots this time...and gawdomighty, don't tell my Republican friends or they will shit their pants.
BTW, Happy Thanksgiving to "allbody." That's how my little girl used to say "everybody." Seems like a good way to me. We still use it in the family, as I just proved, although she is now 44 years old and has figured it and many other things out.
Hey! HI!
Bobby 19in1963
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One other thing. What to I check to have notifications sent to me when someone posts? Or would that be way too much notification? :)
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Hey Bobby!
The Diner is always a good place to hang out.
https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/index.php?topic=49569.new#new
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Thanks. I'll do that.
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One other thing. What to I check to have notifications sent to me when someone posts? Or would that be way too much notification? :)
Hey Bobby!! How ya' doing? I'm so glad to see you! I was just thinking about you when all the voter stuff in your State came up!
If you check the box in your profile, you really will get a LOT of email notifications. It may be less now, but when I checked the box before, my email really filled up.
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Linda:
Doing fine. I'm 78 now so feeling the effects of age, but that's to be expected. Still live in the same place for the past ten years, midtown Phoenix. All is well, I'm exhausted this evening from the wedding festivities yesterday, so getting ready to veg in front of the TV. Love you guys. I'll try to be around more often.
Thanks!
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Speaking of Arizona, I can't tell you the relief when Katie Hobbs won. I was so bummed that she wouldn't that my friend in San Diego had to call and let me know!
Chris Mays will have an automatic recount, and with so few votes between them anything could happen.
Hi Bobby! Congratulations on having a great election in your state and welcome back!
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The Colorado shooter's family sounds totally dysfunctional (no surprise there) and it sounds like their life has been chaos since they were a child. The shooter identifies as nonbinary, which makes me wonder if he knew anyone at the club and if this was personal, but if you read about their family the father is a porn star and the mother has been arrested for arson. The family sounds totally f***ed up:
https://www.thedailybeast.com/colorado-springs-club-q-shooting-suspect-anderson-lee-aldrich-tried-to-erase-dad-aaron-brinks-dark-past
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Two things of interest on this 12 minute video from Chris Hayes' All In program last night which references the two recent subjects posted about above.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FFQJU74oPoo
The "second" part of the video is some interview footage with Richard Fierro, one of the men who stepped in and disarmed the above referenced shooter at Club Q. This man is an Army Veteran who was visiting the club with his wife and daughter and his daughter's boyfriend, who unfortunately was one of the people who was killed. His daughter is friends with one of the drag performers. "We were all there to have a good time."
There's also a discussion of how the right wing is demonizing LGBTQ people and how Richard Fierro is the antithesis of the way the right wing portrays the community as being apart from regular Americans, even someone like Fierro. It's worth a look.
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The "first" part references the aforementioned Arizona election: Because Kari Lake is stubbornly hanging on to her election denier status, two red counties in Arizona are so far refusing to certify their county election results over bogus fraud claims and send them on to the Secretary of State. Interestingly, if they do not do this by the appointed date, which is December 5th, the Arizona constitution says "these county's votes will go uncounted." What does that mean? Some close races in Arizona could switch to the Democrats who lost narrowly, including one seat in the House of Representatives. Way to go election deniers!
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Wow! An as Arizonan it would be great if those election deniers did cause a shift in the votes toward Democrats. It would serve them right. This will NOT be over until the Fat Lady sings. I hope she is a wonderful Drag Queen! :laugh: (BTW, when I first came out I thought you HAD to be overweight to be a Drag Queen.)
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Well well. It turns out that the shooter in Colorado was involved with an online hate site (Encyclopedia Dramatica) which rates mass murderers on their site by whether or not they kill LGBT or minority people. And it appears that the whole notion that he is nonbinary may be just trolling behavior on the shooter's part. His neighbors say that he often used anti-gay slurs:
https://www.vice.com/en/article/5d3agq/colorado-shooter-club-q-edgelord-harrassment-campaign
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Mary Peltola wins in Alaska!
https://edition.cnn.com/2022/11/23/politics/peltola-palin-alaska-election-results
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Not sure how to reply to an individual post, but thanks Michael for the post from Vice. As a Mormon, it rings true to the homophobia still spouted by the leaders of the church. The Respect for Marriage act, although good for us, is also much more than that for churches. They are doing all they can to preserve their tax exempt status, and this is just the latest grab to keep their wealth. The Mormon church has $150B in a "charitable" fund they have never used for charity! I believe the Mormon church is the third largest corporation in the world, with assets valued at about $1Trillion. They are the largest single landowner in the United States right now. I'm often wrong, but the point is if you are that wealthy fuck everyone else!
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In other words, they're great Republicans.
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Sadly, yes..................
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They are doing all they can to preserve their tax exempt status, and this is just the latest grab to keep their wealth.
Hi, Bobby... If Scientology can be a tax exempt religion, the Mormon Church doesn't have anything to worry about.
As a Mormon, it rings true to the homophobia still spouted by the leaders of the church.
I just posted about a famous Mormon congregant. Link: HERE (https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/index.php?topic=20110.msg3093749#msg3093749).
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Just yesterday I saw a video he did about his coming out. When I first came out in about 2008 we did an event at the local Mormon temple where we read the obituaries/profiles of 42 gay Mormons who had died by suicide, the day after Thanksgiving, when the temple turned on all of their Christmas lights. We stood out on the main street in front of the temple with our Candles for the Vigil and when the lights turned on we blew out the candles, indicating the snuffing out of lives by their involvement in the Mormon church.
It's not much better today...I am amazed that there are still Mormon boys and girls coming out after having been in a suicidal funk for years as members of the church.
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I came across this article that I think is worth posting here on Thanksgiving Day, a day I've always loved despite the stereotypical treatment it gets in many places of a time with family squabbles and fights and troubles and things ending up in a worse place. It was never that way for me and I hope it's not for others.
Opinion
Five Readings for Your Thanksgiving Table
by Thomas L. Friedman
Nov. 24, 2022
I always enjoy Thanksgiving, but I’m particularly going to savor this year’s in light of the midterm elections. They surfaced something beautiful and decent and vitally important in the soul of the nation. It was a readiness to defend the core of our democracy — our ability to peacefully and legitimately transfer power — when it was under imminent threat by Donald Trump and his imitators.
Had we lost our commitment to the solemn obligation that one party smoothly hands off power to another, we’d be totally lost as a country today. But instead, democracy was reaffirmed. Enough Americans — principled Republicans, Democrats and independents — sorted through their ballots and rejected almost all of the high-profile Trumpist election deniers for major state and federal offices.
In “using the tools of democracy to protect democracy,” as Vox put it, they reconnected the country with something deep in our heritage — that losers concede gracefully and move on, and winners win gracefully and govern. In celebration of that tradition, I offer these five readings for your Thanksgiving table:
Sept. 19, 1796, excerpts from President George Washington’s Farewell Address, explaining that he would not seek a third term and the most important lessons he had learned:
“The unity of government which constitutes you one people is also now dear to you. It is justly so; for it is a main pillar in the edifice of your real independence, the support of your tranquillity at home, your peace abroad, of your safety, of your prosperity, of that very liberty which you so highly prize. … You should properly estimate the immense value of your national Union to your collective and individual happiness. … With such powerful and obvious motives to union affecting all parts of our country … there will always be reason to distrust the patriotism of those who in any quarter may endeavor to weaken its bands. …
“The basis of our political systems is the right of the people to make and to alter their constitutions of government. But the constitution which at any time exists, until changed by an explicit and authentic act of the whole people, is sacredly obligatory upon all. The very idea of the power and the right of the people to establish government presupposes the duty of every individual to obey the established government.”
Dec. 13, 2000, Al Gore’s concession speech after the Supreme Court effectively handed the 2000 election to George W. Bush:
“Good evening. Just moments ago, I spoke with George W. Bush and congratulated him on becoming the 43rd president of the United States. … Almost a century and a half ago, Senator Stephen Douglas told Abraham Lincoln, who had just defeated him for the presidency: ‘Partisan feeling must yield to patriotism. I’m with you, Mr. President, and God bless you.’ Well, in that same spirit, I say to President-elect Bush that what remains of partisan rancor must now be put aside, and may God bless his stewardship of this country. Neither he nor I anticipated this long and difficult road. Certainly, neither of us wanted it to happen. Yet it came, and now it has ended, resolved, as it must be resolved, through the honored institutions of our democracy. …
“The U.S. Supreme Court has spoken. Let there be no doubt, while I strongly disagree with the court’s decision, I accept it. I accept the finality of this outcome, which will be ratified next Monday in the Electoral College. And tonight, for the sake of our unity as a people and the strength of our democracy, I offer my concession. I also accept my responsibility, which I will discharge unconditionally, to honor the new president-elect and do everything possible to help him bring Americans together in fulfillment of the great vision that our Declaration of Independence defines and that our Constitution affirms and defends. …
“This is America, and we put country before party; we will stand together behind our new president. … As for the battle that ends tonight, I do believe, as my father once said, that ‘no matter how hard the loss, defeat might serve as well as victory to shape the soul and let the glory out. …’
“And now, my friends, in a phrase I once addressed to others: It’s time for me to go.”
Dec. 13, 2000, George W. Bush’s speech accepting Al Gore’s concession:
“Vice President Gore and I put our hearts and hopes into our campaigns. We both gave it our all. We shared similar emotions, so I understand how difficult this moment must be for Vice President Gore and his family. He has a distinguished record of service to our country as a congressman, a senator and a vice president. This evening I received a gracious call from the vice president. We agreed to meet early next week in Washington, and we agreed to do our best to heal our country after this hard-fought contest.
“Tonight I want to thank all the thousands of volunteers and campaign workers who worked so hard on my behalf. I also salute the vice president and his supporters for waging a spirited campaign. And I thank him for a call that I know was difficult to make. …
“I have something else to ask you, to ask every American. I ask for you to pray for this great nation. I ask for your prayers for leaders from both parties. I thank you for your prayers for me and my family, and I ask you to pray for Vice President Gore and his family.”
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In his memoir “A Promised Land,” President Barack Obama recalled six words that he shared with his staff on April 27, 2011, after holding a news conference at the White House announcing the release of his long-form birth certificate to end the bogus but distracting claims by Trump, and other “carnival barkers,” that he was not born in the U.S.:
“I exited through the sliding doors that led back into the communications team’s offices, where I encountered a group of junior members of our press shop who’d been watching my remarks on a TV monitor. They all looked to be in their 20s. Some had worked on my campaign; others had only recently joined the administration, compelled by the idea of serving their country. I stopped and made eye contact with each one of them.
“‘We’re better than this,’ I said. ‘Remember that.’”
June 9, 2022, Representative Liz Cheney’s opening statement at the House Jan. 6 committee’s initial public hearing:
“Tonight, I am going to describe for you some of what our committee has learned and highlight initial findings you will see this month in our hearings. As you hear this, all Americans should keep in mind this fact: On the morning of Jan. 6, President Donald Trump’s intention was to remain president of the United States despite the lawful outcome of the 2020 election and in violation of his constitutional obligation to relinquish power. Over multiple months, Donald Trump oversaw and coordinated a sophisticated seven-part plan to overturn the presidential election and prevent the transfer of presidential power. In our hearings, you will see evidence of each element of this plan. …
“There is a reason why people serving in our government take an oath to the Constitution. As our founding fathers recognized, democracy is fragile. People in positions of public trust are duty-bound to defend it — to step forward when action is required. … That oath must mean something. Tonight, I say this to my Republican colleagues who are defending the indefensible: There will come a day when Donald Trump is gone, but your dishonor will remain.”
In July 2021, I interviewed Liz Cheney in front of an audience. While we disagreed on many policy issues, I was so taken by her willingness to risk her seat in Congress to defend the Constitution from Trump’s attacks — something so few Republicans were willing to do. At the end, I just shook my head and asked her how there could be only one of her.
She just shook her head back.
Well, it turns out that Liz Cheney had a lot more supporters than we thought. The midterms demonstrated that her message — and that of other leaders with integrity — had gotten through to enough Americans to make a difference. And it got through precisely because it tapped into a deep vein in our country’s history. For that we have much to be thankful for this year.
God bless America, and happy Thanksgiving.
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Arizona: Fighting Back Against Mormon Hate (Written for The Bilerico Project, the largest national gay blog at that time, read by 500,000 readers a month...it was big time then, not so much now I guess.)
Filed By Bobby Parker | November 04, 2010 3:00 PM
I answered the phone a few weeks ago and my friend was sobbing on the other end. He was calling in outrage and grief at the suicide of a young man in Houston whose photo became one of the faces of those gay young people bullied into suicide. This young man's story was a lot like his own, growing up in homophobic middle America in a religion that made him think he was worthless as a gay young man.
We talked about the recent General Conference address of Boyd K. Packer, President of the Mormon Church's Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, and the affect he thought those hateful words would have on his clients.
Lest we forget - Packer called same-sex attraction 'impure and immoral,' claiming that it can be corrected and characterizing same-sex marriage as immoral. His talk was watched by 13,000,000 members of the church, and although corrected somewhat in the written record, there were millions in the worldwide satellite broadcast who could watch him as he spoke them. They have a visual that will never be erased. It is a form of bullying from the pulpit, and especially in the Mormon Church, his words are taken as if God himself spoke them. Each of the Apostles in the 15-member governing councils of the Church are sustained as "prophets, seers, and revelators." He is next in line to be the Prophet to all the world.
My friend is a psychotherapist for the deaf and hard of hearing and has up close and personal relationships with many Mormons as clients. He deals regularly with those who are tempted to suicide and believes hateful words from religious leaders contribute to Arizona's high rate of suicide, 16/100,000. Utah's is 34/100,000 at three times the national average of 11/100,000 and is famous as the stronghold of the Mormon Church.
What is different there that is killing so many people? The church tells its gay members it loves them, but they must remain celibate all their lives, cannot hold hands or appear homosexual in public, may not kiss a member of the opposite sex - unless, of course, they want to lose everything - their families and the whole culture of the church. Draw your own conclusions. This is exactly what BYU is telling its LGBTQ students EVEN TODAY!
My friend said, comparing the Mormon Church to his own growing up, "Having been raised in the United Pentecostal Church, my life was saved by a woman who gave me a book titled But Lord They're Gay. In that book I learned that there was hope and that not everyone hated me."
We decided then and there that we needed to help put together a coalition to tell the estimated 40,000-60,000 gay Mormons in Arizona that there is help and that there are lot of people to love and support them so that they don't have to contemplate suicide and that not everyone hates them because they are gay. My coming out experience at the age of 62 was traumatic and led many times to thoughts of despair. I don't want that to have to happen to anyone else.
That is the purpose of this 'Mormon Action.' We want to save lives.
We are inviting everyone who can to join us on Friday, November 26th, from 6 - 10 p.m. at Pioneer Park in Mesa, Arizona, to hand out business cards at every entrance to the temple grounds with information about The Trevor Project and Affirmation - Gay and Lesbian Mormons. With 20,000 people expected to view the Christmas Lighting ceremony, we need an army to greet them with love and a message of hope for their gay members.
We're hoping to find a sponsor for a bus to transport participants from the terminus of the Phoenix Metro light rail line to Pioneer Park and back after the event. Phoenix is the fifth largest city in the nation with a large gay population that lives in the light rail service area.
I'll have more information as we get closer to the event. The City of Mesa had to bump our request for a Special Event Permit up to the City Manager, who is Mormon (so is the Mayor!) and so we'll now have to provide $1,000,000 in liability insurance to protect the City from what may happen when so many gays get together in a demonstration against suicide. You'd think they'd open their arms, but it is the Mormon stronghold in our area, and it is the Temple, a place where only worthy heterosexual members of the Church can be married for all time and eternity and at that time rule as gods and populate their own world and worlds to come. (BTW, I learned that the Mormon Bar Association in Mesa has invited Maggie Gallagher to speak! More on that in a later post.)
A lot is at stake on both sides, I guess. One is the very lives of its members, and the other the very doctrine that supports the tithing efforts of the church (you must be a full tithe payer to get in the temple) and its whole future as a viable, family-centered religion. Hmmm....
Do what you can to make this a blogosphere event and put it our far and wide on social media. With what has happened in the election, we have got to put more pressure on in many areas so that everyone knows we are queer and we're here to stay. We are good for the country.
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I posted this over in LGBTQ News, but I'm posting it here as well because it's important. If you have young friends who party in NYC let them know about this. We have had grifters and scammers who steal from us and threaten us for decades, so it's not new, but it's worth being aware of.
https://www.advocate.com/crime/2022/11/22/gay-men-say-they-feel-lucky-be-alive-after-being-drugged-robbed
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Here's your good news of the day:
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/justice-department/oath-keepers-verdict-seditious-conspiracy-trial-rcna58415
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Another good news today item:
Same-Sex Marriage Bill Passes Senate After Bipartisan Breakthrough
The 61-to-36 vote sends the legislation back to the House, which is expected to approve it and send it to President Biden.
The Senate passed landmark legislation on Tuesday to mandate federal recognition for same-sex marriages, as a lame-duck Congress mustered a notable moment of bipartisanship before Democrats were to lose their unified control of Capitol Hill.
The 61-to-36 vote put the bill on track to become law in the final weeks before Republicans assume the majority in the House of Representatives at the start of the new Congress in January. It marked one of the final major legislative achievements for Democrats before Republicans shift the focus in the House to conducting investigations of President Biden’s administration and family members.
The bill must now win final approval by the House in a vote expected as soon as next week, which would clear it for Mr. Biden, who said he looked forward to signing it alongside the bipartisan coalition that helped shepherd it through the Senate.
In a statement, the president said the vote reaffirmed “a fundamental truth: Love is love, and Americans should have the right to marry the person they love.”
There was little question that the bill’s embrace in the Senate, where proponents had a breakthrough this month in drawing a dozen Republican supporters and overcoming a filibuster, gave it the momentum required to become law.
The bill would repeal the Defense of Marriage Act, which denied federal benefits to same-sex couples. It prohibits states from denying the validity of an out-of-state marriage based on sex, race or ethnicity. But in a condition that Republican backers insisted upon, it would guarantee that religious organizations would not be required to provide any goods or services for the celebration of any marriage, and could not lose tax-exempt status or other benefits for refusing to recognize same-sex unions.
“Because of our work together, the rights of tens of millions of Americans will be strengthened under federal law. That’s an accomplishment we should all be proud of,” said Senator Chuck Schumer, Democrat of New York and the majority leader.
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Here's your good news of the day:
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/justice-department/oath-keepers-verdict-seditious-conspiracy-trial-rcna58415
Another good news today item:
Same-Sex Marriage Bill Passes Senate After Bipartisan Breakthrough
The 61-to-36 vote sends the legislation back to the House, which is expected to approve it and send it to President Biden.
The Senate passed landmark legislation on Tuesday to mandate federal recognition for same-sex marriages, as a lame-duck Congress mustered a notable moment of bipartisanship before Democrats were to lose their unified control of Capitol Hill.
The 61-to-36 vote put the bill on track to become law in the final weeks before Republicans assume the majority in the House of Representatives at the start of the new Congress in January. It marked one of the final major legislative achievements for Democrats before Republicans shift the focus in the House to conducting investigations of President Biden’s administration and family members.
The bill must now win final approval by the House in a vote expected as soon as next week, which would clear it for Mr. Biden, who said he looked forward to signing it alongside the bipartisan coalition that helped shepherd it through the Senate.
In a statement, the president said the vote reaffirmed “a fundamental truth: Love is love, and Americans should have the right to marry the person they love.”
There was little question that the bill’s embrace in the Senate, where proponents had a breakthrough this month in drawing a dozen Republican supporters and overcoming a filibuster, gave it the momentum required to become law.
The bill would repeal the Defense of Marriage Act, which denied federal benefits to same-sex couples. It prohibits states from denying the validity of an out-of-state marriage based on sex, race or ethnicity. But in a condition that Republican backers insisted upon, it would guarantee that religious organizations would not be required to provide any goods or services for the celebration of any marriage, and could not lose tax-exempt status or other benefits for refusing to recognize same-sex unions.
“Because of our work together, the rights of tens of millions of Americans will be strengthened under federal law. That’s an accomplishment we should all be proud of,” said Senator Chuck Schumer, Democrat of New York and the majority leader.
Good news all around!
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Two steps forward, one step back.
It would guarantee that religious organizations would not be required to provide any goods or services for the celebration of any marriage, and could not lose tax-exempt status or other benefits for refusing to recognize same-sex unions.
When Loving v. Virginia affirmed the right of inter-racial couples to marry, were there religions that discriminated against those couples? Do they now?
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Two steps forward, one step back.
When Loving v. Virginia affirmed the right of inter-racial couples to marry, were there religions that discriminated against those couples? Do they now?
Here’s something about the LDS position:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interracial_marriage_and_the_Church_of_Jesus_Christ_of_Latter-day_Saints
Here’s a paper on that topic:
https://ir.lawnet.fordham.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=5513&context=flr
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^^^ Yeap, all these damn "religious exceptions" are setting us all up for a "religious state" and religious figurehead just like we see in certain middle-eastern countries today. Scalia warned us about this very slippery slope - many, many times. One "rule of law for religion" and another "rule of law" for non-religious - aka - is just another form of "separate but equal..." which has been struck down before. I'm eagerly waiting for some sharp lawyer to bring another "baker" case through some bigoted state all the way to SCOTUS - especially with Thomas in his mixed race marriage saying they won't make a cake because the couple is inter-racial. The GBLTQIA community needs to find a couple, a case and state to make an example of just such short-term loathsome GOP hypocrisy ... V.
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The bill would repeal the Defense of Marriage Act, which denied federal benefits to same-sex couples. It prohibits states from denying the validity of an out-of-state marriage based on sex, race or ethnicity. But in a condition that Republican backers insisted upon, it would guarantee that religious organizations would not be required to provide any goods or services for the celebration of any marriage, and could not lose tax-exempt status or other benefits for refusing to recognize same-sex unions.
Does the bill define "religious organization"?
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The Department of Homeland Security is warning LGBTQ groups, Jewish groups and migrants of more plots of right wing terrorism:
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/national-security/dhs-warns-terror-threats-lgbtq-jewish-migrant-rcna59426
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wonderful. ::)
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^^^ Any-ONE with a set of "text" + organizational bi-laws, and "set of sincerely held beliefs in those bi-laws and texts" can declare themselves a "religious organization"... look no further than our Morman faiths for a widely known examples. That's why I've said several times now, an enterprising young, skilled lawyer can make minced meat of all this BS...
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^^^ Any-ONE with a set of "text" + organizational bi-laws, and "set of sincerely held beliefs in those bi-laws and texts" can declare themselves a "religious organization"... look no further than our Morman faiths for a widely known examples. That's why I've said several times now, an enterprising young, skilled lawyer can make minced meat of all this BS...
Thanks. I was wondering if people who bake wedding cakes and stuff can claim to be a religious organization. They'll probably just affiliate with one.
I'm more concerned about public monies (i.e., tax dollars) going to organizations like the RC-affiliated adoption agency (maybe it was a foster-child organization--I'm afraid I don't remember) that had a contract with the City of Philadelphia but discriminated against same-sex couples. The courts said that's perfectly fine, they're still entitled to receive that (tax) money.
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^^^^ Likely correct. All you have to do is "attest to your sincerely held beliefs" which are couched and protected by "religious liberty BS" which is a code word to "discriminate all you like on whatever you like"...
BUT then/now these same ass-wipes are demanding public tax $ from people who do not agree with their "sincerely held BS". Charter Religious-based Schools are one of my favorite examples where _my_ tax $ are paying to create more of that BS!!
The other side of this is the GOP Congress for decades now has banned any public funding for reproductive health / abortions b/c they (the religious nuts) didn't want THEIR tax dollars paying for something against their "beliefs..." and well they got that written into law.
Go figure - the religious nuts are overjoyed having their cake and eating it too now that they clearly control the SCOTUS too.
The stark/clear separation of "church and state" is getting smaller and smaller in the rear-view mirror as history is about to repeat itself.
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They want to turn the nation into one which the early settlers were fleeing.
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They want to turn the nation into one which the early settlers were fleeing.
Yes and no. Don't forget, those early settlers of New England left so that they wouldn't have the Church of England imposed on them. Once they got here, they imposed their own ways on everybody else. (If you didn't like it, there was always Rhode Island.)
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^^^ Absolutely. Until people learn that "live and let live" is really the only doctrine that works. Having your cake and eating it too... is not wise in the longer run or I'm sure anything their &diety... would have or sanctions today. The religious nuts have cherry-picked the Bible clean for what they WANT vs the root of what it really says. .. and when they do that, they instantly become hypocrites - hopefully damned to their own hell. V.
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Herschel Walker has just taken credit for Donald Trump Jr.'s and Ivanka's intelligence. This could explain much:
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/herschel-walker-takes-credit-for-donald-trump-jr-ivankas-intelligence/ar-AA14P2pW
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Herschel Walker has just taken credit for Donald Trump Jr.'s and Ivanka's intelligence. This could explain much:
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/herschel-walker-takes-credit-for-donald-trump-jr-ivankas-intelligence/ar-AA14P2pW
I laughed so hard and then I stopped because crap like this is happening. Whoow!!
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I laughed so hard and then I stopped because crap like this is happening. Whoow!!
It does sometimes feel like you're living in an alternative reality Linda.
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It does sometimes feel like you're living in an alternative reality Linda.
It definitely does, Michael, and I wonder if it will ever get better. :( I keep trying to figure out how the hell we got here in the first place!
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What a choice for their caretakers, their father or Herschel Walker!
Poor Eric got left out entirely.
Is that what the H.W. stands for in George H.W. Bush? :)
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What a choice for their caretakers, their father or Herschel Walker!
Poor Eric got left out entirely.
Is that what the H.W. stands for in George H.W. Bush? :)
Well they wanted Melania but she said "I don't really care, do you?"
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This is rather fascinating:
https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2022/11/instagram-tiktok-twitter-social-media-competition/672305/
I'm not on Instagram as it's always seemed a bit weird to me ("back to pictograms!")
As for TikTok - one of the few things I ever agreed with the OC about is this. It's not a really good idea to be putting your information on a platform that's controlled by an authoritarian country.
I look forward to the alternatives to Twitter (which I discontinued my account on after less than a month).
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Well it probably WAS noisy....
https://www.westernmassnews.com/2022/12/03/woman-arrested-switching-off-hospital-roommates-ventilator-twice/
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^^^ WOW! Me, me, me, ... I guess she's never slept with anyone with a CPAP. The older the model, the louder they are. I always tell folks, I suspect that's where Lucas first got Darth Vader's voice/breathing from.. ;) V.
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North Carolina electric grid shooter 'knew exactly what they were doing,' sheriff says
By Sharon Bernstein | Dec. 5 | Reuters
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/attack-north-carolina-electric-grid-new-level-threat-governor-says-2022-12-05/
The orchestrator of gunfire attacks on power sub-stations in North Carolina that left nearly an entire county without electricity for a second straight day knew "exactly" how to disable the stations, sheriff Ronnie Fields said on Monday.
Fields' comments came as North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper warned of a "new level of threat" posed by the incident and called for hardening of critical infrastructure including the power grid. The saboteur "knew exactly what they were doing to cause the damage and cause the outage that they did," Fields said. For most customers the power will be out through Wednesday or Thursday.
He said the difference between the needed repairs and a simple blackout repair was like comparing the need to change a lightbulb to the need to replace the entire heating and air conditioning system of a house.
On Sunday, Fields said law enforcement had not found evidence to support reporters questioning that the attacks were a protest against a planned drag show set for Saturday. :o Organizers of the show at the Sunrise Theater in Southern Pines said that far-right activists had been trying to shut down the show for weeks, the Fayetteville Observer reported, citing the theater's executive director, Kevin Dietzel. The newspaper reported that the show was held on Saturday despite the power outages.
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Now why would this questioning occur about it being related to a planned drag show? See some detailed background about this from Rachel Maddow's show last night; BE INFORMED: (12 minutes)
Right-Wing, Domestic Terror Eyed In N.C. Infrastructure Sabotage As Facts Remain Elusive
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BA9EI1ryNmg
Michael and Linda: The event that Rachel talks about in the beginning of this video from about 10 years ago around San Jose...do you guys remember hearing about this?
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I can't help but wonder if the substation shooter was inspired by recent Russian attacks on Ukrainian infrastructure.
Perhaps independent, but possibly also on orders from Moscow.
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The Maddow piece traces these kinds of incidents, or planned incidents, in the U.S. back at least ten years.
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Family of fallen officer snubs McCarthy and McConnell as Congress honors law enforcement who defended the Capitol on Jan. 6
By Kristin Wilson and Daniella Diaz, CNN - Tue December 6, 2022
The family of a fallen officer snubbed top congressional Republicans on Tuesday at a ceremony held to honor law enforcement who defended the US Capitol during the January 6, 2021, insurrection.
In a moment of apparent tension, the family of US Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick, who suffered strokes and died of natural causes one day after responding to the January 6 insurrection, refused to shake hands with either House GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy or Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell when they accepted the medal.
Gladys Sicknick, mother of fallen officer Brian Sicknick, was asked by CNN why she didn’t shake McCarthy and McConnell’s hands at the gold medal ceremony.
“They’re just two-faced,” she said to CNN. “I’m just tired of them standing there and saying how wonderful the Capitol police is and then they turn around and … go down to Mar-a-Lago and kiss his ring and come back and stand here and sit with – it just, it just hurts.”
While McCarthy has visited former President Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago several times, McConnell has been critical of Trump in the past and refused to side with the former president about the events of January 6, condemning him for his actions.
McConnell was asked about the incident later in the day on Tuesday. “I would respond by saying today we gave the gold medal to the heroes of January 6. We admire and respect them. They laid their lives on the line and that’s why we gave a gold medal today to the heroes of January 6.”
https://www.cnn.com/2022/12/06/politics/congressional-gold-medal-january-6/index.html
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Jury finds Trump Organization guilty of tax fraud scheme
By Adam Reiss, Chloe Atkins and Dareh Gregorian
A jury in New York on Tuesday found the Trump Organization guilty of all charges in a sweeping, 15-year tax fraud scheme that prosecutors said was orchestrated by top executives at the company.
Jurors deliberated for just over a day before returning the guilty verdicts on a total of 17 counts, including scheme to defraud, conspiracy, criminal tax fraud and falsifying business records. The company faces roughly $1.6 million in fines at sentencing.
The Trump Organization and Allen Weisselberg, its former longtime chief financial officer, were indicted last year after a multiyear investigation into the company’s financial practices by the Manhattan district attorney’s office.
Prosecutors alleged that two corporations that are a part of the company, Trump Corp. and Trump Payroll Corp., paid their "already highly paid executives," including Weisselberg, even more by "cheating on their taxes” through a series of schemes that included off-the-books perks like luxury cars and free apartments.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/jury-finds-trump-organization-guilty-tax-fraud-scheme-rcna60326
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Rudy Giuliani's Attorney-Misconduct Hearing
Sonam Sheth Dec 6, 2022
On day two of his attorney-misconduct hearing, former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani lost his temper, accused the disciplinary counsel of asking unfair questions, and went on lengthy rants about the 2020 election while the panel's chairman pleaded with him to give straightforward answers.
Giuliani's asides during the virtual hearing were so extensive that at one point, the disciplinary counsel, Hamilton Fox, said he wasn't sure how long it would take him to get through his questions.
"It depends on whether I get answers or the same thing repeated over and over again," Fox said. "If we can get answers, then—"
Giuliani interjected, saying Fox had made an "unfair comment," and adding, "I'm defending myself, Mr. Fox."
https://www.businessinsider.com/rudy-giuliani-loses-his-temper-attorney-misconduct-hearing-2022-12
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What is that expression? Turn about is fair play.
Virginia restaurant refuses service to conservative advocacy group
by: Alexis Bellamy - Dec 6, 2022
A Virginia-based conservative Christian advocacy group was turned away from a local restaurant just an hour before their reservation last week.
A representative of the Family Foundation said he was frustrated after the group was turned away from Metzger Bar and Butchery last Wednesday. The group claims the refusal had to do with their religious beliefs.
According to Todd Gathje, Director of Government Relations for the Family Foundation, one of the owners of Metzger called a representative of the Family Foundation about an hour before the reservation time, saying that the group would not be dining in the restaurant.
“We’ve had events at restaurants all over the city and never encountered a situation like this,” Gathje said. “It’s no secret that we are very much engaged in the public policy debate on a number of controversial issues. But we never expected that we would be denied service at a restaurant based on our religious values or political beliefs.”
For businesses like restaurants, federal and state laws do not allow discrimination based on protected classes such as race, religion, sex and more, as defined by the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
It’s not yet clear if this incident falls under one of those protected classes.
https://www.wric.com/news/local-news/richmond/local-restaurant-refuses-service-to-conservative-advocacy-group/
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4 x Good!
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North Carolina electric grid shooter 'knew exactly what they were doing,' sheriff says
By Sharon Bernstein | Dec. 5 | Reuters
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/attack-north-carolina-electric-grid-new-level-threat-governor-says-2022-12-05/
The orchestrator of gunfire attacks on power sub-stations in North Carolina that left nearly an entire county without electricity for a second straight day knew "exactly" how to disable the stations, sheriff Ronnie Fields said on Monday.
Fields' comments came as North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper warned of a "new level of threat" posed by the incident and called for hardening of critical infrastructure including the power grid. The saboteur "knew exactly what they were doing to cause the damage and cause the outage that they did," Fields said. For most customers the power will be out through Wednesday or Thursday.
He said the difference between the needed repairs and a simple blackout repair was like comparing the need to change a lightbulb to the need to replace the entire heating and air conditioning system of a house.
On Sunday, Fields said law enforcement had not found evidence to support reporters questioning that the attacks were a protest against a planned drag show set for Saturday. :o Organizers of the show at the Sunrise Theater in Southern Pines said that far-right activists had been trying to shut down the show for weeks, the Fayetteville Observer reported, citing the theater's executive director, Kevin Dietzel. The newspaper reported that the show was held on Saturday despite the power outages.
___________
Now why would this questioning occur about it being related to a planned drag show? See some detailed background about this from Rachel Maddow's show last night; BE INFORMED: (12 minutes)
Right-Wing, Domestic Terror Eyed In N.C. Infrastructure Sabotage As Facts Remain Elusive
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BA9EI1ryNmg
Michael and Linda: The event that Rachel talks about in the beginning of this video from about 10 years ago around San Jose...do you guys remember hearing about this?
The link(s) are fixed.
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Senator Raphael Warnock Has Been Projected the Winner of the Georgia Run-Off
And boy was it tight. Whew!
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If you think about it, Sen. Warnock, in two years, has had to win 4 elections.
2020: Election. Run-Off election.
2022: Election. Run-Off election.
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I was really hoping that the margin of victory would have been more, though. That Walker came even that close is quite an indictment of the GOP and the people of Georgia.
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I do agree with that sentiment, Fritz!
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If you think about it, Sen. Warnock, in two years, has had to win 4 elections.
2020: Election. Run-Off election.
2022: Election. Run-Off election.
And he did. Win.
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Now he's got six years before another one!
And the L.A. Olympics will be over by then! Seems a long ways away.
I can believe it, but I also can't believe the election was so close. That people were willing to support a candidate like that so that he almost won. What did they expect Walker would do for them in the Senate? Oh, I forgot, he was on The Apprentice! Sheesh. I'd like to see him on Jeopardy now.
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Rudy Giuliani's Attorney-Misconduct Hearing
Sonam Sheth Dec 6, 2022
On day two of his attorney-misconduct hearing, former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani lost his temper, accused the disciplinary counsel of asking unfair questions, and went on lengthy rants about the 2020 election while the panel's chairman pleaded with him to give straightforward answers.
Giuliani's asides during the virtual hearing were so extensive that at one point, the disciplinary counsel, Hamilton Fox, said he wasn't sure how long it would take him to get through his questions.
"It depends on whether I get answers or the same thing repeated over and over again," Fox said. "If we can get answers, then—"
Giuliani interjected, saying Fox had made an "unfair comment," and adding, "I'm defending myself, Mr. Fox."
https://www.businessinsider.com/rudy-giuliani-loses-his-temper-attorney-misconduct-hearing-2022-12
Why can't people figure out this man has gone off the deep end and is mentally disturbed. Not that I'm using this as an excuse, but it seems like his defense of everything all goes back to the 2020 election being stolen. Plus he had all this supposed power during orange face's reign, and now he is at the bottom of the dung heap, a long with orange face.
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^^^ Rudy needs to be disbarred permanently and then sentenced to 10 years of hard labor. Maybe Margo Largo has opens...
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Jury finds Trump Organization guilty of tax fraud scheme
By Adam Reiss, Chloe Atkins and Dareh Gregorian
A jury in New York on Tuesday found the Trump Organization guilty of all charges in a sweeping, 15-year tax fraud scheme that prosecutors said was orchestrated by top executives at the company.
So much winning! He did promise we would be winning. Maybe this is what he meant.... ;D
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Brittney Griner released by Russia in 1-for-1 prisoner swap for arms dealer Viktor Bout
Brittney Griner, the WNBA star who was held for months in Russian prisons on drug charges, was released Thursday in a one-for-one prisoner swap for international arms dealer Viktor Bout, CBS News learned early Thursday from a U.S. official. The one-for-one exchange agreement negotiated with Moscow in recent weeks was given final approval by President Biden within just the last week, according to sources familiar with the deal. The swap, first reported by CBS News, took place on Thursday in the United Arab Emirates.
Article continues online:
https://www.cbsnews.com/live-updates/brittney-griner-release-russia-prisoner-swap-viktor-bout/
CONGRATULATIONS BRITTNEY AND FAMILY!!!!
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That's a great relief to know that she's on her way home.
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That's a great relief to know that she's on her way home.
Yes! Out of the clutches of the evil one.
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Indonesia has passed a law making all sex outside of marriage a crime. There is (understandable) concern that this may affect tourism there:
https://www.stuff.co.nz/travel/news/130690424/how-will-the-bali-bonk-ban-affect-kiwi-travellers-to-indonesia
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Indonesia has passed a law making all sex outside of marriage a crime.
I don't know about their ideas in Indonesia, but according to the BMJ (British Medical Journal), "a major study of sexual behavior among Americans came up with 41 definitions of what 'having sex' actually means."
https://www.bmj.com/content/341/bmj.c5491
In an article about this subject a man in Indonesia asked if that meant to masturbate he had to be married.
This Indonesian law also says "the promotion of contraception and religious blasphemy are illegal, and it restores a ban on insulting a sitting president and vice president, state institutions and national ideology. Insults to a sitting president must be reported by the president and can lead to up to three years in jail."
Which makes you wonder what the "insulting" part has to do with a law about sex crimes. I imagine that part will become part of the Republican Party Platform if the orange cretin runs again. Ruins again would be more accurate.
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So Kyrsten Sinema has decided to leave the Democratic Party and register as an Independent. What's that going to do to the Senate?
The only thing Kyrsten Sinema cares about is Kyrsten Sinema.
Ditto Joe Manchin about Joe Manchin.
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^^^ Unbelievable. The only positive element of this bitch's latest SNAFU is she didn't declare herself a member of the GOP. She's protected by and protects huge private investors.
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This is very odd, especially considering what happened in Germany this week:
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-63916812
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I want this CD for Christmas:
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FirUKMTUoAAM4SV.jpg)
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^^^Swiped!
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:laugh:
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The women of Iran are named "Heroes of the Year" by time:
https://www.axios.com/2022/12/07/women-iran-time-magazine-heroes-of-the-year
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Qatar is apparently giving members of the European Parliament bags of cash:
https://www.euronews.com/2022/12/12/eu-parliament-vice-president-eva-kaili-in-custody-for-alleged-bags-of-cash-from-qatar
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Originally posted by Fritz in the Diner.
Republicans Are Breaking With the N.R.A., and It’s Because of Us
By Dave Cullen - Dec 13 2022
You were right to feel hopeless. Gun safety was a lost cause. The National Rifle Association was invincible, and the Republican Party was never going to defy it. The failure to alter that reality after the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School — 10 years ago on Wednesday — choked off our last faint wisp of hope.
If losing those 6- and 7-year-olds couldn’t drive that change, nothing would.
But we had it wrong. Gun safety wasn’t buried in Newtown, Conn. The modern safety movement was born that day.
Sandy Hook unleashed a slow-motion tsunami of determination that culminated in the first significant act of Congress on gun safety in nearly three decades this June. Fifteen Republican senators broke with the N.R.A. — unthinkable in the old political landscape.
Sandy Hook galvanized two women. The day after the shooting, a suburban mother, Shannon Watts, started Moms Demand Action, which morphed into Everytown for Gun Safety after merging with another group. Three weeks after the massacre, the former congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords created the forerunner to her gun safety organization, Giffords.
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/13/opinion/sandy-hook-gun-safety.html?unlocked_article_code=8P2JZfB60Qi2lkCGA1tItj6oWXt1uqwYM9IE4A3Rda2ly4W-xTSQFyxu9eLF1pKYCcAcUAGY49k_PD-V9tN3_C1V26Ej3cZ6iMfktRlsU1Y9uIlP02ZUA-mm4x3hh1kGkf_KbY4EgXF4Qbjm053BSQ6AnAz8K1_FAEfTbih6U_rPqk6aj7yY5iFCMbyeq2cyu1cJ6K7MpFc518CPnteDMY3syUfLxeoRMye6w_sFW8zcdJtjUZN1sg7LzY8_yjaD2Mve799gHajSXwbIPde-skUd7Dy8mj8YSMLv2SMFHx1-OcWnHgeBsnveXg-0fAvRIkmhCPHRtofyHJwnJaaN&smid=share-url
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There's something very fishy about this story!
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-63996982
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Jan. 6 panel announces 4 criminal referrals for Donald Trump
After more than a year of investigating, the House select committee probing the 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol has just wrapped up its final meeting and sent its final report to Congress.
The panel voted to issue four criminal referrals for former President Donald Trump. It also referred four Republican members of Congress — Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, Scott Perry, R-Pa., Andy Biggs, R-Ariz. — to the House Ethics Committee for failure to comply with subpoenas.
https://www.npr.org/live-updates/jan-6-hearings-committee-criminal-referrals-trump-final-report
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Democratic-led House Ways and Means Committee releases report on Trump’s taxes
By Lauren Fox, Daniella Diaz and Jeremy Herb, CNN - December 20, 2022
The Democratic-led House Ways and Means Committee released a report on former President Donald Trump’s taxes Tuesday after voting to make public six years’ worth of the former president’s tax returns, the culmination of a years-long quest from House Democrats to obtain the former president’s taxes.
The panel approved a motion on a party-line vote to release the materials to the House, clearing the way for Trump’s tax returns to be released publicly within a matter of days. The vote was approved with all Democrats voting in favor and all Republicans voting no.
Shortly after the vote, the committee released a report on the failures of the presidential audit program along with a supplemental report from the Joint Committee on Taxation that included details on Trump’s tax returns. In addition, the panel voted to release all information from Chairman Richard Neal’s request to the IRS, which included Trump’s tax returns from 2015 to 2020.
Those underlying documents, however, will need to undergo significant redactions first. Neal told reporters Tuesday he expected the returns to be released in “only days.”
https://www.cnn.com/2022/12/20/politics/house-trump-tax-returns/index.html
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^^^ Finally, "We the People" will learn more of what a lying, conniving, tax evading SOB that POS, his various companies and family, really are and have been hiding...
It was VERY interesting to watch the GOP "leaders" yesterday - prancing before cameras while ranting and raving about the future implications of releasing that SOB tax returns. WTF? While every other Presidential contender and elected President has released their tax returns to the public, this SOB decides not to and make excuses for 5+ frakking years as to why not? We all know "why not..."
Bring it on baby.
If you've got nothing improper, illegal or shady to hide and have been paying what you are suppose to be paying vs. lying, cheating, hiding, offshoring, inflating/deflating values, then you got nothing to be fretting over - do you? Evading taxes is and always will be "stealing from the US Treasury and stealing from "We the People."" The GOP has successfully lowered taxes on toppers (1%ers) to a pittance from what it SHOULD BE. How? By shifting the tax burdens to the middle-class over decades of "tax cuts" and "trickle-down" lies/BS. The GOS even bragged about lowering the rates even more for his GOP very-rich fat-catters.
We need a return to tax rates on billionaires like were in place decades ago - more like the 80-90% range. You made your 100's of millions/billions $$$ in the USA, then by &diety... you pay your fair share of taxes and stop lying, cheating, evading, offshoring...
> https://www.marketwatch.com/story/house-panel-approves-releasing-report-on-trumps-tax-returns-01671583896?mod=home-page (https://www.marketwatch.com/story/house-panel-approves-releasing-report-on-trumps-tax-returns-01671583896?mod=home-page)
"IRS figures indicate that the average tax filer paid roughly $12,200 in 2017, about 16 times more than the former president paid!"
IMHO, after this multi-year BS from the GOS on disclosure, it should be the law-of-the-land that: ANYONE running for or elected member of Congress, any appointed Judge and especially any lifetime appointment such as to SCOTUS, any political appointee should be REQUIRED to release the last 5-10 years of their US tax records to the public to hold any such office. Then while in office, they must continue to release their tax returns and then when they exit office, they must release 5 more years after they leave office. Why +5, so public can see if they setup any "sweet-heart" exit deals while in office. I'd go further and say that should also be extended to STATE governments.... where the GOP is greedy, rotten, crooked and gerrymandering as it has ever been!
Time for some daylight and sunshine big boys and girls - daylight and sunshine - come out into the light.
I'd also wager - them apples do not fall from the tree...
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Unfortunately his supporters will just think of him as being clever in outwitting the IRS, not acknowledging that they have to make up for what he doesn't pay.
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^^^^ As a general rule, GOS's supporters are not the brightest bulbs in the box. They believed yet another lie that Mexico was/is going to pay for building a wall. If that SOB were Pinocchio his nose would be curled up, stacked and carted on a motorized robot tagging along beside him.
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The Ways & Means Committee also reported that since 1977 it's been a rule that the IRS audit each incoming President's taxes and...the IRS did not do this to the OC's taxes at all, until Chairman Richard Neal’s request to the IRS for Trump's taxes three years ago, and then they did some kind of perfunctory audit because they hadn't done anything. (Gee, I wonder why.) The IRS' budget was also reduced during the cretin's Presidency and the committee reported that the IRS doesn't have the kind of hires they need to perform the audits necessary for these wealthy cretins. In other words, it's easier to suck the money from the average citizen than the wealthy tax cheaters. And with the House being taken over by scum, do yu think they're going to do anything about it now?
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The new Madison Cawthorn in Congress is: George Santos.
George Santos is a Gay Trump.
Fellow New York Rep. elect Dan Goldman, a Democrat and former federal prosecutor who was counsel to the impeachment proceedings against former President Donald Trump, called on the FBI to investigate possible campaign lies and false statements in disclosure filings.
The district includes the North Shore of Nassau County as well as parts of Queens and Suffolk County. Incumbent Democrat Tom Suozzi didn’t seek re-election; he unsuccessfully ran for governor. Mr. Santos lost handily when he challenged Mr. Suozzi in 2020. His election this year against Robert Zimmerman drew some national attention because both men are gay, and Mr. Santos is the first openly gay person elected to Congress from Long Island.
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The following is only half the article from the NY Times, but I posted this much of it because, even if you don't read it--look at all the discrepancies that no one can verify--so where was the oppo research on this candidate for the House. Why wasn't all of this or even half of it known before people were voting for this candidate?
Who Is Rep.-Elect George Santos? His Résumé May Be Largely Fiction
by Grace Ashford and Michael Gold | The New York Times
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/19/nyregion/george-santos-ny-republicans.html
Mr. Santos, a Republican from New York, says he’s the “embodiment of the American dream.” But he seems to have misrepresented a number of his career highlights. George Santos, whose election to Congress on Long Island last month helped Republicans clinch a narrow majority in the House of Representatives, built his candidacy on the notion that he was the “full embodiment of the American dream” and was running to safeguard it for others.
His campaign biography amplified his storybook journey: He is the son of Brazilian immigrants, and the first openly gay Republican to win a House seat as a non-incumbent. By his account, he catapulted himself from a New York City public college to become a “seasoned Wall Street financier and investor” with a family-owned real estate portfolio of 13 properties and an animal rescue charity that saved more than 2,500 dogs and cats.
But a New York Times review of public documents and court filings from the United States and Brazil, as well as various attempts to verify claims that Mr. Santos, 34, made on the campaign trail, calls into question key parts of the résumé that he sold to voters.
Citigroup and Goldman Sachs, the marquee Wall Street firms on Mr. Santos’s campaign biography, told The Times they had no record of his ever working there. Officials at Baruch College, which Mr. Santos has said he graduated from in 2010, could find no record of anyone matching his name and date of birth graduating that year.
There was also little evidence that his animal rescue group, Friends of Pets United, was, as Mr. Santos claimed, a tax-exempt organization: The Internal Revenue Service could locate no record of a registered charity with that name.
His financial disclosure forms suggest a life of some wealth. He lent his campaign more than $700,000 during the midterm election, has donated thousands of dollars to other candidates in the last two years and reported a $750,000 salary and over $1 million in dividends from his company, the Devolder Organization.
Yet the firm, which has no public website or LinkedIn page, is something of a mystery. On a campaign website, Mr. Santos once described Devolder as his “family’s firm” that managed $80 million in assets. On his congressional financial disclosure, he described it as a capital introduction consulting company, a type of boutique firm that serves as a liaison between investment funds and deep-pocketed investors. But Mr. Santos’s disclosures did not reveal any clients, an omission three election law experts said could be problematic if such clients exist.
And while Mr. Santos has described a family fortune in real estate, he has not disclosed, nor could The Times find, records of his properties.
Mr. Santos’s victory, in a district in northern Long Island and northeast Queens that previously favored Democrats, was considered a mild upset. He had lost decisively in the same district in 2020 and had seemed to be too wedded to former President Donald J. Trump and his stances to flip his fortunes. His appearance earlier this month at a gala in Manhattan attended by white nationalists and right-wing conspiracy theorists underscored his ties to Mr. Trump’s right-wing base.
At the same time, new revelations uncovered by The Times — including the omission of key information on Mr. Santos’s personal financial disclosures, and criminal charges for check fraud in Brazil — have the potential to create ethical and possibly legal challenges once he takes office.
Mr. Santos did not respond to repeated requests from The Times that he furnish either documents or a resumé with dates that would help to substantiate the claims he made on the campaign trail. He also declined to be interviewed, and neither his lawyer nor Big Dog Strategies, a Republican-oriented political consulting group that handles crisis management, responded to a detailed list of questions.
Mr. Santos has said he was born in Queens to parents who emigrated from Brazil and was raised in the borough. His father, he has said, is Catholic and has roots in Angola. His mother, Fatima Devolder, was descended from migrants who fled Jewish persecution in Ukraine and World War II strife in Belgium. Mr. Santos has described himself as a nonobservant Jew but has also said he is Catholic.
In 2008, when Mr. Santos was 19, he stole the checkbook of a man his mother was caring for, according to Brazilian court records uncovered by The Times. Police and court records show that Mr. Santos used the checkbook to make fraudulent purchases, including a pair of shoes. Two years later, Mr. Santos confessed to the crime and was later charged. The court and local prosecutor in Brazil confirmed the case remains unresolved. Mr. Santos did not respond to an official summons, and a court representative could not find him at his given address, records show.
That period in Brazil overlapped with when Mr. Santos said he was attending Baruch College, where he has said he was awarded a bachelor’s degree in economics and finance. But Baruch College said it was unable to find records of Mr. Santos — using multiple variations of his first, middle and last names — having graduated in 2010, as he has claimed.
A biography of Mr. Santos on the website of the National Republican Congressional Committee, which is the House Republicans’ campaign arm, also includes a stint at New York University. The claim is not repeated elsewhere, and an N.Y.U. spokesman found no attendance records matching his name and birth date.
After he said he graduated from college, Mr. Santos began working at Citigroup, eventually becoming “an associate asset manager” in the company’s real estate division, according to a version of his biography that was on his campaign site as recently as April. A spokeswoman for Citigroup, Danielle Romero-Apsilos, said the company could not confirm Mr. Santos’s employment. She also said she was unfamiliar with Mr. Santos’s self-described job title and noted that Citi had sold off its asset management operations in 2005.
A previous campaign biography of Mr. Santos indicates that he left Citi to work at a Turkey-based hospitality technology company, MetGlobal, and other profiles mention a brief role at Goldman Sachs. MetGlobal executives could not be reached for comment. Abbey Collins, a spokeswoman at Goldman Sachs, said she could not locate any record of Mr. Santos’s having worked at the company. Attempts to find co-workers who could confirm his employment were unsuccessful, in part because Mr. Santos has not provided specific dates for his time at these companies.
[This is insidious.] Santos has also asserted that his professional life had intersected with tragedy: He said in an interview on WNYC that his company, which he did not identify, “lost four employees” at the Pulse nightclub shooting in Orlando in June 2016. But a Times review of this found that none of the 49 victims appear to have worked at the various firms named in his biography.
As he was purportedly climbing the corporate ranks, Mr. Santos claimed to have founded Friends of Pets United, which he ran for five years beginning in 2013. As a candidate, he cited the group as proof of a history of philanthropic work. Though remnants of the group and its efforts could be found on Facebook, the I.R.S. was not able to find any record showing that the group held the tax-exempt status that Mr. Santos claimed. Neither the New York nor New Jersey attorney general’s offices could find records of Friends of Pets United having been registered as a charity.
Friends of Pets United held at least one fund-raiser with a New Jersey animal rescue group in 2017; the invitation promised drinks, donated raffle items and a live band. Mr. Santos charged $50 for entry, according to an online fund-raising page that promoted the event. But the event’s beneficiary, who asked for anonymity for fear of retribution, said that she never received any of the funds, with Mr. Santos only offering repeated excuses for not forwarding the money.
During that same period, Mr. Santos was also facing apparent financial difficulties. In November 2015, a landlord in the Whitestone neighborhood of Queens filed an eviction suit in housing court accusing Mr. Santos of owing $2,250 in unpaid rent.
In May 2017, Mr. Santos faced another eviction case, from a rent-stabilized apartment in Sunnyside, Queens. Mr. Santos’s landlord accused him of owing more than $10,000 in rent stretching over five months and said in court records that one of his tenant’s checks had bounced. A warrant of eviction was issued, and Mr. Santos was fined $12,208 in a civil judgment.
By early 2021, Mr. Santos was becoming vocal on housing issues but not from a tenant perspective. During New York’s pandemic-era eviction moratorium, Mr. Santos said on Twitter that he was a landlord affected by the freeze “Will we landlords ever be able to take back possession of our property?” he wrote. Mr. Santos said that he and his family had not been paid rent on their 13 properties in nearly a year, adding that he had offered rental assistance to some tenants, but found that some were “flat out taking advantage of the situation.”
But Mr. Santos has not listed properties in New York on required financial disclosure forms for either of his campaigns; the only real estate that he mentioned was an apartment in Rio de Janeiro. Property records databases in New York City and Nassau County did not show any documents or deeds associated with him, immediate family members or the Devolder Organization.
Over the next two years, Mr. Santos bounced between several ill-fated ventures. As he ran for Congress, he moved from LinkBridge to take on a new role as regional director of Harbor City Capital, a Florida-based investment company. Harbor City, which attracted investors with YouTube videos and guarantees of double-digit returns, soon garnered attention from the S.E.C., which filed a lawsuit accusing the company and its founder of running a $17 million Ponzi scheme. Neither Mr. Santos nor other colleagues were named in the lawsuit, and Mr. Santos has publicly denied having any knowledge of the scheme.
Two weeks later, a handful of former Harbor City executives formed a company called Red Strategies USA, as reported by The Daily Beast. Corporate filings listed the Devolder Organization as a partial owner — even though the papers to register Devolder would not be filed for another week. Red Strategies was short lived.
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etc.!
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As the article says, I doubt this would happen in many countries
A week ago the leader of the ACT party (the most right wing in parliament) annoyed the Prime mInister with his question.
She did not realise her mike was still on and called him an "arrogant prick"
It got into the parliamentary record and she had to apologise.
The framed record has been auctioned for the Prostate Cancer Foundation and raised jsut over NZ$100,000
https://www.odt.co.nz/news/national/pms-arrogant-prick-insult-raises-more-100k-charity
For the record, I think she was right ;D
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Putin is turning Russia into a third world country:
Moscow says around 100,000 IT specialists left Russia this year
https://english.alarabiya.net/News/world/2022/12/20/Moscow-says-around-100-000-IT-specialists-left-Russia-this-year-
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They get what they ask for, whether they want it or not.
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Unfortunately his supporters will just think of him as being clever in outwitting the IRS, not acknowledging that they have to make up for what he doesn't pay.
His rank and file won't even realize or understand they have to make up it.
The world just gets crazier every day. Around here we've got an Amish farmer who's been in trouble with the law for years for refusing to follow sanitary regulations for meat, milk, and produce, etc., that he sells. Apparently he subscribes to some cockamamie theory of "sovereign citizenship," or something, that basically says he can pick and choose which laws he wants to obey.
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Eyepopping figures -> https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2022/12/21/us/politics/trump-tax-return-numbers.html (https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2022/12/21/us/politics/trump-tax-return-numbers.html)
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^^^
I was reading this article: Republicans Say the Release of Trump’s Tax Returns is a “Political Weapon,” and I thought, since when are any of you against weapons? And also, you guys elevated this guy so you have no one to blame but yourselves.
However, to them that means in the next session of Congress, they just might ask for the tax returns of any foe they want to embarrass and proceed in their sole purpose of retaliatory politics, because they're a party of revenge on, and demonization of, their opponents instead of the needs of the country and the American people, which voters have indicated their tired of, but we need more voters in that camp.
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^^^ Amen GOP = party of lies, deceit and hate. The moderates need to take their party back from the bat-shit crazies for damn sure before it's gone for good. V.
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I was reading this article: Republicans Say the Release of Trump’s Tax Returns is a “Political Weapon,” and I thought, since when are any of you against weapons?
Sure it is. But it's not a "political weapon" when they go after Hunter Biden. ...
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So the GOS has said that what does not kill him makes him stronger. Maybe somebody should just not make him stronger.
OK, I guess I shouldn't say that on the internet.
I know he's still a menace to Democracy, but in my view he's also sort of pathetic.
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Pathetic is a good description
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I know he's still a menace to Democracy, but in my view he's also sort of pathetic.
Pathetic is a good description
He's like a bratty kid throwing a tantrum in order to get attention. It's a shame he's too dangerous to ignore. As I understand it, being ignored is the one thing he can't stand.
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Barbara Walters, trailblazing TV icon, dies at 93
ByLuchina Fisher and Bill Hutchinson
Barbara Walters, the trailblazing television news broadcaster and longtime ABC News anchor and correspondent who shattered the glass ceiling and became a dominant force in an industry once dominated by men, has died. She was 93.
Walters joined ABC News in 1976, becoming the first female anchor on an evening news program. Three years later, she became a co-host of "20/20," and in 1997, she launched "The View."
Bob Iger, the CEO of The Walt Disney Company which is the parent company of ABC News, praised Walters as someone who broke down barriers.
“Barbara was a true legend, a pioneer not just for women in journalism but for journalism itself. She was a one-of-a-kind reporter who landed many of the most important interviews of our time, from heads of state to the biggest celebrities and sports icons. I had the pleasure of calling Barbara a colleague for more than three decades, but more importantly, I was able to call her a dear friend. She will be missed by all of us at The Walt Disney Company, and we send our deepest condolences to her daughter, Jacqueline,” Iger said in a statement Friday.
In a career that spanned five decades, Walters won 12 Emmy awards, 11 of those while at ABC News.
https://abcnews.go.com/GMA/Culture/barbara-walters-trailblazing-tv-icon-dies-93/story?id=41435083
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An arrest has been made in the murder of the four college students in Moscow, Idaho. The alleged murderer apparently had returned to his home in the Pocono Mountains region of Pennsylvania and was leading a "normal" life, even going running with a friend!
I haven't heard any news today yet, so I don't know if there have been an more recent developments than what I learned last evening.
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Perhaps he thought that, as a criminology student, he could get away with murder.
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^^^^ Another titan dies... they are slipping away.
^^^^ I'm elated they caught the SOB that killed those kids. I'm eager to learn the details around how they leveraged DNA to find him.
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