News and Current Events - 2017 - 2022

[Lyle (Mooska)]

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.]

[Jeff Wrangler]

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.)

[Lyle (Mooska)]

Yes, you should laugh! 

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.
 

[morrobay]

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

[CellarDweller115]

[morrobay]

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

[killersmom]

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.

[Jeff Wrangler]

I'm not saying she's nervous, but Theresa May just did this...
#ExitPoll #Election2017

Has she been responsible for crop circles all along? Maybe she's actually an alien?

[CellarDweller115]

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

[CellarDweller115]

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

[CellarDweller115]

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

[fritzkep]

He wanted to make Kim Jong-Eun jealous.

[Lyle (Mooska)]

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

[fritzkep]

Yay!

[CellarDweller115]

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.